And now for an important announcement from the New York Blood Center:
NEW YORK, NY, OCTOBER 24, 2006 - With the busy, year-end holiday season fast approaching, New York Blood Center (NYBC) is urging everyone eligible to consider giving the best gift of all this holiday season - the gift of life - with a blood or platelet donation.
"A safe and adequate blood supply is essential to the health of any community," reports Dr. Robert Jones, NYBC President & CEO. "That's especially true in the holiday season as travel and the potential for accidents increases. Yet the holiday season also historically sees fewer donations and severe blood shortages. Therefore, we are asking all eligible residents of the greater New York/New Jersey community to help prevent a year-end blood shortage by giving a 'one size fits all' gift with no shopping required."
Who Can & Should Donate?
Eligible donors include those people at least age 16 (in NY) or 17 (in NJ) who weigh a minimum of 110 pounds, are in good health and meet all Food & Drug Administration and NY and NJ State Department of Health donor criteria. "The reality is less than 2% of people in our local community donates, which is far behind the nationwide blood donor participation rate of 5%," pointed out Dr. Jones. "We also need greater diversity within our donor base here in New York and New Jersey so we can better match the very precise transfusion needs of chronically transfused patients and those with uniquely inherited blood antigen patterns," added Dr. Jones.
I try to donate blood about three or four times per year and made a donation this morning. I strongly encourage anyone who is eligible to donate blood but has not done so to make an effort to donate this holiday season. It generally takes about an hour to an hour and a half, starting with the completion of the screening form, meeting with a medical screener, and then the actual donation of the blood itself, which itself takes no more than fifteen minutes.
Some of the questions on the questionnaire are very personal, and for me, the most irksome is the one that asks if you have ever had sex with someone who lives in, or was born in Africa. Being the honest person that I am, I have to explain to the screener that more than ten years ago I had a girlfriend who was born in Ivory Coast but grew up in France. Ivory Coast is not on the list of problem countries, but most of the screeners have to consult their manual to verify this. It’s not really that big a deal, it just delays the screening interview and examination (they do take your blood pressure, temperature, pulse, and prick your finger to get a drop of blood to test your iron levels) for a minute or so.
I imagine that most people shy away from donating blood because they do not like to have such a big needle inserted into their arm. Personally, I am not phased by the needle, and in fact I use reverse psychology on myself by eagerly anticipating the needle penetrating my skin. Yeah, I know, it's crazy, but it works for me. And for those who might need something more tangible than just the feeling that you are doing something good for the community, sometimes the Blood Center will offer small materialistic benefits like gift cards. For my donation today, I will be getting a $10.00 gift card for Barnes & Noble. When I receive it in the mail, maybe I will use it towards Richard Dawkins’ new book “The God Delusion”.
149 comments:
tommy - that is going to be a great gift to yourself. Dawkins, Harris and Dennett are essential to everyone's library.
As for giving blood, I am on medication that makes that impossible for me...but my hubby gives whenever he can. It is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give. I had to have a blood transfusion after a miscarriage long ago...and my preemie daughter needed regular transfusions after she was born so I know firsthand just how important giving blood is. Good post.
Tommy - I don't know if you have seen this website...it's The World of Richard Dawkins: Evolution, Science and Reason(I have the link on my blog).
Hi Stardust.
Thanks for the link. I have been to the Dawkins site several times now.
Wow, I got my gift card already! That was really fast, as I only donated four days ago.
Tommy - Wow...that WAS fast! Now you can go buy Dawkin's book! :-D
I have been reading Carl Sagan's The Dragon's of Eden: Speculation on the Evolution of Human Intelligence. Have you read that one? It's an older book, copyright 1977. I like the quote from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness that he includes for the preface of chapter 8:
The mind of man is capable of anything -- because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future.
And I would add that would include mythologies and superstitious beliefs which have been passed down from one generation to another, altered and reinterpreted in so many ways. These beliefs which have been altered with the passing of time according to the needs of those in power from one generation to the next, from one society to another, from one culture mixed with another. Some of us have evolved completely beyond the need for religion, and some had never had that need to begin with.
Humankind will only become truly civilized when they give up the belief that mythology is true or real. It will not eliminate war or the desire for power, but at least people won't be killing each other over some sort of absurd mythological beliefs or who has the true imaginary sky daddy on their side.
NOOOOOOO!
Don't waste your gift card on Richard Dawkins!
:%s/Richard Dawkins/Nickelback/g
I was able to get "The God Delusion" today on my lunchbreak. Between the $10 gift card and my 40% off Barnes & Noble discount membership, I ended up shelling out only about $6 of my own money for the book. Now that's a pretty good deal!
Symbolic of what Sable?
The gift card was incidental to my donating in that I would have donated even if there was no gift card to be had.
Plus, with my B&N discount, I would have gotten 40% off the book anyway and it would have still cost a mere $16 and change.
Tommy you make it sound like you used blood money to buy Dawkins' book. Just sounds so symbolic don't you think?
I didn't see anything like this in what Tommy said, what-so-ever.
It figures that xians would take something simple and good as giving blood and try to turn it into something "symbolically" bad.
I don't see how Tommy choosing to buy a Dawkins book lessens his generous act of helping others via donating blood. If there is anything symbolically good to be found in this whole thing, is that Tommy is a good person, who did a good thing and is also very happy to be getting a new book to read. Geesh!
Tommy...I see that you have become chicken lady's new obsession. ;) You have more patience than others have had with her.
It would have been really ironic if I had bought Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ" instead, using a gift card I got for donating blood to buy a book written to support belieft in a savior who purportedly told his apostles to drink his blood. How would that be for symbolic?
It's okay. Sable is always welcome here as long as she is respectful and I try to reciprocate the same respect. If I can't change her mind about Biblical literalism, I like to think that at least I make her think about it.
It's okay. Sable is always welcome here as long as she is respectful and I try to reciprocate the same respect. If I can't change her mind about Biblical literalism, I like to think that at least I make her think about it.
After that hard-hitting comparison of Christianity to Mahayana Buddhism and Hinduism (esp. as per the Upanishads), I wonder if she'll be making any further visits.
After that hard-hitting comparison of Christianity to Mahayana Buddhism and Hinduism (esp. as per the Upanishads), I wonder if she'll be making any further visits.
Theerasak Photha - Sable always comes back unless she ends up being banned from somewhere (she is on a mission from god), and sometimes under another name or several names, even anonymous and she sometimes plays pranks. I have had an unfortunate dealing with her before and she tried to play me for a fool under her anonymous pseudonym when I was having a long debate with her here.
She might even take sides as the opposition and then get conversation going that way. She is a tricky chicky.
Tommy - I will say no more out of respect for your wishes, but as a fellow atheist who I enjoy having visit my blog, and whose blog I love to read, I felt I should explain myself about sable. Maybe she will "see the light" of reason via your blog, but I seriously doubt it. Lawd knows, no one else has succeeded yet, except for becoming frustrated with her. Good luck.
sable...no, I don't hate you. I don't even know you. If you knew me you would know that it isn't in me to hate people for merely disagreeing with me.
As for your visits to GifS and my stardust blog, if you are honest, you will know there was a lot more involved than what you want to admit. You chose to ignore comment policies at GifS and loved to antagonize, and that little deceitful trick you pulled on me left you laughing once I realized who you were, didn't it? I must admit, that did anger me as it would anyone else. I don't go messing with you on your blog, yet you come and mess with me at mine. I try to keep things civil there, and that is why you were banned from mine. I don't ordinarily make it a habit to ban people.
I am not frustrated with xianity or god because I cannot be frustrated with xianity or a god that is only mythology and does not exist except in the minds of humans who wish to believe it.
We live in a country where people are supposed to be free to believe whatever they do, yet religious folks will not be content with allowing others that freedom. They wish to take away that freedom to choose and be who we are and your mission is to try to assimilate everyone while having zero respect for others who are different from yourself.
I guess you could say my mission is to keep religion at bay, to keep it out of our secular government and out of my life. It is my mission to spread little seeds of doubt, little seeds of rationality and to encourage people to consider other possibilities.
I spent more than 30 years as a xian and I wasn't merely an Easter and Xmas xian, I was a full-time, involved believer, so I have experienced your religion and finally woke up and saw it for what it is. A mythological coping device for dealing with death and life's problems. If you need it fine, but it seems that by coming to atheist blogs, and trying to convert a small amount of people you are showing your own doubt and curiosity.
Why do you think about it so much? If it is not real to you why do you spend so much time bashing something that is nothing?
Because it's always you are always shoving your mythology into our lives...you are always in our faces and we cannot ignore it. You knock on our doors, visit our blogs, shove tracts at us on the streets, plant your literature in medical offices, hospitals, hotels, airports...EVERYWHERE. When is the last time you had an atheist come to your door and wake you up on a Saturday morning to tell you that you are going to experience eternal torture and suffering for not giving up your god delusions? Xians just refuse to back off and let people live their lives. It's as though if even one doubter or non-believer remains, it is a threat to your fantasies. Xians behave as if they are on a game show and are going to win some super prize for converting the most people to Jeebus.
Theerasak Photha,
Don't be patting yourself on the back to much for the "hard-hitting comparison", I'm not sold on it.
I'm still wondering and waiting for you to tell me where the hope is for the tree cutter. If you bring Buddhism to it's logical end, there is no way to not sin and one must live out the wrongs of the past life in the future life without any hope of redemption.
I didn't SAY I liked Buddhism the religion. Otherwise, I would still practice it as I did in my childhood. One of your problems is that you seem to confuse your FEELINGS about issues with FACTS about issues. I don't give a damn how you FEEL about Buddhism.
Regardless what I think about how fair any sect of Buddhism of Hinduism is (they aren't), Christianity still rips off the doctrines of Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism lock, stock, and barrel, period.
Theerasak Photha said...
"Christianity still rips off the doctrines of Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism lock, stock, and barrel, period."
Well go ahead tell me how it does that.
I explained this thoroughly already.
But let's recapitulate:
I observed one of many similarities between Mahayana Buddhism and Christianity (salvation through faith rather than कर्म), and after doing half-assed research with biased eyes on this matter, you concluded that it was Mahayana Buddhism that drew inspiration from Christianity, which is TACIT ADMISSION that the similarities hold up.
I then pointed out that Mahayana Buddhism is older than Christianity by at least one century, and the Buddhist and Hindu traditions it's based on are far older than that.
You also made the contradictory suggestions that absorption of Northern European paganism glorifies Christianity, whereas (alleged) absorption of Christianity by Buddhism also glorifies Christianity. (Which actually happened the other way around; see above.) Either the donor or recipient get the glory; it can't be both.
You can't have your cake and eat it, too.
Just for the record, I said:
And if you read about Indic and Northern European paganism while not hell bent on proving me wrong, you'll find that Mahayana Buddhism and, literally, ALL of the concepts that distinguish Christianity from Judaism---salvation through faith, a personal God, the concept of being born again ('twice-born' for Brahmins and Kshatriyas), avatars, holy trinity, the Second Coming, EVERYTHING---come from either Hinduism or (Mahayana) Buddhism.
You'll also find that Heimdal kicks ass.
