Yes, true Christians are about love. But so many want to tell others how to live. Personally I don't believe in "Magical Thinking". We humans are very interesting in that we have a superstitious part of our brains and we have a logical part. I've read articles that suggest religion evolved when humans developed emotions. The awe of an unknown world can be overwhelming to the primitive mind and answers were needed. So therefore the evolution of one, or more than one supreme being developed to satisfy the questions of the unknown.
Man comes along and sees the opportunity to control the masses through the dictatorship of Religion and we have the Church. The Dumo in Florence has pictures of the Bible stories on the dome so when the illiterate masses were praying and looking up they could see the stories on the ceilings and the priests could tell people that these things would happen to them if they didn't follow their beliefs.
The Bible was written 100 years after Christ by MAN. You don't think the men who wrote it were trying to control the masses with all kinds of rules and regulations? It's the biggest scam in the history of man.
The Romans were obsessed with the food revolution and having excessive parties spending huge amounts of money to impress their friends. Yes, there were orgies and over indulgence, people would force themselves to vomit so they could eat more.
Now enter the Christians with their own Magical thinking. Yes they brought down the Roman empire to control the masses to control their behavior to their own beliefs based on jelousy and were successful at it. Female Deities were destroyed, Pagan rituals were converted into Christian rituals so the masses would follow.
All of this is manipulation of people to collect their money. The Catholic institution is the richest church in the world. And you don't think this is about money and control of the people who are willing to pay?
There are definitely absolute "Truths" in all religions that resonate in all of us. We humans were born with the sense of right and wrong, we all understand that without being told by some institution. If it makes you feel better to be told what to think, fine; Go to your church. There are many of us who prefer to think for ourselves and come to what I think is a more "Christian" view of the world and how to accept others without prejudice.
Toda says: Animals don’t even act that way…so what makes them right?
You might want to do a little research on this. It is scientifically documented that 1500 species of animals practice homosexual behavior.
stARDAwg, I like your point, each group broke away from the parent group so they could go by their own rules. Religion is the greatest herder of people who are not willing to think for themselves.
I really don't understand the one man and one woman issue since marriage is about loving another human being as well as a government institution in today's society. It's all about taxes and benefits. That's part of what gay people are arguing about since there's no provision to allow these benefits without getting married. It's discriminatory to prohibit any man or woman from being treated equally. Changing the law doesn't mean YOU have to change your beliefs, no one is saying that. I don't understand why the Christian religious community feels they have to control what other people do.
What I find disturbing here is how quickly a conversation becomes a personal attack. reformgov1, nothingspecial and James have now resorted to "bullying" spewing demeaning comments against BigE and anyone else who has a rational thought. What makes you think you own the rights to marriage? You make it out to be some kind of Holey Grail. Marriage is also a practical institution in today's society allowing a couple to benefit financially, legally and socially. Marriage is also a government institution today with all kinds of laws dictating a couples financial life. I think Emerald spoke perfectly for you saying she just doesn't want to explain why two men are holding hands. It's all about you not wanting to deal with it and hide behind your "religious" views finding ammunition to fortify your bigotry. Why do you even care how people choose to live their lives?
Great comment John. Why not put all that pent-up energy into something positive and useful to all. This is an old and worn out topic. Move on, it's not going to do anything except distract everyone away from more important topics and make a few insecure people feel like they're important.
"suspected of lying, knee-jerk ideological decisions, was obsessed with pornography, Virginia Thomas' well-known far-right political activities,"
Is your intention to write a smear campaign against Thomas or present an intelligent argument? These kind of innuendos make it difficult to get to the point. It would be nice to have some documentation and facts rather than gossip so we can actually have an intelligent conversation.
Our jails are already overflowing, do we really have to make finding 4 oz of marijuana a felony? Everyone is stupid when they're teenagers, we don't have to ruin someone's life with overzealous laws.
The Tea Party doesn't have an agenda and it's starting to look like they have been used as ponzies by their own Republicans.
They were all so worked up about the Hispanic population being a drain on our economy, especially in Arizona. Tea Party groups all over the country were supporting the "pain" Arizona was going through and were allowed to think they had made a difference. In fact, they were being used by big business. The failing private prison business was looking for a way to make more money so they came up with the idea to create a prison to house illegal immigrant women and children. They preyed on the Republican's fears promoted by their private news sources and got everyone so worked up to the point of forcing the Arizona Governor to pass laws that go against common sense.
So now the private Prison corporation gets to build more prisons to house the so called criminals they created by manipulating the Tea party and the Arizona government to pass laws making leaving Arizona a criminal offense.
I think everyone should back off. No one believes the other but everyone thinks they're right. Something for the Tea Partiers to think about is how you were used in Arizona to create a new business for the private prison corporation. They loved the way you were so upset about the Hispanic population and fueled your fears so the Governor could establish a law that would make criminals out of any Hispanic who tried to leave the state. The winners were..(drum roll).... the private prison corporation!!! Apparently the Hispanic issue wasn't really that bad but you were used by politicians to get what they wanted!!!!
So.... maybe the fighting should stop and possibly we all might consider doing more research and be a little more cautious about attacks. All of us are being used by the polititions so keep a look out for the untruths.
Sally244 2 years, 5 months ago
Needless Agitation on Gay Marriage
Yes, true Christians are about love. But so many want to tell others how to live. Personally I don't believe in "Magical Thinking". We humans are very interesting in that we have a superstitious part of our brains and we have a logical part. I've read articles that suggest religion evolved when humans developed emotions. The awe of an unknown world can be overwhelming to the primitive mind and answers were needed. So therefore the evolution of one, or more than one supreme being developed to satisfy the questions of the unknown.
