This is a slippery slope for the government to be walking. Put the argument of whether the church should accept homosexuals aside. Many immigration officials have already expressed that by legalizing gay marriage it opens the doors for people that should normally be deported because of criminal reasons or because they entered the country illegally to avoid it. As it is the USCIS already has som...more

This is a slippery slope for the government to be walking. Put the argument of whether the church should accept homosexuals aside. Many immigration officials have already expressed that by legalizing gay marriage it opens the doors for people that should normally be deported because of criminal reasons or because they entered the country illegally to avoid it. As it is the USCIS already has some difficulty investigating couples that are marrying just to get a green card but it will become more difficult if they have to investigate same sex marriages because they are harder to invalidate. As long as they have joint bank accounts and some photos together they can get a green card,less

Most of the religious disaster relief organizations' number one priority is to help people on the ground. However if they find themselves in a situation where they are explaining their faith to someone they are trying to help, they are doing it with that exact mindset, that they are "helping". To say that it is useless is reckless as well, its like saying a pep talk by a football couch at halftim...more

Most of the religious disaster relief organizations' number one priority is to help people on the ground. However if they find themselves in a situation where they are explaining their faith to someone they are trying to help, they are doing it with that exact mindset, that they are "helping". To say that it is useless is reckless as well, its like saying a pep talk by a football couch at halftime to a team that is losing is a waste of time. They are trying to give hope, and for that the victims need more than just a hot meal and bottle of water. They need reassurance that goes deeper. Hope is more valuable then anything else you can provide to a disaster victim. Its provides the motivation to get back up and to rebuild.less

I find it sad that Atheists are putting their agenda ahead of the lives of people devastated in Japan. They can talk trash about Christianity all they want but the facts speak for themselves. Religious charities provide the most bang for your buck. Thats the reason why both George W. Bush and Obama have an offices dedicated to working with faith based organizations. Religion is an important pa...more

I find it sad that Atheists are putting their agenda ahead of the lives of people devastated in Japan. They can talk trash about Christianity all they want but the facts speak for themselves. Religious charities provide the most bang for your buck. Thats the reason why both George W. Bush and Obama have an offices dedicated to working with faith based organizations. Religion is an important part of these organizations and in a good way. The people that volunteer their time to help others are not doing it for themselves and therefore lower the cost of helping others. When you are not helping others for a bigger cause and are only doing it for yourself you either 1) give up more easily or 2) look for higher compensation in the form of money or perks.

If you were to study all of the response efforts from natural disasters in the last 50 years you will find that Religious charities are the ones that carry the most weight out of all the charities when it comes to helping people. Not only do they help people after the disaster they are there afterwards to help rebuild. Samaritans Purse is building the most shelters in Haiti right now, habitat for humanity is rebuilding whole neighborhoods in New Orleans and in a lot of these disasters it is the religious organizations that end up taking care of all the orphans that no one wants to help.

Say what you will about religious organizations but they keep civilization going because they are not doing it for themselves. That mindset gives them much more endurance in caring for others.less

DP... I should probably rephrase what I meant about paying for bandwidth. Yes, anyone that hosts a website has to pay for the bandwidth to their server. However ruling against (true) net neutrality is different. If there is no net neutrality the cable companies could effectively prioritize content on the web. For example if Comcast has a religious website they could make it load faster while T...more

DP... I should probably rephrase what I meant about paying for bandwidth. Yes, anyone that hosts a website has to pay for the bandwidth to their server. However ruling against (true) net neutrality is different. If there is no net neutrality the cable companies could effectively prioritize content on the web. For example if Comcast has a religious website they could make it load faster while The Christian Post for instance, a site that is not paying Comcast a fee would load slowly. The Christian Post could get faster loading speeds if they pay Comcast but that cost would have to be passed on to make up for lost revenue. Whether it is adding more advertising or charging for people to view the content that money has to come from somewhere. Now its not just comcast that CP would have to pay to have their site load faster, they would have to pay all the internet providers in order to allow everyone in the US to view their site as it was intended. Net neutrality is also an issue with the Comcast NBC/universal merger. They could effectively prioritize the speed of their content over their competitors. The main losers in a ruling against Net Neutrality of course are going to be Christian organizations that host their own servers. The cost of maintaining their network is going to increase.As for mobile devices, a ruling against net neutrality will cause some apps to run slower than others. Everything eventually turns into a backdoor pay to play issue. The internet providers will gain more power to control what you can and can not see on the internet.less

I think you may need to study what exactly net neutrality is all about. If the FCC instates true net neutrality it means that the cable/internet providers can not interfere with your web surfing experience. The cable companies want to charge websites money for using up bandwidth. The more they use the more they will pay. The issue is that the websites are going to have to pass those costs onto...more

I think you may need to study what exactly net neutrality is all about. If the FCC instates true net neutrality it means that the cable/internet providers can not interfere with your web surfing experience. The cable companies want to charge websites money for using up bandwidth. The more they use the more they will pay. The issue is that the websites are going to have to pass those costs onto their visitors. In other words you are going to have to pay a monthly subscription to youtube or Facebook to view content. If net neutrality is put in place then the cable companies can not interfere with the internet as we currently know it. Christians support this because it allows for anyone to use the web for the purpose of mission. If you take away net neutrality then only the organizations that have strong financial backing will be able to have a web presence. The same goes for anything else. The great thing about the web is that information can flow freely without interference. However the current ruling by the FCC has so many holes in it that the internet provider companies can still find ways to charge internet companies. The main flaw has to do with mobile. The FCC did not set down ground rules for mobile, they only ruled on wired broadband. Considering mobile is expected to surpass desktop and laptop computers in the next couple of years the FCC basically neglected the future of the internet. If the FCC sacrifices that then they are really not passing a ruling in favor net neutrality. This is what NRB is upset about, they want net neutrality but realize that the FCC is playing politics. Its a wolf in sheep's clothing. As for the Republicans its unclear what their agenda is. Christians just want their space on the web left alone so they can do their thing.less

I find this type of end of days theology to be dangerous because it also promotes self preservation rather than influencing christians to help others. That self preservation usually ends up causing gullible people to make some bad decisions that later make them extremely bitter towards Christianity. I hope not to many people fall for this nonsense and are able to see through this guys sham.

