This particular concept is so anti-Christian, but, appallingly, it's become a major belief of many so-called Christians. When you do something wrong, you are punished so that you learn from the punishment, if the person who punishes you cares about you. To torture someone eternally for a wrongdoing is not punishment in the sense of teaching the punished, but, rather, in the sense of teaching others that they don't want to be punished. As for the punished, they become nothing more than a thing to be discarded and ignored, and I cannot and will not believe in a such a horrifically callous diety. A God who would do such things would put any earthly dictator to shame, no matter how cruel they were.
Scriptural analysis of any mentions of eternal damnation (of which, if I recall, there is only one) have been found to have several possible meanings. Of course, this argument only applies if you do not believe the KJV Bible to be absolute truth.
I must ask people to please not judge all Christians as you would some of the more unfortunately vocal extremists and hypocrites...
How is it cruel to show someone what is going to happen as a result of their actions, and then hand them to way to avoid that on a silver platter? I freely admit that I may be mistaken in many places in my view of the way God works, if I knew how He worked then I'd BE God, now wouldn't I? It may very well be that non-evil non-christians are reborn to try things again, while evil christians AND evil non-christians are thrown into the lake for eternity and non-evil christians go to heaven. This actually seems like a much better idea... And an entirely more sensible way to do things. I think I shall take another look at my Bible and possibly adjust my philsophy to contain this if my perusal so merits.
In my understanding groups that tend to believe this fall towards the Ultra-protestants, Baptists and non-denominational faiths, in which the Bible is taken close to word for word, and believed to be 100% true.
Hold your horses a bit, I'm a Southern Baptist and I don't know of anyone who thinks that the bible is 100% quite literally true. We believe that everything it says is in some way true, but not LITERALLY so. The reason for this is understanding. Revelations is a perfect view of this. If you take it literally it means a 7 horned monster is going to eat all the christians and all other kinds of preposterous things. This is because if God had said 'America will be rulled by a 7 man council who, using the Internet and Television will have all of the christians persecuted to death' it wouldn't have made any sense to John. Also, the image he saw, which looked like this to him, may be something which if one of us saw we would recognize instantly as a bit of technology we have now.
If the members of the KKK call themselves Christian, then who am I (and who are you) to disagree? If somebody elects to call themselves a Christian, I have no choice but to believe them.
Well then! Whadda ya know! I'm the President. And who are you to disagree? It doesn't matter that no one elected me, that I don't have any of the presidential responsibilities, that I am demsontrably NOT the president. Since I said it it must be true!
Yeesh, people can claim to be anything that they want. Don't take it at face value. KKK members are not christians because they do not follow the precepts taught by Christ. In order to be a CHRISTian you must follow the teachings of CHRIST.
... up until this post. I think it is preposterous to suggest that every person who does not convert goes to hell. And I'm a Christian. The Catholic church believes this to be true, but I personally don't find enough compelling evidence in the Bible to support it. Anyway, you may be right and you may be wrong. Nobody knows. You have every right to believe whatever you want. You also have every right to practice your religion, as long as that does not include restricting (through legislation) or violating the rights of others. You also don't have the right to harass others as part of practicing your religion. It is certainly acceptable to promote awareness of your religion in the hope of saving others through advertising and similar means. But the actions of missionaries and some modern Christian groups occasionally crosses over into the realm of harassment or violating anothers rights.
I'll admit I could very well be wrong. My beliefs are based on my own study and may not quite sync with what other people have arrived at through study. I also admit that I tend to err on the side of Caution. I do agree with you that the violent methods of some christians are reprehensible. They need to re-read some of the book they are trying to teach, because apparently they don't understand it.
Ahem. I didn't see any reference to white male Christians until you brought it up. Are you saying that if you disagree with someone, they *should* have to teach in a guarded, unlisted classroom? Yeah, right. And am I correct in inferring that you believe that anyone who is *not* white, male, or Christian tends to be a Liberal? If so, do you think that, the more truth there is in that statement, the more reason there would be for them to be so?
No, my IMPRESSION of the article and some of the examples that were used, happened to make connections in my mind to a chain of events which had been loosely connected before whereby WMCs are shouted down whenever they try to say 'This is Wrong.' whereas other groups are allowed to say whatever they want and applauded for it. This does not have anything to do with liberal or conservative. It's all about society and its perception of Christianity and Christians.
Ya know what I hate more than Christian Bashing is people who claim to be Christians who bash others. I wish people would read their fucking bible and they'd know they don't recogize the same God as I do. I consider myself a Christian, and a pretty damn tolerant one.
I have to fervently agree with this entire post. The type of so-called Christian that he describes is precisely why the real Christians have such a hard time with people.
