Rick Santorum I almost became a fan of Rick Santorum tonight.

[phill4paul]

Thanks brother, I don't blame agnostics for having a bad impression of Christianity, because I have come to recognize that at least 95% of Christians carry around the name without the reality. Although it sounds like a "no true Scotsman" fallacy, the reality that fewer than 5% of nominal Christians are in any way Christ-like makes it awfully difficult from the outside to see any merit in it whatsoever.

Further, I depart theologically from the establishment church somewhat by postulating that some portion of de facto Christians are not nominal Christians at all. Mind you, that quantity is vanishingly small.

There is a period in prophecy that we Christians expect called "the falling away" or the apostasy. I believe that that has already occurred. It's like Gandhi said "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." That's because the vast vast majority of us are unlike Christ.

The problem, of course, is that Christianity is supposed to be 100% about Christ-likeness. Therefore those who are unlike Christ are not really 'Christians' at all, no matter what they call themselves.

So it is apparent to me why non-Christians have a bad impression of us. Only a mere fraction of us actually mean what we say.

It sounds like a "no true Scotsman" fallacy, but it's not.

As ever you are 'spot on' Gunny. The Gandhi quote speaks volumes to me. As an agnostic, one brought up in the 'faith' and one that has explored all the aspects of it, I think he hit the nail on the head. I honestly might have become an athiest had it not been from my mothers adherence to Jesus's principles. Though my path is not hers the path she walks is inspiring. Loving. Caring. Non-Judgemental (for that is not up to her to pass judgement.) I dunno. Religion is a tricky subject when dealing with politics. Personally dealing with it from a rule of law without any favoritism is what the Constitution was about. I just hate that these things divide us.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Its a shame Rick believes in it only for himself. Hes a tyrant.

 

[phill4paul]

So PaulConventionWV... do you still consider yourself to favour Santorum over a spoken line?

 

[GunnyFreedom]

pretty sure he was being sarcastic or ironic, given the thumbs down he put on his own thread.

 

[phill4paul]

pretty sure he was being sarcastic or ironic, given the thumbs down he put on his own thread.

Truth be told I did not see that... If the OP was meant as /s or ironic I'd suggest making it clearer in the text.

 

[Feeding the Abscess]

Here's an idea:

When discussing Ron with Christians, use the phrase "salt of the earth" to describe him in some fashion. You can also tie in the "city on a hill," and here's the context in which I'm speaking:

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God.

10 Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are ye when [men] shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you.

13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.

14 Ye are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.

Got any ideas on how to phrase this, Gunny? I just blitzed a work out, so my mind is working in word salad fashion. Patch together a pitch of: Ron is a salt of the earth individual, America cannot be the shining city on a hill unless it exemplifies virtuous behavior (as defined in Matthew 5). You're good with this stuff; perhaps you've even used this type of approach in your own politicking.

 

[anaconda]

Santorum makes me ill. And I mean this almost literally.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

Here's an idea:

When discussing Ron with Christians, use the phrase "salt of the earth" to describe him in some fashion. You can also tie in the "city on a hill," and here's the context in which I'm speaking:



Got any ideas on how to phrase this, Gunny? I just blitzed a work out, so my mind is working in word salad fashion. Patch together a pitch of: Ron is a salt of the earth individual, America cannot be the shining city on a hill unless it exemplifies virtuous behavior (as defined in Matthew 5). You're good with this stuff; perhaps you've even used this type of approach in your own politicking.

I do have some direction on this, "We cannot be the shining city upon a hill unless we exemplify the very Christian principles that city was first purposed to demonstrate, like justice, mercy, and the golden rule."

I can get deeper with it, and on salt of the Earth also (a preservative) but it will have to wait until I get a lilzz zzzz

 

[Bman]

Ya want Christianity that is respected from an agnostic. Listen to Gunny.

He's the type of person that makes me wish I did believe. I'll just never get past resurrections and the like unless I'm playing an RPG.

 

[Mini-Me]

Lets make this simple.

Lets say there are only ten pencils in the world. Whats the value of 1 pencil? Probably pretty valuable.

Lets say there are 1,000 pencils in the world. Whats the value of 1 pencil? Less than if there is only 10 pencils.

Lets say there are an infinite amount of pencils in the world. Whats the value of 1 pencil? Zero.

If a pencil equals zero and there are an infinite amount of them, that means infinity equals zero.

Sorry, but I HAVE to address this. This post just BOTHERS me due to its complete confusion of mathematical concepts. Look closely and note the division operator:
(finite_value / 10) > (finite_value / 1000) > lim{n->infinity}(finite_value / n) = 0
lim{n->infinity}(finite_value / n) = 0, true...but that does not imply infinity = 0.
Depending on how pedantic we're going to be, some might argue it doesn't even imply (finite_value / infinity) = 0...

Thank you, Gunny, for illustrating disjoint infinite sets. It helped me keep my head from exploding in dismay.

Thanks brother, I don't blame agnostics for having a bad impression of Christianity, because I have come to recognize that at least 95% of Christians carry around the name without the reality. Although it sounds like a "no true Scotsman" fallacy, the reality that fewer than 5% of nominal Christians are in any way Christ-like makes it awfully difficult from the outside to see any merit in it whatsoever.

