Summations Only

I am sure you do. I consider that uber paranoid, feeding into the right wing propganda and the gun companies pockets.

What you call murder God calls justice.Honoring parents no matter what is still a command. We're all sinners.Yes God honors lies that serve godly purposes.Yes I forgot about the slavery rules for foreigners. But I don't have the chutzpah to judge God as you do. I know He will judge me in the end as He will you, and everything He does is righteous.I didn't say moral incontinence was the ONLY cause of the need for self defense, but certainly population density is no cause, it just adds to the poor impulse control. And as I understand it the dense population of Asian countries doesn't lead to higher crime. Obviously they are better controlled people than we are. And again I think that's because we've abandoned our Christian roots.

So, the Chinese, which has a lower population of Christians (estimates put it at 14 million Chinese Christians) than America does is not suffering from having very little in the way of Christian roots and values, yet we are? Wouldn't Jehovah be far more upset with the Chinese and their adherance to Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism?American Christians= 78% of the population
Chinese Christians= 1.4% of the populationHow can it follow that the problem in the US is a lack of Christian morals, when China does not have the same problem even though such a miniscule amount of the population subscribes to Christian morality. Also, the state religion of China is Atheism and yet, still, they have a lower murder rate. Could it possibly be some form of gun control?"Civilian ownership of guns is largely restricted to authorised, non-individual entities, including sporting organisations, authorised hunting reserves and wild life protection, management and research organizations. The chief exception to the general ban for individual gun ownership is for the purpose of hunting."
SourceSo, the difference is not stemming from the decline of morality in one state as you seem to think, but rather the gun control measures that are implemented in the other country. Now, thinking America can go instantly to this strict of gun control is a pipe dream but steps can be taken in the right direction.However, you did make one correct statement in this comment: Population density leads to poor impulse control because there are far more stressors in everyday life. Poor impulse control leads to snap judgments, which, with the easy accessibility of guns in this country, does create violence. No moral decline into sin required, simply the creation of extra stress in the human experience because of more interaction and easy access to a weapon intended to kill, with no mental health network to fall back on when stress becomes too much...As per your discussion about the morality, I am glad you agree that those were examples of things that seem immoral from our perspective, but not glad that you can justify cruel actions on the part of your deity. SourceSourceSourceOh, also not all Eastern Countries have less violence. Consider Thailand, who is equal to the US in intentional homicide and the Philippines, which are above the US at 5.4 per 100,000. So, no need for sweeping statements about how much better they are at living in much denser populations.Edited by Tempe 12ft Chicken, : No reason given.

What absolute moral and historical stupidity. You don't even know or care that you are calling the founders who devised the second amendment by your vulgar primitive names. Go read the quotes I put into Message 57. Not that you have any ability to judge such things. Of course you aren't alone by a long shot. That must be wonderful comfort.Blech.

Oh use your head. You don't have to be Christian to have a moral culture, but ours WAS Christian and losing it means losing OUR moral culture.It's certainly NOT because of their gun laws. Take away our guns and you will see evil proliferate beyond your limited imaginative powers.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Well that doesn't make sense Faith. If we can be a moral culture without being a Christian culture then losing our alleged Christian culture does not mean that we are automatically losing our moral culture.

No, you're misreading her. She means: by losing a Christian culture we're losing the moral culture we used to have.You remember that? Slavery was right because God said so, inter-racial marriage was wrong because God made the races different, hanging Quakers was good because they weren't real Christians, making Christmas illegal was good because it's not in the Bible ... you remember, the good old days?

