Town Quixote's

[Town Heretic]

Sorry about the stalker folks, but I'm going to shut it down for a few hours, let the library hours run.

What I'd say is that for a few years after I arrived (and not because I arrived) this place underwent a really strong influx of positive, often civil and interesting people to compliment some who were here before and that the atmosphere that produced, along with some of the practices put in place by Knight, made TOL a truly exciting community.

A lot of that has been undermined or allowed to wither on the vine. And I hope that is just a cycle and that we eventually have fewer angry trolls and more of what caught me and many others up in the place for several years.

 

[Town Heretic]

A brief pause for...

Thursday Night Gazette​

In the Pediatrician thread gen thought...

The parable of the Good Samaritan was about providing emergency service,

lain: Isn't that like suggesting the resurrection was about living wills?

While in movies past and present it occurred to me...

The problem with Emma Stone is that she could have played a painting in "Big Eyes". lain: That has to limit your roles.

Objected to a familiar drumbeat...

mad is the perfect religion for a homosexual
once they believe whatever is necessary and once they are saved they can go back to their homosexual lifestyle

Like suggesting that once a man falls in love with a woman and understands with certainty that she will never forsake him that he is then free to resume whoring, if he once went about that business.

What man in love would consider it?

Continued to talk music with...

I gotta be honest with you ... to me, Mozart was like math.

You have my sympathy. Mozart was as close as that form ever came to jazz.

As I suggested to PureX, accessibility is largely an individual matter I think.

We'll differ here. I think there is what you can get from art as pure experience and what you can get from it as you understand the forms...and you can get a great deal from Frost or Sandburg without having waded into literature deeply, but you'll never understand what Eliot meant to tell you until you do.

I think Monk is like Eliot. Davis is Whitman. Coltrane is Carlos Williams.

Tried to lead a dead horse to water...

you said your church was using the westminster confession and mock said that is what the calvinists use
what was I to think?

That if you wanted to know how closely I was aligned with a particular you should ask. I mean, you noted early disagreements with me and at least one Calvinist who referred to me as his Arminian friend and you hold at least one position dramatically outside of your own church dogma. Given those two I'd say you should either read me (I've talked about will, recently in fact) or ask.

If, instead, you chose to credit me with a belief you don't like you should perhaps wonder why that was your go to.

And...

...I am here to ask questions ...and
you know I do that better than anyone here

I think you may believe that, may not see any hubris in it, which is likely part of the problem. But no, I don't think you're better at asking questions than a number here, in part because you lack the training and/or inclination to free your inquiry from your emotions and because lacking that your inquiry begins from a point of bias often as not that drives your questions, sometimes requiring you to dismiss the answers to sustain itself.

While elsewhere aCW was saying...

I get the feeling that like all other liberals who

See, how can I credit your exegesis when you can't even get my politics right?

misinterpret Holy Scripture that you want others to believe that had the woman actually been caught in the act of adultery that Jesus would have let her go.

She was caught. He did let her go. Yours is the read in.

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst... John 8:3​

Taken in, not rumored to have been.

...Adultery takes two culprits, to murder it takes only one culprit and one victim.

And more than one person can be guilty of the same murder (nice attempt at a dodge though). And if Brutus alone can be caught with Caesars' blood upon him, we don't let him go because we can't find the other senators, do we? :nono:

and since no one came forward to admit that he was the other party, there was no case for criminal prosecution.

That's nonsense and it doesn't alter her guilt, which she didn't deny. Moreover, Christ in his last to her acknowledged it. "Go and sin no more" isn't something you say to the innocent.

Then MY made me chuckle with a found one sentence movie review...

Wizard of Oz: Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.

(taken from the internet; subsequent items are my originals.)

Tomorrow? Repchk all over the place. :shocked:

 

[Town Heretic]

And briefly for...

Sa-tur-day Gazette​

In the Winter is Slowly Slipping Away thread, Kat noodled...

That temp would be warm even for me. I like the 80s.

It was the music, wasn't it. lain:

Winter is slipping away? Here it's more like a tide this year. In and out with the moon. Sheesh. :mmph:

Answered chrys on his admitted heresy (within Catholicism)...

...is belief in reincarnation a non salvific belief?

I think it is a serious divergence from the gospel, but I leave the fate of souls to Christ.