BTW, this is a picture of Kalki, the last avatar ('coming') of Vishnu who will ride in on a pale horse at the end of the wicked Kali Yuga we live in and slay the wicked, inaugurating a new era of righteousness. Does the story sound familiar? It should.
Is this the trinity that you are talking about? It is not like the Trinity of the Bible doctrine. One God, revealed in three personages. Father, Son (Jesus Christ) and Holy Spirit. The three persons of the Godhead are coequal and co-eternal The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not forms of God, each of them is God.
No, I had the Hindu Trimurti (Sanskrit for 'three images') in mind, which is WAY like the Trinity. Pagans of all kinds have been worshipping gods (or, more appropriately in this case, manifestations of God) in threes since the beginning of history. If you were genuinely interested in the subject matter, and not just consulting Google in a feeble attempt to prove me wrong, you might have guessed I had the Trimurti in mind already.
Notice that the only aspect of the Christian Trinity that takes the shape of a man is the Son, who serves the role of the Preserver. Notice also that Vishnu is a spitting image of this role in Hindu Trimurti. (See link to Kalki Avatar of Vishnu above.)
Now, what is the Sanskrit word for 'sk00l3d'?
Do you really believe this? Atheism is looking pretty religious from my angle. Especially when it comes to being evangalistic. Your mission to spread little seeds of doubt! And this is followed up with a government that uses tax money to permeat public school textbooks with false and fraudulent information simply to promote their religious world view and stop our kids from critical thinking. The Theory of Evolution is mass indoctrination.
Blind faith is critical thinking?
I think we covered about two hours worth of material on evolution in my Bio class, and I took Advanced Placement. Hardly what you'd call brainwashing or indoctrination.
I learned about evolution ON MY OWN and rejected the bullshit religion that I grew up on because I can THINK CRITICALLY just fine.
Don't confuse feeling strongly about an issue---especially when right-wing religious nuts get tangled in it---with religious belief. Otherwise, the Danish ban on immigration of radical Muslim kooks, who are Young Earth Creationists just like you could be considered a 'religious' action.
Science has done more good for humans than religion ever will, and two hands working will always do more than a thousand clasped in prayer.
I think we covered about two hours worth of material on evolution in my Bio class, and I took Advanced Placement. Hardly what you'd call brainwashing or indoctrination.
Probably less than two hours, now that I think of it. I'm not even sure if the AP Bio exam had a question about evolution on it!
In the Bizarro world wingnuts live in, being force-fed dogmata from childhood onwards isn't indoctrination, whereas fleeting mention of an important biological concept in schools is.
Most children in American high schools probably learn very little from science classes of any kind, so I wouldn't get my panties in a knot over it if I were you.
The real problem is GodforSuckers can't play fair and they are the ones who are being antagonizing to people that believe in any kind of god. Really now, there are many times when you guys push it beyond the limit.
GifS considers itself to be a place where atheists can come together and discuss a variety of issues from the atheist perspective. It is an AHTEIST site, so that is what you are going to get when you go there repeatedly and persistenly tell a group of atheists that your sky daddy is real with absolutely zero evidence to back up your claim. No one there is looking to be converted back to jeebus...we have all been there, done that,,,and rejected it.
If you really read anything there, there is a lot of in-depth and serious discussion and debate on a variety of topics and issues...it isn't all about anti-religion...if you would actually read instead of merely drive-by proseltyzing, you would know that. My blog has lots of other interesting topics as well...and I like looking at things with a bit of humor often. There are lots of other things to talk about in life besides xian mythology and YOUR beliefs. Xians are so self-centered that way.
When a xian comes to an atheist blog and starts proseltyzing and is persistent about it, it becomes annoying. You are trying to claim innocence on your part, and you know the truth that you are far from innocent and did your fair share of antagonizing. Sean got angry with you for a reason. I should point out that he was friends with xians like Dena, and Kidwartha and others who respected his right to not believe.
Persistently pushing your religion on an atheist blog where the rules are clearly stated is indeed antagonistic. Xians are not automatically banned for merely stating they are xians and you darn well know that, sable.
I, as most of the mods at GifS do not frequent xian blogs. I have commented on your blog ZERO times. I am not looking for anything at a xian site. I responded at Dani's blog because she directly was addressing me in a post and I felt need to respond to that. However, I have not been back since, and do not intend to go back. But, you, Dani and others sure keep making the rounds on atheist blogs and never let up even when you know how adamently we feel, then cry persecution when we firmly disagree with you and demand proof for your claims.
That is one of the things I dislike most about atheism...I don't think you care what my personal life is like.
You know sable...I do know that you haven't had a real easy life from what you have let be known to others. Don't tell me about not caring when I helped my dear sister care for her young dying husband who suffered and withered away from ALS, when I lost two babies, when I lost loved ones, when I suffer from incurable and painful illnesses. I don't dwell on it and live the best I can and do not feel sorry for myself. I have lead a good life, and things could always be worse. Life has been GOOD to me and I NEVER want anyone to feel sorry for me. I have friends and family who are an awesome support system.
As for xians being concerned about others, most xians who pass through my blog and GifS are mostly concerned about validating their own beliefs via trying to convince atheists that the mythology is real. They are death and afterlife obsesses instead of living in the here and now.
As for the other stuff you said, you are either trying to flame bait me, or are beating a dead horse...I will not get sucked into all that again with you, especially here. Read through my archives and you will find out where I have already addressed those issues you have mentioned for the millionth time.
I will not be taking up any more space on Tommy's blog debating all this with you any further.
Wow, these comments sure went off on a tangent!
It started out about donating blood and using a B&N gift card to help pay for Dawkins' new book, and now its morphed into comparisons between Christian and Buddhist trinities and GIFS comment policy.
Personally, I hope every Christian on the Net comes here to visit. In the immortal words of George Bush, I say "Bring em on!"
Wow, these comments sure went off on a tangent!
Sorry Tommy, I apologize for hijacking your blog.
It started out about donating blood and using a B&N gift card to help pay for Dawkins' new book, and now its morphed into comparisons between Christian and Buddhist trinities and GIFS comment policy.
s/Buddhist/Hindu/g
No, it's okay Stardust.
You and Sable are both right. We really do not know each other. What we encounter of each other in forums like this is our passionate opinions and beliefs about religion and politics and so forth. But these things represent just a fraction of who we are as people and sometimes we need to take a step back and remember that.
GIFS, Evangelical Atheist and other such free thought blogs are essentially forums where we can get together as a sort of atheist community and I like to frequent these sites and share my thoughts and read what you and others have to say.
My faint hope with my site is to be able to offer my take on Christianity, Islam (yes, I will eventually attempt to tackle the Quran and the religion of "peace" once I am through with the Bible) and read what Christians have to say in response to what I write and for myself and other atheists such as yourself to have a civil debate. I deliberately chose the name for my blog because maybe my efforts are an exercise in futility, but I believe it is an effort that is at least worth trying.
Okay, now I gotta get to bed so I am not superlate for work tomorrow. Good night y'all!
But these things represent just a fraction of who we are as people and sometimes we need to take a step back and remember that.
For my part, I consist primarily of hot gas with a minimal object-oriented Scheme dialect to bind it all together.
I may be an Evil Clown, but you're an Artful Dodger.
Actually, I think I'm more of a Tireless Rebutter.
What's with Xians and their love of poop and barley cakes?
I see you have nothing to say about the Trimurti.
Don't worry, the Hindu Hell you are inevitably going to is only transient. This headmaster guy makes you bathe in a jar of boiling oil for a while and then you get a second (third, fourth, etc. as necessary) chance afterwards.
It's nutty good...you got to love those old prophets they would do anything for God.
This marks a descent from the ridiculous to...well...I don't even know what.
I don't no what to say about it...they have nice peacocks...?
That would be the Hindu Trinity the Christians co-opted, remember?
All I can say to that is "Jesus save me!"
Well, sure, there are infinitely many paths to accepting Krishna as your Lord and Saviour. And it thus follows that you practice a religion which so heavily 'draws from' various kinds of paganism.
What's with atheist and their love for angry evil clowns, man you scare me.
No scarier than a guy with a crown of thorns shoved on his head, dripping blood and nailed to a Roman execution device dying a slow death.
There ain't nuthin scarier than the tall man from Phantasm!
Talking about scary things, the whole resurrection thing made me scared as a kid. I often had nightmares of my dead grandmother, grandfather and other relatives sitting up in their coffins and coming back to life and coming to get me as I ran away from them screaming and crying for them to stay away. I had these dreams till I left xianity...isn't it weird they stopped after I let go of morbid xianity?
An all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good god should not have to resort to such violent and horrible nightmarish ways to show his "love" for his creations. The whole raping a virgin, torturing and killing his own son and bringing back the dead stuff is extremely asburd as any other man-made mytholgies.
The gods of mythology are always tormenting, torturing, and doing all kinds of bizarre things to their creations...and each other. Look at the myth of Sisyphus who was condemned to roll a stone up and down a hill for eternity, the myth of Isis and Orisis, the myth of Prometheus who was chained to a rock while having his liver repeatedly torn out by a bird, look at Cronos who ate his own children. The xian mythology is equally bizarre...and while world mythologies are interesting, it IS pretty nutty to actually believe any mythology is real.
Sable, you neglect to include the entire of Dawkins letter so I cannot judge the merits of what he wrote 100%. But the article you pasted here, I note, comes from a site called lifesitenews.com, which I take to be a Christian website.
It is quite obvious that they are wording their article to make it seem as if Dawkins is saying that Nazi science was legitimate and that therefore the Holocaust was justified. I know enough about Dawkins to know that he believes no such thing.
His essential point is probably correct, if you can raise certain species to promote a desirable characteristic, then it is probably also possible to do so with humans. However, I do not believe he is advocating that we set up breeding farms to create humans who are faster runners or better mathematicians. Where he talks about the Nazis, again I am putting this out without having read the full of Dawkins letter, is that critics of such ideas as selective breeding invariably equate such ideas with Nazism.
The lifesitenews article is clearly designed to push the buttons of evangelical Christians such as yourself to believe the very worst about your preconceived notions of Dawkins, and judging by your reaction, I would say that you fell for it hook, line and sinker.
OH! it that what you taught all the little kids in Sunday school?
Why would you be so shocked, sable? Your holy book also contains incest, pornography, genocide, murder, child killing, infanticide, and a host of other horrors that are taught to children in churches all over the world and no one thinks anything of it.
Of course I did not teach my sunday school kids that Mary was raped, since I was a xian at the time, but in reality isn't that what is being taught anyway? Mary was made pregnant by god without her permission, which was indeed rape...be it "supernatural implantation" or otherwise. I was making point to you that making a woman pregnant without her permission is rape. Any court of law would say it is.
A good review of Dawkins book:
From Scientific American
Richard Dawkins, in The God Delusion, tells of his exasperation with colleagues who try to play both sides of the street: looking to science for justification of their religious convictions while evading the most difficult implications—the existence of a prime mover sophisticated enough to create and run the universe, "to say nothing of mind reading millions of humans simultaneously." Such an entity, he argues, would have to be extremely complex, raising the question of how it came into existence, how it communicates —through spiritons!—and where it resides. Dawkins is frequently dismissed as a bully, but he is only putting theological doctrines to the same kind of scrutiny that any scientific theory must withstand. No one who has witnessed the merciless dissection of a new paper in physics would describe the atmosphere as overly polite.
