"but they would be considered heretical by today's standards"
You say heretical, I say highly interesting. I would very much enjoy having more time to study these materials.
"Belief in Jesus Christ as a figure of religous importance cannot be seperated from the early Catholic Church because they are the ones who defined what being a Christian is."
I deny anybody the authority to tell me what is, or is not, a Christian. Not you, not the Diet of Worms, not the Pope, not St. Peter. I am responsible for my own faith. It's between me and my God. Everybody else can butt out, unless they happen to be interested in my understanding of God. In which case, I'll be glad to share what I've got.
"So do believe all the supernatural stories about divine intervention, immaculate conception, raising the dead, ascending to heaven, etc, or do you just think Jesus was a nice but regular guy, who some other people wrote some exagerated stories about?"
I think that what Jesus said was far more interesting than what Jesus was.
"What's so special about our planet, that God should choose to interfere with it?"
I don't know. I think it's special because I'm on it, and a lot of people I like are on it.
"Why did he send his "only son" to our planet, instead of all the others?"
There are a lot of things I don't know about that question. I don't know if Earth is unique. I have complicated thoughts about Jesus' divinity. I don't know that God doesn't care about other hypothetical planets.
"Blah blah stuff about the pope"
The pope is a guy in a funny hat. He has NO significance whatsoever to my faith. You need to take your questions up with somebody who thinks he's the infallible semi-divine avatar of Jesus (or whatever).
No Everybody sins, gays are not more or less predisposed to sin than anybody else No Yes No Very old...on the order of a couple billion years No, no, because first one must remove the mote from one's own eye before taking the plank from their neighbor's (and the one who is without sin should cast the first stone), I don't know, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know.
I think the party line is irrelevant. I think that individuals' own faith and experience is way more important than what some Diet (or Pope or preacher or revival minister) says.
It's not a matter of splitting hairs. It's deciding what is important. My understanding of Christ is the only one that's important to me.
I don't talk about the Christian thing to do. I don't really have a flavor of Christianity. I think that Christ said some things that I find meaningful in my life, and I think he's a very good role model.
"Christians want to be lumped together like they all believe the same thing,"
That's exactly my point. I don't care what you think Christianity is. I simply invite you to consider that it's not the monolithic entity you presuppose.
"You do not know or understand the history of Christianity."
You're full of crap.
"that defined what Christianity is"
No. Christ defined what Christianity is. These councils and conclaves and Diets of Worms defined the power structure that they wished to leverage based on religious orthodoxy.
Wow. I have no idea what churches YOU'VE been going to, but the fact that you believe there is a "Christian party line" leads me to believe you've not gone to very many.
No. Advertisements are designed to appeal not to intellect, but to emotion. They are designed to mislead.
"if I show a commercial saying, "Battle-of-The-Bands event at City Expo Center, 9:00pm on Saturday. Tickets for $20""
But you don't see ads like that. You see ads screaming at you about SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY YOU BUY THE WHOLE SEAT BUT YOU'LL ONLY NEED THE EDGE!
"That is a cultural practice due to a...blah"
You're splitting hairs, and ignoring the fact that the more deceptive and misleading advertising is, the more it is percieved to be effective by the unethical persons who buy ads.
Determining which ads are more or less deceptive seems to me to be a bullshit-eating contest. Some people might dig that, but I'll pass. I prefer to ignore all advertisements as much as I possibly can.
1) Anything that contains explosives may be a bomb.
2) Things that do not contain explosives cannot be a bomb.
It is the job of, what are those guys? That one squad? That's supposed to deal with bombs? Oh yeah, the BOMB SQUAD. Yeah. It's up to them to know the difference. That is their job. You can tell, because it's in the name of their squad.
"Reading off a computer monitor will cause eyestraing and exacerbate nearsightdness MUCH faster than print."
Citation please?
I've read several dozen novels on my PDA in the last year. I find it vastly more comfortable and convenient than paper books. However, I will not under any circumstances pay hard-bound prices for ebooks. (You listening, publishers? Price it right, and I'll buy from you. Don't, and I won't.)
