Beto O’Rourke is right, this is fucked up.
Pray in one hand, shit in the other. See which one fills up first.
Best statement I have seen so far, on how God is involved in this.
We aren’t supposed to sit on our butts and ask Him to do it all for us, That’s why he gave us brains in the first place, so we can figure out how to fix things ourselves. Need open heart surgery? Be glad there are doctors and nurses who know how to do it, and pray for them, that they will have steady hands.
Twenty years ago the following “memo” appeared in the Washington Post. It was from God, to the Kansas Board of Education. I like how God is depicted as wanting people to figure out things for themselves. Oh, and even then, God was “cheesed off” at the NRA.
Several places including: Luke 22:36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.
Read it in context-This might help. His followers then said that they already had two swords, and Jesus said that two were enough. He didn’t want them to take up swords. He thought that two swords present when the soldiers came to take him away would be enough to have his group branded as brigands, thus fulfilling a prophesy.
Some problems with this theory, if Jesus wanted to pose as a head of a band of brigands, forcing a prophecy, that would also mean the sword bearers, being part of this band, should also expect arrest. This didn’t happen. Also it doesn’t seem like those swords were needed for Isaiah 53:9-12, as that doesn’t mention a head of a band of brigands. Actually it doesn’t say anything about him being the head of anything ‘bad’, but just one of many transgressors.
I tend to take that ‘That is enough’ more of telling his followers to stop there commenting on things they don’t yet understand.
Add: The wiki link states there are issues with the credibility of the theory you put forth.
There are people that have issues with that interpretation.
But then again, there are people that have issues with just about any interpretation of just about every single verse in the Bible. What’s new?
Are those bagpipes I’m hearin’?
The general spirit behind most of the remedies proposed by gun nuts is to try to look like they’re addressing the problem while not impacting in the slightest the proliferation of guns, which according to this particular prayerful lunatic is a God-given right bestowed by the Creator on all mankind. Obviously, all of the godless liberals in the entirety of the civilized world are unaware of this important fact.
Anyway, not to worry, the Orange Peril has the solution: implement an expedited death penalty for all mass shooters. That otta fix things up good, considering that (a) the vast majority of gun violence is not from mass shooters, and (b) most mass shooters end up dead, and pretty much know that they will end up dead, and pretty much WANT that outcome. It’s rare that the Orange Peril outdoes his own self in total cluelessness, since he generally has no knowledge about anything, but I think this is a notable depth of stupid even for someone who goes out in public with the top of his head bearing the pelt of an orange marmoset.
I believe these religious zealots are doing more to promote atheism they so deplore by idiocy like this. It’s spitting on the grave of the victims - many children - that all we can do is pray that some invisible man in the sky will protect us. Do they not realise victims of mass shootings can be Christians too and can be people even more devout worshippers than themselves?
you know there used to be a saying about praying in one hand and pissing in the other …
But when they actually used them, he told them off for doing so, saying that a man who lives by the sword will die by the sword, and then healed the man whose ear they cut off. Hence the idea they were only for show.
But, even if not, it just means Jesus wasn’t against carrying a weapon for self-defense, but he was against “living by the sword,” which is what I would argue that many gun owners do today. In fact, I’d argue they cross over into idolatry with them.
I also note that the apostles didn’t actually own swords and had to go buy them at Jesus’s behest, so we also know they didn’t carry them around with them all the time. Even if the swords were for use, he did not assume they were constantly under threat.
Point is, trying to align the guy who said “turn the other cheek” with the Second Amendment-based right to carry a firearm doesn’t really work. Sure, you can’t quite say he was some anti-violence peacenik, either. But Jesus didn’t push the gun rights message, either.
Excellent post.
This is reminiscent of when Jerry Fallwell said back in 2001 that the reason 9/11 happened was because God retracted his protective umbrella over the US when we allowed gays to have civil rights.
I think about it this way: Europe used to be considered the oppressive religious hotbed with the Inquisitions, Crusades, holy wars, and other brutal enforcement of religious beliefs. Today, church attendance (in England, according to a tour guide) church attendance is down to 6% of the population. I figure the US is about 300 years behind Europe as far as religious oppression goes, so we’ll finally have effective gun control in the 25th century.
The timing sounds about right. Universal health care ought to be along around about then, too.
That’s because all the religious freaks moved to the New World because they wanted to be the oppressors, not the oppressed.
Not that I don’t think our legislature is made up of semi-literate buffoons, but that’s terribly misleading. It makes it sound like the legislature is passing laws in the wake of the shooting, which isn’t so.
The Legislature only meets for a short term from January through May, every 2 years (i.e. 2017, then 2019, then 2021, etc…). They generally set September 1 of the same year as the effective date for laws passed within that year’s session.
So any laws coming into effect were passed months ago, not in the past few days like the article seems to want to imply. And there’s no way, barring the governor calling a special session of the legislature (limited to 30 days), that they could hold off/change that.
Have any of the fine fellows that supported those laws shown any regret/second thoughts/remorse for doing so in light of recent developments?
We need better reporters.
Someone should have asked him ‘If prayer is all that is needed to stop a person with evil intent, what do we need the guns for’?
FTR, the article makes it clear that the laws were passed months ago. The point really is how idiotic the laws are, and the irony of them coming into effect at this particular time.