The Message Forum is an ongoing dialogue among classmates. The goal is to encourage friendly interaction, including interaction among classmates who really didn't know each other. Experience on the site has revealed that certain topics tend to cause friction and hard feelings, especially politics and religion. 

Although politics and religion are not completely off-limits, classmates are asked to be positive in their posts and not to be too repetitive or allow a dialog to degenerate into an argument. 

Forums work when people participate - so don't be bashful! Click the "Post Response" button to add your entry to the forum.

Kurt Fischer

Lance (and Steve):

First, given that Steve is a really smart and well read guy, I think he is making a point that I am not fully comprehending.  As such, I'm not very comfortable with absolutely disagreeing with him.

Second, the thread of the argument in the New Testament is that we are no longer under the Law.  

In Acts 15, a crisis occurred because certain Jewish believers were requiring Gentile believers to be circumsized and follow the Law.  The so called Jerusalem Council (apostles and elders) met and reached an agreement that the Gentile believers did not need to follow the Law.  They provided two stipulations:  1) abstain from what has been been sacrificed to idols and 2) abstain from fornication.  Other than that, they did not command the Gentile believers to follow the Old Testament Law.

In Galatians 2, Paul makes an extended argument that it is wrong for Jewish believers to coerce Gentile believers to follow the Law.  He becomes a bit sarcastic in saying that the Jewish believers can't keep the Law in full, so why would they then require Gentile believers to keep the Law, especially since righteousness comes not by the Law but by Christ's sacrifice for believers.

Third, it is well to understand the precepts of the Old Testament Law and it is a good thing in general to keep these precepts, not to gain righteousness, but in a way that is wise in living in this world.  That said, I'm always careful about recommending others fully follow these precepts.  Why?  Because we tend to pick and choose which ones we want to obey.  Certainly the Jews developed their Kosher laws in reaction to certain portions of the Law, yet I don't see many Gentiles who keep Kosher.  I don't want to encourage any form of legalism about what is lawful and right in order to become righteous.

But I stick to my first comment.  I believe Steve is making a point which I fully don't understand and would welcome his further explanation.

By the way, I just broke my own rule about using this forum to discuss Christian issues.  I apologize to the other forum members and appreciate their patience.

Steve Keene

Kurt and (Lance,)

Kurt you hit the nail on the head when you clarified that those passages were for Gentiles.  The law continued exactly as before for the nations of Israel and Judah.  The Jewish people include the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and a fair number of the tribe of Levi who left their habitation in Israel and returned to Jersusalem when Israel began worshiping in a manner inconsistent with the Bible.  Israel was defeated and carried off by the Assyrians and placed on the far side of the Caucasus mountains.  The people ruled by the Assyrians in other places were settled in their former country and it became known as Samaria.  200 years later Judah was carried off to Babylon.  The other tribes of Israel became known as Caucasians since they came from the area of the Caucasus mountains.  They settled Northern Europe;Scandinavia, Germany, Poland, England and Scotland.  The tribe of Dan became the Danes.  The half tribe of the son of Joseph, Ephraim became the Scots and the half tribe of Joseph's other son, Manasseh became the English.  Therein lies the rub.  The dietary law changes did not apply to them as part of Israel.

Lance is under the misconception that he is a Gentile.  That is not so.  David as a desendent of Italians may be a Gentile, but Lance certainly is not. I would like to thank you for your kind comments and welcome you to ask what you will to me by private message.

Steve Keene

David,

For your information I was forced to quit posting on the other forum.  About a week ago Tommy began going into individual posts and making what he called Moderator's Comments if he disputed or disagreed with what they wrote.  I let that slide.  Friday he took one of my posts and added content, much like Ron Stocklas might say, which included hate speach of me advocating the assassination of Nancy Peolosi on January 6 during the White House protests.  

Making a hate speech comment coming from me can expose me to criminal charges as has happened to so many of the marchers that did nothing more than trespass at the Capitol.  For this reason, I can no longer trust the site and have lumped it in with hackers and sleezy pornograpy sites as things I will not support.

I regret having to post this on the RHS forum, but I really need to document that I was not a part of what was written.   Any friends of Tommy might suggest to him that he seek professional counseling.  He will not listen to me.

Bob Davidson

Lance -- almost every one of my lawyer friends absoulutely loves To Kill a Mockingbird.  My partner's cat is named Atticus; my late lamented standard poodle was Scout (my current one is Ari, short for Haricot Vert), as was her previous cat, etc.  Of course Atticus Finch is our not-so-secret imagined role model.

