Not me, I'm not allowed to. That was made very clear to me the last time I was in mainstream church over a year ago.
There's a church down the street from me, a Baptist church. Coincidentally, and my life is full of coincindences that continually renew my faith, the preacher's name is John. Unknown to me or the rest of the congregation, his sermon was about Christ giving sight to the blind.
At this church it's customary to pass the microphone around to those who would like to praise God for something He has done for them. I took the microphone, explained how all my life my uncorrected vision was so bad that if there were no such things as glasses I would be legally blind, told of the cataract surgery that gave me better than 20/20 vision (see the sig for details, SFW unlike most of my journals) and praised God for giving me a skilled surgeon.
By nightfall that eye was completely blind, pitch black, vitreous filled with blood. I'd had a torn retina, which finally detached resulting in the need for a Vitrectomy (this one is probably safe for work too).
I wouldn't wish a vitrectomy on anyone. But at any rate, that was the last time I ever stepped foot in that church and I'll not be praising God again. I figured out why God doesn't want me praising Him: imagine a one celled animal praising you. No, imagine a subatomic particle in an atom in a molecule in a one celled animal praising you, and you don't even come close to how insignifigant we are. Rather than praising God I ask His forgiveness for my unforgiveable hubris.
Actually the Bible is clear on one point: athiests will certainly NOT burn in hell. It says you will simply die, like an animal.
It also says that if you taste death, you will not fear the second death. As someone who died in 1976 I can attest to that. I'm not looking forward to the suffering that acompanies death, however.
Sorry, Sparky, but you're confusing Christianity with Judism. Christians' sins have been paid for; that's why I'm not going to hell for coveting my neighbor's wife, or my other neighbor's ass. God but her ass is fine!
But if you want to stone me for it, I'll bring the Zig Zags and the Bic.
If your original Hebrew disagrees with my original King James I won't know it, because I don't read Hebrew. If I did in fact read Hebrew (or rather Aramaic) then what use would I have for the King James version? I use that version because it is the oldest text that I can read.
If there is one thing as a species we are really good at..... it's ignorance.
That was a truly ignorant statement. As ignorant as humans are, all evidence points to the fact that we are far more knowledgable than any other species on the planet.
Do you believe WWI happened ? Well we are MORE certain about the bible being unchanged than we are about that little event actually having had place. We don't have a single reliable wittness
Are you calling my friend Ralph a liar? Ralph is a dear friend of mine, introduced me to a lot of hookers and drank a lot of beer with me. He is a WWII veteran who served in the Navy on a destroyer.
He's the oldest person I know, and he has no reason whatever to lie about WWII.
There was a modern translation called "The Way" that my grandmother gave me in the early 1970s. I went back to King James when I saw that where King James said "thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor" the newer translation said simply "Do not lie."
King James doesn't say "do not lie," it says "do not slander. If your wife asks "do these pants make my ass look big," telling her "honey, you have a FINE ass" is perfectly acceptable even if she's as big as a Buick. OTOH not lying is going to hurt her feelings for no good purpose. That would be WRONG. Not to mention fucktardedly stupid.
As the King James is the oldest translation I can actually read, it will have to do.
They also use the bible and their personal interpretation of it to justify their own wanton greed and the destruction of the innocent. George Bush, for example, claims to be a Christian. Hasn't he heard "thou shalt not kill?" Yet when he was Governor of the state that executes more men than any other state, he executed more men than any other Governor of that state. How could anyone who believed the Bible act like that?
Christ warned of "wolves in sheeps' clothing" but we have wolves in shepherd's clothing, like Pat Robertson. That man has converted more Christians to atheism than all the athiests at slashdot combined! How could a Christian call for the assassination of a foreign leader? Christians are supposed to love their enemies, and do good to those who harm them. Never trust a preacher who wears a five thousand dollar suit!
If you go into almost any church, you will see a whole lot of people, most of whom are there to be seen by men and many of whom no more believe in God than the average athiest at slashdot.
Have you ever had an instruction manual for some piece of electronic gear (or a video game) that was so badly translated that it was hard to figure out how the damned thing worked? An instruction manual that was incomplete and seemingly at odds with itself? But you got the piece of gear working anyway, and although the manual helped it was frustrating?
The Bible is life's instruction manual. It is badly translated and at odds with itself, but it is useful. It even explains why you, an athiest, can't use it. John 8:47- " He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God."
The book of Proverbs is an exemple of much wisdom. "A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels".
"Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you."
I can attest to the fact that it is entirely correct when it says that if you consort with prostitutes, you'll spend a lot of cash. Some of my slashdot journals are about hookers (warning - most of them are NSFW). One whore stole the keys to my car, then came back in the middle of the night and stole the car. It gets mor einteresting but recounting the sad yet hilarious tale would take me offtopic, and it's already chronicled in my journals, so I won't.