Man comes along and sees the opportunity to control the masses through the dictatorship of Religion and we have the Church. The Dumo in Florence has pictures of the Bible stories on the dome so when the illiterate masses were praying and looking up they could see the stories on the ceilings and the priests could tell people that these things would happen to them if they didn't follow their beliefs.
The Bible was written 100 years after Christ by MAN. You don't think the men who wrote it were trying to control the masses with all kinds of rules and regulations? It's the biggest scam in the history of man.
The Romans were obsessed with the food revolution and having excessive parties spending huge amounts of money to impress their friends. Yes, there were orgies and over indulgence, people would force themselves to vomit so they could eat more.
Now enter the Christians with their own Magical thinking. Yes they brought down the Roman empire to control the masses to control their behavior to their own beliefs based on jelousy and were successful at it. Female Deities were destroyed, Pagan rituals were converted into Christian rituals so the masses would follow.
All of this is manipulation of people to collect their money. The Catholic institution is the richest church in the world. And you don't think this is about money and control of the people who are willing to pay?
There are definitely absolute "Truths" in all religions that resonate in all of us. We humans were born with the sense of right and wrong, we all understand that without being told by some institution. If it makes you feel better to be told what to think, fine; Go to your church. There are many of us who prefer to think for ourselves and come to what I think is a more "Christian" view of the world and how to accept others without prejudice.
Sally244 2 years, 5 months ago
Needless Agitation on Gay Marriage
Toda says: Animals don’t even act that way…so what makes them right?
You might want to do a little research on this. It is scientifically documented that 1500 species of animals practice homosexual behavior.
stARDAwg, I like your point, each group broke away from the parent group so they could go by their own rules. Religion is the greatest herder of people who are not willing to think for themselves.
Sally244 2 years, 5 months ago
Needless Agitation on Gay Marriage
I really don't understand the one man and one woman issue since marriage is about loving another human being as well as a government institution in today's society. It's all about taxes and benefits. That's part of what gay people are arguing about since there's no provision to allow these benefits without getting married. It's discriminatory to prohibit any man or woman from being treated equally. Changing the law doesn't mean YOU have to change your beliefs, no one is saying that. I don't understand why the Christian religious community feels they have to control what other people do.
Sally244 2 years, 5 months ago
Needless Agitation on Gay Marriage
What I find disturbing here is how quickly a conversation becomes a personal attack. reformgov1, nothingspecial and James have now resorted to "bullying" spewing demeaning comments against BigE and anyone else who has a rational thought. What makes you think you own the rights to marriage? You make it out to be some kind of Holey Grail. Marriage is also a practical institution in today's society allowing a couple to benefit financially, legally and socially. Marriage is also a government institution today with all kinds of laws dictating a couples financial life. I think Emerald spoke perfectly for you saying she just doesn't want to explain why two men are holding hands. It's all about you not wanting to deal with it and hide behind your "religious" views finding ammunition to fortify your bigotry. Why do you even care how people choose to live their lives?
Sally244 2 years, 5 months ago
Needless Agitation on Gay Marriage
Great comment John. Why not put all that pent-up energy into something positive and useful to all. This is an old and worn out topic. Move on, it's not going to do anything except distract everyone away from more important topics and make a few insecure people feel like they're important.
Sally244 2 years, 6 months ago
Questions About Clarence Thomas Cry for Answers
"suspected of lying, knee-jerk ideological decisions, was obsessed with pornography, Virginia Thomas' well-known far-right political activities,"
Is your intention to write a smear campaign against Thomas or present an intelligent argument? These kind of innuendos make it difficult to get to the point. It would be nice to have some documentation and facts rather than gossip so we can actually have an intelligent conversation.
Sally244 2 years, 6 months ago
Two Pinehurst Residents Face Drug Charges
Our jails are already overflowing, do we really have to make finding 4 oz of marijuana a felony? Everyone is stupid when they're teenagers, we don't have to ruin someone's life with overzealous laws.
Sally244 2 years, 6 months ago
How Will This 'Change' Thing Work?
The Tea Party doesn't have an agenda and it's starting to look like they have been used as ponzies by their own Republicans.
They were all so worked up about the Hispanic population being a drain on our economy, especially in Arizona. Tea Party groups all over the country were supporting the "pain" Arizona was going through and were allowed to think they had made a difference. In fact, they were being used by big business. The failing private prison business was looking for a way to make more money so they came up with the idea to create a prison to house illegal immigrant women and children. They preyed on the Republican's fears promoted by their private news sources and got everyone so worked up to the point of forcing the Arizona Governor to pass laws that go against common sense.
So now the private Prison corporation gets to build more prisons to house the so called criminals they created by manipulating the Tea party and the Arizona government to pass laws making leaving Arizona a criminal offense.
Good going Tea Party!
Sally244 2 years, 6 months ago
How Will the GOP Keep Its Promises?
I think everyone should back off. No one believes the other but everyone thinks they're right. Something for the Tea Partiers to think about is how you were used in Arizona to create a new business for the private prison corporation. They loved the way you were so upset about the Hispanic population and fueled your fears so the Governor could establish a law that would make criminals out of any Hispanic who tried to leave the state. The winners were..(drum roll).... the private prison corporation!!! Apparently the Hispanic issue wasn't really that bad but you were used by politicians to get what they wanted!!!!
So.... maybe the fighting should stop and possibly we all might consider doing more research and be a little more cautious about attacks. All of us are being used by the polititions so keep a look out for the untruths.
Sally244 2 years, 6 months ago
How Will This 'Change' Thing Work?
Hey DR, I love the article! Thanks