Because that kind of crap is always a chain letter, and it's always bullshit.People are so goddam gullible.
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This is deep!
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alright, settle down. d00d got duped by something that seemed nice. No crime in that, it's a learning experience.
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What's to hate? It's a good piece of writing, whether he go it in an e-mail or not. Why does it matter where he got it from?
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In reply to:
What's to hate? It's a good piece of writing
I agree... it doesnt matter where it came from. its a good piece of writing... you should look past the author and try to understand its meaning
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If it said This is fiction at the top, it wouln't be so bad...then it would just be chain mail spam. But it's actually a lie; it's manipulative.
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i guess so...
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That was rather interesting, who gives a crap if it was bullshit?
This made me laugh though :smile: :
"And then I saw it.. The title bore "People I Have Shared the Gospel With." The
handle was brighter than those around it, newer, almost unused. I pulled on its
handle and a small box not more than three inches long fell into my hands. I
could count the cards it contained on one hand."lol, utter BULLCRAP, all you yanks are religiously obsessed.
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Not all; mainly our political leaders and folks who live in the interior and South.
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Yeah, shame you guys are all tarred with the same brush, I'm sure some of you are OK
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some of us are "OK" how kind of you
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What's wrong with religion? To be able to share a belief with others who feel the same way is a great thing, as long as people remain open and accept other people's beliefs. The only thing I can't stand is people who refuse to be open to outside opinion, and will never stop to consider what another person has to say.
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I'm a born and bread Catholic and believe that the socialist teachings of Jesus were truely amicable and applaudable. It's when religion BECOMES a religion to people if you get my meaning where I dislike it - fundamentalism basically.
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The problem (for the sake of this discussion) is that religion and government are getting so wrapped together in the U.S. The second amendment to the Constitution (about the government not establishing a religion) seems to be weakening.If you're not a Christian, it really sucks to have politicians regularly telling you that you live in a Christian nation.Robert I. Sherman, interviewing George Bush (W's father):In reply to: What will you do to win the votes of Americans who are atheists?"GB: "I guess I'm pretty weak in the atheist community. Faith in God is important to me."RS: "Surely you recognize the equal citizenship and patriotism of Americans who are atheists?"GB: "No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."RS: "Do you support as a sound constitutional principle the separation of state and church?"GB: "Yes, I support the separation of church and state. I'm just not very high on atheists."George W. Bush also believes that only Christians can get into heaven.
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In reply to:If you're not a Christian, it really sucks to have politicians regularly telling you that you live in a Christian nation. that son of a .... bush.... annoys the hell out of me with all that christian morals stuff too... and I'm a christian... he is a smear on the already hurting record of christians In reply to: George W. Bush also believes that only Christians can get into heaven. thats just the view of a close-minded man... I know i completely disagree with it
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I know i completely disagree with itEven W's parents disagree with it!
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It's so true, that fundamentalism ruins the image of a lot of Catholics. I'm personally not catholic, although I wouldn't call myself an atheist either. I'm really not sure what to believe in right now. I have trouble with blind faith, because I feel like I need something behind it to support it. But honestly, the existance of god looks just as likely, or sometimes more likely, than him not existing when looking at how things are the way they are. (a previous thread involving primarily me, Last, F22Fighter, and later on SteveA led me to take a more open approach to this sort of thing)
Sorry if I sort of missed your point on the first post that I responded too.
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people like Bush and Thurmond should be proof positive that Christ died in vien! Of course, if there was a second comming, fuckers like that would have a hand full of nails ready.
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Any leaders ideas of beliefs aside, the sentiments of this chain mail were great. It has nothing even to do with religion. we humans spend so much damn time hating, arguing, posturing, etc. We get our shorts in a bunch over silly shit. it is foolish and rediculous. Someone once said that this country was not founded on religion, and the legal system was not influenced by the Ten Commandmants. SO? Even if the ten Commandmants had nothing to do with our penal code, what, I have to ask, would happen if we all embraced those commandments, and carried them out daily? There would be no need for police, judges, laws, the government, etc.I cannot see any harm with religion. Religion is not a negative thing, only as it is expressed by some folks. Even our founding fathers recognized the need for religion , but they said, as does the Constitution, that "religion", not naming a particular one, is beneifcial. The constitution and the bill of Rights only mentions that religion and the practice thereof may not be hindered (paraphrased. I have several copies of these documents, as well as the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, so I really don't need any corrections)
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In reply to:what, I have to ask, would happen if we all embraced those commandments, and carried them out daily? There would be no need for police, judges, laws, the government, etc.Are you talking about the Protestant, Catholic, Heberew, or some other version?"Thou shalt have no other gods before me."There's a problem right off the bat."Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."This goes on about graven images (goodbye, artists and photographers) and what a jelous being God is."Remember thou keep the Sabbath Day."Goodbye, Sundays at the mall, movies, etc."Honor thy Father and thy Mother."Even if they physically, psychologically and sexually abouse me? I don't see any exceptions.So far, nothing here that will empty the prisons."Thou shalt not kill."That's a good one. Easy to type, hard to get people to follow it. Does that mean we would stop sending soldiers into battle?"Thou shalt not commit adultery."It seems like the religious folks are doing it as much as the non-religious folks. There aren't many people in jail for adultery anyway."Thou shalt not steal."That's a good one, but there are no exceptions. Is it morally wrong to shoplift a piece of bread if your family is about to starve to death, and you have no alternative?"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."Why only against your neighbor?"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife / goods."There's this ambiguity over whether one's wife is one's property. Am I allowed to fantasize about her?In reply to:I cannot see any harm with religion. Religion is not a negative thing, only as it is expressed by some folks.The "guns don't kill people, people kill people" idea.In reply to:Even our founding fathers recognized the need for religion , but they said, as does the Constitution, that "religion", not naming a particular one, is beneifcial.That was surely not universally true. Some founding fathers were hostile to religion, and Thomas Jefferson came up with the idea of a "wall of separation" between church and state.In reply to:The constitution and the bill of Rights only mentions that religion and the practice thereof may not be hindered (paraphrased. I have several copies of these documents, as well as the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, so I really don't need any corrections)However many copies of whatever documents you have, the first amendment says: " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." You forgot about the first part of the sentence. What does "establishment" mean to you?
