http://www.funadvice.com/my/advice/heathenscum en-us No, these guys won't edit your posts unless you are a real nutball. Probably just a technical issue. I have had fears of just such a thing. In the future, the more long winded of us in this post should consider writing in a word processor then pasting in at the end, so you'll still have what you wrote if your post disappears into the ether. Funny how your name is D & L and we are debating on the internet. Is that by your design, or just a funny coincidence? heathenscum Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:20:39 -0700 http://www.funadvice.com/q/stupid_question_about_scriptures 100998 D & L Thanks for the lucid remarks. it seems you have experienced a lot of things in life that most people will only see on television! Also, thanks for just assuming I am intelligent. Getting the benefit of the doubt is always nice. I noticed your reference to ender's game right off. GREAT series! Card is a fantastic author. I admire that you try to stay away from the non-argument that some resort to: "God exists because I believe. I believe because He exists." If that is your highest form of logic, you can convince yourself of anything and nothing is unbelievable! You do follow some logical paths to get to where you want to go, but I have a problem with the basic premise in a few of your arguments: You start, I think, by assuming that any kind of spirituality or good behavior comes from Christianity. You don't say that in so many words, but your statements seem to indicate that train of thought. Understandable for a believer. My opinion is that type of thought is non-critical and precludes the possibility that; 1) the concepts that Christianity espouses as "Good" were nonexistent before Jesus told us about it (The concepts did exist and many people lived by them) and 2) there needs to be the promise of some reward of a pat on the head from a magical being (God) for the good conduct to pay off. The first is arrogance, to think you are the sole purveyor of the knowledge of good and evil. I'm not saying you believe that personally, it just is so tightly woven into the mindset of Christian thought that it is a little annoying. I do want to give a compliment to the authors of the book for actually codifying it into such an enduring text, though. Speaking of arrogance, I want to rebut Einstein, or at least your quote of him. A lot of people have said the same thing Einstein said. To paraphrase it, " This universe is so complicated and spectacular, how could it have just come into being on its own? God must have created it." Well if anyone had a right to be arrogant about his intellect, Einstein did. But my answer is this: How arrogant are we, to say that simply because we don't understand it, it must have been created by magic, or divine intervention? Do we think so highly of ourselves that we should be able to decipher all the mysteries of the universe after having been around for such a short period of time? We must think of ourselves almost as gods to have such a high opinion of our intellectual abilities! We only invented digital watches and the internet in my lifetime. So that makes us so great that anything that we don't understand must be MAGIC? Get of your high horse. Humans just aren't that smart yet. But we are trying, and that's what counts. The second is harder for me to explain. How would you feel if you got the news that a particular species of animal just became extinct? How would you feel if someone kicked a puppy or a child while you were watching? Or maybe shredded one of the world's finest pieces of artwork? Would you only care because God said you should? Or would you instinctively have a feeling that something intangible was upset in the world? That is spirituality. A feeling of purpose that goes beyond just the practical. We don't need a magical god for that. It is already in us and we don't need a formal religion to get it. WE ALREADY HAVE IT! In My Humble Opinion the Bible is a way to make it easier for people to grasp. They need to have the authority tell them what to do. But it has it's drawbacks. I thank you for the advice not to worry about what other people are believing and follow my own heart. Great advice. But the more powerful some religious groups get the more dangerous the world becomes. There are people on the Kansas School Board who are putting religious creationism in the same classroom as science. They are power-mad lunatics. If creationism is science, I am the Easter Bunny. This is What the Flying Spaghetti Monster religion is all about. It is a response to the Kansas school board incident. What next? All Jews are the devils minions? Are we going to have laws that require us to kill Jews at some point? I think I've seen that before. When you abandon logic, you become non-human. The formalising of a religion is a very dangerous double-edged sword that gives those of us who never had an opportunity to come into that mindset on our own a handbook to learn from. That's good. It also allows a bunch of authority-hungry nuts to take over peoples' minds and say or do anything in the name of God. That's bad. I GUARANTEE you that if the United states were not ruled by the laws of men, and instead ruled by a religion, there would be bombings and all kinds of crazy madness while some Christians killed other Christians because they weren't the right brand of Christian. Don't get me wrong. I would fight to the death to keep this country the place of religious freedom that it is. My father did it as a paratrooper in WWII and so would I. It scares the hell out of me, though when any one religion wants to grab control and start making all kinds of new laws to favor their own brand of crazy. That is un-american. For more on this, plus a good laugh, see the official site of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM). Go to http://www.venganza.org/. All in all, you are right about behavior. It is better (IMHO) to life like the Bible says. I do and it has worked out. I never had to do time or have