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Unfortunately for you, your argument is dull...
It's time to stop.

The American people have a love-hate relationship with their government. This is as it should be, primarily because government is not our God. Easter Sunday seems an opportune time to remember this and renew our commitment to a republic under God rather than one that displaces or subjugates the creator.



James Madison Had It Right
In 1785 James Madison wrote, “The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.” Born in King George County, Virginia in 1751, Madison’s words seem prescient when applied to our day and time. Often referred to as the “Father of the Constitution,” Madison rightly expressed caution and concern for the power that government can assert over its people. It could be said that this quote of his captures the principle difference between the political left and right in America today. Ronald Reagan echoed Madison’s fear when he asserted that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

The Bible speaks of power this way. In Matthew 22:29 Jesus said, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.” Real power rests with the creator and not His creation (Job 38-42), and certainly not in the governments of any era which, after all, are appointed by God (Daniel 2:21). Thus true power cannot be attained by governments; it rests with One who will not abuse it (Psalm 86:5).



Ayn Rand’s Pithy Pointers
The mother of objectivism, Ayn Rand, penned yet another perceptive concept that demonstrates why government is not our God. And it cannot be said that Rand adhered to any sort of established religion. Yet the author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged was able to put her finger on a dilemma that has reared its head in 21st century America:

“We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.”

An era of government tyranny does seem to be fast approaching if it has not already arrived, as many would argue that, indeed, it has. When people labor under such laws as to which straws they are permitted to use and a tax code that is 60,000 pages – an estimated seven times the length of the Bible – one can safely say that the hand of tyranny is upon us, pushing its way into every aspect of our lives.

Thus, individual liberty and freedom suffer under myriad regulations that are tantamount to oppression. Step out your door, get in your car, and head on down to the McDonald’s drive-thru; you will likely be violating one law or another. Yes, government can be suffocating, which again shows us that it cannot and should not be our God.

In contrast, Paul wrote in his epistle to the Galatians: “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.” Of course, Paul was talking about the religious laws of the day, and some non-Christian enthusiasts may counter this with the verse where Jesus says,  “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” (Mark 12:17, KJV), but they would be reminded to read the second part of this verse, which adds “and give to God what belongs to God” (NLT). Even a tyrannical government does not own its people,  though some have tried to sell this assertion to their people.

Milton Friedman Puts Bounty In Perspective
Economist and Nobel prize winner Milton Friedman said: “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there’d be a shortage of sand.” Here we recognize how tyrannical governments are effective in taking rather than giving to their people. While this comment is a bit satirical, as is often said, the truth is in the joke. The leftist politicians of our day are always “running out of” and “requesting more.” There is never enough money to do all the things we don’t want and always a desire to take from those who toil for what they own.

In contrast, Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Professing Christians will attest to the fact that life under the power of God is one where their “cup runneth over” (Psalm 23:5, KJV) – not necessarily with earthly things, but The Things that Matter Most.

Is Easter calling you to throw off the yoke of an all-powerful, tyrannical government whose raison d’être is to rule, take, and enslave?

During the last supper, Jesus said the following to His disciples: “In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’ 26 But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. 27 Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke 22:25)

And so today – Easter Sunday, 2019 –  may be a time to ask yourself a central question: Who would you rather reign over your life – the liberating, loving, and truly powerful presence of Jesus Christ, who showed humility and sacrificial love in His life, death, and resurrection. Or do you prefer to worship at the altar of a tyrannical government?

Simply put: Who is your God?

Well, belief in imaginary beings is a mental illness too, you know?

To be fair, gender dysphoria might be a disease, there is science that says so, however if we are talking only on discrimination, then no, obviously no one should discriminate other people even if it's a mental illness, actually because it might be a mental illness, they shouldn't be discriminated ever at all costs, you are not supposed to mock mentally ill people.

Laws change my friend.  So be ready to obey the new laws or face the piper.

You are against the bill that would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

And you asking me what is wrong with your opposition?  I bet you would be for segregation laws back in the day, for the same reason.

You are a bigot.  A horrible human being.

