Hi Pericles.. well I thought we covered that ground oh.. probably a million times by now.

You are quite adept at looking up my old posts.. you will find it all there.

I can simply disagree with people who want to turn their meat eating pets into vegetarians..but if they have a political agenda to alter the law so that NO-one can feed meat to their pets... then we have a problem do we not?

We are no longer able to just agree to disagree and walk away.. nope.. we have been criminalized for feeding our pet dog that which all it's instinct and habit dictate it should eat.

That's where the problem comes.

We in Victoria have 'tasted' the thin end of that political wedge with the RRT and I probably know a heck of a lot more than you, about what went on in attempts to ammend it and how such attempts were met by Mr Bracks and his dodgy company..for purely political reasons.
Not being arrogant there, but we in the various churches did a lot of work to try to ammend it.. not exactly front page stuff.

You know all the issues I've mentioned over time about Islamic beliefs.. each of those beliefs constitutes potential legislation, whether by 'preference deal making' in close elections or...outright brute force if their numbers reach that point.

By making it political, we avoid the 'lynch mob' mentality, believe it or not. Those things usually happen AFTER the horse has bolted and people suddenly wake up to the facts of the matter and that its too late...and react emotionally and accordingly.

Cronulla was quite avoidable.. not by 'racist whites' pulling their heads in but by adequate and affirmative policing of the symptom stage.

Do you think PETA will not (is not) try(ing) to force legislation to achieve their goals?

But then, they are not telling me my faith is cursed or that I should be punished in 'this life and the next' for what I and many others believe.

Can you imagine the reaction to banning recreational fishing on 'animal_cruelty' grounds?

BOAZ says: "The point you dear folks continually miss.. (still) is that sharing the Gospel is not about beating up the unbeliever until he submits..its about calling men and women to repentance from sin and faith in Christ."

Now I'm more confused than before. Are men and women called to repent both for having sinned and having faith in Christ?

Hi there

I'm one of those single-minded fantical followers of Supreme Master Ching Hai, the most wealthy Guru in the universe. Sseriously. I am. And I love it. Here's why...
-I have felt a little of Gods Direct Contact since meditating with Her method. I don't care to say we have a monopoly on God though. Neither does She care to.
-She created a totally non-denominational globally FREE TV channel to help bring the world closer together, at her own expense.
-She makes heaps of money then redistributes it in ways that help everyone including disaster releif.

Oh how wonderfully weird. The money comes from Her art, music and lecture DVDs bought by us and we love them. She represents the physical manifestation of my inner self, which is one with everyone else's. I'm happy to hand over the cash because I know that these days, She works for the benefit of the world without hardly time to sleep or eat.

Can we all be so weird?

Spikey,

I don't know about you, but, perhaps my family and friends are simply boring. No murders or thieves. Most just lead a life caring for each other and themselves, and are respectful of the community and others.
My expereince, I suspect, typical.

Of course, there is crime, but the peak hour train from "a" to "b", methinks, carries just ordinary folk going about the business of life, without having sinning perptually on their mind, as the Christians would have us believe.

O.

Dear David,

As I tried to point out to you earlier - you really have nothing to fear from Islam or any other influence.

"It is what comes out of a man that defiles him. For from inside, out of man's heart, come evil thoughts, acts of fornication, of theft, murder, adultery, ruthless greed, and malice; fraud, indecency, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly; these evil things all come from inside, and they defile the man."
Mark 7:21

It is what's within your own heart that matters.

Sorry Boazy, I have absolutely no mental image of you. It has never occurred to me once that it was of any relevance whatsoever in relation to what you have to say.

I listen to what people have to say when there is a discussion going on, I couldn't care less what they look like.

What does looks or size have to do with real,emphasis on real here, courage anyway? Besides,one Christian vs two Muslims could be an uneven physical match. No matter how big or small said Christian or Muslims. You were outnumbered for starters.

But more importantly than what these 'enemies' could have done to you, what would the other stall holders have to say about a Christian who doesn't lovingly shake his enemies hand? Christians are supposed to love their enemies. It's one thing some Christians love to proclaim loudly about themselves, even as they drop cluster bombs and lay land mines. Probably blessed beforehand, so they can lovingly kill the enemy, lurking everywhere.

There are times Boazy, when I really feel that you desperately need the notion of 'enemies' who persecute you and your faith in order for you to be able to demonstrate to others how you can 'love' them anyway. It's the mainstay to support the superiority of your religion above all others and your personal practice of Christianity.

Nobody understands what's it like to feel love for their enemies, only a committed Christian like yourself. Ergo, if you have no enemies, or think you have none, you cannot practice and know about this. Or if you think you do have enemies, a non-Christian would not be able to love them.