The salvific is the authority of Christ, the divinity of Christ and the understanding that absent grace we are convicted in our sin and rightly separated from the good for eternity, that we must repent and embrace that authority and sacrifice if we are to be reconciled to God through Christ.

I'm sure that many who love God are still as fallible as they were before they did, that men will often for the best of reasons come to the wrong conclusion. I think that this reality is one of the reasons we should be grateful for grace and pray for correction in the privacy of our walks.

Continued to engage repchk, who illustrated the old "if you can't get it right at least get it often" approach to argument...

he votedfor O

Once, yes. And once no. Funny how people like you can't read past the first bit.

and yet denies he is a lib... figures

I worked for Huntsman's campaign and deny I am a conservative too.

Figures. I'm honest.

Even libs don't believe in liberalism...

It's a shame you don't appear to believe in rationalism..

(but that is not surprising.. since they are known for their chief character trait: liar)

At least you can spell character. That's a fine start. lain:

Leading to the nearly inevitable...

um... like... whatever

Brilliant. The sort of repartee you'd normally need a sedative to induce.

Made a suggestion to one friend about her approach to another...

I won't apologize for asking sincere questions/ asking for clarification on terms that I found ambiguous and I certainly will not apologize for preaching the cross to anyone.

There's a thin line between eager inquiry and inquisition, especially when the follow ups hold the insinuation that someone's faith might be artifice absent some further explanation. Something to consider, perhaps. Two cents in any event.

While back in the poverty thread...

This guy wasn't poor.

Neither was Bin Laden. But the exception isn't the rule either.

What's "poverty"?

I can't define it, but I know we can't afford it.

Tomorrow..and today, I hope you all keep Polly's mother and their family in your prayers for a rapid and full recovery.

Many thanks :e4e:

 

[Town Heretic]

The Infrequent Weekend Gazette​

repchk kept doing her best to reinvent the wheels that fell off...

yeh, we can't afford all those "idiots"

Still don't get the reference then...well, consider yourself one, after a fashion. You suffer from a poverty of understanding. lain: That means you're more likely to steal someone else's ideas than come up with your own bootstraps.

Talked faith with Ars...

I can just tell you that the Protestant tradition is neo-Scholastic and is theogically centered on flipping Rome the Bird...

Where I'd say that's an ecclesiastically myopic summation, conflating the schism with its larger efforts and ongoing examination of the Christian walk...

And those who have had encounters with God live and preach an emotionally human faith of soothing sorrows and emotional support in the face of life's trials, which are ongoing... This is what I call clueless...

I'll admit to being a bit of that in understanding your critique on the point. What is "an emotionally human faith"?

Jesus wept, man. Literally.

The Faith of Christ which He gave to His Apostles to found in the world in His Apostolic Churches is WAY better than that... Light years... And the Center of the Apostolic Faith is the Eastern Orthodox Communion, with the Oriental Orthodox Churches to the East, and Latin Rome to the West..

So says, in essence and altering a few pronouns, every particular expression of our common faith to every other (excepting the Methodists, who would consider it rude). :think:

The Protestant Reformation is Latin Rome's illegitimate Child born out of wedlock from the adulterous Scholasticism of Her apostatic authoritarian vanity of dominion over Christ's Body on earth...

Well, you know what they say, one man's illegitimate child born out of wedlock from the adulterous scholasticism of her apostatic authoritarian vanity of dominion over Christ's Body on earth is another man's return to fundamental truths and principles. lain:

And Ars got back on all the suspicious ministering going on...

...It is one that wallows in (need I say?) human emotionality...

And what is evidence of that? Where is the line of demarcation between compassion and wallowing? Between comforting and wallowing?

...And when I see what is being discarded...And what is being retained instead...
I weep too...

When I see people, fallible, weak, divided, divisive, uniting on the sovereignty of God, the message of the cross and the divinity of Christ I'm encouraged. I expect us to get a lot of it side ways. That's our nature. That we get the essentials right is a small miracle in itself and one to celebrate.

And again: "Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of Heaven..."

And you see feeding the hungry, witnessing to the heathen and comforting the afflicted as what else?

The Orthodox fruits of last century and this one already is one of persecutions and martyrdoms...These fruits are precious few outside Orthodoxy...

We were first killed by heathens and then Christendom started killing its own. No shortage of Catholic and Protestant martyrs. Shake an English tree and out they fall.

