Date: June 5th, 2005 12:25 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
shoot.
oh, and to let you know in advance, i'll only be responding to actual questions or comments of substance. if you have a cute one-liner, i'm sorry, but i really don't care how witty you are.
Date: June 5th, 2005 12:37 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
it's complicated. nobody has ever been able to really figure out the predestination (or if you're secular, determinism) vs. free will problem. somehow it's both.
personally i think we're biologically incapable of ever understanding it, much as a chimpanzee is biologically incapable of learning calculus.
Date: June 5th, 2005 12:59 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
i believe that if you truly accept Christ then you should actively want to 'walk the walk', as they say. so yes, there's ongoing obligation but it doesn't feel like one.
as to people who lose faith after having been saved - i don't know.
Date: June 5th, 2005 1:08 AM Author: Olive nursing home sneaky criminal
Okay, nix the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church, and the United Church of Christ from your list. (Maybe some others, too. I need to consult some sources.)
Date: June 5th, 2005 9:14 PM Author: Olive nursing home sneaky criminal
They are officially separate churches (EDIT: in terms of their incorporation in separate countries, or at least that's my impression), but yeah, they're the same. It wouldn't surprise me, though, if some of their policies (such as acceptance of openly gay members) are slightly off.
Date: June 5th, 2005 11:19 AM Author: ohnoes (UNC Troll)
I don't know if there is a difference between the United Church of Christ and regular Church of Christ, but I was raised in the latter and those people were sure as hell opposed to gay marriage.
Date: June 5th, 2005 9:40 PM Author: Olive nursing home sneaky criminal
They must be different. The UCC is running a series of ads about how inclusive they are, and it shows gay couples as members of the church. http://www.stillspeaking.com/
Date: June 5th, 2005 2:05 PM Author: walnut business firm
Date: June 5th, 2005 1:08 AM
Author: Winnie Cooper ("Why, are you looking for work?")
Okay, nix the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church, and the United Church of Christ from your list. (Maybe some others, too. I need to consult some sources.)
------------
This poster doesn't realize that there are at least 5 different varieties of each of these meta-denominations. There is no such thing as "the Presbyterian Church". There is PCUSA, PCA, OPC, FPCS, PCUS, etc.
Date: June 5th, 2005 1:11 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
fornication is a sin whether it's homo or heterosexual. the new testament is pretty clear about this. see, for example, jesus' exchange with the samaritan woman in the gospel of john.
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:27 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
marriage is between a man and a woman - that's been universally true for thousands of years. (in fact it's true of the world today and, outside of a slim sector of elite western society, most people would like to see it stay that way.)
therefore any homosexual behavior within marriage would necessarily be adulterous.
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:31 AM Author: sticky property
let me make this simple.
hypothetical world: allows homosexual marriage.
question: on your newly discovered religious grounds, do you still oppose homosexual relations between lawfully married couples
how is that necessarily adulterous? your whole claim is contingent on past circumstances. that's a killer argument you have there. "it was contingent on past circumstance, so under hypothetically varied circumstances, it would remain the same."
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:38 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
i didn't start this thread to have a debate over gay marriage. honestly it's not something i've put a lot of thought into, but what understanding i do have of the bible indicates that it's not acceptable. i don't have to justify my beliefs to you - i'm not here for apologetics.
but what does it matter, practically speaking? it will never be legalized.
Date: February 4th, 2006 4:02 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
my views on gay marriage have changed. i don't see anything wrong with the state sanctioning gay marriage, so it should be legal, but for reasons of doctrinal orthodoxy i don't think the church should sanction it. neither do i think that the church should interpose in the business of the state.
Date: August 30th, 2006 6:08 AM Author: adventurous volcanic crater school cafeteria
It's clearly implied that a woman is forbidden from sleeping with another woman unless she has her husband's consent or it's a three-some. Three-somes could only be considered acceptable if it doesn't end up weakening the marriage.
Date: June 5th, 2005 1:05 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
i think i'd be indifferent to it.
that said, i'm sympathetic to the plight of the palestinians and i think the state of israel has done some wicked things. states, after all, are not moral entities.
Date: June 5th, 2005 1:34 AM Author: Olive nursing home sneaky criminal
I took the Christian one, and this was my outcome. I do, in fact, live in the leafy university town. Eerie.
