Free Republic

New laws go into effect for NC, including changes to Castle DoctrineBy: NBC17 Staff Published: December 01, 2011 **SNIP** Under the bill, a person charged with murder, manslaughter, or assault on a pregnant woman will face the same charged for the unborn child. **SNIP** Other laws that went into effect Dec.1: Laura's Law. This toughens sentences on repeat drunk drivers. It's named for 17-year-old Laura Fortenberry who was killed in a crash by a repeat offender. Police will start taking DNA samples from people arrested for an assortment of crimes. It used to only apply to suspects arrested for violent...

If I want to know what Mormonism teaches about human beings becoming Gods and creating worlds, should I ask a Mormon? Last month (October 2011) New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd asked the planet question of two Mormons: Richard Bushman, the Visiting Professor in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University, and Kent P. Jackson, associate dean of religion at Brigham Young University. Dr. Bushman called the idea of devout Mormons having their own planets in eternity “Mormon lore” that stems from the Mormon belief that humans can become like God. He suggested that if Mormons can become like God, they...

When comparing and contrasting Biblical Christianity with Mormonism, should one limit consideration of “Mormonism” to what minimalists deem “official” and “binding”? I answer “NO” for a number of reasons: Mormons, even minimalist Mormons, disagree amongst themselves over what constitutes “official” and “binding” doctrine. Some restrict it to recently emphasized teaching via institutional channels (regardless of whether it is in the Standard Works). Some restrict it to the Standard Works alone. Some restrict it to what is recently emphasized by the Church which is ALSO in the Standard Works. Some restrict it to what a particular individual has an emotionally epiphanous...

FCC officially kills Fairness Doctrine, wiping it from rules By Gautham Nagesh - 08/22/11 03:21 PM ET Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the elimination of 83 outdated and obsolete agency rules on Monday, including the controversial Fairness Doctrine. “The elimination of the obsolete Fairness Doctrine regulations will remove an unnecessary distraction. As I have said, striking this from our books ensures there can be no mistake that what has long been a dead letter remains dead," Genachowski said in a statement. "The Fairness Doctrine holds the potential to chill free speech and the free flow of ideas and...

By the year 1000, the simple gospel had accumulated extensive ecclesiastical baggage. No longer was there only one mediator between God and man. The spiritually penitent had to seek the intervention of a priest — whether the priest was moral or not — by means of the confessional. And the priest, as the “representative of Christ,” assumed the right to “absolve” the sins of the sinner or — as an alternative — require acts of penance, often in the form of monetary gifts to the Church. Additionally, the priest might also require the spiritually penitent to seek the mediation of...

The Bible requires work, frugal living and honest dealings. It mandates impartial justice, sound money and property rights; plus endorses liberty and limited government – all essential elements of capitalism. Christ even used free market principles repeatedly in his teaching. Jesus clearly appreciated price signals and the role of incentives. The parables of the talents and minas offer sage investment advice. It is prudent to entrust resources to those multiplying them and extract resources from those squandering them. This counters the Marxist principle of progressive taxation taking from the most productive to subsidize those wasting scarce resources. But Jesus used...

The top prosecutor in Dakota County doesn't like it. Neither do St. Paul police or Minnesota police organizations. Not to mention gun-control groups. But Republicans, backed by gun-rights groups, apparently do. And so, a bill that would give Minnesotans more flexibility in using deadly force to defend themselves and their properties cleared its first legislative hurdle Thursday. The Republican-controlled House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee voted 10-7 to send the measure to another committee. "It's a common-sense bill,'' said its chief sponsor, state Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder. The measure would expand state laws on use...

“He doesn’t strategize­. He sermonizes­.” -Zbigniew Brzezinski, Former National Security Advisor Democratic Presidential Candidate Senator Barack Obama speaks in Mitchell, South Dakota. Rick Wilking -Reuters A good read and lengthy piece in the New Yorker called, The Consequentialist. We now have a concise description of the Obama Doctrine, defined by an unnamed senior official in the president's own administration: "Leading from behind": That’s not a slogan designed for signs at the 2012 Democratic Convention, but it does accurately describe the balance that Obama now seems to be finding. It’s a different definition of leadership than America is known for,...

While the Legislature has been going full speed working to draft and pass finance omnibus bills, legislators continue to introduce new bills about issues important to constituents. Reps. Kurt Bills (R-District 37B), Rosemount, and Tara Mack (R-District 37A), Apple Valley, are authors of a bill that looks at people's rights to protect themselves on their private property, HF1467, introduced on Thursday. It would allow people to use "deadly force" against someone who is committing a felony in their home. The bill also includes a provision to make transfer permits valid for five years instead of one year. Mack said she's...