So the resolution is to be found in the uncontested witness of the Patristic Tradition of the Church from the Beginnings for 2000 years unchanging... And this witness is consistently found in the Eastern Orthodox Faith... The Oriental Orthodox are on al pages the same as we are, and the reason for our schism could very well be merey language/linguistic issues...

Latin Rome is now well outside the box... Their heresy that Peter is the Ruler of Christ's Body on earth is a very serious one...

What's your heresy to a Catholic and what's both your heresies to this or that Protestant? And so it goes. As for me, I look to the thief on the cross and the exhortations of Christ, the clarification of Paul and am content that while our humanity may forever divide the fallible Body, God will unify us in grace yet.

Gave a helping hand...

you have NO citation
I think you made this up

He didn't: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/26/bill-oreilly-former-colleagues-la-riots-bombardment

wouldn't put it past you
wouldn't put it past ANY lib...

Sweet. lain: And, of course, you get to decide who's either (lib/liar). Which is nice work if you can't get it.

Differed with zoo's not uncommon notion among the heathen that if the nukes do go off...

...it will be religionists who did it.

...given most people are of a religion it stands to reason that they'll likely be the one to do it if its done. Doesn't really necessarily speak to a problem with faith, only zealots. Stalin and Mao were easy butchering millions...so maybe the truly controlling factor will be that, however ideologically wrapped.

GM took Cub Reporter honors for the month of February...

:singer: Race Results

It was a hotly contested field, but in the end GM proved too much for it to handle, cruising across the finish line two full lengths ahead of all rivals (13)...Congrats Grosnick Marowbe! :first:

Causing one failed nag rider to lament...

Defeated yet again. lain:

Welcome to AB's world. lain:

Tried to interject a hope for broader consideration...

Following on from the title of this thread, I have just two questions I would like to ask. I'm interested to see how others answer these questions. Is 'tolerance' intolerant? Is 'equality' unequal?

By definition, no.

People who espouse left wing political beliefs often see themselves as shining beacons of tolerance.

To the same extent that right wingers often see themselves as shining examples of virtue?

They see themselves at the forefront of the fight for 'equality'.

Or morality on the right.

...Take for example the case of Christianity vs the 'gay rights' movement. In almost all cases, those on the 'tolerant' liberal left side with homosexuals over Christians.

Were those Christians in question are attempting to abrogate or define the rights of others legally from a religious foundation?

...The believe that equality should be extended to homosexuals at the expense of the rights of others who do not believe the same as them

I don't think that's their point. And equality being given to a group can't by its nature come at the expense of anyone else who already possesses the same right. What expense?

In doing this, 'equality' treats Christians in an unequal way.

In the sense that denying anyone the right to discriminate against another person does that. And that's really what we're talking about. Not about Christians losing any right they possess, but about us being offended by a minority we find morally objectionable having the same rights...like the Klan.

To look more at a case in point, one can look to the case of Asher's Bakery in Northern Ireland. The Christian owners of the bakery refused to bake a cake with the slogan 'Support Gay Marriage'.

Then they're being goofy. Now if the people wanting the cake had wanted it to say "Asher's Bakery Supports Gay Marriage" it's a different ballgame.

...If those who believe in equality only wish to extend those rights to those who believe how they do to the detriment of those who dissent, is that not hypocrisy?

Sure. And if those who believe in the rule of law only believe in it when it protects and defends their beliefs? Same answer.

And still found time to take exception to Fly crowing...

Actually, atheism and agnosticism are increasing.

Marginally, which is why I said they weren't making significant inroads and suggested the reflection here was something else, that something else being a disinterest in the formalities of previous generations. Atheism has certainly found sounder footing in parts of the West, while the faithful grow among other populations...and there's some reason to believe atheist ranks may actually be thinning, given the propensity for Western nations to negative population growth while those other areas are increasing.

Who knows what that will mean in another generation or two.

And I suspect that the stigma associated with "atheist" causes many people to self-identify as something other than an "atheist" even though that's what they are.

Is suspect you see it that way because it suits your bias, but most of the studies done on how people see themselves aren't done in a way where that sort of pressure should be meaningful and in the absence of evidence I think we have to give people credit for knowing their own minds.

Before starting an American Idol thread...because it can't all be the Art of War, can it? Tomorrow? Wait and see.