Bishop Spong Christian
(a.k.a. "Biblical Revisionist")
You think the Bible is a powerful metaphorical narrative and believe that Jesus was a heroic figure similar to Gandhi. You believe in God as a loving creator and that She will forgive you for just about anything. You're willing to admit that you don't believe in the resurrection. You go to church for the sense of community and the music and because you like to hector your fellow Christians about their backward ways. You read Toni Morrison, Elaine Pagels, and Bishop Spong, the controversial Episcopalian prelate. You enjoyed the "The Da Vinci Code" as a thriller and found its ideas about Christian history thought-provoking, if not always historically accurate. Though you probably didn't see it, you're sure that "The Passion of the Christ" presented an utterly backward version of Christianity. You ardently support gay rights and feel guilty that you yourself are not gay. (If you are gay, you're in a loving, committed relationship). You live in a leafy university town, order Chai at the local coffee house (never Starbucks), and subscribe to The New Yorker. You watch TV so you can talk disdainfully about how bad TV is. You give to charity, preferring the local homeless shelter to those bureaucratic national charities. For you, the crux of Christianity is Jesus' revolutionary message of empowering "the least of these."
Date: June 5th, 2005 1:49 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
i was pretty distressed about peak oil and its implications, which is to say that i was filled with dread about our impending doom. (lifeaftertheoilcrash.net if you're not convinced yet.) i was at work (lowe's) early in the morning, desperately trying to think of a way to save myself and convince my family to sell their stock and real estate and head for the proverbial hills. in thinking this through i sort of likened myself to john the baptist - a wild man coming out of nowhere announcing something big. i guess that thought tipped me onto God - i made an urgent pleading to him: 'deep down i've always wanted to believe but i've never been able to. if you're up there, please, just nudge me over the edge. i could really use it right now'. over the next 10-15 minutes occurred a series of strange coincidences.
first, over the overhead radio came on a breakup song, the lyrics of which went something like, 'it's over now and there's nothing you can do about it'. afterward a second song (i think by carole king) came on, the lyrics of which ran, 'the earth shakes under my feet, the sky comes tumbling down, tumbling down'. afterward a third song came on - 'here comes the sun' by the beatles. 'that's odd,' i thought, 'it tells a little story'.
after that i overheard my department manager talking about natural disasters. (if memory serves, i think he was saying something about how when the tsunami hit, it was a great fortune that not more lives were lost to disease.) i took it into my head that i should go talk to him, that if i told him i thought there was an oncoming catastrophe, he of all people might not think i was crazy. as i went over to talk to him, he was holding a long PVC pipe in his hand, resembling a staff (the 'staff' was curved at one end). he banged it twice against the ground, yelling 'john!' each time (there's a guy in the dept. named john). i'm not sure what significance, if any, that had, but it added to the sort of surreal dream-quality state i remember being in at the time.
when i got up to this guy, my manager, i said, 'hey johnny, there's something i want to talk to you about'. he said, ok, and we went into an empty aisle. 'you might think i'm nuts,' i said, 'but i think there's going to be a big disaster soon'. before i could explain about the oil, he calmly and immediately said, 'i know, i'm a witch,' and pulled out a hidden medallion that was hanging from his neck. 'but i'm a survivor. i'm going to survive this thing, and my family is going to survive too.' he also made clear that he had had these beliefs for a long time, that it wasn't a fad thing, and he made some strange remarks about satan - both that he didn't believe he existed, and that his greatest trick was convincing everyone of the same.
i was tripped out by the whole thing, but i didn't convert just yet. i finished my shift and went on to my other job across town. i was able to concentrate on my work, but i kept thinking about the events of earlier that day, and i kept thinking about peak oil. finally, near the end of the day, i asked my boss, a christian, if he believed in the evangelical interpretation of the book of revelation - did he think it would actually happen. he said absolutely, and not only that but it'd happen soon, and he went on to give some scriptural support of his belief - but i was too consumed by my own thoughts to really listen. then i told him that i thought something big was going to happen soon, too, and i gave a short explanation why.
he said, marcus, if God has put this weight on your heart, then maybe that's for a reason. as soon as he said that i burst into tears, sobbing. i just couldn't control myself. he said, if you want to come to Christ now, you can do that. i nodded, and he led me in a prayer. i was so overwhelmed, though, that i could only get the first couple lines out, though i repeated the rest of them in my head. as this happened, a fire came on me. it felt like i was bursting and vibrating with energy and light - it felt like i was incredibly, incredibly high. i was so overwhelmed that i left right off, i told him that i couldn't be there any more. i walked to my car, still full to the brim with the Spirit, still crying but this time in joy. the high, the highest i've ever been in my life, lasted about 30 minutes. the anxiety and dread of before had evaporated. i called some people who i knew would be happy to hear the good news, people i knew had been praying for me my whole life - like my grandma.
this is the first part of my story. i'm going to take a break now to get something to drink and catch up on the other questions on this thread.
