The Bickering

Debate and                                                    Not                                                                                   

Dialogue Three

The Bickering

Characters: Mr. Match Mooting and Quibell Gainsay

"What a lovely day."
"Lovely? It's raining," said Quibell.
"But a light rain."
"Well, my hair will frizz."
"It looks pretty even when it frizzes as you say."
"Get real. Why are you so happy about a rainy day?"
"It is the day the Lord has made," said Match.
"Well yes, if you say so."
"Still you do not believe."
"You know I don't believe or disbelieve."
"Like sitting on the fence do you?"
"That sounds like a personal attack. Supposedly, you don't like those."
"It is just a question. Sorry if I offended you."
"Okay. But you're wasting your time. You can't prove God exists," said Quibell.
"You can't prove he does not. But do you believe anything is true?"
"It's true that you are a pain and that you babble about what you can't prove."
"More concretely, is it true that you live on Bond Avenue?"
"You know I do. That's factual. This man in the sky of yours is doubtful."
"So you know something to be absolutely true. You acknowledge that," Match questioned.
"Certainly. Don't be ridiculous. I know where I live."
"You have admitted absolute truth exists."
"Wait. Don't twist my words."
"I did not."
"I can see Bond Avenue. You're trying to get me to believe in something I can't see."
"We do not need to know if something exists for it to exist." Match said.
"What do you mean?"

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"People did not always know that molecules exist."
"That's scientific. It's been proven."
"True. But they existed without our knowledge."
"Certainly. They are material in nature."

"Where did molecules come from?"
"I don't know. Evolution, I guess."
"Really?"



clker.com

"Fossils then. Fossils are proof of evolution."
"Fossils do not take place in an order of simple to complex. The record is shown as a column. The fossils do not happen in that order. "
"So you know more than scientists." Said Quibell.
"I am summarizing from scientists. Students are fooled into believing this is actual data. But it is a column presenting the fossil record in a false manner."
"What do you mean?"
"The fossils at the base are the same as animals today. It is not simple to complex like they say."
"You really are presumptuous."
"But the vertebrates make a case as I remember."
"An exception and very fragmentary. They say that life sprang from a common ancestor or ancestors."
"What's the problem? It's science. That's you're problem."
"The Cambrian System shows a quick burst of life. Quickly, with the omission of common ancestors each phylum is created."
"I don't believe you. The ancestors will be found."
"Who is believing something without proof now?"
































the

It's Relative Only Because

Debate and Not                                                

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Dialogue Two

"It's Relative Only Because"

Characters: Mr. Ishbak Knot and Mr. Match Mooting

"It is relative only because it happened to you."
"What's that you're saying? Of course, it happened to me."
"You're argument that morality is relative," said Match.
"Look here. He filched my car."

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"Maybe stealing is bad is not part of his moral paradigm."
"That's absurd. Everyone knows stealing is wrong," said Ishbak.
"Not when we get to pick and choose and discard some of the commandments."
"There you go again. Sneaking God the Invisible into the discussion. Can't you function without you're pretend friend?"
"Yes. I can function without a pretend friend? But I'm not pretending when I mention God or his commandments."
"Rubbish," opposed Ishbak.
"The theory of relativity applies to science, not morals. Do you not agree, now that he has your car? You said stealing is wrong," countered Match.
"God has nothing to do with it."
"True. He has no hand in theft."

It's In the Heart

Debate and Not                                                     

Dialogue One

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"It's In the Heart"

Characters: Mr. Ishbak Knot and Mr. Match Mooting

Boom! Cracking. Rumbling.
"Thunder. That sound is a miracle," said Match.
"It's just a shock wave," disputed Ishbak.
"Which is it? I say both. It is a shock wave. Still. It is a miracle. Only God can create thunder. Any approximation and that is what it would be..."
"Don't give me that pigswill." Ishbak rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"How do you feel about your opinion?"
"What's this about feelings? Now I know you're soft in the head."
"Oh. You do not have an answer?" Match asked and popped a grin.
"I don't feel anything. You don't feel about an opinion."
"You do remember, a few minutes ago, you called my opinion pigswill?"
"Yes."
A weak emotional argument. Then you accused me of being soft in the head. Those negative emotions are popping out of your heart."
"Ridiculous!"
"When you get a debatable argument or two talk to me."