I hate the poor quality of book bindings nowadays. It's really annoying to only be able to read a hard-bound book three or four times before you have folios falling into your lap. I much prefer trade paperback bindings, but they are hard to hold one-handed on the bus (as are hardbound books, of course). Mass market paperbacks are holdable, but self-destruct.
I like my waterproof, backlit PDA a whole lot for reading. Your mileage may vary.
OK, Sparky, what does this "generic connector" look like? Here's a hint: There's no such thing. If you want a connector that works with 80% of portable media players, well, that's an iPod dock connector. The rest of the market is so incredibly fragmented that there's no way a "generic connector" would do anybody any good. Never mind the utter lack of software that can interface with Every Media Player Ever.
"Either Apple starts sticking to industry standards"
You just tell me what those standards are, and we'll talk.
Slashdot Mirror
If only they'd been able to get an injuction against selling crappy beer in the US, I'd call it a win all around.
My view of Christ is certainly incomplete.
"Your view of Christ is their view of Christ, "
Clearly not the case.
"but they would be considered heretical by today's standards"
You say heretical, I say highly interesting. I would very much enjoy having more time to study these materials.
"Belief in Jesus Christ as a figure of religous importance cannot be seperated from the early Catholic Church because they are the ones who defined what being a Christian is."
I deny anybody the authority to tell me what is, or is not, a Christian. Not you, not the Diet of Worms, not the Pope, not St. Peter. I am responsible for my own faith. It's between me and my God. Everybody else can butt out, unless they happen to be interested in my understanding of God. In which case, I'll be glad to share what I've got.
"So do believe all the supernatural stories about divine intervention, immaculate conception, raising the dead, ascending to heaven, etc, or do you just think Jesus was a nice but regular guy, who some other people wrote some exagerated stories about?"
I think that what Jesus said was far more interesting than what Jesus was.
"What's so special about our planet, that God should choose to interfere with it?"
I don't know. I think it's special because I'm on it, and a lot of people I like are on it.
"Why did he send his "only son" to our planet, instead of all the others?"
There are a lot of things I don't know about that question. I don't know if Earth is unique. I have complicated thoughts about Jesus' divinity. I don't know that God doesn't care about other hypothetical planets.
"Blah blah stuff about the pope"
The pope is a guy in a funny hat. He has NO significance whatsoever to my faith. You need to take your questions up with somebody who thinks he's the infallible semi-divine avatar of Jesus (or whatever).
No
Everybody sins, gays are not more or less predisposed to sin than anybody else
No
Yes
No
Very old...on the order of a couple billion years
No, no, because first one must remove the mote from one's own eye before taking the plank from their neighbor's (and the one who is without sin should cast the first stone), I don't know, I don't know what you're talking about.
I don't know.
Better?
"self-contradictory, logically invalid, and scientifically disproven lies of Christianity"
Wow.
If you'd care to specify what you're talking about, we might be able to have a productive discussion. If you don't, we won't.
Hint: I think Genesis is a myth, not history. I think that the historicity of Jesus is not relevant to the message.
But, if it makes you feel better to assume that you're smarter than I am, you are welcome to do so.
"Maybe you should call yourself a Jeshuaist or something"
Why?
"But one simply must speak in generalities at times"
Sure. But doing as you are doing, and assuming that generalities apply to every single individual, is sloppy thinking.
"This is the problem with applying a label to yourself, and that's your doing, not mine."
You're the one that seems to be so attached to presupposing the meaning of labels. That's definitely your doing, not mine.
You and I are in complete agreement.
I think the party line is irrelevant. I think that individuals' own faith and experience is way more important than what some Diet (or Pope or preacher or revival minister) says.
It's not a matter of splitting hairs. It's deciding what is important. My understanding of Christ is the only one that's important to me.