Well, I would be highly annoyed if you kept screaming about how, according to some ancient book of Middle Eastern folk tales there was a cliff around here somewhere and I had better watch out, when in I was standing on solid ground, flat clear out to the horizon. Especially so if I'd been hearing about this damn fictional cliff all my life and you were telling me nothing I hadn't heard before. I don't like the idea that you live your life in a delusional state, holding to an inconsistent and illogical system of metaphysics. But I don't go around knocking on doors telling people "There is no god!" (or better yet, "You are god!") and handing out free brouchures detailing the contradictions and inconsistencies of the Bible and Christianity, or saying the Christians shouldn't be considered citizens because this is a nation not founded upon the Christian faith. Please do me the same courtesy.
Firstly, just because you can't see the cliff, doesn't mean it isn't there.
Second, last time I checked my metaphysics aren't any more improbable than yours. Saying that the 'Big Bang' is a logical beginning for the universe seems delusional to me. But I won't try to stop you from saying it's so. I may try to convince you that you are wrong though.
Third, no one is stopping you from going door to door handing out tracts and spreading the belief that there is no God.
While not all Christians hold this view point (but then are they true Christians?), but a very large amount of them do. Do you? Do you honestly believe this, and are you really trying to save me from this impending doom? No matter how I live my life, I will suffer eternally... if you are not able to "save" me?
Ok, I'm going to do my best to explain the way Christianity as I have studied it works. Others my disagree with me, but this is how I understand it.
Ok, people do bad things, no one can argue that they have NEVER EVER done anything wrong. When you do something wrong, you are punished for it. This punishment is being cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. In order to avoid this fate you must quite simply allow God to remove the mark of your wrong deed from you, and place it onto the burden of Christ. This can be accomplished by a 30 second prayer and a request that God come to dwell in your life. Just saying the words won't do it, you have to believe it when you say it. This process is one time only, no matter what you do after this you don't have to do it again. (Saved)Christians are massively punished in life for wrong deeds they perform in life.
God allowed Christ, an extension of himself, to dwell in Hell for 3 days in order to extoll the wrong deeds of every human being who is willing to accept that gift. If you accept it then you dwell in paradise for eternity. (there are alternate views on how this actually works, one of which is my own personal view but it is so long and complicated that it needs a post of its own).
A lot of people will argue that if God really loved everyone and wanted everyone to go to heaven he would simply snap his fingers (or whatever) and it would be done. I compare this to someone looking at a man giving out free lunches to anyone who was willing to show up, and complaining that he should be searching out every person who wants a free lunch and giving it to them.To these people It isn't enough that he sent out a bunch of people to tell everyone about the free lunches.
This is the way I see christianity, christ and being saved. If you have specific questions you can either e-mail me or ask them here.
Are you sure you're not inflating the meaning of "Nazi" here? AFAIK, the KKK are white supremacists and justify their believes through a warped version of Christianity. IMO, that doesn't necessarily mean they believe in a political theory advocating an authoritarian hierarchical government (WordNet's definition of fascism, which is the closest term to Nazism I can find a usable definition of using dict).
I may be mistaken in my impression of how the KKK operates. But I am fairly certain that they are a Neo-Nazi hate group which bases their view of the 'Superior' Race on the tenets that Hitler put down. As usual, I could be wrong.
And who do these groups consist of? Is it Hispanic females? Maybe black homosexuals? NO. They consist primarily of WMCs. But I've never heard really of an anti-christian group, besides/other/ fundamentalists in other countries. But I have yet to see a group of christians attempting to lynch a scientist. Anyway, violence is often not the greatest problem. People who disagree with WMCs in governmental and powerful positions have a tendency of not getting hired/raised based on merit, not getting the same general privelages or funding, "disappearing" or getting incredibly long sentences in remote prisons (just ask Leonard Peltier), etc. Anyway, just recently WMCs dragged a black person behind their truck until he died from virtually distintegrating alive. Those guys were'nt radical AFAIK, they just saw a black, didn't like him, and decided to torture him. Good ole boys. Also there was some thing in Oklahoma city I happen to remember.
Am I the only one who realizes that you can be White and Male, and NOT CHRISTIAN?! Anyone who would tie a guy to their truck and drag him until he died is NOT A CHRISTIAN, they are a SICK MOTHER FUCKER. I don't care what they call themselves, to be a christian you have to live by the Word, not just spew verses and go to church. Also, the groups killing scientists were in reference to several hundred years ago. The people bombing abortion clinics may claim christianity, but they aren't christians as has been patently demonstrated. Since when does your boss know your religious preference? That's illegal as anything I can think of and I don't know of anyone who would choose someone on religion over merit any more than they would choose family over merit. Which means it DOES happen, and it happens both ways. Radical muslims are anti-christian, I've run into plenty of Anti-christian atheists. Anti-christian Wiccans. Anti-christian Satanists.
