Brother Kaman

If the teenager was left alone and in charge of the house in the parents absence and took good care of the place and the parents came home and did not beat him because he did a good job, why should he be thankful unless he was expecting a beating in the first place?

That sounds like you are saying that God washed his hands and moved on. Why would anyone thank Him for the good they receive if God put them in charge of things?

Those were the answers I knew I would get before I began the topic. Once again forgive me my rant. It was uncalled for. I do not wish to start a Christian bashing regardless of my own belief.

Apparently you have internet. All the news channels are at your finger tips and as much as 3 days ahead of TV. Edited to eliminate double post.

Network morning news shows are not news shows at all. They are variety infotainment.

I have re-examined my motives for starting this topic and already I know the answers to my questions. I was ranting and venting over things that I have read recently in the news and on facebook and other sources. I do not wish to pick on or upset people of a different spiritual path than mine. At this forum I have found many, many topics denouncing and picking apart Christianity. No one that I know of has spent even 1/100th of the time and space to question the voracity of Satanism, Wiccan, Paganism, Buddhism, Hinduism and just barely touched Islam or any other belief system. People here can even claim to be vampires and no one questions that belief. I apologize right now for this topic and ask forgiveness from by Brothers here who are Christian.

My take away on the Book of Job is that bad things cannot happen to people without the God of Abraham's consent.

Most of the folks I am acquainted with, who are Christian, tell me that God is good and does not visit harm on his children. Only Satan does that and God doesn't "allow" Satan to do it, rather man does it himself thru free will. Free will only seems to be an issue when bad things happen and it would also seem that only God is responsible for the good and that free will has nothing to do with the good at all.

You can thank me for nothing. I don't meddle in your life unless you want to believe I do. You, too, are God so you get to decide.

Wisconsin should have an official web site the you can navigate to find the answer to you question. If you live in Wisconsin and have officiated at weddings in Wisconsin and your daughter is going to be married in Wisconsin, then there should be no problems. When in doubt ask the folks who make the rules. The county clerk should also be able to help.

I was watching a program on TV today that examined the murder of a teenage girl and the subsequent investigation, arrest and trial of the murderer. Near the end of the program, the family of the murdered young lady thanked God (God of Abraham) for answering their prayers to apprehend and bring to justice their daughter's murderer. My first thought was, "Why would God allow her to be murdered in the first place?" Then I knew the handy answer most Christians would use would be to blame the free will of the murderer and that God had nothing to do with the murder. Sounds like Pontius Pilate, washing his hands, doesn't it of the wicked deed, doesn't it? Why was it not the "free will" of the police investigators and the "free will" of the court and jury that apprehended and punished their daughter's killer? How is "free will" at one end and God answering prayers at the other end? Any thoughts? I would like to hear from a few Christians on this topic.

I would never trust the accuracy of any news media.

That is what I thought but figured my math was fuzzy.

Once again, evil only exists in a religious context. Without religion one is only behaving badly and in conflict with the laws of the society in which one lives.

Didn't say child molesters are insane. I said they deserve death.

Never said he was justified, ObedEdom. Never said he did not deserve death or worse. I said he was insane, not evil. Child molesters are not evil but also deserve death.

That's right. I forgot. In order to be insane you must tweedle your lips and hear voices. Gassing 6 million Jews is the act of a rational man. Silly me.

Hitler was insane. Does a mental disease make one's actions evil?

Evil exists only in a religious context. Each religion defines evil as what it means to them.

Amen. Try being a Dove in a family of Hawks when one of the family is off fighting the war. Try being a liberal in a conservative town or vice versa. Minorities in belief as well as ethnicity will get you clobbered.

As they do in all religions.

You cannot have it both ways. If your God did not create sin, then He is not the source or everything. He is not all powerful and omni this or that. If anything can exist outside your God, then he cannot be ALL.

A lot of that would depend on who's for dinner.

One really must not call another person stupid for believing what he believes. TOS says so.