George Johnson is author of Fire in the Mind: Science, Faith, and the Search for Order and six other books. He resides on the Web at talaya.net
sable, how many books of Richard Dawkins have you read yourself in their entirety?
Tommy - Here is the entire Dawkins letter. It seems he wasn't advocating anything, just raising the question for debate.
From the Afterword
IN THE 1920s and 1930s, scientists from both the political left and right would not have found the idea of designer babies particularly dangerous - though of course they would not have used that phrase. Today, I suspect that the idea is too dangerous for comfortable discussion, and my conjecture is that Adolf Hitler is responsible for the change.
Nobody wants to be caught agreeing with that monster, even in a single particular. The spectre of Hitler has led some scientists to stray from "ought" to "is" and deny that breeding for human qualities is even possible. But if you can breed cattle for milk yield, horses for running speed, and dogs for herding skill, why on Earth should it be impossible to breed humans for mathematical, musical or athletic ability? Objections such as "these are not one-dimensional abilities" apply equally to cows, horses and dogs and never stopped anybody in practice.
I wonder whether, some 60 years after Hitler's death, we might at least venture to ask what the moral difference is between breeding for musical ability and forcing a child to take music lessons. Or why it is acceptable to train fast runners and high jumpers but not to breed them. I can think of some answers, and they are good ones, which would probably end up persuading me. But hasn't the time come when we should stop being frightened even to put the question?
Richard Dawkins is Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University
Your holy media also contains incest, pornography, genocide, murder, child killing, infanticide, homosexuality and a host of other horrors that are taught to children through TV adds all over the world and no one thinks anything of it.
Religion is supposed to be above all that. But it's not. That's my point.
I think it is a good thing to start teaching them what is right and wrong before the world does.
Would a sugar coated bible fit reality better?
One can teach a child right from wrong much better without the ancient book of horrors, without threats that something terrible is going to happen to them for some vague sin. I know some kids who were raised atheist their whole lives and are much better adults than the messed up grown children of xian friends and family members.
Your holy media also contains incest, pornography, genocide, murder, child killing, infanticide, homosexuality and a host of other horrors that are taught to children through TV adds all over the world and no one thinks anything of it.
Incest in television ads?
Breed-In: apply directly to the sibling
Breed-In: apply directly to the sibling
Breed-In: apply directly to the sibling
LOL!
You gotta be kidding me. I've never seen such histrionic, deluded rambling before, and I've seen wingnuts foam at the mouth about how global warming is a sham. What really disappoints me now isn't the paranoid psychotic screed you just issued; what disappoints me is that no one else bothered to call you on it.
Most of the media I tune into is on the radio, viz., NPR, WRN, and the BBC. Not much room for "incest, pornography, genocide, murder, child killing, and infanticide". (I'm eliding homosexuality from that list because I simply refuse to dignify your warped views about it.)
The only television shows I ever watch regularly are: the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, and Real Time with Bill Maher. However, none of the content on any of those programs comes even close to the screechy smorgasbard of baloney you just laid out for us. If you think the media here is bad, go to Germany and other EU countries where softcore erotica is advertised right in the television program guide.
:rollseyes:
Anyway, this is all besides the point. The point I so arduously carved out is that Christianity lifts the doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism, Hinduism, (and several kinds of European/Middle-Eastern paganism such as Mithraism and Norse mythology) wholesale.
I'm not going to let the issue go until you explicitly acknowledge these facts and stop babbling at me with non sequiturs. And I'll propagate it into other threads if necessary.
Your brother in Parabramhan,
Theerasak
One can teach a child right from wrong much better without the ancient book of horrors, without threats that something terrible is going to happen to them for some vague sin. I know some kids who were raised atheist their whole lives and are much better adults than the messed up grown children of xian friends and family members.
I wouldn't call myself a bastion of virtue, but I do have pretty simple tastes.
If I can put in a good day of work, eat a cheesesteak, code some Python and troll the evening away, I'm basically content. It's not like I peddle crack to toddlers or anything.
I'm not shocked, I'm just wondering if you think that the more outrageous you are in your discriptions, more likely I will fold under the mountains of the misrepresentations? ...or you just want to get me all worked up.
Are you doing a Borat impression or something? In any case, you appear to be blind to irony.
what the moral difference is between breeding for musical ability and forcing a child to take music lessons. Or why it is acceptable to train fast runners and high jumpers but not to breed them. I can think of some answers, and they are good ones, which would probably end up persuading me. But hasn't the time come when we should stop being frightened even to put the question?
After giving this some thought, breeding humans for a certain thing, and forcing them to do a certain thing both take the freedom to choose away from the individual. They are both morally wrong. Children should be exposed to a variety of things in the world, and given the freedom to explore and decide for themselves what they want to do with their lives.
Just to make you happy Theerasak Photha.
What sets Christianity apart from an
Eastern worldview?
I didn't say they were ONE AND THE SAME. I did, however, say that Christianity rips off Mahayana Buddhism, Hinduism, Mithraism, and Northern European paganism. The latter two aren't even Eastern.
The Lion King rips off Hamlet and Kimba the White Lion, but they're different, anyway.
If a religion is a pastiche of Judaism and a bunch of pagan religions, then how can it claim to be the One True Faith and disparage its own foundations?
Ultimately, resurrection and reincarnation can never be reconciled because the former is a historical fact while the latter is but a Hindu fantasy.
Historical fact? There is no contemporaneous record of Jesus Christ. The first time he was ever mentioned in any historical record was well after his alleged death.
What a pompous crock of shit.
Theerasak Photha
The foundations of Christianity go all the way back to the very beginning. God's chosen people kept messing up and dragging other beliefs and other god worshiping into their own. This has been a problem from the beginning, and we have been braking God's commandments by doing so.
Hinduism and its animist roots are WAAAAAAAY older than the Judaism of God's chosen people.
But hey, the Old Testament wasn't good enough for you, anyway.
You're missing the essential point: the adoption of belief in a personal God and salvation through faith didn't ADULTERATE Christianity, they CREATED Christianity out of Judaism.
In other words, if Mahayana Buddhism and Hinduism never existed, neither would your Xian faith.
Also: Jesus never existed.
The foundations of Christianity go all the way back to the very beginning. God's chosen people kept messing up and dragging other beliefs and other god worshiping into their own.
It's interesting you should say that, because the one God Abraham worshipped once belonged to a fairly large pantheon that included (*gasp*) Baal.
If I remember correctly, this god was called 'El'. So you are worshipping a pagan deity no matter how you try to spin it.
I worship 'Gozer'...LOL
The foundations of Christianity go all the way back to the very beginning. God's chosen people kept messing up and dragging other beliefs and other god worshiping into their own.
Actually sable...xianity is a combo of several mythologies. (I have studied world mytholgies at the university level -- it's one of my favorite subjects.) Each mythology takes from other mythologies to form new mythologies. Xianity is actually evolved from Mithraism, which paralleled xianity for some time.
Mithraism and Christianity - A Connection?
"For three centuries both religions ran parallel, Mithraism first becoming known to the Romans in 70 BC, Christianity following a century later, and it wasn’t until AD 377 that Christianity became sufficiently strong to suppress its former rival, although Mithraism was to remain a formidable opponent for some time after that, only slowly being forsaken by the people. It was only the absorption of many Mithraist ideas into Christianity which finally saw its downfall."
"The big turning point was brought about by the Congress of Nicaea in AD 325. Constantine, a great supporter of the Christian religion, although not converting to it until the time of his decease, gathered together 2,000 leading figures in the world of theology, the idea being to bring about the advent of Christianity as the official state religion of Rome. It was out of this assembly that Jesus was formally declared to be the Son of God, and Saviour of Mankind, another slain saviour god, bringing up the tally of slain god-men to seventeen, of which Mithra, together with such men as Bel and Osiris, was included."
"Had Constantine decided to retain Mithraism as the official state religion, instead of putting Christianity in its place, it would have been the latter that would have been obliterated. To Constantine however, Christianity had one great advantage, it preached that repentant sinners would be forgiven their sins, provided that they were converted Christians at the time of their Passing, and Constantine had much to be forgiven for, He personally did not convert to the new religion until he was on his death bed, the reason being that only sins committed following conversion were accountable, so all sins committed by a convert, prior to conversion, didn’t matter, and he could hardly have sinned too much whilst he was lying on his death bed. Mithraism could not offer the same comfort to a man like Constantine, who was regarded as being one of the worst mass-murderers of his time."
I mentioned Mithraism earlier as well. I should have given it more credit, but it's not something I know a lot about.
I mentioned Mithraism earlier as well. I should have given it more credit, but it's not something I know a lot about.
Sorry Theerasak, I should have acknowledged that you did indeed mention that. But it probably won't make a bit of difference to sable if 300 people were to come here and mention it.
The foundations of Christianity go all the way back to the very beginning. God's chosen people kept messing up and dragging other beliefs and other god worshiping into their own.
IIRC, you said that the absorption of the mythology surrounding Eostre was a way of spreading the "Good News".
Now you are saying this is a bad thing.
Like I said, you can't have your cake and eat it, too. It's one thing to shoot yourself in the foot, and another thing altogether to empty the whole damn clip.
Sorry Theerasak, I should have acknowledged that you did indeed mention that. But it probably won't make a bit of difference to sable if 300 people were to come here and mention it.
I mentioned it briefly twice in this thread. Most of my messages were concerned with Mahayana Buddhism and Hinduism. IIRC, the Coptic text of Corinthians identify the 500 witnesses of Jesus' death (c.f. 500 witnesses of Buddha's cremation) as Brahmins!
It's not a contest, though.
Do you really believe this? Atheism is looking pretty religious from my angle. Especially when it comes to being evangalistic. Your mission to spread little seeds of doubt!
By this definition, my Linux advocacy makes Linux a religion.
(Sorry, bad example.)
Xfce is the path to salvation!
500 witnesses of Jesus' death!
No way...you're telling me that He really is real!
No. There are many witnesses of TROLLS in Norse poetry, but that doesn't make them real. Nor does the Buy Bull make JC real.
But wait... you also told me that Jesus is a myth?
He is. There is no archaeological evidence or contemporaneous historical records to support even the existence of Christ, much less his resurrection.
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Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. If you want me to believe some Jewish hippie turned into a zombie, there'd better be a lot of historical evidence to support it. (SCRIPTURE, written after his supposed death does NOT count.)
Kinda symbolic that they had to burn him...don't you think?
Not in the least. Zombies don't exist. I too will be cremated when I pass.
But still Buddha is NOT god and he would be rolling over in his grave right now, if he thought, you thought he was GOD. I do know that much about it.
I never said he was God, and you still don't understand Buddhism. I grew up on Theravada Buddhism, and you have the f*cking nerve to lecture me about it. Ridiculous.
Of course, none of this changes the immutable and incontrovertible fact that the morbid death cult you belong to, whose core tenet is necromancy, is a nothing but a pastiche of religions that came before it. So don't insult them unless you know what you're talking about. (Hint: you don't.)
Nice try, Artful Dodger.
Let me try one more time:
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Christianity is a pastiche.
Theerasak Photha I will give you 5 points for being the first to mention Mithraism.
Stardust I will give you 15 points, because you mentioned it more often and had to acknowledge Jesus existed in the doing so.
