Should prostitution be legal?

[green 6]

So I guess missionary is out as a vocation for Pattygreen....?

[BethFromVA 5]

p.s. Does that sound a bit superior?

No, but it very well could have some truth to it.

[pattygreen 5]

Beth, When I commented on Jesus saying we should not be ashamed of Him or he will be ashamed of us, you immediately assumed I was talking about you. I was not. I was talking about Me. I am not ashamed to speak of Him. So , you see how people can make a judgement without fully understanding what the other person meant?

Show me where I berated someone and smashed them in the mouth with God's words!

And just for the record, I'm not trying to reach anyone here. The question was asked 'should prostitution be legalized?' I answered it and gave my reasons for why I feel it shouldn't.

It's just so amazing how people get so angry when you tell them I believe this or that because I believe in a creator and He has the last word on the subject in my opinion. They feel like you're speaking right to them and offending them personally.

[pattygreen 5]

green, you say that I have a judgemental style. Show me a quote where I judged someone. Show me a quote where I smacked you with my bible. When did I say no mercy should be shown to those who sin. I said no law should be made to legalize any sin. (prostitution in this case)

[Donna113 2]

PG, in most of your posts, on this thread as well as others, I have not read an opinion from you. You've been prostelizing. I don't find it offensive when someone prostelizes but you do it in a way that reminds me of the Southern Baptist preachers from the South who scream and yell with spittle flying out of their mouths. What they are usually yelilng while pointing out at the parishoners is "You are sinners on your way to hell!"

FYI, I grew up a very devout Catholic, converted to the Episcopal church in my early 20s and then joined a nondenominational church in my late 20s through my early 30s. I've read the Bible cover to cover and then reread it again 2 more times. I've also read the Catechism from cover to cover. I've studied Buddhism, Paganism, Wicca and am currently studying Islam. Somewhere in my mid 30s I realized that all living things are comprised of divinity.

Most religions today can trace back their beliefs back to Pagan practices.

Most religious texts, including the Bible, were written by men claiming to have been directed/guided by God. If a new religion popped up today and its leader wrote a religious text based on directives received from God, we would assume at best, he was schizophrenic or at worst, a con artist with ulterior motives.

[Kat817 19]

My Dad is one of the most religious as well as spiritual people I know. He has read the Bible many a time, and continues to do so. At this point he is listening to it again! He walks 5-6 miles a day --- he is 75, does it for heart health---and he is again listening to the Bible on CD. He is a Methodist, and they recently, in the last couple of years, have their first female preacher. I thought with his age and all he might have an issue with that. It has actually been quite the opposite. He said that like we all know men and women view things differently, and seem to be hard wired with different views of things, and that she brings a different light to the bible, focusing as much on the emotion that caused such and such to happen as the situation causing it to happen. He said it has opened new ideas to him.

He teaches Sunday School, and has Bible Study class in his home each Thursday night in small study groups, and he has said more than one time, that they will pick a passage and read it, and if 5 people are in attendance, all 5 will get something different from the passage, and all 5 might feel it reflects upon their life in different ways. None of them any more right that the other. And if they lived another week and read it again, they may take something totally different from it, based upon what has happened in the last week.

Questioning whether there is a God and how he would want us to be, is belief in and of itself I feel.

My Dad, does not live each moment based upon what the Bible quotes God as having said. What he does do is live or strive to live each moment in a way that would be pleasing to God, and to do as he or Jesus would have done.

Would he want prostitution legalized? I can without doubt say no he would not. But I also know he would not treat that prostitute he might pass in the grocery store any differently than he would the woman checking him through the cashiers line. He would treat them all with respect. If he were able he might invite the woman to worship with them on Sunday....he would not embarrass her or himself by standing in the aisle at Safeway and trying to make her see the error of her ways, it is not up to him whether her ways are right or wrong.

Tolerance of others----- color, religion, weight, beliefs, even sexual preference is what we should strive for....not judge them ourselves on what we believe or interpret anothers word to say.

I believe we will all someday face a bigger judge than any who post here on LBT---and will live my life in accordance and expectance of that, not worry whether my beliefs or interpretation of the Bible or other religious text agrees with anyone here.

That does not make me any better nor any worse than anyone else....

Kat

[pattygreen 5]

Donna, I am not trying to get you to believe what I believe. You may believe in a fairy for all I care. I was simply telling my reasons for why I believe prostitution should not be legalized. If you feel it is ok to sell your body for money and make a living doing it, if you feel that taking a chance at getting a serious venerial disease is a risk you're willing to take, if you feel that your john or pimp abusing you is worth keeping the job, if you think it's ok to practice these acts in neighborhoods that may not want it around them, if you feel that sex outside of marriage is good, even if if you simply feel it's a fun thing to do. Then do it. Or make it legal for others to do it. But in my opinion, I believe the way Jesus believes. In the bible (which are his words) he says NO. It is wrong. It is a sin.