Any media which presents an opposing view with any more realism or tact than Jerry Springer is boycotted and thus silenced. In my community the screaming hordes of Christians have banded together to ban books from the school libraries. Do they advocate genocide, popularize Hitler or are they hard core porn? No, they're books that try to help students understand that gay persons have a right to live and a right to happiness. Whether or not those people agree with the philosophy or not, if they expect the freedom to express their views they should tolerate the same freedoms in others. Rather than voicing opinions they've got a mob mentality and the numbers to allow them to supress opposing views. That's not exercising free speech, thats NAZIism.
I agree, people doing this sort of thing need to re-read the bible and pay closer attention to that 'love your neighbor' part, and maybe some of those 'love, understanding, and compassion' paragraphs. It's OK to try to logically convince someone to change their ways, even to attempt to appeal to them emotionally, but to FORCE them to stop doing something is bad. However, your scenario is still perfectly legitimate, they have the right to express a desire that those books not be allowed. The school is in no way required to adhere to that.
see, this is somethign that bugs me about those religious people who are always trying to get people to do what their god likes. they always say "I have a right to express my views too", and they do, under the first amendment. what they don't have the right to do is hold me hostage with their god's laws; disagreeing with abortion or euthanasia is one thing, actually trying to make it impossible for me to kill my baby is anyther thing entirely.
I agree that trying to pass laws preventing people from doing things can sometimes be wrong. But there are plenty of people who want to make it illegal for christians to picket outside of Abortion clinics and hand out pamphlets to pregnant women who visit them. Also, if Abortion or Euthanasia is found to be the same as outright Murder, then it SHOULD be illegal. Otherwise, why would we object to someone killing random people?
Another comment on this, I read through the 'Life in Our Anti-Chiristian America' compilation and it struck me that atheists apparently don't understand why christians try to convert them. Christians believe that when someone dies unsaved they go to hell and burn in pain for eternity. We don't like the idea that others might be subjected to this, so we are trying to help as many people as we can. Would you be this offended if I were trying to stop you from running full speed off of a cliff, just because you didn't know it was there?
Yes, America is a country that is well-known for its persecution of Christians.
Here are some shocking examples:
Life In Our Anti-Christian America
Look. Many "White Male Christians" have made it their life's work to "lambast" other groups. If it's not calling Muslims the "s pawn of Satan" or advocating killing homosexuals because the book of Leviticus says they should be put to death, it's blasting professional women because they have high-paying corporate jobs instead of a non-paying role as a submissive housewife.
I'm sorry if it offends you when people say that these views are completely full of shit.
Ummm... those views ARE full of shit, which is why you won't find many people under *80* who still follow them. I agree, some WMCs have repeatedly flamed Muslims for their beliefs. However that is free speech, it's ok. Muslims have flamed christians (Sometimes literally flamed) and THAT is ok as well. What is NOT ok is when everyone objects to the first and tells the WMC he is evil, but not the second. Try being a bit more open minded, go actually talk to some christians... Hopefully you won't run into the stupid ones, they are out there...
Yes, well the reason may be because there is good cause to believe when lots of WMC group up and become vocal over things, people get killed, hurt, unfairly imprisoned, cheated, stolen from, etc. It's YOUR burden to separate yourself from fellow WMCs who believe in and promote heinous, dangerous, unethical, and illegal activity. As a matter of fact, SAY and SPEAK all you want. Just stay the hell away from our civil liberties. Remember, just because you don't LIKE something, doesn't mean there has to be legislation in your favor to force everybody else your way.
Which also means that there shouldn't be legislation to force anyone any other way. I've never seen a group of WMCs become violent, anywhere. I've seen a lot of hate groups, anti-christian, anti-black, anti-jew, anti-almost anything become violent. But I have yet to see a group of christians attempting to lynch a scientist. Admittedly there were a lot of frightened paranoid christians who DID kill a lot of scientists in one way or another over the last few hundred years. But there have also been plenty of OTHER groups killing scientists for whatever reason. The foibles of Christian society are not unique to it.
I didnt read the hole article so i dont know if this was included. I not even sure if this is true, but im quite sure that being a nazi is forbidden in the USA. Or atleast nazi organistations are forbidden. In Sweden nazi are ofter forbidden to say what they think in public. That sucks. PS. I didnt read the hole article, i am terribly uninformed and i am stupid. All this may be totaly wrong. But hey, second post. No wait. D'oh. In 5 minuits five people posted comments. DS.
Wrong, the Ku Klux Klan is a Natzi organization and is permitted, though there is a limit on what type of expression they are allowed, i.e. it's not OK to burn a cross on someones yard or threaten them (Unless you live in Alabama). So yes, we do allow Nazi organizations in the US.