You don't call the shots here. Stardust mentioned JC one, period, and didn't implicitly or explicitly affirm he ever existed.
sable chicken---
Do you acknowledge that the Xian faith is a pastiche of Judaism along with Hinduism, Mahayana Buddhism, Mithraism, and Northern European paganism?
This a simple YES or NO answer. Answer YES or NO please, and justify your decision.
YES OR NO WILL DO, ARTFUL
This a simple YES or NO answer. Answer YES or NO please, and justify your decision.
Now justify your decision. We explained to you very thoroughly why Christianity is a pastiche. It is on YOU to refute us now.
Do you acknowledge that the Xian faith is a pastiche of Judaism along with Hinduism, Mahayana Buddhism, Mithraism, and Northern European paganism?
More than just Judaism. You acknowledged it yourself.
just because out side practices have worked their way into Judaism and then Christianity does not mean we embrace them.
Really? So that means you don't celebrate Christmas or Easter, both of which have pagan origins? Or recite recycled Buddhist nuggets of wisdom such as:
"The faults of others are more easily seen than one's own, but seeing one's own failings is difficult."
(c.f. Matthew 7:3)
and:
"When a mendicant, though still young, yokes himself to the Buddha's teachings, the world is illuminated like the moon freed of clouds."
(c.f. "He who wishes to follow me must know himself and bear my yoke.")
Outside practices didn't "work their way into" Judaism and Christianity, they FOUNDED Judaism and Christianity. IOW, if you threw out all the outside influences of Christianity, there'd be nothing left!
And yes you DO approve of such external customs and principles as per your explanation of Eostre, remember? Spreading the "Good News" and all that.
Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
I don't Buy Bull.
The guy just came out of the closet as a Nazi, Stardust is all about iron worshop
Sable, this is an outright and unfair LIE about Dawkins..and many xians also agree that humans are made of the same things found in everything else in the sun, stars and universe. I do not worship anything, but I am educating myself all the time and learn something new every day.
This is the kind of thing that makes it difficult for people to respect you, sable and why they end up becoming frustrated and ban you. You insult, and provoke...then blame the atheist. I knew where this would lead if I tried to have a civil discussion with you, since we have been through this before, and I have seen it before between you and other people. I have nothing more to say to you.
People are designed for worshiping. If you don't worship the one true God you still end up worshiping something else.
I don't worship anything. And I'm not a Buddhist. I don't give a
shit about Buddhism, and I don't give a shit about "do unto others" and other fortune cookie crap.
Now: do you celebrate Christmas and Easter, in any way, shape or form, or not?
The strong live and the weak must die. And Dawkins gets to be the dictator over what is considered good for Evolution and what is bad. I'm in the bad category.
Nature can take care of itself. But you got the categories right, anyway.
Please don't forget that God used the stars as a birth announcement for our Lord, to come to us humbly, just as He made you and me as little seed to grow.
AS I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF SHADOWS & DUST
NO HOPE IN THE EYES OF THE LOST
YOUR HERO NAILED TO A CROSS
WE'RE ANIMALS IN SEARCH OF BLOOD
NEVER SATISFIED, NEVER GRATIFIED, UNTIL THE DAY WE DIE
The truth hurts.
I would really like you to truely exsamine what the full conclution of the Theory of Evolution is. When an anti-religious extremist like Richard Dawkins advocates eugenics, while brushing off it's Nazi past with little thought as to what this way of thinking has done to humanity, warning alarms should sound off.
Whereas right-wing religious nuts have numbered among the best examples of human nature.
Evolution: Fact Or Theory? Austin Cline
"There is some confusion about evolution as a fact and evolution as a theory. Often you can find critics claiming that evolution is “just a theory” rather than a fact, as if this demonstrated that it shouldn’t be given serious consideration. Such arguments are based upon a misunderstanding of both the nature of science and the nature of evolution.
In reality, evolution is both a fact and a theory.
"To understand how it can be both, it is necessary to understand that evolution can be used in more than one way in biology. A common way to use the term evolution is simply to describe the change in the gene pool of a population over time; that this occurs is an indisputable fact. Such changes have been observed in the laboratory and in nature. Even most (although not all, unfortunately) creationists accept this aspect of evolution as a fact.
"Another way the term evolution is used in biology is to refer to the idea of “common descent,” that all species alive today and which have ever existed descend from a single ancestor which existed at some time in the past.
"Sometimes creationists or those not familiar with evolutionary science will misquote or take scientists’ quotes out of context to make disagreements over the mechanisms of evolution seem like disagreements over whether evolution has occurred. This is indicative either of a failure to understand evolution or of dishonesty.
"No evolutionary scientist questions whether evolution (in any of the senses mentioned) occurs and has occurred. The actual scientific debate is over how evolution occurs, not whether it occurs."
"There is some confusion about evolution as a fact and evolution as a theory. Often you can find critics claiming that evolution is “just a theory” rather than a fact, as if this demonstrated that it shouldn’t be given serious consideration. Such arguments are based upon a misunderstanding of both the nature of science and the nature of evolution.
The cell theory is also "just a theory". Therefore, we should teach the competing 'theory' that life spontaneously arises from things like rotting meat to hone 'critical thinking' skills.
Anyone who says evolution is "just a theory" is a moron who doesn't understand the fundamentals of Western empirical science. Of course there is no proof of evolution. But that's only because PROOF is for alcohol and mathematics. There is NO SUCH THING as proof in science.
comment #100
"In Germany, they (the Gestapo) came first for the Communist, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. then they came for the trade unionist, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."
I doubt the average xian wingnut gives a shit about Jews, Communists, trade unionists, or maybe even Catholics.
There is no fundamental difference between 'micro' and 'macro' evolution, and no mainstream scientific body recognizes that steaming crock of shit.
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/
"While details of macroevolution are continuously studied by the scientific community, the overall theory behind macroevolution (i.e. common descent) has been overwhelmingly consistent with empirical data. Predictions of empirical data from the theory of common descent have been so consistent that biologists often refer to it as the "fact of evolution" (Theobald 2004). Nevertheless, macroevolution is sometimes disputed by religous groups. Generally speaking, these groups attempt to differentiate between microevolution and macroevolution, asserting various hypotheses which are considered to have no scientific basis by any mainstream scientific organization, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science[4]."
You don't know what you're talking about. Please buy yourself a clue.
(Unanswered: do you celebrate Christmas and Easter, in any way, shape or form, or not?)
Why do you care if I do? Why are you putting the hard sell on Buddhism when you don't even care about it yourself?
I'm not 'hard-selling' anything. I'm just pointing out that much of the prose in the Gospels appears to be derived from the Dhammapada and other Buddhist texts.
Just for clarification: Buddhism is a crock of shit. I don't care about Buddhism; I care about ripping your morbid death cult to shreds.
And if you observe Christmas or Easter, you are, by your own admission, observing pagan customs you claim not to embrace. Hypocrite.
AS I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF SHADOWS & DUST
NO HOPE IN THE EYES OF THE LOST
YOUR HERO NAILED TO A CROSS
WE'RE ANIMALS IN SEARCH OF BLOOD
NEVER SATISFIED, NEVER GRATIFIED, UNTIL THE DAY WE DIE
what is this...an atheist psalm?
No, it's an excerpt of 'In Shadows & Dust' by Canadian death metal band Kataklysm.
BTW---I've heard enough of your mealy-mouthed psalms. It's not like I never read them on my own.
So this is a lawyer with nothing even resembling scientific expertise. I notice that the ass nugget who posted it disabled ratings---it would surely hit rock bottom otherwise.
The Bible explains atomic fusion...what a crock! Practical atomic fusion was developed by liberal atheists like Einstein, not by Bible Humpers who are manifestly blind to reason.
No one is impressed, Sable. I think I watched about two minutes of it before going back to wanking to soukous videos.
Look, a ringing endorsement for eugenics in the comment section:
lol, 'the bible is full of scientific fact'- like thermodynamics, genomics, photolithography, geochemistry, the laws of motion, atomic properties, and the cure for the common cold.
People this stupid need to be 'thinned from the herd'
I skimmed through it, watching a total of something like two minutes. I also browsed through the comment section to see what was going on in there.
Let's put it this way: I got a two minute slice of seven minutes worth of bullshit.
TP your a pain in the butt...did you know?
And you're a troll who can't spell. If I'm such a pain, go away.
"And if you observe Christmas or Easter, you are, by your own admission, observing pagan customs you claim not to embrace. Hypocrite."
"The Bible explains atomic fusion...what a crock! Practical atomic fusion was developed by liberal atheists like Einstein, not by Bible Humpers who are manifestly blind to reason."
The Hawking quote in that video is taken out of context---typical cretinist intellectual dishonesty.
"The idea that space and time may form a closed surface without boundary also has profound implications for the role of God in the affairs of the universe. With the success of scientific theories in describing events, most people have come to believe that God allows the universe to evolve according to a set of laws and does not intervene in the universe to break these laws. However, the laws do not tell us what the universe should have looked like when it started - it would still be up to God to wind up the clockwood and choose how to start it off. So long as the universe had a beginning, we could suppose it had a creator. But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundaries or edge, it would have neither beginning nor end: it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator?"
Hawking isn't an atheist (he's basically agnostic), but he isn't a fundie wingnut either.
CANCELLED!
Theerasak Photha I like Hawking, I think he is poetic in his words and if you close one ear...you would almost think he said "God-did-it."
Yes Hawking is very articulate. No he is not a believer. More from Hawking:
"How can anything we say have any validity? My answer to this is based on Darwin's theory of evolution...
I take it that some very primitive form of life arose spontaneously on earth from chance combinations of atoms. This early form of life was probably a large molecule. But it was probably not DNA, since the chances of forming a whole DNA molecule by random combinations is small.
The early form of life would have reproduced itself. The quantum uncertainty principle and the random thermal motions of the atoms would mean that there were a certain number of errors in the reproduction ... a very few errors would be beneficial, by pure chance. The organisms with these errors would be more likely to survive and reproduce ...
The human race has carried this to another stage. We are very similar to higher apes, both in our bodies and in our DNA; but a slight variation in our DNA has enabled us to develop language."
IOW, basically everything you and your fundie friends screech about incessantly.
Hawking is NOT a Creationist, and Hawking is NOT on your side.
But He did the same thing all through the Bible. Makes them eat barley cake that taste like crap...it's great! and less filling.
Put your crap where your mouth is...I want to see a picture of you eating poop + barley to prove your devotion to Bhaga^the Lord.
What time is it in your part of the world right now?
2:37 AM
You still didn't tell me whether you observe any Xian holidays of pagan origin, such as Christmas and Eost^H^H^Haster.
Theerasak Photha I like Hawking, I think he is poetic in his words and if you close one ear...you would almost think he said "God-did-it."
And if you close both ears, you become a young earth creationist (or YECHHH!).
I know Hawkings is an atheist, and you didn't have to depress me with is other quotes...didn't he say not that long ago that if we don't find another planet to live on soon, we would all be doomed.
;(
where is the hope in that?
It's not about HOPE, it's not about HAPPINESS, and it's not about FUZZY BUNNIES. It's about intellectual integrity. And intellectual integrity is dread, terror, and despair---ultimately, death.