 

[Psalmist]

American Idol -- That would be a loaded subject in more ways than one.

Thanks T/H for having this open when I came by :e4e:​

 

[FellowServant]

:bow:

 

[Town Heretic]

Lumber Liquidators has dramatically slashed its prices on their top tier laminate flooring, making it a banner year for those on a tight budget seeking overexposure to formaldehyde. lain:

 

[zoo22]

Differed with zoo's not uncommon notion among the heathen that if the nukes do go off...

Truster, I'm curious, do you refer to poor people as "the peasants?"

Oh wait, you're not Truster... Whoops. Well, I hope you can understand my mistake.

 

[Town Heretic]

Truster, I'm curious, do you refer to poor people as "the peasants?"

Oh wait, you're not Truster... Whoops. Well, I hope you can understand my mistake.

It was hard to miss. You'll probably repeat it though, in case anyone did. lain:

On heathen, my usage tends to run this way: "a person who does not belong to a widely held religion (especially one who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim) as regarded by those who do."

That's by and large how I've tended to use it which is why it also shows up in a collective sense when I'm addressing groups of atheists I'm fond of around here, like rex or MD, or agnostics like Rusha.

 

[Town Heretic]

a brief intermission for...

The Saturday Afternoon Gazette​

Someone asked: If you weren't in X religion, which religion would u choose?

:think: Religion Y? (tell chrys what I did there). lain:

Challenged chrys being chrys...

I see insinuation as allowing complete deniability when you disparage someone

Then you're completely whiffing on my use and the word doesn't apply. If I'm taking a crack at someone (and I'm usually taking a crack at the ideas presented by someone and not the someone) it isn't something missed in the comment and I have less than no interest in "deniability" on the point...I'd challenge you to produce an example making your point.

What's the over/under on that ever happening?


So of course...

"The lady doth protest too much methinks...

Nah, that's just as off as the gender reference...It's like taking a shot then making a point of tainting a response with some "have to have the last word" comment aimed, ironically enough, at securing it.

And...

actually, all it was was making an insinuation to see if you'd bite

and you did! :banana:

Yeah, that was some accomplishment. You should definitely put it on your resume. Along the lines of: made an internet post and got a response. Could be a difference maker.

:mock:town, who doth protest too much, girlishly

This must be what it feels like to actually be heroin. lain:

Meanwhile, chrys was still pondering a point...

would you report it
if
someone called you a whore?

Depends on if they'd paid me to do it or not. lain:

In lmohm's thread examining the push on gay marriage...

...Homosexuals have never had it better, but many of them do love to play the victim card.

They also never had it nearly as good as heterosexuals. So many of them play the equality before the law card. Would you grant there's a difference between those two?

...it seems to be that if one doesn't support the 'gay rights' cause then ones rights will be taken away as is happening in cases like the bakery refusing to bake a cake with a political slogan on it.

...here it is in a nutshell: you aren't losing a right when someone tells you that you can't discriminate against someone without justification at law. You never should have had the right to do that.

If the baker in question had been asked to write "Archer Bakery Supports Gay Rights" it would be one thing. To simply follow the instructions of a customer isn't an endorsement of the customer's position. You don't have to believe in marriage to make a wedding cake or the Torah to make a dreidel, by way of.

Had a brief, interesting follow up to my asking a poster if he thought his faith was culturally induced...

Are you disagreeing?

As a rule without important stipulation to give it substantive meaning, no. On the point that does, I'm mostly curious about how he sees his own faith.

Some people are creatures of tradition. Some buck tradition. And everyone has a different context within the context of culture, so I was wondering if he'd considered that or just assumed his faith was a byproduct of heritage.

Lots of Hindus down there in your neck of the woods?

A few. One of them introduced me to the Upanishads a long time ago. Any atheists/agnostics in your woods?

Then chrys asked...

...are you afraid of offending those who offend me?

And this is why I once told you to watch how much beer you were consuming, especially around an open flame. Because if there's one thing I'm noted for its taking the side least offensive to the power structure, from Islam to marriage to whatever you're having cut it with water.

Continued with lmohm...

...As race and sexuality are very different, why should they be treated the same?

I really think I answered on this point in my last. The similarity is in the majority denying a minority a thing they feel entitled to and the justification or lack thereof for the disparity.