a gun to my temple like you did. I just get my back up when people try to claim that behavior as uniquely Christian, 'cause it isn't. My whole problem, the start of this thread in the first place, is the total lack of critical thinking on the part of some worshippers. In any other circumstace in your life you would want proof of something that seemed a little outrageous: "You say you have a million dollars worth of gold coins in that bag that you will sell for five hundred bucks? Great! I'll take it! Here is my money!" This would not happen. Why? You would want to see the coins first! Then you would look up the value on the internet, at least! I think religion is just dandy. It gives many people in the world a necessary life preserver to cling to in some intolerable situations. It makes the universe a wonderful and mystical place for those who can't get that feeling anywhere else. But you must admit religion has a dark side and that is when you just blindly believe what some other PERSON tells you. My whole point is that if the book is messed up, you will be messed up when you try to follow it TO THE LETTER! Another assumption that (I think) you made was that I want to believe. WRONG! I don't want to believe anything. I just want to know the truth. When you have a strong enough desire to believe, you WILL believe. So you are just at the mercy of whatever false idea that makes it's way into your head with the most force. You have just made a concious choice to deceive yourself. If you like the Ender's game series, I'd recommend a series that I was reading at the same time: The Uplift War by David Brin. Great story, great writing. Also check out Snowcrash, by Neal Stephenson. Amazing. heathenscum Sun, 16 Sep 2007 10:16:53 -0700 http://www.funadvice.com/q/stupid_question_about_scriptures 99800 I had severe depression too. For about twenty years or more I was absolutely miserable. Seeing a psychiatrist did nothing for me. I think that the more research that is done, the more people realize that depression is not just a bad way of thinking, it is a real illness just like diabetes or anything else. There is a real link beteen the amount of serotonin in your body and depression. You aren't just being a complainer, you are really sick and you need medical attention. Honestly, nothing helped me until my doctor put me on a drug called Effexor. it is essentially an anti-anxiety drug, but it was great! Anger, anxiety and depression are very closely linked and when you don't have a way of getting your feelings out it can make you sick or even kill you. I had a heart attack at 40 years old because of it. The cutting that you do is one way that people choose to get control of the pain. It "externalizes" the pain, I guess that means that it gives you a sense of control over it and puts it somewhere that you can deal with, your wrists. I used to sit on the edge of my bed with my gun in my mouth and wonder if I had the strength to blow my brains out and get rid of the pain. If you go to a doctor and tell him/her that you are having thoughts of suicide, they will take it VERY seriously, and they won't judge you. It is their job to treat you as a serious patient. I think the most important thing to know is that most people don't understand depression and have a hard time taking it seriously. If you aren't bleeding, puking or turning a weird color, they don't think anything is wrong. You should start at an early age to take responsibility for your own health because other people might not take it as seriously. Definitely see a doctor! You can walk into any emergency room and tell them you are thinking of suicide and just watch how fast they put you in line ahead of all the people with broken legs and the flu. You will be sitting in front of a Psychiatrist really quickly. Remember, a Psychologist is not a medical doctor-he can't give you drugs, he can only talk to you about your problems. A Psychiatrist is a medical doctor and he can give you drugs. You can pray if you want to, but if prayer won't heal a bullet wound, why would it raise or lower your serotonin levels? Maybe you should choose modern medicine instead. Fun mail me if you just want to talk. heathenscum Sun, 05 Aug 2007 13:09:58 -0700 http://www.funadvice.com/q/im_suffering_from_depression_help 79201 I hope this helps... the first thing you need to do is stop washing all the time. I know it sounds crazy, and opposite of common sense, but it is the truth. Here is the reason: Your body has a natural balance of chemicals that it uses to fight off infection or anything else that might grow in your vagina. When you constantly wash, it removes the natural defenses your body provides and opens up the area to any bacteria or fungus that wants to go live in there. That is what you are smelling, the waste products of the bacterial life-cycle. You don't normally smell like that, it is an infecting bacteria or fungus. This was learned by a woman (a medical doctor and research scientist) who was studying the spread of AIDS in Africa. One of the things she learned was that washing constantly, especially with a harsh soap or other cleaner will increase your chances of infection. Just let your body deal with the problem on its own. Eat healthy and don't eat anything with a lot of sugar, and be sure to drink plenty of water. You can wash, but just rinse with water, or better yet saline solution because it's more like your body fluids. You can get it cheap at the drug store in quart bottles, I think. Seeing a doctor is probably a good idea, too. Keep in mind, though that the doctor might give you antibiotics to take which might solve your problem for the short term, but if you use them too much it makes your body less able to fight off infections on its own. Good luck! heathenscum Sun, 05 Aug 2007 09:58:53 -0700 http://www.funadvice.com/q/why_dos_my_vigina_smell_like_fish 79149 gasmanobt3, I don't understand your argument. basically I think you have made three statements: 1. God has protected his word... Great! How do you know? I am asking for some kind of examination of the facts, not just a statement of belief. 