Hey, it's me., you have officially gotten on my nerves with your know-it-all attitude. Don't you think there are already enough arrogant people who state their opinions as facts on the Internet. There certainly isn't a shortage, so we don't need further contributions from the likes of you.
darth_ender said:
Hey, it's me., you have officially gotten on my nerves with your know-it-all attitude. Don't you think there are already enough arrogant people who state their opinions as facts on the Internet. There certainly isn't a shortage, so we don't need further contributions from the likes of you.
I'm sorry I haven't stated anything as fact and I'm far from being a know it all. If you've misunderstood me giving my opinion as me being pretentious then that is not how I have intended to come across. I'm NOT here to intentionally upset anyone. Has the creationist comment upset you?
Well, a few minutes away made me already feel like I overreacted, so for that I'm sorry. Yes, the creationist comment bugged me. And reading some of your comments about the USA bugged me too. But again, I apologize. I know there are numerous ideas about the creation of the earth, from the purely religious and devoid of scientific, to the purely scientific absent of any religious thought. I don't much care for folks who talk about the religious as idiots, and your comment first struck me that way. Even if that was how you meant it, I shouldn't have reacted so quickly. In any case, if you do feel that way, I'd rather not read about it. I consider myself very religious and scientific, and not too stupid either. I'd love to hear your perspective.
darth_ender said:
Well, a few minutes away made me already feel like I overreacted, so for that I'm sorry. Yes, the creationist comment bugged me. And reading some of your comments about the USA bugged me too. But again, I apologize. I know there are numerous ideas about the creation of the earth, from the purely religious and devoid of scientific, to the purely scientific absent of any religious thought. I don't much care for folks who talk about the religious as idiots, and your comment first struck me that way. Even if that was how you meant it, I shouldn't have reacted so quickly. In any case, if you do feel that way, I'd rather not read about it. I consider myself very religious and scientific, and not too stupid either. I'd love to hear your perspective.
No your clearly not stupid. Well firstly, I must state that I'm not religious at all. It's just not the way I have been brought up. I know the difference between right and wrong, and(I like to think) I'm a morally good person. But Religion wasnt fundamental in shaping the person I've become. It hasn't taught me about ethics. Religious Education at school was usually the class me and my friends at the time would bunk off (play truant). I do believe in Evolution though. The evidence for it is there and through geology it has been proven with fact the age of the earth. Im sorry I can't give you a more comprehensive response darth_ender but religion isn't a subject that really interests me a great deal.
That's fine. I respect all opinions except those that don't respect others'. I have had many good discussions with atheists and agn...excuse me...weak atheists of the right-handed persuasion. ;)
darth_ender said:
That's fine. I respect all opinions except those that don't respect others'. I have had many good discussions with atheists and agn...excuse me...weak atheists of the right-handed persuasion. ;)
You meant to say agnostics I assume, but it was too painful? Lol
Not too painful for me. More of a running gag stemming from some long-gone troll :)
http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/The-Weak-Atheist-Thread/topic/14351/page/1/
I was hoping for a slightly different discourse on life after death.
“Grow up. These are my Disney's movies, not yours.”
Oops. Well, if you are good, you become one with the Force. Or if you live a life filled with atrocities, but do something good right at the end, you also become one with the Force. That's about it ;)
In all seriousness, it's a topic I'm glad you brought up, and I have little doubt that such experiences have shaped religious thought for years. I find them interesting and quite plausible, and I don't believe science has somehow answered all questions about it just yet.
Sometimes people wonder if religious ideas about afterlife sprung up out of fears of the unknown - death. But at the same time I've always found it difficult to imagine that my consciousness completely ceases to exist. It's a strange battle of thoughts.
I guess we never know until it's our time. :)
(I didn't mean to sound irritated or anything in my post above. A winkie smiley might have helped.)
“Grow up. These are my Disney's movies, not yours.”
darth_ender said:
Oops. Well, if you are good, you become one with the Force. Or if you live a life filled with atrocities, but do something good right at the end, you also become one with the Force. That's about it ;)
darth_ender said:
Oops. Well, if you are good, you become one with the Force. Or if you live a life filled with atrocities, but do something good right at the end, you also become one with the Force. That's about it ;)
In all seriousness, it's a topic I'm glad you brought up, and I have little doubt that such experiences have shaped religious thought for years. I find them interesting and quite plausible, and I don't believe science has somehow answered all questions about it just yet.
If your into your music, checkout a song by a fantastic British artist called Emilie Sand called 'Heaven' on YouTube. One of my most favourite tracks from the past couple of years.
Religion!
In the aftermath of Yom Kippur, I am wondering how Christianity spread all over the world. Sort of incredible that a Jewish religion gained such traction, given the pressures against it from the start. Original Judaism certainly never gained such power. I'm interested in this from a historical or even memetic perspective. Any thoughts, informed or otherwise?
The blue elephant in the room.
I have plenty of uninformed thoughts.
