RE: [TruthTalk] Fw: 9/11 overview

[Jonathan Hughes]

Title: 9/11 overview

Jonathan in green.   From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of ShieldsFamily Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2004 11:02 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [TruthTalk] Fw: 9/11 overview   Izzy in red:   From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jonathan Hughes Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2004 7:27 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [TruthTalk] Fw: 9/11 overview   Izzy, your first response to the helpful links posted by Lance was, “Do not post liberal propaganda on TT.”  Now that we know that you are the newly promoted moderator able to dictate TT’s content you then continue to respond to a thoughtful post by Marlin.  As I said before, we need to avoid turning this formum into a propaganda website (of any kind), and get off the track of pursuing Christ.  Politics has a habit here of turning into a shouting match free for all.  I know Marlin is not a particularly political animal. (He is into conspiracies, but not necessarily politics.) My point is that you have no authority to say what can, or cannot be discussed or posted on this list.  Your fear of liberal propaganda is interesting.  What are you afraid of?  That’s rather like sodomities calling people who find their lifestyle abhorrent “homophobes”.  They flatter themselves with the epithet they cast at others. Your use of an illustration involving sin when we are talking about the difference between liberal and conservative politics is interesting.  Do you actually believe that to be liberal is to be a sinner?  And of course you would have to post a fuller context but it is very possible to be a homophobe.  It is also possible to think of homosexuality as a sin and not be a homophobe.  See John Smithson for proof of this.  If you were so certain in your political faith, liberal propaganda (read – the truth) should not affect you at all.  See above. Again the discrepancy: I can call your view of God abhorrent and you barely blink.  That’s different than you casting insults and slanders about my God, isn’t it? That is what you do politically (as do all people who cannot defend their point of view without name-calling as a substitute for reason.) I have no problem with discussing a specific point about my views.  I do have a problem with nasty insulters. Izzy you take just as much of a part in the insulting and slander as anyone else here.  And the point must be made ad nauseam, to speak critically about your country or its leaders is not an insult, slander or treason.  It is using our God given gifts of thought to expose corruption.  A post that may intrude upon your political persuasions causes all sorts of cattiness to come out.  So—I’m a cat! (duh!) The question to be asked yet again is why do you hold your politics closer to your heart than your Christianity?  That is merely your opinion, and baseless at that. See previous sentences please. If it was baseless why do I keep bringing it up?  It strikes me as a very peculiar characteristic of yours.  Why is one (neoconservative politics) so much more important to you than the other?  Why does one have an emotional reaction (always negative except in fawning worship sessions of your president)?  (See how insulting you are? Do you have any clue, Jonathan? This is a definite problem whenever you try to get someone to be “open minded”.  What are you thinking?????) Izzy, please go back and read your posts about meeting George W Bush.  I feel that the way you described your meeting was worship like; just my opinion.   I think a lot about you.  You are obviously bright and care for your family. (Bright???  How about brilliant???)  There is no doubt in my mind that you are intelligent.  You are obviously a lover of God and committed to Him.  What I don’t understand is why you are not open-minded in your quest for truth. (What makes you think YOU are and I am not? What if the reverse is true? Would you see it? (Hint: No!)  Izzy, I have never hid my bias and am quite upfront about it.  What makes me think I am being more open-minded than you?  Well that is easy.  I am willing to read, discuss and study both sides.  You are not.  Please explain how this makes you open-minded.  You see, politics are an untouchable area for you, one you refuse to study.  You see, I think that if you actually understood Bush and his colleagues, as a Christian you would steer the widest path around him as possible (and the second choice of Kerry is not much better; the country will still be led off the cliff, just a bit later).  What keeps you from reading books, articles etc. from the ‘other side’?  Because they are all written by liberals, which means slanderers and insulters with no real evidence to discuss—only nasty, baseless, biased allegations.  You realize that this is a nasty, baseless, biased allegation?  Need I say more here?  It is racism on a political scale.  Neither you or Lance has ever produced a single bit of proof about anything you say.  Sure we have.  Lots of it.  You chose to ignore it (as is your right).  You just say here’s a website, here are some “masses” of books and liberal media publications—go read them.  Well the truth is tough here.  You will have to suck it up and do some homework yourself.  No one is going to spoonfeed you.  I have not just recommended liberal books; I have also recommended conservative ones.  It really doesn’t matter to me which side you read as long as you don’t shut off your critical facilities which you have given me every indication that you have.  You have not one thing to say for yourself.  Frankly, I don’t care.  I’d rather let God change your heart by talking about Him and His Word. Let God change my heart regarding the senseless death of millions of people?  Aye my only hope is that he will lessen the heartache.  That you would care is my prayer.  The mass of evidence is so much it is unbelievable (True—your words, not mine.).  And a good choice of words.  It is perhaps the first barrier you need to get over.  