PUBLIC OPINION > 'The New Normal' Is Not Harmful to Society
SodaHead TV
2012/07/24 21:00:00
One Million Moms has a bone to pick with NBC's newest sitcom, "The New Normal." The show depicts a single mother who agrees to be a surrogate parent for a gay couple, but OMM is calling it "harmful to our society" and "damaging to our culture." OMM has been known to take issue with things that promote homosexuality as "normal," such as a lesbian kiss found in an Urban Outfitters catalog earlier this year. But is "The New Normal" really harmful for society? We asked the public.
One Million Moms are not without their supporters, but "The New Normal" has them out-numbered. Nearly twice as many people agreed the show would not be damaging to our culture. But this particular poll was extremely divided across several different demographics, so before we get into the reasoning behind the results, let's break it down.
Hesitant Men
Some of the demographic responses were predictable, and to some extent we could expect male voters to be more resilient to the show. Typically, the male vote is more hesitant when it comes to promoting homosexuality. However, they were especially resistant to this one. They were more than twice as likely as women to think "The New Normal" is harmful to society.
Kids Don't Care
The age breakdown was a little bit more predictable, but even here the proportions were surprising. The difference between the oldest age group (65+) and the youngest age group (13-17) was more than 60%, and its support dropped off pretty consistently throughout. That seems to lend credibility to the show's title -- it is becoming more "normal."
Modern Families
One of the more interesting juxtapositions wasn't even within a single category. Given the age breakdown, it was obvious that single voters would respond to the show more positively than married voters; likewise, voters without kids responded more positively than parents. However, there was a notable difference between parents and married voters. Parents actually responded more positively to the TV show by about 12%.
If you'd like to vote on this question, dig deeper into the demographics, or engage in existing discussion about the topic, visit our poll about "The New Normal." We'd love to hear from you!
One Million Moms are not without their supporters, but "The New Normal" has them out-numbered. Nearly twice as many people agreed the show would not be damaging to our culture. But this particular poll was extremely divided across several different demographics, so before we get into the reasoning behind the results, let's break it down.
Hesitant Men
Some of the demographic responses were predictable, and to some extent we could expect male voters to be more resilient to the show. Typically, the male vote is more hesitant when it comes to promoting homosexuality. However, they were especially resistant to this one. They were more than twice as likely as women to think "The New Normal" is harmful to society.Kids Don't Care
The age breakdown was a little bit more predictable, but even here the proportions were surprising. The difference between the oldest age group (65+) and the youngest age group (13-17) was more than 60%, and its support dropped off pretty consistently throughout. That seems to lend credibility to the show's title -- it is becoming more "normal."Modern Families
One of the more interesting juxtapositions wasn't even within a single category. Given the age breakdown, it was obvious that single voters would respond to the show more positively than married voters; likewise, voters without kids responded more positively than parents. However, there was a notable difference between parents and married voters. Parents actually responded more positively to the TV show by about 12%.If you'd like to vote on this question, dig deeper into the demographics, or engage in existing discussion about the topic, visit our poll about "The New Normal." We'd love to hear from you!
"No, but two consensual adults doing something. No matter what, that's none of your concern." Every snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty....we're also not talking about just what goes on betwixt someones thighs....were talking about what is happening in broad daylight on national television (or did you forget the initial question here?)
"...none of your concern" wrong again! Proverbs 31:8 "Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy." Accountability is far less painful now (while you still have a chance to repent and return to God) than it will be when you no longer have that opportunity.
Grace to you, Glory to God!
Grace to you, Glory to God!
Grace to you, Glory to God!
How blessed will be the one who grabs your babies and smashes them on a rock!
Exodus 31:15
For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.
My two statements.
For all the back and forth between science and Christians even scientist use ALL the available information in their study of something, even the parts that contradict their hypotheses. I recommend that if you are going to attempt to blaspheme the Bible, at least do the courtesy of fairly representing everything, not just the convenient pieces that suit some backwards and overgeneralized concoction of what you think it should mean!
