thejediknighthusezni

        "Judgement", yet another question easily resolved when one first resolves to reject the traditions of the state church and carefully read in context.

        A cruel evildoer is a cruel evildoer as long as he posesses that depraved state of mind. Christians are COMMANDED to JUDGE him as such. He is NOT a "brother".

        The word "judgement", in Greek as well as English, has various shades of meaning. An appointed judge in our legal system is NOT EVER supposed to "judge" a matter according to his own druthers, but according to the properly intstituted legal code (a state legal code is NOT True Law, but, at it's very best, a pathetic human attempt to codify True Law. Anyway....)

        Christians must NEVER substitute their own "judgement" for that of God.

        Christians are COMMANDED to be EXTREMELY judgemental, of ALL OTHERS as well as themselves, according to the True Law of God revealed through CREATED NATURE as well as INSPIRED SCRIPTURE, at ALL TIMES.

         Now that it's over, stray thoughts...

         On the Half-Pipe, why don't they get rid of that sharp, horizontal lip that runs down the top of both sides??? They could add another 60 degree incline to step it back or place some kind of cushions along there or some-such. watching that sort of painful and dangerous collision doesn't enhance my viewing experience.

         They throw out the highest and lowest judge's scores everytime in some events. Figure Skating and Ice Dancing are the most popular events. If there are 8 judges scoring a preformance, the 2 highest and the 2 lowest could be tossed each time. It could be refined further by awarding a fifth score that is out of whack with the other 3 only a certain percentage of the difference. But maybe they like this sort of controversy.

        I enjoyed the sledding and ice racing more than I expected. Even so, Figure Skating/Dancing, Half-Pipe Trick-Skiing/Boarding, and the Downhill Slolome Racing were the events that I'd go out of my way to see.

         Well, Ender's Game. Too soon?

        I thought the movie was wonderful. I enjoyed the faithful adaptation of the book, the pure sci-fi presentation, the Battle School and Battle Room and Command Center exceeding my own imagination, the first-rate performances.... I was most impressed by the way the story was compressed. They managed to overcome many troubles I had thought might be insurmountable.

        This is not to say that the film didn't have serious problems. Most all of the difficulties were due to runtime and budget. There are only 120 minutes in two hours. After all of the begging, borrowing, and stealing, the budget is what it is.

        Most of the other problems were due to the very faithfulness to the book which I loved.

        I thought all of the actors were great, especially HF. It was possibly his most human performance as the grisled and haunted Headmaster of a military academy. He wasn't Han or Indy or AF1 Prez. No running or flipping around. I think that's what threw general audiences. I was slightly thrown because I had always envisioned Graf as Euro.

        SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

        The three great problems were presenting a credible (within sci-fi realms) universe, creating "buy-in" for the concept of turning over a multi-trillion dollar space fleet to a kid, and preserving surprise. It was a great universe. The other two fell short from the limited time and budget and faithfulness.

        The movie proves that it can't be done in 115 minutes. It also shows, through it's ingenious compression, that it might barely be possible in 180 minutes. A titanic story needs a Titanic runtime.

     ^I'm suspecting as much.

       I'm thinking in terms of potential/kinetic energies. The boulder at the top of the hill is loaded with power, but it might require an additional force beyond itself to trigger the realization. The outside agency might be much less than the power, potential or kinetic, of the rock. 

       Chess is a popular subject around these parts. Reminds me of an experience: I was still a boy when the first computer Chess games came out (lights for column and row, I moved the pieces for it.) I had rarely played before that time. I was eerily impressed by this superior intelligence as it quickly and relentlessly grinded me down.

        The Chess playing computers are now superior to the designers in ability to play the game. They are superior to the players. Yet, they are utter slaves to the logic and design and the users can turn them off and on at will.

Bingowings said:

RicOlie_2 said:

Bingowings said:

RicOlie_2 said:

Science is not a doctrine, and I am glad you recognize that, because some think it is. What I mean by "satisfactory" is that science has provided an explanation for the universe's origins, but the origins aren't truly explained. Belief in a creator furthers the explanation greatly. I don't mean it is necessary, but I am giving reasons why people, not necessarily myself, hold religious beliefs.

Belief in a creator might further an explanation of the universe greatly but belief in the Biblical creator furthering our current explanation of the universe???

I fail to see how talking snakes and sinful scrumping have anything to do with the already shaky branches of string theory, for example. I also fail to see how the whore of Babylon and the fiery pit have any bearing on the entropic heat death hypothesis.

Indeed I fail to see how it explains anything other than the mindset of a bronze age people hoping to maintain some sense of order out of the chaos of living a desert beset by the dangers of nature and rival communities.

Applying that God to that situation makes perfect sense.

 A) I did not specify the Judeo-Christian God.

B) Why would I have to read the Bible for an explanation? Since the Biblical creation story is allegorical/symbolical, that would seem kind of silly.

So Bronze age people and talking dragons don't have any bearing on the matter.

What I mean is that a primary mover of some kind seems necessary to initiate things like the Big Bang. Specifically a mover who is by his/her/its very nature omniscient, omnipotent, and existing not as a thing but rather just "being" if that makes any sense (I find it a difficult concept to explain).