Mr. Katz, what if you'd been the one born like that? Would you be so quick to praise the murder of newborns? Who is to say that this person can't go on to lead a productive life? That medical technology you claim is "outstripping" us can make the persons life easier to live, and be less of a burden on us. God forbid we should actually show some compassion for our fellow man. Stick to reporting tech issues and leave morality to others.
Compassion is over rated. If you KNOW that some kid is going to have the mental powers of a 3 year old for their entire life, then what is the purpose of allowing them to mature physically? They perform no useful function, they are simply a resource drain. It would be kinder to them and their parents to never let them be born.
Aww crap, I had a long paragrah and IE ate it. So I'll start over and try again:
It seems to me that in our country today it is becoming acceptable for everyone to lambast White Male Christians. All other groups have some kind of protected status, but if a White Male Christian does something then it's OK to scream at them about it. It's becoming so that no one can criticise anyone except WMCs. I'd like to know when *I* lost my right to speak out against things I don't believe are right. Since when do I have less of a right to say 'No, that's wrong don't do it.' than anyone else does to say 'Yes, that's a good idea, do it.'?? Our society it moving towards the point where the only thing that is actually WRONG is criticising other people. We are already moving towards this with criminals, absolving them because they are 'genetically predisposed' to violence, calling them victims of society. No one wants to take responsibility for their actions anymore and whenever a WMC speaks up and says that they should everyone flies into a rage. If a WMC speaks out against a subject he is suddenly trying to censor you and is evil. Remember, free speech goes both ways, I have an equal right to tell you I don't like what you are saying as you do to say it.
> Distance = 1/2 acceleration * time^2 = 1/2 * 186 * 4.7^2 = 2000 feet! > Well thats a little extreme for something that wants to point up in the air.
well maybe not - just build it up the side a mountain somewhere - higher is better! (less air resistance) so is close to the equator - Kilamanjaro (sp?) would probably make a cool space port
Ummm, 2000 feet is only a conventional 20 story building. We have those all over the place. I'm sure NASA can build one that won't fall over when they shoot a 1000ton rocket up the side of it.
The last time I watched a shuttle launch, I remember the velocity indicator reading something like 25K mph. It doesn't seem like maglev speeds of 600 mph would accomplish much
Well, imagine for a moment that the ship is 1/10th or less of its current weight. It takes a WHOLE LOT less force to 50 tons into orbit than to put 500 tons... I think with the correpsonding reduction in spacecraft size this is a feasible propulsion method. Most likely a 5 mile track with 3 miles straight to build up speed, and then a ramp that shot it straight up... Probably wouldn't want to use it for manned flight just yet, but it would rock for launching space station parts, and satellites, and anything else that could handle the pressure.
From reading the way the cracker finally got in, does anybody know if one of the security fixes that were available would have actually stopped this exploit? It seems more like the CGI was the culprit, and the lack of security patches, while an issue in general security, had nothing to do with this particular break-in.
From what I remember it was the Cron hole that allowed him to exploit the CGI scripts hole, so without the Cron hole he wouldn't have been able to do it, and yes there is a patch out for that.
Quick slashdot survey : how many of you can see the red light on most TV remotes when you look at them in the dark? I can, as can several other people I know, but other people claim not to see them (whether they're not looking hard enough, or if there is a real difference in frequency response, I don't know)
Also, I remember someone on slashdot saying that human blue receptors are sensitive far into the ultra-violet, it's just our lenses are uv-opaque, so they proposed uv-torches (i.e. "black-light" lamps, as used in discos) and artificial lenses for spies...
This brings up something interesting, I can see almost perfectly at night, just by the light of the stars even with no moon. But only WITHOUT my glasses... I've wondered if this were because the way my (nearsighted) eyes focus light allowed more of the light in the area to reach the lens. Oh, incidentally I have hazel (Brown/Green) eyes. This is a huge plus to me since I hate working and being awake during the day, so I spend almost all of my time awake at night when I have a choice... Of course, the fact that I did the same throughout my childhood may have led my eyes to develop better night vision....?
Think about it. This is done naturally as well. Why do men prefer women that look "healthy" (e.g. thin, young, nice teeth, good complexion)?
Since when is 'Thin' equal to 'Healthy'?! the current Supermodel look is about as healthy as a walking skeleton. Our societal concept of beauty is about 30 pounds under healthy. I weigh 120 lbs, my girlfriend weighs about 200, we're both 5'7, she just barely looks bigger than me. She's healthy. Some 5'10" 105lb model is NOT healthy... she's disgusting.
Slashdot Mirror
This particular concept is so anti-Christian, but, appallingly, it's become a major belief of many so-called Christians. When you do something wrong, you are punished so that you learn from the punishment, if the person who punishes you cares about you. To torture someone eternally for a wrongdoing is not punishment in the sense of teaching the punished, but, rather, in the sense of teaching others that they don't want to be punished. As for the punished, they become nothing more than a thing to be discarded and ignored, and I cannot and will not believe in a such a horrifically callous diety. A God who would do such things would put any earthly dictator to shame, no matter how cruel they were.
