Are you an atheist? (18 Viewers)

[Bladerunner]

Hate to say it, Col is right.

Although a little harsh calling it a fairy story, being an atheist myself allows me to agree with this hypothesis.

Which leads me back to an idea given by many atheists - religion should be 18+ not forced upon you as a child. (I say this in experience not as a opinion, in my primary school and Secondary school we were forced to say a prayer at the start of every assembly and maybe even a religious hymn .... I have to admit I never sang along (*Mumbling the sounds* worked everytime.)

Hi Connor: I will have to disagree with you. The children need Jesus in their lives. I believe you will find that the Godless families are the ones (at least here in the USA) have all kinds of problems. I as a child went to church with my parents (both of them). As a teenager, I left the church (because I saw the same thing lot of you people also did and that is Hypocrisy). After a few years, I returned to the Church but at this time I had the ability to choose the church I wanted. I have since then come to realize that there has always been people who used the bible and its teaching simply to get ahead, have control (power) over the people. Of course that is my opinion.

I know a fella that that buys and sells antiques. He buys them for the cheapest he can and then sells them high enough to make a living. Now the people he buys from are split into two camps. One set says he cheated (a crook) them because they did not know what the item they had sold him was worth. The other set has no problem with him or his business. Their attitude is that they were responsible for knowing what the item was worth and they alone were responsible for selling the item at the best price they could get.

Like the above story, the church has haters and believers. Those who believe that their ills are caused by another person or person(s). They take very little responsibility for anything. On the other hand, there are those that stand up and take the responsibility for their ills upon themselves. As an Atheist, it is nobodies responsibility other than yours to believe or not to believe. You tend blame everyone for your not going to church or believing in Jesus and vilify those who do believe. I ask you, what do you have to lose in this life if you did happen to actually look into to "believing". There is an old saying: 'Let your heart do the walking'

 

[ConnorGiles]

Hi Connor: I will have to disagree with you. The children need Jesus in their lives. I believe you will find that the Godless families are the ones (at least here in the USA) have all kinds of problems.

Hey Bladerunner

Before I read any more (I shall comment on the other parts as this goes on). I lived without Jesus all my life, I have never been religious, Most people I know here in the UK - are Atheists or Agnostics - They all turned out to be more than fine - No one NEEDS Jesus my friend, Only in those book does it claim we do and if you don't live by those books then your mind is free to wander about how the world came to be and so forth. Whereas this isn't the case in religion as you are given the reason for these things and told because God made it That was never enough for me as a child so I didn't believe in him. I would never force my children to be atheists, I shall let them choose whichever path their imagination takes them.

If that does indeed mean they turn out to be religious I shall respect that and we shall have some interesting debates around the dinner table

I as a child went to church with my parents (both of them). As a teenager, I left the church (because I saw the same thing lot of you people also did and that is Hypocrisy). After a few years, I returned to the Church but at this time I had the ability to choose the church I wanted. I have since then come to realize that there has always been people who used the bible and its teaching simply to get ahead, have control (power) over the people. Of course that is my opinion.

Although you say opinion I think it is certain that the Commander of the Crusaders/Templars used the bible to commit huge amounts of mass murders.

May I ask what is Hypocrisy in leaving the church? It is no more higher of an opinion that joining a church in the first place

"Hypocrisy"
"The practice of claiming to have higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case"

I know a fella that that buys and sells antiques. He buys them for the cheapest he can and then sells them high enough to make a living. Now the people he buys from are split into two camps. One set says he cheated (a crook) them because they did not know what the item they had sold him was worth. The other set has no problem with him or his business.

This is the case in every Antique Merchant around, They are never going to buy anything for the right price as they would need to make a substantial profit to keep their business afloat. There is no harm in buying something for a low value when it actually costs a lot, That my friend is knowledge and using knowledge when buying antiques can drastically improve profits

I'm not a Antique merchant myself but i still think it is an honest trade, because the people they buy it off have no contacts to sell to. So they are getting the money they set out to achieve and so is the Merchant. (Win/Win)

Their attitude is that they were responsible for knowing what the item was worth and they alone were responsible for selling the item at the best price they could get.

As said above - no bad blood due to the fact they set out to get that set amount of money, the blame lies with them because you should research what you sell to know true value

Its what would be called today.... A Bargain!

