The Evangelical Universalist Forum

How To Live Under An Unqualified President by John Piper

Although conjecture i would guess that a good part of ā€œthe worldā€™sā€ view of Trump is that he withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Accord which the world was not pleased about because we were paying 100 billion into their fund. The way that was reported to ā€œthe worldā€ can absolutely shape public opinion.

Letā€™s consider the first ā€œre-distributionā€ of goods. Acts 2. Yes, it was voluntary.

Today there are Christian groups that base the total sharing of goods on the early Christian example in Acts 2. Perhaps the main such group are the Hutterites who have maintained their communities for 400 years. Since the beginning of the movement, many babies have been born within Hutterite communities. From babyhood, they have been practising community of goods. Is this voluntary? Is it unjust that they are ā€œforcedā€ to share with the other members as long as they remain within the movement?

I wonder about the babies born within the first Christian churches described in Acts 2. Were these people ā€œforcedā€ to share? I am not sure how long community of goods was practised in the early church, but it seems that it continued into the second century.

Well how about this, from an Ardent Republican, Todd Starnes?

ā€œThe GOP is About to Stick it to Us Again, Americaā€

"If memory serves me correctly - the reason we gave the Republicans a majority in the House and the reason we gave the Republicans the majority in the Senate and the reason why we put a Republican in the White House was to repeal Obamacare.

Not repeal and replace. Just repeal. Period.

I really do hate to be the bearer of bad news, but as incredulous as it may be - We the People are about to be snookered ā€“ again

How is it possible that the greatest nation on the face of the Earth is governed by a bunch of morally deficient, power-hungry, callous backstabbers?

We may as well have kept the Democrats in chargeā€¦

Well, now - you folks now I donā€™t mean that ā€“ but you get the point." - Todd Starnes toddstarnes.com/column/the- ā€¦ in-america

Well, I have it on good authorityā€¦that the GOP moderates and extreme right wingers, are battling it out. And they will soon come, to a speedy resolutionā€¦regarding a health care bill :laughing:

Is that from an anonymous source, Randy? :laughing:

Man I wonder how much bandwidth Zombie sucks out from the servers when he posts these gifs? :smiley:

None, actually. Whether I post a GIF or a YouTube videoā€¦the bandwidth comes from the servers, hosting the GIF imageā€¦or Google, in the case of a YouTube video.

Images are located via a Google keyword search. Since we donā€™t have that many thread viewers here, the GIF bandwidth needed is minuscule. And the host benefits, via a back link - to their site.

Now for something that will SURPRISE both liberals and conservatives here. Todayā€™s Quora discussion:

How is the Republican health care plan in any way better than ā€œObamacareā€?

The answer from 1 or 2 liberals, is that they actually like it. Please read though the discussion and let me know your thoughts - regarding the given answers.

AS the dust is settling and the fog of war lifting, more moderate voices are able to point out - not the FLAWS in Obamacare, because youā€™d have to live on the moon to deny those big flaws - but the STRENGTHS of the new bill, if ever it gets passed.
I think weā€™ll still be disappointed, but perhaps not as badly as I feared.

Now as to neutrality on the net and media, hereā€™s your fact-checking story for the day. We should be aware of this.
Frrom frontpagemag.com/point/267144/fact-checking-network-gets-backing-soros-radical-daniel-greenfield

Quote:
Good news. Your ā€œfactsā€ are about to be ā€œcheckedā€ by George Soros.

If the whole fact checking paradigm that the media has blackmailed Facebook and Google into rolling into their results hadnā€™t been sufficiently poisoned by naked partisanship and left-wing politics, the presence of the amateur embattled left-wing activists at Snopes, here comes the death knell for its credibility.

ā€œFact-checking has never been this important. Come define its futureā€ is the Poynter headline. But its future has already been defined, the cheerful posting informs us, by its funders.

Thanks to $1.3 million in grant funding from the Omidyar Network and the Open Society Foundations, the IFCN can now expand its work. New initiatives will include an innovation fund to reward new formats and business models for fact-checking, an impact tracker to help evaluate and monitor the efficacy of this type of work, and a tool to turn the links fact-checkers use into a searchable database of trustworthy primary sources.

Everyone knows who radical leftist billionaire George Soros is.

Soros is the leftā€™s biggest radical sugar daddy. But somewhere up there, particularly for pro-terror sites, is Iranian tycoon Pierre Omidyar.

Pierre Omidyar has financed a war on national security and Israel through anti-American sites such as The Intercept.

When you understand that this is where the ā€œinternational fact checking networkā€ is getting its financing, you understand the kind of ā€œfact checkingā€ it will be doing. And whom you can expect to be doing it.

