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| Post Number: 11
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nphilbro 
Group: Members
Posts: 1586
Joined: Jul. 2005
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Posted on: Feb. 12 2006,6:47 pm |
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ATB- Of course I concur with your point completely, even though I made some poor decisions as a youth (isn't that what youth is for?).
I have decided that it is imperative that I started taking my kids to church- very much to the disdain of my wife. I think it's critical at a young age that they learn to have accountability to something other than themselves and their parents. Granted - I'm an agnostic in the real sense of the word, but I feel that children need to know that they belong to a God, a society, a world, or anything beyond themselves, and that their actions will impact everyone. When I had to take 15 bags of trash to the dump after Christmas I was absolutely appalled at the environmental irresponsiblity that exhibited and was very worried about the lessons my children were learning. My wife wasn't raised with religion and she really believes her morality goes no farther than our household- we could afford all this crap so therefore it was our responsiblity to buy it for them. I obviously disagree.
We (as the American Culture) encourage instant gratification no matter the cost. If we're tired we sell soft drinks that will wire the most die hard coffee drinker to children under 13 rather than encourage the benefits of a good night sleep. If our kids can't go right to sleep we put TVs in their rooms rather than encourage reading a book before bed (which I did from 9yrs until I had kids of my own - now I don't have a problem falling asleep). I could go on but I hope you get my point.
It's not that the sky is falling, but so many parents would rather buy stuff to MAKE their kids happy than to DO stuff with their kids and HAVE happy kids. It's not easy but the lessons they learn when they're young will last a lifetime - whatever those lessons are.
These individuals in this story seem to be addicted to the instant gratification that only drugs and stealing will get you. I just hope that, as a parent, I am not leading my children down this path. I've decided church is the most natural for us. There are certainly many other ways, I'm sure, that will teach social responsibility to our children. It all starts with parenting.
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Merely to try is to prepare for failure.
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| Post Number: 12
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REPOMAN
Group: Members
Posts: 1556
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Feb. 12 2006,8:12 pm |
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I was agnostic until several years ago when I went to a seminar put on by a scientist - Dr. Bert Thompson...
he gives very real evidence of a creator - and a lot of evidence that the Bible is the inspired word of God - or otherwise called "God Breathed" word...
if you can get your hands on his VHS tapes - "Creation versus Evolution" - I strongly advise watching them...
they were eye opening for me...
I always used to say that the Bible wasmade up of a bunch of fairy tales - no more - I believe it is all true...
I came to that conclusion like this - once I believe the story of Creation - and once I saw things in the Bible like Genesis 17 where it talks about waiting until the 8th day to do circumcsion and all of the medical science knowledge that was not readily available in those days - once I saw that stuff I realized that everything else was a walk in the park...
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| Post Number: 13
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REPOMAN
Group: Members
Posts: 1556
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Feb. 12 2006,8:16 pm |
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I heard a story one time about an agnostic (otherwise called a skeptic) that had went over to the house of his Christian friend...
his friend invited him down in the basement - and there was a very well layed out model of the planets and the sun and the moon - very well laid out and very complicated - obviously a lot of work had gone into setting it up...
the skeptic asked his Christian friend how long it took him to set it all up and the Christian just smiled at him and siaid - I didn't set all this up - it just happened by itself - poof one day it was just there... 
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| Post Number: 14
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nphilbro
Group: Members
Posts: 1586
Joined: Jul. 2005
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Posted on: Feb. 12 2006,8:40 pm |
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I currently believe in people. The power of people to do both good and bad. I'm a pragmatist in many ways.
I'm looking at all the religious hatred in the world today. I'm seeing our own country being torn apart by religious beliefs. I'm watching the muslim world despise the US as a Christian Nation. I'm seeing the muslim world gathering together for an all out assault on Israel. I'm seeing our own southern baptists calling out the "muslim extremists." Where does it end? We look at the childrens' crusade as barbaric, joke about the inquisition.
It seems to me that somewhere between the scriptures we read, the geography of where we live and DNA we all share, so many have forgotten that we're all humans sharing the same planet for a very brief period of time.
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Merely to try is to prepare for failure.
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| Post Number: 15
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Mamma
Group: Members
Posts: 1474
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Feb. 12 2006,8:43 pm |
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You are so right. I was just thinking the other night about the United States. What is so united about it. It's got to be that it's Democrats and Republicans at each other's throats. There is nothing United about it. Why can't people just forget they are democrats or republicans and work together to get something accomplished, instead of working against each other?
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A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking.
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| Post Number: 16
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REPOMAN
Group: Members
Posts: 1556
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Feb. 12 2006,9:15 pm |
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| Quote (Mamma @ Feb. 12 2006,8:43pm) | | You are so right. I was just thinking the other night about the United States. What is so united about it. It's got to be that it's Democrats and Republicans at each other's throats. There is nothing United about it. Why can't people just forget they are democrats or republicans and work together to get something accomplished, instead of working against each other? |
in reality they agree about a great deal - but in their zeal to power grab they disagree about how to accomplish even the smallest of things...
it is ridiculous...
maybe there needs to become a United Party or a Unification Party...
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| Post Number: 17
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nphilbro
Group: Members
Posts: 1586
Joined: Jul. 2005
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Posted on: Feb. 12 2006,9:29 pm |
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Four parties would represent us better at this point.
1. Fiscal Conservative Constitutional Conservatives.
2. Fiscal Conservative Constitutional Liberals.
3. Fiscal Liberal Constitutional Concervatives.
4. Fiscal Liberal Constitutional Liberal.
Obviously these are not the exact terms but I think the point is basically made. Most republicans are horrified by the deficit. During the Clinton years republicans hated the fact that a dem caught up the national debt. I'm not trying to break this down to party lines and I have no evidence to say what I did is true. But, these days, I don't think many Americans feel that there is a party that completely represents them (if it were a bell curve, currently 10% of America should feel completely represented). I'm a lib on some issues, conservative on others. The two party system has let both parties become power hungry and irresponsible at the expense of the citizens and for the price of corporation$.
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Merely to try is to prepare for failure.
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| Post Number: 18
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REPOMAN
Group: Members
Posts: 1556
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Feb. 12 2006,10:06 pm |
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well said - I agree with most of your points...
I profess to be a Republican - but they lose me on some issues - like gun control...
and there are some Republicans that are embarrassing to be identified with - Tom Delay, Newt Gingrich and George Gillespie...
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| Post Number: 19
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nphilbro
Group: Members
Posts: 1586
Joined: Jul. 2005
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Posted on: Feb. 12 2006,10:48 pm |
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Oddly, I find Patty Murray- D.WA and Hillary Clinton D. NY to be WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAyyyyyyyyyyyy out of my league.
Hillary is supposed to be the face of my party??? Not even a little bit. Yet- am I supposed to vote for Cheney instead???
There's the breakdown. We've seperated ourselves from each other too much. Politicians have tried to widen the gap as much as possible to catch the fall in votes.
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Merely to try is to prepare for failure.
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| Post Number: 20
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ljfuller3
Group: Members
Posts: 36
Joined: Jun. 2012
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Posted on: Jun. 16 2012,5:04 am |
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No Comment
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