You can redeem yourself by supporting a law that will criminalize discrimination. Be a better man than your 'God'.

So now you are backpedaling your discrimination?  Just go back in this thread.  BADecker posted an article about how trans and gays are discriminated by Christians:

https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/faith-and-morals/item/31845-equality-act-seeks-federal-persecution-of-christians

Denying employment or services. Christians feel like they can break above the law because of their Christan beliefs.

This is wrong on so many levels.  

Your personal...beliefs... are irrelevant.

Obey the law, or be prepared to pay the piper.

CoinCube, could you please get off your two-legged moral high horse.

Trans people feel that their gender is different from their biological sex.  They want to be the gender they feel they are.  You think they are crazy.

You feel that there is an invisible, undetectable, unknown entity (God) that influences everything in the universe and here on Earth.
...

Now, who is the crazy one?

You are not only severely deluded but a horrible human being, IMHO.  Discrimination is wrong because it causes harm, no matter the reasons.

Remember one thing, faith is not a reliable path to truth, the scientific method is.

You just fucking said that I am setting myself as the unknown entity, outside of the known universe.

You are a madman.  You have no idea what are you saying.

I live in the real world, unlike you.

PS. I am done talking to you.  I think you are a delusional, unhappy man.  On the level of BADecker or notbatman.  You have constructed your delusion to provide you with some psychological comfort; and you keep complaining about the changing world around you.

... delusional man talking...blah, blah...

I can assure you I am not the unknown entity, outside of this universe (aka your personal 'God').  I am a primate so are you.

Sorry I have to stop you right there at your first sentence.  You do understand that I do not believe in any Gods, even the concept or the word of 'God' is foreign to me.  I do not know what 'God' persona/object you are referring to.

So you have to explain your very first sentence without resorting to your religious lingo.

I do not understand your first sentence.  What exactly do you accuse me of?

How exactly are gays and trans getting punished?

Of course, I do, so do all other sane people.  That is why our laws are better than Sharia or Bible laws.

What higher moral authority than mankind is there?  Human delusion?

You have three problems:
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1. You are delusional.
2. You use your delusion to justify inflicting harm on others.
3. Your codified delusion does not change.

You are stuck in a box unable to free yourself.  You are a mental masochist, your delusion is your bondage
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do us all a favor and stop justifying harming others based on your delusion.  

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What do you mean "get it wrong"?  
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it is voted on and eventually passed.
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The moral foundation is based on our collective determination
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Good, new laws are passed.  Bad laws are dropped.

If he hasn’t been arrested yet, and he and his wife have a valid passport, they should flea the country.

In general, in order to get extradited from another country, the alleged crime in question needs to also be illegal in the deporting country and also, many countries will not extradite if the death penalty is being considered.

Edit: it looks like they are currently in hiding. The Thailand navy reportedly raided the structure today (Thursday), but no one was there. Elwars visa was apparently revoked. Hopefully they have made it out of the country. 

I am not sure why we're even discussing religions in the 21st century.  We don't discuss witchcraft and reincarnation anymore.  Time to drop the charade.

When you break the employment laws, you break the law, it does not matter if you are a Christian, Wiccan, Buddist or a Jew.

Your personal religious beliefs and/or superstitions are irrelevant.

Obey the law, or be prepared to pay the piper.

The choice is between materialism and spiritualism (which can lead to the belief in the supernatural which in turn leads to theism).

BTW, materialism can also lead to existentialism and/or humanism; and theism can lead to nihilism if your deity views human life as worthless.

You suffer from myopic Christian vision.

Although nihilism and existentialism are distinct philosophies, they are often confused with one another as both are rooted in the human experience of anguish and confusion stemming from the apparent meaninglessness of a world in which humans are compelled to find or create meaning.[51] A primary cause of confusion is that Friedrich Nietzsche is an important philosopher in both fields. Existentialist philosophers often stress the importance of Angst as signifying the absolute lack of any objective ground for action, a move that is often reduced to a moral or an existential nihilism.

