BonosSaint
Rock n' Roll Doggie
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2004
- Messages
- 3,566
Just an intellectual exercise. Make a good argument for a position opposite one you hold and, if you dare, one you hold dear.
Angela Harlem said:OK, I support the death penalty because I do not believe that the guilty should be allowed to live. I believe that there is nothing at all wrong about issuing an elected official the authority and power to remove our right to life. I believe elected officials are capable of using their discretion as I after all had the confidence to vote them in, so I extend that confidence even further to life and death decision making. I am comfortable with this entirely. My trust in the men of my government is strong enough to allow me to be comfortable with this. I am therefore confident with whom they elect for the bench of our high court, to likewise engage in such decision making.
I also support the courts serving the needs of victims, and doing so on a personal level with those who come before it. I see the courts role as one of meting out justice - and that is primarily for the victim of crime. I don't see the death penalty as vengeance, but instead equality among offense and punishment.
I do believe, despite objection, that it deters further crime. I also disagree that a life term is any kind of suitable punishment. Inmates are notoriously well looked after with such luxuries as televisions and toasters. I think this fails it's claimed initial purpose as removing freedoms, and instead it removes freedoms but makes it a nice holiday because they have books and education. I am not interested in the primary goal of prison which is to remove freedoms, and that a toaster oven makes little difference to the every day life of a convicted person. I see imprisonment as nothing to do with a penalty at all, despite the endless supply of data that suggest otherwise.
I believe that God/Jesus supports an eye for an eye, and I endeavour to use this to shape my view on the death penalty. I am absolutely not afraid of the concept of a religious ruling state.
AchtungBono said:
I agree 100%.
AchtungBono said:I am TOTALLY against so-called "mercy killings" which is just another word for cold-blooded murder.
Only G-d has the right to decide who lives and who dies, not the doctors.
The horrific murder of Terry Schiavo really drove the point home for me - a living breathing human being slowly starved to death at the whim of her monster of a husband....or ex-husband as the case may be seeing as he was already shacked up with someone else.
There are advances in medical science all the time and I believe that people should NEVER give up hope for recovery. I've heard stories about people waking up after YEARS in a coma - what would have happened if those people had been killed by their families?
You may ask why I'm against "mercy killings" yet I support the death penalty.....well one doesn't contradict the other. I don't equate John Couey with Terry Schiavo. John Couey raped a 9 year old girl and then buried her alive....THAT to me deserves the death penalty (which is actually too GOOD for that scum), Terry Schiavo's only "crime" was being in a coma - she didn't deserve to die for that.
AchtungBono said:IThe horrific murder of Terry Schiavo really drove the point home for me - a living breathing human being slowly starved to death at the whim of her monster of a husband....or ex-husband as the case may be seeing as he was already shacked up with someone else.
There are advances in medical science all the time and I believe that people should NEVER give up hope for recovery. I've heard stories about people waking up after YEARS in a coma - what would have happened if those people had been killed by their families?
phillyfan26 said:Devil's Advocate on ... Homosexual Rights
Why should homosexuals have the same rights as heterosexuals? Marriage has never been between anything else other than a man and a woman. Why should that change now?
I mean, after all, homosexuality is wrong. It says so in the Bible. The government shouldn't allow it at all. Forget the fact that the Bible has to do with religion: it's allowing sin.
Homosexuals don't deserve the same rights as I do as a heterosexual. I mean, after all, I can produce children. I continue evolution. What do homosexuals do? Just fool around with each other. And they should get rights?
And forget about letting them adopt children. They'll just feminize them. I mean, the only reason kids become gay is because of parental upbringing. Weak fathers. And lust for other men. They'd just pass on their homosexuality.
I always hear about how it's not a choice. But if it really isn't (though this is disputed cause one doctor said something about how they're not certain), they should just ignore their feelings and be a real human.
They don't even want to get married really. I mean, read the Conservapedia article on same-sex marriage. The one expert says that they just want to trample on marriage and its sanctity. I mean, it's true, you know? Heterosexual marriage has sanctity, cause we can have kids. Homosexuals can't. They just lust. They sin. And they don't deserve rights.
INDY500 said:Hater! Homophobe!
(oh yeah, this is a lot easier)
BonosSaint said:2nd is preferable. But the first will suffice. The challenge is to articulate it as convincingly as possible. The way you would argue it if you believed it, not necessarily the way they would argue it.
INDY500 said:
Hater! Homophobe!
(oh yeah, this is a lot easier)
phillyfan26 said:
BonosSaint said:Just an intellectual exercise. Make a good argument for a position opposite one you hold and, if you dare, one you hold dear.
melon said:Roll your eyes all you want, but it only strengthens my resolve. Tell me I'm right, and I'm happy, because it means that I have spread the truth to a believer. Tell me I'm wrong, and I'm happy, because it means that I have stood resolutely against the legions of hell before me.
There are two ways in this world: the right way and the wrong way. As a born-again Christian, I know for certain that I am "the right way," so if someone disagrees with me, then it just shows further evidence of Satan's strength in this fallen world.
You are either with me or against me. There is nothing in between.
phillyfan26 said:That's very good.
CTU2fan said:Geez melon is better at conservatism than the neo-cons are. Bravo (sort of)
melon said:
Come on, guys, it came from "The New Republic"! It's like quoting from God Himself.
I mean, as a born-again heterosexual, alcoholic, drug addicted divorced father of three children, I have a vested and personal interest to stop homosexuals from getting married. Because if I can't blame the gays, who can I blame for all my problems then?