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A world without religion...

Fastwalker said:
As one mainline "quiet" Christian scholar put it "All the bellaring in Christianity comes from the SHALLOW end of the pool". ::)

i really like that quote :) ... now don't laugh if i ask, but who said it? :p
 
banning said:
Fastwalker said:
As one mainline "quiet" Christian scholar put it "All the bellaring in Christianity comes from the SHALLOW end of the pool". ::)

i really like that quote :) ... now don't laugh if i ask, but who said it? :p

Bishop John Shelby Spong
 
Watch "The Second Coming" (BBC) for an interesting take on all this. The ending is rather clever and in keeping with the theme of this thread.
 
banning said:
yeah i am christian and the whole gay, bi thing perplexes me... im not sure exactly where in the bible it says you can't be gay or whatever... idk,

And therein lies the rub. I firmly believe that if you asked most believers if they have actually read the bible if they were to answer truthfully, they would say no. Most believers take their belief from the religious leaders and not from the holy books they profess to believe in.
 
nikki630 said:
Most believers take their belief from the religious leaders and not from the holy books they profess to believe in.

I'd say it goes for their leaders too. Ever heard of Creflo A. Dollar? I saw him giving a reading once about king David and when the passage mentioned David's two wives good ol' pastor Dollar paused for a moment and muttered "Uh... yeah, whatever..." and got right back to the part of the reading he wanted the congregation to hear to make his point. Funny how no one brings up that passage when they discuss the whole sanctity of marriage "being between one man and one woman" thing, isn't it?

That's what all these tv preachers do: Invent a standpoint and then dissect the passages in the Bible to prove it, ignoring the context of the passage itself. I think the surefire fastest way to prove to someone that the Bible was written by men and is NOT the word of God is to force them to sit down and actually read it.
 
Paranormal Packrat said:
Somethin to keep in mind when readin any of Capn's postings. He thinks Silvia Brown is sexy. He want to licky licky.

Do not... EVER... say that again... I just threw up in my mouth a little bit...
 
CapnG said:
Paranormal Packrat said:
Somethin to keep in mind when readin any of Capn's postings. He thinks Silvia Brown is sexy. He want to licky licky.

Do not... EVER... say that again... I just threw up in my mouth a little bit...

See? Only a little. You still have feelings for her. How sweet.
 
CapnG said:
I think the surefire fastest way to prove to someone that the Bible was written by men and is NOT the word of God is to force them to sit down and actually read it.

I couldn't agree more. But I have no real desire to do that. I really don't care what people want to believe in -- as long as they are not trying to run MY life and the lives of others by those beliefs.

The Amish seem to be able to live by their rules without trying to force the rest of us to give up our cars and electricity. Likewise I am not trying to force them to drive cars or use electric lights. All in all, it seems like a pretty good arrangement to me.
 
nikki630 said:
The Amish seem to be able to live by their rules without trying to force the rest of us to give up our cars and electricity. Likewise I am not trying to force them to drive cars or use electric lights. All in all, it seems like a pretty good arrangement to me.

That's a good example - I don't care what people choose to believe in, I just wish they'd keep it to themselves instead of trying to tell the rest of us how to live our own lives.

There was a doc on mainstream TV here in the UK yesterday about Christian fundamentalists lobbying the UK government over certain issues - these people openly stated that they thought the religion of Islam was a false religion and the work of the Devil. One of them even went as far as calling the prophet Muhammad the Devil himself and then the same guy, went on to warn that unless things changed, he expected a holy war here in the UK. These people are trying to gain positions of power!

Stop the planet, I want to get off. Seriously, someone beam me up so I can watch the self-inflicted Apocalypse safely from orbit.
 
Rick Deckard said:
There was a doc on mainstream TV here in the UK yesterday about Christian fundamentalists lobbying the UK government over certain issues - these people openly stated that they thought the religion of Islam was a false religion and the work of the Devil. One of them even went as far as calling the prophet Muhammad the Devil himself and then the same guy, went on to warn that unless things changed, he expected a holy war here in the UK. These people are trying to gain positions of power!

