ryanmercer

Well people can and have been excommunicated... although they dress it up in fancier terms... My friend and his wife were last year because of blog posts on religion from them. They were made to do some kind of hearing thing, and then were removed as members of the church by the church.

Heya!

Howdy!

Well, they could do you like me... transfer my records without my request, then claim they were misplaced... as the family ward always kicks mine to a singles branch, despite the fact I hate the singles branch and am not inactive because I don't feel like being in high school again and dealing with snobbish cliques.

Welcome!

Hello!

This is called FAITH.

Yes because scrubbing floors and polishing door handles, or counting hairs on a caterpillar is relevant to the defense of the country and a reason to determine if someone can or can not vote. Still, bad idea.

Making a deal is making a demand.

Demanding things from God rarely works. You have to have FAITH... saying "if lightning strikes that tree at 7 minutes before dawn on the 18th Sunday of the year, then I will worship you" is you trying to make an excuse not to believe... the same stands with the missionaries to your house thing. You either want to be a believer or you don't. A character in a book I read a few weeks ago said something along the lines of "Miracles are only shown to those that have faith, those that lack faith claim they will believe if they see a miracle" the same principle applies here, you have to have faith and believe, you can't wait for some divine sign before you choose to believe. Religion ultimately boils down to one thing, faith.

Coming from someone that quite literally used to actively worship Satan... and is quite accustomed to his trickery... this is a deception. They have made you stronger. You are here aren't you? You've made it this far haven't you? A lot of people would have thrown in the towel and taken 'the easy way out' before they reached where you in life... in fact many do. Now while I may not be the most active member of the Church... all I can tell you is don't buy into this deception. You've given marriage much longer than most, you've probably done your best to raise good kids, you've given life a lot longer than many, I'm sure you are a great spouse, parent, and worker. Just know that.

Howdy and welcome!

Greetings!

Yeah they military also has physical fitness REQUIREMENTS, weight REQUIREMENTS, etc. Desk job or not they are REQUIREMENTS that EVERYONE must meet. I couldn't enlist, but I did my time as a federal employee, my mother is a federal employee, my father served the state for nearly 20 years until his death(couldn't serve in Vietnam, flat foot), both grandfathers and we had family members fight in every war from the Revolution to the Korean war. Limiting voting rights to individuals that enlist is well... just... foolish and unfair to a significant portion of the population.

Welcome!

Hello!

Starship Troopers? If so go read EVERYTHING Heinlein wrote... almost as great as his inspiration (Edgar Rice Burroughs... tarzan books were crap, but the first 5 John Carter of Mars books rocked, and ERB is who inspired RAH)

So screw the people that are incapable of serving due to health or physical limitations? Yeah, that's not only fair, but brilliant too. NOT!

Go pick up a paper, or any book published on Guantanamo since we went into Afghanistan and Iraq... you'll find all the proof you want, with verifiable sources, that people were handing people in left and right for just the reward money. Many of those we had at Guantanamo that were innocent were turned in that way, and we knew they were innocent, and there is ample amount of proof we knew they were innocent... but *shrugs* stuff happens.\ As far as what history books... I do medieval reenactment... pre 17th century (really about 8th to 17th, however most SCAdians don't go back as far and generally start around the 12th century). I'm well read on what does exist for the period. As far as a time when people were burnt for being witches... you do realize this happened even in the U.S. up until at least the 1700's, and witch-hunts carried well into the late 1800's.

Yes, and there is no outright butchery here. Men were put into containers, where they allegedly suffocated to death. Many of them were still allegedly armed. Some where allegedly shot. Those that were shot were allegedly armed. A lot of allegedly statements... contaminated mass graves... in a region that has had soviet invasion, countless civil wars, tribal conflicts, etc etc in recent years with no solid proof other than testimonies, that these remains belong to people that ALLEGEDLY were of those prisoners.

duplicate post.

Just FYI... historically inaccurate movie, as is Braveheart... although Braveheart is very to the 18th power inaccurate.

Their people aren't turning against them, they are being paid to most likely... a lot of the people detained as terrorists at the start of Freedom were innocent people that were turned in simply for the REWARD MONEY. Got a problem with your neighbor... tell them he's a terrorist and get a cash reward of more money then you will make in SEVERAL YEARS. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case here as well... this man may or may not have done it, but I bet money was the motivating factor in turning him in. You say this isn't the dark ages... that is correct... but I don't get the reference. The dark ages weren't a savage and barbaric time, they were a time with very little recorded history, very little progress in arts and science. In fact... look at the militaries of just about every 'dark ages' and you will see they were some of the most chivalrous around. And while KILLING the enemy isn't necessarily the most ideal situation... it was a solution... and not necessarily a bad one. I'm sure given the choice, ever last one of them would have chosen death over the 3rd world prison they were headed to. And all of you that are quick to judge don't even have a good amount of solid facts on the situation. "Newsweek reports deaths occurred from suffocation among prisoners packed one on top of another in the containers; testimony gathered by New York Times suggests prisoners were also fired on and killed while inside containers" That's great... what sources did Nesweek get this information. What credibility do those that gave testimony to the New York Times have? "Alleged survivors told Newsweek they were so desperate with thirst that they licked perspiration from each other's bodies " is there proof to this? Notice they say ALLEGED survivors. How many bodies were actually found? "The estimates of the number who died range from several hundred to 2,000. " that is a rather large range... They might as well say "estimates range from 1 person to 1 million persons" Have they positivel identified those in the 'mass grave' as being these prisoners... perhaps they are individuals that were actually killed by the ENEMY and they are trying to point the finger at US... just like Ahmadinejad claims that the Holocaust was created by Hollywood and the Jewish media and never happened. This journalist Robert Young Pelton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia is even on record saying that the confinement was necessary as many of them were STILL ARMED. It's rather fishy... "Doran’s documentary Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death documents the evidence based largely on the work of award-winning Afghan journalist Najibullah Quraishi, who says he has seen video evidence of the survivors of the convoy being executed in the desert under supervision of US soldiers, but claims the video was stolen from him, in an incident where he was nearly beaten to death because of his possession of the tape. Doran himself admitted in an interview with Stefan Steinberg that he in fact had absolutely no evidence that American troops were involved in the alleged shootings [1]," 1. Interview with Jamie Doran, director of Massacre at Mazar

Correction. The 'death penalty' was written about rarely, even in the OT... just because it isn't in one of the sources listed as a book in the bible... doesn't mean it didn't happen... another problem with the Bible... the books are various sources, selected by groups of men saying "yes, these ones are from God, but oh those other ones... that read identical, just by a different person... well we don't consider them Bible material".

The fact of the matter is it was done during war. It was part of the war. There are no such things as rules of war... there is chivalry, there his honor... chivalry and honor are not part of the battlefield, they are a pleasantry that some choose to participate in... generally those that want to suffer the greatest losses. If you are going to be killing people... displacing people... overthrowing people... what right do you have to make rules, and say that when these rules aren't followed it is a crime. Killing people is killing people, if you want to be chivalrous and play by the rules of war that is fine... however in the Middle-East you must NEVER expect the enemy to fight by the same rules... Afterall... it is a war crime to shoot at people in a place of worship... so what do they do... they fire at our troops from the cover of Masjids (mosques)... know why? They are the smart ones, they realize war is about surviving, not playing nice.