USA: Sodom and Gomorrah repeat ? - Southern California ‘like a war zone’ as raging wildfires grow

California: A repeat of Sodom and Gomorrah?

Wildfires continued to ravage Southern California for a fifth day Friday, with growing blazes and new fires sending rivers of flames through communities and injuring several people.

The largest of the fires spread across more than 200 square miles by Friday morning and crept toward the college town of Santa Barbara, while a new blaze in San Diego County grew quickly and dangerously, forcing a new round of evacuations.

These dangers came as firefighters confronted a half-dozen blazes across the region, fires that imperiled communities and homes, burned through streets and roared over mountains, forcing many to flee and leaving them with no idea when they could return home or if they would have anything to return to. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed and thousands more remained in danger, officials said.

The San Diego County blaze, dubbed the Lilac Fire, started Thursday morning and grew to more than 4,000 acres by that night. Ron Lane, the county’s deputy chief administrative officer, said it had never experienced December winds like these before.

The Lilac blaze destroyed at least 20 buildings, and three people suffered burns, according to county officials. Another person was injured by smoke inhalation, while two firefighters combating the blaze were injured. Authorities ordered a wave of evacuations and said more could follow.

Note by EU-Digest:  The fires in California, tropical storms, floods and other calamities, including political chaos.

The US must feel like it had more than its share of bad news, as this year comes to a close. It does raise the question, at least with some, as to why this is happening?  For people who are familiar with the Holy Bible - Genesis 19, it seems there are now many similarities and parallels between America and the ancient city of Sodom. 

Indeed it is interesting to note that all the things that in the past would be cause for great shame, embarrassment and personal humiliation in a morally healthy society, are now done with no sense of shame or embarrassment in today's society.  

Personal morality is of fundamental importance to a society. A building is only as good as the material it is built with.The people of a society are the fundamental building blocks of a society.
All of the institutions of a society are composed of people. 

Institutions are structures consisting of people. \\

The institutions are only as good as the people who make them up. Government from the national level down to the local level, the legal system, the school system, the health system, the police system, the military. Corporate and personal businesses.

People have become acclimated to a climate of wickedness and depravity. They like all the moral permissiveness. It suits them. They are comfortable with it. It gives them license and freedom. 

Freedom to do whatever they wish. They are so comfortable with their environment that they are no longer able to distinguish between right and wrong. Anyone who objects to their depraved ways is either seen as a radical, a lunatic, or a crazy nut.

The Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah illustrates a very important fact: 

The Holy Bible is not a broad-minded, tolerant book.It is, in a sense, a very narrow-minded, intolerant book. 

God is a God of righteousness who is patient but not infinitely patient. This is illustrated by the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, also by the story of Noah and the flood, and many other stories.

Christ showed anger and righteous indignation on certain occasions. God  certainly has love and mercy for the penitent sinner and the person who loves and serves him but he can be very severe with the unrepentant.

It might be a good thing to keep the above in mind when we are struck by calamities,  either our own,  or by disasters, like the present fires in California. 

 
Read more:  Southern California ‘like a war zone’ as raging wildfires grow

Saudi Arabia - US relations: 110 Billion dollar arms deal

The US Secretary of State proudly stated the huge multi-billion dollar arms sales agreements will help Saudi Arabia deal with 'malign Iranian influence and create thousands of new jobs in the US. 

Unfortunately, it will also mean hundreds of thousands of  people killed by these weapons.

The question, obviously, which should have been asked in this case: "wouldn't a ban on all weapons sales to the war  ravaged Middle East have been  a far better way to go?: "Maybe less profitable for the US Weapons Industry, but certainly a more moral way of action".

Specially for a country which prides itself to be a "champion for peac".  

EU-Digest

Morality begins at home: There Is no justification for killing, terrorism, collateral damage, torture or murder in any way or form

The Bible, Koran, and the Torah all explicitly mention : THOU SHALL NOT KILL

RE:. ISLAM: "Terrorism or hirabah is forbidden in Islamic law, which groups it with brigandage, highway robbery and extortion rackets– any illicit use of fear and coercion in public spaces for money or power. The principle of forbidding the spreading of terror in the land is based on the Qur’an (Surah al-Ma’ida 5:33–34).

‘Anyone who disturbs free passage in the streets and renders them unsafe to travel, striving to spread corruption in the land by taking money, killing people or violating what God has made it unlawful to violate is guilty of hirabah .

