Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
cyphire
ParticipantAhhh Rustico!!! Thank you – you keep me sane! I’m sorry I’ve been off in the woods for a few days, been a little out of sorts with my new found intellectual/financial freedom (deciding the course of my next 10 years business-wise) and wanted to chime in before I leave for vacation (will be gone tomorrow – alas – but will bring my computer with me).
Rustico – at the risk of ass kissing and being branded a wild-eyed liberal – Bill Mahr, John Stewart, and Rustico are keeping me sane.
I don’t have time for serious blogging study – just checking in – so…..
4Runner. Because society has grown up with religion (and it’s waning now, at least in our more educated, privileged society), doesn’t mean that it is the reason I am not going out on a raping rampage. I agree that many religions are the same in their views toward society – but I prefer my rules and laws straight, without them being watered down by a self-serving priest class.
Neighbors build strong fences to remain good neighbors, the wealthier a person is, the more say they have in protecting their property and creating their laws. There are lots of pressures on society to not go wild, there is the legal system and the police enforcement. Religion is a mixed bag, there are rational people who are religious and some loonies. There of course, is the undercurrent of people basing their violence and evil on religion – this is one of the reasons that I find religion distasteful (see George Bush and his group of savages).
As to jg and his “monogamy, religion, nuclear family” — is the tried and true method, while the antithesis — free love and communal raising of children (aka, the public school ideal) — has consistently failed.” I would say this:
Our nuclear family culture is somewhat weak and twisted compared to history and the rest of the world. We send our old folks off to homes, keep boundaries with our brothers and sisters families, most of history and other cultures have extended families, grandparents staying with the grandchildren, large extended families supporting each other – nope not for the US and it’s 50’s mentality of the Levitt house and separate lives. So sorry jg – it’s not a supportive loving situation compared with how it should be.
Some cultures have multiple wives, lots of societies (most?) have mistresses for successful men as a matter of course. I’m not legislating for it – but divorce goes down DRAMATICALLY when the women you marry keeps her social position in society and the kids are always provided for while releasing pressure for men to do what men do (sorry it interferes with your dogma – but I’m talking biology, not crowd control and religious imposed rules). Perhaps if, for example, priests could have sex, they would bring it out in the open instead of secret gay liaisons and pedophilia. Plus of course the leaders of the religion wouldn’t have to cover it up (for the good of their congregation of course!!!) By the way – I am not talking about the majority of priests, just a statistically significant amount of gay priests, as well as a sick group of church-protected rapists. Anyway – these cultures have much less divorce and it works for them – so too bad your view of what is ‘correct’ is what your prejudice’s have been fed.
There are many, many parts of the planet (probably the majority during history) where kids are raised by the village. Where kids are much more autonomous and stay together as a group. What about the Israeli creche system? Kibbutz’s? The kibbutz is probably the most supportive child raising system – it doesn’t rely on a man going out to work and never seeing his kids, while the woman stays home and watches them (and goes crazy). I would suggest that your Ozzie and Harriet mentality is actually not only not the way to go, but is a major contributing factor in our culture. Final note – we have become a country of dual income earners. We do this because of the pressures of society and consumerism. Think it’s a healthy environment where the kids are latch-keys?
Anyway – it’s the system I’m used to – I just don’t drop to my knees and believe every bit of crap I hear from authority figures (priests, George Bush, Rush Limbaugh, etc.)
Why not open your eyes up to history, the world around you and a new vision of where our culture can improve – without singing ‘that old time religion!’.
Whew! Was it worth it, not sure. I agree Rustico – that you can’t change anyones viewpoint over 30.
ParticipantBravo PerryChase… We were going to move from La Jolla because of the brainwashing – but it’s hard to throw the baby out with the bathwater. It is comfortable living here… Like Rustico and yourself – I feel that Bush has a lot to answer for, and I also vomit inside when Bush invokes God. The tough thing is that when you have people who follow dogma blindly, it makes for a difficult conversation. As they have no evidence and conflicting logic, there isn’t really a conversation to be had. I hate bringing up the Harry Potter thing again, but it’s no weirder then the spin the Mormons put on religion, or the Branch Davidians, or all the other religions if you go back far enough. Whats the difference between religion and cults? Just more people! That doesn’t prove it right (and which of the larger cults are the correct ones? – Each of them state that the others are going to Hell… so….. Grrrrr…. Can’t they just shut up already and keep their dreams to themselves????
