Replies

1) I agree with you that karma is not relevant to this discussion. A Christian store owner is in view, who answers to God for his deeds. There is no possibility that a Christian can voluntarily support the murder of innocent children. Karma and Christian morality are by no means equivalent. See discussion here: http://carm.org/karma-and-sin

2) On the other hand, I agree in part with TC in that coercion can mitigate guilt, even in a Biblical system of morality. In fact, Jesus addressed the tax question head on. He knew all things future, so he knew this would be a major threshold of moral challenge for believers down through the ages. Tax money given to Caesar was used for many things not compatible with Christian morality, up to and including the murder of innocent people. Yet Jesus teaches us to pay the tax. It’s Caesar’s shiny trinket. Give it back to him. And if you don’t have enough, go look for that fish with the coin in it’s mouth. God Himself will provide you with a way to pay the tax.

The decision by Roberts that the mandate is a tax will, I think, prove to be providential. Remember who Obama is. He is no mere dictator. He is Doctor Moreau, believing he can transform our society, that is, us, through systematic deconstruction of the judeo-christian paradigm, no matter how painful that might be to his “subjects.” This means it is important for him to use tools like the mandate to tear us away from our convictions concerning the most fundamental of our rights, for if we can be moved off that, we can be moved off anything else, and all things become “negotiable.” But it appears God has already anticipated this move, and provided us with a means of continuing to live and think and act as morally free Christians, in obedience to Christ. We pay the tax, and continuing preaching against the sins of our “Herod,” and rely on our God to bring him to justice.

Peace,

You don't have to believe that actions have consequences. They will anyway. You can call a craft store a Christian store if you want to. You can pretend that this is a religious website and not a political website. You can think that religious freedom is only for Christians. It makes no difference to me.

If you would both like me to stop supporting conservative politics I can do that.

Karma
The Sanskrit word “karma” basically means “to do or act.” In most basic terms, the law of karma states that one reaps what one sows. The law of karma implies that every thought or deed, whether they are good or bad, will count in determining how an individual will be born in their next life on earth. So an individual with bad karma could be born many different times into lower castes of humans or even into lower forms of animals. In Hinduism, the person cannot be released until they are reborn into the Brahmin or priestly caste. So this is how karma and reincarnation are intertwined. So in reality individuals are in control of their salvation, which is their release from the cycle of birth and rebirth.1

BTW, that is absolute nonsense. You can't analyze something when you start with an entirely erroneous premise about it.

Well that’s a weird way to pay a tax, to have to buy a certain item. What would a tax that was supposed to be paid by buying cornflakes be like?

I think Christian Atlases will simply have to shrug. A money tax they may pay; an immoral item they will not go to the marketplace and buy.

As for our feline friend with the karma, all due respect but don’t expect Christians to adopt karma into a biblical belief system.