ZOMFG!!!11111!!!!!11111!!!!!!1111!!!!!!111111!!!!!!!
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QQ/10UT QH+QT+48UW QW-58"E 48UW %V ' QV"N QV^T ' QWUV QQ-(QT*10)UH >
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...AND DAMN'D BE HIM WHO FIRST CRIES: "HOLD, ENOUGH!"
Scientia omnia vincit.
Now those were barley cakes cooked over cow crap, God had mercy and didn't make him cook it over monkey crap.
It was clearly human dung, read your Bible:
"And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight." -- Ezekiel 4:12
God also likes you to embarrass yourself, apparently.
Really now, are you ok? Your typing in bar code now.
That's a TECO macro that calculates the value of pi.
Hey I think if Evolution is right, it was far back enough that you science types wouldn't know the differance. monkey/human same thing.
What species? In any case, they can't interbreed.
Scientia omnia vincit.
Got yah
No, you didn't.
Drinking river water is worse than drinking urine. Because river water is full of parasites, whereas most of the few impurities in urine are metabolic wastes that will be flushed away again anyway. Amoeba like to take up residence.
I think this is the missing link, anyway.
I've seen plenty worse than drinking pee. Have you ever heard of goatse or tubgirl?
What does that do for you can you win a Trailblazers with this knowledge?
To be fair, it's worth just a little more than prayer or Bible study: that is, almost nothing.
I've seen plenty worse than drinking pee. Have you ever heard of goatse or tubgirl?
NO
Do a Google Images search for both terms. Make sure SafeSearch is off.
Verse 1
I'm a disciple of science
I know the universe is compliance with natural laws,
but many place reliance on the psuedo-science of quacks and
morons and fools because,
their educations deficient,
they put faith in omniscient,
make believe beings who control their fate,
but the Hawk aint with it, dig it,
their Holy writ aint the least bit legit,
its a bunch of bullshit.
They need to read a book that ain't so damn old,
let reason take hold,
though truth to be told,
they're probably already too far gone,
withdrawn, the conclusion foregone.
But maybe there is still hope for the young,
if they reject the dung being slung from the tongues,
of the ignorant fools who call themselves preachers,
and listen instead to their science teachers.
Chorus
Upon blind faith they place reliance,
what we need more of is science!
Trash Talk
Uh yeah, that's right!
Fundamentalist assholes!
Screw the whole lot of them.
Verse 2
Look, I ain't thomas Dolby,
science doesn't blind me,
think you're smart? Form a line behind me,
you won't find me, truth to tell,
to be a man who suffers fools very well.
Quite the opposite in fact,
I aint got time to interact,
with crystal wearing freaks in need of a smack.
New age motherf---ers? Don't get me started,
I made more sense than them, last time I farted.
Not to put too fine a point upon it,
but the whole new age movement is full of shit.
Please allow me to elaborate,
explicate, expatiate.
from astral projection to zygomancy its a,
mish mash of idiocy.
Instead of the archaic worship of seasons,
they should explore logic and reason.
Chorus
Trash Talk
F---ing new-agers!
Is there any amount of bullshit they won't swallow?
It's two-thousand-aught-three goddammit!
When are these morons gonna join us in the 21st century?
I listen to all pretty much just Christian music now.
How vapid. I can listen to Awilo Longomba, then Bach, then Pussana Wongsiri, and slide right into Tristania after that.
Bach is Christian music I guess. I listen to Bach because he rawks. Contemporary Christian popular music is incredibly flaccid shit.
I am totally with you on the New Age crap...I HATE that stuff.
I like tree worship better than I like a cult whose emblem is a Roman torture device, and whose devotees pretend to drink blood and eat human flesh.
"Yes I may be born again, but I was wasn't born again yesterday. I wanna get down on my knees and start pleasing Jesus! I wanna feel his salvation all over my face!"
"The Body of Christ! Sleek swimmer's body, all muscled up and toned!
The Body of Christ! O, Lord Almighty, I wish I could call it my own! You're one time, two times, three times my Savior... Whenever I see Jesus up on that Cross I can't help but think that he looks kinda hot..."
This is the slowest dance
The dance of a thousand years
The dance of the frozen statues
Clinging together in tears
This is the darkest fight
The fight of a thousand years
The pounding of blood
Through our veins
In our veins
In our eyes
The circles of fear
I cling to you
So cold, so bright
Cling to me through the night
Motionless faces
Park of the wasted
In the pale gloom
I hang on to you
In the pale gloom
I am safe and cool
I swim in you
In your dark rivers
Dive in your mind
Search for your monsters
Search for resistance
Sink into the mud
Dance in the halls of insanity
Yet madness is
Your highest deed
Your vanity
Mistress - you made me
Mistress - you saved me
In your cold hands
I am just a tool
Mistress - you made me
Mistress - you saved me
In your cold hands
I am safe and cool
Do you hate neo-paganism? Then you should hate Christmas and Easter both. Because they are neo-paganist in a very real sense.
"Christians have been waging war on Yule for centuries!
Long before Jesus, there was the true winter celebration.
I say, bring back the wassailing, the dancing and laughter.
Don't kill the trees to bring them inside; instead, bring them offerings where they grow, as is due Yggdrasil's children.
Await the coming of the thirteen Yule lads, one by one, and leave them presents in your shoes!
The walls of the spirit world grow thin - Trond is preparing the Wild Hunt!
Roll the burning wheel down the hill at midnight!
And after the lads have gone home, one by one,
Awake to the new year turned!"
Sable,
You say the Bible does not contradict science. The Bible describes Joshua commanding the sun to stand still in the sky.
As we all know, the Earth revolves around the sun, not vice versa. But whomever wrote that ditty about Joshua seems to have a heliocentric view of the universe. The sun could not have stopped, the Earth would have had to have stopped. So what really happened?
Anyone who knows anything about Physics and Astronomy knows that the earth NEVER reverses its orbit. The speed of the earth's orbit does not significantly change, either.
A really informative and educational website sponsored by NASA:
From Stargazers to Starships
Astronomy of the Earth's Motion in Space
The year is the time needed by the Earth for one full orbit around the Sun. At the end of that time, the Earth is back to the same point in its orbit, and the Sun is therefore back to the same apparent position in the sky.
It takes the Earth 365. 2422 days to complete its circuit (average solar days), and any calendar whose year differs from this number will gradually wander through the seasons. The ancient Roman calendar had 355 days but added a month every 2 or 4 years: it wasn't good enough, and by the time Julius Caesar became ruler of Rome, it had slipped by three months.
In 46 BC Caesar introduced a new calendar, named after him the Julian calendar. It is similar to the one used today: the same 12 months, and an added day at the end of February every 4th year ("leap year"), on years whose number is divisible by 4. Two years afterwards the 5th month of the Roman year was renamed July, in honor of Julius. The name of his successor, Augustus Caesar, was later attached to the month following July.
The Julian calendar thus assumes a year of 365. 25 days, leaving unaccounted a difference of 0. 0078 days or about 1/128 of a day. Thus the calendar still slips, but at a very slow rate, about one day in 128 years. By 1582 that slippage was approaching two weeks and Pope Gregory the 13th therefore decreed a modified calendar, named after him the Gregorian calendar. Henceforth years ending in two zeros, such as 1700, 1800, 1900--would not be leap years, except when the number of centuries was divisible by 4, such as 2000. This took away 3 "leap days" every 400 years, i. e. one day per 133 1/3 years--close enough to the required correction of one day per 128 years.
But it was not enough to modify the calendar: a one-time jump of dates was also needed, to get rid of the accumulated difference. In Italy this was done soon after the pope's edict, and "Tibaldo and the Hole in the Calendar" by Abner Shimony spins the story of a boy whose birthday was on a day skipped by that jump. Another birthday affected was that of George Washington, born 11 February 1732: when the British empire shifted its calendar, in 1751, the 11th of February "old style" became the 22nd of February "new style," and nowadays that is when Washington's birthday is usually celebrated.
In Russia the change came only after the revolution, which is why the Soviet government used to celebrate the anniversary of the "October Revolution" on November 7th. The Russian orthodox church continues to use the Julian calendar and celebrates Christmas and Easter about 2 weeks later than most of the Christian world.
Maybe we should adopt the Mayan calendar. I heard they were pretty good with their calculations.
Other buildings also withstood 911 unscathed...again, xians see what they want to see and ignore everything else. Again, Physics will answer questions why other buildings were not damaged while the twin towers came straight down in a big heap of molten metal. It happens all the time in controlled demolitions, and the twin towers came down in the same manner. Also, we had a tornado rip through our county, and in our town, ONE house was destroyed completely on one block while all other houses around it were perfectly fine. That does not mean that a god protected all other houses and let that one house be smashed to smithereens.
Xians talk about one church standing while thousands of innocent people died a horrible death. They talk about some twisted metal looking like the shape of the execution device xians worship, while so many lost their friends and loved ones in the most horrible way. Many, if not most of the people in the twin towers were god believers. Their god was nowhere to help them. Religion is absurd. To believe some sky daddy sits back and watches all the heartache and devastation is absurd.
If you are going to read and cherry pick from my blog, sable...try clicking on the educational links in the sidebar and reading things in their entirety from credible sources.
I thought we were here for intelligent and respectful debate.
If the observations of cosmic acceleration featured in the NOVA program "Runaway Universe" are correct, then the universe will probably continue to expand forever. (there are several theories and debates about this) Does this mean that the universe will always contain its galaxies and stars and black holes? Well, no. Nothing lasts forever, not even the stellar objects that populate the galaxies.
When the city of Banda Aceh on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia was devastated by the tsunami, one of the only remaining intact buildings was the city's main mosque. Now, if I was a Muslim, I might argue that it was a miracle from Allah.
With respect to the church in New York City, if one of the hijacked airplanes had crashed into it instead and the church remained standing and intact, then that would be grounds for a miracle.
Sable, if there are many cultures with flood myths, that is because most humans lived near the water. It does not argue for a single worldwide flood, as there have been numerous floods throughout history.
Besides, in my Punishing Humanity the Rube Goldberg Way series, I already demonstrated how ridiculous it is for a Supreme Being to resort to such a convoluted means to punish the human race.
Grand Canyon Formation educational links. (Though this might be another exercise in futility)
The Formation of the Grand Canyon
The Geology of the Grand Canyon
Geology of the Grand Canyon area: Wikipedia
The Grand Canyon was not formed by a great flood...
From TalkOrigins.comTalkOrigins.com
1. We know what to expect of a sudden massive flood, namely:
* a wide, relatively shallow bed, not a deep, sinuous river channel.
* anastamosing channels (i.e., a braided river system), not a single, well-developed channel.
* coarse-grained sediments, including boulders and gravel, on the floor of the canyon.
* streamlined relict islands.
The Scablands in Washington state were produced by such a flood and show such features (Allen et al. 1986; Baker 1978; Bretz 1969; Waitt 1985). Such features are also seen on Mars at Kasei Vallis and Ares Vallis (Baker 1978; NASA Quest n.d.). They do not appear in the Grand Canyon. Compare relief maps of the two areas to see for yourself.
2. The same flood that was supposed to carve the Grand Canyon was also supposed to lay down the miles of sediment (and a few lava flows) from which the canyon is carved. A single flood cannot do both. Creationists claim that the year of the Flood included several geological events, but that still stretches credulity.