I also find your points interesting 4Runner and you have a great arguing style, but as your wishes interfere with your assumptions – again it’s hard to get around the fact that you are pushing for an agenda, the facts just seem to get in the way.
Religion is NOT an inseparable part of every successful culture. It is a vestigial part of our society and brave honest men should try to remove it and replace it with something else. Religion reminds me of a military dictatorship which has to hold on – because if they don’t they will be tried by the people who have been injured by it. Look at our current culture in the US. What part of the country is religious? Is La Jolla still intact because of religion? There are so many sects and so many non-believers that I beg to differ.
It’s funny. JG and you seem to have the idea that it is religion holding people back from not killing each other. Are monkeys religious? Do they murder each other? My moral code is based on society and what society expects of me and my children. People live in a society and follow it’s rules to create stability and comfort – not because of a God, but because it’s how we interrelate to each other.
Now the spoiler is thrown in… Religion… To me religion is like waving the confederate flag and being proud of it’s excesses. You can’t imagine my joy at seeing the San Diego Diocese being bankrupt from the sexual predator lawsuits. It’s only the start. Bravo! Take down the organizations which abuse power and hurt their fellow man. Corrupt institutions which preach hatred (do either you or jg feel that Homosexuals have the right to exist, enjoy each other, and be part of society? Do you feel that they are sick? Against God’s commandments? – just wondering – lets see how far your intolerance extends) Instead of extolling the virtues of religion – why not take responsibility for it’s terrible toll on the human race?
ParticipantBravo PerryChase… We were going to move from La Jolla because of the brainwashing – but it’s hard to throw the baby out with the bathwater. It is comfortable living here… Like Rustico and yourself – I feel that Bush has a lot to answer for, and I also vomit inside when Bush invokes God. The tough thing is that when you have people who follow dogma blindly, it makes for a difficult conversation. As they have no evidence and conflicting logic, there isn’t really a conversation to be had. I hate bringing up the Harry Potter thing again, but it’s no weirder then the spin the Mormons put on religion, or the Branch Davidians, or all the other religions if you go back far enough. Whats the difference between religion and cults? Just more people! That doesn’t prove it right (and which of the larger cults are the correct ones? – Each of them state that the others are going to Hell… so….. Grrrrr…. Can’t they just shut up already and keep their dreams to themselves????
I also find your points interesting 4Runner and you have a great arguing style, but as your wishes interfere with your assumptions – again it’s hard to get around the fact that you are pushing for an agenda, the facts just seem to get in the way.
Religion is NOT an inseparable part of every successful culture. It is a vestigial part of our society and brave honest men should try to remove it and replace it with something else. Religion reminds me of a military dictatorship which has to hold on – because if they don’t they will be tried by the people who have been injured by it. Look at our current culture in the US. What part of the country is religious? Is La Jolla still intact because of religion? There are so many sects and so many non-believers that I beg to differ.
It’s funny. JG and you seem to have the idea that it is religion holding people back from not killing each other. Are monkeys religious? Do they murder each other? My moral code is based on society and what society expects of me and my children. People live in a society and follow it’s rules to create stability and comfort – not because of a God, but because it’s how we interrelate to each other.
Now the spoiler is thrown in… Religion… To me religion is like waving the confederate flag and being proud of it’s excesses. You can’t imagine my joy at seeing the San Diego Diocese being bankrupt from the sexual predator lawsuits. It’s only the start. Bravo! Take down the organizations which abuse power and hurt their fellow man. Corrupt institutions which preach hatred (do either you or jg feel that Homosexuals have the right to exist, enjoy each other, and be part of society? Do you feel that they are sick? Against God’s commandments? – just wondering – lets see how far your intolerance extends) Instead of extolling the virtues of religion – why not take responsibility for it’s terrible toll on the human race?
ParticipantWell said Rustico – both posts. That is also what angers me – the mixing of church and state, especially in our current state where religion is a bandaid on the incompetence and terrible moral values of the administration.
