Ann Coulter asks a good question to the liberals uh sorry “progressive left.”
Alito nominated, Democrats hide from base
Why aren’t Senate Democrats screaming from rooftops: “This is a judge who would force women to tell their husbands before they have an abortion! Are you people listening?”
Maybe the Democrats aren’t running from their base. Maybe they’re trying to help NARAL by preventing anyone from finding out about their agenda. If only Democrats could get the American people to believe that a group with the words “abortion” and “rights” in its name is some kind of benevolent little charity that holds bake sales.
Believe me, you don’t want the Democrats out there reminding the American people that it’s a constitutional right to abort a baby five minutes before birth. I understand that People for the American Way thinks it is “the American way” for wives not to tell their husbands about an abortion. But that’s because they need to get out more.
Read the whole thing here.
A counter on the page ticking off seconds until Death and/or Hell???
Is this a joke page?
Why would anyone, left or right, think Ann Coulter’s distortions hold validity? Her view, via her hatefilled books, “Slander” and “Treason”, etc. state that any dissent is Evil.
Why aren’t Senators “screaming”?
Maybe because they aren’t as rigidly paranoid and shrill as extreme members of the far, far, far right – and will allow a nominee to appear
before the Senate to answer questions.
I heard several Senators over the last few days, however, shouing loudly about the deeply disturbing concepts in the Bush administration – from falsifying information (lying) to the congress and the public (on TV) about Iraq and the current war. Why don’t more Americans, regardless of blind party loyalty, hold Honesty and Accountability and Integrity as a value?
Oh, and why not a ticker on your page to celebrate how much new life is made every second — or is it Death you wish to celebrate?
I’m not a republican, I didn’t vote for Bush and I do hope the truth comes out. However, I think it’s pretty clear to any rational person, we just can’t bail out of Iraq now without a plan for withdrawal or we’ll have bigger problems in the years to come.
Coulter answers her own question in the article, so I’ll jump right to addressing your questions about the counter.
No, it’s not a joke. The counter is based on the average number of people who die each day. Do I celebrate death? I guess you could say that it depends who dies. Jesus explained that death, for those who have been born-again, is nothing to fear. The counter is to make you think. It reminds me this life is short and not guaranteed. It reminds me that many people will die and will according to the bible go to hell if they have not kept the commandments. And my hope is that it would cause you to ask yourself if you think you are good enough person to get to Heaven.
Sorry, couldn’t resist. Why does it matter if *I* think I’m a good enough person to get into heaven? Doesn’t it really only matter what God thinks?
But then, aren’t we supposed to have free will?
This is all so confusing.
Or maybe we should stop worrying about hell, because if you believe that bad people go to hell, you’re really just being good so you can avoid punishment. Which actually strikes me as a pretty poor reason to be good. Don’t you think?
AD, you are welcome to chime in any time.
You are right, ultimately it only matters what God has to say about your goodness. However we should all look inward and see if we measure up to His standard of righteousness.
Yes we have free will, therefore the responsibility for our actions lie with us.
I wear a seatbelt for a couple reasons. One, it’s the law and two, it will likely save me from years of pain and suffering. I’m motivated by fear. We all are with many (if not most) of the decisions we make (at least to some degree). In the context of the discussion, I agree fear should not be the ultimate deciding factor. However it’s a real good start. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,” (Proverbs 1:7a)
What was your answer, if you don’t mind me asking? If you were among those who died today; would God let you in? Have you kept even the 10 commandments?
I always like talking theology.
The short answer is yes, I believe that if there’s a heaven and I get hit by a bus today, that I get in.
However, your question and my answer are based on philosophical assumptions and conclusions which, I think, are more important than either the question or the answer.
1) First, I can’t believe in hell. It’s not a concept that is logically compatible with my conception of God, or even the popular Christian concept of God. If you believe that God is infinite (or at least larger than all things in existence), hell becomes extremely problematic.
2) For example, let’s take Pascal’s Wager at its face, and say that if I incur X units of pleasure here on earth, God will be displeased with me and setence me to infinite units of pain in the afterlife. Exactly what X units of pleasure/sin are required is an unknown, since this is all ostensibly within God’s judgment. But under the wager and modern Christian tenets, there is an “X” point beyond which you have sinned and must be condemned to hell. (Here we get into original sin and whether God would ever condemn a child to hell, but for the sake of convenience, let’s boil this down to their logical equivalent of X sin units = hell.)
3) The problem here is that we’ve now established for God an arbitrary standard. We have what is essentially an infinite and omnipotent being which is constrained by an outside principle (X). Thus, under the theory we’re working underm iut is conceivable that God may not wish to condemn somebody to hell, but must anyway because those are the rules.
4) Of course you’re free to reject #3 and say that God has the final say on who gets into heaven, and is not bound by actual sinning. But if you are still saying that God sends other people to hell who have sinned less, you have God playing favorites. And an infinite God (who by definition must love inifinitely and equally) does not seem to be logically capable of such an action.
5) Then, you may wish to reject the Pascal’s Wager analysis entirely, and say that the amount of sin does not matter- it is only whether one has “accepted” God or Jesus Christ. But this is actually an illusory argument, as it is still based on the behavior of humans while they are still alive. (Rather than being sin units, X is simply replaced with “has/has not accepted God/Jesus Christ.”) The same logical problems involving omnipotence and arbitrary standards apply.
6) All of the above ignores a simpler philosophical argument against hell. I know personally that there are a handful of people in the world that I could forgive anything. If God is greater than me, then God must also be capable of forgiving those same people. Additionally, God must be capable of forgiving anyone else that any other person in the universe is capable of forgiving. And since God’s love is infinite, God must further be capable of forgiving *anyone* for *anything.* And so hell doesn’t really make sense here, either. (Admittedly, this particular argument is not entirely mine. I’d recommend reading If Grace Is True, which is an entire book about this very subject, written by two Quaker ministers.)
7) Even if the above arguments were somehow false, it would be morally advantageous not to convince other people that hell exists, because if they do not believe hell exists, their altruism will will purely altruistic, and not motivated by fear of being damned.
8) As a final thought, on fear as a motivation to do good: I’m reminded on the ancient Chinese proverb which states, “When the wrong man does the right thing, it usually turns out wrong,” as well as C.S. Lewis’ statement in Mere Christianity that a self-righteous, church going prig may be far closer to hell than a prostitute.
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