Here's what I wonder: Did this intensely loyal character precede their combative streak, or develop from it? T***hfully, I doubt there could be one without the other.

I also wonder, as others---non-European---have, if the Indo-European propensity for monogamy derives from that same loyalty "instinct". Pretty hard to be loyal to more than one wife. I know "I" will ALWAYS be the only wife.

Now, let's see who among you, if any, will be the first to "contest" me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulfilas

This one always cracks me up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulfilas#/media/File:Bischof_Ulfilas_erkl%C3%A4rt_den_Goten_das_Evangelium.jpg

As you know, God gave St. Paul the almost impossible task---mission---to convert the Gentiles, and the German barbarians later, to a belief in monotheism. Paul did the best that he could, under the circumstances. The circumstances being the nature of the Germans, which nature had antecedents in the nature of Indo-Europeans, and subsequently in any man or woman of European descent.

If you know anything at all about this "nature" (as you will when I am finished), you would know that Christ's message of peace, love and forgiveness could never appeal to the forever head-butting combative Indo-Europeans.

[St. Ulfilas himself when he t***slated the bible into Gothic deliberately omitted the chapter on Kings as he well knew this chapter would only serve to entice the Germans into battle].

Yet Paul's message of the god-human sacrifice of Jesus (as God's Own Son) appealed to their intensely loyal, almost unquestioningly, and certainly uncompromisingly, loyal, nature. And from these barbarians, to the medieval knights of old, and even to America's fighting men (who were known all over the world as the best fighting men on earth, before feminism took over their minds, hearts and souls---remember the Alamo? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeUbEGyu6XQ), death was preferable to the disgrace of losing.

Can't you just hear those German warriors saying: "What? Love my enemies? Are you out of your freakin' mind?" These were, and are, men who would just as soon cleave your skull into two parts as reason with you. (I have my ideas on why that is so, but I'm saving it for a later time!)

And so we have Paul's insistence that "Christ died for the ungodly also" repeated over and over in his epistles. For the gentiles, the ungodly consisted of the uncircumcised, among others.

Now, it is well known that Christ's message did appeal to the women, mothers and wives, as well as s***es. St. Helena, mother of the first Roman emperor to be baptized, was a Christian. It was partly due to her influence, as well as what Constantine saw as the need for a unifying force in the Roman empire, which was in severe decay and under pressure of invasion from the Germans, that provided the impetus for his conversion, in the 4th century. Remember the legendary phrase "In hoc signo vinces"? The conversion of Constantine was informed by conquest.

The wife of Clovis I, Clotilde, was also Christian, and it was partly at her behest that he converted to Christianity, in 508 AD. But the major impetus, as it was for Constantine, was the victory of Clovis at the Battle of Tolbiac:

"Gregory of Tours records Clovis's prayer in chapter II of the History of the Franks: "O Jesus Christ, you who as Clotilde tells me are the son of the Living God, you who give succor to those who are in danger, and victory to those accorded who hope in Thee, I seek the glory of devotion with your assistance: If you give me victory over these enemies, and if I experience the miracles that the people committed to your name say they have had, I believe in you, and I will be baptized in your name. Indeed, I invoked my gods, and, as I am experiencing, they failed to help me, which makes me believe that they are endowed with no powers, that they do not come to the aid of those who serve. It's to you I cry now, I want to believe in you if only I may be saved from my opponents."

My point, obviously, is that it was not peace and love that converted the warlike German barbarians, or that was even their driving motivation.

[As an interesting side note, during the Middle Ages, the Church outlawed fighting on Sundays and Holidays. It wasn't much, but it tells you how almost constantly they (known by that time as Europeans) battled.

proud republican thinks so.

Actually Trump (El Stupido) was bought and paid for by the very people he had promised to eject from government, or control. But not with money.

Yet you v**ed for El Stupido?

Now that is what I call crazy.

Did I tell you all that here in Abu al-Querque, at the Juan Tabo branch library---what I refer to as Ju-Anne Table, just to rile up the New Mexicans, there is a fabulous mosaic, featuring two chili peppers, sporting wings, and heading towards heaven. So I figure them little peppers are going to "meet their maker". Not so. I have since found out that chili peppers don't got souls.

That's all, folks!!

Is this what OPP is?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Savonarola#Reformer

No, we believe in the tooth fairy.

Well, it was fun while it lasted!!

What ARE you talking about?

Only pr would know anything at all about "ménage a trois". Spend much time in Paris, pr, on your way over from the Soviet Union?

Never try to "copy" me, pr. You come off looking very badly.

1. He lied. Lies are not only treachery, they distort reality.

2. He alluded to a man who is now the most powerful man on the planet. That is VERY unwise.

Don't ever try to post on one of my topics, again, npp.

Not hardly. A little more romantic than that.

Re-read my opening comment.

I have a new lover, now. Vlad said that it wouldn't be the first time a woman has softened the heart of a man. And that was the convincing factor.