Scriptural analysis of any mentions of eternal damnation (of which, if I recall, there is only one) have been found to have several possible meanings. Of course, this argument only applies if you do not believe the KJV Bible to be absolute truth.
I must ask people to please not judge all Christians as you would some of the more unfortunately vocal extremists and hypocrites...
How is it cruel to show someone what is going to happen as a result of their actions, and then hand them to way to avoid that on a silver platter? I freely admit that I may be mistaken in many places in my view of the way God works, if I knew how He worked then I'd BE God, now wouldn't I? It may very well be that non-evil non-christians are reborn to try things again, while evil christians AND evil non-christians are thrown into the lake for eternity and non-evil christians go to heaven. This actually seems like a much better idea... And an entirely more sensible way to do things. I think I shall take another look at my Bible and possibly adjust my philsophy to contain this if my perusal so merits.
Kintanon
In my understanding groups that tend to believe this fall towards the Ultra-protestants, Baptists and non-denominational faiths, in which the Bible is taken close to word for word, and believed to be 100% true.
Hold your horses a bit, I'm a Southern Baptist and I don't know of anyone who thinks that the bible is 100% quite literally true. We believe that everything it says is in some way true, but not LITERALLY so. The reason for this is understanding. Revelations is a perfect view of this. If you take it literally it means a 7 horned monster is going to eat all the christians and all other kinds of preposterous things.
This is because if God had said 'America will be rulled by a 7 man council who, using the Internet and Television will have all of the christians persecuted to death' it wouldn't have made any sense to John. Also, the image he saw, which looked like this to him, may be something which if one of us saw we would recognize instantly as a bit of technology we have now.
Kintanon
If the members of the KKK call themselves Christian, then who am I (and who are you) to disagree? If somebody elects to call themselves a Christian, I have no choice but to believe them.
Well then! Whadda ya know! I'm the President. And who are you to disagree? It doesn't matter that no one elected me, that I don't have any of the presidential responsibilities, that I am demsontrably NOT the president. Since I said it it must be true!
Yeesh, people can claim to be anything that they want. Don't take it at face value. KKK members are not christians because they do not follow the precepts taught by Christ. In order to be a CHRISTian you must follow the teachings of CHRIST.
Kintanon
... up until this post. I think it is preposterous to suggest that every person who does not convert goes to hell. And I'm a Christian. The Catholic church believes this to be true, but I personally don't find enough compelling evidence in the Bible to support it. Anyway, you may be right and you may be wrong. Nobody knows. You have every right to believe whatever you want. You also have every right to practice your religion, as long as that does not include restricting (through legislation) or violating the rights of others. You also don't have the right to harass others as part of practicing your religion. It is certainly acceptable to promote awareness of your religion in the hope of saving others through advertising and similar means. But the actions of missionaries and some modern Christian groups occasionally crosses over into the realm of harassment or violating anothers rights.
I'll admit I could very well be wrong. My beliefs are based on my own study and may not quite sync with what other people have arrived at through study. I also admit that I tend to err on the side of Caution. I do agree with you that the violent methods of some christians are reprehensible. They need to re-read some of the book they are trying to teach, because apparently they don't understand it.
Kintanon
Ahem. I didn't see any reference to white male Christians until you brought it up. Are you saying that if you disagree with someone, they *should* have to teach in a guarded, unlisted classroom?
Yeah, right. And am I correct in inferring that you believe that anyone who is *not* white, male, or Christian tends to be a Liberal? If so, do you think that, the more truth there is in that statement, the more reason there would be for them to be so?
No, my IMPRESSION of the article and some of the examples that were used, happened to make connections in my mind to a chain of events which had been loosely connected before whereby WMCs are shouted down whenever they try to say 'This is Wrong.' whereas other groups are allowed to say whatever they want and applauded for it. This does not have anything to do with liberal or conservative. It's all about society and its perception of Christianity and Christians.
Kintanon
Ya know what I hate more than Christian Bashing is people who claim to be Christians who bash others. I wish people would read their fucking bible and they'd know they don't recogize the same God as I do. I consider myself a Christian, and a pretty damn tolerant one.
I have to fervently agree with this entire post. The type of so-called Christian that he describes is precisely why the real Christians have such a hard time with people.
Kintanon
Well, I would be highly annoyed if you kept screaming about how, according to some ancient book of Middle Eastern folk tales there was a cliff around here somewhere and I had better watch out, when in I was standing on solid ground, flat clear out to the horizon. Especially so if I'd been hearing about this damn fictional cliff all my life and you were telling me nothing I hadn't heard before.
