Shintaro

Your talent for haiku is laudable. You are one of the posters, when spied in my email, I always read; both for the precision as much for your discernment. I love to learn. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of AGIR who not only remains impervious to the views of others, but actually boasts of his prejudice - Jesus must be rolling in his grave with his hypocrisy:

>> The "us" is...those who have received Christ as their Lord and Savior, and have repented of sin....they are called "Christians"

"They" are those who have yet to receive Christ as Savior. <<

AGIR forgets his Saviour's teaching:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
(Matthew 5.3-12 ESV)

Dear PerryMason..... you can't see where I'm coming from because of the absense of faith in your life (I mean faith in Christ).

When I say I'm an advocate of 'us/them'..I explained that very clearly.

"we" the saved.... "they" the unsaved. etc. I also outlined the disposition between 'we' (saved) and 'they' (unsaved)..and it is one of reaching out as ambassadors to achieve reconciliation between 'they' and God.

This is in stark contrast to such ideas as 'fight them..until they are subjected' That's a different form of 'us/them'...

The point about the Mt Druit brawl was simply underlining that 'us/them' is a reality which will never be overcome outside of the unity found in Christ. Even then..our humanity can sometimes overide our spiritual wisdom.. and you can see this is in Churches which are dominated by particular families or individuals. (and if you look at their history you will usually see a recent 'split')

J PARKER... on the contrary, how could I forget such teaching?

The very first words Jesus uttered in his ministry were:

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1)

If was AFTER that message.. that he spoke on the mount. His teaching was primarily 'repent/believe' (Kingdom of God) and then.. his further teaching on the nature of the kingdom "blessed are"..etc.

May I ask.. are you among those who have repented ? If not, the opportunity is right there now. You don't need me.. a priest.. anyone...it's all between you and the Lord. If you do make that decision though, I recommend finding a supportive fellowship where you can grow.

AGIR

My religion is none of your business. How you treat others is of concern.

I would wager that more Christians disagree than agree with your inflexible and opaque understanding of Christ.

With apologies to Shintaro and Shakespeare;

AlGoreisRich will,
by any other name, remain
Odoriferous.

Dear J Parker,

IMHO AGIR seeks to derail any discussion into his area of concern. You have aided him in doing so.

Back onto 'we/they'...

The British Prime Minister.. Cameron, has finally conceded "State sponsored multiculturalism is...DEAD"

Considering it was a barely alive deformed monstrosity from the beginning.. it is little wonder that it has finally been issued with a death certificiate.

http://www.channel4.com/news/far-right-edl-and-anti-fascists-in-luton-stand-off

//The demonstration took place on the day prime Minister David Cameron told a security conference in Munich that multiculturalism had failed in the UK. The Prime Minister called for a "muscular liberalism" to challenge Islamist extremism.//

The "Demonstration" referred to was the English Defense League 'back to where it all began' rally at Luton yesterday.

I love Cameron's euphemism "Muscular" Liberalism..... code for ?

So... looks like we/they is alive and well in the UK.. and societies where odious "Multi" culturalism has been forced on them by the despised Jackboot of the forces of cultural relativism, spiritual desolation and social bankruptcy, will increasingly react against it.

If these atrociously uninformed pseudo scholars and debauched academics who drive a depraved social agenda and insidious curriculum formation don't stop trying to re-engineer our societies, and peddling their 'smut in the guise of ethics' they might find themselves given the red card of "unwelcome here" to match their red hearts.

DavidF says : “I would like to get rid of all the above nasty ideas, and get rid of all other we/they ideas that divide humanity. I know that I can’t. I do not want to deny differences, eliminate them or not recognise them. I just would like differences accepted.

Can we recognise the problems that we all have as humans, recognise our common humanity and work together to solve those problems?”

A lot hinges on what is meant by “accepted” .
If your “difference” results in you being destitute .
Does my “acceptance” entail me ( while leaving you to live as you like) continually bailing you out?

Phrases like “work together to solve the problems” have all the polish of politian-speak , but usually hide (unpleasant) ground –level truths that ‘”working together” usually entails, me bailing you out of bankruptcy but not impinging on core lifestyle choices that lead to your going bankrupt in the first place.