Scoffers and the Last Days

The Bible tells what God thinks about scoffers. He says they are deceitful. Peter tells us to know this first. In 2 Peter verse 3 it says that scoffers shall come during the last days that "walk after their own lusts." The Bible tells us to walk with the Lord.

In verse 4, they question the Lord's coming back and say everything is like it always was since creation.  In verse 5, he explains they are ignorant by dint of will because they are "wilfully ignorant." It takes an act of the will to believe or to disbelieve. We are responsible for our acts of will. The scoffers are ignorant by choice. Dint has some interesting synonyms: effort, strain, exertion, and struggle according to Thesaurus.com.

The Bible says that the fool says there in no God. But by effort of will and scoffing they strain, struggle, and exert themselves against the word of the Lord.

He continues in verse 5: "For this they are wilfully ignorant of, that the heavens were before, and the earth out of water, and through water, consisting by the word of God."  Verse 6  "Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished." So things haven't always been the same. He eludes to the biblical flood. He explains that everything exists by God's word which the scoffers don't believe.

Verse 7 continues saying the world that now exists will perish in fire, but for now it exists by God's word, and is retained for judgment of the ungodly and their perdition.

Peter finishes by warning the believer not to be ignorant. He says to understand that 1 day and a thousand years are the same to God. He is patient and doesn't want anyone to perish. What seems like a delay to people of the Lord's coming isn't a delay, but a display of God's patience. He wants all to repent and come to Him.

God Speaks and His Sheep Hear Him

The Lord Jesus speaks to us. The Bible says that his sheep will know his voice. This sounds ambiguous to the scoffer. The antonym for scoff is praise. So, the opposite to praise is to scoff. They are polar opposites like sin and holiness or sin and purity, and so forth.

But to those that praise Him he will speak. It may be through the small, still voice, that inner voice. He talks to believers through other believers whether in person, on radio, a video, at church, at work, and so on.

His sheep of course are the believers: Christians. They recognize His voice and they follow Him. He comes into our thoughts. He talks to us when we pray. But this requires a two-way communication.
So, the individual has to have listening time during prayer time. If we don't stop and listen, wait to hear, we will miss part of the conversation.

God touches our hearts. In Acts 16:14, a woman named Lydia is described as a seller of purple. She sells purple cloth. She listens to Paul's preaching and God touches her heart, so she would really give thought to what Paul was teaching. We see that God speaks through His word.

God speaks to us through dreams. He did this with biblical figures like Joseph, and the magi. Basically, the idea is this, God uses people and things to communicate with us, and sometimes speaks in our minds, and speaks out loud to some people.

Christmas Censored, Christmas Manger Scenes Denied

Many had tried to do it, the Grinch and other malcontents. But it had never been done. No success. But then, out of the void came an empty voice. It had no basis or support, morally.

No one really paid attention, at first. Who were these upstarts that disagreed with Christmas? How could they? Why would they?  Didn't they like "Jingle Bells" and presents? It was ascertained that they didn't dislike the songs and presents. Well, some of the songs they found inappropriate. They didn't like a certain name that many people liked very much.

There were a few of these disagreeable sorts all along. But who ever heard from them? Hardly anyone. That was good. But eventually, the voice of the void rose louder, shriller, and cruder. The empty, legless words gained a bit more audience. The colander like nonsense began to stick in more minds. It should have sifted through, recognized as deranged verbiage, but that didn't always occur.

It found its home in minds unlit. Cubicles where darkness reigned. Self-appointed word-cops proclaimed their insidious message. They gained fame. It seemed to some, they had authority. Businesses stopped employees from rejoicing with "Merry Christmas."

What? Asked the old-timers, the wise ones, those of depth. What verbal nonsense is this?

