But the difference in one who has taken too many drugs, seems to be that they cant remember, they cant stay on point no matter how much time is given to 'get it together and focus.' Whereas those who just sort of meander and forget, will remember and stay on point, if you ask them to slow down and focus.

There are small backwoods and mountain towns that seemed to be filled with many of my own generation who are walking-wounded in the former category, now that they are much older… and the long-term neural abuse meets aging brain, a double whammy.

there is distant thunder currently re meaures to partition off those (by their request) who will not want to uphold the some of the current and future laws of the land, for religious reasons. That may be an imperfect but workable idea, but it will also close off all government grants, and likely change tax exemptions for 501.c.3s as well. It wont be likely that the government will continue to subsidize. It may be a good example of how religion morphs and finds new emphases and lets go of others, right in our own time.

Smart salute from a military wife. DH USAF, 21 years (ret) now working for VA processing prostheses for old and ever so young Vets.

(Just watching the way language and meaning –in English– has changed in a mere 10-20-40-60 years during our time, tells a good deal, I htink, about how language morphs, drops old meanings, asigns new meanings, creates new words and especially new inferences and subtexts also.) Holding forth about “hell” seems to come 95% from the Old Testament (much of which was written 1200 years before Christ, and as late as 200 years before Christ.) By contrast, the new testament, if it still had some thin wisps of smoke left from the old testament teachings, is remarkably free of hell speeches and is in the uncontestable majority about healing, parables, love, mercy and peace.

for the ones that propose the supremacy of biblical authority based on your interpretation of scripture your arguments may hold some weight in your church but in larger evolving society, the “battle” is lost. . . in a few more years the majority will be part of the conscious evolution of equality and equanimity. . . . polls are showing young people have no problem accepting gays and lesbians. . . the day shall come when the “war campaign” against GLBT will seem as archaic as the pro- and antislavery arguments. . .

“Nothing in regard to controversial matters has ever been settled by the Bible.” William Lloyd Garrison

The word used was Gehenna. Gehenna was a region (a valley southeast of Jerusalem) where criminals were sent (apparently a really awful place BUT a temporal place none the less).
Jesus was not implying a never ending state of hell (hell eternal). He was speaking in metaphor and in a current time frame i.e. a punishment but one that has an end to it.
I don't think that Jesus had it in Him to even consider such a thing (hell eternal awful damnation burning ouchy screaming etc).
My two cents worth
Ghost

The “Same but different” idea doesn't work and it sets one group of people up to be outsiders.
An Aside:
As someone who served my country during Viet Nam and as a citizen of this country I find it reprehensible that other Americans would tell me that my civil rights as a gay woman don't count.
My comment to those Americans who want my rights tossed into the waste paper basket is this:
I was willing to go war for you and proved it by joining the USAF during Viet Nam and served as a Medic (the only job at that time in which a woman could be put onto a combat field)…I did this to support my country and my fellow countrypeople.
Now…
What have you done for me lately, eh?
Oh yes. You deny me my civil rights ongoing. No safety from job discrimination, housing discrimination, etc ad nauseum.
Gee ….Thank you so much my GOOD friend. (NOT!)

FYI – 38 states in our union have NO laws in place to protect gay people from job harassment, job discrimination or housing discrimination.
A mere handful of states allow gay people the “right” to marry (and it's interesting that those states that allow us to marry DO have laws to protect gay people from discrimination – hmmmm…seems the two might co-incide to some extent).

My two cents worth,
Ghost

It is a question of causing our future generations to inherit a new set of “norms”. We will decide today, what is normal tomorrow for the masses.. all via human social learning. Put religion out to pasture on this debate..

But if you look at it from another angle it makes perfect sense. If you have a strong belief in the negative impact of a certain behavior, like freestyle [no protection] rock climbing or cliff jumping, but you have dear friends who engage in it, you could simultaneously really love and care about your friends while at the same time campaign against those activities in the name of your strong beliefs against them

Yes. And if the “friends” you cared for who vehemently promoted these activities turned you away simply because you did not “fully promote and support their behavior” then what kind of friends would THEY be?

I like to turn things on their head and look at them from another angle..