Oddly, what a lot of Christians preach isn't in the bible at all! For example, it doesn't badmouth whores, but it does badmouth pimps and adulterers.
This was some time in the early 1980s, Enron didn't exixt. However, if you had bought Enron early and fled before it crumbled you would have made a killing. That's the way of riches; you have to have it to get it. The insiders got rich while California had brownouts and small investors and employees lost everything.
If you want to be scared shitless, read Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s by Frederick Lewis Allen. It was required reading in a required undergrad history class I took in the late 1970s, the University of Virginia has placed the entire text online (darn, back in the old days we had to BUY books!)
The 1920s had many eerie similarities to now, especially finance. Their ultra-rich were as sociopathis as today's. We mey be heading for another depression.
Oh hell, I have to call my lawyer. I need to patent writing wish lists on paper with a pencil, another patent for a wish list with blue ink, another for black ink, and crayons... By golly when I get done with my patent trolling I'll be rich!
It would allmost be worth the $400 bucks to see if you could hack it without a screwdriver. Don't tempt me like that, man, I can barely afford beer as it is!
For the same price you could easily build the identical machine with a real OS
I think you might want to clarify what you said, as many here will take that as a cheap shot at Linux, which is a far better OS than XP. I have no experience with OSX and can't judge between it and Linux, but Linux is indeed a real OS and far, far superior to anything Microsoft produces.
Linux will run on anything from a wristwatch to a supercomputer. In fact, the world's third fastest computer runs Linux.
I think what you meant was "For the same price you could easily build the identical machine with the real OS.
Mouse over the link in the summary. If it says "the register" like this one did, you can be pretty sure that the summary is as informative, if less humorous (oops, sorry, that's "humourous").
On a more green note, the CherryPal is supposed to sell for under $400 (monitor, keyboard, etc. not included). It should hit the market on August 4th, 2008. For that price and low energy use, it will appeal to wallets as well as the environmentally conscious. Though there is some understandable skepticism, I'll praise any manufacturer that lowers the bar on PC environmental impact.
I didn't go quite that far back... well, maybe I did. My third computer was an IBM XT I bought used in 1987. It was the last whole computer I bought. At one time my "IBM XT" sported a forty meg hard drive, 386 processor, joystick, mouse, and SVGA graphics. Alas, the next upgrade replaced the last remaining origional parts, the case and power supply, as the new motherboard wouldn't fit in the XT case.
I put back together with its original parts, but its monochrome hercules card had died. I left it in the house the bank foreclosed on in 2005, along with a bunch of other computers, all built with spare parts.
I met a rich man once, who told the that the secret to wealth was to never throw anything away! When the great depression hit he'd bought a Model T Ford from a friend as a favor to the friend, who needed fifteen bucks to buy mules and a wagon to move to California. He had no use for it and stored it in his barn.
In 1951 a collector spied it and bought it from the old guy for $100,000. He invested the $100k and will never want for anything again.
I met this gentleman long before the bank took the house, but I had been overcome by insanity; I'd not gotten over my divorce, they were taking my house away, the doctor took me off Paxil and the only thing that kept me from killing myself was knowing what it would do to my children.
As lomg as you never throw its parts away, all computers are green; at least, as green as they ever were. So maybe this "green" computer isn't so green after all; at least, not in the hands of a nerd like me.
It's another tool in the handbag of communication and ettiquette.
Ma'am, most of us here are guys. We don't carry handbags. We do, however, carry toolboxes. I don't know any guys that carry handbags, but I do know women who use toolboxes. And I've never yet seen any tool in a lady's handbag, unless you consider lipstick, bubble gum, tampons, kleenexes, dildos, revolvers, condome, and the like "tools".
I for one would rather talk to somebody in person about something that may be confrontational
I would rather be able to compose my communication and not go flying off the handle. I've found that expressing emotions is almost always counterproductive.
E-mail doesn't communicate emotions well at all
It saddens me that you would say such a thing.
body language can be very valuable in certain circumstances
I'm afraid I'm a bit of an assburger; I don't read body language well at all. Probably the main reason I can't get a decent girl friend.
That said, I prefer face to face EXCEPT when I'm angry.
Slashdot Mirror
Why is it that Christians (and former Christians) will insist on knowing much less than me (atheist) about their holy texts?
God only knows!
the rest of us could give thanks
Not me, I'm not allowed to. That was made very clear to me the last time I was in mainstream church over a year ago.
There's a church down the street from me, a Baptist church. Coincidentally, and my life is full of coincindences that continually renew my faith, the preacher's name is John. Unknown to me or the rest of the congregation, his sermon was about Christ giving sight to the blind.
