@Babs Hunt I believe his life issues should not be implied to be wrong or adversely affecting him, by the likes of fellow forum-members. Lightly critique them, sure, I'm as guilty as hell. Frank
Well Frank...I know exactly how you feel about hypocrites and there's a lot of them around..however the more dangerous people are those who are uneducated and ignorant, I'm sure you'll agree. ...and as for that forum...you join a whole bunch of elite posters on here who were also banned, ..it's a forum run for and by Hypocrites and walter mitty characters.....so thank the lord like me and so many others on here who once were members, that you didn't fit their criteria..
@Holly Saunders "if others had said the same I would be taking them to task as well, but they didn't." Hows about take ME to task for posting the damned picture........unruffled some feathers? Frank
You're also missing the point Frank..I;m not offended by the picture, although I don't like Tattoos...it's nothing to do with the picture,...I can completely see where people may find the idea of tattoos offensive or ugly, that's everyone's prerogative ... .. it's not about that, my problem is Cody making derogatory comments with regard to Satan and those who have tattoos have ...that's clearly absolute BS..
@Holly Saunders Something is seriously mis-fitted, above, Holly. The uneducated and ignorant are more dangerous than hypocrites? Dangerous to themselves? Or to the hypocrites? Cannot be both, unless the uneducated and ignorant are also hypocrites. I need a bit of clarification on this. Are the uneducated and ignorant to be feared by the likes of us? "so thank the lord like me" There's how it sounded to me....I just know you meant it differently. "that you didn't fit their criteria" Meaning I should savor having been banned from an operation to which I had dedicated a large part of my remaining hours on this Earth? Some of the members of that forum had become dear friends, especially the technical guys, the pilots, who have been now lost forever. I hope you don't take this to heart; it's just how you struck me with your wording....... Frank
"that you didn't fit their criteria" Meaning I should savor having been banned from an operation to which I had dedicated a large part of my remaining hours on this Earth? Some of the members of that forum had become dear friends, especially the technical guys, the pilots, who have been now lost forever. No , not at all..to clarify...I was saying that you should thank the lord..as I do...that as the admin on that forum seem to prefer the membership to be offensive, argumentative, hypocrites, and the rest, then you should be glad that you didn't fit the criteria Unfortunately, like me and others you were none of those things so you didn't fit into that box..and sadly although along the way because you were true to yourself, you lost friends by being unfairly banned. I was more fortunate, in that after I was forced off that forum, the friends I had made on there came looking for me, and found me on another forum , so I didn't lose any friends.. I hope your friends do the same for you.
Well Cody all I can tell you is that each of us has to make our own decisions on how much something means to us and whether we are going to stand up against someone or something trying to take away from us what we value. And we also have to each decide how we're going to make that stand. My cousin died of Aids from his gay lifestyle and it broke my heart. We were the same age and I loved him and he knew that. But he also knew I could not condone his lifestyle and he respected that and did not ever try to force it in my face, etc. I live a few units down from another gay man and I am as kind to this man as I am to everyone else. But if he ever tries to make me condone his choice of lifestyle I will take a stance and let him know I cannot and will not. In my Church the Senior Pastor is going to tell the LBGT person the same thing I have told them. Cody, I am God's child and I live my life by His Truth found in His Word the Bible and any Church I attend is going to believe the same way I do. The day the LBGT Agenda takes over any Church I attend...is the day I stop attending that Church. I don't need a building to worship God in Cody...they can have that but they can't take God from me or change His Truth.
@Babs Hunt "My cousin died of Aids from his gay lifestyle and it broke my heart. We were the same age and I loved him and he knew that. But he also knew I could not condone his lifestyle and he respected that and did not ever try to force it in my face, etc. I live a few units down from another gay man and I am as kind to this man as I am to everyone else. But if he ever tries to make me condone his choice of lifestyle I will take a stance and let him know I cannot and will not. " Babs, here's the problem I have with that: it is conditional but not complete, love being expressed. Lifestyle condition not acceptable, but other than that, since it is not morally offensive, no conditions impressed on other facets of love for the individual. Is there any difference between that concept, and, "I love you but not your ugliness"? Or, "I love you, but not your obesity"? Love must be unconditional, to be true love. That's how I view it. Unfortunately, I would be lying if I did not add that I, too, disagree with such a lifestyle, but from another aspect: not religious grounds, but rather the realism of the spread of disease. We certainly would not, and did not, allow and condone a legion of "Typhoid Marys" to roam about, infecting unsuspecting and innocent people. Frank
I can't love what God calls sin Frank, but I do love the sinner and hope they will let Jesus come into their hearts so He can forgive and wash away their sin...just like He did and still does mine.