There are absolutely parts of the bible that we struggle with! There are absolutely things I don't understand, cannot explain or wish never happened...but ya know, God is bigger than my lack of understanding and he is bigger than the eisegetical humanistic limitations that disbelievers attempt to constrain him to. Were there shortcomings, mistakes, shortsightedness, woefully disobedient, self-righteous, prideful, lustful, wicked people in the bible? You bet there were, but tell me what other historical record in existence would be so bold as to show the bad and the good? In fact, ...
For all the back and forth between science and Christians even scientist use ALL the available information in their study of something, even the parts that contradict their hypotheses. I recommend that if you are going to attempt to blaspheme the Bible, at least do the courtesy of fairly representing everything, not just the convenient pieces that suit some backwards and overgeneralized concoction of what you think it should mean!
There are absolutely parts of the bible that we struggle with! There are absolutely things I don't understand, cannot explain or wish never happened...but ya know, God is bigger than my lack of understanding and he is bigger than the eisegetical humanistic limitations that disbelievers attempt to constrain him to. Were there shortcomings, mistakes, shortsightedness, woefully disobedient, self-righteous, prideful, lustful, wicked people in the bible? You bet there were, but tell me what other historical record in existence would be so bold as to show the bad and the good? In fact, most cultures go out of their way to hide the bad...the Romans even had a term for it! Of anything, it shows that we are not Christian enough...but here's the twist, we already know that! In fact, we pray daily because of this, because we know that we fall short, because we know that we are not Christlike enough.
A true biblical student will study the scriptures exegetically, a far cry from what you represented here...but everything that occurred in the Old Testament (to be viewed in context and appropriately), must be viewed through the lens of Jesus. Because it occurred in the Old Testament does not mean that's how Christians believe and if you understood an ounce of the socio-political and faith realities of Ancient Israel you would as well know that God punished the Israelites as severely as he did the Assyrians.
Grace to you, Glory to God!
" Billions of people went to hell before yahweh was thought up", really....so outside of some Zeitgeist excerpt, tell me who "thought up" God....tell me please who mastered the act of being able to go back into history and plant world (and scientific no less!) accepted and renowned archaeological, anthropological, astronomical and geological evidence that was in scripture hundreds if not thousands of years before hand!....to take it one step further, if you possibly concede that hell is real then ignoring the necessity, design, eternity and domain of it must also lead (if you are indeed applying logic) you to the unequivocal reality that it is the largest existing proof of God!
Grace to you, Glory to God!
Ezekiel 29:17-20
Zechariah 2:7-9
Daniel 2:37
Ezekiel 12:1-28
Isaiah 48:14
The fact is, Babylon was favored by God...King Neb. was handed lands to loot and plunder to pay their armies (Tyre), but the King was blinded and prideful and eventually turned his heart away from God....THIS is what demanded the destruction of Babylon!
You also forget (conveniently) that God served the same level of destruction to Jericho, the Assyrians and to even Israel! You can't begin to make claims of morality when you have none to begin with!
Grace to you, Glory to God!
" I have tons of morality" Ok, I can address this claim: by what moral authority does your morality come?
"Finally, and this is the last question, give me a reason why I should trust in any of what the bible has to say ANYWAY?"
You're asking the wrong question, the correct question is why should you not?
Epithet laden labels, that's moral too I suppose, as is stealing quotes from websites without recording so much as a source (we call that plagiarizm)....that's moral to you as well....I see. commonsenseatheism.com perhaps?
"you, my friend, are ignorant" Ah, so, because I don't concede to your twisted perception of reality, I'm ignorant....well, as it happens friend, I'm more wise on your potential arguments than you are on scripture.
So, if your claim, which it essentially is, is that you are your own moral authority, that means two things...for one, that violates natural law as it has been well documented and well observed that creations in nature (as well as people) adhere to the same observable natural law the world over in every culture, in every setting...at the least means you think unrealistically high of yourself and at the most makes you a liar and a thief (much the same as plagiarizm), as you did not author the morals by which you live! But I suppose that pride is one of your moral values as well.
Your morals and values were taught to you by someone or some source (meaning you truly have no claim against the world) and se...
Epithet laden labels, that's moral too I suppose, as is stealing quotes from websites without recording so much as a source (we call that plagiarizm)....that's moral to you as well....I see. commonsenseatheism.com perhaps?