Like the above story, the church has haters and believers. Those who believe that their ills are caused by another person or person(s). They take very little responsibility for anything. On the other hand, there are those that stand up and take the responsibility for their ills upon themselves. As an Atheist, it is nobodies responsibility other than yours to believe or not to believe. You tend blame everyone for your not going to church or believing in Jesus and vilify those who do believe. I ask you, what do you have to lose in this life if you did happen to actually look into to "believing". There is an old saying: 'Let your heart do the walking'

Here friend is what I would class as preaching - This is what I do not want.

I do not wish to be recruited Bladerunner I wish to as you say "Let your heart do the walking"

And it seems to be walking straight into Atheism

I do not disrespect your religions in anyway, in fact as said before I admire your blind faith. But being a realist doesn't push me in the ways of blind faith Bladerunner

I always like to hear things from the other side of the fence (be it in lovely attitudes, not those who force their opinion through bad language and abuse)

Lovely to hear from you Bladerunner

I look forward to your next post

 

[ConnorGiles]

Yes, I'm blunt, direct, and often rude. My brain-mouth filter doesn't work and never has, meaning you can always rest assured I am saying precisely what I mean. I don't expect people to like me, and honestly I tend to worry when people do. My apologies if you felt my repeatedly calling you an idiot was belittling - it was supposed to be insulting.

I don't mind you at all Frothingslosh - you do throw out interesting and obvious intelligence in your posts which I like and I also like the fact you take no sides as you're not an Atheist and not religious

Keep it up bud - your posts never fail to amuse me when I read them, that is because of your Blunt, direct and often rude attitude. Although to make this a nicer thread a little less insults may go a long way

Hope all went okay on the weekend mate.

 

[Brianwarnock]

. As a teenager, I left the church (because I saw the same thing lot of you people also did and that is Hypocrisy).

Connor , here we have an example as to why I think correct English, including or especially punctuation, is important. You read this as that it was hypocritical to leave the church, I read it to say that he left the church because he saw hypocrisy there.

Brian

 

[ConnorGiles]

Ah, Thanks for clearing that up Brian.

As to the use of correct punctuation - shouldn't these commas be brackets? It seems you started a sentence, Then interrupted it , Then resumed the original sentence.

here we have an example as to why I think correct English, including or especially punctuation, is important.

Perhaps I have misinterpreted what Bladerunner has said . Again thanks for the clarification.

 

[Brianwarnock]

You may be right about brackets but I think that you can use commas for such clauses, I'm sure they have a name but don't know or remember it, school was over half a century ago.

Brian

 

[ConnorGiles]

I'm not sure I was taught to use commas for such clauses

Brackets were the best way to achieve what you tried to achieve

People make grammatical errors sometimes, try to accept them not get aggravated by them.

Try thinking of it like stalling a car, its not that you did it that matters, it is how you realise your mistakes and correct them

 

[ConnorGiles]

Going back onto the original subject (Religion) -

Bladerunner , just out of curiosity if you believe in God you must believe in Satan is that correct?

 

[Brianwarnock]

I don't tell everyone, I'd be here all day, but in your initial postings they got out of hand, and I guess I was a bit p'd off by something so decided to say something. I am also annoyed and dismayed that blade and D7Access seem proud to not know the difference between were and where plus a few other things.

As to my post above a bit of research gives it as a parenthical phrase, I.e. It can be left out without upsetting the main meaning , these can be contained within brackets or commas.


Brian

 

[ConnorGiles]

I shall refer back to my previous statement :

"People make grammatical errors sometimes, try to accept them not get aggravated by them.

Try thinking of it like stalling a car, its not that you did it that matters, it is how you realise your mistakes and correct them "

(not someone else that corrects them) - Keep calm bud, I realise my grammatical errors but when typing huge paragraphs (as you've seen me do), I tend to let my grammar get away from me sometimes.

 

[Frothingslosh]

I don't mind you at all Frothingslosh - you do throw out interesting and obvious intelligence in your posts which I like and I also like the fact you take no sides as you're not an Atheist and not religious

Keep it up bud - your posts never fail to amuse me when I read them, that is because of your Blunt, direct and often rude attitude. Although to make this a nicer thread a little less insults may go a long way

True.

Hope all went okay on the weekend mate.

Yeah, got to see a lot of family I normally never see, and only lost it once.


*****

I'm not sure I was taught to use commas for such clauses

Brackets were the best way to achieve what you tried to achieve

Parenthesis are usually used inside sentences for asides, and generally should actually be broken out into either clauses or their own sentence. For the sentence in question, I would say that the correct way to say it would have been

As a teenager, I left the Church because I saw the same thing that a lot of you people also did: hypocrisy.