3. The Grand Canyon contains some major meanders. Upstream of the Grand Canyon, the San Juan River (around Gooseneck State Park, southeast Utah) has some of the most extreme meandering imaginable. The canyon is 1,000 feet high, with the river flowing five miles while progressing one mile as the crow flies (American Southwest n.d.). There is no way a single massive flood could carve this.
4. Recent flood sediments would be unconsolidated. If the Grand Canyon were carved in unconsolidated sediments, the sides of the canyon would show obvious slumping.
5. The inner canyon is carved into the strongly metamorphosed sediments of the Vishnu Group, which are separated by an angular unconformity from the overlying sedimentary rocks, and also in the Zoroaster Granite, which intrudes the Vishnu Group. These rocks, by all accounts, would have been quite hard before the Flood began.
6. Along the Grand Canyon are tributaries, which are as deep as the Grand Canyon itself. These tributaries are roughly perpendicular to the main canyon. A sudden massive flood would not produce such a pattern.
7. Sediment from the Colorado River has been shifted northward over the years by movement along the San Andreas and related faults (Winker and Kidwell 1986). Such movement of the delta sediment would not occur if the canyon were carved as a single event.
8. The lakes that Austin proposed as the source for the carving floodwaters are not large compared with the Grand Canyon itself. The flood would have to remove more material than the floodwaters themselves.
9. If a brief interlude of rushing water produced the Grand Canyon, there should be many more such canyons. Why are there not other grand canyons surrounding all the margins of all continents?
10. There is a perfectly satisfactory gradual explanation for the formation of the Grand Canyon that avoids all these problems. Sediments deposited about two billion years ago were metamorphosed and intruded by granite to become today's basement layers. Other sediments were deposited in the late Proterozoic and were subsequently folded, faulted, and eroded. More sediments were deposited in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic, with a period of erosion in between. The Colorado Plateau started rising gradually about seventy million years ago. As it rose, existing rivers deepened, carving through the previous sediments (Harris and Kiver 1985, 273-282).
then will be born again with the next “big bang” and our recycled particles will begin anew.
As for the frog and the blender example (ewww)...the frog is dead and of course it cannot be put back together again. However, there are remnants of the frog that are left over that will not totally disappear...ever...even if your burned it you would still have ashes. Ashes to ashes, stardust to stardust and will return to the earth once again...and eventually when the sun expands into a red giant and engulfs the first three planets, the earth and everything on it will return to what it once was...stardust.
Everything in the universe is made from the same basic elements. That was my point and that has been tested and proven as FACT. (even the bible said that god made man from the dust of the earth and shall return to the earth one day). I can believe in being eternally part of the universe as my particles are dispersed throughout the cosmos...but I cannot believe that people leave their bodies and live forever as ghosts/angels in a magical kingdom in the sky happily ever after praising a god forever and ever.
Abundance of elements in soil, sea and life
The sun and planets formed from the coagulation of cosmic dust and debris. Then the land crust emerged from mainly the lighter elements, which eroded into rivers to provide the elements in the sea. Early life then formed in the womb of the early oceans or brackish fresh water. Plants established on land, being capable of scavenging precious resources from the soil and to accumulate these in their tissues. Animals on land then evolved, feeding on the plants. Higher animals and carnivores, eventually humans, followed.
Birth and Death of a Star
Astronomers think that a star begins to form as a dense cloud of gas in the arms of spiral galaxies. Individual hydrogen atoms fall with increasing speed and energy toward the center of the cloud under the force of the star's gravity. The increase in energy heats the gas. When this process has continued for some millions of years, the temperature reaches about 20 million degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature, the hydrogen within the star ignites and burns in a continuing series of nuclear reactions. The onset of these reactions marks the birth of a star.
When a star begins to exhaust its hydrogen supply, its life nears an end. The first sign of a star's old age is a swelling and reddening of its outer regions. Such an aging, swollen star is called a red giant. The Sun, a middle-aged star, will probably swell to a red giant in 5 billion years, vaporizing Earth and any creatures that may be on its surface. When all its fuel has been exhausted, a star cannot generate sufficient pressure at its center to balance the crushing force of gravity. The star collapses under the force of its own weight; if it is a small star, it collapses gently and remains collapsed. Such a collapsed star, at its life's end, is called a white dwarf. The Sun will probably end its life in this way. A different fate awaits a large star. Its final collapse generates a violent explosion, blowing the innards of the star out into space. There, the materials of the exploded star mix with the primeval hydrogen of the universe. Later in the history of the galaxy, other stars are formed out of this mixture. The Sun is one of these stars. It contains the debris of countless other stars that exploded before the Sun was born.
Astronomy is fascinating. It was my favorite subject in college.
C'mon Stardust. We all know that if God made the flood, then we can't expect it to act like a natural flood and leave the kinds of sedimentary deposits that all them geologists with thar book learnin expect! ;-)
tommy - maybe the devil is leadin' all these "believers" away from science and god via the evil bible, liars and false prophets and trying to keep the world ignorant of the truth.
They always say the devil is where one would least expect him to be. ;)
(to those who don't understand parody...I am joking...BUT also kidding on the square)
sable, you are not reading anything from the CREDIBLE and proven sources that have been provided, are you? Where did all the flood water recede to? Did god suck it all back up in a cosmic straw? Where did all the other species of animals come from that Noah didn't collect? How did everything grow back so quickly for a bird to find an olive branch when everything was wiped out? The story is a MYTH sable...even most xians do not take the flood story literally.
You really want to believe the superstition and are allowing yourself to be misled. Creationists manipulate the facts to suit themselves, while dismissing all logic and reason. If xians keep believing those idiots who lead you, they can keep you ignorant and keep the sheeple in line. If you start thinking for yourselves, then where does that leave the lazy pastors who tell you lies? It leaves them jobless, or to go back to the farms they came from and take up their father's legacy which most of them hate so much. You can keep paying for their cars,their houses, insurance,...and all of their needs so they have a lot to lose if they lose you. Some have alot more to lose than others if sheeple leave the flock. They might actually have to work for a living.
The creationist arguement, when held up against true scientific evidence which was produced by centuries of investigation and study by highly educated scientists, geologists, astronomers, physicists, archeaologists, etc. -- people who hold PhDs and real degrees (real ones, not the fake kind Hovind has) from places like Oxford, MIT, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Cambridge, and other ivy league institutions with genius faculty...religion shows itself to be what it truly is...MYTHOLOGY. Study world mythology sable...it was my first step to my brain turning on and my eyes being opened to reality as the cobwebs of religion dissipated and faded away.
Then take courses in geography, athropology, astronomy, meteorology, world religion, world mythology for starters. Allow yourself to question the things you are being told and relax...no sky daddy is going to zap you for it.
Religion is big business
As for your canyon made in 10 days story...
Grapevine Lake is an Army Corp of Engineers project and it exists to serve as a flood control project and water storage space for cities in the metroplex. What people were witnessing was water being done by HUMANS to create a recreational area. The underwater canyon was there all along. (We have several friends who live in Texas and know about this...they are xians, not atheists so if it was a "miracle" I am sure they would be talking about it in that manner.) This is why I say you must question and investigate, sable...don't believe things uneducated people tell you.
Grapevine Lake
sable, do you even understand the stuff you are frantically copying and pasting?
Yet they tell us just what happened from the first second and blow by blow of the first 3 minutes
They tell us what might POSSIBLY have happened. These people are research scientists with a huge amount of mathematical and scientific knowledge. These are THEORIES and POSSIBILITIES, sable. If you would read completely you would have read that. No scientists have claimed to have the definite answer as to how the universe came to be. Only xians are the ones claiming to have a definite answer with zero investigation and zero evidence...only "I don't know so god did it."
Sable, go back and read the links provided about evolution.
oh my gawd...you are exhausting.
Does this really do something for you?
It does for me because I consider the possibilities. I will not lazily write things off as giving credit to some magical being because I don't understand something. Where would we be now if people would not have trusted science and searched for answers?
Distinctions between theory and factAs Stephen Jay Gould explained that "evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts do not go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's, but apples did not suspend themselves in mid-air, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape-like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."[46]
Excellent essay: Biblical Opposition to Knowledge
Science has enabled humanity to make enormous improvements its technological capabilities, material prosperity, and moral philosophy. These results led Carl Sagan to say: "Science is supported because it provides spectacular benefits at all levels in the society. . . ."[97]
Bertrand Russell similarly observed: "Almost all the changes which the world has undergone since the end of the Middle Ages are due to the discovery and diffusion of new knowledge."[98]
But the Bible contains numerous teachings opposed to scientific inquiry and the increase of knowledge. The teachings are dangerous and continue to produce harm.
Former Christian fundamentalist Richard Yao maintains: "Perhaps the unpardonable sin of fundamentalism is its effort to make people suspicious and afraid of their own minds, their own logic and thinking process. . . . If we cannot depend on our minds to process reality and make choices and decisions in life, then we are more likely to depend on fundamentalist preachers. . . . How can a democracy survive if all of us renounce reason, thinking and logic?"[99]
Harold Bloom states that the problems are not confined to fundamentalism: "Fundamentalism . . . is viciously anti-intellectual, but so, alas, is most American religion, of whatever camp."[100].
Bloom's observation will be true as long as American religion looks to the Bible for guidance. No other outcome is possible when people follow a book that instructs them to distrust and reject their sensory perceptions and reasoning abilities.
The Bible's anti-intellectual teachings are a recipe for being out of touch with reality - which is a path to ignorance, misery, and disaster.
Those irrational and harmful biblical ideas need to be replaced by science - with its methods of reason, observation, experience, and compassion.
Sable,...you are going to believe what you want to believe, make up evidence to suit yourself...(by the way, you never commented on the information I found about the "magic canyon" at Grapevine Lake you cherry picked complete with photo which was actually the Army Corp of Engineers "man made" project to create a recreational area and they are messing with the environment, diverting water supplies and such. And that canyon was there all along...AND the writer of the story was a SIXTH GRADER TEXAN XIAN FUNDIE.)
How much of the creation science side have you looked into?
A lot of it, that is how I prepare for criticisms of it. I don't want to just make criticisms without knowing what I am criticizing. I am not going to just say something is stupid without investigation. I keep up with news stories, articles, magazines, newspapers. I read the religion section of the news on Yahoo daily. I keep tabs on what creationists are saying and teaching...as a certified teacher, I am interested since I deal with these children in public schools. I am a substitute at present and I also work for a company that grades academic achievement tests for various school systems around the country. (The students who do the worst in science and math are from fundamentalist xian families.) I have Baptist people in my family and debate it all the time. I have seen the brainwashing textbooks they use to teach their children while not allowing them to use outside sources. Sad since they may never be able to think for themselves. With any luck, whether they continue to believe in a god or not, hopefully they will be able to escape that dreadful island captivity their parents took them to and free themselves from their brainwashing education and explore for themselves.
We atheists and even xians who support separation of church and state must keep track of these things to ensure that the constitution of this SECULAR nation is being upheld.
Do you think that I am just lazily writing things off?
Well... er, ummm, since you ask...yes. Your answers are random and not very consistent in trying to prove your points. It seems you frantically cherry pick random sources willy-nilly to try to get me to see your side instead of rationally debating with supporting evidence.
