Will, I love Clicked, and spend way too much time following your links, but I miss Gael's Test Pattern blog, too.  Any idea on when she'll be back?  You know, summer is fast approaching, and I bet I am not the only person who has been looking forward to the annual summer best/worst commercial debates.

Believe what you want, but I don’t like Ms. Hamilton’s book title “God vs. The Gavel” when most of the laws we have come from the laws of God.  Like the fact that Jesus Christ, who I believe is God in the flesh, preached against plural marriages in Matt. 19:1-12. God never commanded or blessed plural marriages, but because of the sinful nature of men’s wicked hearts it became a practice. For that reason I believe the FLDS and the Muslims are cults not religions.  What they teach and practice is not Biblical.

Marriage should be within Biblical standards, but not forced upon two people—it is a free choice. Even Rebekah was given the choice to marry or not to marry a man she never even met in Gen.24:1-58. My husband and I married 3 weeks after our pastor introduced us to each other.  He did not force us to wed, but we knew the day we met that God had put us together for his purpose.  We had both prayed for God to show “us” the right person to marry.  We have been married for 17 years and counting…most marriages end before the first anniversary.  The Bible even teaches that if a person chooses to not marry it is better for them to be able to devote more time to the service of God, but it is better to marry if you have sexual desires. I think the Catholic church is a also a cult.  The Bible teaches that “the bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife,” in 1 Tim. 3:2.

The problem I have with government involvement in religious beliefs comes when I can not discipline my child by spanking.  I know some people think spanking is abuse.  It is only abuse when it is done in a manner as to degrade or inflict injury to emotionally and physically scar a child. Discipline should be done in love and not malice.  A child can only love and respect their parents if the parents love and respect the child. The Bible says, “the rod and reproof giveth wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother shame,” Prov.29:15. It also says “provoke not your children unto wrath,” Eph. 6:1-4.

Spanking should be a last resort to a child’s willful disobedience.  Discipline should fit the offense.  If a child writes on the wall, the child should be made to clean the wall.  If the child continues to write on the wall in a rebellious attitude, then a spanking is needed.  If a child playing baseball hits the ball into a window, that child should work to pay for the repair.  If a child goes smashing people’s windows with baseball bats, that child needs a spanking.  Actually, the last child is probably the result of not ever had a spanking in his life.  I ought to know—I am a teacher who knows a lot of children like the last one.  

The older a child gets, the spankings he should need should decrease.  I can’t even remember the last time I spanked my children, but they probably remember?  The last time I received a spanking from my own Dad was when I was in elementary school—I don’t remember what it was for, but probably disobedience.  My Mom gave me one good swat with a vacuum cord on my butt for my smart rebellious comment as a teen —I deserved it, but I never needed a spanking again. My parents put the fear in me—not of them, but that I might disappoint them by my shameful bad behavior.  

Some laws are ignorant. I have to confess that in 1992 it was illegal to breastfeed in public, but I am guilty of the act by ignorance(in a mall in Pensacola, FL).  If I would have been arrested, I would have pled that if it was good enough for Jesus to be breastfed in public it is good enough for me.  They probably didn't know because I chose to be discrete.  I was almost exposed once by an elderly woman who was concerned about my covering the head of my baby.  After that incidence, I bought clothes designed with hidden panels for discrete nursing access. Some laws are stupid and interfere with religious freedoms, but religious beliefs should not over rule the laws that protect children from real abuse.

Maria from Puerto Rico-
While I respect your right to believe as you wish, I find many of your views outdated and have no wish to live under the rules as you would see fit. No, most of our laws DO NOT come from God. They are basic protections of people and their belongings from other people. These kind of protections are found in every culture, no matter their religious belief. The US is built upon a secular government that allows everyone to worship as they see fit. If you allow your religion to take over the government, then what will you do in the future when your religion is outnumbered and some other religion wants to impose its views as the majority? Better to keep religion out of government.

Most marriages do NOT end after the first year. If  you willingly believe what are told without verifying the facts, you do yourself a disservice. (A quick check on the Internet turned up an average of 7 years before divorce.) Please do not spread misinformation, and in so doing hurt others (something about bearing false witness, I believe??).

What proof do you have that Jesus was breastfed in public? Have you done research on 1st century Jewish practices? I think breastfeeding in public should be allowed because it is natural, but your ignorance of the law is no excuse. If you don't like the law, elect lawmakers who will change it.

Bravo Cindy! I second your comment! I couldn't have said it better.  This isn't the first time Maria has made comments that have both been littered with incorrect facts and talk of laws based on religion.

Maria in Puerto Rico: I respect your beliefs, however surely you realize that marriage has been around much, much longer than Christianity.  As a matter of fact, I'm Native American, and I follow the spiritual beliefs that my people have for the last ten thousand plus years, and amazingly enough, we get married too!

My sister is a very devout Mormon, though she doesn't belong to one of the fundamentalist sects. The main LDS church doesn't sanction plural marriages, but wonder of wonders, they believe in marriage, too.

I feel very passionately that one does not have to be a Christian to have a good marriage.  In fact, marriage shouldn't be a right reserved just for heterosexuals, but should be granted to everyone, according to beliefs in basic human rights, regardless of a person's religion.

You do realize, don't you, that the bible was written by MEN, right?

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