RE: JUDAISM : ” murder is "not the way of the Torah," declared Rabbi Lau in sharp condemnation of the murder, which is thought to have been an act of "revenge" for the murder of three Israeli teens Eyal Yifrah, Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Sha'ar by Hamas terrorists on June 12 this year.

RE CHRISTIANITY: "Even before the codification of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai the murder of other human beings was wrong (Genesis 4:8-12; 4:23-24; 9:4-6; Exodus 1:16-17). While on earth, Jesus spoke out against murder (Matthew 5:21-26; Mark 10:17-19).

We also see in the writings of Paul (Romans 1:18, 29-32; 13:8-10; Galatians 5:19-21), James (James 2:8-11; 4:1-3), Peter (1 Peter 4:15-16) and John (Revelation 9:20-21; 21:7-8; 22:14-15) that murder is wrong".

BOTTOM LINE:  there is no moral justification for murder, killing, terrorism, capital punishment, military "collateral damage",  or even for that matter euthanasia.

The pictures below are only a tip of the iceberg.

Unfortunately man is his own worst enemy and it only seems to be getting worse.

Ryan Lanza who shot  and killed 20 elementary school children and his mother at Sandy Hook CT, USA

Palestine victims after deadly Israeli Gaza bombing:

ISIS mass executionsions 

US Airforce "collateral damage: "Drs without borders" hospital Afghanistan

Turkey, Ankara more than 130 casualties bomb explosions

 EU-Digest

Hiroshima: Debating the Morality of Hiroshima - by George Friedman

Each year at this time — the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima — the world pauses. The pause is less to mourn the dead than to debate a moral question: whether the bombing was justified and, by extension, whether the United States unnecessarily slaughtered tens of thousands of people on Aug. 6, 1945.

The debate rarely focuses on a careful analysis of war and morality and is more frequently framed by existing views of the United States. The debate is rarely about Hiroshima or about World War II.

It is a debate about the moral character of the United States. This is not an illegitimate subject, and Hiroshima might be a useful point with which to begin the debate. But that isn't possible until after we consider the origins of Hiroshima, which can be found in the evolution of modern warfare.



Read more: Debating the Morality of Hiroshima | Stratfor

NSA Spying on European Citizens: German president says whistleblowers like Snowden merit respect - by Madeline Chambers

Germany's president, who helped expose the workings of East Germany's dreaded Stasi secret police, said whistleblowers like U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden deserved respect for defending freedom.

Weighing in on a debate that could influence September's federal election, President Joachim Gauck struck a very different tone from that of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has assured Washington that Berlin would not shelter Snowden.

Gauck, who has little power but great moral authority, said people who work for the state were entitled to act according to their conscience, as institutions sometimes depart from the law.

"This will normally only be put right if information is made public. Whoever draws the public's attention to it and acts out of conscience deserves respect," he told Friday's Passauer Neue Presse newspaper.

Read more: German president says whistleblowers like Snowden merit respect | Reuters

The Decadence Of The Developed World Is Alive And Well - by RM

Last night before I went to bed I was watching the news and the horrific events that are taking place in Pakistan. Heart-wrenching scenes of all those people and children without food and water. Probably not the right thing to do just before you go to bed? When you see this misery you realize how decadent the developed nations have become. Most of us basically don't care what happens to other people, unless, maybe, millions get killed, and we are lured into giving a fraction of our abundance by means of spectacularly orchestrated commercial media and entertainment events.

Today we are mainly impressed by financial wealth and commercial success, accepting flashy sound-bites from the media and government for the gospel truth. We have basically shut off relying on our instincts and conscious and mainly follow our impulses and desires. Buying what we don't really need, desiring, lusting for, and acting upon what we can not morally justify.

All this will surely one day (it probably already has begun) come to haunt us and start a cycle of repercussions and changes that will turn the tables, not only on nations but also for individuals. If this all sounds pretty depressing to you, that also proves the point that we prefer sticking our head in the sand rather than facing reality, and acting upon it.

EU-Digest

Have the Immoral Actions of Central Bankers Precipitated the Decline of the West?

"There is accumulating evidence that the Washington - Wall Street moral hazard experiment has gone disastrously wrong, and that just like any other accidental discharge of a deadly virus, the moral hazard virus is now loose and swiftly propagating throughout society. By so blatantly colluding with Wall Street, Washington has lost all moral authority, and the people now have only one place to turn: themselves. 
 
