You Believe, I Believe...

[Jefferson Coker]

I strongly believe in most of what you've stated... but there are a few that just make me wonder...

Abortion... you may believe Its "Morally Wrong"... but is it "Morally Right" when a women is raped and becomes pregnant... No.. of course not... A person should have the "Right" of Choice.. Especially in Situations such as these.

the other issue that really pulls at me is this...
Marriage... Sure..The Bible Says... this and that.. but remember... the bible is a "story" written over a couple hundred years by many different people.. if you actually go back to an original text.. Prior to the Church in Rome.... you will see that there are many blocks of text that "They Choose" to leave out...That they deemed unsuitable...
Now to my point.. I am not.. but I have many friends that are gay... these are good upstanding members of our community. They build our homes, fight our wars, nurse our sick... and They too, should have to same rights... Remember this is a country founded on Ideals... the freedom to choose, the freedom to be "as we please"... I could say that someone that hunts is killing poor defenseless animals, that its wrong... but thats my Opinion.. but it doesn't give me the Right to stop them from doing it. That thier Immoral...
Remember... if your ever listening to a surmon and for 1 moment they peach down against someone of any walk of life.. Please run, dont walk, away as fast as you can, for that is NOT the word of our lord...

Of course I do realize that is like comparing Apples to Onions.. but Im sure you can see my point...

You don't have to agree with it... but again.. It's my Right to state it...

I believe you will make a good Senator, I feel you have a lot of great ideals...

I Strongly believe.. Church and State are and should always be... complete apart from one another...

the thing politicians fear most is a young voting mass...
Our Ideals are NOT the same as our "AGING" senate and house

there needs to be term limits on ALL public offices...
NO MORE Career politics...

the wind of change is coming

the average age of a combat soldier is 20 years old...
the average age of a polititian... is around 47... there is something truely strange about that...

[Leah]

I just want to clatify a few things about what you believe Jefferson.

1st, the moral issue of abortion...you are comparing it to being raped. The issue is the LIFE the act caused. That then would bring the issue of STOPPING life. The issue IS NOT rape, IT IS life and the right to take it, or the obligation to deem the taking of life immoral. Rape is already punishable by law. Separate the two issues and it is easier to sort them out.

2nd. The Bible being a "story". This "story" as you put it is considered sacred by not only an ancient society that has survived numerous attempts to extinguish them from the earth...because they follow the "suggestions" in this book it has brought them GREAT favor. Most of the scientific advancements have come from the people who hold these "stories" dear and to be true. It is also full of prophecies, most of which have come true and were written hundreds and even thousands of years before it happened. It was actually written over a period of about 4000 to 5000 years apart by numerous hands, most of which never met, yet there is an uncanny similarity to the theme of what is written. As far as Constantine altering the text of what was written, he is the one responsible for the Roman Catholic church, some words were altered because of translation. However, the origional greek text as well as the Hebrew is available to us. Strong's concordance is a great reference, you can also download E-sword for free and it will give you lots of references to choose from for free in case you are concerned about being decieved in your beliefs, that is if you are affraid to follow what the Bible says because of Constantine. But mostly what Constantine did, to put it simply, is spread the name of Jesus....which btw is the greek name for Him, it is Yeshua in the origional Hebrew, all over the known world. Oh, he also changed the litergy of the gatherings and modeled them after the Roman Emporer's court, which is largly how we gather today, right down to how we dress for church, pass out bulletins, etc. There is a great book where all the research has been done for us, called "Pagan Christianity" by Frank Viola. Our society was found on the principles written in the Bible, the 10 sayings, in the origional Hebrew, the 10 commandments in english, are you suggesting that we change that now? If we are not guided by a firm standard, what standard are you suggesting that we use now? It was good enough for our forefathers, why not continue with it? If we are to shift to another standard, what standard are you suggesting we use? The standard of what ever the popular opinion is today? If we don't have a firm foundation on which to stand we will be as fickle as our emotions and desires. You compare homosexuallity and offering them special rights to hunting. Hunting does not destroy the moral fabric of society and bring with it sexual perversion, where as sexual sin does. Or do you not believe there is a such thing as sin? Since you brought up the Roman Empire, you should also be aware that they were the strongest and longest running empire, but one of the last things they did that brought about thier demise was embracing homosexuality and sexual perversion. It cause moral decay and they fell. I'm not suggesting that is the sole reason for the fall of the empire, but sexual desire has destroyed many powerful empires. Look at King Solomon, out of the Bible. He had wisdom beyond any man, Kings and Queens from other nations sought after HIs wisdom, and it was sexual sin that destroyed his kingdom, Sampson, the same thing.

Just because you have freedom does not mean you have the right to abuse it and it certainly doesn't mean you have the right to corrupt others. It doesn't mean you have the right to flaunt your behavor in the face of everyone else and force them to accept you the way you are. That is selfish thinking. If you are doing something that is different from"normal" what gives you the right to force others to accept it? And for the record I feel the same way about "straight" people. I believe sexuality should be a private thing. It does not need to be flaunted everywhere, nor do I care to see it everywhere. I believe the sexual revolution is out of control period.

In society it is the elders who run it because those are the ones we depend on for having the wisdom we need to ensure our survival amongst the other societies. It has always been the older lead the younger and the young fight the battles. Why is that strange to you? My family is full of warriors. 3 of my family have fought recently in the war and were proud to do so. AND you are right alot of our generation have ideals that are different than our elders and that to me is VERY scary, as alot of our generation have no clue about right and wrong, moral and immoral. They have been raised by Jerry Springer and video games while our parents have been working.

I do not want a socialist life, it I wanted that I could move to Europe. There is a reason the rich Europeans come to America for health care. Everyone does have the right to health care there......but you may go in to have a leg cut off and wind up with out a .....leg that you want to keep. That is a true story, saw it on the BBC. They don't have the technology we have in limb replacement, they don't have the abilities in dental, the truely amazing things we can do in medicine are being invinted here, not in socialist economy...that is for a reason. We are competitive for a reason. It
does need to be improved, but not in a way that would injure our competitive edge.

Please don't assume that every young person believes like you do. Most everything you said sounds ignorant to me. I'm sorry to be so blunt, but I think you pay too much attention to what is being reported on tv and you are not informing yourself as to what is actually true. One would be insane to think that I am going to allow a news reporter to sway what is true. There seems to ba a whole lot of amnesia going around these days, if you listen to the news. You get into a mode of looking at what is right in front of you and you miss a whole lot of what is going on all around. You are right that the winds of change are blowing, but it is not going to blow the way you think. If we don't do something and wake up it is not going to be good.

[Jefferson Coker]

I have only one response..

I have never, nor am I now.. forcing my beliefs on anyone...
Im just excercing my right to voice them, Im not saying, if you read what I wrote, you have to agree with all that I believe. What I AM saying is that we all have a right to believe in what and speak out about it... .. you proved my very point... so.... thanks...

[Leah]

I appreciate your gracious reply. I guess I say all of what I said just to prove my point. Which is this, it is fine to have an opinion, just base it on fact. There are a lot of folks out there that are slinging around opinions, everyone got them. But I never want to lead someone astray with voicing my opinion and it is a wrong one. There is a scripture that I highly value, it says: There is a way that seems right to a man, but it leads to destruction. I don't want to be that "guy" and I certainly don't want to lead others to destruction. You sound like a caring guy, I would hope that you would share that opinion.