I don't talk about the Christian thing to do. I don't really have a flavor of Christianity. I think that Christ said some things that I find meaningful in my life, and I think he's a very good role model.
"Christians want to be lumped together like they all believe the same thing,"
I am a Christian, and I do not want that.
That's exactly my point. I don't care what you think Christianity is. I simply invite you to consider that it's not the monolithic entity you presuppose.
"Is sociology now evil?" Evil? No. Useless? Yes.
"You do not know or understand the history of Christianity."
You're full of crap.
"that defined what Christianity is"
No. Christ defined what Christianity is. These councils and conclaves and Diets of Worms defined the power structure that they wished to leverage based on religious orthodoxy.
My faith has little to do with sects, and less to do with vilifying anything. But hey, what do I know? I'm just a practicing Christian.
Wow. I have no idea what churches YOU'VE been going to, but the fact that you believe there is a "Christian party line" leads me to believe you've not gone to very many.
You seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that there's any distinction between power politics and the Catholic Church in that period.
There wasn't.
The Catholic Church wasn't some innocent, corrupted by the halls of power...they WERE the halls of power.
No. Advertisements are designed to appeal not to intellect, but to emotion. They are designed to mislead.
"if I show a commercial saying, "Battle-of-The-Bands event at City Expo Center, 9:00pm on Saturday. Tickets for $20""
But you don't see ads like that. You see ads screaming at you about SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY YOU BUY THE WHOLE SEAT BUT YOU'LL ONLY NEED THE EDGE!
"That is a cultural practice due to a...blah"
You're splitting hairs, and ignoring the fact that the more deceptive and misleading advertising is, the more it is percieved to be effective by the unethical persons who buy ads.
Determining which ads are more or less deceptive seems to me to be a bullshit-eating contest. Some people might dig that, but I'll pass. I prefer to ignore all advertisements as much as I possibly can.
"Mac ads are as inaccurate as Microsoft ads"
Lemme fix that for you.
"Ads are inaccurate."
By definition.
So, in order to be the cool anti-Slashdot person like you (way to fight the good fight!) I have to like Family Guy?
Is there, like, a list of rules I can peruse so I can be cool like you?
Good riddance to paint where it's neither needed nor wanted.
(It's silly to dismiss an entire medium of expression because sometimes it's done unskillfully.)
"The columbine kids didn't seem to care if they died or not. "
Yes, but if there were armed "good guys", they would have died faster and killed fewer people. That sounds like a win to me.
Um, no. We have:
1) Anything that contains explosives may be a bomb.
2) Things that do not contain explosives cannot be a bomb.
It is the job of, what are those guys? That one squad? That's supposed to deal with bombs? Oh yeah, the BOMB SQUAD. Yeah. It's up to them to know the difference. That is their job. You can tell, because it's in the name of their squad.
"Reading off a computer monitor will cause eyestraing and exacerbate nearsightdness MUCH faster than print."
Citation please?
I've read several dozen novels on my PDA in the last year. I find it vastly more comfortable and convenient than paper books. However, I will not under any circumstances pay hard-bound prices for ebooks. (You listening, publishers? Price it right, and I'll buy from you. Don't, and I won't.)
I hate the poor quality of book bindings nowadays. It's really annoying to only be able to read a hard-bound book three or four times before you have folios falling into your lap. I much prefer trade paperback bindings, but they are hard to hold one-handed on the bus (as are hardbound books, of course). Mass market paperbacks are holdable, but self-destruct.
I like my waterproof, backlit PDA a whole lot for reading. Your mileage may vary.
My wild guess would be, to apply for a line of credit.
OK, Sparky, what does this "generic connector" look like? Here's a hint: There's no such thing. If you want a connector that works with 80% of portable media players, well, that's an iPod dock connector. The rest of the market is so incredibly fragmented that there's no way a "generic connector" would do anybody any good. Never mind the utter lack of software that can interface with Every Media Player Ever.
"Either Apple starts sticking to industry standards"
You just tell me what those standards are, and we'll talk.