Date: June 5th, 2005 12:43 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
lifelong, hardcore atheist until i started to flirt with christianity my sophomore year at st. john's. (it was helped along by the fact that i was desperately in love with a fundamentalist christian who would have nothing to do with me romantically since i was an unbeliever.)
that fell apart as soon as it became clear she and i could never be together, and i became agnostic (which is really just lukewarm atheism). i became an uncommitted theist earlier this year after a mushroom trip, and finally i converted a couple weeks ago.
i'll describe that up above in response to ncchinese.
Date: June 5th, 2005 1:00 AM Author: Charismatic Marketing Idea
DO you admit that the reason you have chosen xtianity and not Islam, Buddhism, Druidism, etc. is because you have been socially conditioned by our society to see xtianity as the only viable option? Doesn't this detract from the legitimacy of your faith?
Date: June 5th, 2005 2:01 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
many people have abandoned their native ways for the christian way. and many people in our society have taken different paths - until recently i was one of them.
i see your basic point, but i don't think it detracts from the legitimacy of my faith.
Date: June 5th, 2005 2:36 AM Author: sticky property
you heard some songs, a dude rattled a PVC pipe, and you asked someone you knew (likely to be christian given that this is the US) about revelation.
so why aren't you a jehovah's witness? or a mormon? or a 7th day adventist? or a pentacostal?
but more importantly, do you think you experience was somehow special, or were you merely filtering through the lens you had established for youself?
give me a religion and some background knowledge, and i'll bet you i can come up with a set of circumstances for nearly any day of my life just as good as yours.
the bottom line is you wanted to believe something and found a set of occurances that fit your predetermined objective.
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:01 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
>> so why aren't you a jehovah's witness? or a mormon? or a 7th day adventist? or a pentacostal?
who knows? maybe i am one of these things. but after my experience, my first impulse was to want to start reading the bible and become closer to God, not to find a particular group to belong to.
>> but more importantly, do you think you experience was somehow special, or were you merely filtering through the lens you had established for youself?
i'm not sure what this means. but i do think my experience was special. no christian i've talked to has gone through anything so dramatic.
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:10 AM Author: Well-lubricated cyan incel tattoo
People can achieve amazing states of joy and exhilaration through meditation. You achieved such a state and you felt that it was the Spirit coming in to your heart because a little earlier you had asked God for a "nudge."
It could be a simple misinterpretation of the cause of the event on your part.
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:25 AM Author: sticky property
bullshit.
you were "pretty distressed about peak oil and its implications" and came up with a expectation you could satisfy to your psychological benefit by selectively interpreting information: "if you're up there, please, just nudge me over the edge."
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:31 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
do you have a better interpretation for the events that followed? they were all meaningless, i suppose - the product of random chance. or perhaps i hallucinated it all because i so dearly wanted to.
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:34 AM Author: sticky property
better interpretation? uhm, yes, i've already offered it.
people give meaning to experiences. you chose to give them a particular meaning. there was no intrinsic meaning.
it's not hallucination. that's observing or experiencing things that have no external stimulus. i'm not disputing PVC pipe and the existence of fm radio.
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:37 AM Author: Spectacular Church Building
i often have the same experience with dreams that 'come true' with deja vu. i think that it has something to do with selective interpretation, if a bit freaky.
sometimes, however, it does make you pause. for example, i was once in a vicious fight and at one point was lying on the concrete bleeding profusely from my face. when i finally came home hours later and woke up the next morning, my mom told me [before i told her what had happened] that she had a bad dream where she could see me lying on the ground with something in my chest-- a dream that she had never had before.
so, i think that sometimes the subconscious can play tricks on us, and occasionally warn of us dire things borne from our own intuition, although i don't personally believe there is a divine component to it.
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:25 AM Author: Spectacular Church Building
yeah, or through even significantly 'lesser' events.
i got a huge euphoric rush after several episodes in my life, most recently being getting my LSAT back after, and if combined with some sort of serotogenic release [i assume that it was initally some sort of dopamine production], i'm pretty sure that my mind would be blown into space.
as i understand, MDA/MDMA, and the passion of true love, have signficantly similar effects too.