I don't like the idea that you live your life in a delusional state, holding to an inconsistent and illogical system of metaphysics. But I don't go around knocking on doors telling people "There is no god!" (or better yet, "You are god!") and handing out free brouchures detailing the contradictions and inconsistencies of the Bible and Christianity, or saying the Christians shouldn't be considered citizens because this is a nation not founded upon the Christian faith. Please do me the same courtesy.
Firstly, just because you can't see the cliff, doesn't mean it isn't there.
Second, last time I checked my metaphysics aren't any more improbable than yours. Saying that the 'Big Bang' is a logical beginning for the universe seems delusional to me. But I won't try to stop you from saying it's so. I may try to convince you that you are wrong though.
Third, no one is stopping you from going door to door handing out tracts and spreading the belief that there is no God.
Kintanon
While not all Christians hold this view point (but then are they true Christians?), but a very large amount of them do. Do you? Do you honestly believe this, and are you really trying to save me from this impending doom? No matter how I live my life, I will suffer eternally... if you are not able to "save" me?
Ok, I'm going to do my best to explain the way Christianity as I have studied it works. Others my disagree with me, but this is how I understand it.
Ok, people do bad things, no one can argue that they have NEVER EVER done anything wrong.
When you do something wrong, you are punished for it. This punishment is being cast into the lake of fire for all eternity.
In order to avoid this fate you must quite simply allow God to remove the mark of your wrong deed from you, and place it onto the burden of Christ. This can be accomplished by a 30 second prayer and a request that God come to dwell in your life.
Just saying the words won't do it, you have to believe it when you say it.
This process is one time only, no matter what you do after this you don't have to do it again.
(Saved)Christians are massively punished in life for wrong deeds they perform in life.
God allowed Christ, an extension of himself, to dwell in Hell for 3 days in order to extoll the wrong deeds of every human being who is willing to accept that gift. If you accept it then you dwell in paradise for eternity. (there are alternate views on how this actually works, one of which is my own personal view but it is so long and complicated that it needs a post of its own).
A lot of people will argue that if God really loved everyone and wanted everyone to go to heaven he would simply snap his fingers (or whatever) and it would be done. I compare this to someone looking at a man giving out free lunches to anyone who was willing to show up, and complaining that he should be searching out every person who wants a free lunch and giving it to them.To these people It isn't enough that he sent out a bunch of people to tell everyone about the free lunches.
This is the way I see christianity, christ and being saved. If you have specific questions you can either e-mail me or ask them here.
Kintanon
Are you sure you're not inflating the meaning of "Nazi" here? AFAIK, the KKK are white supremacists and justify their believes through a warped version of Christianity. IMO, that doesn't necessarily mean they believe in a political theory advocating an authoritarian hierarchical government (WordNet's definition of fascism, which is the closest term to Nazism I can find a usable definition of using dict).
I may be mistaken in my impression of how the KKK operates. But I am fairly certain that they are a Neo-Nazi hate group which bases their view of the 'Superior' Race on the tenets that Hitler put down. As usual, I could be wrong.
Kintanon
OOps, ammend NAZI in my comment to read Neo-NAZI. If you don't believe that the KKK is a Neo-NAZI hate group then check out their websites...
Kintanon
And who do these groups consist of? Is it Hispanic females? Maybe black homosexuals? NO. They consist primarily of WMCs. But I've never heard really of an anti-christian group, besides /other/ fundamentalists in other countries. But I have yet to see a group of christians attempting to lynch a scientist. Anyway, violence is often not the greatest problem. People who disagree with WMCs in governmental and powerful positions have a tendency of not getting hired/raised based on merit, not getting the same general privelages or funding, "disappearing" or getting incredibly long sentences in remote prisons (just ask Leonard Peltier), etc. Anyway, just recently WMCs dragged a black person behind their truck until he died from virtually distintegrating alive. Those guys were'nt radical AFAIK, they just saw a black, didn't like him, and decided to torture him. Good ole boys. Also there was some thing in Oklahoma city I happen to remember.
Am I the only one who realizes that you can be White and Male, and NOT CHRISTIAN?! Anyone who would tie a guy to their truck and drag him until he died is NOT A CHRISTIAN, they are a SICK MOTHER FUCKER. I don't care what they call themselves, to be a christian you have to live by the Word, not just spew verses and go to church. Also, the groups killing scientists were in reference to several hundred years ago.
The people bombing abortion clinics may claim christianity, but they aren't christians as has been patently demonstrated.
Since when does your boss know your religious preference? That's illegal as anything I can think of and I don't know of anyone who would choose someone on religion over merit any more than they would choose family over merit. Which means it DOES happen, and it happens both ways.
Radical muslims are anti-christian, I've run into plenty of Anti-christian atheists. Anti-christian Wiccans. Anti-christian Satanists.
