New Catholic Church/ DUP coalition! Is this they way forward?

[muppet]

Your interpretation again.I don't have any prejudices just my own views of what's right and wrong,largely based on religious belief supported by instinct.

Ah good.

We are moving away from your original claim of Scripture banned homosexuality because it was a sin and thus you could go to hell if you rented a B&B room to a couple of gay people.

You were absolute in your insistence that it was a sin as prescribed in the Bible. You then interpreted that to meaning you couldn't allow it to happen 'under your roof' in your hypothetical B&B (Bed & Bigot?).

Now it has been diluted to 'largely' an entree of religious belief, served with a cocktail of 'own views' and garnished with 'instinct'. The Bible doesn't seem to be an ingredient in this meal at all!

[T Fearon]

Er the Bible is on the menu,main course as its the basis of religious belief.

[muppet]

Er the Bible is on the menu,main course as its the basis of religious belief.

Here is where I perceive you were on this thread:

The Bible states that this is a sin therefore I must not permit the very possibility of it in my B&B.

Now it looks like:

Based on a belief I have, due to something someone said in a very old book, added to my own personal views and mixed with instinct, I will cease to mention banning anyone form my hypothetical B&B and move on.

[T Fearon]

Wrong.The Bible is laced with condemnation of homosexuality and fornication,therefore acting upon this belief I would,acting on conscience,prevent any couple,homosexual,lesbian or hetrosexual from using my home for such.purposes.This clearly shows.my sole aim is to prevent sin not discriminate.

[muppet]

Wrong.The Bible is laced with condemnation of homosexuality and fornication,therefore acting upon this belief I would,acting on conscience,prevent any couple,homosexual,lesbian or hetrosexual from using my home for such.purposes.This clearly shows.my sole aim is to prevent sin not discriminate.

Your aim is one thing, your action is to discriminate. If you had your B&B you would quickly find yourself prosecuted if anyone made a complaint, and rightly so.

[T Fearon]

At the moment but maybe not so after the Ashers verdict.Just because you can be prosecuted doesnt make your action wrong or immoral.

[muppet]

At the moment but maybe not so after the Ashers verdict.Just because you can be prosecuted doesnt make your action wrong or immoral.

I can't see discrimination standing up well at the Pearly Gates.

[heganboy]

There are many quotes I like about the bible, here are a few of my favorites:

If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don't like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.

When I think of all the harm [the Bible] has done, I despair of ever writing anything to equal it.

The word 'God' is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can (for me) change this.

To be fair, much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents, composed, revised, translated, distorted and 'improved' by hundreds of anonymous authors, editors and copyists, unknown to us and mostly unknown to each other, spanning nine centuries

But this one, this one I really like:

Like the most of you, I was raised among people who knew - who were certain. They did not reason or investigate. They had no doubts. They knew that they had the truth. In their creed there was no guess — no perhaps. They had a revelation from God. They knew the beginning of things. They knew that God commenced to create one Monday morning, four thousand and four years before Christ. They knew that in the eternity — back of that morning, he had done nothing. They knew that it took him six days to make the earth — all plants, all animals, all life, and all the globes that wheel in space. They knew exactly what he did each day and when he rested. They knew the origin, the cause of evil, of all crime, of all disease and death.

At the same time they knew that God created man in his own image and was perfectly satisfied with his work... They knew all about the Flood -- knew that God, with the exception of eight, drowned all his children -- the old and young -- the bowed patriarch and the dimpled babe -- the young man and the merry maiden -- the loving mother and the laughing child -- because his mercy endureth forever. They knew too, that he drowned the beasts and birds -- everything that walked or crawled or flew -- because his loving kindness is over all his works. They knew that God, for the purpose of civilizing his children, had devoured some with earthquakes, destroyed some with storms of fire, killed some with his lightnings, millions with famine, with pestilence, and sacrificed countless thousands upon the fields of war. They knew that it was necessary to believe these things and to love God. They knew that there could be no salvation except by faith, and through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.

Then I asked myself the question: Is there a supernatural power -- an arbitrary mind -- an enthroned God -- a supreme will that sways the tides and currents of the world -- to which all causes bow?

I do not deny. I do not know - but I do not believe. I believe that the natural is supreme - that from the infinite chain no link can be lost or broken — that there is no supernatural power that can answer prayer - no power that worship can persuade or change — no power that cares for man.

Is there a God?

I do not know.

Is man immortal?

I do not know.

One thing I do know, and that is, that neither hope, nor fear, belief, nor denial, can change the fact. It is as it is, and it will be as it must be.

We can be as honest as we are ignorant. If we are, when asked what is beyond the horizon of the known, we must say that we do not know. We can tell the truth, and we can enjoy the blessed freedom that the brave have won. We can destroy the monsters of superstition, the hissing snakes of ignorance and fear. We can drive from our minds the frightful things that tear and wound with beak and fang. We can civilize our fellow-men. We can fill our lives with generous deeds, with loving words, with art and song, and all the ecstasies of love. We can flood our years with sunshine — with the divine climate of kindness, and we can drain to the last drop the golden cup of joy.

[Applesisapples]

The point made very succinctly in the article is how anyone can claim to be a devout Catholic and Vote for SF or SDLP when these parties oppose aspects of Catholic doctrine?

FFS Tony, are we voting for a political party or a Religious party? It's not Tehran. You can vote for a party on their political policies whilst not wholly supporting them on social issues. I have serious issues with a lot of SF policy but when I look at the choice available...there is none.
Just on your reply to my criticism of the Church's attitude to Gay people your love the sinner line is totally offensive and certainly not christian. 

[Applesisapples]

As Christians should we should base our lives on the Gospels. Can Tony or any other BAC show me the passage in any of them that directly denounces Gay people as sinners? There are lots of things in the Old Testament which Christ contradicted. I dont believe he ever said that Gay people were sinners. In fact if you really apply his teachings then tolerance rather than prejudice would inform your views.

[T Fearon]

Surely for a Christian his or her beliefs are a priority in all aspects of life and it is perfectly reasonable to seek a political party that will protect these via policies?

[muppet]

Surely for a Christian his or her beliefs are a priority in all aspects of life and it is perfectly reasonable to seek a political party that will protect these via policies?

You will be made very welcome at the DUP.

[T Fearon]

Jesus repeatedly advises that sin must be avoided and that repentance is needed.

[johnneycool]

Do a lot of the DUP head honcho's not believe el Papa in Rome is the anti-christ or is the fight against homosexuality deemed to be a more righteous crusade for a hues of religious fundamentalist to rally behind?

I believe ISIS are also anti gay, would you not consider joining them?

[heganboy]

Surely for a Christian  human his or her beliefs are a priority in all aspects of life and it is perfectly reasonable to seek a political party that will protect these via policies?

I was at a Catholic mass in New York where the priest stated that all catholics must vote Republican in the presidential election as the Republican were the only pro life party. Nobody else i was with thought it was as funny as I did.

I mean all those times the Republican presidents repealed all that pro-choice legislation only for the pesky Democrats to reinstate it when they got back in power, how soon they forget...