Now tell me, How is that condeming, judgemental and smashing the bible in your face???!!!

[Donna113 2]

*sigh* sometimes one must simply walk away.

[BethFromVA 5]

Beth, When I commented on Jesus saying we should not be ashamed of Him or he will be ashamed of us, you immediately assumed I was talking about you. I was not. I was talking about Me. I am not ashamed to speak of Him. So , you see how people can make a judgement without fully understanding what the other person meant?

Show me where I berated someone and smashed them in the mouth with God's words!

And just for the record, I'm not trying to reach anyone here. The question was asked 'should prostitution be legalized?' I answered it and gave my reasons for why I feel it shouldn't.

It's just so amazing how people get so angry when you tell them I believe this or that because I believe in a creator and He has the last word on the subject in my opinion. They feel like you're speaking right to them and offending them personally.

There are none so blind as those who will not see.

Every post you have made on this subject IS bashing people in the face. You say you are not trying to reach people here, but yet you sure do PREACH to them as if you are trying to do something. I was not one to go so far as to say you were being all superior, but maybe you were -- especially if you weren't trying to reach anybody.

The only thing I really agree with you on is that GOD has the last word on all of this -- NOT you. It's for Him to sort out. I believe my God is a big enough God to fight His own battles. He certainly doesn't need behaviors like you exhibit to run people off from Christianity.

So... since your argument was "only" about whether prostitution should be legalized, you have given your opinion. Everybody knows where you stand. Guess there's nothing left to argue then, is there? :laugh:

[BethFromVA 5]

My Dad, does not live each moment based upon what the Bible quotes God as having said. What he does do is live or strive to live each moment in a way that would be pleasing to God, and to do as he or Jesus would have done.

Would he want prostitution legalized? I can without doubt say no he would not. But I also know he would not treat that prostitute he might pass in the grocery store any differently than he would the woman checking him through the cashiers line. He would treat them all with respect. If he were able he might invite the woman to worship with them on Sunday....he would not embarrass her or himself by standing in the aisle at Safeway and trying to make her see the error of her ways, it is not up to him whether her ways are right or wrong.

AWESOME! That's the point. We can dislike the sin but not condemn people. Where they are with God is between THEM AND GOD. That is what I personally believe it means that we are to not judge others. We can internally judge what they do to be wrong and something we would not want to do, but it is not for US to stand on our superior soap box and be Pharisees for all the world to see. It's just as sinful as what the prostitute is doing, imo.

[BethFromVA 5]

*sigh* sometimes one must simply walk away.

Apparently so. :laugh:

[LilMissDiva Irene 3,281]

I think all thought provoking subjects should be outlawed.

[BethFromVA 5]

I think all thought provoking subjects should be outlawed.

Hehehe, will probably come to that. :laugh:

[green 6]

Gloucester, You asked me 'how do you know what God would do?' I answer you with ' Everyone can know what God would do in any situation because He gave us HIS own words in the bible. It's up to every man he created to read it for themself. If you never read it, then you'll never know what God would say or do in a situation such as legalizing prostitution. Also, I don't understand why you needed to make fun of my opinions. I am not trying to judge anyone. God will do the judging, you are right about that. And you're also right about gluttony being a sin. (of which I am the biggest sinner in that area)

for green and jodi. I don't favor judgement and punishment in my approach to man's behaviors. I was merely stating the facts concerning why prostitution should not be legalized. There are consequences to every action in this life. wether good or bad actions. prostitution is a sin and therefore it is wrong and should not be legalized. period.

Well, Pattygreen, take this post for example. What I would have done, had I been you, is merely point out that according to the Bible, which you happen to believe is the final word, prostitution is wrong. And then I would cite the relevant passages in order that others might see this material, too. It is important, I believe, that folks read this material for themselves. As you have pointed out in one of your posts, once you read the Bible you chose to leave the Catholic church; its teachings no longer made sense to you. It is possible that other readers may have different interpretations of the relevant passages in the Bible concerning prostitution. In general, showing folks is an important tool in instruction. Statements which are not backed up do alienate adults. We are fond of thinking for ourselves.

And, as has been noted before, your comments concerning this issue do not take into account that prostitutes are fellow human beings and that their Sin, as you would have it, may have complex roots and cannot exist in a vaccuum. It takes two people to make a prostitute. I guess what some of us might find frustrating is your harshness and your lack of finesse. I don't believe that God wishes us to be unkind to each other even though this is both easy and fun. It is easy and cheap for both you and I and, I suspect, for most people here to judge prostitutes; practically speaking, it is not one of our temptations. Why not substitute the term "fatso" for prostitute, eh? Afterall, glutttony is a Sin, too.....

[green 6]

I think all thought provoking subjects should be outlawed.

Nope, theys the mos fun, eh.