Dear Linna, I really appreciate your offering me this opportunity. But what I said in this thread kevinswatch.ihugny.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=21276 remains in force. Those who read what I said and understand it might appreciate why I am not willing to return to posting here. There is an essential ...

Thank you all!
I was thinking I was done here, and then came across this relevant, and in some ways better response.

youtu.be/Ru_tC4fv6FE

God bless!

Hi Andy! This doesn't signal a general return; I've lurked a few times, but don't feel that there's much point in much more than that. But still, this is something that DOES have response deeper than the popular but shallow message of the video, and since somebody else said it, maybe you'll see vali...

I just want to say goodbye to everyone. Since I am about to be banned anyway, I thought I'd pre-empt the wishes of the mods and leave first. I can be reached at rusmeister@yahoo.com if anyone wants to know the reasons. I did meet some wonderful people here, and a special goodbye to Fist, Ali, Linna ...

Why do I feel like a cowboy hat wearing preacher in a pink convertible Caddy just blew by me at 60, dousing me with an enormous, dirty mud puddle as he went, then once past launched into a tire squealing power slide to return my way again, hurling a hard-bound library size Good Book into my gut wit...

Why do I feel like a cowboy hat wearing preacher in a pink convertible Caddy just blew by me at 60, dousing me with an enormous, dirty mud puddle as he went, then once past launched into a tire squealing power slide to return my way again, hurling a hard-bound library size Good Book into my gut wit...

Vraith, I share the same cultural aesthetic that would prevent females from marrying before 16 or so (or, I guess, 'civil-unioning'), but this is an aesthetic valuation rather than the recognition of an inherent truth. There are many examples of cultures where adulthood begins around age 13 for bot...

It's all a matter of perspective. You think bad things have come to pass, and more will. I think good things have come to pass, and the bad ones will not. I'd say first of all that I think both good and bad things can come to pass. The particular topic of discussion is definitely a bad thing. But t...

The truth is incredibly simple, and I'm not going to debate anyone on it. All of the defense of abortion is a a web of sophistry based on self-interest. The goal is so that people can get rid of an inconvenience. All of the talk about extreme and crazy situations - the exceptions - ignores the overw...

It's a symptom of the continuing polarization of American politics, coupled with the inability of some on both sides to be unable to compromise. We see it with all hot-button issues. 'Abortion is murder, I know this...somehow, and I won't consider any other possibilities because I'm right! The prea...

To me this looks like another effort to find an exception in order to disprove the overwhelming rule. I am speaking about far more than a few parochial examples from one specific time, but how marriage was viewed overwhelmingly over space and time - and it was NOT as something "preferable"...

What exactly are "the same forces" that pushed for SSM that are now pushing for pedophilia? I will push for SSM, but I will not push for pedophilia. Which people/groups push for both? Hi, Fist, I thought I was pretty specific in saying that the SSMers are NOT pushing for pedophilia. Wonde...

None do. It's just paranoid logical fallacy. It's also further interesting to note that 'double-standard culture' does not exist just in 'Protestant culture'. If you've ever read Tolstoy (as an example off the top of my head) you will find the aristrocracy of Russia to have acceptted if not encoura...

What exactly are "the same forces" that pushed for SSM that are now pushing for pedophilia? I will push for SSM, but I will not push for pedophilia. Which people/groups push for both? Hi, Fist, I thought I was pretty specific in saying that the SSMers are NOT pushing for pedophilia. Wonde...

Cail wrote:

rusmeister wrote:As I said, I'm not into debating with deniers.

And yet, here you are.

And I am not debating with you, Cail.

rus, 100 years ago, people who cohabited long enough were legally recognized as having a common-law marriage -- a practice that began in the Middle Ages and is still legal in parts of the world today, including some US states. A common-law marriage can still be contracted in the District of Columbi...

As I said, I'm not into debating with deniers. Might as well argue with Holocaust deniers. It's something so big and obvious, yet they say it can't happen - when it already did. Simple fact: the things spoken of were socially unacceptable. This is what Farsailor was saying and I agree. He didn't say...

At the risk of resurrecting a dead thread, I posit there is something to the argument of moving the sexual conduct goalposts further out once same sex marriage has been accepted. LINK to story about pro-pedophilia conference If you can just ignore the source long enough, you may contemplate the fac...

With the Sola Scriptura position you can play 'Philadelphia lawyer'. Sometimes Christians will broadly agree, sometimes they won't. And whoever is opposed to a position or understanding can pretty much ALWAYS disagree on the same grounds - using and pointing to Scripture. It is in practice WHY they...

And just in case someone decides to bring in the homosexuality issue, Mark 10:6 "But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.' {Jesus quotes from Gen. 1:27} 7 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one fl...