...There's a lot disdain for Christianity as a whole within [the gay] community.

Seems likely given what Christianity has to say about their sexuality. It's not universal though, any more than every Christian approaches them in the same way. You're an example of one approach, Westboro another.

...What you are arguing for now seems to be that those who choose to identify with a certain sin are less empowered and should become more empowered.

No, I'm arguing that the law is a rational animal, not an extension of your or any particular religious view absent a secular, rational justification...

...So we do at least agree that homosexual activity is a sin?

Sure. I've said that almost as often as I've examined the laws designed to discriminate and found them insufficient in reason.

If that is the case, why are you defending it so vigorously?

I'm not. Not any more than my adamant defense of the Klan's right to march and assemble has any tangential relationship to my feeling about the filth they believe.

There's our right to act and what we do with it.

And Jed said, "Get away from there"...

...The word marriage has been redefined.

That sounds radical, but it's still the same contract with the state, the one I've never read people of faith decry when used by the atheist without a thought of or word to God. It has the same obligations and process of dissolution. In terms of contract it's the addition of a term in substitution. That's different, but the thing itself isn't changed, only the access to it has.

And I'll stop with chrys mantra...

...we need to
destroy the democratic party
vote republican

When you aim for the impossible you deny yourself the good you can do and serve a worse outcome.

Tomorrow? Glass houses, chins and the mayor of "moron city"...plus chrys sees what I did there. lain:

 

[Town Heretic]

And a momentary pause for...

The Tuesday Afternoon Gazette​

So captain "click" was opining...

I found a handy little button in the top righthand corner on each wind with a minus symbol. When I click on it the post disappears and stays disappeared. Useful when some can't be placed on ignore.

There's a handy little button on your computer too. lain: Push it and see what happens. We'll wait...

And chrys was still gnawing that bone of contention...

you should see what he did there
especially you
he was sorry that I was offended by the analogy
he was not sorry he called me a whore

I think he used it the way you once used "baby killer". Or, any of us can use rhetoric that's unnecessarily provocative and insulting. He went a shill too far. You went too far prior. I've gone too far.

When all at once he got, if inadvertently, to the marrow...

but you are a baby killer

And in that foolish declaration is the precise reason you have little reason to be upset...

you voted for someone who will do whatever he can to allow others to kill their babies...I may have voted for some you consider pro choice
but
I was voting to protect the party that is for life

lain:

Ah, the old "but" from which people pull exceptions that cover their...fannys.


While elsewhere rpchk was putting her eyes out with a point she didn't see coming...

did you see the question mark there?

Moron City

It's your thread. Does that make you the mayor? lain:

Then chrys revisited the working definition of insanity by declaring...

that was then and this is now
to get conservative judges you have to vote republican
conservative judges will not find laws against abortion and same sex marriage unconstitutional

They gave us the problem and now they're going to solve it? That's a neat, bloody trick up their sleeves.

And...

nothing will change until we
destroy the democratic party
vote republican

Which won't happen, so you're wasting time better spent on changing minds on the question instead of vilifying people you need to win over.

Then in Ask Knight LH tried to help Truster and, naturally, got mocked for his trouble...

Does it really matter?

Never mind.

Knight, Truster is just burning people to pieces with posts like this...and "Clicking" their charred remains.

Is there an ointment or something TOL could provide for people who run afoul of his enflamed wit? Because if not at this rate you're going to have to rename the joint "Uncle Owen's House".

Leading to...

What actually happened was I directed my question to Knight by name as I always do and then LH answered.

Happens all the time. People stepping in to help out. What you did isn't unusual either. lain:

I was going to ask him if he was Knight.

Of course you were.

This is a public site, but within that I still follow what I was taught as a child. Do not interrupt when others are talking....don't butt in.

So you want to attend the musical, you just reserve the right to be offended when people break into song and dance.

If I wanted general advice I wouldn't have asked Knight by name.

Click.

Then Knight said...

I have no idea what any of you are talking about. :idunno:

Now you know how kmo feels when he's in the NFL thread.

Rpchk was busy worrying about the unfairness of life to the white majority...

...Then on Hannity, one of the Black guests was a member of Black Student Union

What if one of the guests had been a member of something called White Student Union?

