Yep. That has become the norm. Find some one really stupid, set them up, arrest them and claim victory, or let them go on to show how stupid they are. A real terrorist would know how to make a bomb that goes bang really well.

I agree with this 100%. (And this seems to comport with the views of Leo Tolstoy).

I noted your disclaimer so I assumed you were not Jesus bashing. My reply to you only concerned the people you referenced. I did not go to the links you provided. The quotes in your post was enough for me to decide that having a beer would be more productive. 🙂

“I believe the teachings of Jesus Christ can be very positive for this world, if we only follow his true teachings and message of love and peace.”

I certainly agree. I would add that the teachings of Jesus are empowering and offer solutions which is not normally discussed.

I certainly understand your position. I was even worse since I spent my 20’s thinking I was an atheist. Afterward, I tried numerous Christian denominations/associations and stopped because they offered nothing burgers instead of the teachings of Jesus. Jesus appears to be the least quoted person in Christian churches. It took me a long while to figure out why. They did not do what Jesus said and normally did not even talk about it. They were too consumed by the Old Testament, Acts, Paul, and Revelations, basically being jewish in summary. The Gospels were the least talked about and the kingdom of God almost never mentioned in any pertinent way. Consequently, I gave up on organized religion about 30 years ago, so attending church is not on my to do list except out of respect in the cases of weddings and funerals.

Actions of love and peace are not military victories. I can assure you that Jesus was not talking about military victories when he spoke of the gospel/good news/good tidings of the kingdom of God that he said we were supposed to preach. Playing with words out of context is normally misleading which normally means that the ones doing it just do not grasp what Jesus was conveying. As an example, since the kingdom of God is within us, obviously Jesus is not speaking of a military victory when he uses the term gospel. Likewise, when Jesus said to give to Caesar what was Caesar’s, he was speaking only of money. Money is an invention of man, not God. Everything besides money belongs to God. Jesus making the statement did not make him a Roman, just exceptionally brilliant and accurate. Not giving Caesar (government) his due in money usually results in adverse consequences which distracts from spreading the gospel/good news/good tidings of the kingdom of God.

There is nothing wrong with getting children involved in organized religion as long as the parents do not give up their duty to teach their children the truth. The differences between churches and parents that the children hear results in real learning for the children. This might not be true if the parents have their head up their butt the same as the church.

Be thankful that you have a mother to attend church with on occasion. I lost mine 48 years ago to the medical industry, her belief in it, and my ignorance of its evil.

So in your view “might makes right”, thus there’s nothing inherently wrong with the jews’ genocidal ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, for example?

That conjures up quite a picture, Franklin! What a hoot. Trump spending a couple of hours a day on the Darkmoon site trying to get clued up how to run America! 🙂

And guess what? He decides the best poster on the site is TROJ, so he invites TROJ over to the White House to be his Senior Adviser. TROJ accepts the job at once and the rest is, um, history. 🙂

“I AM somewhat an ignoramus compared to many, here. I learn a great deal from comments…”

Well, that makes two of us. I’d rather sit down to dinner and break bread with a pleasant ignoramus than be shouted at by an omniscient bully who tells me I am “demonically possessed” if I don’t agree with him! 🙂

Yes, I think you could be right. Maybe it’s not so much lack of humility but the inability to give up one’s illusions. And yet, Franklin, don’t we grow wiser by undergoing the painful process of disillusionment? Consider, every divorce is based on disillusionment. You meet someone. You fall in love. You get to know that person. The scales fall from your eyes gradually. The rosy picture changes, as you realize you married a monster.

Not admitting you married a monster, and sticking with the monster in the mistaken belief that the monster is an angel, could there be any greater folly?

This happened to Stalin’s second wife, by the way. After years of living with Stalin, it suddenly dawned on her she had marred a monster. She either committed suicide or was strangled to death by Stalin, though the official story was that she had died a natural death. There are all sorts of different stories about this mysterious event and I guess we’ll never know the truth of the matter.