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LATE EDITION (CNN) : ... comedian Al Franken...

That should read "former comedian Al Franken." Sadly, he just hasn't been the same since he went through rehab.

One more thing... scroll down to the part with the heading "Rated 0% by the AFL-CIO, indicating an anti-labor voting record" at the following site. I didn't realize the AFL-CIO supported candidates who rate a 0 with them. Why do you believe that "...Santorum is the only Republican friend of AFL-CIO, in Senate"?

http://www.issues2000.org/Domestic/Rick_Santorum_Jobs.htm

With all due respect, the only other 'negative' remark I saw about Santorum in this thread was that he's too young (sarasotarepublican). Senator Santorum will be 50 in 2008 -- which isn't too young, imho.

The only post I saw in the thread calling him a liberal (not to mention friend of the AFL-CIO) was yours. Whose did I overlook?

What planet are you from? Santorum's ACU rating for 2003 was 90. The only thing keeping from a perfect 100 was his vote for the Medicare prescription benefit (which the President also fully supported and signed into law). Santorum's ACU rating for 2002 was 95. His lifetime ACU rating is 87 -- over twice that as fellow Pennsylvanian Arlen Specter.

http://acuratings.com/acu.cgi?ACT=3&STATE=PA&YEAR=2003

In terms of the other names on the list of potential candidates in 2008, Frist's and Sessions' ratings last year were 90 (same reason as Santorum), Allen's was 85, Brownback's was 80 and McCain's was 75.

Oh yeah, I forgot one. Chuck Hagel's rating was 100. FWIW.

Ask and ye shall receive...

Or click here.

Problem is,

It's not a problem. Your answer proves as much.

how do you fight an enemy who wants to die?
Answer: Oblige him.

Correct. We're unwilling to die at their hands, but they're willing to die by their own hands (or bombs). Let them kill themselves. For those who're so bloody keen to die for Allah, we can assist just as Jack Kevorkian would. Or we can send him if he's still willing to help kill people. His earliest release date is in June 2007.

CBS = "See? BS!"

And to comply with states requiring English AND Spanish...
CBS = ¡Si! ¡BS!

Guess it was just the wind blowing.

The EPA should investigate you for contributing to global warming: you're full of hot air. I guess you'd address the substance if you were capable of reasoned and informed debate. Have a nice day, troll.

Guess it was just the wind blowing.

The EPA should investigate you for contributing to global warming: you're full of hot air. I guess you'd address the substance if you were capable of reasoned and informed debate. Have a nice day, troll.

In case it has escaped your notice it is Christians that have spent the best part of two thousand years persecuting and murdering G-d's chosen people.

I disagree on a couple points. First, I distinguish between Christians and the state. I realize the two often mix and it's sometimes hard to see the lines between the two, particularly in eras in which religion and politics were mixed as a matter of course. It is still possible to separate the political from the religious, even though the religious was usually cited for the political. That the persecution to which you refer had some unfortunate religious connections is overshadowed by the fact that it had a lot more to do with politics than religion. Compare it to the hijacking of Islam by the fundamentalists and terrorists, if you think Islam is fundamentally different from what they preach.

Second, St Paul's Epistle to the Romans (chapter 9) recites a quote from the prophet Hosea: "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people," etc. This strikes at the heart of a point overlooked in today's American churches muddled with dispensationalist opinions. God's chosen people worship the crucified and risen Christ; those who worship the Father without the Son know not the Father who sent the Son (John 8:31 ff). We're not to boast against the branches, but neither should we comfort them in their obstinance and disbelief.

It is Christianity upon which the Nazis drew when implementing the policies which resulted in the genocide of Europe's Jews.

No, the Nazis drew upon and fomented a popular base hatred of a minority group. Hitler and his colleagues were not good Lutherans set on doing God's will. They were very evil and misguided people, some of whom were drawn to the occult or atheism. William Shirer's book makes the claim that Lutheranism prepared Germany for the Nazis. Critics of Shirer, who was not an historian but a journalist, have pointed out that just was not the case. Those critics are many, and many of them are Jewish. Shirer's book, rather than an academic one, filled a popular niche; many people are more familiar with the journalist than the historians.

I can assure you that if I were presented with a choice between converting to Christianity and death the latter would be the option that I would embrace very willingly.

Fortunately we live in an era and culture where such choices are rare and very seriously frowned upon; it's unconscionable that other cultures in this same era don't share our tolerance. Remember, though, Christ was crucified after taking a similar stand when given an ultimatum. No one showed Him any mercy -- not the state, not the religious leaders (who just so happened to be Jewish). Nearly all his disciples, too, were persecuted and put to death by the state and/or religious leaders (who just so happened to be Jewish).