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:10 AM Author: sticky property
funny how you skipped that last part:
give me a religion and some background knowledge, and i'll bet you i can come up with a set of circumstances for nearly any day of my life just as good as yours.
the bottom line is you wanted to believe something and found a set of occurances that fit your predetermined objective.
Date: June 5th, 2005 1:04 AM Author: sienna crotch
Assuming you did this in the official way, do you feel that you believe more in the idea of a higher power now that you've taken the step to make religion so official in your life? Or were you always pretty sure that God or something like that was out there?
Date: June 5th, 2005 2:04 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
i've already answered this here.
but yes, of course i 'believe more in the idea of a higher power now'. moreover, the 'official' status of 'religion' in my life doesn't really concern me. what concerns me is being obedient to God and better coming to know Him through Christ.
Date: June 5th, 2005 1:30 AM Author: Fragrant Resort Pocket Flask
I've considered becoming a Christian before, though I'm firmly atheist. Religious people are happier on average than non-religious people. It's worth a shot, anyway.
Date: June 5th, 2005 1:35 AM Author: comical electric furnace
It's not just happiness.
It's also about having a metaphorical compass. You will always know where your "north" is, so it will be easy for you make up your mind when it comes to things like politics, and morality.
Sounds cheesy, but you will be surprised how many people have a hard time finding out where they stand on certain issues.
Date: June 5th, 2005 1:40 AM Author: Fragrant Resort Pocket Flask
I don't have a hard time making up my mind on things like politics and morality. I simply don't care about most of it.
One thing that depressed people often have in common is that they have a more realistic, less sanguine view of the world and themselves. That's why they're depressed. If living in a fantasy world can make you, on the whole, a happier individual, to no detriment at all, it might just be worth doing.
Date: June 5th, 2005 2:09 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
it's not the kind of thing you consider believing or not. it's not about adopting a set of propositions such as 'Jesus Christ is the Son of God' or 'we are all sinful'. it's about that 'personal relationship' you hear so much about, a mystical sort of communion with and growth in God. the doctrinal stuff follows.
you can't understand it if you're not there already, and i'm not sure how much choice we really have in it.
Date: June 5th, 2005 2:13 AM Author: Fragrant Resort Pocket Flask
I know all that. I'd start by going to church, being more open to the message, and praying. Hopefully something would take root after a while, and I'd will myself into genuinely believing. I may try it at some point.
Date: June 5th, 2005 2:14 AM Author: Well-lubricated cyan incel tattoo
"'deep down i've always wanted to believe but i've never been able to. if you're up there, please, just nudge me over the edge. i could really use it right now'.
I think you would benefit from learning about Vedanta, Thersites. You sound like a person who was afraid and thus you have resorted to belief. If there is one word that you find coming out like a bomb from the Upanishads, bursting like a bombshell upon masses of ignorance, it is the word, fearlessness. Vedanta leads you to joy and fearlessness. You learn to enjoy every moment of your life, no matter what happens.
However, instead of demanding faith and belief, Vedanta calls upon us to understand. It is composed not of doctrines, but of teachings meant to lead us to a deeper understanding of ourselves. For me, an orientation emphasizing knowledge rather than belief is crucial.
PS: Just to make the distinction between knowledge and belief: You know that you are in front of a monitor but you may believe the Bible is infallible. Whatever is present in your own experience cannot be a matter of belief. On the other hand, what we cannot experience is a matter of faith.
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:46 AM Author: flesh dopamine pozpig
I did a quick Google search but that's all. I just find it incredibly funny that the OP found religion and you responded with "Congrats, here try another" the way somebody tries out new foods or drugs.
Date: June 5th, 2005 4:01 AM Author: Well-lubricated cyan incel tattoo
Oh, I see the humor in that.
To me, a religion is a system of of beliefs, so Vedanta doesn't qualify as religion. Vedanta is means of knowledge, a method for leading you to discover the truth of yourself. Vedanta isn't a religion any more than calculus is.
Date: June 5th, 2005 2:38 AM Author: Coral mind-boggling hissy fit stage
if you think that makes me a heartless bitch, you're a pussy bitch. If his dog died, I would let him cry on my shoulder if he wanted to. Men who cry for no good reason, on the ohter hand, are gross.
