maybe we should do what President Jefferson did RE the Bible..

[Clyde 154]

That's interesting.

If they had them, he could have read a red letter edition of the bible that has the words of Jesus in red. I grew up with them, and I much prefer them.

I'm sure it would be easy to scan the pages in and auto delete everything not in red. It would be an interesting book. Maybe it already exists?

Wonderment to me is the founders that read the bible and still were able to justify enslaving their fellows who were created in the image of God. Jefferson repeatedly raped an under-age slave girl. Not sure which words of Jesus he had in mind while doing that.

Slavery? Slavery existed in this republic because the majority of the People/States wanted slavery to exist....even the northern states such as Maryland. Simply because society did not evolve to accept the truth that all men are created until the Civil War forced change upon society does not make the statement "All Men are Created Equal" an untruth. Truth does not change or evolve. What was true thousands of years ago is still true today or it was never truth in the beginning........societies evolve, laws evolve........truth does not.

The fact that the our founders were wise enough to ratify a document such as the US Constitution that allowed for change in our society speaks volumes. Once society accepted the truth that flesh peddling was immoral.......the laws of the land changed in this republic, just as did the rights of women to vote and own property. What? Are all women not created to be the equals of all men?

You don't think slavery still exists in the US because of popular demand? What do you call the penal system? None of these inmates chose to become STATE PROPERTY via free will..

The scriptures make it clear........."there is neither male nor female..........slave nor free, Jew nor Greek, all are equal once you have been baptized into Christ Jesus". (Gal. 3:28-29) and joint heirs to the promise made by God to father Abraham.

 

[Seymour Flops]

Do you live in N or S or W or E Texas? Just curious bc I sometimes think of moving to TX

I live in the Houston area. It's nice, and there are plenty of opportunities for work, business, education, medical care, whatever you need. Houston is almost always a boom town.

It's very diverse as far as race, nationality, language and culture. But everyone's a workaholic. When the people from Louisiana came to Houston for asylum after that Hurricane, some Houstonians said, "their gonna bring that Loser-Anna welfare mentality." I said, "wait . . . " Sure enough, they saw what nice homes they could buy, just by working a regular job, and didn't have to live in "housing," while thanking some politician for the roach-infested shack. They left dependency behind.

But we've been looking in the Hill Country with an eye to retirement.

 

[Seymour Flops]

Slavery? Slavery existed in this republic because the majority of the People/States wanted slavery to exist....even the northern states such as Maryland. Simply because society did not evolve to accept the truth that all men are created until the Civil War forced change upon society does not make the statement "All Men are Created Equal" an untruth. Truth does not change or evolve. What was true thousands of years ago is still true today or it was never truth in the beginning........societies evolve, laws evolve........truth does not.

The fact that the our founders were wise enough to ratify a document such as the US Constitution that allowed for change in our society speaks volumes. Once society accepted the truth that flesh peddling was immoral.......the laws of the land changed in this republic, just as did the rights of women to vote and own property. What? Are all women not created to be the equals of all men?

I appreciate your passion, Clyde.

I have to say, that the majority of slaves freed were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, an entirely extra-constitutional action enforced by the firepower of the Union Army. That war was won, not by bravery and determination, which the southerners had in spades, but by better manufacturing of armaments. The Union Army liberated slaves in the same sense that they liberated crops, livestock and supplies from the southern folk. The intent of the EP was to pressure southern states to rejoin the union so they could keep their slaves.

Only those states which remained in the Union kept their slaves until the XIII Amendment passed.

You don't think slavery still exists in the US because of popular demand? What do you call the penal system? None of these inmates chose to become STATE PROPERTY via free will..

I get you, but what do you propose we do with a fella that robs a bank?

I favor a system of far longer sentences, but far more humane prisons. Work should be an opportunity to earn money to buy things in prison, but if a prisoner chooses not to work, he still gets humane housing food and need not fear being attacked by guards or inmates.

The scriptures make it clear........."there is neither male nor female..........slave nor free, Jew nor Greek, all are equal once you have been baptized into Christ Jesus". (Gal. 3:28-29) and joint heirs to the promise made by God to father Abraham.