The Dead Lawyers like walking mummy's clattered and chattered. They outlawed Christmas manger scenes on public squares. The warm heartfelt hearth of the public square at Christmas, couldn't nestle the Baby anymore. Many cried tears of sorrow and rage at such injustice. Their voices were shouted down by nefarious word-cops and the Dead Lawyers.

To think that an innocent babe has been censored and Christmas Nativity scenes disrespected. 'Tis a shame. Will it get worse? Yes. But the Babe wins at story's end.

Seven Deadly Sins: Avarice

Avarice is the desire for money that is unquenchable. No matter how much it is never enough. This thought suggests a biblical quote.

"For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (1 Timothy 6:10). 

The original word is philarguria. It means according to Strong's Concordance: love of money, avarice, covetousness.

How can this lusting for money be the root of all kinds of evil? Let's see. Paul is teaching Timothy about false teachers that are really in it for gain and renown. He exhorts his pupil to teach sound doctrine while warning him of people teaching false doctrine.

This is the end of verse 5: "Imagining that godliness is a means of gain." He says that they distort sound doctrine to get wealth. Distorting doctrine misleads people and causes division. When people recognize a false teacher it causes some to lose faith and emboldens the ungodly to speak falsely against Christianity.

But in verse 6 he explains that being godly and content is the correct and bona fide source of tremendous gain.

The love of money or greediness causes people to murder, lie, cheat, and steal. It causes them to be jealous of other people and to envy them. These are sins and the Bible definitely states in many places that sin is against God's holiness. For instance:

"To you alone I have sinned and have committed wickedness before you because you shall be just in your word and you shall conquer in your judgment" (Psalm 54:1) (Aramaic Bible in Plain English).

Actually, people break the first commandment when they let something become more important to them than God because they make it an idol. Loving money and not just using it as a tool makes it an idol. Thus, an inordinate liking of money causes people to hurt others and to insult the holiness and righteousness of God our Father.

Also, people cause their own sorrow when they sin. They hurt themselves and if they don't repeat, they cause the ultimate harm to themselves, assigning themselves to hell.

Bakers and Threats: Florida, Oregon

Threatening people is wrong. What is hard to understand about that? It seems some people don't get it. But really it is because sin has gotten into their hearts. The sin in question is hate.

When people make death threats hate is at the core of the action. We are supposed to love our neighbor, not hate them. This hatred causes people to be unjust. Threats concerning a person's business are wrong too.

Two cases in point are the Oregon bakers that were fined for not baking a wedding cake for two lesbians and the Florida baker that refused to bake a cake that stated, "We do not support gay marriage." Haller, the Florida bakery owner says that people started calling the bakery making vile remarks and threats to her business.

Both bakery owners received threats. In either case, the people making the threats are wrong.

Pride or Vanity, One of the Seven Deadly Sins

The sin of pride is committed when someone thinks he is better than other people. In other words, he has an inordinate sense of his own worth. He doesn't think well of himself within logical limits.

His expanded ego rejects God and his grace and has a low opinion of others. 

But don't confuse sinful pride or vanity with the good feeling of doing a job well, inventing a gadget, or writing a song.  Pride that is sinful is immoderate and it knows no limits in shutting God out and putting other people down and walking over them like fodder.

These are synonyms for pride as in sin: arrogance, conceit, snobbery, haughtiness, narcissism, or hubris meaning excessive pride or vanity or superiority.

The Bible has much to say about pride or vanity.

"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18).  

Being egotistical is destructive to self. You can't win a popularity contest that way, but more importantly, it is detrimental to your soul and spiritual well-being. This haughtiness makes the prideful treat others badly. It is self-righteousness.

¹⁷ You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” ^18" But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today" (Deuteronomy 8:17-18.)

We enter the world with nothing and go out with nothing. Some may be born to rich parents, but the wealth stays on earth and all go to an eternal destiny. While in this earthly realm, it is best to acknowledge where we get our life, intelligence, creativity, and other abilities from. We didn't invent them for ourselves.

Producing riches whether money, accumulating valuable property, jewels, expensive art works, businesses and so on should rightly be credited to the sense and abilities God gave an individual. If someone doesn't give God the praise and isn't thankful to God for his abundance, then pride has overcome him because he gave in to this sin. 