Date: June 5th, 2005 2:50 AM Author: walnut business firm
I am the original calm. However, there is at least one other person posting under my account simultaneously and that person posted the Mandy loser fucker thread.
Date: June 5th, 2005 2:27 AM Author: Coral mind-boggling hissy fit stage
I'm just curious, do any christians after reading his story kind of feel about him the way that atheists feel about, say, nazi atheists? Is there part of you that's thinking "please, don't let this guy be one of us, it's just embarassing"?
Date: June 5th, 2005 2:43 AM Author: Well-lubricated cyan incel tattoo
I actually have heard another story like this:
This teenage girl was in her bedroom, depressed and talking to God. She told God she wanted to believe and asked for a sign. Then "Forever Young" comes on the radio and she's like "OMG!!! That's my favorite song!! It's a sign!"
Date: June 5th, 2005 2:41 AM Author: Spectacular Church Building
Actually from the anecdotal evidence i have gathered, this is how a lot of people convert to Christianity-- some inherent deep-seated belief that blossoms after a spiritual event.
I used to argue with Christians a lot but after reflecting on it a bit I just realized that people are going to believe what they're going to believe, and no persuasion [either towards religion or against] is going to change that. It just tends to introduce tension without any net benefit.
Date: June 5th, 2005 2:47 AM Author: sticky property
"The Earth is degenerating today. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer obey their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching."
i learned that from some assyrian tablet written in 2800 bce
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:34 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
there are some good reasons, actually, but i'm not going to debate them.
i said elsewhere on the thread that i don't know when the return will be. it's perfectly likely that it won't happen in our lifetimes. nevertheless i think it might.
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:57 AM Author: flesh dopamine pozpig
You should have done debate in high school to stock up on an endless supply of doomsday scenarios, and an equal number of counterarguments.
I for one welcome this peak oil scenario as it will finally shock some sense into our energy policy (and everybody else's, esp. China). Your site's discussion of energy alternatives is really weak. Sure, the alternatives might not look so great now, but I'd bet they'll be a whole lot better once we're motivated to seriously pursue them. Look how much this country accomplished technologically when we thought we were on the brink of nuclear annihilation. I'm sure there will be some rough periods but ultimately we and our kids will be better off for it.
But hey, I'm not going to knock religion as a backup plan.
Date: June 5th, 2005 4:22 AM Author: flesh dopamine pozpig
Nuclear energy, to take one example. Its main obstacle is bad PR, which will ease considerably once people get tired of eating in the dark. The site's main criticism is that we'll run out of uranium. This of course doesn't consider alternative nuclear fuels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power#Fuel_resources
I haven't researched this, but there's probably a substantial connection between doomsday theories and cultlike behavior. You get dissatisfied with life, and you take this out on some aspect of the society/economy/etc. You want to believe that you alone understand the world and thus the source of your dissatisfaction. Then, of the legions of would-be prophets who proclaim varying explanations, you run across one whose voice matches your preformed beliefs and seize on it, ignoring or dismissing all evidence to the contrary.
I don't have anything against Christianity, but I just suspect your faith in it is not unlike your attachment to this peak oil thing.
Date: June 5th, 2005 4:38 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
nuclear energy will definitely start to supplant dwindling electricity production (though according to president bush our future is in coal). but electricity production is a small part of our energy consumption. uranium will not power our cars or trucks or factories or airplanes or militaries.
the hubbert theory criticisms you linked aren't very convincing. in fact, most of them aren't criticisms at all.
i understand your suspicion, but it's not the case.
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:49 AM Author: sticky property
no. i have a logical antipathy to it. you strung a bunch of shit together and concluded that it must have been for a predetermined purpose, and you had no reason for that other than your own desire to see that sign.
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:52 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
you have both a logical and emotional antipathy to it. you're taking the most ridiculous sounding parts of my narrative and trying to make them sound even more ridiculous. you either suffer poor reading comprehension or you're intellectually dishonest: i stated explicitly that i didn't attach any significance to the PVC.
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:53 AM Author: sticky property
you strung a bunch of shit together and concluded that it must have been for a predetermined purpose, and you had no reason for that other than your own desire to see that sign.
Date: June 5th, 2005 4:00 AM Author: sticky property
no, you dipshit. you're not responding at all. you're blabbering about various forms antipathy when it's irrelevant. so what if it's emotional antipathy? either way, you're still stringing stupid shit together. so what it it's logical antipathy? either way, you're still stringing stupid shit together.
you seem to have an uncanny knack for attributing meaning to the irrelevant -- in your story and now.