I was in court this moring at two actual courthouses.  I noticed a big difference between Harris County (Houston) and Chambers County (Anhuac -- due east of Houston on the other side of Galveston Bay):  in Houston, there were no courtroom lawyers of the generation older than us -- born before 1946 or so, and very, very few older than me, while in Anahuac, the local bar (excluding the East Houston and Baytown lawyers who appear regularly) is mostly in their late 70s or early 80s.  I'm old in Houston, youngish in Anhauc.

In the past two years, a number of longtime courtroom lawyer friends I see as peers have died.  Trial lawyers don't tend to live very long, the type-a business and all  Only one was from Covid, the others, heart attacks, strokes, and cancer.  One thing I miss about being around those people is the humor -- they would kid around being outrageous, sarcastic, and a bit brutal.  Trial lawyers, sigh, what do you expect?  The older, now gone, generation was less outrageous, but a bit more mean spirited and didn't mind being much more openly sexist (both ways) or ethincly insensitive than people our age dare. With lawyers much younger than about 55, I totally pull my punches and kid with them like they are snowflakes or children -- none of the fun roughness I've always enjoyed.  Do you all think this is just the world of trial lawyers or is it in the general population?

Steve Keene

Lance,
 

When will you learn that volume of argument believed by the most folks does not prove what is righteous and what is not.  For your benefit, I do not believe that failure to observe dietary law is a salvation issue.  It is an obey God issue.  When you know to do right and do not, that is a problem.  Your ignorance is bliss.  The volume of Baptists that believe does also not make it right.  I am reminded of the passage that says: 

"Many are called, but few are chosen"  In Matthew.

Baptists also believe the rapture myth. Baptists also consider Sunday their sabbath day falling for the Roman Catholic change hook, line and sinker.

Wayne Gary

Steve,

I see you have had it with Tommy,  Earlier I stopped addressing Tommy as he was so out of touch with reality.

Steve Keene

Bob D.,

I just heard that Bob Dylan found out "The Times, They Are A Changin."

Jim Bedwell

Lance,

I don't know about a trial lawyer - but you ARE halfway there since you ARE a trial - hahahahaha!!!!

By the way, WAY TO GO JOE. Afghanistan is the first domino to fall. Taiwan is obviously next. Any bets on who number 3 is? Just weeks ago Joe was reassuring us that no way is the Taliban taking back over nor would there be any Vietnam-rooftop similarities. WRONG AS ALWAYS JOE!! Yet the Marxist left LOVES him, I guess.

HOW HUMILIATING!!! We let these brutal, barbaric tribal ruffians DICTATE ALL to us? All we're hoping to do is get our people out? LET THE EXECUTIONS BEGIN!! How could ANYBODY ever trust the US again after this latest BIDEN-HARRIS CATASTROPHE!!!

Henny Youngman: "Take my wife. PLEASE!".

Joe Biden: "Take my surrender. PLEASE!" (with a KICK ME sign on his worthless back). Next on the surrender "tour"? Iran? DUH in these BIZARRO times.

It may be the best thing to just pray that China, Russia ad nauseum realize that they won't have to take us out (before they are surrounding Israel) but just let us self-destruct with this crew. Why should they risk any blowback from us with military action at the rate we're going? They may be irretrievably evil but they're not TOTALLY CLUELESS AND FOOLISH like our current leaders are.

Lowell Tuttle

An atheist was seated next to a dusty old cowboy on an airplane and he turned to him and said, “Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.”

The old cowboy, who had just started to read his book, replied to the total stranger, “What would you want to talk about?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said the atheist. “How about why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?” as he smiled smugly.

“Okay,” he said. “Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff – grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?”

The atheist, visibly surprised by the old cowboy's intelligence, thinks about it and says, “Hmmm, I have no idea.”

To which the cowboy replies, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss God, Heaven and Hell, or life after death, when you don’t know crap?”...........

Jim Bedwell

After driving around Portland more the last couple of days going to music shows, you should see all the tents, trash, etc. everywhere now here. Got a nice ballfield or park near where you live? Chances are you've got some nearby undesirable spectators/visitors!

It's kinda hard to figure out. Just like the Dillard class, if you allow chaos to exist, it will increase! And to the detriment of all! You'd think all the morally & intellectually superior people on the left could figure these simple things out. It is easier to stay out than get out. And reminds me of that brilliant Buckley quote, "I'd rather be governed by the first 5000 names in the Boston phone book than the combined faculties of Harvard & MIT".

In conclusion, LET ME OUTTA HERE!

Wayne Gary

Lowell,

Speaking of crap:

Last week I went with my wife, sister-in-law went to a guest ranch between Eldorado and Sonora, Texas to watch the meteor shower.  After I took my dog out to let her do her business

 I went back about an hour later to pick it up but it was moving.  I saw black spots on it then oan closer look I discovered the dung-beetles were having a field day and cleaning up her poop.

We had a great time on Thursday, Friday and Saturday early morning watching the shower.  Ther were between 50-100 meteors per hour.