At this church it's customary to pass the microphone around to those who would like to praise God for something He has done for them. I took the microphone, explained how all my life my uncorrected vision was so bad that if there were no such things as glasses I would be legally blind, told of the cataract surgery that gave me better than 20/20 vision (see the sig for details, SFW unlike most of my journals) and praised God for giving me a skilled surgeon.
By nightfall that eye was completely blind, pitch black, vitreous filled with blood. I'd had a torn retina, which finally detached resulting in the need for a Vitrectomy (this one is probably safe for work too).
I wouldn't wish a vitrectomy on anyone. But at any rate, that was the last time I ever stepped foot in that church and I'll not be praising God again. I figured out why God doesn't want me praising Him: imagine a one celled animal praising you. No, imagine a subatomic particle in an atom in a molecule in a one celled animal praising you, and you don't even come close to how insignifigant we are. Rather than praising God I ask His forgiveness for my unforgiveable hubris.
Verily, the book of Python, Chapter forty two: "my brain hurts, too!"
Actually the Bible is clear on one point: athiests will certainly NOT burn in hell. It says you will simply die, like an animal.
It also says that if you taste death, you will not fear the second death. As someone who died in 1976 I can attest to that. I'm not looking forward to the suffering that acompanies death, however.
Sorry, Sparky, but you're confusing Christianity with Judism. Christians' sins have been paid for; that's why I'm not going to hell for coveting my neighbor's wife, or my other neighbor's ass. God but her ass is fine!
But if you want to stone me for it, I'll bring the Zig Zags and the Bic.
-Steve
If your original Hebrew disagrees with my original King James I won't know it, because I don't read Hebrew. If I did in fact read Hebrew (or rather Aramaic) then what use would I have for the King James version? I use that version because it is the oldest text that I can read.
If there is one thing as a species we are really good at..... it's ignorance.
That was a truly ignorant statement. As ignorant as humans are, all evidence points to the fact that we are far more knowledgable than any other species on the planet.
Do you believe WWI happened ? Well we are MORE certain about the bible being unchanged than we are about that little event actually having had place. We don't have a single reliable wittness
Are you calling my friend Ralph a liar? Ralph is a dear friend of mine, introduced me to a lot of hookers and drank a lot of beer with me. He is a WWII veteran who served in the Navy on a destroyer.
He's the oldest person I know, and he has no reason whatever to lie about WWII.
There was a modern translation called "The Way" that my grandmother gave me in the early 1970s. I went back to King James when I saw that where King James said "thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor" the newer translation said simply "Do not lie."
King James doesn't say "do not lie," it says "do not slander. If your wife asks "do these pants make my ass look big," telling her "honey, you have a FINE ass" is perfectly acceptable even if she's as big as a Buick. OTOH not lying is going to hurt her feelings for no good purpose. That would be WRONG. Not to mention fucktardedly stupid.
As the King James is the oldest translation I can actually read, it will have to do.
They also use the bible and their personal interpretation of it to justify their own wanton greed and the destruction of the innocent. George Bush, for example, claims to be a Christian. Hasn't he heard "thou shalt not kill?" Yet when he was Governor of the state that executes more men than any other state, he executed more men than any other Governor of that state. How could anyone who believed the Bible act like that?
Christ warned of "wolves in sheeps' clothing" but we have wolves in shepherd's clothing, like Pat Robertson. That man has converted more Christians to atheism than all the athiests at slashdot combined! How could a Christian call for the assassination of a foreign leader? Christians are supposed to love their enemies, and do good to those who harm them. Never trust a preacher who wears a five thousand dollar suit!
If you go into almost any church, you will see a whole lot of people, most of whom are there to be seen by men and many of whom no more believe in God than the average athiest at slashdot.
Have you ever had an instruction manual for some piece of electronic gear (or a video game) that was so badly translated that it was hard to figure out how the damned thing worked? An instruction manual that was incomplete and seemingly at odds with itself? But you got the piece of gear working anyway, and although the manual helped it was frustrating?
The Bible is life's instruction manual. It is badly translated and at odds with itself, but it is useful. It even explains why you, an athiest, can't use it. John 8:47- " He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God."
The book of Proverbs is an exemple of much wisdom. "A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels".
"Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you."
I can attest to the fact that it is entirely correct when it says that if you consort with prostitutes, you'll spend a lot of cash. Some of my slashdot journals are about hookers (warning - most of them are NSFW). One whore stole the keys to my car, then came back in the middle of the night and stole the car. It gets mor einteresting but recounting the sad yet hilarious tale would take me offtopic, and it's already chronicled in my journals, so I won't.
Oddly, what a lot of Christians preach isn't in the bible at all! For example, it doesn't badmouth whores, but it does badmouth pimps and adulterers.
