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Rare, But Important Demonstration of Intestinal Fortitude

Political Discussion
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  • I don't have a problem with that.

  • I guess we could discuss that there is no good or evil, right or wrong.

    But that'd mean you guys couldn't spend all day bitching about how evil republicans are......

    😉

    WSS

  • Isn't that Cal's deal with Obama?

  • Isn't that Cal's deal with Obama?

    @vaportrail said:

    Isn't that Cal's deal with Obama?

    Well yeah Vape!

    But Cal believes in universal good and evil.

    🙂

    WSS

  • I guess we could discuss that there is no good or evil, right or wrong.

    But that'd mean you guys couldn't spend all day bitching about how evil republicans are......

    😉

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    I guess we could discuss that there is no good or evil, right or wrong.

    But that'd mean you guys couldn't spend all day bitching about how evil republicans are......

    😉

    WSS

    the Republican Party is NOT evil..... The Radical Evangelical/Neocon right and old gaurd 45+ southern/rural white demographic IS not the Whole Republican party. They just happen to be the loudest..... however they seem to be morphing into their own party right now anyways.

    The Republicans screaming about deficits but also want to keep lowering taxes........ Now they are laughable o yea and they want to keep Social security and medicare.

  • Vapor, I'm not sure what question you're asking. Is it merely how a book of ideas filled with contradiction can inspire?

  • @westside-steve said:

    I guess we could discuss that there is no good or evil, right or wrong.

    But that'd mean you guys couldn't spend all day bitching about how evil republicans are......

    😉

    WSS

    the Republican Party is NOT evil..... The Radical Evangelical/Neocon right and old gaurd 45+ southern/rural white demographic IS not the Whole Republican party. They just happen to be the loudest..... however they seem to be morphing into their own party right now anyways.

    The Republicans screaming about deficits but also want to keep lowering taxes........ Now they are laughable o yea and they want to keep Social security and medicare.

    @osusev said:

    the Republican Party is NOT evil..... The Radical Evangelical/Neocon right and old gaurd 45+ southern/rural white demographic IS not the Whole Republican party. They just happen to be the loudest..... however they seem to be morphing into their own party right now anyways.

    The Republicans screaming about deficits but also want to keep lowering taxes........ Now they are laughable o yea and they want to keep Social security and medicare.

    Gee sorry Sev.

    I guess I should have said without any concept of good and evil you'd have to quit bitching about evil old southern Christian white people.

    {expletive deleted}

    WSS

  • Vapor, I'm not sure what question you're asking. Is it merely how a book of ideas filled with contradiction can inspire?

    @smalls1129 said:

    Vapor, I'm not sure what question you're asking. Is it merely how a book of ideas filled with contradiction can inspire?

    Not how, but why.

  • @smalls1129 said:

    Vapor, I'm not sure what question you're asking. Is it merely how a book of ideas filled with contradiction can inspire?

    Not how, but why.

    @vaportrail said:

    Not how, but why.

    The way I take it is a book of life lessons. I try not to get too hung up on what many argue as "facts", ie the world was created in 7 days. I just don't believe that arguing either way about what I consider semantic evidence diminishes the book. The simplest way I can put my view is the example of the 10 commandments: no matter your religious belief I don't get how anyone can argue that those aren't 10 rules that if you live by will help maximize your human potential.

  • @vaportrail said:

    Not how, but why.

    The way I take it is a book of life lessons. I try not to get too hung up on what many argue as "facts", ie the world was created in 7 days. I just don't believe that arguing either way about what I consider semantic evidence diminishes the book. The simplest way I can put my view is the example of the 10 commandments: no matter your religious belief I don't get how anyone can argue that those aren't 10 rules that if you live by will help maximize your human potential.

    @smalls1129 said:

    The way I take it is a book of life lessons. I try not to get too hung up on what many argue as "facts", ie the world was created in 7 days. I just don't believe that arguing either way about what I consider semantic evidence diminishes the book. The simplest way I can put my view is the example of the 10 commandments: no matter your religious belief I don't get how anyone can argue that those aren't 10 rules that if you live by will help maximize your human potential.

    I'd say the ten commandments has a good 8 rules.

    ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'

    TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'

    THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'

    What about all of the beautiful Roman, Indian, pagan, *insert religion here* works of art that have been created? What about every other religion that ever existed? The first commandment straight up labels all other religions as incorrect. Why does saying "god dammit" make you a bad person?

    FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'

    Okay, I can live with this one if I so choose to believe in a sabbath day, I don't see anything wrong with it.

    FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'

    Not a universal law. What if they are abusive or molest you?

    SIX: 'You shall not murder.'

    Okay, I can dig it, even though this is coming from a dude that committed quite a few genocides according to the good book.

    SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'

    EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'

    NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'

    Don't cheat, lie, or steal? Good stuff.

    TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'

    Don't covet? Everyone would be in jail if this were law.

    So, I'd say there are four or five legit rules in the ten commandments, the rest are bs.

  • I think you're being to literal with the words. By definition (at least my definition of God, all powerful, all knowing, all present) if there IS a GOD then there is only ONE GOD. It is a logical fallacy think multiple Gods could exist with the definition I laid out. All it is saying is that I am real and to worship others is to worship a falsehood.

    Lords name in vain...all right definitely not as pressing as the others.

    Not sure where you got the text for the 2nd but I have always known it to be do not create false idols to worship...which makes sense to me. Sort of like the way we prop celebrities as Idols. If there be a God, it would make sense to warn against "fake" idols that will appear to misguide the "spiritual". And, to me, this one does not negate religions such as the pagan or the eastern religions b/c their focus in on nature which I see as a different side to the same coin.

    Your examples against 5 and 6 are kinda idiotic. There are extreme circumstances always, and notice it say murder not kill.

    And to not covet is absolutely a goal to work on as a human. Coveting is the road to jealousy and while hard to achieve I believe we would all be better in a world with out jealousy.

  • Actually I'd taken #3 as meaning not to take the name in vain by using it for self promotion.

    Merely claiming to be a Christian to curry favor with clients associates or, uh, voters.

    As for belittling the "don't covet" I guess wee'd be better off if we weren't constantly pissed off about someone else's good fortune.

    WSS

  • @heckofajobbrownie said:

    John, do you believe in the story of Mormonism? That God and Christ appeared to a teenage Joseph Smith in upstate New York in the 1820s, and eventually two angels gave Smith the golden tablets that he would later translate into the Book of Mormon?

    Do you buy that?

    So your point is to select a story and to try to paint me into a corner by answering one way or another.

    There are many sects and many groups within Christianity. To cut through all the 'noise' certain groups like to create, I like to go to the source: the Bible.

    I know that it is a compilation of stories over the course of many years. I believe it is sacred and was inspired by the work and will of God.

    I don't know enough about the Book of Mormon - I have not studied it. However, why study it when the actual word of God is already available.

    That's my faith and that's my belief, Heck. Why does it bother you?

    @chicopee-john said:

    So your point is to select a story and to try to paint me into a corner by answering one way or another.

    There are many sects and many groups within Christianity. To cut through all the 'noise' certain groups like to create, I like to go to the source: the Bible.

    I know that it is a compilation of stories over the course of many years. I believe it is sacred and was inspired by the work and will of God.

    I don't know enough about the Book of Mormon - I have not studied it. However, why study it when the actual word of God is already available.

    That's my faith and that's my belief, Heck. Why does it bother you?

    I didn't say it bothered me. I was asking you if you believed in what the Mormons claim, which is that the Bible is incomplete, and that it's got a sequel.

  • I think you're being to literal with the words. By definition (at least my definition of God, all powerful, all knowing, all present) if there IS a GOD then there is only ONE GOD. It is a logical fallacy think multiple Gods could exist with the definition I laid out.

    So do you believe that there is an omnipresent, omniscient, all-good God that is watching over us and has the power to intervene?

    All it is saying is that I am real and to worship others is to worship a falsehood.

    What makes all the others a falsehood? What makes this one god, the true one?

    Not sure where you got the text for the 2nd but I have always known it to be do not create false idols to worship...which makes sense to me. Sort of like the way we prop celebrities as Idols. If there be a God, it would make sense to warn against "fake" idols that will appear to misguide the "spiritual". And, to me, this one does not negate religions such as the pagan or the eastern religions b/c their focus in on nature which I see as a different side to the same coin.

    What makes YHWH any less false than any of the other things that lead to idolatry?