Kintanon
Any media which presents an opposing view with any more realism or tact than Jerry Springer is boycotted and thus silenced. In my community the screaming hordes of Christians have banded together to ban books from the school libraries. Do they advocate genocide, popularize Hitler or are they hard core porn? No, they're books that try to help students understand that gay persons have a right to live and a right to happiness. Whether or not those people agree with the philosophy or not, if they expect the freedom to express their views they should tolerate the same freedoms in others. Rather than voicing opinions they've got a mob mentality and the numbers to allow them to supress opposing views. That's not exercising free speech, thats NAZIism.
I agree, people doing this sort of thing need to re-read the bible and pay closer attention to that 'love your neighbor' part, and maybe some of those 'love, understanding, and compassion' paragraphs. It's OK to try to logically convince someone to change their ways, even to attempt to appeal to them emotionally, but to FORCE them to stop doing something is bad. However, your scenario is still perfectly legitimate, they have the right to express a desire that those books not be allowed. The school is in no way required to adhere to that.
Kintanon
see, this is somethign that bugs me about those religious people who are always trying to get people to do what their god likes. they always say "I have a right to express my views too", and they do, under the first amendment. what they don't have the right to do is hold me hostage with their god's laws; disagreeing with abortion or euthanasia is one thing, actually trying to make it impossible for me to kill my baby is anyther thing entirely.
I agree that trying to pass laws preventing people from doing things can sometimes be wrong. But there are plenty of people who want to make it illegal for christians to picket outside of Abortion clinics and hand out pamphlets to pregnant women who visit them. Also, if Abortion or Euthanasia is found to be the same as outright Murder, then it SHOULD be illegal. Otherwise, why would we object to someone killing random people?
Kintanon
Another comment on this, I read through the 'Life in Our Anti-Chiristian America' compilation and it struck me that atheists apparently don't understand why christians try to convert them. Christians believe that when someone dies unsaved they go to hell and burn in pain for eternity. We don't like the idea that others might be subjected to this, so we are trying to help as many people as we can. Would you be this offended if I were trying to stop you from running full speed off of a cliff, just because you didn't know it was there?
Kintanon
Yes, America is a country that is well-known for its persecution of Christians.
Here are some shocking examples:
Life In Our Anti-Christian America
Look. Many "White Male Christians" have made it their life's work to "lambast" other groups. If it's not calling Muslims the "s pawn of Satan" or advocating killing homosexuals because the book of Leviticus says they should be put to death, it's blasting professional women because they have high-paying corporate jobs instead of a non-paying role as a submissive housewife.
I'm sorry if it offends you when people say that these views are completely full of shit.
Ummm... those views ARE full of shit, which is why you won't find many people under *80* who still follow them. I agree, some WMCs have repeatedly flamed Muslims for their beliefs. However that is free speech, it's ok. Muslims have flamed christians (Sometimes literally flamed) and THAT is ok as well. What is NOT ok is when everyone objects to the first and tells the WMC he is evil, but not the second. Try being a bit more open minded, go actually talk to some christians... Hopefully you won't run into the stupid ones, they are out there...
Kintanon
Yes, well the reason may be because there is good cause to believe when lots of WMC group up and become vocal over things, people get killed, hurt, unfairly imprisoned, cheated, stolen from, etc. It's YOUR burden to separate yourself from fellow WMCs who believe in and promote heinous, dangerous, unethical, and illegal activity. As a matter of fact, SAY and SPEAK all you want. Just stay the hell away from our civil liberties. Remember, just because you don't LIKE something, doesn't mean there has to be legislation in your favor to force everybody else your way.
Which also means that there shouldn't be legislation to force anyone any other way. I've never seen a group of WMCs become violent, anywhere. I've seen a lot of hate groups, anti-christian, anti-black, anti-jew, anti-almost anything become violent. But I have yet to see a group of christians attempting to lynch a scientist. Admittedly there were a lot of frightened paranoid christians who DID kill a lot of scientists in one way or another over the last few hundred years. But there have also been plenty of OTHER groups killing scientists for whatever reason. The foibles of Christian society are not unique to it.
Kintanon
I didnt read the hole article so i dont know if this was included. I not even sure if this is true, but im quite sure that being a nazi is forbidden in the USA. Or atleast nazi organistations are forbidden. In Sweden nazi are ofter forbidden to say what they think in public. That sucks. PS. I didnt read the hole article, i am terribly uninformed and i am stupid. All this may be totaly wrong. But hey, second post. No wait. D'oh. In 5 minuits five people posted comments. DS.
Wrong, the Ku Klux Klan is a Natzi organization and is permitted, though there is a limit on what type of expression they are allowed, i.e. it's not OK to burn a cross on someones yard or threaten them (Unless you live in Alabama). So yes, we do allow Nazi organizations in the US.