A) You are a Catholic so belief in other Gods is naughty.

B) You are a Catholic and the tradition of Catholic doctrine stems from a literal interpretation of the allegorical/symbolic literature most people call The Bible.

Indeed people have been burned to death for suggesting it was anything more than the literal truth.

You have moved on in some respects (that doesn't mean you can't move back) but as a religious organisation and a political entity the Catholic church does lobby world leaders, corporate big-wigs, dictators, voters etc on ideas which stem from reading the text and coming to a set of conclusions that have a basis in bronze age ideas about what a God of the middle east expected of those people to do then.

From what I understand from content written on these threads there are people who use these boards that believe Adam was a man and not a metaphor and that Samson really did live and wasn't Heracles by another name.

Ergo my answer.

There may be some variant of the prime-mover hypothesis which helps to explain the increasing holes in the current scientifically accepted model of the origin of this universe but it's not the Biblical Literalist one, that much I can reveal.

        Is it reasonable to criticise Christianity for the doings of religious organisations when the Christian scriptures themselves predict that these groups and their leaders will become terribly corrupt? Isn't that too easy?

        "Christianity" is the One Will of the Trinity. This Will is revealed through Inspired Scripture or designed nature.

        Of course Scripture that was intended to help a Bronze Age people cope with the conditions of the time would present material relevant to those people. 

        Anyway, The Trinity, if it exists, is omniscient with respect to THIS Universe. It may be "omnipotent" with respect to our "reality". You have the power to stomp on the toes of any passerby. You are an omnipotent lord over the toes of the unsuspecting. There are higher authorities who restrain you. 

DuracellEnergizer said:

generalfrevious said:

Had the fourth pro-life sermon in a row at church today. It makes me very upset.   Under the Catholic church, abortion is never permissible, and you cannot be Catholic and be pro-choice at the same time. If you don't act to end abortion in my country (US), you will go to hell. There are no gray areas in this debate for catholics; even contraception is a sin, so you can have sex only in the most narrow definition, and that to have children only. According to Christianity, society must conform to the church, and any disagreement with the church catechism is disagreeing with God. So I have to either to reject the religion I was born with, or blindly accept all dogma regardless of how I feel about.

And all this time I thought Christianity consisted of a large number of different denominations, each with members holding to varying theological, philosophical, political, etc. points of view ...

       Christianity consists of the One Will of the Trinity. 

      Transvestite lapdancers have suffered discrimination and intolerance for too long. OTOH, enlightened appellate court justices have proven their infinite moral superiority and right to rule by decreeing homosexual "marriage" HARD down the throats of the evil backwards peasants. >:-) 

      If we are ever to achieve true equality and justice, it's clear what must be done:

      We must elevate the dignity and status of tranny lapdancers by appointing them to be justices on appellate courts and seating them next to those justices who have given us "equality" in marriage. Justice and tranny would each be given half a vote. Of course, every measure must be taken to ensure that the trannies are percieved as equal members. Instead of black robes they would wear string bikinis and hot pink lipstick under their moustaches. every ten minutes of a session there would be two minutes of shimmy dancing on the lap of the enlightened justice while that justice gives a speech about the glories of all-inclusiveness and why the court has suffered NO loss of necessary dignity or prestige.

      If we all unite to raise our consciences and carry through this social reform, we will put a soon end to this intolerable unfairness.

      The Westboro "Baptists" are a mainstream media creation gleefully promoted to generate maximum HATRED towards genuine Christians.

       Gotta love those vastly superior, enlightened souls(no, seriously, ya GOTTA love 'em.)

        Putin is a dictator, but he has to play to an audience comprising a great swath of the Russian population. What has been the experiences of these people? Totalitarianism is founded upon rape and violation of the masses in the worst ways possible. The original "revolutionaries" tend to be vicious thugs, heads filled with dreams doing whatever they choose, come the takeover. Once in power, the elite and connected and protected DO do as they please. They violate and exploit the people and their sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, neices, nephews, grandchildren....  

         Of course, it would be outrageous to disturb the advanced consciences of this country with such meaningless considerations. They are too busy fighting the ultimate evil of neanderthal parents who aren't anxious to hand over total control of their children to those entitled to teach them the true nature of progress.

    ^This is the problem with "assisted" re-orientation. Self re-orientation has a good record of success because it's internally motivated. It doesn't take much to decide that rubbing a guys crap on your ding-dong isn't something to place at the center of your existence. The assisted proposition establishes that the patient can only do this with the help of others.

      I'm sure the great majority of homosexuals who go in for that are consciously or subconsciously DETERMINED to sabotage the process. They desperately WANT to be able to point and say "See? SEE? it's IMPOSSIBLE!".  It's the prospect of not finding a female to provide as much stimulation, being targeted by offended predator types and their nasty pals for re-assimilation, not being able to indulge their drama-queen impulses, unwillingness to deal with the expectations of females and SABOTAGE that produces the failure rate.

