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  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.

MikeK

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This is a very strange reply. What makes you think I'm advocating for humanism or apostasy? We must work to help the less fortunate and we must serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
 
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Armoured

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Sigh.. If you are familiar, then you already know. I'm not going to play games okay? If you don't know, then say so and then go look it up.
I'm not playing games. I'm asking what the link between two things that seem utterly unrelated are. I welcome anyone asking clarification of me if they don't understand what I say, so I'm not sure what the problem is?
 
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benedictaoo

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If you can come up with a secular argument for it, me three.
Shakes head in disbelief... That's the whole point, secularism is turning from God. It all, all of it, socialism, secularism, it all springs from Communism, that's the error Russia spread. No, we can not continue to offend Godwith secularism, he's already offended too much. laws and culture need tombe based God's law and principals. No one is forced to be Christian, they can be what ever they want, freedom to practice what ever they want but our culture must be based on godly principles.
 
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MikeK

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What are you arguing with? This is your response to my statement that we need to show the world how beautiful traditional Christian marriage is. What we have is far better, both spiritually and in the short term Earthly sense than what fornicators and adulterers and people in same-sex marriages have. Let us display the deep happiness and satisfaction that comes from serving the Lord and others will be drawn to explore what we have. I am not disagreeing with Pope Benedict's reflections at all and I'm not sure what specific bits you imagine I take issue with.
 
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Armoured

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"It all springs from communism"? Establishment clause?

How can you say "people must be free to practice whatever they want" and then "culture must be based on godly principles " straight after? They're inherently contradictory.

E.g. if someone is free to be gay,they're not godly, but if they're not allowed to be gay, they're not free, are they?
 
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MikeK

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I agree that secularism is a problem (but it has its roots in something far older than communism). There is much work to do, and our Bishops' Conference has steadfastly advocated for laws that will please Christ. These issues all deserve our support and we are blessed not to have to pick and choose between them.
 
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benedictaoo

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This is a very strange reply. What makes you think I'm advocating for humanism or apostasy? We must work to help the less fortunate and we must serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Mike, we all here are gleening the same thing from reading your replays. I'm sorry but it seems to be what is written between the lines because your debating everything. What exactly are you disagreeing with? If I'm mistaken, help me understand.
 
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MikeK

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There are two sides in this thread. One side says, "Here's what Jesus and the Church says."

And the other side responds, "Here's what I say."

Absolutely. I have time and time again mentioned what Jesus said about the primary two commands we are to live by. Thanks for noticing.
 
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MikeK

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Mike, we all here are gleening the same thing from reading your replays. I'm sorry but it seems to be what is written between the lines because your debating everything. What exactly are you disagreeing with? If I'm mistaken, help me understand.

You are mistaken. There is nothing that I have said that suggests that I support apostasy or secularism in spite of your recent accusations. I have consistently repeated the call for us to do more for Christ and to demonstrate just how wonderful the gift we've been given is. I don't know how you misinterpret that, and I don't understand what all the angst and smh-ing is over.
 
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pdudgeon

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...Yeeeessss... but what's that got to do with Communist Russia?
if you don't know what Fatima has to do with Communist Russia, then you need to do more study of the messages that were given to the children.
 
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LivingWordUnity

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Here's what Jesus and the Church say:

"If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." - Jesus (Jn 15:19)

"The foe and enemy of the Church despises and passes by those whom he has alienated from the Church, and led without as captives and conquered; he goes on to harass those in whom he sees Christ dwell." - St. Cyprian, Epistle 56
 
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pdudgeon

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i think you've got that last mixed up.
a person is free to choose to be gay, but in doing so they are opposing the freedom and goodness of what God wants for them,
and choosing instead to be chained in slavery to a practice and an identity that God hates, and one which will only end in depravity and death.

that's why culture must be based on Godly principles. To base it on anything else is destructive.
 
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pdudgeon

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Absolutely. I have time and time again mentioned what Jesus said about the primary two commands we are to live by. Thanks for noticing.

yes....and it's the how and why that those two commands are carried out that we differ on.

once again, it's the same difference between Mary and her sister Martha.
Both made good choices, but it was the difference in their motivation that distinguished between them,
and caused Jesus to say that Mary had chosen the better part.

once again, both are good choices but it's the motivation that makes all the difference.
we can do good works by ourselves, or we can do good works with Jesus.
want to know the difference? John 6:1-13.
 
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LivingWordUnity

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Whatever happened to Enoch and Elijah? These threads always turn into the same debate.
Here's an explanation of what happened:

“At the heart of all temptations…is the act of pushing God aside because we perceive him as secondary, if not actually superfluous and annoying, in comparison with all the apparently far more urgent matters that fill our lives. Constructing a world by our own lights, without reference to God, building on our own foundation; refusing to acknowledge the reality of anything beyond the political and material, while setting God aside as an illusion—that is the temptation that threatens us in many varied forms.

“Moral posturing is part and parcel of temptation. It does not invite us directly to do evil—no, that would be far too blatant. It pretends to show us a better way, where we finally abandon our illusions and throw ourselves into the work of actually making the world a better place. It claims, moreover, to speak for true realism: What’s real is what is right there in front of us—power and bread. By comparison, the things of God fade into unreality, into a secondary world that no one really needs....When God is regarded as a secondary matter that can be set aside temporarily or permanently on account of more important things, it is precisely these supposedly more important things that come to nothing.”

— Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), Jesus of Nazareth - Vol I (pp. 28-29; 33)
 
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benedictaoo

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Yep... And that was in 1989. How far have we come and not in a good way. Easy way to know the sheep from the goats. One would say, shouting with glee, yes, how far (away from God) we have come! And the other, somber with tears, beating their breast, how far (away from God) we have come! One will think it a blessing, the other a curse. Reminds me of Moses. Not hard to know the sheep from the goats. The elect from the reprobate. Esau and Jacob.
 
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