"For all that is in the world, the [1] lust of the flesh and the [2] lust of the eyes and the [3] boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world." (1 John 2:16).

The boastful pride of life means something that leads to arrogance or bigheadedness. It is related to being boastful which is such as swaggering and self-applauding. A person full of vanity doesn't recognize his sinfulness and need for forgiveness. He is so wrapped up in himself that he can't see his need for God.

"These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren" (Proverbs 6, 16:19).

 Proverbs says that God hates a proud look. The Hebrew word denotes a continuing action or routine. This is a state of being in pride or a proud look. It is the status quo of the vain person.

Failing Garde for Disagreeing with Professor's View: Lance “L.J.” Rossum: Grace Lewis

A very intelligent high school student with 3.9 average given 4 failing grades by anti-Christian professor. She had written papers refuting the professor's viewpoint. This is according to Grace Lewis and her lawyer. Grace was taking an online college credit course. Once her attorney became involved the grade for the class became an A.

Polk State sent a letter to the Liberty Counsel saying the allegations weren't true. But the professor in question has a picture of Jesus online giving the finger. What do you think about where he stands in relation to Jesus?

When will atheists stop this nonsense? College is suppose to be a place where you can express your opinion, even if the professor disagrees with it. Bouncing opinions and ideas back and forth is suppose to be part of classroom procedure.

The Seven Deadly Sins, St John Cassian, Pope Gregory the Great, Geoffrey Chaucer

St. John Cassian (360-435) originally pinpointed the list of the seven deadly sins. Pope Gregory the Great (6th century) clarified the list and Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (14th century) familiarized the English public to the seven deadly sins concept.

 It is a core group of attitudes and actions that corrupt the spirit. These sins and others deaden the conscience to right and wrong, after practices them for a period of time.

The point is that one sin leads to another. This list can help someone look at himself and see what some of his ingrained sins are, so he can repent. The seven vices are seen as mortal sins by the Catholic Church. They are deadly because they entice to breaking the Ten Commandments and destroy the sanctifying grace in the individual.

The seven deadly sins are pride or vanity, envy, lust, anger, gluttony, and greed.

• Pride is the major one because you don't acknowledge God as the giver of life and talents.  It makes you think you're better than other people. So hurting people by lying, violence, cheating, stealing, being rude, being inconsiderate, insulting, and ignoring them is okay because you're better than they are, and they don't understand.
• Envy or jealousy is wanting what others have and resenting their accomplishments, material or spiritual situation.
• Lust is treating and thinking of people as sex objects, wanting sex with them outside of marriage or the inordinate desire for food, money, or power. Lust initially meant desire for something.
• Anger is wrong when you want revenge. Impatience is akin to anger.
• Greed or avarice is the inordinate desire for things, putting things before loving people.
• Sloth is just plain laziness, avoiding work, related to procrastination, it can be spiritual or physical laziness.

Gluttony was covered in another article.

Gluttony

Community College of Baltimore County Refused Brandon Jenkins Application

The program director and college officials rejected Brandon Jenkins ' application because he said God was most important to him. He had answered their question: "What is most important to you?" 

He was qualified for the program, and he had outstanding scores for admission benchmarks. When he inquired about his rejection the director said his beliefs weren't suited for the field of radiation therapy. Jenkins applied in 2013.

 On 04-09-14 the ACLJ filed a lawsuit opposing the officials at the Community College of Baltimore County in Maryland. The complaint seeks to defend the First Amendment rights of Brandon Jenkins that his lawyer rightly says were violated by the college. They request also that the college doesn't discriminate against him anymore or exact retribution against Mr. Jenkins.

An alleged criminal charge from 10 years before was also cited by school officials as another reason to reject Jenkins application to the radiation therapy program. But he has been helping at a halfway house more recently. Maybe we need to give people a break when they are now trying to do good.

The college officials had agreed that he wore his religious beliefs on his sleeve. Come on. Really? Apparently, to them people are supposed to hide their religious beliefs, even if a question prompts mention of the belief. The officials said this was the main reason he was rejected from the program.