Kintanon
Mr. Katz, what if you'd been the one born like that? Would you be so quick to praise the murder of newborns? Who is to say that this person can't go on to lead a productive life? That medical technology you claim is "outstripping" us can make the persons life easier to live, and be less of a burden on us. God forbid we should actually show some compassion for our fellow man.
Stick to reporting tech issues and leave morality to others.
Compassion is over rated. If you KNOW that some kid is going to have the mental powers of a 3 year old for their entire life, then what is the purpose of allowing them to mature physically? They perform no useful function, they are simply a resource drain. It would be kinder to them and their parents to never let them be born.
Kintanon
Aww crap, I had a long paragrah and IE ate it. So I'll start over and try again:
It seems to me that in our country today it is becoming acceptable for everyone to lambast White Male Christians. All other groups have some kind of protected status, but if a White Male Christian does something then it's OK to scream at them about it. It's becoming so that no one can criticise anyone except WMCs. I'd like to know when *I* lost my right to speak out against things I don't believe are right. Since when do I have less of a right to say 'No, that's wrong don't do it.' than anyone else does to say 'Yes, that's a good idea, do it.'?? Our society it moving towards the point where the only thing that is actually WRONG is criticising other people. We are already moving towards this with criminals, absolving them because they are 'genetically predisposed' to violence, calling them victims of society. No one wants to take responsibility for their actions anymore and whenever a WMC speaks up and says that they should everyone flies into a rage. If a WMC speaks out against a subject he is suddenly trying to censor you and is evil. Remember, free speech goes both ways, I have an equal right to tell you I don't like what you are saying as you do to say it.
Kintanon
Oops, Someone shoot me. 2000 feet = 200 story building, ok that is a little tall.>:)
Kintanon
> Distance = 1/2 acceleration * time^2 = 1/2 * 186 * 4.7^2 = 2000 feet!
> Well thats a little extreme for something that wants to point up in the air.
well maybe not - just build it up the side a mountain somewhere - higher is better! (less air resistance) so is close to the equator - Kilamanjaro (sp?) would probably make a cool space port
Ummm, 2000 feet is only a conventional 20 story building. We have those all over the place. I'm sure NASA can build one that won't fall over when they shoot a 1000ton rocket up the side of it.
Kintanon
The last time I watched a shuttle launch, I remember the velocity indicator reading something like 25K mph. It doesn't seem like maglev speeds of 600 mph would accomplish much
Well, imagine for a moment that the ship is 1/10th or less of its current weight. It takes a WHOLE LOT less force to 50 tons into orbit than to put 500 tons... I think with the correpsonding reduction in spacecraft size this is a feasible propulsion method. Most likely a 5 mile track with 3 miles straight to build up speed, and then a ramp that shot it straight up... Probably wouldn't want to use it for manned flight just yet, but it would rock for launching space station parts, and satellites, and anything else that could handle the pressure.
Kintanon
From reading the way the cracker finally got in, does anybody know if one of the security fixes that were available would have actually stopped this exploit? It seems more like the CGI was the culprit, and the lack of security patches, while an issue in general security, had nothing to do with this particular break-in.
From what I remember it was the Cron hole that allowed him to exploit the CGI scripts hole, so without the Cron hole he wouldn't have been able to do it, and yes there is a patch out for that.
Kintanon
Quick slashdot survey : how many of you can see the red light on most TV remotes when you look at them in the dark? I can, as can several other people I know, but other people claim not to see them (whether they're not looking hard enough, or if there is a real difference in frequency response, I don't know)
Also, I remember someone on slashdot saying that human blue receptors are sensitive far into the ultra-violet, it's just our lenses are uv-opaque, so they proposed uv-torches (i.e. "black-light" lamps, as used in discos) and artificial lenses for spies...
This brings up something interesting, I can see almost perfectly at night, just by the light of the stars even with no moon. But only WITHOUT my glasses... I've wondered if this were because the way my (nearsighted) eyes focus light allowed more of the light in the area to reach the lens. Oh, incidentally I have hazel (Brown/Green) eyes.
This is a huge plus to me since I hate working and being awake during the day, so I spend almost all of my time awake at night when I have a choice... Of course, the fact that I did the same throughout my childhood may have led my eyes to develop better night vision....?
Kintanon
Think about it. This is done naturally as well. Why do men prefer women that look "healthy" (e.g. thin, young, nice teeth, good complexion)?
Since when is 'Thin' equal to 'Healthy'?! the current Supermodel look is about as healthy as a walking skeleton. Our societal concept of beauty is about 30 pounds under healthy. I weigh 120 lbs, my girlfriend weighs about 200, we're both 5'7, she just barely looks bigger than me. She's healthy. Some 5'10" 105lb model is NOT healthy... she's disgusting.
Kintanon