Then welcome to social Darwinism and/or anarchy. Our republic is founded on the notion of equality before the law, of rights that aren't subject to the whim of the majority and have been established and balanced to allow us to exercise as much freedom as we can within the context of the next fellow's right to do the same.
The above is obviously a theory about law and history and the American system of government.
One which I cannot hold to,
and one which I believe you as a Christian should not accept.
on Jesus condemning lawyers:
For particular reasons, not because of their office. In the same way he didn't have much good to say about religious leaders. But he created them in the apostles and sent them out among men.
Power or authority or wealth or any combination thereof are essentially corrupting absent vigilance. That's why it's harder for the rich man to enter heaven, though God has bestowed wealth upon some he loved, like Job.
You seem upset that I would quite naturally dismiss lawyers generally
with both suspicion and accusations of corruption and evil.
But while your basic position here is sound in principle,
in my view it does not take Jesus' actual position, judgement, and condemnation
seriously.
That is, your statement is a good starting point for understanding
the sayings of Jesus regarding the RICH, and also Lawyers,
but it doesn't acknowledge the actual judgement Jesus handed down.
In other words, you, like many others, want to limit Jesus' statements
to local events, and His own peculiar time and circumstances.
I find this especially in the case of the RICH,
an absurd exercise in excuse-making for modern rich people,
who are most certainly not going to heaven and are most certainly
condemned on the same basis that ancient rich people were.
There is no evidence that rich people today are any different.
The question of lawyers is intriguing, since we have suffered a unique
phenomenon, namely the establishment of semi-Christian nations
which originally at least based their laws on Biblical teachings.
I'm finding the post-Christian West far less credible on this front however.
And I think that lawyers today will largely find themselves back in the
same position that the ancient lawyers in Jesus' day were:
Evil and condemned by God.
Lawyers are a powerful group, but they are officers of the court and the court serves the law that protects your right, among them the right to speak against anything that offends you. They are restrained by the same Constitution that restrains you. Powerful? Sure. So are doctors. It's in the nature of what they preserve and protect.
I also find doctors a largely immoral and non-credible group of powerful
evil elitists, who exploit the naive.
So the analogy only reinforces my view of lawyers.
I think the performance of both groups is based not so much on the
nature of what they preserve and protect,
as on the nature of fallen, corrupted and compromised men,
who have willingly joined secretive societies of elite oligarchies.
Then thank God you aren't empowered to work that wrong and to act as judge and jury.
I'm sure I don't need a defense or suspension of judgment against the lack of any charge. Mostly? Good grief.
I respond, this time more strongly since you avoid my challenge on point in my last while raising the level of accusation, that this is an empty and unworthy charge without merit or reason.
Provide the many. We have one example that wasn't avoided, but was simply something I was honest about not having a particular knowledge of...real damning stuff.
I think its not necessary to produce more "examples",
in part because of the futility caused by the nature of the "evidence".
Normally I don't pursue what looks like avoidance behaviour.
I look for responses, and make requests, which are often ignored,
not necessarily by you personally.
In terms of the nature of the evidence here, people are free to edit their posts,
and they often do retroactively to cover up or soften mistakes, claims,
and exaggerations.
Unless one has an agenda of entrapment, its not worth the effort to
hunt down examples of any kind of past bad behaviour here.
You as a lawyer would be the first to point to the fact that evidence here
vanishes, and/or is often tampered with.
But you are in part cleverly diverting the discussion here, by continuing this tack.
I am glad to offer you any apology you wish, in any form you wish,
and acknowledge that my remarks were more hyperbolic than literally
intended. If my porcupine nature has soiled your reputation or esteem
in anyone's mind I retract all claims.
I've confronted the most pressing legal issues of the day here and often with the certain knowledge that doing so would invite a mostly negative response by people who would, without benefit of the education to qualify their opinion, launch into mostly errant and hostile objection.
Which is why I asked you, given the ease with which you set the charge, to sustain it with a number of examples.
I'm holding no charges against you.
In fact I don't doubt that in your own mind at least,
you have "
confronted the most pressing legal issues of the day here",
at risk of personal attacks.
But please don't expect your idea of "
the most pressing legal issues"
to be virtually identical with my idea of "
the most pressing legal issues".
I think its reasonable for you to admit that they will differ,
and so I will be disappointed when you and/or others don't
respond to issues that I think are "
the most pressing legal issues".
Don't fault me for that divergence.
What's the alternative? So don't act like you just did me a favor. You want to do both of us a favor, stop launching charges you can't sustain. It's bad enough I have to listen to this horsefeather anti lawyer business in general, but you want to get particular with me you need to stand behind your own words and actions.
I'm more than willing to stand behind mine.
I have to agree that I haven't really done you any favours,
other than my goodwill, agreement on key points here,
and my prayers for you and your family on many occasions.
I'm not really in the position to do you favours: such is life.
I doubt you will convince me not to essentially hate lawyers,
and all that they do, given both the plain statements of Holy Scripture,
and my own personal experience, which has been 100% negative,
and when I say negative, I mean significantly and damagingly negative,
in the most vile and evil manner.
In my view the majority of lawyers are evil criminals,
because in my personal clinical experience ALL the lawyers I have had to
deal with were evil criminals.
Also, much of the secondary evidence also points to the fact that
if all lawyers are not evil criminals, then certainly most of them are.
At my age, neither my personal experience nor additional data
is likely to significantly alter that opinion.
The fact that my opinion appears in harmony with Jesus the Christ
is merely a bonus.
Here's the problem, if I'm unfamiliar with the case then I'm not going to be familiar with the particulars, from his religion to the justification or lack of justification relating to the actions of others.
I vaguely recall something on it. Maybe here, maybe elsewhere about money transactions. Limitations and the triggers to catch people attempting to avoid transactions that would trigger reporting income....something like that. :idunno:
I'm actually encouraged that you are taking the case itself seriously,
at least enough to maybe check it out on a basic level.
Please understand that cases like Hovind's are absolutely convincing
to most ordinary Christians that all governments including the USA
are corrupt, evil, and under the control of Satan.
If you seriously wanted to make an impact on that view,
you would have to:
(1) Demonstrate that not all lawyers are vile crooks and homosexual pedophiles.
(2) Demonstrate that a good lawyer could actually make a difference
in a system which is obviously corrupt, apparently beyond repair.
Let me tell you, the way to attract that isn't by first telling me that you'd imprison most of my profession and then repeatedly say I'm avoiding something I haven't.
I understand your sentiment,
but I would point out that strictly speaking,
your goodwill and integrity should not be at all dependent upon
the supposed misunderstanding, ignorance, or bigotry of Christians like me.
I would be the first person to cheer you, support you, and assist you,
were you to take on cases like Hovind's and turn them around,
exposing them for what they are.
That would accomplish two things:
(1) I would believe that some lawyers were trustworthy and reliable.
(2) I would believe there might be some point in working within this corrupt system, rather than just shooting all lawyers and judges,
and starting again without that profession.