Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan This thread isn't about Josh. It's about a particularly repellent segment of Americans who call themselves Christians, yet are "praying" for some very un-Christian things. I've seen these bumper stickers around, and thought they were prayers for wisdom, or his health, or to be inspired by God to make good choices or something. Rather than focusing on Josh for the moment -- who had nothing to do with these bumper stickers and doesn't support this mindset -- I wish we could focus on people selling this stuff and calling them out for clearly wishing harm to the president (and therefore, the country). I'd like for there to be a more vocal rejection of this junk from Christians especially.
Originally Posted By DAR I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you express your political beliefs through a bumper sticker, you're better off not voting.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan I agree. But it isn't the voting I'm worried about. It's the undercurrent of violence in these messages that concerns me. These bumper stickers are largely being sported by people who can't cope with the fact that they didn't win this time. If something dreadful happens, people who have been fomenting this stuff will be tripping over themselves to say how they never meant any harm by it, they meant they wanted him out of office by peaceful election, not violence. But they're crossing the lines of what used to be considered acceptable boundaries so frequently now that it gives me great concern. And, yes, I would be saying the same thing if McCain has won.
Originally Posted By utahjosh Actually, I do know these things. I know them by the power of the hold spirit. It's a different way to know something, but it is not a belief.
Originally Posted By utahjosh <Your message comes through as though everybody elsel is doomed and you don't expect to see any of us on the other side..> I apologize if that's the case. I have never said anything of the sort, though it's possible things i've said may have lead someone to think that on their own. Can you show a specific case where that is true?
Originally Posted By utahjosh I think the bumper stickers are distasteful and inappropriate in every way.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>I think the bumper stickers are distasteful and inappropriate in every way.<< We agree!
Originally Posted By DAR Being Catholic and attending Mass on Sunday's I can say that I've not come across this particular Psalm in any of the readings. Nor in my years of Catholic grade and high school.
Originally Posted By DAR I think when I get home I'm going to pull out my bible and look up that passage.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox There's a ton of nastiness in the Old Testament that rarely gets airtime on the American Christian airwaves, except by the fundamental loonies on the right. I concur with the concerns expressed by other posters here. This rhetoric is extremely dangerous and crosses the line of decency. These bumper stickers are akin to O'Reilly's continual "Tiller the Baby Killer" chants on Fox News, and look how that situation ended. President Obama continues to receive over 400% more death threats than any other President in modern times, which makes this bumper sticker and related merchandise all the more troubling. This speaks to the problem with the "cherry pickers" of the Bible, who cite only those passages which support their agendas, while ignoring countless others as being trite or outdated. The following parody web site illustrates this point beautifully: <a href="http://www.godhatesshrimp.com" target="_blank">http://www.godhatesshrimp.com</a> More and more, the teachings of Christ continue to be lost on his followers.
Originally Posted By utahjosh <And people think that Muslim extremists are crazy.> They are. And they kill thousands and thousands of people. How many murders in the last 100 years have been at the hands Christians and in the name of God?
Originally Posted By DAR Attached is the full Psalm. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+109&version=NIV" target="_blank">http://www.biblegateway.com/pa...sion=NIV</a>
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "They are. And they kill thousands and thousands of people. How many murders in the last 100 years have been at the hands Christians and in the name of God?" Murder isn't the only way to define crazy.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<And they kill thousands and thousands of people. How many murders in the last 100 years have been at the hands Christians and in the name of God?>> Hitler was a Christian: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler's_religious_beliefs" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A..._beliefs</a> "In public statements, especially at the beginning of his rule, Hitler frequently spoke positively about the Christian heritage of German culture and his belief in the "Aryan" Christ. Joachim Fest wrote, "Hitler knew, through the constant invocation of the God the Lord (German: Herrgott) or of providence (German: Vorsehung), to make the impression of a godly way of thought."[8] He used his "ability to simulate, even to potentially critical Church leaders, an image of a leader keen to uphold and protect Christianity," according to Ian Kershaw. Kershaw adds that Hitler by this ability also succeeded in appeasing possible Church resistance to anti-Christian Nazi Party radicals.[9] For example, on March 23, 1933, he addressed the Reichstag: "The National Government regards the two Christian confessions (i.e. Catholicism and Protestantism) as factors essential to the soul of the German people. ... We hold the spiritual forces of Christianity to be indispensable elements in the moral uplift of most of the German people."[10] At one point he described his religious status: "I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so."[11]" "According to Albert Speer, Hitler remained a formal member of the Catholic Church until his death (unlike other leading Nazis who had formally, publicly and with agitation left the Church), although Speer also notes that Hitler "had no real attachment to it."[12] According to Hitler biographer John Toland, writing of Hitler's religious views and their effects: "Still a member in good standing of the Church of Rome despite detestation of its hierarchy, he carried within him its teaching that the Jew was the killer of God. The extermination, therefore, could be done without a twinge of conscience since he was merely acting as the avenging hand of God...."[13]" Over 11 million were murdered during the holocaust, far more than the number killed by radical Muslims during the past century. Radical Christians are far from innocent in this regard.
Originally Posted By DAR Looks like another let's bash religion thread from the sanctimonious of LP. Enjoy.
Originally Posted By FaMulan As far as the original topic is concerned, it is reprehensible and tantamount to treason imo. Those who were tired of the Bush regime did things peacefully, though the ballot box and by having stickers stating "Impeach Bush" not a bible reference that is practically trolling for an assassin.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Looks like another let's bash religion thread from the sanctimonious of LP. Enjoy.<< Well I'm usually the guy in defense of religion around here, trying to find the reasonable middle. But I would like to see more Christians speaking out against this stuff in the same way I would like to see more Muslims speaking out against extremist stuff that misuse their religion. I think these bumper stickers, and what lurks below the surface in the thinking behind them, is appalling. I do not believe it represents any kind of a majority Christian view, but at the same time, more people, especially Christians on the right, speaking out against it would be better.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 Christian somewhere between middle & left speaking out against it. Makes me sick!
