Ground Up Human Baby Pills

[Steve9347]

I know this forum is about having thick skin but let's stop this form of personal attack right now.

When it comes to my wife, I don't hold back. Greg threw the first punch by assuming anyone not praising the sweet Baby Jesus has no reason to have moral standards.

[CrimsonWeltall]

But if the overwhelming majority of people are religious and consider religious belief to be a "must," why isn't that number closer to 80-85% (the number of people in the US who consider themselves religious)?

 

Because the number of people who are seriously religious is way lower than 80-85%. There are a lot of "I go to mass only on Easter and Christmas and haven't read the Bible in 10 years" folks in that 80%.

[StrangeSox]

But if the a) overwhelming majority of people are religious and b) consider religious belief to be a "must," why isn't that number closer to 80-85% (the number of people in the US who consider themselves religious)?

 

a and b are two separate claims.

[greg775]

Lol, digital media is killing the newspapers, not the lack of religious coverage.

 

 

Are you on medication? You seriously type some of the most bizarre posts I've ever read.

 

 

This.

 

Greg, believe what you want. However, your questions are some of the most judgmental posts I've read on the internet.

 

1.) Digital media and the fact newspapers have cut so much of their staff and size of newspapers (did you read the Chicago Tribune when it had a good sports section of 12 pages or more a day? Wow) and stopped covering things people care about like religion and business as well as sports that it has killed that industry. Who wants to read a f***ing newspaper? It's just the bare bones crap.

2.) What does this mean? Seriously. How can a question (something where I'm seeking knowledge) be a "judgmental post?"

 

As far as you being mad about cheating on the wife, I don't see how you turned that into me suggesting nobody but a believer does not cheat. I'm saying if you don't believe in God and heaven/hell, why not just run amok in ALL FACETS of life. Gambling, debauchery, taking tons of risky chances in life.

[BigSqwert]

As far as you being mad about cheating on the wife, I don't see how you turned that into me suggesting nobody but a believer does not cheat. I'm saying if you don't believe in God and heaven/hell, why not just run amok in ALL FACETS of life. Gambling, debauchery, taking tons of risky chances in life.

Again....you are inferring that only "believers" have morals.

[southsider2k5]

?

 

It means they basically automatically lose.

 

It wasn't that long ago you could have found a majority of people who wouldn't vote for a black President either. Or a Catholic.

[CrimsonWeltall]

It wasn't that long ago you could have found a majority of people who wouldn't vote for a black President either. Or a Catholic.

 

Very true. I have no doubt that acceptance of non-religious people will continue to grow. It's just not there yet.

[southsider2k5]

Very true. I have no doubt that acceptance of non-religious people will continue to grow. It's just not there yet.

 

It will be for the same reason Obama was elected. Find an actual person instead of just a concept to breakdown stereotypes.

[GoodAsGould]

1.) Digital media and the fact newspapers have cut so much of their staff and size of newspapers (did you read the Chicago Tribune when it had a good sports section of 12 pages or more a day? Wow) and stopped covering things people care about like religion and business as well as sports that it has killed that industry. Who wants to read a f***ing newspaper? It's just the bare bones crap.

2.) What does this mean? Seriously. How can a question (something where I'm seeking knowledge) be a "judgmental post?"

 

As far as you being mad about cheating on the wife, I don't see how you turned that into me suggesting nobody but a believer does not cheat. I'm saying if you don't believe in God and heaven/hell, why not just run amok in ALL FACETS of life. Gambling, debauchery, taking tons of risky chances in life.

 

 

Your first point is completely off, the reason for Newspapers declining is the internet.... I'd imagine the baby boomer generation is still getting it delivered to them but after that we were born with the internet.

 

Your 2nd point is you make it sound like the only reason to be a good person is if you are a Christian. How do you expect people not to take offense to that? Why is it not possible for someone to be a nonbeliever as well as be a good person, is it required that if you don't believe in a heaven/hell you must be a sinner?

[iamshack]

Hey seriously, join the 21st century. I would be hard-pressed to find anyone more devoted to their wife than I, and I don't need some bulls*** deity to tell me not to cheat on her.

Still waiting on those bikini pictures, btw...

[BigSqwert]

Still waiting on those bikini pictures, btw...

