Religion

[Aenivae_Ikeda]

I think they need to make a button for sarcasm. Like there is for bold font, italics, and underscore. That'd help a lot.

[DarthTofu]

lol, I would so make that button if I had my own forums! On the note of history, I tend to agree with the arogant worms.

"History is made by stupid people!

Better people wouldn't even try!

So if you want a place in the history books, then do something dumb before you die! (Bum bum bum). The Hindenburg was a giant zeplin! But its makers made one minor oversite! Before they filled it up with explosive gas, they should have fixed the 'No Smoking' light! (Maniacal yell accompanied by Bum Bum Bum)..." you get the idea... Very good song! (And no religion).

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

It's odd, I just heard that song for the first time last week.

[General_Crespin]

Me, I'm caught between Christianity, agnosticism, and "I WANT TO GO TO SPACE NOW, DAMN EVERYTHING ELSE!"

[Krytos]

And BTW Krytos, when you mentioned "Language" in this posting, what were you talking about? Aedvina was reffering to "Psycho" as in "PsychoInfiltrator". Or was it something else?

 

I was referring to the swearing in his post - which is generally kept out of the forum.

I've been seeing a bit of swearing lately on the forum, and I'm surprised the moderators havn't said something about it yet.

Still, try to remember there are members here that are quiet young - so just be a little more careful with what is written.

 

I also assumed that Aenivae was being sarcastic - though as Evaders pointed out at the start of this post religion is a tricky subject that can offend easily. I figured Tofu and Psych would go along with it - though I was thinking more of other readers who could be offended and start flaming.

[DarthTofu]

Me, I'm caught between Christianity, agnosticism, and "I WANT TO GO TO SPACE NOW, **** EVERYTHING ELSE!"

If you're Christian shouldn't it be God **** everything else? Like the new lack of swwearing, Krytos?

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

Ok guys, I'm not a moderator here, but keep it clean and seriouse. This is starting to become a mockery of the threads purpose. It's also off topic. Keep it clean, no swearing, and respect every one.

[PsychoInfiltrator]

I agree with Thrawn. (Taken out of context, imagine the implications.) This discussion is getting off track.

 

Oh, and Tofu, Christianity is not what you said it to be.

 

Oh and Crspin, just ofr future reference, what does space have to do with Christianity?

[DarthTofu]

Umm, what did I say it to be? I wasn't trying to be offensive, anything but, I was just making what I thought was an unnoffensive joke. Like the one about the differance between the agnostic and atheistic: Don't know, Don't care. So, to put this back on topic, i'll return to the pledge of allegiance thing. Has anyone seen anything reguarding how that case is going?

[General_Crespin]

Nothing, Psycho. I just want to go to space.

 

About the Christianity thing, I was raised Christian, my mom is a Catholic. But am I Christian? No. But I'm not atheist.

[PsychoInfiltrator]

Crespin makes a good point. Unlike many religions, Christianity is not hereditary. Anyone can choose to become or not become a Christian.

 

Oh, just for future reference, when shortening my username I much prefer Psych to Psycho.

 

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Umm, what did I say it to be? I wasn't trying to be offensive, anything but, I was just making what I thought was an unnoffensive joke. Like the one about the differance between the agnostic and atheistic: Don't know, Don't care. So, to put this back on topic, i'll return to the pledge of allegiance thing. Has anyone seen anything reguarding how that case is going?

 

Well to answer your question, you indirectly said that Christianity is blind obedience ot God with no thoughht of anytihng else. I knew you were cracking a joke, but (such as in the Davinci Code), soime people might have thought that it was a statement based on fact. I'm not offended.

 

And no, I have not seen or heard anything about that case recently.

[DarthTofu]

Oh... whoops, no that wasn't really it. i just have Christians that know I'm atheist at school that tell me that I'm not allowed to say "God **** it" because i'm atheist. Sorry if that one was missinterpretted- kinda should've realized that was an inside joke. And what religions are hereditary? I didn't know that there really were any. Well, I mean, in China they have a dictator that makes everyone an atheist (Which, I will say here and now, is wrong. Christians should no more be forced to be atheists than atheists to be Christians) but that really doesn't qualify as 'hereditary' I don't think.

