Steve Kelley for March 17, 2013

Is that Biden?

Has the pope ever eaten shellfish? The Bible says it is an abomination on par with two men sleeping together. No wonder he’s so humble! He has a lot to be humble about!

How, then, do you define “a moral law which is applicable to all mankind”? Given that homosexuality has existed throughout human history, and, yes, WAS accepted in many cultures, including that of Greece and Rome, the former being the source of Western Civilization and the latter a key contributor, on what is your assertion based?

The shellfish prohibition was a law given only to the Jews. The prohibition against homosexual behavior is a moral law which is applicable to all mankind.Yeah, what ever you have to tell yourself so you can still see yourself as superior. I always found it suspicious that all of the prohibitions so-called believers don’t agree with miraculously don’t apply to them, but everything they do agree with is supposed to apply to everyone. It’s a load of crap.

Folks, please notice that the issue of the Mosaic Law is not being addressed here! Rather, it is the hypocrisy of supporting a woman’s right to have her unborn child murdered and the right of homosexuals to marry, while still giving a small offering to charitable organizations, that is being condemned. Murder is condemned in both the Old and New Testaments.Homosexuality is likewise condemned by the Apostle Paul in both Romans 1 & 1 Corinthians 6. Charitable giving is encouraged in 1 Corinthians 9. If you are going to “practice” Christianity, in this case the Catholic Church, then at least live by what they teach! Otherwise, you are a hypocrite!

Isn’t an “Orthodox Catholic” a contradiction in terms?…And the reasons go back into history and what made the Great Schism possible between the Greek and Roman churches.…The Roman Church catered to those that spoke Latin, Gaelic and Germanic tongues and was a blend of both local beliefs (Yule, Saturnalia) and Christian/eastern Mediterranean (Easter).…And since there was no Roman emperor in the west past 476 that everybody would recognize, there might have been some “lip-service” paid to the Emperor in Constantinopolis, but also to the local kings in the west, who claimed sovereignty in their own lands as more and more of them stood up to the authority of the Emperor in Constantinopolis in the 5th and 6th Centuries, starting with Recesswinth, the King of the Visigoths in Hispania and spreading to the Franks in Gaul.…As for the Greek Church, they were closer to the Roman emperor sitting at Constantinopolis and that the Church there was part of the government.…And as for their celebrations, there was Christmas, which they celebrated at the shortest day of the year in wintertime, along with easter, with their devotion to the scripture and being the direct translation from Aramaic to Greek, as opposed to Aramaic to Greek To Latin and to the vernacular tongues in the western parts.…And when the Archbishop of Rome, the Pope, and the emperor in Constantinopolis, had feuds over church authority and practice in the west or throughout the rest of Christendom, it usually meant that the Archbishop would defer to the emperor until the feuds simmered over time and in 1054, the emperor then broke off relations with the Pope, who declared his authority just as sovereign as the emperor’s, both past and present, in all Church matters, which neither the emperor nor his ecclesiastical leaders would recognize.…And to this day, the churches that had closer ties to the emperor in Constantinopolis have always upheld themselves to be “Orthodox” while the western churches were held to be “heretical”, even though we use a more polite term to describe the western church—“Catholic”, for its breakaway beliefs and its inclusion of churches and practices foreign to the Empire, especially in what were once the western provinces.…And so when I see the terms “Orthodox Catholic”, I have to wonder what is meant and what kind of Liturgy, Catechism, Rite or Practice and even Calendar is followed by such a person, because there can be no such thing in the context between Greek, Latin and even vernacular Churches and their followings.

I am a born again Christian attending a Baptist church. So it is irrelevant to ME, what the CATHOLIC Church teaches concerning contraception! In contrast with Joe Biden, who claims to be a practicing Catholic, but he stands against much of what they teach!

Wrong! It is not ‘republicans’ who are against homosexuality, it is God, who repeatedly condemned homosexuality as a sin in he Bible. But just like any other sinner, homosexuals can get saved and delivered from their sin, and many have! They even get married to someone of the opposite gender, and never return to their former ‘lifestyle.’

“Wrong! It is not ‘republicans’ who are against homosexuality, it is God, who repeatedly condemned homosexuality as a sin in he Bible.”According to the Bible, God forbade and commanded a lot of things that are freely ignored by the self-professed faithful. I’ve always found it suspicious that what so called believers don’t believe in miraculously no longer apply, yet what they do still believe in, they try to force on to others.

In other words, you are defining “a moral law which is applicable to all mankind” as a moral law created solely by the Catholic Church. Please be specific next time. Of course, at various times the Church has approved of slavery and forbidden lending at interest, among many other things, (and the Jews once apparently accepted Solomon having a thousand wives) so you might want to consider the Second Vatican Council, which established that the people are the Church — not the hierarchy. Even the “universal” church has changed its beliefs.

So your god condemns the gays. He also gave the thumbs up on owning slaves and beating them just short of death. That’s your book of morality, not mine. Stop forcing your beliefs on those of us who don’t share them. Practice your beliefs in your home and church on your time, and stop using it as a basis for denying others their equal rights under the rule of law.

KJV of 1 Corinthians:“6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”-Being an alcoholic is along the same grounds of punishment as being “effeminate.” If you use “homosexual” in its place, then, by Christian standards, drinking alcohol (which I personally do not do) is just as bad as being gay (…guilty as charged). Also, every single Catholic is guilty of being an idolater. That little crucifix thingy…yeah, busted.-I’m an atheist, but I do know the Bible fairly well.

No, my unmarried daughter got pregnant and had the baby, after her & the baby’s daddy got married. But even if she had not, neither my wife & I, nor she, would have been in favor of abortion, for her or anyone else. Just because an unplanned pregnancy happens in my family,I still respect that a human being has been created, and its life is sacred to God.

“Likewise, they are against abortion until their unmarried daughter becomes pregnant.”Don’t forget their mistresses!

Paul III was just fine with slavery when it was limited to “enemies of Christendom.”The disagreement was over whether certain native Americans had really converted or were lying in order to escape slavery. Paul by and large affirmed the slave trade, as long as it was limited to non-Catholics. If the slaves converted they were still slaves. Their children were still slaves. In the 16th Century that passed for an enlightened attitude. The most generous view would say that the Catholic Church followed public opinion on slavery, they did not lead. No pope condemned ALL slavery until 1890.

“And both Greece & Rome used to extremely powerful in the world, and now are not. Could there be a connection to lax morals?”Correlation does not equal causation. There was much more at play than a perceived erosion of morals.

I do tend to agree with you. However, if a person is going to ‘practice’ a religion, then they should adhere to all of its tenets If they disagree with some of them, then let them work from within for change, but stay true until the change is accepted and in place.

Let me look that up in my Ayn Rand….

radish God did not create gays . they chose the path they want.

You shouldn’t guzzle so much lefty Kool Aid… makes it hard to think… oh wait, I think that’s the idea…