An ethic of, "If they can do it, so can I," is spreading, as people realize that fabric of American society has been shredded and replaced by a free-for-all mentality whereby everyone must fend for oneself in order to survive. If this is so, it is a serious game changer for America. Evidence of the spread of moral hazard is noticeable everywhere. Despite government reports that the economy contracted only 1% last quarter and is now stabilizing, 13% of all home mortgages were either delinquent or in foreclosure in the second quarter, 2009, an all-time record. Credit card write-offs hover near 10%, also a record. Automobile, home equity and personal loan defaults are at or near record levels. Fiscal year 2009 federal personal tax receipts have declined 22% and corporate receipts have plunged by 57%, even though the economy has supposedly declined by only a fraction of that amount."

We have written that the current situation is analogous to the days of the Gutenberg press: Finally, people could read the Bible and see priestly untruth. Today, of course, the West's establishment religion is monetary. Think about it. Are we so wrong? The mainstream media prints the every utterance of the central banking class with breathless reverence. The miens of these bankers are often ascetic; they are portrayed as good family men, patriotic and responsible. They are priests with a vocabulary all their own - as incomprehensible, nearly, as Latin. Their expensive, bespoke, business suits are a uniform akin to investments. The gorgeous conference rooms in which they convene may be regarded as grave vestibules. Utterances, revealed in "minutes," have the resonance of commandments from on high. Regulators, media mavens and politicians are acolytes, expressing hosannas as they wish."

And so it begins. You have seen the essential immorality of the system. You have felt it deep in the gut, just the way they did once they began to read Bibles (courtesy of the Gutenberg press) 500 years ago and began realizing that the Roman Catholic Church was profoundly immoral - that its entire ethic (you can buy your way into heaven) was built on a kind of lie. Just as society is today. It's not just the culture of the West, or its promotions, or even its social organization that is finished. You CANNOT, as a society, witness a couple of guys pull a trillion out of their back pockets without feeling, well ... snookered. And after feeling snookered, something else begins to percolate. "Hey," you say, "wait a minute. I sit here with my debts and my job and my house in foreclosure and this guy - THIS GUY - throws around trillions? Wait a minute. WHEN DO I GET MINE!"

After all, the Reformation, ultimately, was a moral reaction. Human beings, among other things, live within various ethical environments. When these are shown to be false, there is trouble brewing. We've written this over and over, that the old financial order, based on central banking, is basically finished.

For more: Have the Immoral Actions of Central Bankers Precipitated the Decline of the West?

Morality: Is an affair a sackable offenc

We are living in liberal times; we are more tolerant of homosexuality, divorce and illegitimacy than ever before. Yet talking about sex even inside a good relationship is still difficult for many people. Meanwhile, fidelity has acquired a new importance. A Gallup poll in 2006 found that Americans were more tolerant of polygamy and human cloning than infidelity.

We no longer need to get married to have sex or children and many now enjoy a range of sexual experiences with different people before they "settle down", at which point being faithful to that special person is completely bound up with our feelings of love for them. Given how long we live and expect to be together, achieving this can be very difficult.

The only way a relationship can be made to work in these sex-obsessed times is with an understanding that we should never take each other for granted. Monogamy and fidelity cannot be expected from another person as a right. It is a gift offered from one mature human being to another because they care enough about their feelings not to want to hurt them. That's the deal most of us strike, and most of us do our level best to keep to it.

For more: Is an affair a sackable offence? | From the Guardian | The Guardian

ENI:Britain could become Europe's 'moral poor man', says report - by Trevor Grundy

For the complete report from ENI click on this link

Britain could become Europe's 'moral poor man', says report - by Trevor Grundy

Britain could become Europe's "moral poor man" because it is ignoring the social needs of poorly-paid migrant workers, whose wages help keep the country's inflation rate one of the world's lowest, says a report issued by Cambridge University's Von Huegel Institute. "If migrants, mainly from Eastern Europe, are at the heart of the British economy, surely the time has come to place their needs at the heart of a new welfare strategy," Francis Davis, the co-author of the 7 March report, "Europe and Poverty - A Christian Response", told Ecumenical News International.

Davis, director of the Centre for Faith in Society at the Von Huegel Institute, told ENI that Christian researchers and charity workers say that migration to Britain often ends as a journey into poverty.