I've seen pics of Steve in a bikini and I felt nauseous for 3 days afterward.

[iamshack]

Can we get back to eating human baby pills? I think it poses an interesting question as to whether biologically correct but taboo behaviors should ever be legally or morally acceptable...

[iamshack]

I've seen pics of Steve in a bikini and I felt nauseous for 3 days afterward.

Yeah, but he says he trims more regularly now...

[greg775]

Again....you are inferring that only "believers" have morals.

 

Well I should clarify then. YOu don't have to believe in God to be a good, moral person.

I'm just pointing out instances to be devil's advocate like about my friend the doctor who gives 100 bills to the homeless a few times a month and adopted 3 kids from poor countries, etc. I pointed out he drops the word "God" every four sentences or so and wanted your opinions on that.

 

You can still be a good person and not a believer in God and the afterlife.

To those of you who have kids, though and do not believe: Are you not saddened at the fact your belief system indicates that you will never see loved ones again once you pass away? In heaven? What is the purpose for to have a great family then if you never get to see them following death?

[Balta1701]

To have a great family? That seems like a very worthy goal from any perspective:

[farmteam]

Can we get back to eating human baby pills? I think it poses an interesting question as to whether biologically correct but taboo behaviors should ever be legally or morally acceptable...

 

Gladly (This thread has gone like a Michael Bay movie -- I got exactly the number of explosions I was expecting, and was therefore bored).

 

In terms of legally acceptable, I don't think we can just willy-nilly allow all sorts of beliefs. However, I'm speaking more to the "taboo behaviors" that society has actually deemed harmful to people. But, if we started outlawing things because we didn't like them or thought it was a weird practice, I would have a problem with that.

 

These are extremes, but it'll get at what I'm talking about:

 

Imagine the following: Because of strife in their home country, a not-insignificant number of people from an indigenous Central American tribe rapidly move to Wyoming; so much so that in 2000, their population in Wyoming was 1,000; in 2010, after many more flee their home country, the population is 50,000 (roughly 10% of Wyoming's population; so something not large, but certainly noticeable).

 

Example A:

 

This tribe has a ritual of killing any infants born with red hair, because they believe the child is emblematic of the devil.

 

Example B:

 

This tribe has a ritual of eating live squirrels (but does not force anyone within their tribe to comply with this if they don't want to; naturally, most of them just eat squirrels).

 

Now, if Wyoming's legislature were to suddenly take up bills looking to outlaw Example A, I would have no problem with that. If they were to outlaw Example B, and could give no better reason than "we think it's yucky" then yes, I would have a problem with that.

 

[Kyyle23]

Well I should clarify then. YOu don't have to believe in God to be a good, moral person.

I'm just pointing out instances to be devil's advocate like about my friend the doctor who gives 100 bills to the homeless a few times a month and adopted 3 kids from poor countries, etc. I pointed out he drops the word "God" every four sentences or so and wanted your opinions on that.

 

You can still be a good person and not a believer in God and the afterlife.

To those of you who have kids, though and do not believe: Are you not saddened at the fact your belief system indicates that you will never see loved ones again once you pass away? In heaven? What is the purpose for to have a great family then if you never get to see them following death?

 

I do not know your friend, not do I presume to judge him because of a few things you happen to mention that he does. The fact that he drops the word "God" every other sentence is really irrelevant. There have been many people throughout history that have done many terrible things in the name of God and using that name frequently. It is just a word.

[BigSqwert]

To those of you who have kids, though and do not believe: Are you not saddened at the fact your belief system indicates that you will never see loved ones again once you pass away? In heaven? What is the purpose for to have a great family then if you never get to see them following death?

 

No I am not saddened that I will not see my loved ones after I die. The same thing happens to all of us no matter what we believe.

 

Remember those few weeks and months before you were born? That's what it will be like after you die.

[kapkomet]

I remember. It was awful.

 

[greg775]

No I am not saddened that I will not see my loved ones after I die. The same thing happens to all of us no matter what we believe.

 

Remember those few weeks and months before you were born? That's what it will be like after you die.

 

But at that point our brains were not developed and we did not have a lifetime of experiences and a lifetime to generate data in our brain. What is the point of all this if it is all to be discarded upon death?

How do u justify those seeing the bright light in a near death experience and those people who say their relatives were coming into the light to welcome them before God let them return to earth miraculously.