Lowell Tuttle

I would get huge bonus points for taking my wife out to clear skies to see the metors.   Thanks for the tip.

Wayne Gary

Lowell

You better go this week for this shower.

Lowell Tuttle

More crap.   I smell a rat.   Medicare procedures are billed at one price and then price lowered to medicare amounts approved.   Thus, providers get less.

Ok.   Explain to me why the pre colonoscopy prep fluids in two little bottles are 112.00 on pharma pay.

Someone is getting a kickback for prescribing that prep.   Since it;s usually once every five years, we don't compute it into our part D choice of drug insurers.

Bob Davidson

I had a reminder of my mortality this morning.  My 63 year old SO is in cleaning mode.  This morning while I was eating breakfast, she came in with my kids' baby books, awards, and artwork when they were kids.  She also wanted me to give some of my way too many books to her daughter.  She said that I ought to give them to people while I'm still alive so they won't get lost in the chaos when I die.

I reacted rather badly -- a couple of my old shuttle bus driver friends just died and I was feeling sad. She then told me that I need to face actuarial reality and face the fact that at my age I probably won't live that much longer.

Thinking about it, she is right.  I need to do that.  Maybe I can let my beard grow out long and white while I get used to watching life pass me by while I sit in a rocking chair.

Jim Bedwell

Due to the Watergate scandal & aftermath, the Congressional Dems, led by the pre-Biden trailblazer (wrong about everything) Teddy Kennedy, were able to cut all funding to the South Vietnamese government and subsequently that weak regime fell that spring, 1975, 2 years after our military exit.

From January 20th, we've been experiencing our (deja vu all over again - thanks, Yogi!) Jimmy Carter II on Marxist steroids moments, with the cluelessness abroad & at home, the stagflation, gasoline/gas line problems, military rendered ineffective by "progressive" governance, ad nauseum.

Now our Bungler in Chief, Joe is having his Saigon moment a la 1975. Afghanistan is getting ready to have its Cambodia moment a la 1975-79, and we're getting ready to have our disgraced-retreat, Dunkirk moment a la 1940 BUT ONLY IF THE TALIBAN WILL ALLOW THAT!!! What, our military can't do anything about any of this now?!?!?!?! PATHETIC WITH A CAPITAL P!!!

We had the Iran hostage moments under Carter (at least Carter had brains & morals, albeit as ineffective as he was). Maybe instead of our impending Dunkirk moment(s), we'll have another one of those a la 1979-81, with hundreds/thousands of hostages rather than dozens. OR perhaps we'll end up with BOTH of those kinds of moments. That would fit.

Wow, Joe, you're CREATING ALL KINDS OF HISTORY NOW with your total incompetence!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! Oh, and don't forget all the military equipment we just couldn't have figured out how to remove from the country. The Taliban will LOVE all that now!

Plus now that the Taliban & al Quaida, whatever, have a new major center for terrrorism, forget all those other moments I just mentioned, we may be having another 9-11 moment before too long......My dad would have turned 106 today; I can't imagine what he now thinks about all this.

David Cordell

Let's see. Adam Smith versus Karl Marx. Hmmm. I'll take the Scot.

Much as I dislike Jeff Bezos's politics, his capitalistic efforts benefited everyone except other retailers. He gets a small sliver of every transaction, and we get extremely broad availability of retail goods with easy shopping and next-day delivery. Same with Bill Gates. Without his capitalistic and creative efforts, I would not have been able to read your comments. (Wait a minute. Maybe I need to re-think this!)

I like rich people. They endow all manner of things that benefit everyone. Museums. Univeristies. Scholarships. Hospitals.They also pay the bulk of the taxes that finance all governmental activites, from defense to education. 

It is easy for a critic to look at one government program or another in another country, and explain how it is better than in the U.S. It is also possible to do the opposite. As a total package, I'd rate the U.S. pretty highly.

I am not a capitalist per se because my career has been almost exclusively as an employee in state-sponsored and not-for-profit educational institutions. However, I have benefited from capitalism in numerous ways, not the least of which is the success of capitalism as it relates to my retirement portfolio.

David Cordell

Bob D.,

Yeah, that mortality thing is a bit concerning. Life expectancy for a 70 year old is about 14.5 years for a male and 16.5 for a female. (Not sure about non-gendered people.)

We have current, valid wills, and we have started the money conversation with our sons. I, too, have lots of books that will not be of interest to my sons, and we have asked them to let us know what "stuff" they are interested in.

A huge concern is my genealogy and family history material, which is extensive. My sons have only expressed passing interest in the topic. Also, it is not well organized

Imagine cutting out every article/entry in an encyclopedia. (You remember encyclopedias, right?) Then put all the cut-out articles in a tumbler and turn it several times. You'd have all the information in the world at your fingertips, but not in a useful form. OK, my genealogy material isn't that bad for my own use, but someone else wouldn't know what they're looking at.