Did that passage intend to say that a slave becomes a free man if he has been baptized into Christ Jesus, and that his master, if his master is a Christian, them master must accept him a free man?

I wish it did, but I think not. I think the meaning of that is that males will still be males, Jews will still be Jews, Greeks will still be Greeks, and slaves will still be slaves. But all of that will be far less important than the fact that they have received the salvation of Jesus Christ by accepting it and being baptized.

 

[Clyde 154]

I appreciate your passion, Clyde.

I have to say, that the majority of slaves freed were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, an entirely extra-constitutional action enforced by the firepower of the Union Army. That war was won, not by bravery and determination, which the southerners had in spades, but by better manufacturing of armaments. The Union Army liberated slaves in the same sense that they liberated crops, livestock and supplies from the southern folk. The intent of the EP was to pressure southern states to rejoin the union so they could keep their slaves.

Only those states which remained in the Union kept their slaves until the XIII Amendment passed.

I get you, but what do you propose we do with a fella that robs a bank?

I favor a system of far longer sentences, but far more humane prisons. Work should be an opportunity to earn money to buy things in prison, but if a prisoner chooses not to work, he still gets humane housing food and need not fear being attacked by guards or inmates.

Did that passage intend to say that a slave becomes a free man if he has been baptized into Christ Jesus, and that his master, if his master is a Christian, them master must accept him a free man?

I wish it did, but I think not. I think the meaning of that is that males will still be males, Jews will still be Jews, Greeks will still be Greeks, and slaves will still be slaves. But all of that will be far less important than the fact that they have received the salvation of Jesus Christ by accepting it and being baptized.

Nothing that I presented is an "untruth". 1. We live in a republic...........a constitutional representative republic, and the only way a "free republic" can exist as being ruled via its people, as that was the purpose of becoming a representative republic instead of a pure democracy where the Mob rules because of sheer numbers. If the US had been founded as a democracy.......slavery would have never been allowed to end as long as the MOB supported that institution (Look at history actual........the southern states were represented by many original creators of our founding legal documents that formed the republic known as the United States of America. As representatives they, of course, attempted to reflect the will of those who placed them into leadership roles.

Again.......simply because any peoples do not accept the statement "all men are created equal" as a literal truth.......does not prohibit that truth from existing. The greatest thing these founders accomplished was to set in place a system of self government that would allow for the social mores' of its people to evolve and adjust the laws of our land to reflect that evolution. The US constitution is called a "living, breathing document" for a reason. It is subject to change via a super majority ratification process of 75%. The only thing one would get by allowing change via a simple majority is a conflict such as the CIVIL WAR where the people were split about the institution of slavery.

Reality: The civil war did not begin due to any disagreement concerning Slavery......it began as a STATES RIGHTS ISSUE. In fact Lincoln never breeched the subject of slavery nor emancipation until he decided to use the subject as a means to gain a 2nd term. History Actual more than proves this fact. In the years leading up the civil war the U.S was expanding quickly.......the split came because half the nation wanted the issue of slavery to be voted upon by the actual people residing in that new state with BIG BROTHER FED having no say until it could actually reflect a super majority 75% ratification acceptance by all the states. The U.S. stopped being a true Constitutional Republic when the states lost their right to self government void of a supermajority ratification process. Slavery would have ended by itself once the south became industrialized like the other nations of the that had banned slavery........this evolution was never given a chance to the proud people of the south. Another fact.........the majority of the people from the south that actually fought in the war.........never owned a slave in their lives.


2. The reason that Slavery was mentioned as being reflected in our Penal System........is due to the fact that even God endorses this type of slavery as punishment against those who owed civil debts or were committing crimes against humanity. The very first penal system was introduced by the Hebrews, who were in the beginning a nomadic group of peoples on the move constantly.......thus, God allowed slavery due to the fact that there were no prisons to keep any criminals or peoples captured in battle. Those who were proven to have committed gross crimes against humanity were put to death, those captured in battle were made slaves until they were accepted into the tribe as equal (if they behaved). The Hebrews had rules on how to treat their slaves/prisoners .......they were very humane rules.