Edited May 10, 2012 by greg775

[Soxbadger]

Greg,

 

It is saddening. No belief that Ill ever know my grandparents, that one day I will never see my parents again, it is sad. But it is life.

 

What is the point? Who knows?

 

The point for me is to try and change the world to make it better for everyone, maybe Ill succeed, maybe Ill fail, but the hope will be that one day my child can do more than me, and that will be my legacy.

[GoodAsGould]

Well I should clarify then. YOu don't have to believe in God to be a good, moral person.

I'm just pointing out instances to be devil's advocate like about my friend the doctor who gives 100 bills to the homeless a few times a month and adopted 3 kids from poor countries, etc. I pointed out he drops the word "God" every four sentences or so and wanted your opinions on that.

 

You can still be a good person and not a believer in God and the afterlife.

To those of you who have kids, though and do not believe: Are you not saddened at the fact your belief system indicates that you will never see loved ones again once you pass away? In heaven? What is the purpose for to have a great family then if you never get to see them following death?

 

I don't understand the point of your doctor story, I'm sure someone knows a person who isn't religious and is just as giving. Hell, my dad is an Atheist and he took early retirement so he could focus 100% on his charity to make schools for kids in the middle east... is he not as good a person because he doesn't believe in God?

 

 

 

[max power]

Did greg just realize this forum was here or . . . ?

 

 

Greg I don't even believe that YOU exist fundamentally, and I consider myself, while I'm considering myself, to be incidentally a moral person, also not existing fundamentally.

Edited May 10, 2012 by MAX

[caulfield12]

What do they think in Lawrence? Oops, that would end up getting Reverend Fred Phelps involved in this discussion, although that's technically Topeka, I think.

 

Under this kind of definition, gay people would be incapable of good acts because in the eyes of many Christians, their "wayward lifestyles" preclude them from going to heaven...so no matter what secular "good acts" they performed, they would be not counted in a sense because their own brand of religion couldn't countenance homosexuality, for instance.

 

On the other hand, even the most "egregious of sinners" who never performed a single good act in their lives could theoretically be accepted into the white light of heav'n if they asked for forgiveness and believed wholeheartedly (see John 3:16, etc.)

 

Greg's example is that "holier than thou person" who makes people feel uncomfortable...why does every action like that have to include a reference to God?

 

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

 

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

 

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Edited May 10, 2012 by caulfield12

[Quin]

Can we get back to eating human baby pills? I think it poses an interesting question as to whether biologically correct but taboo behaviors should ever be legally or morally acceptable...

 

 

I don't think the bolded has ever been uttered before.

 

Also, to jump in on this atheist/religious debate.

 

Back in HS, one of my friends was ostracized for being atheist...asked the same thing greg is asking, "how do you have morals?" I didn't bother openly saying I was atheist until my senior year, even though I've been atheist since I was 14. Took me three years to start openly saying it, even though my close friends kind of figured I was "Jewish" in name/culture only at that point.

 

And guess what? My mom and brother got on their high horses acting as if I was suddenly a different person who hated everyone...even though I had been an atheist for three years prior to them finding out.

 

Three things will always bug me though:

 

Once I saw a man outside a Wendy's. He used a walker and had fallen down a slippery grass slope and the footing was so bad he couldn't get up. Despite the fact that I was in a rush, I jumped out my car, ran over, picked him up and made sure he was ok before leaving. Some bystander told me I was such a good Christian. Why was that a precursor to me helping an injured person?

 

Another time, out with some friends in Chicago and it's freezing out. We were dressed nicely and one of my friends, she started shivering crazy. So I took off my dress shirt (didn't have a jacket as two layers generally is enough to keep me warm, but now all I had was a Sox T-shirt on in snowy weather) and put it around her. Literally gave someone the shirt off my back. Later a friend asked me how I could do that and not believe in Jesus, then tried to convert me lest I go to hell.

 

Finally, two weeks ago when I was diagnosed with epilepsy it got my really, really down. Like, mad depressed. Someone told me that the diagnosis, along with all the other s*** that's happened to me this month, "is all part of God's plan." It took every fiber in my being to not berate them right then and there. Considering this past month has been the second worst part of my life, I'd rather this not be part of someone's "plan."