Then my comment remains that our moral culture is far more advanced than that which was written over 2,000 years ago. We no longer feel justified to do many of the horrible things that the Bible allowed us to justify, such as the mass murder of the Native people, the forced conversion of those with differing beliefs, the forced slavery of an entire group of people simply because of a difference in skin color. The Bible's morality is minimal at best and barbaric at worst (it allows the rule-giver to arbitrarily decide when and where his own morals apply). Losing this is one of the best things that can happen for our country.We are losing Christianity in this country and that, to me, is a good thing because it is not necessary to be afraid of punishment to do good in the World. In fact, I would say that a moral act done merely for the sake of doing good is much better than one done because of a forced guilt that Christianity places upon people.Now, do you have any arguments about the population density comments, the mental health problems, or gun regulations? There is no more need to defend onesself now than there was fifty years ago, it is simply the amount of information we have access to that has changed. In 1957, the murder rate in the US was 4.0 per 100,000. It currently sits at around 4.8 per 100,000. So, you would be correct that it is slightly higher, but not enough that the fear of attack should be much greater. In fact, if moral decline is the cause of gun violence, instead of the lack of regulations and socio-economic factors, then this would mean our Christian morality was at its lowest in the year of 1980, when the murder rate hit 10.2 per 100,000.You want to know something funny? When was the highest murder rate the US ever had? Is it recent or far in the past?
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Well, according to Roger Lane, "The highest murder rate in national history was between 1846 and 1887." During a good, moral Christian time! Hmmmm....seems like something else is at play, so stop blaming invisible reasons. Oh, and they removed all deaths from the Civil War for that statistic, those deaths were not considered murder but wartime deaths.Forgot the Source
SourceEdited by Tempe 12ft Chicken, : No reason given.

So should I stone to death someone who picked up sticks on Saturday? You might call it murder, but God calls it justice. Ah yes ... creationism. If you can't judge God, on what basis can you say that "everything He does is righteous"? That would be a judgement on the morality of his actions, would it not? Whereas those Asian countries are clinging on to their Christian roots?

You bet stoning those who picked up sticks during the Sabbath was justice and if we were under the same law it would still be justice but we aren't.I can't judge God BECAUSE He's righteous and I trust Him, not myself. Trust you to misread the sentence though.I already answered the nonsense about Asian, really Chinese, self control.

No, you have not! You stated that it was their own religious beliefs that give them this self control. Yet, that does not apply across the board in Asia. As I pointed out Thailand is equal to the US in homicide and the Philippines are higher!Plus, you are not taking into account the strict gun laws that exist in China, which probably have more to do with the reduced homicide rate than the Chinese form of self control does. Perhaps with some regulation on guns in the US, we can also lower crime to similar numbers over time!

Hi Taq,When was the NATIONAL Guard formed?
By whom was the NATIONAL Guard formed?
By whom is the NATIONAL Guard paid?
Who controls the NATIONAL Guard?The NATIONAL Guard is not a State militia but is an entity that was created to keep the States from having a militia.BTW the answer to all those questions are the Federal government.God Bless,

Hi Percy, How can you make that statement with a straight face?Life is so precious that we won't put someone who has murdered an individual to death.YET,We are short (21,923,951) at least 20 million consumers that would be tax payers now due to abortion's preformed from 1972 to 1990.I guess the only life that you think is precious counts.God Bless,

I'm 100 percent sure that you cannot back this assertion up with any facts. Your ridiculous attempt at logic is that because the federal government is involved in the National Guard, not only is the guard not a state militia, but it is actually a plot to prevent states from even having a militia.That's all despite the fact that the role of the State militia, and the feds relation to it is described in the constitution.Would it surprise you to learn that states do have their own militias which are not subject to call up by the US government, and which are authorized by federal law? Wouldn't such a thing stomp a complete mudhole into your proposition regarding a federal conspiracy to prevent states from having a milita?Look up State Defense Force.Here is the federal legislation which allows SDFs and separates them from federal control.From 32 U.S.C. 109c) In addition to its National Guard, if any, a State, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, Guam, or the Virgin Islands may, as provided by its laws, organize and maintain defense forces. A defense force established under this section may be used within the jurisdiction concerned, as its chief executive (or commanding general in the case of the District of Columbia) considers necessary, but it may not be called, ordered, or drafted into the armed forces.You do this routinely, and you are wrong so often as to leave you zero credibilty about objective stuff. your credibility.My dad used to say, 'Use your head for something other than a hat rack'. Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

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Percy says, ..."self appointed individuals,"...Who are they?
I see them as the unappointed progressives, the liberal democratic lobby that lives in the insanity of utopian worlds they think will better serve us in spite of The Facts: The Progressive liberal lobby that directs the power inherent in gathering together the 47% of the country that has its hand out for special unwarranted treatment, gayness, feminism, and unions refuse to focus upon their own Party Base of Welfare recipients who are raising the criminal element that uses illegal guns to kill each other.The people here who will ever admit that Truth relize they can not accept any criticism of anyone one of the seven grouos which together are the Democrats who elect themselves to high office.