"you, my friend, are ignorant" Ah, so, because I don't concede to your twisted perception of reality, I'm ignorant....well, as it happens friend, I'm more wise on your potential arguments than you are on scripture.
So, if your claim, which it essentially is, is that you are your own moral authority, that means two things...for one, that violates natural law as it has been well documented and well observed that creations in nature (as well as people) adhere to the same observable natural law the world over in every culture, in every setting...at the least means you think unrealistically high of yourself and at the most makes you a liar and a thief (much the same as plagiarizm), as you did not author the morals by which you live! But I suppose that pride is one of your moral values as well.
Your morals and values were taught to you by someone or some source (meaning you truly have no claim against the world) and second, as you have claimed (essentially) that God resides outside of your moral authority, how can you possibly make any grievances against him?
The fact is this simple, the greatest possible arguments you can make against God in fact, become the greatest examples in proof OF God.
Grace to you, Glory to God!
"there is no proof he exists. I have yet to see how any of this proves your god, who, again, is one of the newer gods."
Yet another follower of Zeitgeist, you did realize that all of the arguments and claims you are making are merely recycled and rehashed arguments and claims that have been and will continue to be made hundreds of thousands of times? "there is no proof he exists." There is plenty of proof if you are know where and how to look, somehow I'm skeptical you care.
It's like this...you have the ability to reason, yet you did not create it...you have the ability to love, yet you did not create it...you have the ability to feel compassion, yet you did not create it...last of all, you exist....who created you?
Grace to you, Glory to God!
"Wow, that sounds pretty backwards to me." Not nearly as backwards as cherry picking scripture to make vast over-generalizations without any context and then spewing about regurgitated eisegetical doubts. The real question is why do you doubt to begin with?
Do you even know?
Grace to you, Glory to God!
Grace to you, Glory to God!
God is knowledge [infinite knowledge at that!], he has given us his words, a piece of his wisdom, the only way to salvation and eternal home in heaven with him, a path away from sin and the limitations/false gods/destruction/pain/sorrow/... of this world. God has granted us the only way to heaven: Jesus! To say that it's not something to know is deadly and to perpetuate that message publicly is nothing less than libel and tyranny against God!
It's also a lie that Satan has worked hard to convince you of. Live for now, don't worry about the future, live in the moment, who cares about eternity.....from the pits of hell that lie will cost you an eternal home in heaven, as will it to everyone whom falls for it.
Indeed there are many things to know, what is...
God is knowledge [infinite knowledge at that!], he has given us his words, a piece of his wisdom, the only way to salvation and eternal home in heaven with him, a path away from sin and the limitations/false gods/destruction/pain/sorrow/... of this world. God has granted us the only way to heaven: Jesus! To say that it's not something to know is deadly and to perpetuate that message publicly is nothing less than libel and tyranny against God!
It's also a lie that Satan has worked hard to convince you of. Live for now, don't worry about the future, live in the moment, who cares about eternity.....from the pits of hell that lie will cost you an eternal home in heaven, as will it to everyone whom falls for it.
Indeed there are many things to know, what is right is precisely and only what God has told us is right, as confirmed by Jesus....for everyone! You may not want to agree to that, you may not want to believe that and God has even given you the ability to choose not to....but it doesn't make your choice to deny God any less severe and it doesn't invalidate the Providence of God's grace and knowledge shared with us.
Grace to you, Glory to God!
PLEASE don't ever forget what Jesus says in John 14:6, :Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Or Isaiah 64:6 "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
Grace to you, Glory to God!
"The only proof you have for any of this is the bible, which isn't proof." Oh how sad.....that you actually believe that statement that is. Logic is not the friend of atheists my friend. Every argument against factual evidence that has ever been brought formally against the Bible (typically scientists or other field professionals) where someone has gone out into "the field" has converted ardent disbelievers into equally ardent believers....why? Because the evidence they always find confirms the Bible. In fact, to date, there have been well over 6k examples from archeology to astronomy, geology and even anthropological finds that confirm date,s people, places, events and a whole host of other facts either recorded or prophecised (hundreds if not thousands of years before hand and well before technology existed that could have even made these prophecies possible).