Christians Bashed in Walkerton, Indiana, Memories Pizza Forced to Close

 Memories Pizza, Ridiculous Hypothetical Question

 Kevin and Crystal O'Connor of Memories Pizza were set up by a reporter with a 

hypothetical question. Would they serve pizzas for a gay marriage asked the reporter.

The daughter said they would have to say no. Whoever heard of pizzas catered for a wedding. This illogical and twisted question had to be meant to stir trouble. 

The response to her answer has been a mean spirited attack. Their phone began to ring constantly, and they didn't know which orders were legitimate. This phone attack was meant to close them down.

A female coach tweeted about burning down the little pizza shop. What? Is that a rational reaction to Crystal's answer?  In the United States we have freedom of speech, albeit Christians aren't allowed to voice theirs without a hateful backlash, even when asked a ridiculous question because the scenario is absurd.

OTHER RESPONSES  

Tammy Bruce advised to stop harassing Christians concerning the Religious Freedom Law of Indiana. She said they shouldn't act like bullies, an apt response to people that have harassed the O'Connors and protest constantly that nobody should bully them. Bruce said the attackers were like a wolf pack.

It is correct to say that bullies are wrong. It is right to say that no one should be bullied. Therefore, stop bullying Christians.

Bruce is a conservative gay woman and a Fox News contributor.
  
Contributions

People concerned about the O'Connors having to close their pizza shop for awhile have been contributing funds to help them. That is a kind response.

Lehigh County Seal, Cross Threatened by Atheists

Atheists of the organization called Freedom From Religion asked that the cross be removed from the seal. The county commissioners all voted to keep the cross on 03/26/15. This was in response to a letter from atheistic group sent in November. The seal has been used since 1944.

Crosses have been a part of this country as grave markers, on churches, on county seals since this country began. Crosses have have a long standing history of being an aspect of this nation's cultural heritage and landscape.

These days the upstart atheists, the new radical atheists that are on the attack to kill Christian spiritual symbols in the United States are on the rise.

The first settlers of Lehigh were Christians. This historical fact doesn't daunt the atheists. The attorney for The Freedom From Religion group argues that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment is being violated, though it isn't. The clause puts limits on Congress regarding religion.

Below is a breakdown of the two clauses of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,

You can read respecting as regarding or in reference to. 

The second part of the First Amendment  is the Free Exercise Clause.

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...

This really has nothing to do with the Lehigh County Seal except protecting the county's right to have the cross on the seal. But atheists and liberals twist the constitution into a pretzel to get it to say what they want it to say.

Congress is restricted from establishing a state religion. But that doesn't restrict Lehigh county from having a cross on their seal. They aren't establishing a religion.

The atheists argument is foolish nonsense. Yes, it is falderal.

So, the first settlers were Christians. When the seal was designed this fact was respected. Now some meddlers, that have no respect for the reason the seal includes the cross want it to come down.

These atheistic troublemakers just want God and especially Jesus out of the public eye. They want His symbol out of view. It must irritate what is left of their conscience.

 

Professor John McAdams Banned for Defending Student's Right to Disscuss Issue, May Be Fired from Marquette University

 Teaching Assistant and Student

 Teaching assistant Cheryl Abbate denied the right of discussion in class. She had written a list on the board including gay rights. Then she loftily dismissed this subject as not debatable. She stated that everyone agrees. But a student disagreed with some ideas about gay rights and wanted to debate it.

This happened in a philosophy class purported to teach applying philosophical ideas to topical political controversies. How do you teach this without a discussion?

When a student talked to her after class, he expressed that discussion was pertinent. She replied that his opinions weren't opportune. She said his ideas weren't suitable for discussion. In a class that is mainly composed of discussion and debate, what? Stop a minute and think, what?

 Indeed, discussion is on target in a philosophy class, don't you think?

While Catholicism agrees with the Bible that homosexuality is a sin, it says the person should still be respected. It says every person should be accorded human dignity. This is in accord with the way Jesus treated sinners that others shunned.
 