    Your examples against 5 and 6 are kinda idiotic. There are extreme circumstances always, and notice it say murder not kill.

    There are less extreme circumstances where I can see parents not being worthy of unconditional honor. What if they just don't give a shit about their kids, why should you have to feel guilty to respect them if they can't respect you? And yes, this translation that I picked out says "murder," you can find many others that say "kill." Regardless, if you killed someone because they were fond of receiving blowjobs, what would that make you? A murderer. The god of the old testament destroyed two whole cities for that reason, that makes him a murderer in my book. You can't come up with a set of universal laws for every possible situation, it just isn't feasible.

    And to not covet is absolutely a goal to work on as a human. Coveting is the road to jealousy and while hard to achieve I believe we would all be better in a world with out jealousy.

    You shouldn't feel guilty for wanting something or someone.

  • Why would someone dis-credit anothers opinion just because they believe in God?

    Translations may have been skewed along the way, Maybe some should interest themselves into why King James had and english translation of the bible as we know it today. some say it was a control mechanism while others believed it was to sort out some of the false translations that had been handed down over the years.

    As far as believing Jesus was born of a virgin and was raised from the dead, that is where your faith will come into play.

  • But faith is such a cop out. If you have faith in the resurrection, do you believe that the prophet, Allah, rode down from heaven on a pegasus? If not, it makes no sense to take one of the thousands of existing myths, which have zero evidence, and put it above any other. Why should something that is written in a so-called "holy" book be above question?

  • But faith is such a cop out. If you have faith in the resurrection, do you believe that the prophet, Allah, rode down from heaven on a pegasus? If not, it makes no sense to take one of the thousands of existing myths, which have zero evidence, and put it above any other. Why should something that is written in a so-called "holy" book be above question?

    @vaportrail said:

    But faith is such a cop out. If you have faith in the resurrection, do you believe that the prophet, Allah, rode down from heaven on a pegasus? If not, it makes no sense to take one of the thousands of existing myths, which have zero evidence, and put it above any other. Why should something that is written in a so-called "holy" book be above question?

    Vapor, I realize you're a college know-it-all, and want to question everything, but believe it or not, you don't know shit yet. You're still a frigging kid for Christs sake. Don't diss others faith and beliefs because of your extremely small existence on this planet. Show some xxxxing respect.

  • @vaportrail said:

    But faith is such a cop out. If you have faith in the resurrection, do you believe that the prophet, Allah, rode down from heaven on a pegasus? If not, it makes no sense to take one of the thousands of existing myths, which have zero evidence, and put it above any other. Why should something that is written in a so-called "holy" book be above question?

    Vapor, I realize you're a college know-it-all, and want to question everything, but believe it or not, you don't know shit yet. You're still a frigging kid for Christs sake. Don't diss others faith and beliefs because of your extremely small existence on this planet. Show some xxxxing respect.

    @diehardbrownsfan said:

    Vapor, I realize you're a college know-it-all, and want to question everything, but believe it or not, you don't know shit yet. You're still a frigging kid for Christs sake. Don't diss others faith and beliefs because of your extremely small existence on this planet. Show some xxxxing respect.

    Or, you can bite me. Call me a child and then tell me that religious beliefs demand respect because they're religious? Piss off. If I want to question others' beliefs, then you'd better believe I'll question others' beliefs.

  • I don't understand the tenacity of individuals, shall we say, -liberal/progressive- individuals? to

    mock other's religious and family values beliefs.

    There are scientists who study the Bible, and only God/Jesus knows how much of the Bible

    is an allegory, or how much is a description of what exactly happened in their own understanding.

    Scientifically, it is quite possible the red sea parted - I've seen that explanation by scientists on TV,

    but, to attribute that occurence to the intentional deeming of God, is a matter of belief.

    Your arguments against some of the ten commandments seems extremely bogus.

    Why the antagonistic approach? "Honor thy father and mother" ? If they molest you, honor them

    by refusing to continue the cycle of violence, and turning them into the police. So, good for them that

    you got intelligence to do the right thing, and be the RIGHT kind of person.

    so, you could look at it that way, too.

    "Don't covet" ? It isn't a list of Ten Commandments you have to follow or go to jail. They are

    rules to work to live by.

    The major point of all the rules in the Old Testament, is that it is absolutely impossible to follow all the rules.