You raise unwarranted suspicion and doubt, I wonder where that doubt arouse from! I do not accept that you read the Bible and certainly don't accept that for some unforeseen reason just couldn't possibly accept anything in it because you didn't agree with something within it. That's hardly rea...
"The only proof you have for any of this is the bible, which isn't proof." Oh how sad.....that you actually believe that statement that is. Logic is not the friend of atheists my friend. Every argument against factual evidence that has ever been brought formally against the Bible (typically scientists or other field professionals) where someone has gone out into "the field" has converted ardent disbelievers into equally ardent believers....why? Because the evidence they always find confirms the Bible. In fact, to date, there have been well over 6k examples from archeology to astronomy, geology and even anthropological finds that confirm date,s people, places, events and a whole host of other facts either recorded or prophecised (hundreds if not thousands of years before hand and well before technology existed that could have even made these prophecies possible).
You raise unwarranted suspicion and doubt, I wonder where that doubt arouse from! I do not accept that you read the Bible and certainly don't accept that for some unforeseen reason just couldn't possibly accept anything in it because you didn't agree with something within it. That's hardly reading or comprehending the Bible and it's entirely attempting to fit it within your limited perspective and understanding of how all of existence should work....who are you to judge the Bible when you have admittedly no standard or gauge by which to judge it?
"I do care about eternity, but not my eternity" Well, if you didn't believe in God you also wouldn't believe in eternity which is complete contradiction of your assessment that neither God or the Bible can be real or true. As for it being selfish, you have no morals to stand on in the first place so you have no base to proclaim what is selfish and what is not...how can having concern for your eternal existence (because you will have one) be selfish while simultaneously denying God and no question solidifying the doubt in others...that is absolutely cause for concern!
"you have no actual evidence " Actually, your wrong....as previously mentioned there are actually thousands of artifacts, people, places, natural world examples, astronomical data, objects, writings, para-cultural accounts and a litany of paras-scriptural resource that confirm in great detail as evidence to the Bible. Your unwillingness to research, let alone acknowledge, any of these means to me that you've made up your mind about that Bible and that's all there is to it....you doubt and have no real concern about how factual your assessment is and that's the end of the story, because you've made up your mind.
"What's that quote, it's like the worlds oldest game of telephone" That's laughable, you obviously neither possess the ability or interest to read Greek, Hebrew or Latin. You've obviously never heard of concordances or commentaries have you? The English translation today is as true as the original recorded papyri or letters, either literal word for word or thought for though translation...but you don't care about any of the work people have done on the topic so why should it matter to you right?
"It's been reworked and changed and edited and changed and..." Really, please tell me precisely what has been edited and changed because as far as the Greek and Hebrew that I'm aware of it's as accurate today (and says the same things today) as it did back then. In fact, the only game of "telephone" going on is this precise baseless argument that people who neither have the knowledge, understanding or interest to verify for themselves perpetuate....as the old Reagan saying goes "Trust but verify"....I would recommend you verify arguments people provide or share with you and not just blindly re-use them because they appear to confirm what you want to believe is true (or not).
JK has absolutely nothing to do with the Bible, the Bible actually has evidence (in possession at that), JK's works are purely fictional and marketed as such...hardly a fair or realistic comparison. Let me ask this question, can you prove your biological mother is in fact your biological mother?
Grace to you, Glory to God!
"What is wrong to me is what hurts others", yeah, that's called sin and rejection of God....and it does hurt everyone....we're all sinners and we all need the forgiveness that only Christ can provide us!
Assuming you actually respond (truly, I hope you do!), I look forward to reading your response, sincerely!
Grace to you, Glory to God!
All "guilt" is forgivable, as we are all guilty of sin! Romans 3:23 tells us "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" and in John 14:6, Jesus reminds us exactly of who he is, who we are and what we must do. "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
All sin, no matter how great we perceive our transgressions, are forgivable by the blood of Jesus..the best part of it all is that he's already done all the work, we need only accept his sacrifice in earnest, believe in our heart and confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord and we are saved. It's about establishing a relationship with Jesus and about what is in our heart.