Facebook and Googleā€™s embedding of partisan left-wing ā€œfact checkingā€ sites is one of the greatest assaults on freedom of expression on the internet. And now the partisan sites are about to fall further into the fever swamps of left-wing extremism.

Congressional Republicans should call out Google and Facebook for their double standard in advocating Net Neutrality while pushing Opinion Bias

-end of quote

The problem comes in, that we are conditioned to seeing only one answer. And thatā€™s what the insurance companies, medical doctors, pharmaceutical companies and government representatives (i.e. both Republican and Democrat)ā€¦want us to buy into. That:

Modern medicine is the ONLY way.

Well, it is in:

Medical emergencies
Terminal illnesses (in conjunction with prayer and spiritual healing)
Medical testing to find the pathology

And how did people get healed, before modern medicine came along? Well, they have 2 traditionsā€¦that are thousands of years old. Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese medicine. And they have another tradition called homeopathy.

And these traditions come with minimal sides effects. And donā€™t cost an arm and a leg, in terms of pharmaceutical drugs. And they donā€™t invent new ones - every year.

And there is something called spiritual healing. Which is well established and thousands of years oldā€¦in the Native American spiritual and medicine traditions. Or the Chinese equivalent of Qi Gong.

People go to these things - because they work. Or traditional medicine, has given up on them. Told them things, like they have a few months to live, etc. And the traditional doctorsā€¦ will attribute any cureā€¦ to the placebo effect, statistical anomaly, etc.

Meanwhile, the Republicans will craft a bill And will try to tell us, it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. And the World Health Organization, will probably continue to rate the USā€¦in the mid-thirties - quality wise.

And I will probably spend the wintersā€¦in Central American or parts of Europe - like Spain. Since i know the popular European languagesā€¦and the languages of Latin America. And if I do need traditional medicine, I would get quality careā€¦at a fraction of the drug and physician cost.

Or perhaps learn Japanese - alongside Mandarin. And teach English over in Japan. And get into their health system, for around $350 a year. Anyone with a long term visa - can do so.

Try an experiment. Go to the US government STEP program at bit.ly/IJWSDw. Type in a country to visit, under the link country information - towards the bottom. Then after it comes up, click on the health tab. Letā€™s take Chile, for example. See what they have to say - in part:

Itā€™'s like modern marketing and advertising. They say these brand name vitamins, canned fruits, cereals, etc. - are the best. Even though it is a fact, they often come off - the same assemble lineā€¦as the store brands or generics.

Or folks try to tell you, that OEM (i.e. original equipment manufactures), make the best vehicle parts. But after market parts, can be just as good - or better. And much cheaper.

Reminds me of attending the ELCA Lutheran church service this week - within walking distance. I noticed the Islamic center next store was packed. So I stopped a couple of black Muslims and inquired what was going on. They told me that Ramadan had ended and they were breaking the fast. Well, I realized something. These Muslims were from Africa. And I also met Muslims, from the Middle East. Those from the Middle East, I always experienced as rude to outsiders. And those from Africa, were warm and friendly to outsiders. Both under the same religious umbrella. But belonging to different cultures. The African Muslims shook my hand and thanked me for asking.

Itā€™s kind of like my Christian faith. It comes with the base, of a liturgical tradition (i.e. Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran or Anglican). But I add to it Franciscan contemplation (i.e. cac.org/), via Buddhist meditation methods (i.e. mindfulness and Zen). A love of Native American, spiritual and healing traditions. And throw in some health and prosperity thinking - with Joel Osteen. And visiting saints from the East. Like I did with Amma, at here nearby Illinois center at amma.org/.

Oh, yes. The Republican bill. I just got this email - from my AARP membership:

Oh, yes. I do have a sizable following - on Twitter and Facebook. And I did post - the AARP propaganda.

And I continue with my Medicare advantage plan. And all is well and good for me.

And here is an interesting article, in my email today. From the Dark Web News:

Access to Calls, Texts, and Location Being Offered on the Dark Web

And I donā€™t often get on a soap box. But I did today. :exclamation:

Regardless of what the Republicans come up with.

And how did people get healed, before modern medicine came along? Well, they have 2 traditionsā€¦that are thousands of years old. Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese medicine. And they have another tradition called homeopathy.

And these traditions come with minimal sides effects. And donā€™t cost an arm and a leg, in terms of pharmaceutical drugs. And they donā€™t invent new ones - every year.

And there is something called spiritual healing. Which is well established and thousands of years oldā€¦in the Native American spiritual and medicine traditions. Or the Chinese equivalent of Qi Gong.