Like you, I don’t need religion to put boundaries on me. I have my own code of ethics and my wife is my best friend. We have mucho love, same with my kids. This is a much stronger value system and boundary system – because it’s self imposed. I don’t add the complexity of a flawed system into my life we stand on our own two feet!
ParticipantWell said Rustico – both posts. That is also what angers me – the mixing of church and state, especially in our current state where religion is a bandaid on the incompetence and terrible moral values of the administration.
Like you, I don’t need religion to put boundaries on me. I have my own code of ethics and my wife is my best friend. We have mucho love, same with my kids. This is a much stronger value system and boundary system – because it’s self imposed. I don’t add the complexity of a flawed system into my life we stand on our own two feet!
ParticipantInteresting points 4Runner. But wouldn’t you agree that while these items were put into religious practice because religious practice was the standard for society? And now with a global perspective – each of the religions grate on each other?
While from a historical perspective you might be right, shouldn’t these arbitrary restrictions be removed? What is the reason for these social codes to remain in today’s more modern world?
Divorce is legal in this country. Aren’t the rules against it in some religions just keeping their power structure alive? Is it in societies best interest to not allow divorce?
Just picking on the Catholic church for a second, weren’t their rules (like all religion) just created to give power to a group of people (priests)? It seems to me that throughout the history of that institution, there has been more hypocracy than in most other religions. It is a religion that feeds off of the hungry and uneducated, and creates arbitrary rules of behavior which enslave its population. I always think of how Latin being required (because the locals didn’t speak of it) and they finally capitulated. And of course the humility and poverty (but not for the higher ups – after all some pigs are more equal than others!) The priest was the final judge, the rod he kept was eternal damnation. Judaism encourages scholarship in all of its people (male historically though!), as the Amish do in their meetings and others. Catholicism keeps the people at a different level then their priests.
Most appalling is that the morality rules aren’t very moral at all (example letting a woman die during childbirth instead of the child), no abortions even in case of horrific birth defects or rape, and the long list of other things which most people in most societies would view as outrageous by normal codes of ethics. Especially in these modern times.
I wish more people (ahh the apathy of most Americans!!!) would rise up against the intolerance and would also try to change our government from engaging in the same behaviour overseas with poorer nations.
ParticipantInteresting points 4Runner. But wouldn’t you agree that while these items were put into religious practice because religious practice was the standard for society? And now with a global perspective – each of the religions grate on each other?
While from a historical perspective you might be right, shouldn’t these arbitrary restrictions be removed? What is the reason for these social codes to remain in today’s more modern world?
Divorce is legal in this country. Aren’t the rules against it in some religions just keeping their power structure alive? Is it in societies best interest to not allow divorce?
Just picking on the Catholic church for a second, weren’t their rules (like all religion) just created to give power to a group of people (priests)? It seems to me that throughout the history of that institution, there has been more hypocracy than in most other religions. It is a religion that feeds off of the hungry and uneducated, and creates arbitrary rules of behavior which enslave its population. I always think of how Latin being required (because the locals didn’t speak of it) and they finally capitulated. And of course the humility and poverty (but not for the higher ups – after all some pigs are more equal than others!) The priest was the final judge, the rod he kept was eternal damnation. Judaism encourages scholarship in all of its people (male historically though!), as the Amish do in their meetings and others. Catholicism keeps the people at a different level then their priests.
Most appalling is that the morality rules aren’t very moral at all (example letting a woman die during childbirth instead of the child), no abortions even in case of horrific birth defects or rape, and the long list of other things which most people in most societies would view as outrageous by normal codes of ethics. Especially in these modern times.
I wish more people (ahh the apathy of most Americans!!!) would rise up against the intolerance and would also try to change our government from engaging in the same behaviour overseas with poorer nations.
ParticipantGrrr – I closed the browser window by accident! Lost one of my very long responses and don’t have the heart to try to recreate it verbatim – so here is the abridged version!
Imagine a world without the stigma of divorce, the stigma of who has the better car, the stigma of who is more educated (degrees attained, not actual education!), the stigma of not fitting in with the fold? Unfortunately, most of this isn’t possible as long as people are preaching their beliefs instead of being able to evolve both emotionally, as well as practically.
