Posted on 06/11/2005 5:20:34 PM PDT by rface
Milton continued, "Commentators like Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh told Americans to hate the liberals. It was a sure-fire way of getting ratings."
"I hate O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh," I said, "because they hate me."
Milton said, "Why does everyone write about how much the world hates America, and no one writes about why Americans hate each other?"
"I was thinking about it," I said. "Why do you think they do?"
"I can't blame it all on President Bush, but the hate factor in the country was raised to a new high when he said it was politically correct to do it."
"How so?"
"Hating fellow Americans didn't become serious until Bush decided to invade Iraq. Then both sides came out of the closet. The conservatives said war was a dandy idea, and the liberals said it was a lousy one. When it was discovered that there were no weapons of mass destruction, which was the reason for going to war, the liberals attacked the president. The conservatives called the anti-war people traitors."
"That was strong language," I told Milton.
"Adding gasoline to the fire were the 'elite' media [the L.A. Times, Washington Post and the New York Times], who editorialized that we got into a lousy war and didn't know how to get out."
Milton continued, "Commentators like Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh told Americans to hate the liberals. It was a sure-fire way of getting ratings."
"I hate O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh," I said, "because they hate me."
Milton said, "But what is really tearing the country apart is God. Every group insists they know what God wants for America. People are fighting over the Pledge of Allegiance in the schools, the Ten Commandments on government property and whether Americans came from Adam and Eve or from monkeys."
"I thought we settled that years ago," I said.
"So did most Americans, but the theories kept popping up," Milton told me. "Things really got ugly when the religious right said if you don't believe in Jesus then you are going to hell.
"Evangelicals are now going all over the country asking - no, demanding - that everyone be born again. The worst example is the Air Force Academy, where the cadets are asked to pledge their lives to Jesus. No one knows what blue skies they will fly into once they graduate.
"Everything has a religious background. The right-to-life people are against stem cell research, abortions and condoms. They are for guns, the Second Amendment and the National Rifle Association.
"One of the major issues is same-sex marriage. The right opposes it and the left, who couldn't care less, says, 'Get off my back.'"
I said, "Isn't it now true that members of Congress really hate each other?"
"It's worse than ever."
"I guess they can't pick a judge now without getting mad," I said. "Are all these issues political?"
"No," Milton replied. "They're personal. Americans are not born to hate, but it's taught to them at an early age and once you learn it, you never let it go."
"Tell me this. Do the French hate Americans as much as we hate each other?"
"It's a close call, but we're catching up to them. I could go on and on listing the causes as to why there is so much animosity among Americans, but it won't do anyone much good.
"All I know is, I'm right and they are wrong - and I'm certain they'll go to hell before I do."
I was raised by conservatives but I was a liberal in the early 70s in my youth.
My mom voted for Carter....she regretted that...as did I.
We don't hang out with liberals.
It is what it is. I bet my experience is more common on this board. Just a hunch.
I'm not going to repeat your post...but I laughed until I cried....
...priceless!!!
How do you know when someone doesn't believe? Can't you have your heart right with God, yet reject a particular church that maybe isn't as Christian as it claims?
Jesus knows who His children are. Don't you remember the part about the goats and the sheep.
I don't. I thought that was supposed to be God's job.
Exactly
Ummmm...and your point?
I was agreeing with you.
Oh. Excuse me, then. Way back toward the beginning of the thread, I said something I thought was utterly uncontroversial, and I'm surprised (and puzzled) to find that it isn't so.
My lib resume:
Obnoxious teenager arguing Nam and Watergate with Bircher daddy from 1970-75
Campaigned at Ole Miss for Carter (nauseated now)
Campus NORML leader..."dude"
ACLU membership
Greenpeace....actually hung with some of them
Friends of the Earth
Sierra Club
Nature Conservancy (most benign)
No Nukes club
Had copies of Weatherman literature...yep, sure did. Carlos Castanada, Burroughs, Watts (Alan) and a whole host of lefty-dope writings.
Smoked copiuous amounts of ganja along the way.
Came from moderate civil rights family....got spanked if caught using N-word.
Started transforming early 20s....and so forth.
But even as a long haired southern lefty back then, I never had to be defensive about the Confederate Battle Flag, Lynyrd Skynyrd, guns, hunting etc.
Had folks been such a-holes about that then as they are now, my lefty tenure would have been even shorter.
/rant in e minor
"Are you saying there is no hell? There are tons of references to it in the New Testament."
OK, I did your assignment for you. I looked up the word "hell" in my 'Where to find it in the Bible' book.
Here goes: (New International version of the Bible, but I also looked up references in my old King James version.)
Matthew 7:13 - the broad road to destruction
Matthew 13:37-42, 49-50 - fiery furnace
2 Thessalonians 1:9 - excluded from God's presence (everlasting destruction)
Revelations 19:19-21 - lake of fire of burning sulphur
Revelations 20:7-15 - lake of fire of burning sulphur
(death and hell are referenced in
20:13).
These are ALL I could find in the New Testament.
If am not a theologian, nor am I Christ. I am just a lowly man that accepted what I feel is the truth many years ago.
I do not, have not, led a perfect life with the perfect wife. I know I am no better than you. I just hope you understand what you may be giving up, when you take such a hard stand against God.
Sorry, if I pushed too hard. I loved the challenge. I you still feel I was out of line, if Revelations 20:13 is your answer, so be it. Take care.
You're joking!
Okay, I just went to Google, picked out BibleGateway.com, chose the New International Version, used the search word "hell" and got 30 hits. I didn't try "hades", "lake of fire", "damnation", "cast out"...shoot, I didn't know what other words to try. I've never heard of the "New International Version" before.
Here are all the ones from Matthew:
Matthew 5:22 But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Matthew 5:30 It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Matthew 10:28 Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, [ Peter means rock.] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades [ Or hell] will not overcome it. [ Or not prove stronger than it]
Matthew 18:9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
Matthew 23:15 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
Matthew 23:33 "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
After all this, I still have no idea what it is you're trying to tell me. You don't believe in hell? You do, but you don't care because you're not going there? There are only so many mentions of it, so we can safely ignore it? What?
That's just geography. I've never cared much for the confederate flag or what I grew up with understanding it stood for. Out of the South, at best, it's percieved as a symbol of the Dukes of Hazard type bumpkin. At worse of course, racism. In the South, of course, it means something entirely different. I doubt those twains will ever meet.
I do believe that rejecting God is a deadly sin.
You seem to be a theologian yourself. Bless you for showing me up.
If have no further PROOF of God than what I feel in my heart. You can prove to me all you want about Hell. I juust can't understand why you might want to go there, by rejecting God.
I am not in a battle here. I accept your Googles. May God really be with you.
I think it's spelled " Meltin' "
If I believed in God, I would certainly believe this. There is no more important question that human beings face. I just came down on the other side of it.
Maybe you found him funny but I didn't. He's always been an ultra left-wing propagandist. Frankly I'm surprised to see this column -- I thought he died long ago.
Rush and O'Reilly have NEVER EVER said that they hate liberals. This post is pure bullshit! Howard Dean and the rest of the kook fringe left hate Republicans so much that it is consuming them like a raging fire. I love every minute of it.
Since you are an atheist, why do you care? Everything outside of your physical senses in irrevant. A Buddist would say you are accumulating bad karma by not following their teachings. Does this person bother you also? Any attention to these teachings leads to perplexing dilemmas. Focus on the perfection to be achieved within yourself for the proper dominance over others. Read the teachings of Nietzsche and Hegel, and read about those who followed their example to find your true course.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.