I didn’t say he made ALL the points I would have made. I just said I agree with a FEW things he said.
I would probably call it the Papal or Inquisition method, myself. Or perhaps the ‘Divine Right of Kings’ method. 
“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes.” (Proverbs 21:2)*
*“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: But the Lord pondereth the hearts.” is the full quotation.
You’re probably right. Thank you for correcting me. I called it “The Hitler Method” because he’s the first person I recall doing it to an entire country, but I hadn’t thought of the Spaniards.
And you’re doing the very thing I am speaking of. Asserting something is not inherently good or bad, without actually defining what good and bad mean.
Setting aside the mechanics of the media for a moment, are ideas inherently good or evil base upon some notion of a standard? If no standard exists, can something called good and evil actually exit? Or is the actually case throughout history “Every man did what was right in his own eyes”.
As for reading the CM and remaining a christian, well of course I can. Words aren’t magic. But the CM does convene inherently evil ideas. I say this because those ideas are anti-Christian.
The ideas of good and evil would presuppose the God of the Bible, whose very nature is the standard. Unless of course you’re willing to admit that good and evil are just preferences with no actual fixed meaning.
Well now you wish to have a discussion of the origin and nature of good and evil and debate that they are divine rules vs. man made so that is sort of a pointless detour.
Obviously good and bad can vary. Some folks consider alcohol evil, others consider it relaxing. So certain things are subjective. I’m sure if you got down to things of little importance the distinction could be called a preference.
I think the “golden rule” works well in most cases to determine right from wrong and good from evil and it doesn’t require religion.
And ironically communism isn’t evil in theory, it is actually quite benevolent in most instances. The ideas of everyone being the same and everyone doing their part are a wonderful ideal. In contrast capitalism in theory is pretty brutal. Those with the money purchase labor like any other commodity and if you don’t have any capital you have no safeguards.
But when you put both in practice communism becomes incredibly brutal because most humans are not capable of true equality and the system robs everyone of their freedom and individuality as everyone becomes little more than a means to serve the state for the common good.
And capitalism in practice is ironically one of the best opportunities for true freedom without the cost of your individuality. You get “the chance” to attain great things if you are smart, have a good idea and get lucky. Granted it is akin to playing the lottery if you don’t have the money, but it’s better than being assigned to State Factory 207 for the duration of your existence.
And that is what is evil about communism, when Stalin re opened the churches during the war communism didn’t become any less evil. When Castro permitted the Pope to visit Cuba communism didn’t become any less evil. Religion is nothing more than another trapping of the individual that was eliminated for the greater good of the state.
So in the end good and evil can vary. There is no fixed meaning to the the terms. Everything is good and everything is evil, depending on the subjective preferences of people. Communism is good in theory, put bad in practice. Gun bans are good and bad all at the same time. And history is just the unfolding of millions and millions of people asserting individual preferences, many times with violence.
So getting back to original posting. Paul Harvey’s statement “Teach the Bible is a myth” is about 250 years too late. The Bible was being looked upon as myth by the founders of this country from the very beginning. You can verify this in the Bill of Rights. The free exercise clause of the 1st is patently anti-Christian. It codified polytheism as the official religion of the U.S. The U.S. has much more in common with ancient pagan Rome than it does with ancient Israel. Ultimately the U.S. is just another part of the plan to completely deconstruct the Protestant Reformation, this earnest repudiation began in the 1650’s. Christians themselves don’t even really want Christ as king.
The sooner that genuine Christians understand that the so called conservative movement is just the right side of the Marxist left (as one minster has said) the better. The superficial agreement that conservatism has with Biblical Christianity needs to end, and hopefully soon.
Some things don’t change, some do.
As recently as two centuries ago, slavery was not considered to be inherently evil by most people. But today slavery is considered to be patently evil.
There are some people who consider it evil to kill anything for any reason. And there are those who are willing to kill anything, for fun or profit, because it’s only evil to get in their way.