Date: June 5th, 2005 4:06 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
how is it irrelevant to point out that you're misrepresenting me? i'll admit, however, that it's not necessary to speculate on why that might be (being the emotional antipathy part).
as to my stringing stupid shit together, i already explained that it's not subject to debate. i know that it was meant for me and we both know that you won't convince me otherwise.
Date: June 5th, 2005 4:13 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
i don't know. i just do, and did.
and whether you attach meaning to it or not, you have to admit that that was a remarkable string of coincidences, considering what i had just been thinking.
Date: June 5th, 2005 4:04 AM Author: sticky property
you say: "he was holding a long PVC pipe in his hand, resembling a staff (the 'staff' was curved at one end). he banged it twice against the ground, yelling 'john!' each time (there's a guy in the dept. named john). i'm not sure what significance, if any, that had, but it added to the sort of surreal dream-quality state i remember being in at the time."
you also say: "stated explicitly that i didn't attach any significance to the PVC."
i say: you're a fucking liar, or you're unable to write and read worth a damn. first, your story says the significance was unknown. your later claim says there was no significance. did you change your mind in the middle of the thread? your story says the significance added to the surreality. why would it add to the surreality of the situation if it had no significance? why would it add to the surreality of the situation if you did not attribute meaning to the PVC banging nonsense?
They're almost universally either insane or silly. The silly ones are great. "I got cancer and survived so there must be a God." Except that tons of innocent little kids die of cancer, but whatever.
Date: June 5th, 2005 4:06 AM Author: Coral mind-boggling hissy fit stage
it's not that anyone doubts which songs were played on the radio, for example. It's that your conclusion and reaction is nutty. Face it, reality got too tough for you and you grabbed onto a flimsy set of coincidences and called them a "sign from god."
Date: June 5th, 2005 4:23 AM Author: Coral mind-boggling hissy fit stage
in regard to coincidences, the question is not "what about them was flimsy?" the question is "what about them *wasn't* flimsy?"
There was nothing in your story that was so unlikely as to qualify for "a sign from god." Not that it would matter if there was. There are billions of people in the world, wildly unlikely things are bound to happen. Furthermore, even if it was a "sign from god" how do you know it was the right god and how does such a sign make someone worthy of worship?
What if it was a sign from satan and you were meant to bring satanism back into the world (or at lest, bring more satanism into the world)? You could be going against your destiny!
Date: June 5th, 2005 4:44 AM Author: Coral mind-boggling hissy fit stage
I'm sorry. Do you bleieve you "waste them" by speaking them out loud? Do you also have problems with having your picture taken by any chance?
Satanism isn't as bad as you think. Most real satanists (not the flaky goth kind) don't think they're evil, or that they're worshipping evil. They believe it's god that is evil and satan, with humanity's help, will someday rise against him.
At least they respect humanity, whereas christians, meh, not so much.
Date: June 5th, 2005 4:48 AM Author: Coral mind-boggling hissy fit stage
oh. well that's always a good sign.
If you need it, or if you even like it, go for it. There's nothing wrong with religion in and of itself. Just don't do anything weird and mess up your life, or other peopel's lives.
Date: June 5th, 2005 3:55 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
i know plenty of people who were, or are. more people will get that way when they see the writing on the wall.
but to answer your question, i think it's because the implications are so horrendous, and the whole idea so foreign to everything we've ever known, that we refuse to believe out of some kind of cognitive dissonance. either that or we dismiss it because of all those who have cried wolf before.
Date: June 5th, 2005 7:00 AM Author: Big Internet-worthy Cuckold Background Story
HAHAHAHA. no seriously man, think of all the money you could make off of this:
when crude oil goes up, take a long position on the religious stocks. my pick for large caps: Catholicism (VAT). for small caps: Evangelical Baptist (EBAP).
Date: June 5th, 2005 5:01 AM Author: carmine vengeful party of the first part
You know, I am, seriously, a Christian, so I'm sorry if this isn't just flamebait... but wow, that story with the PVC pipe prophet and whatnot was absolutely hilarious.
Whatever else, you've brought some joy into my life today.
Date: June 5th, 2005 11:08 AM Author: ivory curious athletic conference
Thread is too long to consider reading, Ill just congratulate you for making a decision to let go and follow the path that has been proscribed for you, whatever that may be.