Do you know why you don't have a white student union? For the same reason you don't find a a restaurant that says "Chinese Food" in China. lain:

In response to which...

this makes no sense at all... b/c not all of us knows why there is no such restaurant..

dumb

Sometimes I think you'd lose at solitaire tag. lain:

Tomorrow? :think: I'll get back to you.

 

[Eeset]

Forensic scientists in Spain say they have found the tomb of Miguel Cervantes and are in possession of his remains, nearly 400 years after his death.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/03/17/don-quixote-author-s-remains-located.html

 

[Town Heretic]

The Wednesday Night Gazette​

In the NFL thread...

I hope the Eagles give Tebow a contract.

:think: That's one way to keep him off of television.

While Truster continued a Herculean attempt to justify his habit of placing everyone who differ on ignore...

...Firstly...Secondly...Thirdly...Then we come to the people we should avoid and ignore. They have no sincere intentions and therefore they have no spiritual and useful thoughts. All they bring forth are default words that have no depth, no use and are as empty as chaff which is devoid of seed.

The alternative being that you have a thing wrong, can't actually speak with certainty to the motivation of someone else and conflate your judgement with the only sound, good and honorable one, compounding the error.

Of course you've chosen the surest course to avoid that consideration. lain:

And, oddly, after jumping up and down in a couple of my threads...

...you're just trying to bait me into making a post that you can report for being "not in the spirit of the thread"

nice try, but i'm not biting :wave2:

Oh, don't sell yourself short.

Then Mr. Truster said to Levolor that he pitied the fool who responded to...well, no, but what he did say wasn't much better...

You continually prove your ignorance of scripture and your inability to apply it to people or situations.

This is why I don't ever enter any thread you start, but it seems you cannot ignore my threads....I wonder why?

Check your profile page though, Lev. I bet his name is on it.

EDIT: I checked and it is.

After which he still found time for this remarkable gem, elsewhere aimed at a conversation between AMR and another poster...

Then why don't you have this conversation in private? Because you need an audience before which you can parade you ever so superior knowledge. You have set yourself on a pedestal from which there is only one way down. You are a pitiful sight to behold.

And we have a winner for Most Unintentionally Ironic Post of the Year. :first:

I speculated on the culinary prowess and intimations of Cal...

Oh, I almost forgot! I finally made that spicy chili! No beans, lots of habaneros. Blammo.

One supposes the last sentence/word had something to do with broken plumbing. lain: Egad.

And had to ask (wouldn't you?)...

Thank you, Rusha.

Nothing like a helpful hand.

Speaking of, if you're arguing with someone and they end up mocking you how do you know who won?

While over in the agenda thread I was about as PC as could be...

I'm not saying I need to revisit my agenda, but it's running on Windows ME (which frankly seems self centered). :mmph:

So I guess part of my agenda is a metaphysical update.

lain:

Tomorrow? Idiots, sweaters and the vagaries of mathematics...or sumthing. lain:

 

[Town Heretic]

The Sunday Evening Gazette​

Well...

1. I don't argue, I discuss.

Oh no you don't. lain:

Then some goof called me a racist and the next thing you know there's rpchck all over the place (either)...said rpchck of the name calling...

astute observation

Well, at least you can spell it.

but not surprising to ME as he has already shown his elitist bent by essentially saying the poor are idiots...

Stop blaming me for your reading comprehension. I've never believed that being poor makes anyone an idiot.

Chrys said of one remark...

now this is positive

Sure. It's in my nature. This is something that won't make any sense to you, but if your pal showed up tomorrow with a positive, constructive attitude that's how I'd meet it.

I think your best thread was a mostly positive one and the response to it was tremendous, over time.

Then of another...

this is not

Ask and you will receive. Don't like the stew? Watch what you're putting into it.

Offered a contextual nudge...

... Big gov = tyrannical gov and loss of freedom is the result

Freedom isn't an inherent virtue. The freedom to starve or live in ignorant squalor, by way of. The freedom to build a nuclear device, for another. The freedom to murder without consequence. And so on.

So no one is really for unfettered liberty without regard for others. The rest is negotiation.

Argued with RK about a particular infraction...

...Yet I was banned for a couple of days, because out there there is people who believe God will reward them for standing up for him.

Or, you were banned for breaking a rule you agreed to abide by when you created an account. There are atheists, agnostics and anti theists here who manage their objections between the lines.