Last night I came to the conclusion (I was in deep thinking mode – you draw your own conclusions!) that the ‘family values’ and abstinence lobby has probably done more to promote teen sex and other things which they are supposed to be against! The problem is that by putting a religious moral label on something (God wants you to be pure, without chastity you are sinning, etc.) and the hippocracy of it as well as the forbidden fruit of it causes many kids to rebel against it. Without the hypocritical religious aspect of supposed social consciousness, society might actually have a chance to band together to create moral codes. For example, the more devout someone is, chances are the less they are open about a problem. The more devout someone is, the more likely if there is a problem to be discussed that the repercussions are so severe that the problem will continue and lying and deception will be the norm.
If there was no religion and social codes were in step society would come together in a greater way. Currently we have a us-vs.-them mentality of religious leaders preaching their own brand of morality to the masses (while usually they are the most egregious offenders of the social code i.e. Bush) and a backlash from open minded and the socially relaxed larger irreligious mass. Just as many people (like myself) disregard the preaching of the religious as either self-serving, opposite in values to what they preach, dangerous to free will, or just plain socially repressive as well as the very large group who pay lip service to their religious responsibilities and go out and break all the rules anyway (the forbidden fruit), this sets up conflict in society and actually increases the behavior against the preaching.
The corollary to that would be that if moralistic prigs didn’t abuse their power derived from the great mass of sheep like followers, and did not attach religion to social actions (such as chastity, abortion, vulgarism, etc.), society would have a greater mandate to set standards for these actions. It’s hard to set policies and ideas in dealing with teens as a community, when the community is so fractured with the far-right religious dogma which is tried to be hobbled on popular society.
Some examples of hippocracy are found in my own travels. I have a friend (spoke of him earlier) who is deeply religious. He spends a huge amount of time lying or thinking about lying as he chafes at the halter of his religious convictions. He is very typical. I go through life without ever telling any lies. As I live an open life, and don’t have any artificial requirements laid on me by any outsourced morality police, I never have anything to lie about!
I have a Mormon friend who sneaks off and plays golf and drinks and smokes on the course, and lies about it to his wife and family. I have a Hasidic friend (Ultra religious Jew) who has a huge porn collection at his office (as his other co religionists do) as he has to hide this from his family and the temple. I have a Catholic acquaintance who is in a loveless marriage, but stays together because he has to (and never, ever talks to his wife) – real good for the kids!
I live my own moral code and actually follow it. I tell the truth because I can’t imagine any reason I would have for lying. I don’t chafe…
On the subject of marriage, it is amazing how much damage is done by these strict and anti-sociatal edicts that accompany religion. I think that the Catholic church is a prime offender, but also many Muslim sects are also preaching regressive rules which are enforced with severity on the population. The stigma attached to divorce is one of many crimes which the church should answer for. Raising kids when you aren’t in love and don’t create a loving atmosphere is just not right. Preaching abstainance (without any chance of it working) and not using or endorsing contraception has killed more people than most wars – I would hate to part of a group which was this corrupt and dangerous to polite society.
I know it’s politically correct not to take a religion to task for the ills it creates, but perhaps this might be the start of a golden age where we make people who hurt others responsible for their actions. Take the church to task for the people who are diseased and dying because of the lack of contraception, take the church to task for making girls too young to raise an infant responsible to spend their lives in poverty and squalor, take the bishops who knew about sexual predators and moved them around to more fertile hunting grounds and imprison them (why has this not happened?)
I know this is going to inflame the religious core. I wish it wasn’t so. But try answering for the specific things as written above. I hope that there is a time where religion is not treated in a special manner and the religious are held accountable for their actions rather then being allowed to influence society for the worse.
p.s. Sorry Kitty for not realizing your position vis-a-vis religion and dogma. I shouldn’t have gotten it wrong based on your posts – you have an awesome and honest perspective on life and a great heart!
ParticipantGrrr – I closed the browser window by accident! Lost one of my very long responses and don’t have the heart to try to recreate it verbatim – so here is the abridged version!
Imagine a world without the stigma of divorce, the stigma of who has the better car, the stigma of who is more educated (degrees attained, not actual education!), the stigma of not fitting in with the fold? Unfortunately, most of this isn’t possible as long as people are preaching their beliefs instead of being able to evolve both emotionally, as well as practically.