Date: June 5th, 2005 11:12 AM Author: Unhinged Space Trust Fund
Interesting enough..... i just recently lost my faith. This coming from a guy who never would think to even question his faith. And not only has my faith been severly tested these past couple of years, but i've given up on it and don't know if i'll ever get it back.
Date: June 5th, 2005 11:42 AM Author: Unhinged Space Trust Fund
life really sucks for me right now. and has for sometime. Whenever i used to ask why i have been forsaken, something else bad would come. And so i can't get a break, or whatever. So i decided that something had to give. It was a long, hard and thougtout decision to turn my back on my religion, but I did and it's done.
i am so near that feeling...i am starting to believe that ther is no god at all, that everything is just run by physics and that this idea of a "caring god" is just evolution doing what evolution does without any caring about me personally or individually and that the only perosn that truly cares about me is me, so wtf. Have a good time while you are here and just do the best you can.
(Weezy - sorry you have had a rotten time lately. I guess things can only get better from here)
Date: February 4th, 2006 12:52 AM Author: flesh dopamine pozpig
Did he ever post the second part of his story? I bet it'd be like a disappointing movie sequel, because it's pretty hard to top a PVC pipe and a witch.
Date: February 4th, 2006 3:55 AM Author: puce candlestick maker
i have mixed feelings about them. part of me is embarrassed about them, but part of me is nostalgic and grateful. for a time my life was very intense and very pure, and i've since lost that; i've fallen back into my wicked old ways - i've been losing the struggle to be holy and chaste, and i honestly fear my eternal wellbeing hangs in the balance.
my core beliefs remain unchanged, only my devotion to them has faltered. it's a radically different way of living when you feel the presence of God, when you pray and you know He's listening, when He shares your joys and suffering. it's very rich and full of life and purpose, but now my life is colder and more detached and secular and dead, like it used to be. these modes of being are very distinct from each other...there will never be understanding between true believers and the elite, secular society this board represents, because they're really living on two different planets.
as to the experiences themselves, i'm still not sure what to make of them. was i merely mentally ill - i have been diagnosed with schizophrenia - or was i really touched by a divine finger? i vacillate between the two positions without a firm conviction in either direction. it may be that both are true.
Date: February 4th, 2006 4:14 AM Author: Lascivious Multi-billionaire Preventive Strike
thanks for the interesting response. regarding your diagnosis of schizophrenia. i went to a panel discussion on the utility of dsm-iv recently. one of the speakers was heavily involved in the making of it. it turns out that dsm iv's utility isn't so much for diagnosis, but to ensure that people in diverse clinical and research settings share the same language so they can communicate with each other. as a diagnostic tool, "it stinks" per the speaker. i bring this up because it sounds like you might have had features in the past that were also found in people who have impaired function in current societies. but that doesn't mean that it was always that way, that such people would always have been considered dysfunctional. there's some debate about whether blake had a touch of schizophrenia. christopher smart almost certainly did. it's probable that many old testament prophets, if they were alive now, would be receiving treatment as schizophrenics.
it can be very tough to reconcile a strong subjective experience with the common sense world view. paul had one such experience that was enough to transform his life and put his life on an entirely different trajectory. of course, from a current psychiatric standpoint, he was delusional or had suffered a brief psychotic disorder.
Date: August 30th, 2006 7:38 AM Author: Electric puppy
Oh man... I just realized that this is old. I thought Id lost a friend. Thersites, regarding your scizophrenia (cant spell it), thats rough, I hope you remain in good health.
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As per God et al., well more specifically related to the bible, it just goes against any reasonable or rather logical view of our universe and our existance. There is nothing wrong with believing strongly in something, just as long as it doesnt require "faith," the antithesis to logic.
Date: November 15th, 2006 8:34 PM Author: flesh dopamine pozpig
"Today, the Cambridge Energy Research Associates released a report dismissing the Peak Oil theory, suggesting that world oil production will continue to increase for the next 24 years, and then only level into a plateau. The report, which suggests that world reserves are enough to last 122 years at our current rate of consumption, also blasts Peak Oil theorists for repeatedly making unscientific predictions and then shifting them whenever their predictions fail to materialize."
However, all “western” nations, (with the exception of Norway and Canada) are net oil importers. For these nations, decreasing energy levels in their economies will mean decreasing economic activity.