Castle doctrine expansion approved by NC SenateUpdated: 11:10 a.m. yesterday RALEIGH, N.C. — There's a legal presumption people inside their home, car or business are justified in shooting an intruder in legislation now heading to the North Carolina House. The bill expanding the state's "castle doctrine" was given final Senate approval Monday night. **SNIP** The bill would shift the burden of proof to the district attorney that the shooting wasn't justified. A shooter also would be presumed to have acted appropriately during an attempted carjacking or business break-in. Senators approved the bill 35-13 after opponents argued the expand doctrine would...

Abstract: President Barack Obama has said that America would reach out to other countries as “an equal partner” rather than as the “exceptional” nation that many before him had embraced; that “any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail”; and that “[o]ur problems must be dealt with through partnership” and “progress must be shared.” He has laid out in his public statements the tenets of a doctrine that, if enacted, would enable his Administration to remake America as one nation among many, with no singular claim either to responsibility or exceptionalism: (1)...

  OF all the places I felt sure I’d never go, Planned Parenthood topped the list. -SNIP-...................... I was a practicing Mormon, and Mormons “wait” until marriage. So I had waited, spent the first two decades of my adult life celibate and, for the most part, alone. Because only after the trial of my faith would I be blessed with an eternal marriage, which, I prayed, would also blow my mind in the bedroom. It never occurred to me that I would remain unmarried, especially in a system where marriage is not only a commandment, but also one of life’s...

[God] said (in the Bible) that we were “gods” and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him—for we can prevent Him, if we choose—He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine. —C. S. Lewis1 By these and other quotes from Lewis, a growing number of Mormons attempt to blur the distinction between historic, creedal, and biblical Christian doctrine and the teachings of the Church of Jesus...

When some liberals called for reining in harsh political rhetoric after the Arizona shootings, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) took it one step further. He called for bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, in what was widely considered an attempt to clamp down on talk radio. A week later, those calls have abated, and no one is seriously pursuing the idea of returning to the long-defunct policy, which required media on the public airwaves to present both sides of controversial political issues. Not Clyburn, not another Democrat who echoed his call for regulatory remedies, Rep. Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), and not the Federal

Dogmas of the Catholic Church With Christ and the Apostles General Revelation concluded. (Sent. certa.) The Unity and Trinity of God The Existence of God The Natural Knowability of the Existence of God God, our Creator and Lord, can be known with certainty, by the natural light of reason from created things. (De fide.) The Existence of God can be proved by means of causality. (Sent. fidei proxima.) The Supernatural Knowability of the Existence of God God's existence is not merely an object of natural rational knowledge, but also an object of supernatural faith. (De fide.) The Nature of...

On October 24th, the LDS First Presidency (led by Prophet Thomas S. Monson) wrote several letters that were to be read in Mormon Sunday services around the world. According to examiner.com, the first letter was “likely spurred by Boyd K. Packer’s most recent General Conference talk entitled ‘Cleansing the Inner Vessel.’ Church Headquarters has been receiving an increased amount of correspondence from its members about doctrinal issues. Because of this influx of correspondence, the First Presidency reminded and encouraged LDS church members to utilize their local church authorities – bishops, branch presidents, stake presidents, etc — before resorting to contacting...

"Sadly, over the last 50 years, it (the ecumenical movement) has faded into the sidelines and is now largely ignored," said Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, which monitors mainline denominations and ecumenical groups. Some 400 people from various mainline Protestant churches and Catholic and Orthodox traditions opened a celebratory gathering on Tuesday in New Orleans, marking 100 years of the ecumenical or Christian unity movement. Throughout the three-day gathering, led by the National Council of Churches, participants are discussing diversity, interfaith relations, and ecumenical cooperation for the next century, among other things.

In sacrament meeting last week, the bishop got up and announced he had received a letter from the First Presidency. As he prepared to read it, the congregation perked up. Moments like this are always attention-getters for Mormons. Normally, we get direction from the top during General Conference. Occasionally something can’t wait and it comes in the form of an official letter from the brethren telling us to start (or stop) doing something. Because it’s important enough to warrant pronouncement from the top, the subject could be anything from a formal declaration of the Second Coming to an admonishment regarding...

Justification is a transformation of the soul in which original sin is removed and sanctifying grace infused

Predestination...is it Biblical... or is it a doctrine of Beelzebub (devil)