If it was the stupidest then why all statistics show that educated people tend towards atheism rather than any other religion? Nothing suggests that smart people chose religion over science, nothing, in fact scientists are the group with biggest percentage of atheists.

Probably a mix of both to be honest. I agree we are all human and most of us think about the same things deep down, death, life, meaning.

Personally I have always been very interested in the last of these meaning. When I was a teenager I rejected Christianity. I was surrounded at the time by Christians who were not very logical and unable to defend their beliefs on logical grounds. I was a smart guy and I decided I would find a true worldview grounded in science not emotion and unrealistic hope and myths.

I knew immediately, however, that in rejecting Christianity I had ripped up the foundation under my feet and it had to be replaced. I scoured the classics Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, Hume all in a search for meaning looking to build a new and more rational world view for myself. Eventually I found Bentham and celebrated my discovery of a truly rational philosophy one based on calculations and determination of the greatest good for the greatest number. Satisfied that I had solved the question to my satisfaction I went on my merry way certain I had found the answer.

For the next 15 years I kept Christians at arms length. I knew from experience that their beliefs by and large made them happy and my own views demanded I not purposely disrupt that happiness so I simply avoided the topic preferring to let them live in what I perceived at the time to be a happy but mistaken delusion.

I had rejected religion on the bases of tradition and rejected God via logical inference. The only path forward for me was to embrace and live out some philosophy of life not grounded in God and observe how it played out. In my case that was utilitarianism and the process of living it out took 15 years.

Eventually I realized that utilitarianism failed me as a practical philosophy. Even more ironically I eventually came to the conclusion that I should reject utilitarianism on utilitarian grounds which is about as profound of an invalidation as one can get. That required me to again rebuild my philosophical foundation. This time I was older and wiser and really dug into the question to the best of my ability. The result is what I shared with you earlier in An Argument for God.

I don’t claim that to be some all important insight or even particularly useful for anyone except me but it was my answer to the question. The honest output of my wholehearted and genuine attempt to address the question comprehensively and logically. I came to the conclusion that I was mistaken all those years ago and the happy simpletons who I had held in such contempt were right all along. My arrogant younger self would have been shocked.

I agree with you that we live in a universe that allows us to choose our truth. One can choose to believe that the universe doesn't care, that no one cares, that everything is meaningless universally and we are all going to die and that's it. I like you find that prospect unappealing.

If the universe was like that then our duty would be clear. We would need to fix it. How does one fix an uncaring universe? Simple we start by fixing ourselves. We find meaning and caring within ourselves and then spread that healing and meaning to our neighbors our offspring and eventually throughout the universe. With time effort and sacrifice all things are possible.

P.S. I watched Heaven Sent an episode of Dr. Who on television yesterday. It’s available for free on amazon prime. It was one of the most inspirational things I have ever seen on television. Totally religion free but it really drives home the message that no goal is impossible. I highly recommend it if you have not seen it. It can stand on its own you don’t have to have watched the other episodes in the series.

Is it really a desire to seek the truth or a desire to seek hope. We are all humans, most of us think about the same things deep down, death, life, meaning, I admit I have faith and beliefs that are irrational sometimes when I think about death or if life has any meaning because otherwise my life would be, well, meaningless. I'm sure you also do that and you are not really looking for the truth if the truth is actually something along the lines of: the universe doesn't care, no one cares, everything is meaningless universally and we are all going to die and that's it. No one wants that, let's be honest, I don't however I also cannot force myself to believe in a God, the small hope I have is that perhaps life is not meaningless, maybe there is something, maybe we cannot even comprehend it right now, who knows.

Now you know how I feel.  I think you might be the dishonest one.

You do know that people who wrote the Bible did not know that we live on the globe, do you?  Or you are just pretending that they knew?

Who is the dishonest one?  It took millennia before the helio-centric model was accepted.  Your Christian ideology was against it along the way.

It's funny that a religious person would call another religion person an idiot when you believe in nonsensical shit too, you know, a powerful being and magic. Flat earth can be proven wrong just as easily as the bible, we know the age of the universe, earth, we know evolution exists, basically any scientific discovery disproves the bible.