View Single Post
Old 04-30-2009, 10:21 AM   #1 (permalink)
KnifeMissile
 
KnifeMissile's Avatar
 
Location: Waterloo, Ontario
Does anyone believe in a literal Satan?

This is not a philosophical question. It's an honest question in response to this news article:
Quote:
Utah County Republicans reject 'Satanic' resolution

Utah County Republicans defeated a resolution opposing well-heeled groups that a delegate claims are pushing a satanic plan to encourage illegitimate births and illegal immigration.
Don Larsen, a Springville delegate, offered the resolution, titled "Resolution opposing the Hate America anti-Christian Open Borders cabal," warning delegates that an "invisible government" comprised of left-wing foundations was pumping money into the Democratic Party to push for looser immigration laws and anti-family legislation.
Larsen said Democrats get most of the votes cast by illegal immigrants and people in dysfunctional families.
But it's not the Democrats who are behind this strategy, Larsen said. It's the devil.
"Satan's ultimate goal is to destroy the family," Larsen said, "and these people are playing a leading part in it."
Larsen's resolution contained quotes from the New Testament on the battle between good and evil. The copy of the resolution handed to delegates stated it "fulfills scriptural prophecies about our times."
Larsen offered a similar resolution at the 2007 convention. That also was defeated by delegates.
David Rodeback, a delegate from American Fork, urged delegates to forcefully reject the resolution, as it would do the party more harm than good.
Rodeback said the religious language Larsen used would push people away from the GOP.
Joel Wright, a Cedar Hills delegate, agreed. He said George W. Bush was able to win the presidency because he had 40 percent of the Latino vote, while John McCain was defeated when he only got 28 percent of Latino ballots.
"We are not going to be the majority party if we keep pushing the Latinos out," Wright said.
But Cameron Sevy, a Provo delegate, said the GOP shouldn't be ashamed to say that America is a Christian nation.
Okay, so some religious fuckwit thinks that Satan is literally behind what he sees as "anti-family" legislation. There's nothing surprising about a religious idiot around every corner. What's more interesting than someone willing to publicly state this kind of religious nonsense in government is that the Republican reasons for rejecting it was... that it would hurt their public image. Specifically, they didn't want to alienate voters like immigrant citizens. Apparently, the idea of Satan pulling political strings against them was an otherwise reasonable statement and not something to be mocked or even simply dismissed.

I also get a little nervous when "end times" talk gets thrown about in government. I'd hate to see government make decisions on the assumption that there's no tomorrow...

I'm also a little curious to know how "illegal immigrants" are supposed to vote...

So, I'm interested to know what people think of this. Does anyone believe in a literal Satan? Does anyone believe that he actually does tangible things here on Earth? How do people feel about these things being bandied about in government? ...or about family legislation in general?

Finally, I've been told that it's clear in the New Testament that we cannot know the end times. Has anyone heard of this? Can anyone point out specific verses that support this idea?

Thank you...
KnifeMissile is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360