Last night I came to the conclusion (I was in deep thinking mode – you draw your own conclusions!) that the ‘family values’ and abstinence lobby has probably done more to promote teen sex and other things which they are supposed to be against! The problem is that by putting a religious moral label on something (God wants you to be pure, without chastity you are sinning, etc.) and the hippocracy of it as well as the forbidden fruit of it causes many kids to rebel against it. Without the hypocritical religious aspect of supposed social consciousness, society might actually have a chance to band together to create moral codes. For example, the more devout someone is, chances are the less they are open about a problem. The more devout someone is, the more likely if there is a problem to be discussed that the repercussions are so severe that the problem will continue and lying and deception will be the norm.
If there was no religion and social codes were in step society would come together in a greater way. Currently we have a us-vs.-them mentality of religious leaders preaching their own brand of morality to the masses (while usually they are the most egregious offenders of the social code i.e. Bush) and a backlash from open minded and the socially relaxed larger irreligious mass. Just as many people (like myself) disregard the preaching of the religious as either self-serving, opposite in values to what they preach, dangerous to free will, or just plain socially repressive as well as the very large group who pay lip service to their religious responsibilities and go out and break all the rules anyway (the forbidden fruit), this sets up conflict in society and actually increases the behavior against the preaching.
The corollary to that would be that if moralistic prigs didn’t abuse their power derived from the great mass of sheep like followers, and did not attach religion to social actions (such as chastity, abortion, vulgarism, etc.), society would have a greater mandate to set standards for these actions. It’s hard to set policies and ideas in dealing with teens as a community, when the community is so fractured with the far-right religious dogma which is tried to be hobbled on popular society.
Some examples of hippocracy are found in my own travels. I have a friend (spoke of him earlier) who is deeply religious. He spends a huge amount of time lying or thinking about lying as he chafes at the halter of his religious convictions. He is very typical. I go through life without ever telling any lies. As I live an open life, and don’t have any artificial requirements laid on me by any outsourced morality police, I never have anything to lie about!
I have a Mormon friend who sneaks off and plays golf and drinks and smokes on the course, and lies about it to his wife and family. I have a Hasidic friend (Ultra religious Jew) who has a huge porn collection at his office (as his other co religionists do) as he has to hide this from his family and the temple. I have a Catholic acquaintance who is in a loveless marriage, but stays together because he has to (and never, ever talks to his wife) – real good for the kids!
I live my own moral code and actually follow it. I tell the truth because I can’t imagine any reason I would have for lying. I don’t chafe…
On the subject of marriage, it is amazing how much damage is done by these strict and anti-sociatal edicts that accompany religion. I think that the Catholic church is a prime offender, but also many Muslim sects are also preaching regressive rules which are enforced with severity on the population. The stigma attached to divorce is one of many crimes which the church should answer for. Raising kids when you aren’t in love and don’t create a loving atmosphere is just not right. Preaching abstainance (without any chance of it working) and not using or endorsing contraception has killed more people than most wars – I would hate to part of a group which was this corrupt and dangerous to polite society.
I know it’s politically correct not to take a religion to task for the ills it creates, but perhaps this might be the start of a golden age where we make people who hurt others responsible for their actions. Take the church to task for the people who are diseased and dying because of the lack of contraception, take the church to task for making girls too young to raise an infant responsible to spend their lives in poverty and squalor, take the bishops who knew about sexual predators and moved them around to more fertile hunting grounds and imprison them (why has this not happened?)
I know this is going to inflame the religious core. I wish it wasn’t so. But try answering for the specific things as written above. I hope that there is a time where religion is not treated in a special manner and the religious are held accountable for their actions rather then being allowed to influence society for the worse.
p.s. Sorry Kitty for not realizing your position vis-a-vis religion and dogma. I shouldn’t have gotten it wrong based on your posts – you have an awesome and honest perspective on life and a great heart!
ParticipantYo… HipMatt… Thou protest too much!
I might get a bit emotional on this topic – that is true. But I wouldn’t say I am a lunatic, that is a rather strong word. Everyone who runs across me finds me both engaging and super nice. My mother-in-law thinks I am too nice and people take advantage of me, but no one calls me a lunatic! I think that, just as I have done HipMatt, that you are pretty angry with my views (as I am of jg’s), and that you got a little wacky with your attack on me. I do the same thing on the other side so I understand how it happens. Neither one of us likes the others view or beliefs (or lack of them) and of course no one likes their beliefs challenged. I of course have much less to feel paranoid about because I don’t have any beliefs which are based on faith and thus my only beliefs have to do with the real world.