Sorry if this wasn't much help.
Have you ever tried replacing a car's engine with a Dam
I thought of making an electric car using the motors from old Hoovers, but decided the idea sucked.
All spelling and grammar errors are intentional. Grammar Nazis' need entertainment
The you sod have said "knight" instead of "nite" and made the gradma nazis think yew used a spill chucker!
Now they're going to ask if you meant Northern Illinois Tractor and Equipment.
As to coal, expect Obama and Durbin to pust for electric cars, as there's a shitload of coal here in Illinois.
Obviously he didn't invest that $100k in Enron
This was some time in the early 1980s, Enron didn't exixt. However, if you had bought Enron early and fled before it crumbled you would have made a killing. That's the way of riches; you have to have it to get it. The insiders got rich while California had brownouts and small investors and employees lost everything.
If you want to be scared shitless, read Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s by Frederick Lewis Allen. It was required reading in a required undergrad history class I took in the late 1970s, the University of Virginia has placed the entire text online (darn, back in the old days we had to BUY books!)
The 1920s had many eerie similarities to now, especially finance. Their ultra-rich were as sociopathis as today's. We mey be heading for another depression.
Especially if you live somewhere where the electricity comes from natural gas or (like here) coal.
Oh hell, I have to call my lawyer. I need to patent writing wish lists on paper with a pencil, another patent for a wish list with blue ink, another for black ink, and crayons... By golly when I get done with my patent trolling I'll be rich!
Drinks for the house!
I don't know about your town, but if it's got a cherry where I live, it ain't legal!
It would allmost be worth the $400 bucks to see if you could hack it without a screwdriver. Don't tempt me like that, man, I can barely afford beer as it is!
Imagine a beowolf cluster of clouds!
For the same price you could easily build the identical machine with a real OS
I think you might want to clarify what you said, as many here will take that as a cheap shot at Linux, which is a far better OS than XP. I have no experience with OSX and can't judge between it and Linux, but Linux is indeed a real OS and far, far superior to anything Microsoft produces.
Linux will run on anything from a wristwatch to a supercomputer. In fact, the world's third fastest computer runs Linux.
I think what you meant was "For the same price you could easily build the identical machine with the real OS.
Mouse over the link in the summary. If it says "the register" like this one did, you can be pretty sure that the summary is as informative, if less humorous (oops, sorry, that's "humourous").
I googled and found two other sites with news of this: Wired Blogs and Clean Technica
I didn't go quite that far back... well, maybe I did. My third computer was an IBM XT I bought used in 1987. It was the last whole computer I bought. At one time my "IBM XT" sported a forty meg hard drive, 386 processor, joystick, mouse, and SVGA graphics. Alas, the next upgrade replaced the last remaining origional parts, the case and power supply, as the new motherboard wouldn't fit in the XT case.
I put back together with its original parts, but its monochrome hercules card had died. I left it in the house the bank foreclosed on in 2005, along with a bunch of other computers, all built with spare parts.
I met a rich man once, who told the that the secret to wealth was to never throw anything away! When the great depression hit he'd bought a Model T Ford from a friend as a favor to the friend, who needed fifteen bucks to buy mules and a wagon to move to California. He had no use for it and stored it in his barn.
In 1951 a collector spied it and bought it from the old guy for $100,000. He invested the $100k and will never want for anything again.
I met this gentleman long before the bank took the house, but I had been overcome by insanity; I'd not gotten over my divorce, they were taking my house away, the doctor took me off Paxil and the only thing that kept me from killing myself was knowing what it would do to my children.
As lomg as you never throw its parts away, all computers are green; at least, as green as they ever were. So maybe this "green" computer isn't so green after all; at least, not in the hands of a nerd like me.
It's another tool in the handbag of communication and ettiquette.
Ma'am, most of us here are guys. We don't carry handbags. We do, however, carry toolboxes. I don't know any guys that carry handbags, but I do know women who use toolboxes. And I've never yet seen any tool in a lady's handbag, unless you consider lipstick, bubble gum, tampons, kleenexes, dildos, revolvers, condome, and the like "tools".
If at first you don't succeed, use a bigger tool.
He's written like that for a long time (check the date on the comment linked).
I for one would rather talk to somebody in person about something that may be confrontational
I would rather be able to compose my communication and not go flying off the handle. I've found that expressing emotions is almost always counterproductive.
E-mail doesn't communicate emotions well at all
It saddens me that you would say such a thing.
body language can be very valuable in certain circumstances
I'm afraid I'm a bit of an assburger; I don't read body language well at all. Probably the main reason I can't get a decent girl friend.
That said, I prefer face to face EXCEPT when I'm angry.