Do you believe in the MySpleen apocalypse???
http://twister111.tumblr.com
Previous Signature preservation link
Judaism is not a proselyting religion, so it limits its own spread. Either you are born a child of Abraham or you are not. Historically, Judaism has always remained relatively small. Although people could convert, they were never actively sought, and proselytes were never considered quite as good as the real thing. Christianity, on the other hand, was opened up to gentiles and actively sought converts. The apostles, the seven deacons, and the seventy were all active missionary groups that preached that Jesus was the Messiah. As you probably know, belief in a Messiah was already an idea spread amongst the Jews, so preaching that he would deliver from sin instead of Roman oppression wasn't too big a transition among Jewish crowds. Also, there was much appeal among the poor, as Christianity taught that all were alike before God, that he that abaseth himself shall be exalted, that Jesus himself reached out to the outcasts, etc. It was tolerated among the Roman Empire until Rome burned under Nero and he needed someone to blame it on. Christians were severely persecuted and often executed, but still the message found appeal. Once Constantine became Emperor and converted to Christianity, he made it the state religion and suddenly elevated this downtrodden religion to an exalted status. Christianity, by virtue of being essentially one and the same as the most powerful Empire Europe had ever seen, then spread even more rapidly and had political and military power to back it up. It was guaranteed success.
And there's also the fact that I, a believing Christian, think God had a hand in preserving it all.
That's all off the top of my head. Hope it helps.
Ever so often I get the Jehovah's Witness knock on the door.
It's always early, when I'm right smack in the middle of something important usually involving electricity and it's always a very old lady (who hangs back) and a slightly younger but still mature lady.
She is the one who asks."Do you think there is room in the world for God?"
Presumably God can fit into any space he/she/it wishes so it's a daft lead in question but she always uses it.
Also the assumption is that God must be Jehovah (a made up name to cover the difficulty some people have with pronouncing 
)
I used to enjoy helping the JW crowd fulfill their obligations but now I find them irritating.
They are so judgmental.
They come in.
They stare at the the human skulls and the electrical equipment.
They make assumptions about Miss Sakamoto.
They refuse tea.
It's also very one sided. They only wish to convert me and spend no time at all considering the possibility that I may be right about things.
To me - a person of unspecified beliefs - the spread of Christianity is pretty incredible. That it virtually obliterated all other belief systems throughout Europe and then had the fortune the spread throughout the New World is impressive. And if it were not for the threats of death, imprisonment, and reeducation it's hard to say how much further it would spread around the world. Based purely on success, I don't know how atheists like Dawkins who ascribe to memetics can see Christian religion as a bad thing. However, due to Dawkins recent defense of pedophilia, I refuse to buy his books ;|
And for a comment directed at Bingo: JW's can be persnickety. Still, it reminds me of the time a knife salesperson came to the door and offered to do a demonstration. She had a pair of scissor and showed how they could cut a penny in half! My father...being his self...grabbed an old pair of scissors from the drawer and also proceeded to cut a penny in half.
The blue elephant in the room.
Dawkins said :
“One day – I must have been about 11 – there was a master in the gallery with me. He pulled me onto his knee and put his hand inside my shorts. He did no more than have a little feel, but it was extremely disagreeable … as well as embarrassing,” he told the publication. “As soon as I could wriggle off his lap, I ran to tell my friends, many of whom had had the same experience with him. I don’t think he did any of us any lasting damage, but some years later he killed himself.”
“I am very conscious that you can’t condemn people of an earlier era by the standards of ours,”"Just as we don’t look back at the 18th and 19th centuries and condemn people for racism in the same way as we would condemn a modern person for racism, I look back a few decades to my childhood and see things like caning, like mild pedophilia, and can’t find it in me to condemn it by the same standards as I or anyone would today.”
“The most notorious cases of pedophilia involve rape and even murder, and because we attach the label ‘pedophilia’ to the same things when they’re just mild touching up, we must beware of lumping all pedophiles into the same bracket,”
I don't read that as a defense of pedophilia rather a plea for balance.
He speaks from his own experience and has formed a general opinion.
Men, women and children frequently get touched in ways they would prefer not to. But to equate that with rape because the recipient is a child is noncesense.
He is also making a statement about how we view the past.
Getting back on topic somewhat in Biblical times 12 year olds married 30 year olds.
If Mary and Joseph were real people this was probably their age range.
We don't approve now but it was the norm then.
The endurance of a meme says nothing about it's moral qualities.
Certain ethnic stereotypes have endured for centuries but that doesn't make them good or accurate.
Since I'm not familiar with the quote, I am not sure to whom it would be correctly ascribed, but I feel compelled to point out that your picture, Bingo, is of Hawking, a much more recent atheist, not Dawkins, who has held his views for some time.
That said, I somewhat see your point, though I'm not in entire agreement with Dawkins' ultimate conclusions.
As for the spread of Christianity, it is incredible. The Roman Empire is much to credit, just as the imperialism of Islam in its earliest centuries caused its meteoric rise. Still, Christianity tends to have had a greater appeal, including among the native inhabitants of the Americas.
As for JWs, while I have my own grievances, I also have a hard time vocalizing them since they are so often compared to Mormons with their zealous missionary efforts. I tend to believe and hope that Mormon missionaries are a little more thoughtful in general. And besides that, they're right about what they preach ;)
I'm reminded of Larry David's lobster speech again.
darth_ender said:
I feel compelled to point out that your picture, Bingo, is of Hawking, a much more recent atheist, not Dawkins, who has held his views for some time.
Karen Farris says :
*sigh*
WRONG RESPONSE...I should have expected less.
Yes, the correct response would have been WRONG AWKINS!!!
Only Dawkins is plural awkin.
Ah, I see. Sometimes I'm not sure when you're joking!
