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Old 04-04-2010, 04:29 PM   #98
orthodoxymoron
Avalon Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Lunar Base II
Posts: 3,093
Default Re: Red Letter Church

I am convinced that we need to study the Constitution and the Gospels side by side, and notice the underlying principles in both! They both need to be studied in both a devotional and a scholarly sense. One needs a complete understanding of both the spirit and letter of each of these foundational documents!

I believe that the common underlying principles in the Constitution and the Gospels are Freedom and Responsibility! I have stated this elsewhere in this site, but it is worth repeating over and over! And these principles must always be joined at the hip. They must never be separated! If they are not together, they are not at all! They cease to exist!

If you haven't noticed, there are a lot of conspiracy theorists these days! Everyone is out to get us! Including the government, so they say! Much of their claims seem far-fetched, yet some of them seem credible!

Well, let me go out on a limb, and alarm paranoid theorists and would-be tyrannical dictators alike! Crowd control is necessary! Law and order is necessary! Anarchy must be resisted! But who wants to be bullied by a dictatorial oppressor! Think this through from both the perspective of the controllers and the controlled! Who wants to be either! I don't! So what is the best means of crowd control? Self-control! Another way of saying this is responsibility! A situation where freedom and responsibility is simultaneously maximized requires very little, if any, authoritarian crowd control!

When people are free and responsible, they are not rebellious and they do not need to be treated like cattle and herded into gated corals! So rather than lay plans for martial law, it's probably a better idea to educate the citizenry in freedom and responsibility! This sounds simplistic, but I believe that it is the only way to avoid the doomsday scenarios of the conspiracy theorists!

Tangentially related to this subject is an observation regarding the Second Amendment to the Constitution! The gun-one! I know I’m a loose cannon, but I’m going to go off half-cocked anyway! The Second Amendment is a single sentence, but you almost never hear it quoted in it’s brief entirety! How come? It reads, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Shouldn’t this be interpreted as a non-dismembered unit? Doesn’t this imply some kind of organization and discipline? Some kind of responsibility, if you will? Does the term “well regulated” imply control? If guns are to fight the ‘Gestapo,’ shouldn’t we have a tank in every garage?! That’s an Arm, isn’t it?! I bet it would cost an Arm and a Leg! But it might come in handy when the black helicopters show up! I’m joking, but they weren’t laughing in Nazi Germany! Some people think Fascism could happen right here in America! Enter ‘Naomi Wolf’ or ‘From Freedom to Fascism’ into YouTube. You’d better be sitting down!

Once again, Freedom must be Responsible, or Tyranny will step in to quell the disturbance! I see the point of both sides of the gun control debate! Tyrants always take away the guns! As a pragmatic solution, may I suggest that classes conducted by the N.R.A. in the responsible use of firearms be required. And that each firearm owner demonstrate proficiency and responsibility in the use of their firearms. Self-discipline will prevent State-discipline! And finally, that the firearms purchased be appropriate for the intended use. An M-16 under the front seat of a car would not be appropriate, would it? How about an anti-aircraft gun on the roof…and a bazooka in the trunk?!

We the people often act like chickens with our heads cut off! No wonder reports surface that the government is preparing to control us forcibly! Both sides need to grow up! Both sides need to act like responsible adults! And the best way to do this is to become students of the Constitution and the Gospels! Both the government and the governed need to reverently study these documents, and then put freedom and responsibility into practice! This is no violation of the separation of church and state!

The First Amendment refers to church and state, and is a single sentence! Why is it so often not quoted in it’s brief entirety? It reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This simple sentence sure gets twisted and manipulated, added thereto or truncated!

We can’t have a Church of America, with the power of the State used to make people keep it’s commandments! But the Establishment clause should never be used to restrict the Free Exercise of Religion, the Freedom of Speech, Press, and Assembly, provided for in the same sentence!! A church should never, ever have it’s tax-exempt status removed because it criticizes the government, or because it is anti-war!

Responsibility and Freedom 101 needs to be taught in our schools! This is simply Psychology and Ethics 101! The answer to 1984 is 1776! Do the math!
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