You can't hurt God. No one suggests you can. But if you want to ridicule the Holy, what is for the largest part of of your audience the center of their daily existence you've chosen the wrong forum for it. Object all you like, but keep the gloves up.

Although an agnostic, I am a follower of the teachings of Jesus

Well...that's peculiar. Or do you mean you like it when he agrees with you?

Continued to oppose Truster from behind his veil...

''Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful''.

Sad is a fellow who doesn't trust his argument enough to make it and meets opposition offered in civil difference with a retreat wrapped in flags of war and the fanfare of a charge. lain:

And to this fearful gem responded...

...I haven't put him on ignore because he doesn't mention anything spiritual and therefore would cause me no alarm nor harm.

Nothing another man can speak will cause me harm without my consent and I am only alarmed by men who believe themselves to hold a truth so fragile it will not bear examination.

Then RK was back...

...God can handle any attempt against him with no problem. You don't need to create laws or rules against insulting God because no harm is done.

There's where you go awry. It isn't about harm, but about the point of discourse on the subject. A person who can't discuss God without blaspheming isn't really at a point where reasoned, productive discourse is possible. I mean it's a bit like this, you wouldn't attempt to have a measured conversation on character with a man who insisted on spending his time impugning yours with profanity.

Christians must focus on harm done against humans...that's what Jesus did.

I'd say he concentrated on the harm we do ourselves.

Tomorrow? A angry young ruler, more rpchck to clean up and the countdown to Truster's aneurysm continues. lain:

 

[Town Heretic]

The Tuesday Afternoon Gazette​

Continued with Truster on his forever ending story...

I choose to ignore most people because what they have to say is ''Without Worth''

And who gets to decide that? How many guesses do I get?

just like the name of the prince of the power of the air the spirit that works in the children of disobedience.

Because nothing says I have my objective act together quite like comparing people who differ with those in league with the devil.

Answered Ascon on a candidate who even managed to irk some conservatives with his opinion on a recent S.Ct. ruling...

Not to worry, the 82% who do are enough to get him elected POTUS.

Ted "If I can get enough money out of it heck yes corporations can buy speech" Cruz?

Not a living chance he's going to win the center or win the White House without it.

While elsewhere chrys asked...

is elohiym mad?

No, but he can get a little testy from time to time. lain:

Before answering Eeset's latest crusade...

...Knight created the lifetime membership category and granted certain exemptions. Most members are unfamiliar with them, even lifetime members. I had no idea the exemptions existed when I spent $500 on my membership. It was months later that someone pointed it out to me.

Then it wasn't the basis of the bargain in any event where you're concerned so you can't claim any real injury and whoever can doesn't appear to be, which is a good thing (since they'd be a putz). lain:

Now, however, I think it is time for Knight to weigh in and clarify the current lifetime membership benefits. Are there any?

...Here's a link for anyone interested in comparing packages...there has to be a better way to say that: http://www.theologyonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19318

Talked free speech with our neighbor "over there"...

Today it was reported in the UK news that a street preacher was convicted for his sermons on the streets of Taunton:

A sad day for your rights across the pond.

How far should freedom of speech extend?

I think it depends on the circumstance, that no right is without some rational restriction. Should an anti theist have the right to stand up in your church and begin a diatribe? In our country we get permits for public speaking. I'm not sure how it's done there. Speech that isn't a call to violence/criminal activity should be protected, be it virtuous or odious.

And had this to say about people who feel entitled to speak your mind for you, friend or foe...

I certainly will not be voting for a progressive liberal republican like Jeb Bush. I personally don't agree with your assessment either, you are a liberal I expect you to hate a true conservative just like the RINO's do.

I think you sound stupid when you write something like that. I don't think you are stupid, but when you write something like that you might as well be. (coda)

I don't hate Cruz. I just wouldn't vote for him. I wouldn't vote for Hillary either.

Liberal...

Only in the land of "I create my own dictionary and redefine to suit me". Which, I hear, has a really low income tax...and attention span.

sorry you libs have screwed things up enough, time to let the adults run things.

See: Coda.

While Eeset was still trying to find a way to stomp foot, softly...

Your last word compulsion is showing. :mock: predictable

Let's all consider what that sort of comment was designed to be.

Then everyone have a good laugh until we can get meshak and Eeset into this year's Attention Off.