Thus, the student that wanted discussion of a topic brought up in class had the right of respect from teaching assistant Cheryl Abbate. But she summarily dismissed discussing gay marriage. After class she told him someone might be offended by his opinions. You think that might ever happen in a topical philosophy class, duh?

 Someone might be offended because he disagrees with gay marriage. But the Catholic Church doesn't allow or believe in gay marriage, yet the same opinion can't be expressed in class at a Catholic university.  Maybe the 21st century is the Twilight Zone...

Abbate also suggested that he drop the class. Which he did. What's wrong with that suggestion? Just think about it. The usual reasons for dropping a class are the likelihood of a failing grade, illness or the student doesn't like the class. But why did he drop? If he didn't like the class, it is obvious why he disliked it.

John McAdams Banned (2014)

 Professor John McAdams comes to the rescue on his blog "Marquette Warrior." McAdams stalwartly spoke up for the student. He wrote searingly against the teaching assistant's muzzling of debate on gay marriage.

This valiant effort to support the student's right to debate was countered by banning the tenured professor of 37 years. They relieved him of his teaching and faculty activities. This information was delivered by a letter from Dean Richard Holz. McAdams isn't allowed on the campus during this inquiry of his conduct.

Investigation of his conduct...wait, what? At a supposedly Catholic university? It was founded as a Catholic institution but has gone astray. Why? Because a student doesn't have the right to oppose an idea he disagrees with in  a class, and a professor apparently can't defend the student on his blog without reprisal from the university.

Marquette to Fire Professor (2015) 

According to the Academe Blog posted 02/04/15 Marquette University will fire Professor John McAdams.  Dean Richard Holtz speaks of tolerance in his recent letter to McAdams. He says the professor has violated a tolerance policy. But McAdams has a right to express his opinions on his blog. The post states that the letter distorts the AAUP's statements on tolerance. But according to them, the professor should not be fired for writing or stating his opinions. 

The Academe Blog post address is Academe Blog Post . The post explains the AAUP's statements and about the university's policies on academic freedom. 

Lowlife Popularity: Pimped and Pimped Out

The words pimp and pimped out have become mainstream terms in American. What is wrong with this picture? There was a time when lowlife terms and the life and actions of people in this lifestyle was frowned upon. It was not part of the mainstream.

As films began to involve pimps and prostitutes and then rappers began to use these words in their material, the gutter words gained prominence in the consciousness of the country. Now little children are exposed to these words. This is indeed a bad picture.

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word pimper (infinitive) is a 16^th century French word, and it means dressing elegantly. The French word pimpant (present participle) means dressing in a seductive manner. In the English language, the word became pimp and it was introduced in a book by Thomas Middleton entitled Your Five Gallants. It was published in 1607. Pimp was first written as a verb in the book The Bashful Lover by Massinger published in 1636.

During the feudal times in England a pimp was a tenure that allowed a tenant to utilize property owned by a lord. The renter paid the lord with a service, which was usually supplying young women for sex, according to the Law Encyclopedia.

Pimped Out
The phrase pimped out has arrived and its definition from Dictionary.com is “very gaudily decorated or customized; flashy. Gaudy is a long way from elegant, isn't it? The etymology of pimped out dates it from 1988.

The Online Slang Dictionary pimp meaning is: very good, excellent; cool, awesome,  also pimping.

Pimp It Up

Pimp it up is a popular phrase meaning having a good time, sort of taking charge of how wonderful that experience is going to be. ..according to The Online Slang Dictionary.

Language in a culture is indicative of attitudes, the direction the culture is headed, what people think about, and the moral state of that society. When phrases or words become popular it shows what many people in that society will accept as normal and it becomes normative.

Watch out when lowlife words are elevated and pimp costumes and pimp my ride games and pimp street games are in vogue.

Is this what the United States has come to that these words words descriptive of this degradation are popular and have gained the status of general usage in this country? Where does the shame really belong?