My opinion and experiences on several topics hit upon in this thread... As for the photos posted here, if I were related to the guy whose picture Frank posted, or if the topic ever came up for discussion, I would probably tell him that he looked like a freak and an idiot, and if he were my son I don't think that he'd ever have come to that point. If I were an employer, I probably wouldn't hire anyone who looked like that, and if I were the father of a girl who wanted to date someone like that, I might consider hiring a hit man. As for the young men (at least, I think they might be men) whose photos were posted by Ike, if they asked me what I thought, I'd tell them and it wouldn't be entirely complimentary, but I would recognize that a whole lot of people felt much the same about the way I dressed in the 1960s and 1970s. If I were the father of a girl who wanted to date someone who looked like that, I'd be surprised that any of them would be interested in girls. Otherwise, it wouldn't be any of my business. Although it was becoming common in many parts of the country in the mid-1960s, I was the only guy in my rural high school who had long hair and wore bell bottoms (which we had to make ourselves, in those days), so there were people, even in my own class, who disapproved of the way that I looked. By the time I was a senior, there were some others in the lower grades who were growing their hair out but that wasn't common in Stephenson, Michigan at that time. Even now, I like my hair long but for most of my life, there were reasons not to grow it long, and they took precedence over my own personal preference. Long hair isn't so much in vogue anymore, among younger people or older, but it never was about that. I like my hair long, and I particularly like not having to waste time and money on barbers or hair stylists. Living in Maine, I am far from being the only older guy around with long hair. Even so, I see guys with long hair sometimes and think that they look ridiculous, and wonder if maybe I do too, but I don't concern myself much over it. There is nothing in my life now for which having my hair long might be an impediment. I do worry sometimes, when I am visiting people who I don't see on a regular basis, such as my grandchildren and their grandparents on the other side of the family, that they might think I look ridiculous, and I wouldn't want to embarrass anyone, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Looking at the larger issues touched upon here, I don't believe that anyone has an obligation to keep up with changing social mores or styles, and I do believe that doing so may be detrimental in some cases. As a Christian, I believe that homosexuality is a sin, and I believed this despite the fact that my daughter was very active in LGBT issues in the military. She was a co-founder of the organization that helped to bring about an end to don't-ask-don't-tell. Yet my wife and I made no secret of our opinions on the subject, and could do nothing else given that they were not our opinions, but God's opinions. Christians who, when facing such an issue with someone in their family, decide that God is simply going to have to evolve and accept a gay lifestyle, are fooling themselves alone, and they are betraying their faith and risking their own salvation. What's more, it isn't necessary to embrace an LGBT lifestyle in order to continue to have a loving relationship with someone who is living an LGBT lifestyle. If a genuine relationship exists, it can survive that. My wife and I are still in touch with some of our daughter's friends, some of whom are flamboyantly LGBT, and they are very nice, intelligent, interesting people. I enjoy them, and I like them. It's certainly not my place to tell them to stop that, and if they are not Christians, changing their behavior, but not their hearts, isn't going to help. Christians who believe that God requires them to hate anyone who embraces the LGBT lifestyle are equally wrong, given that God doesn't call us to hate others, and it is unrealistic to believe that we are going to reach someone through hatred. Besides, if someone is not a Christian, trying to live like one isn't going to get them into heaven. The important thing is to reach them, and that isn't going to happen through hatred. But I don't want to make this about religion, although that can be a large part of who we are. Nevertheless, whether for religious reasons or others, I don't believe that we are under any obligation to accept something, whatever it might be, just because a lot of other people are. After all, Facebook is filled with millennials and most of them are stupid, so I am not about to let them decide what I am going to wear, do, or think.