The Christian Thread

Once or twice I have been known to wonder what it would be like to have the double-standards that I am sometimes accused of. Fortunately this accusation doesn't happen too often but it has happened in the 6 years I've been an Admin. Which is disappointing because I do try to be fair and even-handed when dealing with conflict here, but it's par for the course as they say: if you are in a position of power and on occasion have to wield it, (however reluctantly), then you stand prepared for a bit of verbal lip from those being chastised - "back-chat" as my dear late mum used to call it. But mostly it's innocuous and simply wearisome so I laugh it off with a humorous, sometimes self-depricating, quip and move on. One particularly aggrieved individual did stalk me down and leave very abusive messages on my Facebook page because I had the temerity to suspending his account for a month, which annoyed me at the time but at the end of the day... nothing actually happened, it was just words... just because he called me a ct doesn't mean I am one, or have to be one... does it? No need for a humorous retort that time, I just hit *delete* and moved on. But that's the price you sometimes have to pay for asking people to cool it when they've been more impolite than is necessary in regular conversation -  as Roger 'The Hat' Manifold famously said on Us and Them 'I mean good manners don't cost nothing do they, eh?' ... aside from some puerile and ultimately futile cyber-bullying that is.

 

So, yeah - double-standards - I think it would be really neat to have them - to be in a position of power and then abuse that power would be so fingly awesomely cool: I could delete all those tiresome Dream Theatre threads, or any post I didn't like, or any thread suggesting stupid non-prog bands for inclusion here (Animal Collective? No frickin' way douche-bag *delete* ... Joanna Newsome? *delete* ... DragonForce? *delete* ... Elton John? *delete* ... Megabreth? *delete* ... Phil Collins? *delete* ... ); I could fix polls so my favourite bands always win; I could ban people on whim; wrestle poodles and win; play beachball; shave my legs; knock over walls; tease people, brush them aside as though they were matchsticks... but all that seems like an awful lot of work... I could just pick on Geoff instead for playing the victim card too early. Except all that would be just a tad too obvious - the evidence would point straight back to me so it would be impossible to "get away with it" (even with my godless lack of morals and ethics) and whatever scant credibility the "badge" provides would be rendered useless. Absolute power is overrated.

This is the christian thread. I seldom partake of the discussion here out of respect and in a spirit of tolerance, so when I do then it is mostly in my capacity of Site Moderator, I don't come here to debate or discuss - if I want "political" discussion I go to the political discussion thread, if I want religious discussion I go to the athiest/agnostic thread (where I gladly play the home-advantage), so please forgive this little rant-ette.

 

Why take it so personal. I have read St. Augustine's blog and I did not agree with everything he blogged either. Dean and I have had our differences but never at any time have I found him to be anything but fair. When it comes to doing the job of forum moderator nobody does it better than Dean..........period.

In my opinion everything in public is political, religion, art, sports, news, law.

It will always be political. It addresses the way people act together, and that is what politics is about.

The question left is, was Jesus right left middle. 

I think we will never know, the book (s) are not clear, and the times was so different from those we live in now, that its not possible to come up with an objective answer.

So basically you can make him fit whatever you want.

Taken out of context it can mean whatever you want it to mean, that's the point of it:

 

But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money." And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, "Whose is this image and superscription?" They say unto him, "Caesar's."  Then saith he unto them, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's"