2. People have tried to eradicate the bible throughout history and failed. OK, how does this statement address the question of it's accuracy? 3.People are hungering for the bible and underground churches are thriving because it gives them hope. Great! Again, does this address the question of the accuracy of the bible? I am glad that you believe in the bible unquestioningly, you must take great comfort from it. What I was hoping for from you was some sort of statement of any kind of evidence or facts that were, at least, related to my question. Better yet I would love to hear an explanation that would illuminate in any way the inconsistencies in the bible. My greatest hope would be to have someone give me a scholarly or at least well-thought-out opinion on how well-educated christians can believe the book is accurate when there are so many well documented mistranslations and that huge parts of the scriptures were rewritten or just dropped rom the bible in the centuries after christ. That would be GREAT! Just stating your opinion that it is true is not an argument. It is just a feeling that is un-examined. heathenscum Fri, 03 Aug 2007 19:38:48 -0700 http://www.funadvice.com/q/stupid_question_about_scriptures 78492 rnealw, Thanks for the link to the Wiki Agnostic page. very informative. heathenscum Tue, 31 Jul 2007 12:51:02 -0700 http://www.funadvice.com/q/stupid_question_about_scriptures 76439 esconsult1, there is and always will be one insurmountable problem when trying to have a rational argument with the faithful. That is that there can be no rational arguments about faith or religion. The entire concept of their viewpoint is based on NOT proving something. Faith is believing in something when there is LACK OF PROOF. Therefore ANY hint of scientific method being brought to bear on a religious argument is seen as a threat. Theologians love to use the minutiae of what bible authors wrote as ways to "prove" their particular point of view, and will argue it endlessly. But when you ask someone to verify the accuracy of the document they are quoting from, or explain how the bible is believed to be the true word of God without any changes..They WILL NOT ANSWER YOU! This is where argument and the use of critical thinking stops! You will only get answers that amount to, 'because I believe it, it is'. You can't use proofs or argument to prove religion and rational thought has no place in religion. You either believe or you don't. heathenscum Sun, 29 Jul 2007 16:51:30 -0700 http://www.funadvice.com/q/where_are_all_the_christians 75435 Three. Mr. Owl says so. heathenscum Sun, 29 Jul 2007 11:27:22 -0700 http://www.funadvice.com/q/how_many 75338 amblessed, I have a great opportunity for you! There is a bridge in Brooklyn and I just inherited it from my uncle. I don't want it and I'll sell it to you for $10,000, and it must be worth millions. Believe this, just because! Don't think about it! heathenscum Sat, 28 Jul 2007 18:41:34 -0700 http://www.funadvice.com/q/stupid_question_about_scriptures 75104 So, amblessed, let me see if I understand your argument.. You believe that it is pure and unadulterated, "just because"? You have avoided responding to any reference of the corruption or censorship of the document and your argument is only, 'it just is'? What about the Council of Nicea? Were the untold documents concerning the life of Christ which were destroyed and forbidden to be in the Bible not worth mentioning? How do you overlook such a well-documented event which chops the bible into pieces and throws much of it away? Was that work directed by God? heathenscum Sat, 28 Jul 2007 18:29:08 -0700 http://www.funadvice.com/q/stupid_question_about_scriptures 75097 I love this thread! My sister is a Mormon, and I am an Agnostic (that's greek for Fool, I believe) and I never understood religious belief. One of the reasons is because I don't understand the origin of the scriptures. Everyone is using the scriptures as a basis for what they believe (with some additional personal revelations thrown in in some cases) and everyone seems to believe that the scriptures are THE WORD OF GOD, without any flaws or misinterpretations. So here is my question: How can you be sure that there are no mistakes or blatant, politically-motivated corruptions of the bible? The "original texts" no longer exist and the document has been translated from Aramaic, to Hebrew, to Greek, to Latin, to German and then every other language. There have been religious leaders and emperors with complete and total control of the words in that document at many periods in time. How can you POSSIBLY trust it as an absolute word of a deity? If I printed a book that approximated the Bible, but was very wrong at several critical points, the text would not just magically rewrite itself after the ink dried..It would still be wrong 100 years later. Aren't there even several "versions" of the Bible in circulation right now? That is ridiculous! If you tried to teach a chemistry class where every student had a slightly different book, it would be pandemonium! My question leads me to my biggest concerns about religion; If you can't be sure about where your information is coming from, then you must be VERY CAREFUL how far you are willing to go in following the beliefs you create from it. YOU are fallible, and you should understand that weakness in yourself and exercise a great deal of restraint and common sense when it comes to the practical application of your faith. This means no murdering people because you think God would want you to, or banning someone elses religion because you feel you have received THE ULTIMATE PROOF because God spoke to you. You may be experincing a sel-induced hallucination! Someone help me out here. Explain to me why common sense seems to go out the window when it comes to this particular book. Thanks. heathenscum Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:33:08 -0700 http://www.funadvice.com/q/what_is_up_with_the_mormon_religion 75035