The fact that your government may have/is involved in acts of injustice is hard to swallow.  I understand that.  I hope I am not being too personal here.  Forgive me if I am: Remember when you trusted your first husband?  How unbelievable it was that he would do such things?   I have a theory about forums such as this one.  I think that it is extremely rare to see someone actually change their mind.  The first barrier is an inability to admit that they were/are ever wrong.  Judy is a good example of this.  Judy has expressed a few times that her understanding of God has never been wrong; hence the certainty of all her posts being correct leading mischievous people to call her the ‘voice of God’.  I see far more humility in you Izzy and think that you would admit you were/are wrong if the situation demanded it. (Nope; if it were true.) This leads to my second barrier.  I do not believe that anyone will listen to another in a way that makes them vulnerable unless they have full respect for the person speaking. Better yet, if they respect God. Yes that is true.  However there are many people who say they respect God and have no respect of persons.  We all fall in this category some time or another (and me more often than most).  This is perhaps the major reason true change rarely happens on Truthtalk no matter how much truth is being thrown around.  Three people have generated little respect on this forum; Lance and I for holding different views than most and sharing some of them with a coat That’s a euphemistic way of putting it. of sarcasm (Judy and you also make posts dripping in the sarcastic) and DaveH for being Mormon and therefore being automatically placed outside the circle. (DaveH is well loved here.  Weird, but well loved. J )  You yourself have expressed that you want nothing to do with our theology. Righto, if it makes you hate what is good and love what is evil; which is the appearance politically.  Please tell me what I hate that is good?  I am wracking my mind trying to think of what you are referring to here.  Is it abortion?  I am decidedly pro-life if that is the issue you are referring to.  Most often when you mention liberal thinking this is the cause you bring up most.  This is mostly due to wanting nothing to do with liberals which is a word you use in almost every other post (as your Christian version of a swear word).  Even your reading of Kruger’s book was just a caricature of thought instead of an honest reading with an open heart.  Nice view you have there of my heart. Actually, I was hoping to find something good there, and was very disappointed. You have no idea how disappointed I was to read your review.  I felt that you read it with a negative mindset, trying to prove it wrong.  To your credit I am surprised you read it at all.  There is one person you respect on this forum – David Miller.  If David Miller had took to heart what we are saying (as he started to do before being having his unscriptual view of sin being outed by myself– he has posted once since) then you might think, “hey maybe this is worth understanding.” Now that he has left us for greener pastures I hold that there is no chance of you actually changing. There are a lot more who I love/respect/appreciate on TT.  Even you and Lance on your (occasional)good days. J One person on this forum has changed in the last 6 months and that is John Smithson.  The reason?  John respected Lance and was open to hearing him.  The growth of John in the last six months is astounding. What John has chosen to believe just shows where his heart was to begin with. Please explain more.  Are you saying John is more open to evil?  Not sure if you are complimenting John or putting him down here.  Most of us are followers.  If a leader thinks a point is worthwhile considering, as followers we think a point is worthwhile considering.  With no leader to dialogue with there is no hope of change.  This is the real substance behind my ‘End of Truthtalk’ post.  Those that hold their opinions will continue to hold their opinions.  No real dialogue will occur.  Comments are made that our attitudes display hatred and condescension completely avoiding seeing the exact same attributes in yourself (and Judy).  Lance and I have turned to making shocking comments (like Lance’s story of punishment yesterday) in order to wake some of you up to what you actually believe. It isn’t shocking. It’s what we, in Missouri, call “talking”.  I like it when you are honest.  I can deal with that easily. I just don’t like nastiness or superciliousness. No one responded to the post of me hitting my son (fiction only) and then showing how this view of weather of God hitting us is so misguided.  Why not?    Well this post has meandered enough and is not very well written.  More of a stream of conciousness.  My main question is, “How do we dialogue on this forum in a way that fosters the participants listening and hearing each other?”  By honestly voicing opinions or even venturing thoughts we aren’t sure of without expecting anyone else to agree.  By trusting the Holy Spirit to change hearts without our help. I would suggest that the Spirit wants to cooperate with our help.  How do we disagree with one another while still generating respect? By refraining from insults and slanders would be a good start.  Respecting me means not disrespecting those that I love.  You will always come out on the bottom if you trample those who I already respect—they earned it.  Remember: I am rabidly loyal. My #1 attribute and flaw, perhaps. If it keeps you from honestly looking at the issues, making you an ideologue than yes it is a flaw; I feel this is what has happenned.  This is not currently happening.  How do you know.  All spiritual growth is slow growth.  If you see big changes all of a sudden, they were in the making for a very long time. Of course there are tones of biblical examples of quick, rapid change.  My experience is slow though.  If it isn’t changed it really will be the End of Truthtalk. That’s entirely up to God.  Whether Truthtalk continues is up to God?  More likely it is up to David Miller and Perry.  Thanks for the honesty, Jonathan.  I always like that. Izzy   Jonathan