BibleForums Christian Message Board

If it an be proven that someone attacked a Christian, Jew, Muslim, black person, white person etc strictly because they are one of these things then that is reason enough for harsher penalties.

Remember Auschwitz? How about The Elaine massacre? Look outside of America and down the long history of mans atrocities committed simply over racial, cultural and religious differences and it's easy to see why we need hate crime laws. 

Topic: The establishment of Christian law in or as part of secular government.
A state religion(?)

We already have that in England and America for example.

William Blackstone made no secret about the fact that the Bible was used to create and codify laws and then the US constitutional tradition in the colonies and eventually the Constitution in 1787 were biblically based and also, naturally, the American legal system and laws.

Do you mean changing existing laws to be even more biblically based? I'm a bit confused here. What specific countries are we talking about or do you mean in a general sense that isn't geographically based?

Edit to add: Separation of Church and State is Christian/Biblically based. "Render unto Caeser" and all that, yeah?

Could you guys elaborate? Who are these people and what exactly are they doing?

At most one of us is right. (The possibility exists that we're both wrong, of course.)

I agree.

I don't see how one threads the needle that "actually we're all correct".

Me either.

My son went to a study program for a year after high school (as many religious Jews do) and was so enthralled with the experience that he stayed and became a citizen. 

I think that's beautiful man. Awesome.

If Jews are correct, it's an intensely holy and spiritual place. It certainly felt that way to me.

If Christians are right, it's all a trivial exercise.

I personally believe that God judges our hearts and our love for Him and others. I guess we'll find out on judgement day. Which you don't is actually think is a thing. 

I wouldn't even say that a majority of the people in this forum would agree with you. Let alone in Protestantism and certainly in Catholicism which is much more supercessionist. 

Maybe you're right and I should have said most of the Christians I know and have known personally.
But, I think you would be surprised.

I'm not trying to convince anyone here otherwise.

I know.

First, I've been reading most of the threads and posts here even though I haven't responded yet. The "Christians find Jesus in every verse." ( or whatever the title is ) was on my mind when I posted. Hence the smiley face at the end of my post.

Second, (hey this is fun  ) jesting or not though, the Bible is all about God and His dealings/relationship with His creations. 
Christians believe that Jesus is God just as Jews believe that God is God. Empirical fact? It's all about faith as you well know, eh? 
So, yeah, no difference in my eyes. But, no, I don't find Jesus in every verse. Which is weird.

Good to read others and your posts. I may not agree with you on certain things obviously, but I love the way you phrase things and you've always made me think and question. That's a very good thing.
I've been great actually. Thanks for asking.

I miss the old Gene Wilder avatar.

Amen!

 At some point, logic dictates there is direct correlation between the activities of gay men and diseases that seem to target them. And while the world may roll its eyes at the suggestion, some of us suspect this connection to be rooted in a natural consequence of unnatural sexual activity.  In Romans 1, Paul speaks about those who rebelled against God, both in pagan forms of worship, and in sexual deviation.

I'm done some digging into scriptures and news reports, statistics etc.

First the scriptures. What does the Bible say about homosexual actions?  It's a sin. It's not a "greater sin" it's simply sin just like any other sins fallen mankind commits.

Now the rest. Homosexual males are far more likely to contract sexually transmitted diseases ( skin to skin contact ) at a much higher rate than other groups including heterosexuals and gay females. Why?
The consensus seems to be that they are not only more promiscuous than other groups ( Hetro, gay women and whatever )they are far more likely to engage in risky behavior.

I've come to this understanding by doing simple Google searches over the last couple of days. I looked at a LOT of things written about this that reference medical journals, statistics and the like.

I don't think that God "discriminates" against gay people. It's sin sure and God hates that, however, it's the risky behavior that they willfully engage in at very high rates that's the culprit.

Just my 2 cents. I thought that this was interesting.

But asking if a person was born blind because of sin he himself committed before he was born still poses a bit of a conundrum to me.

I'm not trying to be flippant here but you have to remember that these were uneducated fishermen and such. Jesus called them and the knowledge they received was from God. Father, Son & Holy Spirit taught and directed them, yeah?

It was simply a question of a student to his teacher IMO.