Also - note that Church was being used as a proper noun and thus should have been capitalized.

Edit: Yikes, that's what I get for not posting my reply promptly!

 

[ConnorGiles]

True.



Yeah, got to see a lot of family I normally never see, and only lost it once.


*****



Parenthesis are usually used inside sentences for asides, and generally should actually be broken out into either clauses or their own sentence. For the sentence in question, I would say that the correct way to say it would have been


Also - note that Church was being used as a proper noun and thus should have been capitalized.

Edit: Yikes, that's what I get for not posting my reply promptly!

Nice to hear from you mate - Thanks for the info, always nice to learn something new

Glad you got to see your family - its always nice to see the ones you haven't seen in a while. You had every right to lose it , He was your father - My thoughts are with you mate.

How are you today?

 

[Frothingslosh]

Tired (insomnia for three nights now) but otherwise doing fine.

The problem with studying something every evening is sometimes your brain doesn't want to downshift when it's time to go to bed!

 

[nanscombe]

Most of the time when people make grammatical errors we do accept them by taking them at face value.

However, those errors may change the intended meaning of what was written and people react to what the author actually wrote rather than what was in their head at the time.

 

[Alc]

(I say this in experience not as a opinion) in my primary school and Secondary school we were forced to say a prayer at the start of every assembly and maybe even a religious hymn .... I have to admit I never sang along (*Mumbling the sounds* worked everytime.)

Now that's just lazy. I found that loudly singing obscenities that rhymed also worked, with the added advantage of taking some thought.

 

[David R]

So there's some bill, or maybe a law, that you don't know the name or number of, that will do a blatantly unconstitutional thing? Nice try, thanks for the laugh Blade.

You might be thinking of SB 1140 from 2012, that would have shielded churches from having to perform gay marriage or lose their non-profit status (it passed). Or maybe you're thinking of the Southern Baptist Convention removing a California church from its membership last month because its pastor announced support for same-sex marriage.

Actually, I suspect what you're getting is an old version of SB 6239 in Washington state (I know, they're practically the same thing), which would have required churches to offer space to same-sex services IF they offered space to the general public for events. The bill as passed instead shields them from any and all civil suits, for any reason related to gay marriage. Yay?

 

[Alc]

So there's some bill, or maybe a law, that you don't know the name or number of, that will do a blatantly unconstitutional thing? Nice try, thanks for the laugh Blade.

You might be thinking of SB 1140 from 2012, that would have shielded churches from having to perform gay marriage or lose their non-profit status (it passed. Or maybe you're thinking of the Southern Baptist Convention removing a California church from its membership last month because its pastor announced support for same-sex marriage.

Actually, I suspect what you're getting is an old version of SB 6239 in Washington state (I know, they're practically the same thing), which would have required churches to offer space to same-sex services IF they offered space to the general public for events. The bill as passed instead shields them from any and all civil suits, for any reason related to gay marriage. Yay?

Don't you be coming on here with your 'facts' and your 'proof'! We're trying to discuss religion.

 

[David R]

Yeah well, my religion is excluded from the poll, so I have to get my jollies somewhere...

 

[Alc]

Yeah well, my religion is excluded from the poll, so I have to get my jollies somewhere...

What??? There IS only one true religion. I was thinking about infidels such as yourself just yesterday, while I was eating my supper - chips and Mr Steak and Kidney Pie (peas be on him).

 

[Frothingslosh]

Actually, I'm pretty sure he was misunderstanding the (either Idaho or Iowa) issue, where a pair of "pastors" (who'd been ordained through a mill rather than a seminary) ran a for-profit wedding chapel. They didn't care about your religion or denomination; they were just trying to make a living. They refused, however, to perform same-sex marriages. Once an anti-discrimination law was passed barring non-religious descrimination against homosexuals, they stopped performing marriages for anyone other than Christians of their own denomination, as well as those evil, evil sodomites, and started claiming religious persecution.

It wound up being resolved once they reincorporated as a 501(c)(3), as the state's laws don't require religious institutions to perform marriages to which the leadership have religious objections. Their reincorporation is pure sophistry, honestly, but from what I understand it's perfectly legal.

And let's face it, facts have never stopped the Religious Reich from screaming about their non-existant persecution; this is part and parcel of his equally inane prior arguments.