Marx, once again, got it wrong. Look at religion, any religion but Buddhism, over the past 30 years and you'll see that they put more time and energy into politics than maybe any other entity. They mobilize their followers and definitely have an impact on elections, both nationwide and local.
Religion is not an opiate, for better or worse.

Perhaps so but an opiate does little for the illness in general. It relieves the pain but still leaves the core issue there. In a general sense, if I broke your leg but gave you enough pain drugs, you won't feel the broken leg and you will probably feel pretty good. HOWEVER, your leg is still broken and needs to be set properly. Take a cough. Opiates will calm down the cough but it won't help your cold or lung cancer. In a general sense, opium, like religion, makes your pain go away but does nothing to cure your bad situation. It makes it more tolerable with false hope, is all

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/08/is-rick-perry-as-christian-as-he-thinks-he-is/243616/

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Maybe that is because until 30 years ago, or so, the politicians pretty much did their thing, and left regular working people alone. Now, with the massive power concentrated in DC, no one can afford to ignore the politics any longer.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

I notice you avoided my point. Both you and Bickle think it is entirely adequate justification for a belief relevant to social practices to say, "The Bible says so."

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Come on Kerry. How many more time do you want to say my name and Bickle in the same sentence.

This is grade-school name calling.

Many, many times in my exchanges with you I have said everyone has non-rational beliefs. (you say potatoe - I say potato; no wait that's the wrong statement; you say irrational - I say arrational)

I acknowledge mine come from the Bible and my Christian Faith. (here's the point were you say, "well this vile, terrible person also makes the same claim so SJH and this terrible person are equivalent")

Secularist humanists seldom acknowledge what are their non-rational components.

So Bickel and I are Bible-believers. Yep.

I guess that ends the conversation.

Three points, take-down for kerry.

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Concerning the comments about not quoting 'talking points'....

If you lived in Texas you would know these are not talking points. These are laws and conditions that Texans live under everyday.

A talking point would be denying that the conditions some have described in Texas are true. If you can watch a television newscast, hear a radio or read a newspaper you will become aware of what is going on in Texas and has been going on for the last 15 years.

If you wish something were not true then I guess that is up to you, and if the people of Texas are happy with the laws that have been passed there then that is up to them. But if the people of the US do not wish to have the wonderful police state laid on them that is currently Texas, well, I guess that is up to them.

Right now there are a lot of Perry defenders whining about any press coverage of his past at all. They remind me of Republicans saying that G. W. Bush never took place.

Perry is saying he wants to run on his record, but there is so much of it he wishes he could keep quite that any source that brings it up is dismissed as 'lame-stream media'.

That's a good explanation of Christian Reconstructionism and Dominionism. The adoption of Reconstructionist ideas into Pentecostal Dominionism began in the early 1970's. It's different than the early Rushdoony Presbyterian form of Reconstructionism because Pentecostalism is far more irrational and much more insistent on God's direct and immediate voice to individuals. Bickle's demonology wouldn't have been dreamed up by Rushdoony. Rushdoony was far more a traditional capitalist anti-communist 1950's type thinker, probably rooted in his Armenian heritage. Without Pentecostalism, Reconstructionism would probably have died out in the 70's but the Pentecostal appear of immediately satisfy divine experiences appealed to the religious consumer, just like McDonalds spread the cheeseburger far and wide. They effectively spread the ideology to the masses thru the use of religious television and the emotional music, singing and dance of their worship services.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Well composed and thought out. I agree with many of his points.

I think the variant of Christianity that kerry refers to is better identified as 'Charismatic' as distinct from Pentecostal.

When I first became a Christian I asked a friend for guidance. She suggested I attend a large church in the Dallas area. I was quite new to the Faith and had no idea what it meant to be a Christian. So I am in this church and the preacher told everyone to pull out their wallets, hold them up towards the sky and ask God to fill them with money.

I believe God wishes well for us mere mortals but even then I did not believe that God wanted me praying over my wallet. This prosperity theology is one of the many variants of popular Christianity that are profoundly foreign to me and those with whom I have been blessed to know on my journey in these past few years.

But the process of moving from my initial introduction in that Church to where I am today has been demanding. Phillipians 2:12b-13 describes the process when it says, "...work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

In a similar manner much of what is done in charismatic churches is basically incomprehensible to me. The methods seem to be highly emotion-based and the goal often seems to be induce frenzy. I am not certain who/what they are worshiping and this passage comes to mind ...

Matthew 7:21-23a, "“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

I have been called to know God. Here the verb to know means, direct, experiential knowledge. How is that done one asks. Psalm 46:10a directly addresses that question, "Be still, and know that I am God

The God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, the god of the Bible is known, directly experienced, in stillness.

May the Grace of our Lord, Jesus the Messiah, be with you all.

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BS on that. The people who care about resemblance to Dubyuh wouldn't have voted for him anyway. It's like most of us here who speak ill of him: What are the chances any of us would vote for ANY Repo?

None.

All Perry has to do is solidify the 30% would would never vote for a Democrat and then lasso enough of the disaffected 'non'alligned' voters that last time went for Obama.

Think it can't happen?

Obama's approval ratings are pretty low and his disapprovals are over 50%.

Ample target for an able campaigner.

Whistle in the graveyard folks, and get used to Pres POerry or Pres Romney.

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Could be.

I know nothing of Perry.

I saw him in a video a few days ago and simply his body language, his swagger, etc I found distasteful.

And as anyone who has read a few of my posts know I am not what you'd call a fan of the left but i'm not in a hurry to have another governor from Texas in the White House.

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Obamas approval ratings will rise when there is an actual
R candidate for him to be compared to who will have to say what they believe in.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Two things here. First, the comment was that Perry's resemblance to W will not help him. I don't think I saw anyone say that because Perry resembles W, then he is no threat. That would be whistling past the graveyard. Second, are you really calling the election right now?

No doubt that is true.
If the repubs could run " generic republican candidate" they could win. But every candidate has negatives, as well as positives, and the negatives will make the race close. I believe that the dems have already announced their plan to go negative on any repub candidate. With the money Obama has raised, it will likely be ugly.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Obama can sit back and enjoy the republican train wreck for a while. This whole bible thumping thing is a gold mile for him. I just hope lil miss 'I can Russian from my house' jumps in so I can vote for her in the primary.

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