This sound remarkably like something said by the Reverend Parsley, a fundamentalist minister. You can hear how America was founded in part to destroy Islam here
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1502176862537607516&q=parsley+preacher+islam&ei=AnMzSKnVJ5HQ4ALrm4jmCQ&hl=en
and here
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6446440111275707976&q=parsley%20preacher%20islam&hl=en
 
I believe that McCain (Republican candidate for President in 2008, a clone of Bush, in case folks in the UK did not know that) has asked for the blessing and aligns himself with a minister in the US who also encourages a war between Christianity and Islam. So much for the message of Jesus Christ!

Well, I am not going to worry my pretty head about it. I am enjoying 'ALLO 'ALLO on DVD (a wonderful show), so "Good Moaning" to you all.
 
Fastwalker said:
Well, I am not going to worry my pretty head about it. I am enjoying 'ALLO 'ALLO on DVD (a wonderful show), so "Good Moaning" to you all.

"I was pissing by ze door when I heard two shats..."
 
Classic Line: "Listen carefully, I shall say this only once....".

Classic Routine: Edith catches Rene embracing Michelle for the 100th time:

Edith says for the 100th time: "Rene, what are you doing embracing that serving girl!?!?"

Rene responds for the 100th time: "You Stupid Woman! Can't you see she was about to faint when I caught her?" (the reason varies with each episode. Actually, by season 8 their secret affair caught up with them when Michelle became part of the Pudding Club)

Note: In case UK readers are not aware, the US now has BBC AMERICA, a cable TV channel that features current and not-so-current BBC comedy and drama. The US PBS (Public Broadcasting System, financed by the government and contributions from the public) also features a great deal of British comedy & classic mystery programming. My newest favorite is the new ROBIN HOOD, season 2. I don't know how far behind BBC AMERICA is in presentation of shows versus what is seen in the UK, e.g., is ROBIN HOOD season 2 being shown also in England or are we getting yesterday's programming?

SORRY FOR THE DIVERSION FROM THE MAIN TOPIC OF THIS THREAD.
 
louis belanger said:
The problem with the bible is the interpretation,as many interpretation as the number of sects and more. Just like coran.

Actually I would say that there are as many interpretations as there are readers of those books
 
Rick Deckard said:
If people want to believe in the invisible pink unicorn, then that's fine by me.

But I don't want to be blown up for refusing to join their belief system and I don't want laws brought in preventing me from suggesting that they might be wrong in their beliefs.

Unfortunately, this is exactly the situation.

"its not religion its people that ruin things"
- yeah and guns don't kill people, it's people that kill people...


IMO, a world without religion would be "heaven" (pun intended).


You don't think people were killing people before guns? Of course its people killing people, the method has changed, but ever since Grog hit Gorm with a rock and saw that Gorm dropped dead and stopped stealing Grog's girlfriends...its been people...not rocks, clubs, water (drowning), hands, axes, arrows, knives, swords, poison gas, A-bombs or even guns.

If its the gun that kills then why don't we lock up the gun instead of the criminal? Or blame the gas chamber instead of the Nazi?

Lets have some sense here...please.
 
underdog said:
You don't think people were killing people before guns? Of course its people killing people, the method has changed, but ever since Grog hit Gorm with a rock and saw that Gorm dropped dead and stopped stealing Grog's girlfriends...its been people...not rocks, clubs, water (drowning), hands, axes, arrows, knives, swords, poison gas, A-bombs or even guns.

If its the gun that kills then why don't we lock up the gun instead of the criminal? Or blame the gas chamber instead of the Nazi?

Lets have some sense here...please.


Using that logic we should not blame the drug, but the drug user. Yet we don't. The drug is bad, we are told that every day ... DRUGS ARE BAD!! Of course the drugs themselves are no more bad than guns are. BUT when people USE drugs or when people USE guns that is where the problem arises. We blame drugs for people's behavior when they use them -- I see no problem in at least partially blaming the gun for people's behavior when they use them.

And yes -- I do believe that someone's behavior is altered when they have a gun in their hands. They will feel more powerful that makes them much more likely to commit homicide then if they did not have the gun and had to get an A-bomb instead.
 
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