Also, what about all the information on my computer. How much of it will die when I do? What about passwords? I have seen articles about estate planning for digital assets, but I haven't really done anything about it.

None of my damn business, but I hope your significant other was a bit more gentle in her suggestions than I inferred!

Lowell Tuttle

Cars burgled last night.   On hold with Harris County Sherriff's office.   Just got my golf clubs.   Car was probably unlocked...I screw that up sometimes.   Nextdoor dog was barking all through the end of the Astros ballgame and into my sleep start process, but did I get up?   no.   stupid stupid.  Oh well, ACV loss probably 100.00.   Replacement value, probably 1800.   Will miss my 9 wood and 7 wood especially.   Hard to find what I am used to.   Everything else, I have spares.

David.   On thing you can do is go onto facebook and check settings.   You can assign someone to take care of your Facebook account after you have passed.   I did that.   My son was feaked by the link.  But, after seeing a few friends still getting birthday greetings after their demise, I wondered about it and found the page in my settings.  Otherwise, your liberal- black person - women's rights posts linger on into the future.   Who knows how it will affect your friends' futures.

(just joking about your liberal/blackperson/women's rights posts...  You're prety much a just right of center person with some guilt trip consessions when overposting your opins.

Jim Bedwell

Lance,

Depth, schmepth. Solutions, pollutions - all will be undone once Marxist/"liberal" governance returns wherever it does. Case in point - Afghanistan, which I think is ONLY beginning. The Taliban have THOUSANDS of hostages now!! Thanks, Joe!

So I even gave you familytreedna.com to send your DNA into to find out your Y-chromosome surname. Did you or are you going to do that? I'd really like to know what it is - just to be sure it isn't McCoy/McKay/McKee/McKie - that will be a BIG WHEW!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!!!

Jim Bedwell

David C,

Just last week got rid of all my old utility bills from everywhere - why did I keep & carry around all those? Soon I have to go to Goodwill & Salvation Army to see what they will take. After the divorce, all the old financial, bank, house, etc. records will be shredded, recycled, tossed, etc. Recycled already is almost all my northwest US tourist stuff! First time in 40+ years, for almost 20 months now (but who's counting?), that I've been with no spouse and/or little kids. I had forgotten what it was like to be happy EVERY DAY! And any hoarding days are now in my past! YEE HAW!!!

Lowell Tuttle

My wife just asked, "Don't we have some redneck friends with shotguns we can have come sit out in our driveway tonight, or until we have our camera installed?"   I said I feel sorry for the thieves.   what a way to make a living....and what kind of living?

Besides, that dog was barking a ful 20 minutes at about 11 last night.   What's gonna make me look at my phone for thief action photography videos each night?

David Cordell

Lance, I must tell you that it is annoying when you make comments like "the forum is in a deep malaise."  You may think that you are trying to stoke the conversation, but it is a negative comment that is not helpful.

If people want to post, they will post. If I want to post about politics, I will.

That said, Jim B's comments about Biden pretty much reflect my own. Biden seems to think the Afghan debacle went about as well as could be expected. What a dolt!

My political solution? Elect conservative Republicans!

Kurt Fischer

Lowell:

Although my story is not directly tied to your car robbery situation, perhaps you could improvise.

Many years ago I had a Viet Nam vet working for me.  Leroy was probably strongly affected by the war and his experiences.  For instance, he once described to me how he could shut down business in Dallas just by posting four friends with weapons at four key entry points to the city.  Uh, Leroy, you don't need to be thinking that way...

Anyway, he once had some teenagers who decided it was fun to jump the curb and, in the dark of the night, drive over the lawns of several individuals.  They might have been aiming at Leroy's yard, but that wasn't clear.  They were warned a couple of times, but did it again.  Leroy decided to address it himself.  He sat in a lawn chair in the dark and waited.  When they came through he fired his weapon with armor piercing ammunition into the block of their vehicle.  He laughingly told me that the kids' eyes were as big as saucers.  Of course, he was ticketed, but found it worthwhile.  I thought he was crazy and made sure that I never alienated him nor gave him reason to be angry at me.

Maybe a little vigilante justice, eh?

Jim Bedwell

David C,

Actually for once I may agree with Biden. My viewpoint is the same as Joe's, namely that, with his leading our "plan" in the Afghanistan withdrawal fiasco, it probably went as well as ANYTHING that could be expected from that TOTAL ZERO (and his staff of genius-IQ saints).

Too bad General Milley's lie about "it all happened in 11 days without a warning" or words to that effect or Joe's saying for weeks now that there's no intel saying it will all collapse quickly, ALL LIES!