The two guys I hang out with the most these days are both very religious, but we enjoy each others company and we are nice to each other. They both are awesome people, they NEVER spew the stuff that a JG does. We disagree about the existence of god and have some cool discussions about it – but they have great values (unlike much of the anti-social and anti-christian stuff that some on this forum express) even if we don’t agree on the existence of god or the dogma of Christianity.
Like Rustico I rarely run across vocal Christians who actually practice what they preach. The vast majority of non-vocal Christians are there for their families and the camaraderie – which seems like a nice thing for them – and it doesn’t affect my life in a negative way. The vocal ones use their faith as a weapon – and the sad thing is that it is in direct opposition to what I understand (ok HipMatt?) are the teachings of (I don’t think he was anything except a guy that got tortured for his very sweet philosophy) Jesus Christ (that also ok HipMatt?)
Bush does make me vomit, and of course his Evangelical Christian utterances, his immoral values, and his belief that JC told him to run for President make him an object of my derision, and of course since he has screwed things up so badly for my country – I have nothing but contempt for him and his cronies. That being said – I also have nothing but contempt for people who worship at the alter of Bush – to me they are morally bankrupt and/or have traded their values for validation of their fantasy – a dangerous and heady brew of socially destructive beliefs and behaviors.
Thank you LostKitty! You have faith and you (like Rustico) have stuck up for me (again). If all Religious people were like you, I don’t think I would be such an angry guy!
Rustico – that is an amazing story. If you were religious, Bush would be using you as an example of how people can pull themselves up by their bootstraps. You have overcome great adversity in life and you should be congratulated for it! It is sad, however, that we both share the idea that the most vocal and morally self-righteous religious folks are often of low morals, character, et. cetera. Religion doesn’t make people better or improve their morals, just as the lack of it isn’t a barrier to such.
Just a thought – but if we could put the religion back in peoples homes and places of worship, and out of politics maybe we can steer this country back to a path of moral values, and remove the self-serving pretend religious people that are unduly controlling it now.
p.s. jg – I never did graduate college! But I have completed 121 credits and dropped out in my final semester. My business partner has only 60 credits. School moved too slowly for me and I didn’t exactly have great study habits. Most all of the 140 professionals who worked for me did have college degrees, but our chief programmer (the guy who has maintained the code that I wrote) was a college drop-out Craftmatic bed salesman!
Also please don’t expect that I wait by my computer for your missives. I have a life outside of the blog but rest assured, I will always respond to you in time (or my friends will!)
ParticipantYo… HipMatt… Thou protest too much!
I might get a bit emotional on this topic – that is true. But I wouldn’t say I am a lunatic, that is a rather strong word. Everyone who runs across me finds me both engaging and super nice. My mother-in-law thinks I am too nice and people take advantage of me, but no one calls me a lunatic! I think that, just as I have done HipMatt, that you are pretty angry with my views (as I am of jg’s), and that you got a little wacky with your attack on me. I do the same thing on the other side so I understand how it happens. Neither one of us likes the others view or beliefs (or lack of them) and of course no one likes their beliefs challenged. I of course have much less to feel paranoid about because I don’t have any beliefs which are based on faith and thus my only beliefs have to do with the real world.
The two guys I hang out with the most these days are both very religious, but we enjoy each others company and we are nice to each other. They both are awesome people, they NEVER spew the stuff that a JG does. We disagree about the existence of god and have some cool discussions about it – but they have great values (unlike much of the anti-social and anti-christian stuff that some on this forum express) even if we don’t agree on the existence of god or the dogma of Christianity.
Like Rustico I rarely run across vocal Christians who actually practice what they preach. The vast majority of non-vocal Christians are there for their families and the camaraderie – which seems like a nice thing for them – and it doesn’t affect my life in a negative way. The vocal ones use their faith as a weapon – and the sad thing is that it is in direct opposition to what I understand (ok HipMatt?) are the teachings of (I don’t think he was anything except a guy that got tortured for his very sweet philosophy) Jesus Christ (that also ok HipMatt?)
