Is The World Getting Better Or Worse?

O blithering nonsense. Trump isn't a dictator type. And WHAT Republicans support him enough to give him such powers?Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

I'll use your post to give my own answer to the OP:Yes we are living in the blessings won in the cneturies before us when the population was more Christian. God has blessed us for our obedience and we're still basking in it.But in the last half century to a century or so Christianity has declined and we've embraced all kinds of anti-Christian ideas and practices, which are bringing God's judgments down on us. They are only going to escalate until the nation is destroyed unless we change our moral direction.This is about America and the west mostly but many other nations never did sink quite to our moral mess and they've been able to make use of our blessings for themselves too. Though since we were predominantly Christian we are held more responsible and will receive greater punishment for falling away from it.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

There is always a time gap between the cause and the effect.

Sometimes a lot longer than that. It took hundreds of years for Canaan to come to the "fullness of time" before God brought judgment against them. It took hundreds of years before God judged Israel too by the Assyrians and Babylonians. The "fullness of time" is how things work with judgments: they have to accumulate. It gives time for repentance so God will rescind the judgment too. Nineveh repented and was spared the judgment Jonah preached to them. The repentance didn't last unfortunately but they were spared for a while.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Yeh but the time lag is biblical: the "fullness of time" is a big concept in scripture connected with God's judgments on a nation for their transgressions; but prophecies of when Judgement Day is to begin are human cogitations that juggle various biblical and historical indicators that shouldn't be presented as dogmatically as they unfortunately so often are. Nevertheless Judgment Day will eventually happen and the prophetic signs will be rightly recognized by some Christians at least.

How do you know this?Are you complaining about what we spend on the military?

Of course I'm with those who disagree with you about the importance of the wall, including Border Patrol who say it will help them enormously. It's not merely a barrier, it includes drone activity and other helps. And it can certainly be seen as a valid military expense in my opinion. But it was Phat's opinion I asked for.

Historically the USA has been a force for good in the world, due to our Christian worldview as I understand it, and we have real enemies out there who want to destroy us. Real enemies means a real need for defensive power. I do believe the nation's Christian worldview has been deteriorating over the last few decades, but it's still evident enough to the Russian I quoted somewhere recently who sees it in our basic moral positions, which he contrasts to the corruption in Russia at all levels. That was when I was discussing the rfilm about "The Family" wherever that was.(Found it: Message 616).But we don't need to go into all that beyond recognizing that the US really truly has been a force for good in the world. We are not out to conquer others, we've gone to war to defend others, we help rebuild nations after they are destroyed by war, we send aid all over the world, and even if others also do that now it's by copying us because we started it. It's a Christian mindset, it is not the mindset of Communism or paganism.And there ARE enemies out there who want to destroy us. We can have peace if we are well armed against them. It is possible then that they will leave us alone, but if they don't it's good to know we have the means to protect ourselves.As for being fallen, that's always true of all of us, but it's nevertheless possible for a nation to be built on principles that really are good and peaceful and the US has shown that to the world. If we ever lose this perspective it will be at the hands of the Left who have conceived an irrational hatred of our good nation and actually think other systems are better which have never shown anything but murderous power-mad intent.I'm certainly not claiming any kind of perfection in saying any of this, just a general good will that does not describe the vast majority of other nations.You didn't really answer the question if you think we are spending too much on the military though.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

I will try to find the best source for you. There are at least a few discussions of it on You Tube that you can find on this Google page The first two are mainstream news sources, ABC and CBS. The first one makes it clear that a wall helps in some places more than others and that many other aids are needed.But as I said I'll try to find a really good source for you. I hear this stuff all the time on conservative talk radio where Border Patrol are interviewed, perhaps even on Leftist Google I can find something along those lines.

There are different needs at different points along the border and you are just one point and the Border Patrol you are talking to may not have an overview for the whole border.What good does surveillance do without some kind of barrier? If people can just walk into the country you are going to spend all your time chasing them. Clearly some kind of physical barrier would be a big help. We can talk about what kind of barrier for what kind of terrain since apparently there are different needs, but no barrier at all makes no sense at all.AbE: I think it was the second, CBS? report on that Google page that interviews some people who live along the border who have spent their own money to build fences to keep illegals off their property. Cllearly there is need for barriers along the border.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Who might that be, though, and how are you going to get them to take that role? And, why do you think we "need to pull back" from that job anyway? I don't feel I have any way to assess such decisions, it takes military people to make such judgments. And yes of course they are going to disagree with each other too, but I know I don't have anything to offer about it and I'm not sure any other nonprofessional does either. Could be sooner than a decade or so. Sounds like they know what's coming though and are making a necessary decision to protect themselves. Not sure what your point is here though with respect to our military decisions. Reasonable but how do you judge such things?I think we must have a strong defensive military but I also know there's reason to believe we've made some bad decisions about how to use it over the years, and that some special interests have skewed things against our best interests. There's the fallen world for you. That's lamentable but I don't see how it affects the question of having to maintain an expensive military.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

I'm all for better immigration laws, that's for sure, starting with No more "catch and release," and i'm fine with encouraging LEGAL immigration. Nevertheless we need physical barriers in order to have control over these things.

Sometimes it is, sometimes it's fraudulent.

Certainly there are situations that can be determined as legal or not before the process is even begun, on the nature of the claim.

What we need is less access for criminals, drug cartels, human traffickers, those who rape women on the trek north and the like, and a way to permanently deport those who have committed rapes and murders while inh the country illegally, who get deported only to return and repeat their crimes. We need a LOT LESS access for those and welcome centers will not accomplish that. Walls could help, along with all the other methods of keeping people out that are suggested.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.