[PsychoInfiltrator]

Well, most most people think most religions are hereditary, but Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Mormonism and a couple I can't remember at the very least seem to assume that if your parents are such, you are too.

 

Some forms of Catholicism (and this is one of the reasons why I distinguish myself as 'Not-Catholic', tohugh I see no reaosn to be any more specific about my Christianity, because its really lal the same,) also seem to think that it is hereditary, forgetting or ignoring what the Bible says on the subject.

 

Oh and as to the "God.....", I'm glad that they say that. Alot of Christians swear or occasuonally say things like that, and sayign such things like "God ......" is called taking God's name in vain, and rather offensive to Christians (and Jews) everywhere. I personally just merely ask everyone I hear or read over the Net sayign stuff like that to please watch their language. I also often do that for other forms of swearing, mostly because after listening to alot of that I end up thinking it which is very close to saying it. It is also why I have spent quite abit of time learning how to say sometihng is bad without swearing and every now and again take a refresher course on SW insults.

 

Oh, and a large number of Chinese people are not atheists, regardless of governmental decree. Many are Christians, though some are Budhists or mystics. The fastest growing group in China, or predominantly any place on Earth suffering alot of oppression, are Christians.

[General_Crespin]

My dad was/is Jewish, so technically I'm Jewish too.

 

Lately I've taken a certain amount of pleasure in saying "God d*** .", or "D*** it!" or whatever. When I think about what that phrase means, and the etymology, I would love to damn some stuff...

[Jahled]

My dad was/is Jewish, so technically I'm Jewish too.

 

I thought it came through the mother...

[General_Crespin]

You know, I looked it up, and you're right.

 

The Torah also forbids a Jewish man to marry a Gentile woman, and if he does, his children by that woman will not be Jewish.

 

Never knew that...

[DarthTofu]

That's scary that you looked that up... And Psych, as according to my World History book which I think was printed last year, the pie graphs showing religions in different areas of the world show China as being 46% Atheistic, which, oddly enough, is the only religion besides agnostisim or satanism not mentioned in the book. It saddens me when I have to read that, because just about every religion except Christianity is treated with extremem scepticism, wheras the section on Christianity claims everything to be historically acurate. Kind of upsets me that they would rather us believe "Oh, yes, there was a Constantine, and, yes, he did have a vision of a cross, the sign of Christianity right before a great battle". That one floors me, too. Jesus: "If someone takes your coat, give him your shirt, too. Do unto others as you would have them do to you." Constantine: "I recieved aid in this war of killing people through divine intervention". That doesn't add up for me. That wasn't meant to be offensive, but if anyone would care to explain why exactly we suddenly get so contradictory, there...

[Evaders99]

Well the whole situation with China - blame the communist party. All religion is state-run. So basically its a forced atheist view. Before, it would have been predominately Buddhist - then with the "western"-ization of Chian, Christianity. When the Communist Party came into power, the official religion was "none". A whole generation has grown up there without having any kind of religion.

 

Granted, there are a lot of persecuted groups in China - Christians being among them. But most people in China are concerned about the getting the $ to survive, not risking the eye of the communists. So I am not surprised that atheism (or at least agnosticism) would be the major "religion" there

[AdmiralToguroAni]

Mormons are Christians btw Psych. I don't really know if you knew that or not, but I couldn't be sure from that post. They have an extra book, but they still worship Jesus.

 

I don't really get the point of swearing. I hardly ever do it, myself. If I want to offend someone, I'll do it with my ideology rather than words.

[DarthTofu]

Hey, I'm a highschool freshmen- I blame hormones going insane. and Toganari, there actually are some differances between Muslim and Christian religion, scuh as the five pillars of Islam and the belief in the last prophet Muhomad... or was it Abraham? I don't know, but I remember that there are some distinct differances.

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

I think what confuses many people is that all religions fight one another to some degree, yet they all tend to believe in basically the same thing. Each believes in an after-life in which the All Might resides, and that life is praparation for this after-life. It escapes me why they can't just get along... human nature I guess.