I don't think the issue here is preaching the word. Preaching the word can only go so far. Its when we apply it and live our lives according to the Gospel that people are in awe of God. Most of the youth are skeptical of the bible because they are skeptical of the mouths it is coming out of. Perhaps what there parents said is part of the problem but the main issue is what their parents did or ...more

I don't think the issue here is preaching the word. Preaching the word can only go so far. Its when we apply it and live our lives according to the Gospel that people are in awe of God. Most of the youth are skeptical of the bible because they are skeptical of the mouths it is coming out of. Perhaps what there parents said is part of the problem but the main issue is what their parents did or didn't do. Generation iY didn't grow up with role models that drove them towards the church. I can speak from experience myself being in the Gen Y group. While my parents were "cultural christians" they were not involved in any church or active in wanting to become deeper in the word. I had to find my way to God by grace. Gen Y needs role models not preaching. The financial crisis puts some of this in perspective if you take a look at the data. Gen Y grew up at a time when their parents had more access than any other US Generation to easy credit. They spent like crazy and created the illusion in the minds of Gen Y of how they were supposed to live. Now that they are coming of age and joining the work force after everything has collapsed it is a big disappointment for them. They have in their minds what they thought they were supposed to be and see reality. Anyone would be depressed with that outlook. Their parents built them up to only have them fall very hard. Now while the baby boomers and slightly part of Gen X may have been poor role models there is still hope in Gen Y. Through the suffering of their realizations they can more deeply understand the word. This is why Jesus says it is better to be in a house of morning than a house of celebration.less

While I agree that congress should lay off some of the spending when it comes to earmarks, earmarks themselves are not the main issue with the budget. They make up less than 1% of the total US budget. The biggest parts of the budget are Defense, social security and medicare. Together they make up the majority of the budget. I would say who ever tries to reform those three things has true coura...more

While I agree that congress should lay off some of the spending when it comes to earmarks, earmarks themselves are not the main issue with the budget. They make up less than 1% of the total US budget. The biggest parts of the budget are Defense, social security and medicare. Together they make up the majority of the budget. I would say who ever tries to reform those three things has true courage. The only reason why no one wants to touch those is because they will lose an election. All three are incredibly important to the stability of the US but I think we can all say because of different reasons that none of these three are efficient in what they are supposed to do. If politicians wanted to really clean up the budget they would address these three head on, otherwise my generation will be stuck cleaning up the over spending of the older generation.less

Believer, I completely agree that we need to take a stand, but the way we take a stand does not mean we need to be more political. I believe that we should work even harder to make disciples. It means we are not working hard enough to change the hearts and minds of people in our local communities. They're the ones voting for the politicians in office. Right now the US is almost split down the ...more

Believer, I completely agree that we need to take a stand, but the way we take a stand does not mean we need to be more political. I believe that we should work even harder to make disciples. It means we are not working hard enough to change the hearts and minds of people in our local communities. They're the ones voting for the politicians in office. Right now the US is almost split down the middle when it comes to this issue but if you really break down the demographics its sadly the older conservatives vs the younger liberals. There is a big disconnect between the generations and being young myself I can relate to what that disconnect is. I may also be conservative but I have a number of friends that are not and I understand where they are coming from as well because in learning the bible I had to overcome some of the same issues that they have with the church. To the younger group the political approach of the previous generation is a little off and only translates into a negative view of the church. Personally I have found it harder to get someone to listen to you when they have already made their mind up about you. So with the current trends among young folks regardless of whether or not gay marriage is stopped now in the legal system this group will be taking over in the next couple of decades. As I said previously all political gains will be swept out the door unless we can quickly focus on this younger demographic. If the youth are not saved and discipled the battle is pretty much already lost for the US.less

Believer, I can understand the fear of losing too much ground to something we don't believe in but, Christians have grown and flourished under worse conditions. I'm sure if the Church can grow under the threat of crucifixion it can grow in a country that allows gay marriage. Culture isn't the battle we need to fight, making disciples should be our focus. If we win the hearts we'll win over the ...more

Believer, I can understand the fear of losing too much ground to something we don't believe in but, Christians have grown and flourished under worse conditions. I'm sure if the Church can grow under the threat of crucifixion it can grow in a country that allows gay marriage. Culture isn't the battle we need to fight, making disciples should be our focus. If we win the hearts we'll win over the culture. Support for gay marriage is growing because we lost our main focus. Fighting the political fight is a waste of time in my opinion unless it deals with human rights or freedom of religion. Once you get the person you like in office, all of their policies can be swept out the door in 2, 4, 6 or 8 years. I don't think the principles of the gospel were supposed to have a shelf life that short. The founding fathers created a separation of church and state for a reason. If we try using the state to push gospel we will just become a theocracy and if that happens people will only ally with conservatives because they want power not because they believe in the gospel. It will completely dilute and corrupt the church. (remember the medici family anyone).less