Bush does make me vomit, and of course his Evangelical Christian utterances, his immoral values, and his belief that JC told him to run for President make him an object of my derision, and of course since he has screwed things up so badly for my country – I have nothing but contempt for him and his cronies. That being said – I also have nothing but contempt for people who worship at the alter of Bush – to me they are morally bankrupt and/or have traded their values for validation of their fantasy – a dangerous and heady brew of socially destructive beliefs and behaviors.
Thank you LostKitty! You have faith and you (like Rustico) have stuck up for me (again). If all Religious people were like you, I don’t think I would be such an angry guy!
Rustico – that is an amazing story. If you were religious, Bush would be using you as an example of how people can pull themselves up by their bootstraps. You have overcome great adversity in life and you should be congratulated for it! It is sad, however, that we both share the idea that the most vocal and morally self-righteous religious folks are often of low morals, character, et. cetera. Religion doesn’t make people better or improve their morals, just as the lack of it isn’t a barrier to such.
Just a thought – but if we could put the religion back in peoples homes and places of worship, and out of politics maybe we can steer this country back to a path of moral values, and remove the self-serving pretend religious people that are unduly controlling it now.
p.s. jg – I never did graduate college! But I have completed 121 credits and dropped out in my final semester. My business partner has only 60 credits. School moved too slowly for me and I didn’t exactly have great study habits. Most all of the 140 professionals who worked for me did have college degrees, but our chief programmer (the guy who has maintained the code that I wrote) was a college drop-out Craftmatic bed salesman!
Also please don’t expect that I wait by my computer for your missives. I have a life outside of the blog but rest assured, I will always respond to you in time (or my friends will!)
ParticipantDear Rustico,
Thank you.
What an awesome response. I’ll bet you were one of those kids that stuck up for the kid being picked on at school!
Hey jg… We don’t need to fight. I do have a sufficiently large enough ego where you can’t hurt me. That being said, I’m not sure that you really can judge someones intelligence from either their grammar or their punctuation!
I wonder – do you belittle the people that work for you and/or your family? Try to be nice, it builds character.
While I do not express myself as eloquently as Rustico, please let me add to his response. Growing up (and having no religion or religious beliefs, one of my best friends was a very, very devout Christian. His parents and family were about the finest people I’ve ever known. They would bring in strangers to share their food, they lived a simple life and used all their extra money to help people. They never tried to proselytise over me, they accepted me for who I was. Everyone was welcome in their hearts and their lives.
They truly lived a simple blessed life. You seem to embody all the greed, corruption, narrow mindedness, and judgment which is in exact opposition to the being your beliefs are founded from.
I’m pretty sure that if Jesus was here now, he wouldn’t be proud of your beliefs, your actions, or your political/cultural values. Just my opinion.
ParticipantDear Rustico,
Thank you.
What an awesome response. I’ll bet you were one of those kids that stuck up for the kid being picked on at school!
Hey jg… We don’t need to fight. I do have a sufficiently large enough ego where you can’t hurt me. That being said, I’m not sure that you really can judge someones intelligence from either their grammar or their punctuation!
I wonder – do you belittle the people that work for you and/or your family? Try to be nice, it builds character.
While I do not express myself as eloquently as Rustico, please let me add to his response. Growing up (and having no religion or religious beliefs, one of my best friends was a very, very devout Christian. His parents and family were about the finest people I’ve ever known. They would bring in strangers to share their food, they lived a simple life and used all their extra money to help people. They never tried to proselytise over me, they accepted me for who I was. Everyone was welcome in their hearts and their lives.
They truly lived a simple blessed life. You seem to embody all the greed, corruption, narrow mindedness, and judgment which is in exact opposition to the being your beliefs are founded from.
I’m pretty sure that if Jesus was here now, he wouldn’t be proud of your beliefs, your actions, or your political/cultural values. Just my opinion.
ParticipantI just lost my lunch sdr!!!
But, however, I told my broker to buy nothing right now. We will wait around in MM, some bonds, and cash.
Everytime I buy stock I get hammered. I never take the long view. I will try to resist buying now and holding….
-
AuthorPosts