    So, Jesus died to absolve us of that human inability to follow all those rules.

    Anyways, when you get older, and watch life, and the world, eventually a lot of people look

    to the existence of God as the only explanation for what exists, and how it came to be.

    If you do not have any spiritual beliefs, no one is mocking you for that. I wish that the mocking

    of spiritual beliefs would cease.

    The only reason I am here at all, is because of an absolute miracle when I was a kid. Do I atribute that

    occurence to the existence and Love of God for us all? YES.

    Try to not discount the differing view you may have of the whole world and spiritual understanding of God

    that is all too possible, as you get a lot of years on you. Deal ?

  • I don't understand the tenacity of individuals, shall we say, -liberal/progressive- individuals? to mock other's religious and family values beliefs.

    I don't understand why an atheist is the least-trusted type of individual in America, moreso than blacks, gays, or Muslims. Religious beliefs were born thousands of years ago for a society that is vastly different than our own, they were used to explain things that people could not understand, they were used to control large groups of ignorant people.

    There are scientists who study the Bible, and only God/Jesus knows how much of the Bible is an allegory, or how much is a description of what exactly happened in their own understanding.

    We are neither God nor Jesus, why not look for answers ourselves instead of trusting the people who put the book together over a thousand years ago? Why should the contents of the Bible be exempt from criticism?

    Scientifically, it is quite possible the red sea parted - I've seen that explanation by scientists on TV, but, to attribute that occurence to the intentional deeming of God, is a matter of belief.

    Indeed, but I think it's very foolish to come to the conclusion that God must have been responsible if we can't explain something.

    Your arguments against some of the ten commandments seems extremely bogus. Why the antagonistic approach? "Honor thy father and mother" ? If they molest you, honor them by refusing to continue the cycle of violence, and turning them into the police. So, good for them that you got intelligence to do the right thing, and be the RIGHT kind of person. "Don't covet" ? It isn't a list of Ten Commandments you have to follow or go to jail. They are rules to work to live by.

    Okay, so if I murder two people a year, I should keep working at it until I murder only one person a year, and then eventually I'll murder no people a year? I'm not saying the Ten Commandments are a terrible list, I just don't think that they, in addition to the golden rule are the be-all-end-all that a good amount of people make them out to be.

    The major point of all the rules in the Old Testament, is that it is absolutely impossible to follow all the rules.

    Wat. I thought the point of the OT was the prophecy of the Messiah, and that he would come. And that god was a badass, and if you crossed him, he'd smite your puny ass as well as all of your family.

    So, Jesus died to absolve us of that human inability to follow all those rules.

    Why did god knowingly kill himself to save us. I mean, if he knew what was going to happen, was it really a sacrifice? Why, according to one gospel, does Jesus ask on the cross, "Father, why have you forsaken me?" I thought he was all god and all human, and if he's all god, doesn't he know everything?

    Anyways, when you get older, and watch life, and the world, eventually a lot of people look to the existence of God as the only explanation for what exists, and how it came to be.

    And I've traveled a good amount of my life as Roman Catholic (confirmed, btw, lol). I came to the opposite conclusion. If God is all-knowing and all-good, why does he allow people in Africa to be born and starve to death before even getting a chance to live life? What kind of sick bastard would knowingly create all this injustice in the world and allow it to happen when he could supposedly intervene? I don't know why we are here, I won't pretend to know why we are here. It could've been an anthropomorphic something that created us, but this deity cannot intervene now. God cannot be all-present, all-knowing, and all-good if he has the power to intervene, if that is the case, he is imperfect because of the injustices he allows.

    If you do not have any spiritual beliefs, no one is mocking you for that. I wish that the mocking of spiritual beliefs would cease. The only reason I am here at all, is because of an absolute miracle when I was a kid. Do I atribute that occurence to the existence and Love of God for us all? YES.

    But you have nothing to show for it as far as tangible evidence goes. I'd go so far as to say your miracle could be explained given enough study, this says nothing to me about proof of a god.

    Try to not discount the differing view you may have of the whole world and spiritual understanding of God that is all too possible, as you get a lot of years on you. Deal ?

    No deal, I find it highly doubtful that I will ever return to the faith, especially one that protects pedophiles, fears giving women power, and hates gays.