sherpa

You are referencing Luke 15 for some reason, which is a chapter about welcoming after repentance.

Read what is there yourself, and you can interpret it for yourself. Obviously there are different views. What I know is that the church I belong to, which is a mainstream Christian Protestant faith, doesn't perform the ceremony for a gay couple, and doesn't restrict anyone from the regular services, and I'm OK with that, because I have no interest in people's personal lives nor in judging such matters.

I am not missing your point. You are asking me to voice a judgement on someone else's behavior, and I am not going to do that. It is warned against time and time again in the Bible. Regarding changing the playbook, there are ways to interpret things that govern Christian faith that are mentioned in the New Testament. If one interprets those a certain way, it is not up for "modernization."

I am never going to get into such a discussion here. I doubt anyone on this board has worked with more homosexuals than I, and like all folks, they are individuals and different from each other. What I strongly feel is that no religion should be forced to perform a marriage ceremony for those folks, just as that group should not be forced, and thankfully aren't, to perform any religious ceremony for a host of other reasons.

Ya. Sure. What I said is available on the previous page, and you boldfaced it in your ignorant response. What I said was: "It contains a lot of rules, called "The Law," that applied only to that group." Never, ever did I say that any rule in the Old Testament was not applicable to the Christian faith. That conclusion is your idiotic and false interpretation. That is not my problem. By the way, you've already called me an "idiot," along with coward, liar, unstable and a few others that I can't recall off the top of my head, so no need to repeat yourself.

No offense, but I am not going to do other's work. If you are interested, it is incredibly easy to find that in the Old and New Testaments.

I made no mistake. Your inability to understand what was said is not someone else's mistake.

That is not what I said, and I'm quite certain you have no idea how foolish and uninformed you appear. The Old Testament contains a number of rules those in the Judaism were to abide by. Many of them, but not limited to, circumcision, keeping the Sabbath, rules for keeping the Sabbath, strict dietary rules and rules for atonement after breaking one, did not carry forward to the Christian faith after the sacrifice of Christ and the spreading of that faith beyond the Jews. None of those apply to the Christian. The Ten Commandments certainly did, as I pointed out using a quote from Jesus. Most people are very aware of that, no matter their belief, and don't find that too hard to understand.

Please. What did Jesus say in the New Testament? Matthew 5:19. "So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Maybe not to you, though I doubt you are even aware, but think it's pretty clear.

Have to be careful if using the Bible. Remember, the Bible consists of two completely separate books. The Old Testament is the story of a culture, the Jews. It contains a lot of rules, called "The Law," that applied only to that group. The New Testament is the story of an individual, who fulfilled the law, and believers are no longer bound by Old Testament Jewish Law. The guidance in the New Testament is quite different.

I never claimed to be an "expert." so to answer your question...Not right. Having read your views on this issue, along with the preposterous suggestion that we deploy a couple squadrons to the Ukraine as a "deterrence" to a Russian invasion, the proposal that the US establishing and maintaining a no fly zone over the Ukraine, and your recent suggestion that we grant them $100b in aid, you have no idea how little I care regarding how seriously you take me, or any other view you have on any subject.

Apparently more than you. I'm sure most folks who flew tactical airplanes designed to fight in hostile lands received this information as you entered a new threat area. The first thing you go over is what they got, how they got it, and how much of a threat it represents. Here's what you don't seem to know, from evidence in your posts. The black market weapons market deals, other than small time stolen caches, are done through networks that buyers trust. I'm talking about large scale stuff, like what this guy was involved in, what the North Koreans do, and a host of other really bad people. These guys are not car dealers, only working for a specific label, as you foolishly suggest, and that because he is Russian, and you theorize, no doubt inaccurately, that there is no Russian stuff available for sale that he is probably harmless. A false premise followed by a foolish conclusion. Of course you have nothing to say about the effort, expense and danger of a multi continent sting to set up and effect his arrest in Thailand, or how the Russians tried to prevent his delivery to American hands, as if the DEA doesn't care about their effort or this release. I'll bet they really, really do. This mindless allegiance to Biden really warps your judgement. We got hosed on this "deal," and everybody on earth knows it.

Great response. The fact is that you know nothing about black market weapons sales, as is evident from your posts.

How do you claim any knowledge to state that he has nothing to sell? There are huge amounts of weapons and other military supplies available all across the world, including the stuff the US left behind in Afghanistan. The US military has itself omitted that it has not been able to track weapons provided once they leave Poland and get into Ukraine. I have no idea how you can make that statement.

Not that I care, but refusing to provide a catering service at somebody else's location is entirely different than refusing to serve them in your restaraunt and making that decision very close to the time of the reservation, claiming you were concerned about the safety of your wait staff. Give me a break.

When Tom Brady crosses the white line, he's going to be an ***hole.

Here's some interesting information. First on an inventory note, I was watching the CEO of Raytheon on CNBC the other day and he mentioned that in the first ten months of this war, Ukraine had gone through ten years of Javelin production and fifteen years of Stinger production. Obviously, we need to get those, or replacements back up to acceptable inventories. Next. In Mar 2008, Russia invaded Georgia. Price of oil at the time was $125/barrel. In Feb 2014, Russia invades Crimea. Price of oil at the time was $103/barrel. In Feb 2022 Russia invades Ukraine. Price of oil at the time was $93/barrel. From January or2017 until January of 21, the price of oil averaged between $40 and $60/barrel. Russia invaded nobody. Seems patently obvious to me that Putin only invades when he can fund it with oil sales. EU and UK have spent $29 billion on Russian oil since the invasion. EU and UK have donated $28 billion in arms/aid to Ukraine. Great strategy. Check this chart for oil prices from Nov of 2020 until March of 2021. Oil-Nov 2020 until March 2021 I wonder what happened in that time period to facilitate the rise?

Just an observation. Remember in the not too distant past when judgements were rendered in this forum based on nothing other than if Putin would approve the opinion/action was ill advised and anti American? I do, and I thought it was an incredibly foolish criteria, always puked out by one individual. Well......notice that is curiously "missing" here.

This is nonsense. I never expressed anything relating to not getting her out. If she was my daughter she wouldn't be bringing illegal drugs into a country that is known for this kind of crap, just as she wouldn't visit North Korea. I couldn't care less about this, but it is undeniably a grossly disproportionate exchange, as always.

Both. Whelan and his family's pleas' have been in the news for months. Bout's conviction was highly publicized. It would be interesting to see how DEA folks think about this, as he was perused by them for years and finally caught in a sting in Thailand. Lots of time. Lots of money. Probably lots of risk spent on this guy who was perfectly willing to sell SAMS to whoever wanted them to shoot down airliners.

I'm not sure who you mean by "you guys," but I knew exactly who he was and his resume. Either way, the value of well known US citizens as hostages goes up yet again.

I've operated a business in South America, and I can state without reservation that there a massive impediments that don't exist in the US. Further, the "ambitious" people I established friendships with talked about it and dealt with it all the time. Eventually, it just got too hard.

Of course it will, and probably get more dangerous for a number of reasons.

I don't do homework assignments. There is a lot of print about this guy involved all over the world. Either way, the thought that the current situation somehow limits international arms dealers is a preposterous premise. Russian/Soviet and US crap is all over the world, and in the hands of nefarious individuals, and I'm quite certain the international, clandestine arms market is still functioning quite well.

I don't what what the current value of Russian weaponry has to do with this guy. Hi is an international arms trafficker, willing to sell anything to anybody. These types of merchants of death have no borders and no exclusivity to certain nation's arms.