[DarthTofu]

I just have always been confused as to why we even are put on this Earth as according to all religions. Basically they say that our purpous is to be good in this world, have faith, and either face a great life after death or a terrible one.

[PsychoInfiltrator]

Mormons are Christians btw Psych. I don't really know if you knew that or not, but I couldn't be sure from that post. They have an extra book, but they still worship Jesus.

 

I have to say a most definate NO. They are not. Whether they worship Jesus or not (andd I think not, though I will need to double-check that to be absolutely sure), they are NOT Christians. 'worshipping Jesus', even if they do, does not mean that they are Christians. This is where religious-speak starts being somewhat important.

 

I could go into a bunch of reasons why they are not, but A) I need to double check and make sure I don't confuse some with somebody else and B) I'm taking a momentary break of a nasty math project, so I can't at the moment.

 

I will consider doing it later, however.

[Jahled]

The purpose of god, the universe, existance, fish, and everything....

 

I can think of no conscious 'supreme being' who designs an ecosystem of such 24-hour, complete and utter universal slaughter. Nature is a round the clock field of killing, from insects to mammals. Seems slightly strange for such supreme power to get this bit of the universe completely misleading and utterly borked. I think religious belief is a throw back to stone-age humanity trying to understand and explain scientific stuff they had no hope of understanding. Hopefully, the Vatican and similar supersticious institutions will be resigned to the museum of history.

 

Buddha and Lai-Tzu seemed to have got it about right. They pointed to the human brain, not belief in stuff like fairies, dieties, and Jinn, as a way to understand the process of neurons creating ideas and concsiousness.

 

 

 

 

 

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0SADdAm8VTSF3xffCLFfIIcnI7i28P7BS8GxIEm86Hn*VdUPZLs4jZ3vr1DL8x6SwEduVn6LlVy72dUYF4WnmAwXfLeY7lPZ5xstGJI6RmZAzAAAAynIRAg/tehfear.gif

 

Just my personal outlook on the subject.

[AdmiralToguroAni]

To Tofu: I said Mormonism, not Islam/Muslim, although if you're just glancing over it, then I can see where you may have made a mistake.

 

To Psych: Mormons are Christians because they believe in and worship Jesus Christ. You may not think of them as Christians (just like some Protestants don't think Catholics are Christians), but they are. The suffix "ian" denotes "the belief in", and the prefix "Christ" should speak for itself. Just as a "terrorist" is one who believes in terror, and "atheism" is one who believes in a lack of a higher power (Theism=belief in divinity), Mormons believe in Christ and thus are Christian.

 

edit: Why just talk when I can back it up. Here are some quotes.

 

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has always accepted Jesus of Nazareth as testified of in the Bible: the divine Redeemer and Son of God who atoned for the sins of all mankind and ensured our universal resurrection. The church has never ceased to affirm that there is no other name given whereby man can be saved (see Acts 4:12). Another book that the church reveres as scripture, the Book of Mormon, declares on its title page that it was written "to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.""

 

Also,

 

"Obviously there are doctrinal differences between Mormons and people of a variety of other Christian denominations. But Latter-day Saints believe that it must be possible for people to have different points of view and still be Christians. Given the large number of Christian denominations, all of whom disagree on points large and small, this conclusion is inescapable. Latter-day Saints embrace as fellow Christians those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. In the same vein, they believe that no doctrinal difference or variation in practice can loom so large as to cancel out their own sincere belief in and commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Redeemer."

 

To use C.S. Lewis's quote:

 

"It is not for us to say who, in the deepest sense, is or is not close to the spirit of Christ. We do not see into men's hearts. We cannot judge, and are indeed forbidden to judge. It would be wicked arrogance for us to say that any man is, or is not, a Christian in this refined sense . . . When a man who accepts the Christian doctrine lives unworthily of it, it is much clearer to say he is a bad Christian than to say he is not a Christian."

 

And lastly, if you believe that because the books are newer than that of the other Bible books, remember that many books were thrown out for a variety of reasons, some of them political (The book of Mary Magdelene). As such, it seems off to call them non-Christians, since they believe in and worship Jesus.