I understand that people have faith and I'm not knocking it. I just don't understand how you pick and choose what you actually practice and believe and what rules you ignore. And no I didn't want to start a religion debate. Just some questions for those that do believe. Sorry. I personally quit believing around 9/11. It didn't make sense to me how the Christian God could prevent soemthing like that and didn't. I would love to go back to church. I really liked the sense of community. I really liked the fellowship and doing good things part. But I can't go back now because it seems most of the irrational hatred in my immediate world comes from there. That and the total ignoring of science, and the inability to adapt to the current world. I always wanted to start my own church, where we do the good things, and focus on making the world better, through ourselves. Not for heaven, but just because we want the world to be a better place.
God allows 10 million children ages five and under die on this planet every year. So is he a sadist, or just plain suck at his job? Nope: it's part of his plan and he works in mysterious ways. Ten million small children. That's a tsunami per week.
That sign is a roadside legend, and I think he lives near it. He sees it constantly with all that "fence-sitting" he does.
I haven't cracked open a Bible in years, but someone recently linked me to this site. I haven't read much of it yet, but the basic premise the guy argues is that Hell as a place of eternal fire and suffering is a creation of mistranslations and falsehood, and that the original concept of Hell is in fact, simply death with nothing after it; instead of eternal life in Heaven versus eternal suffering, you get Heaven or a lack of existence. Which, interestingly enough, would fit with the concept of a new Heaven and new Earth. Either way, it's a mindfuck. Unrelatedly, I'm very much looking forward to this weekend. Foodservice generally sucks, but I'm well paid for what I do and I get Easter off. Now if only barbecue joints were foolish enough to close on the 4th of July....
Yeah, that sign is about 40 miles south of me. I live in Columbus, OH. It is on the highway between here and Cincinatti. I drive by it at least 30 times a year. The backside has the 10 commandments on it. There is also a barn on the highway that has a Confederate flag painted on it's roof with a cross in front of it. I'm sure it's for states rights and all, Seriosuly, the thing is probably 40 feet x 30 feet.
Hold up, nyukka. You paid 30 CANADIAN DOLLARS for one goddamn drink in Cuba? What the fuck?! I thought everything was dirt cheap there. Also, one of my goals is to drink at that bar. It's not a dream, it's a fucking goal. 15 minutes for a papa doble in that heat? Yeah, let's go. The only tourisyt thing I can think of is to take my picture with that damn bronze statue of Hemingway. Shit. I'm going to the tiki bar tonight. Right on the water, but the drinks suck. It will have to do.
Yep, to an extent. I could go digging through sources, but essentially it boils down to this: even according to the Catholic Church, which is pretty heavy on the ol' Brimstone, Hell ("Gehenna") isn't necessarily a place where you suffer from ACTUAL physical pain in the shape of lakes of fire or all the fucked-up stuff which we think goes down there, much of which was essentially invented by Dante. The chief punishment you experience in Hell is separation from God. You become aware of the certain fact that God exists, and you realise you are permanently cast out of a chance of experiencing his love. The talk of fire and whatnot is generally regarded as being metaphors for how sucky it is to realise that God thinks you're a dick. All the most important theologians out there, from Thomas Aquinas onwards, are pretty much agreed that large portions of the Bible are allegorical (which doesn't necessarily detract from their "truth"). That's why these more recent sects, like the Westboro Baptist Church, who interpret the Bible literally are all such fucking nutjobs. Relatedly, I get annoyed when people say stuff about Christianity like "that means you can't eat shellfish or wear mixed fabrics because the Bible says they're an abomination, LOL!". No. If you're not Jewish, only the Moral Precepts in the Old Testament carry over. The Ceremonial and Judicial precepts, dealing with law, way of worship, and ritual cleanliness (such as the proscription against eating shellfish) go out the window with the coming of Jesus because they were only intended as temporary. If you want to diss religion, at least do your goddamn research.
Not to take this thread further down the rabbit hole of religion, but I get annoyed by people who unabashedly rip on religion. Yes, you disagree with it, yes you think its silly, but why do you try to display your intellectual superiority by trying to belittle a core assertion of many good and decent peoples lives? It doesn't take a genius to say something snarky about religion, its pretty easy. I think it shows much more intellectual restraint to engage the topic on a decent level instead of on a lower, more demeaning one. You're not showing how much better you are when you do this, if anything you're showing how intolerant you are.
Something that never ceased to amaze me about religious types was how they never blamed God for anything. Ex: Some guy is dying in the hospital. They say to pray for him and God will save him. A few days later, he croaks. Their response: "Oh well, it was God's will." So if God has this master plan, and he knows what's going to happen before it even happens, why should I bother to be good? He must have known what was going to happen, right? I also thought it was pretty ironic that this "loving, forgiving" God is so childish and insecure that the very act of not believing in him/her/it will result in your eternal damnation. Oh, and just so there's no misunderstanding, I'm an atheist. NSFW
I'm pretty sure that barn/farm is actually owned by a higher up in the KKK. Which is why in Cincinnati we have to put up with those dip shits every holiday season. The apply to put a cross up in fountain square every year, and it's always a controversy. Isn't Ohio fun guys!
I'm just going to stop this whole line of thought right here. We're at the edge. Any further posts about religion are going to be deleted. At some point, when I get around to it.
Seconded. Move on. Why not post pics of bunnies instead? ALL kinds of bunnies and chicks. The possibilities are endless.
At about 40 seconds in, look at the garden over the girl's shoulder. A cute little bunny hops into frame - and is chased down and mauled by the family dog. This documentary is updated with new episodes every 7 years (7up, 7 plus 7, 21 up, 28up, etc.) and every seven years they show the clip of the dog nailing the rabbit. Awesome.
Looking at some Google Glass videos on youtube, pretty cool shit for sure. I am guessing they'll be around 800 bucks a pair. NSFW NSFW