Leading, in short order, to her passive aggressive shtick (I made bold what wasn't offered boldly)...

As I said, you are compulsive about having the last word.

So you keep saying. And keep saying.

:mock:freeloader

You think I'm ashamed of a gift or should be? Remarkable. What do you think grace is, freeloader?

Summed here...

Back on topic. I would appreciate an update from Knight. Only Knight can do it with authority.

I left a link to the membership packages. You've noted the one thing you didn't count on that now bothers you, so you aren't looking for an update or authority. What you're doing is trying to use the faux inquiry to get Knight to put someone back in line, as you see it.

But you couldn't put it that way because the someone is a mod and you'd rather end run.

And now you know the rest of the story...good day. :e4e:

Tomorrow? Sex, politics and more in our stars...

 

[Psalmist]

This is great...

Town Quixote's -- Thread

It's a great read, entertaining at times.

T/H, thanks for this thread and your great effort to keep it going.

Psalmist​

 

[Town Heretic]

Thanks again, Psalmist. I enjoy putting it together.

Off topic a friend of mine has become a vegetarian and recently posted a poster of the eye of an animal surrounded by fur along with the question: When you look into the eye of an animal, ask the question: What's the difference between us?

My answer follows...

Depends on the animal, to answer the question. If I'm looking into the eyes of a charging lion I may see my place in the food chain. If I'm looking at a chicken, likewise, I suppose...what I know is that I was born with canine incisors, that I'm an omnivore, designed to subsist on a number of things, from vegetables to meat.

I don't have a problem with vegetarians, but I find the effort and aim of the question to be horribly off center. If I am only another animal then the food chain and my appetite are sufficient. If I am more than animal then that position and my making are sufficient on the point.

Or, if a bus filled with the cutest animals imaginable were heading for the edge of a cliff in one direction and a single human baby was heading toward the other in the opposite direction I know without hesitation where I'm running and why.

Between tooth and claw, species loyalty and the underpinning question of design move me to the same response. That said, if anyone wants to subsist or even thrive as a herbivore more power to them.

 

[patrick jane]

Thanks again, Psalmist. I enjoy putting it together.

Off topic a friend of mine has become a vegetarian and recently posted a poster of the eye of an animal surrounded by fur along with the question: When you look into the eye of an animal, ask the question: What's the difference between us?

My answer follows...

Depends on the animal, to answer the question. If I'm looking into the eyes of a charging lion I may see my place in the food chain. If I'm looking at a chicken, likewise, I suppose...what I know is that I was born with canine incisors, that I'm an omnivore, designed to subsist on a number of things, from vegetables to meat.

I don't have a problem with vegetarians, but I find the effort and aim of the question to be horribly off center. If I am only another animal then the food chain and my appetite are sufficient. If I am more than animal then that position and my making are sufficient on the point.

Or, if a bus filled with the cutest animals imaginable were heading for the edge of a cliff in one direction and a single human baby was heading toward the other in the opposite direction I know without hesitation where I'm running and why.

Between tooth and claw, species loyalty and the underpinning question of design move me to the same response. That said, if anyone wants to subsist or even thrive as a herbivore more power to them.

indeed, i am a severe animal lover, very tasty. jk, i do "love" all animals, beyond God telling us we have dominion, i don't believe in overkill, no pun intended. fine line, and i can't kill for sport only, or work at a live animal slaughter facility. i can't focus on the massive, assembly line processing or the death blows, too sad, nothing i can do about it. i am thankful to God for everything i eat. P.S. - what if that baby on the bus was "pre-destinated" as a hellbound demon child ? KIDDING !

 

[zoo22]

Or, if a bus filled with the cutest animals imaginable were heading for the edge of a cliff in one direction and a single human baby was heading toward the other in the opposite direction I know without hesitation where I'm running and why.

What a silly argument. If a human baby was headed off a cliff in one direction and your son was headed off a cliff in the other direction, you'd probably "know without hesitation where you're running and why," but it's not an argument for why it's fine to eat babies.

 

[Town Heretic]

What a silly argument. If a human baby was headed off a cliff in one direction and your son was headed off a cliff in the other direction, you'd probably "know without hesitation where you're running and why," but it's not an argument for why it's fine to eat babies.

Because they're tasty. Do I have to do all the heavy lifting for you people? You are people, right? :think: Wait right there.