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Uh oh...It seems that I wrote in haste, not fully expressing myself.I don't mean the Ten Commandments specifically, but it might be better to say that we could make greater efforts to adhere to the best parts of all of the religions that are positively geared ostensibly for the betterment of mankind (ignoring the whole concept that at least the Catholic church is all about control). Having studied breifly most of the major religions, I found many similarities in the laws and ideas that governed human behaviour towards each other and our neighbors (incidentally, the concept "neighbor" meant those around you. If you walked down a street you had never been down before, then those living on that street would be your neighbor also). It is those similar concepts that I was refering to. Maybe a generic, universal code of conduct. We have that at present, but it is enforced by fear and punishment, not by respect. Both Christ and Buddha preached respect...love under another name. It is all the same. I have hung with criminals, so I can say without a doubt there will always be a criminal element. Nothing will change that. BUT, if the general population has a greater sense of respect, then life will be more enjoyable, less confining. We have laws passed by our wunnerful politicians to control us since we as a species have shown an inabilty to control ourselves. True, there are many who have a social conciousness, from whatever source, and these types need not laws, since they know that shoplifiting is injurious to others as it will cause price rise that will be inflicted on the rest of society, (and it violates the most important of humans bonds...trust. By the way, there are many organizations and groups secular and religious, that are created just to help hungry folks. When I lived in a homeless shelter in West Va, there were 8 places around town that one could get a free meal. Many store owners and cashiers have good hearts, and would be willing to give a person food in exchange for some token task, or even just because) so these socially aware folks don't shoplift. As the impact of religion and the controls implicit in religion decreases in society, there is a corresponding increase of laws to cover this deficit. We are controlled, either by a set of rules delivered to us by a religious system, or by laws generated by the various governing bodies that dot our country (my son chafed under rules that I imposed, and that the school imposed. I told him that if he wanted to escape these rules, then go and live in the woods. But even there, I informed him, there are rules. We cannot escape them, we cannot escape some sort of control. Only can the mind be unfetterd, and only if there is sufficient ability ).Thomas jefferson had responded to a group of Danbury Conn ministers who were afraid that Congress might try the same thing that the British Crown had done during those days. They asked Jefferson for clarification. Mr. Jefferson merely told these men that there will be no abuse of religious privelage as there was under the Anglican Church, that the government will not interfere with the practice of any religion. THAT is the intent of that oft quoted letter. Granted, Jefferson was agnostic, I believe, but he had positive things to say about the place of religion in society, as did the majority of the founding fathers.I am not a gun nut, although I have been in the military, as have many of my ancestors. I have fired guns for sport. If I lay a loaded gun on a table, and no one touches that gun, no one will ever get hurt from that gun. Only when that gun is acted on and aninmated by a human will there be potential harm. Same with a knife. In Britain, some doctors are trying to have meat carving knives banned, or at least blunted, since there has been a sharp ( no pun intended) increase in stabbing deaths. No guns, so the next best thing...a knife. It is not the impliment or tool that is used, it is that the human mind has a desire to kill another for a slight, a perceived slight, or over a issue that can be resolved via other means. I knew of two brothers up here who kicked their next door neighbor to death. No guns, no knives. Then there was the guy who crossed over from Canada to the states carrying a bloody chain saw that he used to kill, I think, three people. No guns, no knives. It is the mind, not the tool. How can we address the mind? It surely is not the tools fault! ( I have many, many very sharp woodworking tools, so that I can make large piles of sawdust for no advantage. These tools have never killed anyone. They do what I want them to do. If the tool doesn't perform as I wish, it is not the tools fault at all. But mine) Granted, this last guy was a little loony, but many, many others are simply deficient in respect, problem solving, conflict resolution. In part, It could be said, because of lack of proper instruction.Damn I had to think, and MAN did that hurt!!