Are people going to continued to be steeped in this lowlife verbal boil like the proverbial frog that got boiled in the pot because someone turned the heat up slowly? He didn't get out because of the slowness of the attack. The attack on moral concepts isn't slow in America anymore because it doesn't have to be slow. The attack can be fast because so much of the moral fiber has been boiled away. That is something to think about.

One of Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony, Overeating,

Clipart from clker.com

Gluttony is a vice. This is a hard statement for overeaters. In the United States there are many all-you-can-eat restaurants and large portion fast food joints. Many people don't acknowledge that gluttony is a sin.

Why is gluttony a sin? There is a correlation between controlling our physical appetites and controlling our minds and our mouth. If we aren't regulating our eating, we may not regulate what we say or what we think. When people tend to overindulge their bodies, they aren't usually concerned with spiritual matters.

"One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, 'Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons"(Titus 1:12). 

The bible associates overeating with lying, being evil and lazy. We need to get away from these negative habits and character traits.

 "Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags." (Proverbs 23:20-21).

The bible associates this vice with drunkenness, being poor, and sleeping too much. Again, time to repent of this deadly sin. Lust, weakness, and greed are synonyms for gluttony.

Saint Thomas Aquinas said that gluttony is an inordinate desire. That means it is unreasonable. He said it is contrary to virtue.

Physical appetites are a metaphor depicting our self-control or lack of it.

Seven Deadly Sins 

Moral Deterioration in the United States

Morality is rapidly declining in the United States. But it wasn't always a moral wasteland. What happened? First, it was never a perfect society. There never was such a society.

There was the Garden of Eden, but sin ruined paradise. It's ruining the U.S. now more than ever. Since Eden, people have searched for a utopia. Not enough have turned to Jesus and seen his perfection. Utopia, but not in human terms. Many people deny that. They don't want to see it. They don't want to give up their sins.

Christians fight sin. They ask for forgiveness and try to do better. It's not a matter of being holier than thou as some people might see it. It's about humbling yourself before God.

What? Giving up sin? Yes, releasing control of their lives to Jesus. It's the struggle between spirit and flesh that started when sin began.

Some people think this is a simplistic answer. There are major problems in the United States and the world. Sin can't be the reason, they say. There is no such thing as sin, they say. But they struggle to find the answers to the huge difficulties in the world. They try to find secular solutions for high crime, broken homes, divorce, abuse, drug abuse, and so on.

Admittedly, counseling, the police, and so on help to resolve some problems and conflicts, but real change in people comes from the inside, and that changes society too. The main change needed is a renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2).

When the mind is renewed then a person can see more clearly what is right and what is wrong. The renewing is an ongoing process.

As previously stated, there was never a perfect society in the U.S.A. But there was less divorce, pornography, drug use, adultery, and fewer broken homes in earlier times than now. Going to church was the habit of most people and they prayed.

When people turn to Jesus and accept him into their lives he will help them repair their lives, and a part of our nation will be repaired each time someone does that.

Religious Freedom and D.C. Laws

Religious freedom is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. These days many people do not respect this freedom. A case in point are two new D.C. laws: the Human Rights Amendment of 2014 and the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act of 2014.

The first law compels religious schools to acknowledge and allow the use of their facilities for clubs, societies, and individuals whose purpose and philosophy conflicts with the schools stated mission.

Obviously, a religious school doesn't want to promote anything immoral. They will be forced to if the bill becomes law on 04/17/15.

The second law  requires organizations and businesses to act inconsistent with their mission. It would require a pro-life employer to provide insurance coverage for contraception and abortion. It would force them to go against their principles. It seems that the writers of this bill are mixed up concerning discrimination.

These laws discriminate against religious schools, businesses, and organizations. This is a growing harassment in the U.S.A. It needs to stop now.

The first amendment outlaws religious discrimination by the government. It prohibits the government from regulating religious beliefs. It prohibits infringement by the civil authority. Although sometimes these rights aren't upheld because of "interpretation" governmental infringement is still wrong.

In the instances considered in this article, upholding the religious schools rights and the employers doesn't stop individuals or groups from doing what they want. It prohibits them from doing this on the property of a religious school and from working for an organization and going against its mission.