You are going to believe what you want to believe just like people believe in lephrechans, and like my ex-sister-in-law firmly believes gnomes inhabit her garden and leave marbles in the grass for her to find, like people believe in Vishnu, Allah, and like Scientologists believe in Xenu, and like little children who firmly believe in Santa Claus with all their heart and soul.
tommy...did you ever think that you would get this many comments to one post via only a handful of people? LOL!!!
Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking Stardust! Any newbies who come here are at first probably astonished "wow this guy gets a lot of traffic!"
When I started the Dawkins thread, I just assumed the back and forth would relocate there. Oh well.
If you weren't so lazy Sable, you could look these things up for yourself. The internet is full of resources and differing viewpoints on things. I suspect you are just toying with me...but here is what you asked for anyway in case you sincerely wish to know these things. As a teacher, I must assume you are really seeking answers.
Nebraska Man
Nebraska Man was the name applied by the popular press to Hesperopithecus haroldcookii, a putative species of ape. Hesperopithecus meant "ape of the western world" and it was heralded as the first higher primate of North America. Though not a deliberate hoax, the classification proved to be a mistake.
Piltdown Man
Piltdown Man consists of fragments of a skull and jaw bone collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown, a village near Uckfield, in the English county of East Sussex. The fragments were claimed by experts of the day to be the fossilised remains of a hitherto unknown form of early human. The Latin name Eoanthropus dawsoni was given to the specimen.
The significance of the specimen remained the subject of controversy until it was exposed in 1953 as a forgery, consisting of the lower jaw bone of an orangutan combined with the skull of a fully developed, modern man. It has been suggested that the forgery was the work of the person said to be its finder, Charles Dawson, after whom it was named. This view is strongly disputed and many other candidates have been proposed as the true creators of the forgery.
Neanderthal
The Neanderthal (IPA pronunciation: [niː.ændə(ɚ)θɒl, neɪ.ændə(ɚ)θɒl, niː.ændə(ɚ)tɒl, neɪ.ændə(ɚ)tɒl,]), (Homo neanderthalensis) or Neandertal was a species of the Homo genus that inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia. The first proto-Neanderthal traits appear in Europe as early as 350,000 years ago.[1] By 130,000 years ago, full blown Neanderthal characteristics had appeared and by 50,000 years ago, Neanderthals disappeared from Asia, although they did not reach extinction in Europe until 33,000 to 24,000 years ago, perhaps 15,000 years after Homo sapiens had migrated into Europe
Lucy
Lucy (Amharic ድንቅነሽ dinqneš, "you are wonderful") is the common name of AL 288-1, the first Australopithecus afarensis skeleton ever discovered. It was discovered on November 30, 1974 by Donald Johanson, Maurice Taieb, Yves Coppens and Tim White in the Middle Awash of Ethiopia's Afar Depression. Lucy is estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago.
One thing about scientists, they are not afraid of finding evidence that changes what they had originally thought about something. That is the difference between those who merely credit everything to a sky daddy, and those who are actually seeking truth. Scientists welcome new evidence...xians ignore evidence and fall back on faith in what they want to be true, not necessarily what IS true. You won't even consider for one moment that you might be wrong.
ATHEIST n. : One who has rejected all existing theistic concepts.
Whatever other kind of flame bait you want to throw out there about this is not going to provoke me. You know perfectly well that atheism is not a religion. We have no churches, we do not door knock, I do not troll xian blogs and try to take their Jeebus beliefs away, atheists do not put up billboards advocating atheism, we do not worship execution or any other symbols, we do not have rituals, we do not talk to spirits, we do not have doctrine or dogma...no authorities who demand a percentage of our income, no brainwashing centers....need I go on?
Sable -- "You are an intelligent human being. Your life is valuable for its own sake. You are not second-class in the universe, deriving meaning and purpose from some other mind. You are not inherently evil—you are inherently human, possessing the positive rational potential to help make this a world of morality, peace and joy. Trust yourself."
–Dan Barker, from his book, Losing Faith in Faith
Sable, regarding Charles Darawin, you wrote above:
"By the way Darwin's only degree was in theology. Yet he is often called a great Scientist in textbooks today."
It just so happens I just bought a thick hardcover book called "The Darwin Compendium", which contains "The Voyage of the Beagle", "Origin of the Species", "Descent of Man", Expression of Emotions in Humans and Animals", and Darwin's Autobiography. After all, I figure if I am going to opine about Darwin and evolution, I should go straight to the source.
In the Introduction by Brian Regal, the following background is provided regarding Darwin's education:
"He came from a long line of medical doctors, including his grandfather Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802), who wrote "Zoomania", one of the first books to propose a form of evolutionary mechanics. It was expected that Charles would follow the other Darwin men into medical school. He went to Scotland and entered Edinburgh University to earn his medical degree, but soon dropped out because his personality could not handle human dissections or even the sight of blood. He went home to England and entered Christ Church College, Cambridge University, to study for the Anglican ministry. This was a good change for him because, while interested in theology, his real love was natural history. Darwin thought that as a minister assigned to some quiet country parish he could spend most of his time collecting bugs and rocks and skeletons and flowers. It would be a lifestyle that would make him happy. He took classes in zoology, geology, and especially botany, at which he excelled. He did so well that just before he graduated he was offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sail aboard the HMS Beagle as ship's naturalist on an expedition to study the geology, flora, and fauna of south America."
So, as you can see Sable, to say that Darwin's degree was in Theology does not provide an entirely accurate picture of the man's education and background. I hope you can understand that.
As for the debate over the validity of evolution, it is wrong to limit the discussion to either (a) evolution is true, or (b) the Biblical story of creation is true.
Even if it turns out that Darwinian evolution is wrong, it does not mean then by default that the Bible is literally true.
That's a question that I am not sure I am qualified to answer Sable.
There are things that I know are true and there are things that I know that are not true.
And then, as Donald Rumsfeld famously said, there are the things we know that we don't know, and there are things we don't know that we don't know.
Here is what I do know. We live on a planet we call Earth in some vast expanse we call the universe. I am fortunate to live in a country called the United States of America, that for all of its flaws, has a culture and a system of government that allows me to live relatively free and affords me the opportunity to make a decent living and own a house. I am blessed with being married to a beautiful woman who is more than a wife to me, but my best friend as well. I have two beautiful and healthy young children.
I know that the God of the Bible does not exist and is no more real than Zeus, Apollo or Thor. I do not believe that there is a Supreme Being, but if our vast universe and everything else was created by some higher power, I am inclined to believe that such an entity is so far advanced as to be above the petty anger and jealousy that is exhibited by the God of the Bible. I would think that if there is a Supreme Being or Creator, it does not require our worship or obeisance, no more so than we expect insects or animals to revere us. If the Creator thinks about us at all, then it values ethical conduct more than prayers or slavish devotion to a holy book put together by Jewish priests in the 5th century B.C. or believing that a god-man was born to a virgin and rose from the dead.
While I am certainly not a perfect person, I do not believe that I have done anything so terrible that would require some Supreme Being casting me in a pit of hellfire for all eternity after I die. As Orlando Bloom's character Balian said in the movie 'Kingdom of Heaven', "If he is God, he will understand. If he does not, then he is not God, and we need not worry."
That's a question that I am not sure I am qualified to answer Sable.
There are things that I know are true and there are things that I know that are not true.
And then, as Donald Rumsfeld famously said, there are the things we know that we don't know, and there are things we don't know that we don't know.
Here is what I do know. We live on a planet we call Earth in some vast expanse we call the universe. I am fortunate to live in a country called the United States of America, that for all of its flaws, has a culture and a system of government that allows me to live relatively free and affords me the opportunity to make a decent living and own a house. I am blessed with being married to a beautiful woman who is more than a wife to me, but my best friend as well. I have two beautiful and healthy young children.
I know that the God of the Bible does not exist and is no more real than Zeus, Apollo or Thor. I do not believe that there is a Supreme Being, but if our vast universe and everything else was created by some higher power, I am inclined to believe that such an entity is so far advanced as to be above the petty anger and jealousy that is exhibited by the God of the Bible. I would think that if there is a Supreme Being or Creator, it does not require our worship or obeisance, no more so than we expect insects or a
WTF?
Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived.
* Oscar Wilde
sable...don't you read ANYTHING people write? You are so anxious to reinforce your OWN beliefs you do not hear what others are saying. Xians think that the more they get to climb aboard the bandwagon of religion, the more real it will become for them.
I was actually hoping to devote one of my Why I Abandoned Christianity posts to that question Sable, but I guess it couldn't hurt to give you a preview.
In a nutshell, and I think I may have already written this in response to you before, but I just cannot accept the idea that a Supreme Being is going to create what is essentially an infinite universe and then behave as a tribal god for a confederation of semi-nomadic tribesmen in the Middle East.
Look at it this way Sable. Would a Supreme Being really dictate to Hebrew prophets what kind of food they eat, what kind of clothes they can wear, what they can or cannot do on a particular day of the week and so forth? And about this whole creating the universe in seven days and honoring the Sabbath business, with all of the stars in the universe and the planets that go around them, are we really supposed to believe that a universal deity is going to operate on Earth time? I mean come on!
And why would a universal creator even require our worship? What does he get out of it? And if we are the only intelligent life in the universe, then what is the point of creating galaxies so many hundreds of millions of light years away that it is inconceivable that humanity can ever hope to reach them?
IF the God of the Bible was real, it could have confined the universe to just planet Earth going around the sun. The rest of the universe would not be needed. Mankind could have been kept frozen at a Bronze Age technological level for all eternity and God could still toy with humanity all he wanted and make is demands and enforce his whims.
When you look at the matter from a historical perspective, it seems fairly obvious to me that the OT books were put together by Jewish priests some time in the 5th century B.C. after the Jews had suffered conquests from the Assyrians and the Babylonians. What had been a confederation of semi-nomadic tribes suddenly found themselves part of a wider world of sophisticated and ancient civilizations such as those of Mesopotamia. In such a topsy turvy world, I believe the Jewish priests and leaders realized they need to enforce a strict code of belief in order to instill a sense of cohesion and unity. And what better way to make a defeated people feel better about themselves than to instill in them a belief that they are the chosen people of the one true god and creator of the universe, and that their defeats were not due to the greatness of their enemies, but because god was simply punishing them for disobeying his laws?
The thing you have to be careful about when you read the OT Sable is that it makes you look at the history of the Middle East during ancient times from a Hebrew-centric perspective, making one think that Israel was the most important country in the region, with her neighbors existing only to serve as a crude bludgeon used by God to punish the Israelites when he was angry with them. But if you look at the history of the region by considering all of the peoples and states that existed at the time, Israel shrinks to just a minor role as a small state surrounded by more powerful and advanced neighbors.
It is indisputable that the Jewish priests borrowed not only from Mesopotamian myths and religions, but also from the Zoroastrian religion of the Persians. You have to remember that the Persian king Cyrus the Great freed the Jews and allowed them to return to Israel after he conquered the Babylonian kingdom. If you do some reading about Zoroastrianism, you can't help but notice that some of its beliefs are reflected in Judaism and Christianity, especially with its monotheism and its dividing the universe between good and evil.
