Free Republic

Any idea what happened to this man and his family?

And do you know if the deed restriction specifically forbade residential construction?

Prayers for Cooper going up from our family, for his life, and for protection of his brain. We have a 7th grader who needed a big miracle about 13 years ago. We know what God can do for little ones when His people pray.

Keep us posted on Cooper.

I see this as a simple free expression issue.

That may be the absolute truth, but it definitely is not reality. The ACLU has everything to do with what is taken for reality and almost nothing to do with truth (or big-R Reality).

I stand by my tagline (this one anyway) on this issue.

Well, that puts a whole 'nuther spin on this affair, if it's his interior design choice being overruled! If it's his prerogative to pick the decor, what th' heck do they think they's doin'?

Maybe he should have picked pink marble.

I think Greek statuary as used today is the 3-D version of a literary references to Greek myth, harkening back to some universal archtype for an "ideal" or virtue such as "wisdom" (Athena) or "justice" (Themis).

I'm sure there are indeed practitioners of this arcane religion, but I don't think they are the movers and shakers among patrons of the art world. It's the ladies' auxiliary that picks stuff like statues for a courthouse, right?

Hear, hear.

Well, I'm not going to argue that for obvious reasons. All of us here can probably agree that David Limbaugh has his finger on the pulse of today's anti-Christianism.

The point, however, that I keep trying to make is that I don't think that what Mr. Moore did won very many people to our cause or evangelized many non-Christians. If anything, it just served to harden the attitudes of the bashers.

Moore's legitimate points are far too subtle for the reflexively liberal, and the liberal intelligentsia who may have understood the matter clearly were very quick to redirect attention to the stereotypic and emotional elements of the issue.

Christians today need to do what works, to be smart and effective rather than appealing to emotions in political matters, which is exactly what this did, regardless of the justness of the cause. Political causes don't lead people to Christ, and leading people into the Body of Christ is what needs to happen if this nation is going to reclaim its heritage.

I would love to think that Roy Moore's judicial martyrdom has had a powerful effect on life in the US. Perhaps increasing the polarization hastens the Perousia -- sheep and goats, don't ya know.

I haven't read the recent decision by the judicial panel, so I don't think I can comment any further on it. I wonder, however, if the "acknowledgement" in this case means specifically the display itself or indeed all forms of acknowledgement, even verbal ones. If he's not allowed even to speak of God, it's not the same thing as not being allowed to park a rock in a corridor of a public building.

For certain segments of the American citizenry, having God's Law confronting them as they come to seek equal justice under the nation's laws must be something akin to forcing us to walk a guantlet of Robert Maplethorpe photographs. You'd have to wonder about impartiality. As for a statue of Athena, I'm relatively certain that at present such a thing could be considered an artistic adornment rather than a religious endorsement.

The issue in my mind is two-fold: 1)Do we in the United States allow the minority to rule the majority via the judicial system? Yes, we do, because of the crud sent to Congress. 2) What the heck is a federal judge doing telling Alabamians what they can and can't have in their own courthouses? Just another installment in the states rights story, with the same sad result.

As for Mr. Moore, I just think there are more effective ways of doing this kind of thing, but I also think I could be wrong. Perhaps this will impact who is sent to Congress and consequently, the laws governing the reach of the federal judiciary.

But the federal government has always, from the very beginning of our nation, wanted to control the states, just as the fiercely independent Anglo-Saxon blood that runs through most of our veins and collective past compells us to resist and assert our right to local self-rule.

God bless you and your family. We will pray.

They told him he couldn't be Chief Justice unless he denied God....specifically they told him he wasn't allowed to acknowledge God.

Are you inferring from the decision to "fire" him that this is what they are intending to convey, that Moore is not allowed to acknowledge God? Are you saying that not allowing him to put the Ten Commandments on display in a government building is the same as being compelled to deny God, or at least, not to acknowledge God? Or did they say those exact words?

Sorry for the delay in replying. Yes, it is a contradiction, in a way. But you can say things like "so help me God", even "In God we trust" without subscribing specifically to the Judeo-Christian "YHWH". I admit that in even this version of American culture and society, that's a bit of a stretch. Nevertheless, most people are of the "this much and no more" variety of Christian culture.