       I'm sure that if you could take the homosexuals who have fallen deep into it but nonetheless sincerely desire, consciously and subconsiously, to escape and provide them with a moderately attractive girl friend who is guaranteed to provide all the stimulation they could hope to get from the homosexuals without any greater expectations, the success rate would SKYROCKET towards 100%. Persistant homosexuality is a function of the availability of stimulation and the degree of satisfaction derived from drama-queeny, rebellious, petulant behavior. 

TV's Frink said:

thejediknighthusezni said:

I don't give a damn about homosexual acts...between consenting adults...conducted in private...with no attempt to shove it into the faces of others who might not appreciate it. I feel much the same about serious hetero acts.

 I'm curious what you define as a serious hetero act, and when it is shoved in your face.

I'm also curious what you consider a homosexual act that is shoved in your face, incidentally.

        Any homosexual contact and any promotion is inapropriate and destructive when it is pressed into the more public spaces in front of religious people, the molested, or other people's children.  Anything more than a peck or quick hug in the public spaces for heteros (though I'm a little more tolerant of deep kissing in romantic situations.) Freaky-deaky hetero stuff shouldn't be promoted in front of people who might well be offended or other peoples children. Some things SHOULD be KEPT IN THE CLOSET!!!!

      We've truly come a long way since Orwell.

       WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH and MARRIAGE IS TWO BELLIGERANT DEVIANTS OBSESSED WITH RUBBING EACH OTHER'S CRAP ON THEIR DING-DONGS.

       Your Welcome :)

EyeShotFirst said:

TV's Frink said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

TV's Frink said:

I...ok, whatever. You don't agree with it but you don't have a problem with it.

Some of you people are even weirder than me.

Is it weird for a conservative/liberal person to support another person's right to be liberal/conservative even though they don't support their politics?

 He might as well have said he doesn't agree with people being black but he doesn't have a problem with it.

 I didn't even say it that way. Now I think you are just trying to find something wrong in everything I said. I do not agree with homosexual acts, but I do not hate a person for it. Is that hard to understand?

It's almost like you're hoping to expose some underlying bigotry. My beliefs do not support homosexual acts, am I supposed to throw away my beliefs to become politically correct? To tolerate doesn't mean to support. Why don't people understand the difference?

Again, the classic "let's fight for freedom, but stone the Christian because he doesn't agree with us."

I can't be liberal or conservative these days. Both sides of the fence are driving me nuts.

        I don't give a damn about homosexual acts...between consenting adults...conducted in private...with no attempt to shove it into the faces of others who might not appreciate it. I feel much the same about serious hetero acts.

TV's Frink said:

More "just because you were born homosexual doesn't mean you have to have sex" bullshit.

        Oops, I didn't get the point across very well.

        A carnival geek might have been born with a hightened response to risk-taking behavior (rush of adrinalin?). If you try to tell me that some people are just born carnival geeks, well, that will be where I jump off the bandwagon. The geek might have been a hang-glider pilot or a deep-sea diver instead. Some radical things must have happened in the geek's environmental developement to cause him to overcome all the natural aversions to eating roaches and broken glass.

       ^All of this was fulfilled in the time of the Apostles. There's nothing to indicate this special charge extended beyond the life of Peter or applied to some group of Romans thousands of years later.

         As to female clergy, there is a very curious reference to a female Apostle Percilla. 

        I see the nature of the gender roles as having similarities to the modern parlaimentary system. The man is to be Chief of State(household) and the women should serve as Head of Government(household.) The Father should be given honor as The Chief but we all know where the real power over the family matters resides in a healthy system.

     A person might have an endocrine condition that pre-disposes him to be a little more quick-tempered than the average Joe. If it is genetically based, he was born that way. If he decides that he doesn't like Arty and the next time he feels an angy impulse he's going to punch him, that's a choice. Todd might have a hormonal condition that pre-disposes him to be a little more risk-taking or find a little more stimulation in sexual contact. If it is genetically based, he was born that way. If he decides in his mind that the next time he feels an impulse he's going to ignore females and pursue a homosexual guy who is much easier to obtain, THAT...IS...A...CCHHOICEEEE!

     People self-reorientate all the time. "BUG" and "GUG". It's true that the people who sink deep into that lifestyle are very difficult to recover. We're talking about the most intense sexual stimulation and the prospect of never finding someone of the opposite gender to provide that. Women tend to have expectations that homosexual men never try to impose. It's no wonder that the relapse rate is overwhelming.

      I'm more impressed by the power to transubstantiate scripture than I am by bread and wine. Bishops should be good husbands and fathers, the congregations should be governed by a council of modest elder family people.... We can just rip that stuff right out of the Bible and have a good source of toilet paper.   

      In other news, Francis has charged his clergy to get out there and RRRIIIPPPP open doors for the Church. Get those doors of children and confused teens torn WIDE until they SCREAM the name "JESUS!!!!". He must be serious. Saying what you mean and meaning what you say is the very definition of "Jesuitical".

      I was out walking the dog last night. I saw no less than 3 bright, close meteors burn across the sky. It was reported that a large fireball exploded over Arizona. Some talk about the Geminids hitting, but sheesh, this is alot.