As noted: This system of slavery is still used in a global fashion.......instead of being made literal slaves of society and put to work as slave labor (the way it used to be when you saw road gangs and even local prisoners picking up trash, working on our roads and infrastructure networks)........today, they are simply locked away from society with the cost to the taxpayers becoming so great that our penal system is beginning to implode upon itself, as the United States per capita has more people locked away from society than any other nation on earth (that calls itself a free state). There is nothing "immoral" about this type of slavery whatsoever........the only alternative would be that which is practiced by the nations around the world ruled via despotism.......death. There are many of these nations that have a far less prison population than the U.S.....the reason is they are quick to use the death sentence.

3. As far as declaring what a scripture "intends" to communicate? That is the problem with the majority of people......they do not allow the scriptures to interpret themselves. When read in context while staying within the integrity of the subject matter..........the scriptures interpret themselves. They say what they intend to say. In the eyes of God, when baptized into the family of God through the acceptance of Christ Jesus................"There is neither male nor female, bond nor free, Jew nor Greek (gentile).........all are equal and joint heirs to the promise of father Abraham in becoming members of a great nation called Christianity. There is nothing "ambiguous" whatsoever about what this passage INTENDS TO DECLARE.

What? Are you declaring there are no Christians enslaved in our modern penal system........forgiveness is beyond someone convicted of a crime?

 

[rightnow909]

I live in the Houston area. It's nice, and there are plenty of opportunities for work, business, education, medical care, whatever you need. Houston is almost always a boom town.

It's very diverse as far as race, nationality, language and culture. But everyone's a workaholic. When the people from Louisiana came to Houston for asylum after that Hurricane, some Houstonians said, "their gonna bring that Loser-Anna welfare mentality." I said, "wait . . . " Sure enough, they saw what nice homes they could buy, just by working a regular job, and didn't have to live in "housing," while thanking some politician for the roach-infested shack. They left dependency behind.

But we've been looking in the Hill Country with an eye to retirement.

hill country? in southern TX?

hmmm...

yeh, i got kinda worried when TX had that weird ice storm last winter, coldest winter on record, I think... I mean, one reason i wanted to go there was weather...

still, it probably isn't like that most of the time even in winter?

Is Flops your real name? laugh... What did you do w/ the people hating cat? laugh.... I loved that avatar. (I love the new one also of course)

 

[Seymour Flops]

hill country? in southern TX?

hmmm...

yeh, i got kinda worried when TX had that weird ice storm last winter, coldest winter on record, I think... I mean, one reason i wanted to go there was weather...

still, it probably isn't like that most of the time even in winter?

Is Flops your real name? laugh... What did you do w/ the people hating cat? laugh.... I loved that avatar. (I love the new one also of course)

No, Texas is almost never like that. But it's a big state, you can find just about any kind of climate you want, except maybe the cold northern forests as the US has in the northeast and northwest.

"Seymour Flops," is a poker pun.

*boring explanation follows. Feel free to skip*

Each player in Hold 'em gets two cards to start with and players bet on them, and often fold right then. The flop is the three cards that come next, for each remaining player to match his cards with. If you still have cards, you are said to "see the flop." If you fold a bad hand like a seven and a four before the flop and the flop comes with two sevens and one floor, you can say, "I would have had a full house, but I didn't see the flop."

I want to see more flops in 2022, because I spent all of 2020 playing only very good hands and folding all others. In 2022, my goal is to play more hands and win more through bluffing more often instead of only playing when I'm very likely to have the best cards.

[/end boring explanation]

I'll bring back my late cat "Lucky," who kept our house snake free and had many brushes with death, as soon as abortion isn't the hot topic.

 

[Leviticus]

What he did was remove all mention of Jesus' divinty and the supernatural. He was a unitarian and a deist. He revered Jesus as a philosopher and moralist but didn't view him as a god.