Grace to you, Glory to God!
Atonement can only come through Christ, Christ died for your sins, for my sins and for every person's sins who have ever or will ever live...it is this act alone that makes atonement possible.
A great resource on this that will help you is here: http://carm.org/christianity/...
Grace to you, Glory to God!
"and make up stories" Interesting word choice, I still want to know how it's possible that sheep and goat farmers managed to make prophecies about events that came hundreds if not thousands of years after them, who had no technology, understanding of the universe and were not "educated"? I also would love to learn how the ancients made historic artifacts appear hundreds of years before their births or how the Bible accurately told of the destruction of Samaria, Ancient Israel, Assyria whose remains remained un-found until the 1500's (archeologist at the time didn't even know what they were looking at!).
See, the problem with your logic is that in fact over 6k artifacts, archeological finds, geological studies, astronomical observations, people, places, leaders, para-cultural references, etc have been found and well documented that corroborate details in the Bible. In fact, the claims that reject Biblical authority require far more of an imagination than ever required to accept it as truth.
"make up stories so that they can stop questioning things", P...
"and make up stories" Interesting word choice, I still want to know how it's possible that sheep and goat farmers managed to make prophecies about events that came hundreds if not thousands of years after them, who had no technology, understanding of the universe and were not "educated"? I also would love to learn how the ancients made historic artifacts appear hundreds of years before their births or how the Bible accurately told of the destruction of Samaria, Ancient Israel, Assyria whose remains remained un-found until the 1500's (archeologist at the time didn't even know what they were looking at!).
See, the problem with your logic is that in fact over 6k artifacts, archeological finds, geological studies, astronomical observations, people, places, leaders, para-cultural references, etc have been found and well documented that corroborate details in the Bible. In fact, the claims that reject Biblical authority require far more of an imagination than ever required to accept it as truth.
"make up stories so that they can stop questioning things", PLEASE! I've asked more questions since I've studied Christian Apologetics then I have ever asked beforehand and for every question I ask or review the evidence only increases for the support of scripture. You eventually realize that you only need to accept scripture in the first place and save yourself a whole lot of time. Also, to stop questioning? Like you've stopped questioning and blindly follow those whom take cheap shots at the Bible? Ever think perhaps their "research" is inaccurate or flawed, perhaps the least bit biased? Or do you just accept information that seems to corroborate your presuppositions say no more.
Even Big Science doesn't rely exclusively on its presuppositions!
Grace to you, Glory to God!
"how is someone born in the wild, who never happens upon a bible, going to draw the conclusion that there was a Jesus and he WAS the 'son' of God." God ALWAYS reveals himself to those who seek him, even those born "in the wild" demonstrate an unquestionable need to know God (this has been documented by hundreds of sociologists, archaeologists, missionaries and a litany of others who have gone to do mission work. God uses his people, those who are saved, to bring the word to those who are lost....even in the most desolate and inaccessibly remote parts of the world.
"Nature is the Bible", sorry...wrong again, although interesting you should mention that because there are hundreds of thousands of natural pieces of evidence that correlate perfectly with Biblical chronology, geology and archaeology. ...
"how is someone born in the wild, who never happens upon a bible, going to draw the conclusion that there was a Jesus and he WAS the 'son' of God." God ALWAYS reveals himself to those who seek him, even those born "in the wild" demonstrate an unquestionable need to know God (this has been documented by hundreds of sociologists, archaeologists, missionaries and a litany of others who have gone to do mission work. God uses his people, those who are saved, to bring the word to those who are lost....even in the most desolate and inaccessibly remote parts of the world.
"Nature is the Bible", sorry...wrong again, although interesting you should mention that because there are hundreds of thousands of natural pieces of evidence that correlate perfectly with Biblical chronology, geology and archaeology. In fact, the natural world is indeed one of the most beautiful sign posts for God's handy work...ever!
Even nature abides by laws which are observable and have been well documented, laws which come from the same source as the creation of man....we know this source from the Bible to be God.
"But dont' bother replying, I know we will not see eye to eye." So, you mean to say that you only ever like to receive responses from those whom blindly agree with you?
Grace to you, Glory to God!