Looks like we are at war with North Korea again.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Who gives a shit?
We are not at war with North Korea, except for the technicality that we have never signed a treaty with them.
Technically, we have been at war with them since 1950, well sort of, since the US never declared war in the first place. The UN Police Action is still in force.

[sirs]

The AMBE in question is your ongoing record of being wrong, and trying to use me as your go to crutch when trying to cover up how wrong you're caught in

[Plane]

Sirs posts the title "Looks like we are at war with North Korea again"

  That was me.

     If not Kim, ...

        Who said that we are at war again and pointing out all the wonderful new weapons of North Korea.

          What is going on in North Korea is lots of preparation for the killing of their southern brothers, if South Korea ever looks vulnerable for a minute the North will pounce , as they have been busily crouching to do for the entirety of my lifespan.

         And I am older than the leader of North Korea.

[Xavier_Onassis]

South Korea and the US are installing an anti-missile defense system, and North Korea does not like it.
But we are not going to war with North Korea again.

[Plane]

  I think the anti missile system is a good idea even if it does lead to a North Korean attack.

This attack is just as likely without the additional defense.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I agree that anti-missile defenses are an excellent idea for South Korea.
Kim knows that any major attack will be the end of him and his regime.
He might be able to cripple South Korea, but he would not survive any war that he mongered, nor could he have any chance of winning.

It is normal for North Korea to make threats. But every nation has a right to build defenses against attack: that is the DPRK's reasoning for building their nukes, after all.

[Plane]

I agree that anti-missile defenses are an excellent idea for South Korea.
Kim knows that any major attack will be the end of him and his regime.
He might be able to cripple South Korea, but he would not survive any war that he mongered, nor could he have any chance of winning.

It is normal for North Korea to make threats. But every nation has a right to build defenses against attack: that is the DPRK's reasoning for building their nukes, after all.

All true and the North Korean regime knows it.

This has not made them really peaceful, they have done many provocative stunts.

Another thing they know is that we will put up with a lot of provocation without retaliating .

So they act irritated at everything , we can't roll over in bed without provoking them.

They need a justification for all the privation their people put up with.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I think that they believe that their people are just loyal and patriotic citizens. They think it is justifiable to incarcerate up to three generations of "rotten apples" to prevent dissent from spreading.  Most of the people and leaders of the DPRK seem to believe their own bullshit. Surely there are people in the bureaucracy that understand that it is bullshit,but they dare not say so publicly, just as  it is rare for a someone attending a fundamentalist church to say they think the preacher's sermon was bullshit. I was forced to hear enough bullshit from preachers at my college to be aware that bullshit and ignorance of the Bible is often more the rule than the exception.

Still I never said anything, even the very worst thing they could do was take my job away from me. I just did not see any reason to dissent. What would it have accomplished? In the DPRK everyone knows that they can  send you and your parents and grandparents off to a forced labor camp. That is a serious disincentive to speak freely.

[Plane]

  I agree , except on the bible part.

[Xavier_Onassis]

There are surely some preachers who have actually read the whole Bible and understood it.
There were few, is any, that fit the description among the White Southern Baptists I heard preach at William Jewell College, and fewer still among the Black Baptists I had to listen to at the college where I taught.

The silliest bit is where they claim that the Old Testament dietary and other laws can be thrown out, because Jesus said so, when in fact he said that he did not want a "jot or a tittle" to be ignored, and of course that all the prophesies of the OT, on the other hand were still seriously important. Nomatter that they did not fit. Bo matter that the Messiah was not supposed to be an actual deity, but a kickass leader (More of a Shimon Bar Kochkba, actually).

Essentially Paul said to throw out the parts that are convenient so I can convert bazillions of pagans ( who like to eat pigs and clams and do not want to be circumcised) and keep all the stuff about the coming Messiah and how he would be known by his virgin birth and let's ignore about how he is to be named Emmanuel. well, just because it does not fit.  Paul could change his own name, but calling Jesus Emmanuel Christ was just too much.

[Plane]

There are surely some preachers who have actually read the whole Bible and understood it.

No.

Not even one.

If a preacher ever maintained to me that he entirely understood the entire Bible , I would discount the claim and reduce my esteem for him greatly.

Have you really seen this claim made ?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Much of the Bible is simply claptrap that was made to sound mystical. I think there is at least a theory of what every verse was supposed to mean.
It is largely based on nonsense. It is utter nonsense that people today should be held accountable for any original sin committed by Adam and Eve.
The entire idea of original sin is absurd, and the bit about the talking snake is ridiculous.

But I was referring to preachers who not only did not understand common stuff, but MISQUOTED it and then misinterpreted what the Bible did not say in the first place.
I cannot recall specific examples now from a Preach-A-Thon that a fundamentalist colleague who  thought that the college should produce more televangelists back in the 1980's, but there were some real doozies. I don't anyone was actually harmed by these silly preachers, but there was some really creative misinterpretations.

The affair lasted for SIX HOURS without a break, during a Donation Day week, but my bladder saved me. I was about to explode and after I had drained the lizard, I observed that there was an exit door near the door to the bathroom, and I fled.

[Plane]

  I recall president Clinton quoting Jesus on the occasion of the signing of a new Palestinian and Israeli treaty.
   "Blessed are the peacemakers"


   He got it wrong , I was face to palm.

     Biblical knowledge is actually spread pretty thin these days.

     And the scriptures are dense with information that must be blessed to unpack. Gods ownership and control of scripture extends to opening for you what you need at the time that you need it.

   I have had that experience , and have heard of it so often that it seems an ordinary miracle.

[Xavier_Onassis]

That made no sense at all to me.

I am all for peacemakers.  I am even for blessing them.

If the God were really the inspiration for the Bible, it would be more intelligible.

If Apple's manuals were written as poorly as the Bible, the company would have failed decades ago.

[Plane]

That made no sense at all to me.

Naturally.

I am all for peacemakers.  I am even for blessing them.

If the God were really the inspiration for the Bible, it would be more intelligible.

If Apple's manuals were written as poorly as the Bible, the company would have failed decades ago.

Don't think Apple, think CIA.

The better you communicate with your own the better, the less everyone elese understands your message the better.

Not only did Clinton get the "peacemakers " quote quite wrong , he didn't really get called on it.

    I guess that is natural, you do not make a Christian of someone by pointing out the frailty of their pretentions.

     And the improved peace has been nice , quote or no.