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The phase "scapegoat" has mutated from the term "escape goat" in biblical times and referred to one of two goats sent for sacrifice which was allowed to get away: http://www.keyway.ca/htm2004/20040924.htm

supposively

"Old question to the Christians that insist we are the only intelligent life in the universe:"

It's not an issue of intelligence but of free will. Humans have the free will to decide if they go to heaven, or to hell. Animals can't make that decision.

"Newer question: Are you really sure we were the first mistake?"

Do you see yourself as a "mistake"? Free will can be a burden, but it was never a mistake.

"For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." (Ecclesiastes 3:18-20 KJV)"

So what you're saying is that it would have been better if your friend had never done ANY drugs?
Well, no. I don't think the coffee hurt him much. Or the aspirin. Or the cough medicine, even that one time it was taken in high dosage. In fact, the one time he did E probably didn't hurt him that much either. And the weed was actually not very bad either. The alcohol and cigarettes I suppose he could have done without, given the sense of helplessness they tend to engender. Um... I think the mushrooms were ok, too, since it never turned into a problem.

But probably, if he had actually been more committed to weed, he wouldn't have developed a crystal meth problem, given how the crystal meth makes you manic no matter what, and the weed makes you tired if you're tired, and feel pain if you've been beating yourself up. So I think if he had stuck with coffee, weed, and occasionally mushrooms, he would be fine right now.

So, really, the moral of the story is that land developers should be strung up by their testicles for destroying my home, and we should make weed legal. And there's this guy named David for whom I have little compassion. In fact, there are TWO guys named David for whom I have little compassion. Which I think is ironic, since my name is Nathan. And yes, I taught those motherfuckers a lesson apiece. :-)

Didn't Jesus say something about fulfilling every jot and title of the old testament?
http://www.keyway.ca/htm2005/20050805.htm

The Bible has many, many things to say about "good works," and it would be fair to say they at least tend in different directions on this point. Here's a nice little Googled synopsis of the many and varied mentions of "good works" and "works" in the Bible.

For the resulting doctrinal ambiguity, one can also see those same google results (for "good works" and "Bible") to read lots of explanations like:

"Doing good works, obeying God, cannot of itself get anyone saved, but it determines very much who will be saved, and when..."
--The Church of God: Daily Bible Study

The expression "necessary but not sufficient" would just about sum that up. How would those works, then, not be "earning" one's way into heaven? The answer provided is all sorts of murky doctrine about how works are not the cause of salvation, but rather a sign of it. All of which seems to almost completely dispense with individual moral will in favor of obedience to divine will -- a point which I would describe as profoundly disturbing to me personally.

Frankly this seems to me like the sort of mess one comes across when trying to reconcile authoritarian ideas about God with any sort of active moral life. And different Christian groups come to quite different balance points for that. My Southern Baptist relations would see that very, very differently from my Northern Baptist ones.

A document which asserts the earth is flat, at the centre of the universe,

Catholic dogma. Not biblical.

and rests on pillars,

Ever heard of poetry? I guess I'm asking too much of a Slashdotter.

that the mustard seed is the smallest seed,

Teachers tend to gear their lessons to the understanding of the pupils. If Jesus were to have named some, as of then, undiscovered seed that were smaller, would this have helped in any way the point he was trying to make about faith, or would his botany lesson just get in the way?

that hares and coneys chew the cud,

Haven't seen that one. I do recognize that the Bible contains errors, though. I just think we should focus on the real ones, and not try to pretend the author is an idiot for using accepted poetic techniques.

that giants

I've got to admit, you've got me on this one. Giants could never really exist.

and unicorns are real,

"Unicorn" was used by the King James and other translators for the original Hebrew word "reh-ame", which means a wild bull.

that bats are birds,

Our modern concept of families, classes, orders, species, etc. Are lines that we have drawn that are most convenient for a scientifically dominated culture. Besides, there are many translation errors in all versions of the Bible. I don't have a greek interlinear (or Hebrew if this is from the OT) on me, but maybe the original word just meant "flying thing", which would be correct -- bats do fly. I would suspect this argument falls apart for the non-anglo readers that use other translations.

that stars are small objects which can fall fromt the sky and be stamped upon,

Again, this is obvious poetry. According to your logic, a poet that says something like "Love is a rose" is a complete moron, but you are the smart one, because you know that love really isn't a rose.

oh well why not this too stoning

How else can you explain his change in appearance from something like this to this? He's clearly had the Michael Jackson nose job, cheek lifts, and a complete cranial restructuring, among other things...

Actually:

Fourth
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to The Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days The Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

And if God tells you to strap on a belt of explosives and slaughter the infidels, well, that's His will and you'd better obey, right?

The God of the Christian Bible never commands Christians to kill unbelievers. He is perfectly loving and perfectly just. He made a way for each of us to escape the hell that we so truly deserve. And he didn't just write our sins off (because he is so just), he took them on himself!! And what is more, he did it without ever knowing whether any of us would respond to his wonderful self sacrifice. Call me a fool , but that sounds like a God of LOVE to me.

So, if somebody is going around 'slaughtering infidels', you can be pretty darn sure--even if they say they are Christians--they absolutely ARE NOT!