Well, it looks like I rambled a bit and went beyond the nutshell explanation. But I have to stop here as my pillow is calling me and I have to get up for work tomorrow. Have a good night Sable.
Through the Scriptures God shows us that He exists.
Why is your god true then and not others if so many other religions also have a holy text where their god is revealed to them?
# 1 Texts
* 1.1 Ásatrú
* 1.2 Ayyavazhi
* 1.3 Bahá'í Faith
* 1.4 Buddhism
* 1.5 Christianity
* 1.6 Mormonism
* 1.7 Spiritism
* 1.8 Discordianism
* 1.9 Etruscan religion
* 1.10 Falun Gong
* 1.11 Hinduism
* 1.12 Islam
* 1.13 Jainism
* 1.14 Judaism
* 1.15 Mandaeanism
* 1.16 Manichaeism
* 1.17 New Age religions
* 1.18 Rastafari movement
* 1.19 Samaritanism
* 1.20 Sikhism
* 1.21 Shinto
* 1.22 SubGenius
* 1.23 Swedenborgianism
* 1.24 Taoism
* 1.25 Thelema
* 1.26 Unification Church
* 1.27 Zoroastrianism
The FACTS of evolution (which I have provided links to time and time again) make us QUESTION our origins, not doubt them. One cannot doubt what one doesn't know yet. But we can question and do research and consider and investigate many, many possibilities.
To question is to be human, and questioning leads to knowledge and some do not want humans to gain knowledge because knowledge leads to power and when people have knowledge and power they are more difficult to control. This is most likely the whole jist of the Adam and Eve and eating of the tree of knowledge story. "Don't rock the boat and do what Big Brother tells you." Even our schools, though secular, teach exactly what they want children to learn and there is little time or encouragement to "look outside the box."
It is in the best interest of leaders to promote religion and instill fear and obedience in people and keep the chains of religion going in order to maintain status quo. Throughout history religion has always been about power and control. Look around you...it's the centerpiece of our political campaigns, it's the reason for warring and it's been an excuse for colonialism, it has been an excuse for wanting to wipe other nations off the map...in reality it is all about power and control. And before you say it, yes...there was Hitlerism, Nazism, Maoism, Leninism, Marxism, (they made themselves into gods to be worshipped as many leaders of countries still do today.)They are no different than those who use the tool of any religion to control and manipulate.
It is the attitude "we have jesus and god so we don't have to worry or question anymore" that keeps people vulnerable and enslaved. And as one commenter wrote in another comment thread at another blog, they [xian fundamentalists] have a reset button. Nothing goes in if it doesn’t comply with the “faith filters.”
When the city of Banda Aceh on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia was devastated by the tsunami, one of the only remaining intact buildings was the city's main mosque. Now, if I was a Muslim, I might argue that it was a miracle from Allah.
The same thing happened with a number of Hindu temples in Tamil Nadu during the great tsunami. Not one, but several. They came through virtually intact.
Even I'm getting tired of slogging through all this bullshit. When your opponents bring up oldy and moldy garbage like "vapor canopy" and other claptrap regurgitated from Kent Hovind's Book of Bull, what else can you do? He's a liar and a fraud. This should be exceedingly obvious now.
No one in the scientific community with any degree of credibility takes this seriously for a reason.
If the Bible Belt Xian nuts and Muslim nuts can sustain the level of crap they are putting out now, it's inevitably going to boil over into a religious war, thereby eliminating non-secularists from the population. Evolution! I'll be sitting it out in the Trollveggen if you need me.
It's like the Hmong people: if you think rape is a virtue and you think that Jesus gave you your alphabet, then you deserve to be poor, backwards, and reviled. Period. The same goes for the fundies.
Reason vs. Wingnuts: an unwinnable battle.
A Funny from Freethunk
Sable...since you like going off on tangents, let me ask you this:
You believe everything in the bible to be truely the world of your god, do you hide yourself during your menstural cycle?
Leviticus 15:19-30
And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. And if it be on her bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even. And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean. And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean. Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation. And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. But if she be cleansed of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. And on the eighth day she shall take unto her two turtles, or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for her before the LORD for the issue of her uncleanness.
Leviticus 20:18
And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.
Ezekiel 18:5-6
But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, and hath not ... come near to a menstruous woman.....
sable- And if you are comparing Evolution with pagan practices you truly did not read any of the links provided and have not ever studied a course in Biology. There are disagreements amongst scientists concerning evolution, but never heard of legitimate scientist comparing it to paganism.
You are really off base in your understanding of what evolution is. And some of your statements are outlandishly strange.
sable said: I saw St. Pauls Church at ground ZERO stand without even a broken window and the twin towers went down like bowing kness and every thing was turned into dust.
Your gawd saves one of his mythology temples yet lets another perish??? I guess you would say that is "one of the mysterious ways of gawd" or "gawd doesn't like Greek Orthodox xians" because they aren't xian enough or some absurd thing.
This was in the news today,Thu Dec 7, 10:50 AM ET NEW YORK
A church rose up for a day inside a white tent at ground zero.
Hundreds of faithful from the tiny St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was destroyed along with the World Trade Center, gathered in a makeshift canvas sanctuary on Wednesday, where they marked St. Nicholas Day and the 90th anniversary of their parish.
The Sept. 11 attack decimated the landmark church that was once a refuge for everyone from Wall Street traders on their lunch break to Greek sailors who believed St. Nicholas, their patron saint, would keep their ships from sinking.
Sable, my area of strength is history, not science. But from what I understand, evolution does not describe, nor does it attempt to, how the universe was created and how life first began.
The point I am trying to make to you is that the debate is much broader than simply Darwinian evolution versus the Bible. It is possible to have doubts about or not understand Darwinian evolution and yet still believe that the Bible is a crock.
As for the whole Church near the WTC still standing after the Twin Towers fell, what does it say about a God that it would protect the structural integrity of a church and yet allow thousands of people nearby to perish, including one of my high school classmates?
sable, once again you have ignored what I have written...what about the GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH AT GROUND ZERO that was destroyed while St Paul's remained? God picks favorite Xian churches to save? Also, I ask the same question that Tommy asked about all those mothers, fathers, sister, brothers, wives, husbands, friends and lovers...many of them who were praying and begging for their lives to a silent god?
As for writing christian as Xian, why do you always assume that you are being persecuted? The upper-case letter Χ is used as the symbol for:
* The name of Jesus Christ in Christianity, as in X-mas etc.
"Crux decussata" ("decussated cross") or "St. Andrew's Cross": called "decussated" because it looks like the Roman Numeral "10" (decussis), it is also called St. Andrew's Cross because St. Andrew was supposed to have been crucified on a cross of this shape.
"Chi-Rho" or "sigla": the letters "X" and "P," representing the first letters of the title "Christos," were eventually put together to form this symbol for Christ ("Chi" is pronounced "Kie"). It is this form of the Cross that Constantine saw in his vision along with the Greek words, TOUTO NIKA, which are rendered in Latin as "In hoc signo vinces" and which mean "in this sign thou shalt conquer.
My goodness, you aren't even educated about your own religion? I used to teach Xian symbolism in my Junior High Sunday school classes.
Leviticus 15 & menstural cycle? What are you having a problem with? Is this like the Bible is out dated, or you just don't like the whole unclean thing
I am asking you if you believe this? Do you hide yourself in a closet and stay away from your husband and other people while you are mensturating? That is what your holy book says to do...you are disgusting during that time so shouldn't be around people.
To clarify my viewpoint...mensturation is a natural thing and is NOT unclean. It is just a shedding of the womb when a baby hasn't been conceived. Why is it clean enough for a baby to grow in, but disgusting otherwise? It is because superstitious people believed this crap and made up rules which treated women like scum.
Stardust would you consider yourself a Dawkinite?
No...I do not worship anything. I read his books like any other books. I agree with much of what he says, disagree with other things he says. Unlike you and your book of mythology, I form my own opinions from what I read, and use other sources to come to my conclusions. Richard Dawkins is just a man, a very smart man, but just a man who makes people think and question instead of following like sheeple.
They should have been taught to honor Christ, by teaching them to take the time to spell it Christ and not replace it so easily with an X before mas.
I was a xian at the time, of course I taught them to love Jeebus (which I now regret being part of all that brainwashing of young minds.)
All this hang up over symbols and spellings. I thought your gawd was above all that? You mean gawd now has an offical lexicon of proper verbiage and spelling? Is there some sort of gawdly dictionary in addition to the bible that we must adhere to?
Dawkinite, going out of your way to be disrespectful of my faith in Jesus Christ. You are just following your leaders orders to spred seeds of doubt and be in your face intolarent of the words like Christ, God....etc, you know the list. It happens to be the same list of words that Satanist are unwilling to use because their whole goal in life is to be disrespectful to Christians and a God that they don't acknowledge that exist.
Sable, now you have gone TOO FAR.
You CHOOSE to come to atheist sites. What the hell do you expect to hear? Of course we are going to try to convince you that you god beliefs are not real. I don't go to your blog and tell you shit. You can do whatever you want. But you come to atheist blogs over and over and over again, you antagonize, refuse to consider what we say, then cry persecution when you do not succeed in your assimilation attempts!
You are in the majority sable...you can relax. Don't you have a bible study or women's group to hang out in?
Why does God do the things He does? We don't always know.
LOLOL! sigh
We could say that the St. Paul's was protected by building number 5, and St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church just happened to not have that kind of physical shield to protect them from the fall out of the towers. Just chance.
BINGO...you almost have it sable!
sable, you come up with the most absurd things!
The bible says what it says and you manipulate it to your liking.
Christian Symbols
Did I hit a nerve? That sounds Dawkinite to me.
I thought so before, and now I am convinced...you are nothing more than an elaborate troll and are only here to flame bait and push and push till someone takes the bait. Then your big fun can really start.
I am done with this thread.
daniel's Seeking Utopia's blog caption states:
"ARGUE NOT WITH FOOLS, FANATICS OR FRAUDS. SEEK INSTEAD BETTER COMPANIONS." Anonymous.
tommy - I like your blog very much and find your writing very interesting, intelligent, amusing, and informative. I will continue to read and comment to you and others but will no longer respond to chicken lady.
The FACTS of evolution which are more and more about out right lies and deceptions as well as out dated and disproved assumptions that still pass off as well known facts to the unseeking.
You seem to have a hard time qualifying your shit with facts.
I think you are making the right decision Stardust.
Atheists and a majority of justices sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court have been putting one over on the American people for decades.
Most of the citizens of all but a few of the secular, industrialized countries enjoy high standards of living from being bullshit free.
Hardly anyone doubts evolution in most of the developed world. The 'Satanic' level of unfairness you decry isn't jackshit compared to what you would get in basically any EU member state.
Compare Europe in 1006 and Europe in 2006. Which do you think is a better place to live?
The fact is, you fundie wingnuts are not the impoverished, persecuted people you pretend to be. And the fact is, YOU are the ones leading America to browner pastures. When something like 1 out of 7 Americans is functionally illiterate, gay marriage and teaching real science in high schools should be the least of concerns.
The earliest Christians worshipped in the catacombs under fear of death. No secular progressive faction in America comes even close, nor wants to. So stop with the histrionic whiny titty baby nonsense already.
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