So at 65 I have a little more than 6000 days left, and seven disappeared last week.

Birdman, You need to look at the totality of what Jesus said. Over and over he preached mercy, forgiveness, love, developing a gentle spirit, being a peacemaker, turning the other cheek. Selecting snippets of scripture to suit your beliefs is a way of avoiding Jesus' instructions on how to live.

Jesus told us to be peacemakers, to turn the other cheek and to love and care for even those who do harm. The members of the early church took those precepts to mean to avoid harming another person in any circumstances. They believed it was spiritually better to die than to kill another person. The early Christians were very courageous in following Jesus precepts. I have found very few modern Christians who are that courageous. Most modern Christians deny Jesus' precepts.

In answer to Midfielder2's question about where I was getting my information about the almost complete pacifism of the early church I wrote The authoritative source on early Christian pacifism is "It is not Lawful for me to Fight" by Jean-Michel Hornus, a careful, scholarly, documented history of pacifism in the early church. The Church was mostly pacifist until the fall of Rome when Augustine created the Just War doctrine in part to get Christians to fight the invaders. Christians were being blamed for the fall of Rome because they refused to fight the invaders.

The authoritative source on early Christian pacifism is "It is not Lawful for me to Fight" by Jean-Michel Hornus, a careful, scholarly, documented history of pacifism in the early church. The Church was mostly pacifist until the fall of Rome when Augustine created the Just War doctrine in part to get Christians to fight the invaders. Christians were being blamed for the fall of Rome because they refused to fight the invaders.

Doug, It appears to me that you are projecting your own inner fear on the early Christians. They were not fearful types.

What I said was that the early Christians for over 300 years held Jesus instructions to be peacemakers and turn the other cheek so dear that they considered it better to die themselves than harm another. They took Jesus' instruction to Peter to put down your sword as an instruction to end war. Some early Christians were martyred for refusing to fight when forced into the Roman army. These are historical facts.

Doug misrepresents Jesus over and over. Following Jesus' instructions, the early church was completely pacifist for 300 years. No soldier could become a Christian, and if a Christian became a soldier, he was asked to leave the church. The culture of life was so strong that it was considered better to die yourself than to harm another. Jesus warning about carrying a sword was given in the context of his prophecy of the Roman invasion and destruction of Jerusalem that happened 40 years later.

Social Security and Medicare are not entitlements; they are insurance policies. I (and most Americans) pay almost 16% of my income for Social Security. Mitt Romney and others with over a million dollars income pay less than 2%. If we made Social Security insurance a flat tax on all income, the fund would be abundant and we would never have to think about SS again. Single payer health insurance is the fiscally conservative choice. We would save trillions over ten years, but the big money in medicine votes against the interest of the American public.

Jesus taught care of the poor and oppressed, ending war, and broad tolerance for the beliefs and lifestyles of others. He didn't say a word about abortion or gay marriage. Michael Brown is just trying the old trick of driving a wedge between Jesus' real teachings and black voters for political gain. Jesus overturned the tables of the social conservatives of his day and reserved some of his harshest language for them.