Also hundreds of essential oils have been used for thousands of years because they work!

Just a bit of footnotes - to Steveā€™s comment. The technical name is aromatherapy. Thereā€™s a description of it on Wiki at bit.ly/2l1IACW.

Web MD also covers the topic at wb.md/2t8JH89.

One name for modern pharmaceuticals is allopathy. I remember when I was anemic. And I had blood tests, conducted by the primary care physician. The nurse called and said I needed a prescription for iron. I asked why I needed ā€œa prescriptionā€, when they sell Iron supplements - over the counter. Well, they really couldnā€™t answer it. Except I know the prescription would cost more. And the brand name, over the counter version - would cost more than the store brand. Which. at the Jewel Osco pharmacy is Signature Care.

And when my mom was in a commaā€¦making her transitionā€¦Guess what? They prescribed morphine, as a pain reliever. Which is over 100 years old. What happened to all the ā€œsuperiorā€, brand name and genericā€¦modern day pain relievers?

Sometimes you can blend allopathy, with Ayurveda, TCM or homeopathy.

Here are 2 examples.

Colgate has a mouth wash called Crest Pro Health. But the Dollar General store brand, is called 2X/Day. And it costs much less. And Pepsodent still makes a US based toothpaste, at a fraction of the name brands. I get this at the Dollar tree. But I mix this toothpaste, with an Ayurveda one. Either a Patanjali or Auromere one. Which is available at either Amazon or local Indian grocery stores. The Ayurveda is good for the gums. Which helps prevent gum disease.

Or suppose I get a cut. I wash it, apply rubbing alcohol and bandage it. But after the cut has sealed, I apply a homeopathic solution of Calendula Homeopathic ointment, to speed up the healing. Itā€™s available at most US, health food stores.

For modern medicine to come along and say everything before it was uselessā€¦is like the Protestant churches to say God revealed the truth, in the reformation. And the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, are part of the dark ages.

Speaking of aromatherapy, I can smell something coming off this CNN staffer, but itā€™s not therapeutic.
People actually watch this station for news?

quote "American voters are stupid as s***. unquote

frontpagemag.com/point/26715 ā€¦ greenfield

I get most of my newsā€¦from the tabloids, DaveB. This way, I can be sureā€¦I get the truthā€¦the whole truthā€¦and nothing but the truth :laughing:

Just a bit of footnotes - to Steveā€™s comment. The technical name is aromatherapy. Thereā€™s a description of it on Wiki at bit.ly/2l1IACW.

Remember, lavender for sleep,relaxation and even headaches and Eucolyptus for asthma!

I have no experience with aromatherapy. I chiefly work with homeopathyā€¦with Ayurveda and TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) thrown in - as needed. And traditional medicine and spiritual healing, if Iā€™m in a jam.

The history of homeopathy, is captured in a song at youtube.com/watch?v=9wX5AswH2wM

As mentioned previously,Web MD also covers aromatherapy at wb.md/2t8JH89. And the article does say, how it might work:

An even better remedy for sleep deprivation, comes from an old country doctor. Hereā€™s what he told me. :wink:

Yep.

Still, it could be worse - could live in Britain. Hereā€™s quite a story:

frontpagemag.com/fpm/267149/ ā€¦ illingsley

qaz, Iā€™m on board with you as to the goals; as to the means, I just donā€™t trust government. At least the greedy capitalist pigā€™s :laughing: motives are clear, and his product is what it is - take it or not. And if a number of gcpā€™s compete, donā€™t collude, the consumer has the choices and the best prices.

Maybe thereā€™s a 3rd way but I donā€™t know what that is.

Well, here in Ontario, my wife (who came from U.S.A.) had two hip replacements. What would that cost in United States? It cost us nothing. Ontario Health Insurance Plan.

I had a trans urethral resection of the prostate in 2007. What would that have cost in United States? It cost us nothing. OHIP.

Oh, but the Ontario government forces me to pay the OHIP premium ever year. What a hardship!

How much was that premium in 2016? Exactly $57.14 in Canadian funds. Oh, if we only had a good capitalist system that wouldnā€™t force us to pay that hefty premium! Then we would merely have to pay $40,000 or more for each of those procedures.

Iā€™m happy for you!

You have a very good health-care system. Google shows me a number of proā€™s and conā€™s, but thatā€™s to be expected in any system.

There are lots of this kind of article that kinda take the shine off the canadian program, though:

huffingtonpost.ca/nadeem-esm ā€¦ 33080.html

Hereā€™s a follow-up to the British Health Care story I linked to above:

foxnews.com/health/2017/07/0 ā€¦ pport.html