The list of Christian martyrs is nearly as long as the list of victims of church-state violence. I believe we can and should shun life and death ultimata when it comes to matters of personal conscience; insincere conversions are as meaningful as non-conversions. I also wish we could look at the past for what it really was, not merely for how it's popularly (mis)represented. In the big picture, no one's hands are clean.

T - Total Inability; Nonsense, you must come through Christ to God, not through God to Christ.

The Holy Spirit draws through the word. No man comes on account of his own effort, direction, motivation, etc. BTW, are you trinitarian?

U - Unconditional Election; Free will doesn't exist, eh? Then why all the effort to redeem sinners?

"How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?... Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."

As to the issue of the will, I urge you consider Martin Luther's Bondage of the Will. As for Bible passages, you will find none supporting man's free will choosing to follow God, rather man's will seeks to disobey God. As Jesus said overlooking Jerusalem, "How often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gather her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing." Man is by nature spirtually blind, dead, and an enemy of God. Our will gets in His will's way.

L - Limited Atonement; He died for the sins of the world. Take that how you want it.

I already stated that my church believes "the world" means the world, not just the elect.

I - Irresistible (efficacious) Grace; God forces people to be saved, that's new. Then faith and/or works are unnecessary.

Faith is necessary, but it is a gift of God (Eph 2). It comes by hearing God's word (Rom 10).

P - Perseverance of the Saints."; Whatever.

Oh my, what a strong argument!

These are the five points of Calvinism

Yes, and did you have ONE?

She could have prevented the horrible murder if she had maintained some relationship with her mother instead of cutting her off.

Maybe you didn't hear about the coroner's final report. Her mother died of natural causes.

Welcome to last week

The only question is, what took him so long?

The Rats PAID people to attend the hearings, but the Chronicle claims this is evidence that Texas opposes redistricting.

The local (Austin) talk radio station with the former president's initials has been spewing about the size of today's protests at the capitol. The female reporter who was reporting live on scene sounded giddy about all the talk of recalling Governor Perry even though our constitution does not allow for it. I hear from a pro-redistricting counterprotestor that the rent-a-mob was outnumbered (and exaggerated about three-fold by the aforementioned reporter).

The deranged Ms Huffington was also there, standing near Arnold and Maria, trying to get to the microphones.

LWF may as well be called "Liberal World Federation." LWF is an alliance of (very) liberal churches who retain the name "Lutheran" in their synodical names despite rejection of the core doctrines of the Reformation and historic Christianity.

Look up their site on the internet. You'll find a lot about justice, human rights, "action plans" for certain diseases, ecumenical relations, etc. You probably won't find much about Christ.

We shall see what the LC-MS president has to say about this whole issue. Should be interesting.

It's pretty surprising, at least to me.

As President of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, I am profoundly saddened and deeply disturbed by the decision of the Episcopal Church U.S.A. to give its approval to the election of an openly homosexual bishop.

While it is clear from God’s Word that His forgiving love in Jesus Christ is constant for all people, this action nevertheless constitutes a momentous break from the Christian Church’s 2000 year long understanding of what the Holy Scriptures teach about homosexual behavior as contrary to God’s will and the biblical qualifications for holding the pastoral office.

As many have already observed, this historic decision will be deeply divisive not only in the Episcopal Church itself, but also in the wider Anglican Communion, and it will undoubtedly provoke controversy throughout all of Christendom.

It is my sincere hope that the Episcopal Church U.S.A. would reconsider their decision in the light of the biblical understanding of human sexuality and the qualifications for the pastoral office. It is my fervent prayer that God the Holy Spirit will guide and sustain our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Episcopal Church U.S.A. as they wrestle with the implications of this action in the months and years to come.
source

Maybe we can get him to take a stronger stand about pastors and congregations engaging in unionism with ELCA and other non-Lutheran sects.

The following US Lutheran bodies are not members or supporters of LWF:

Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Synod (aka, "The Norwegians")

There are also smaller splinter synods like Church of the Lutheran Confession and Lutheran Conference of Confessional Fellowship who think LCMS, WELS, and ELS are liberal. CLC, LCCF, and others do not participate in any "unionism" with other bodies -- especially as liberal as LWF.

I believe ELCA is the only significant (size-wise) American body participating in LWF.

Gustav Schwarzenegger was a stormtrooper (Sturmabteilung, which was known by the initials SA) in Feldgendarmerie Unit 521. Gustav separated in 1942 from his unit due to injuries and recurring malaria.

Source with a lot more information about his unit's exploits.

...it is little different from the church making a bishop of someone openly and notoriously living with a woman to whom he was not married...

You're right: things would be a lot different if he'd left his wife for another woman or was shacking up with someone who was not his wife. Cohabitation and infidelity are politically correct as long as homosexuality is involved. As long as some sins have vocal proponents in the church, blatant double standards and moral and doctrinal decline will persist.