Further, I depart theologically from the establishment church somewhat by postulating that some portion of de facto Christians are not nominal Christians at all. Mind you, that quantity is vanishingly small.

There is a period in prophecy that we Christians expect called "the falling away" or the apostasy. I believe that that has already occurred. It's like Gandhi said "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." That's because the vast vast majority of us are unlike Christ.

The problem, of course, is that Christianity is supposed to be 100% about Christ-likeness. Therefore those who are unlike Christ are not really 'Christians' at all, no matter what they call themselves.

So it is apparent to me why non-Christians have a bad impression of us. Only a mere fraction of us actually mean what we say.

It sounds like a "no true Scotsman" fallacy, but it's not.

I'm unlikely to ever actually believe in the Bible (particularly in its entirety), but Christians like Ron Paul, Gunny, and jmdrake give me hope for the future of Christianity...and occasionally make me wonder if I'm missing out...just a little bit, mind you.

As ever you are 'spot on' Gunny. The Gandhi quote speaks volumes to me. As an agnostic, one brought up in the 'faith' and one that has explored all the aspects of it, I think he hit the nail on the head. I honestly might have become an athiest had it not been from my mothers adherence to Jesus's principles. Though my path is not hers the path she walks is inspiring. Loving. Caring. Non-Judgemental (for that is not up to her to pass judgement.) I dunno. Religion is a tricky subject when dealing with politics. Personally dealing with it from a rule of law without any favoritism is what the Constitution was about. I just hate that these things divide us.

Hear, hear!

As for the title and subject of this thread,

Ye shall know them by their fruits.
Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

 

[RonPaulMyPresident]

He is too emotional and is not qualified to be on ballots on numerous states therefore he's unelectable.

And he's a hypocrite. He dreams about killing Iranian children then talks about God and faith.

 

[Mini-Me]

He is too emotional and is not qualified to be on ballots on numerous states therefore he's unelectable.

And he's a hypocrite. He dreams about killing Iranian children then talks about God and faith.

Yes, but Iranians aren't people, right? Their lives don't matter, which is why we care about them and must save them from their dictators by materially supporting rebellion, while simultaneously killing their children with bombs and sanctions and assassinating their scientists. They will love us for it, and there will be parades in the streets, and it will be a cakewalk, and if we don't kill them, they'll nuke a US city so they can see their whole country be wiped off the face of the earth several hours later. They're just that crazy and suicidal, which is why they're so growth-oriented and future-oriented and worried about developing nuclear power as an alternative to the oil they have no refining capacity to harness. Evil, EVIL Persians, who we love and must help by killing, before they kill us!

 

[Jtorsella]

Yeah not regarding the digression about god, Rick is a complete collectivist and anyone who supports him is endorsing that philosophy. He's also seriously misguided with social positions that assume the individual has no right to his own life.

 

[BucksforPaul]

Just for the record: No one but Paul and besides Santorum really has no chance of beating Obama.

 

[eduardo89]

Yeah not regarding the digression about god, Rick is a complete collectivist and anyone who supports him is endorsing that philosophy. He's also seriously misguided with social positions that assume the individual has no right to his own life.

I'd say his social views line up pretty much with Ron's. They both believe in marriage being only between a man and a woman, they both vehemently oppose abortion, both believe in God and have Christ as their Savior, they both believe in the importance of the traditional family, the societal ills that above divorce rate has caused and the importance of the Church as the moral arbiter in private society.

The difference between the two is in their solutions. Rick prefer government to solve them, Ron believes in the individual, families, the Church and the local community as the most capable of handling most social issues.

 

[Revolution9]

I tend to say "The realm of eternity is transcendant from and perpendicular to the space-time continuum, and God, who inhabits the realm of eternity, is beyond and independent of the created universe."

That is why it is called a 'right angle'.

Rev9

 

[Revolution9]

The longer the answer, the more likely someone is to believe they have found a fallacy. The shorter the answer, the more difficult it is to pick apart. Brevity is the soul of wit. Mind you, I fail that standard all the time.

That is because you are a politician and not a stand up comic..


Rev9

 

[BrittanySligar]

A smart guy who thinks that the world was created 6000 years ago by a divine, all-knowing, all-powerful entity. An entity that knows the future, but somehow you still have free will too. Ignoring evidence to fill your religious bias is not very intelligent.

 

[LisaNY]

Yuk I thought Santorum was HORRIBLE last night with all that yelling and twitching and making funny faces. I don't think he's presidential at all.

 

[Revolution9]

Here's an idea:

When discussing Ron with Christians, use the phrase "salt of the earth" to describe him in some fashion. You can also tie in the "city on a hill," and here's the context in which I'm speaking:



Got any ideas on how to phrase this, Gunny? I just blitzed a work out, so my mind is working in word salad fashion. Patch together a pitch of: Ron is a salt of the earth individual, America cannot be the shining city on a hill unless it exemplifies virtuous behavior (as defined in Matthew 5). You're good with this stuff; perhaps you've even used this type of approach in your own politicking.

I like salt of the earth and have used it over the years to describe folks who live their lives, are honest and virtuous and help each other out of troubles. In a choice between fame and fortune and salt of the earth I would choose salt of the earth.

Rev9