Women were once viewed as property, women who were empowered were witches and therefore evil… today, that view is considered evil.
I’m sure that we could agree on some things that are universally evil:
-Murder or assassination (which does not include abortion, killing in self-defense, assisted suicide, or hunting)
-Sexual contact without consent (which includes living things that cannot consent: animals, children under a certain age, &c.)
-Violation of property (theft, trespassing)
-Servitude (depriving others of their rights, slavery in all its forms, including keeping workers indebted to you through the use of company stores)
-Inequity before the law (all persons should be equal under the law, regardless of wealth, race, sex, or anything else).
Everything else is going to be pretty open to interpretation. And, of course, being charitable, dutiful, kind, &c. will always be virtues and provided you do no evil, you will still be a good person if you adhere to those virtues. Even if you have two wives and a husband (and one of the wives and the husband are transgendered) and worship the sun and the moon.
You want a theocracy, I suggest you build a boat and start paddling.
No, I think there are some constants.
Murder, rape and robbery are examples that come to mind. It is when you move beyond the obvious ones and get into things like alcohol other things where one culture may view them as evil, usually due to religious belief.
Ironically various cultures often find the religion of others evil. So religion is hardly a unifying start point for defining good or evil.
Yes things surely change. But on what basis do some things get redefined as good or evil. How can some things be relative and some things dependent on some non-changing standard? What is this standard that supersedes the opinions of 6.5 billion people or even the few who wield the political sword? Why is murder always wrong and how do you know?
Wouldn’t even you admit that since there are things that can never be explained concerning the nature of existence or how things came to be before man that you have to take some things on faith? Will you ever really know, because of your agnosticism, if there really isn’t something beyond nature?
Actually Dave I’m a Historic Theonomist. I believe Christ is the king of all nations and His law (the 10 commandments) is the only legitimate law. I would also state that laws that are derived from the 10 commandment by good and necessary consequence would be legitimate. There is a biblically based separation between Church and State but not in an absolute sense, they’re to work together according to their different spheres of authority. The state wields the sword, the church possesses the keys to kingdom. Biblically speaking these 2 authorities derive their power from Christ and are limited by Christ, since no man or group of men can claim abolute power. This is not the same thing as what goes on in Iran for instance, where the mulahs rule both church and state. The Kingdom of God doesn’t come by shooting or bombing your way to it. That would seem to be the method of the left and right.
As for leaving, I don’t think so. But you’re more than welcome to believe in Christ and have your sins forgiven.
Simple enough: It deprives another living being of their freedoms. Their natural (or if you prefer God-given) rights.
“Just as God has given many fingers to the hand so has He given many religions to man.”
-Mongke Khan
There are many things “we don’t know.”
There are many things “we probably will never know.”
But that doesn’t mean they are supernatural, they are simply beyond our ability to explore and examine them closely enough to understand.
Our entire existence “might” be nothing more than the daydream of Big Purple Kid but that is unlikely. We can’t prove it isn’t so, but it is unlikely.
And if it proves that something supernatural does exist, then it means everything we have learned is for nothing because it is all irrelevant if we are nothing more than the daydream of some super being.
Clarke’s Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic
Arthur C. Clarkes third law…
I agree that God has given many religions to men, but I would probably disagree with Khan as to why He has done this. It certainly wasn’t to bless them.
Or what you perceive as something real, including me, might just be you dreaming. How would you know?
Was that Historical Theonomist or Histrionic Theonanist? 
As usual Dave, brilliant, you really got me on that one.
Aw, c’mon, lighten up a little, will ya?
Believe what you want, worship however you please. Despite the clowning around, I seriously mean no disrespect towards your religious beliefs and I apologize for my flippant remark.
But the recurring pattern in all of these discussions is they inevitably lead to the same place (i.e. folks trying to prove a point without any proof). Pardon me if I can’t take any of it very seriously and consider most if it an exercise in mental masturbation.