But that's really beside the point I was making, which was that Moore defied a federal court order. That's what made me nervous. Thomas More (the real one) had some very definite things to say about necessity of observing the rule of law, and he certainly gave up his life rather than violate his conscience before God.

The big thing, as I see it, is that displaying or removing a display of the Ten Commandments does not inherently involve a question of right or wrong, good or evil, like say, abortion does. It relates to rights and privileges. For us (Christians), rights and priviledges aren't as important as doing what draws all men to the Lord. I don't think this thing with Judge Moore did that at all, at all.

IMHO, having the Big 10 on display almost anywhere is pretty much "preaching to the choir"; but having a genuine Christian judge on the bench probably makes a genuine difference in morality and justice in the judicial system of Alabama. That's the bigger loss, seems to me.

Maybe I'm naive about this. I like the idea of having the 10 Commandments on display in public, but if we don't obey the rule of law, even if we don't like its interpretation by a court, how can we expect it to protect us when the wind blows the other way?

There's no reason why Judge Moore can't refuse to remove them if he feels it is his duty to conscience to do that-- a lot of us might do the same-- but the government doesn't really have any other option than to discipline him, does it?

I think we're obligated to stand up for what we believe, but I think we should also pick our battles so that we advance our cause. All that seems to have happened here is that Alabama lost a judge of good, moral character, and lefties are even more misled that Southerners are doofus Bible-thumpers and Christians choose appearance over substance. I don't think we evangelized anybody on this one.

Please, wait for a sec and let me don my asbestos suit.

Another homerun, D.

It seems odd to me too, that utility would be considered the first principle in God's economy.

My sense always has been that He longs to share literally everything with us (pressed down and overflowing), and is delighted when we make ourselves available for Him to work through us.

I'd say Mary is the singular example of how to do that, so it's hardly surprising that God would share so much of His power and authority with her.

1) You're preaching to the choir, bub.

2) You're treading very close to heresy with some of your statements about what's acceptable and requisite for true faith. Islam is all about doing it right and being "found acceptable in the proper way". Counter with "For by grace through faith you have been saved, not of works..." (Eph. 2:8-9).

3) He didn't say "Except ye eat the bread representing the body of the Son of man..."; Jesus said, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood..." He said it just as it reads, literally; and just as He also said, it's a stumbling block for many people...possibly like yourself.

However, IMO it's a waste of time and energy to debate such things where the intent is not to understand so much as to overwhelm.

LTMSH. Thanks.

Oh please, #3. You think I don't understand something about the cost of sin and the demand for holiness? I don't think your analysis of God's mind as to other people's final end is relevant to anything. What are you going to do with that analysis that isn't seriously tinhatted?

But if you just absolutely want to take that tack or bang that drum, then kindly explain to me how you would interpret this verse from John, chapter 6, verse 53: Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

After looking at all the other postings you've submitted, I can't help wondering if you really get it. It's not about "them", whoever "they" are. It's about you, your sin, your soul, your eternal destiny.

If you're looking anywhere else, you're supposed to be looking with the eyes of love, trying to find Jesus in other people and respond to Him.

In other words, you love 'em and God'll judge 'em.

If you haven't already, you might enjoy reading Bishop Fulton Sheen's book, The World's First Love, a wonderful, very readable explanation of how Marian doctrine came to be.

It didn't just answer my questions (or accusations), but revealed the beauty of truth.

Great response, dsc.

How the Sola Scriptura crowd can reject every well-founded Marian tradition but the Virgin Birth, and then rationalize their rejection of transubstantiation baffles me.

How can you have it both ways? (For Frank Sheed's explanation of the doctrine of transubstatiation: http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/eucha4.htm)

The thing everybody seems to be forgetting is that HE'S ALIVE. Remember the Resurrection?

The Church ALWAYS has been absolutely clear He died because of all our sins, regardless of whose hand did it. This "silly movie" isn't pointing a finger; it's showing once again how big a bullet He took for us all, at least, insofar as we can even understand it.

Don't expect anything less than outrage from people who can't face it they haven't been invited to occupy a spot in the Holy Trinity.