Bryan

OldGrayEagle & NJCubScouter: First, thanks for your courteous and thoughtful answers. These are extremely sensitive topics. Second, St. Joseph's and St. Francis are still there and I was actually born at St. Francis. The local WD Boyce Council office is just a few blocks from St. Francis. The issue of blood in meat, as far as a Christian is concerned, is resolved at the slaughterhouse in my opinion. The meat packers put a water hose into the major arteries, and hose out almost all of the blood in a slaughtered carcass. None of us is perfect. All have sinned. I believe that if a genuine effort is made to comply with God's will, then God will recognize it. There might, technically, be a few drops of blood left in a cut of meat, diluted by the water from the meat packer's hose. It's not enough to get in the way of your salvation. Regarding the reasons for National's policy about homosexuals, the stated reason is that avowed homosexuals are unsuitable as role models. I'd have to agree that a promiscuous heterosexual, or even someone who is seriously overweight or a chain smoker, would also be less than ideal as a role model. Background checks should be mandatory. An ounce of prevention is worth 10,000 tons of cure. In my opinion, National hasn't been entirely forthcoming about its reasons for this policy. Certainly the $50,000 being spent on legal cases every month is a factor. But if National "came out" about this reason, it would be counterproductive because there would be a new wave of litigation. The homosexuals have the Lambda Legal Defense Fund. "Defense" in the title is extremely deceptive. They are attack dogs.

Iraq's "border mates" are Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The entire industrialized world is dependent, to one degree or another, upon oil from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Hussein is not Hitler because I can't picture a scenario in which he could acquire sufficient power to conquer the world. But with the chemical weapons that he has already used against his own civilians, he could kill thousands and thousands of civilians in a single day. Due to his past aggressions, American troops are now stationed by the thousands in Kuwait, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Many of them were Scouts not very long ago. They are vulnerable to Hussein's chemical weapons. There are also thousands of British troops stationed in Cyprus. Iraqi aircraft, flying through friendly Syrian airspace, could drop chemical weapons there as well. Bulldozed and freshly graded earth, Al-Musayyib Chemical Complex http://prod.bsis.bellsouth.net/coDataImages/p/Groups/14/14513/folders/57775/365234un2.jpg Sanitization of ammunition depot at Taji http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030205/capt.1044462106.us_iraq_bnc103.jpg Powell plays tape of Iraqi officers discussing arms http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20030205_322.html "We have this modified vehicle ... What do we say if one of them sees it?" says an Iraqi colonel in one audiotape. "You didn't get a modified ... you don't have a modified," replies an incredulous general. "I'll come to see you in the morning. I'm worried. You all have something left." "We evacuated everything. We don't have anything left," the junior officer replies.(This message has been edited by Bryan)

Let's review. The Hussein regime tortures political dissidents and their families to death. Children are tortured to death in front of their parents to extract confessions. Imagine the outrage if George W. Bush did this to the anti-war protesters and their families. The Hussein regime has used chemical weapons in genocidal attacks against the Kurdish and Shiite minorities. Thousands of defenseless men, women and children have died horrible deaths. Think of the screams from around the world if George W. Bush did the same to African-Americans and Hispanics. Instead of using his riches to provide for Iraqi civilians who are suffering due to the sanctions, Hussein has given $25,000 rewards to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. He paid $2 billion to Muammar Khaddafy of Libya, to provide safe asylum for his family and his most loyal followers when the coming war is lost. And he has spent billions on the most extravagant palaces in the world. He has waged wars of aggression against neighboring countries. He threatens the oil supply upon which the entire industrialized world depends. He has been in continuous defiance of several UN reolutions and the 1991 cease-fire. Gentlemen of military backgrounds, when a cease-fire is violated, what is the appropriate response?

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone. In case there are those here who are not aware, there has been a lot of research into homosexuality and very little of it serves to encourage the acceptance of homosexuals as Scout leaders. The average homosexual man has had roughly 250 sexual partners in his lifetime. He is many times more likely to contract HIV and other STDs. He is roughly seven times as likely as a heterosexual man to have sexual relations with teenagers who are under the legal age of consent. He is much more likely to become alcoholic or addicted to drugs. If you need links to the research, I can certainly provide them. National spends an average of $50,000 every month on legal fees to defend itself from lawsuits by molested Scouts, to defend against such lawsuits as the Dale case, and to pay damages and settlements to molested Scouts. This may serve to explain why National is so immovable about this issue. Imagine how much good that amount of money could do for Scouting, if it wasn't needed for these court battles.

This is my first message on this talkboard. Wish me luck. Confusion about this issue is quite common, and I hope that I can provide some illumination. For those who are skeptical about Scriptural teachings due to some laws from Leviticus that aren't being followed, please read Acts 15:24-29. The laws in Leviticus were intended for the Jews. By the time of Paul, there were new converts to Christianity who had never been Jewish. They wanted to know whether they needed to be circumcised. In effect, they were told that they didn't need to become Jews in order to become Christians. There were only four laws from Leviticus that Christians would be required to obey. We must abstain from food containing blood. We must abstain from food that has been sacrificed to idols. We must abstain from the meat of a strangled animal. And we must abstain from "sexual immorality," an extremely broad term that encompasses the act forbidden in Leviticus 20:13. Notice that the Ten Commandments are in Exodus, not Leviticus, so we are still bound by those as well. I hope this has been helpful. Thanks for the opportunity to post in your forum.