the world is going to H E double Hockey Stick
Wow. Now I know a lot of people will snicker or shake themselves awake with this one, offering all kinds of explanations of why this is happening, the least of which of course has anything to do with Jesus or any of the Bible’s supposed warnings of the upcoming apocalypse. The book itself was written by man, and we are rife with all kinds of disparities, hypocrisies and various other characteristics which have basically shown we are just as stupid as we were two thousand years ago. We never learn from our extravagant mistakes because it is not in our nature to volunteer that we are wrong. I am pretty sure this is because our egos sometimes have a hard time sitting in the same space with other just as relevant realities.
But Peter King? Really? The radicalization of Muslims? You want to have a tribunal basically putting people on trial before they do anything simply because they share a characteristic of believing in the same religion? You don’t know what it was like to be here after 9/11, you have no idea how scared everyone was of each other. I sat in the subways, I watched people of of Muslim descent basically shaking from fear because people did rely on one incident committed by a few dozen people to judge millions of people. I watched women cry in fear and mourn just as we all did, I watched young families separating themselves from the crowds to try and reach safety. I mean, really? What is this, WWII all over again?!? And before you try and judge me by calling me a blasted liberal (yeah and since when did liberal take on such a twisted meaning?!?!). Please review this: www.historyonthenet.com/WW2/japan_internment_camps.htm You might want to pay attention to this little snippet while you are at it, because it illustrates my point beautifully (WE ARE MORONS!!!):
On February 19th 1942 Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. Under the terms of the Order, some 120,000 people of Japanese descent living in the US were removed from their homes and placed in internment camps. The US justified their action by claiming that there was a danger of those of Japanese descent spying for the Japanese. However more than two thirds of those interned were American citizens and half of them were children. None had ever shown disloyalty to the nation. In some cases family members were separated and put in different camps. During the entire war only ten people were convicted of spying for Japan and these were all Caucasian.
I mean, really? What the hell is wrong with you America? We were supposedly founded on the principle that we were trying to escape religious persecution in England, but see, that protection only seems to matter if you believe in that bearded cloud jumping fool with the white robes spinning all kinds of stuff for the weak-minded. Our founding fathers would be doing backflips in their graves to see this shoddy excuse for humanity we try to pimp out to the world. Oh America, we are the BEST of the world, the land of the free (well free to be Christian anyways), we are so smart we let the rich run us straight into the ground. They take your good paying jobs, ship them off to India and any number of foreign countries with cheaper labor than us, and actually give the companies who do this massive tax breaks. No, but you aren’t mad at that part of the government, you are actually just going to blame Obama for not doing enough?!?! Who the heck runs the whole government? Paranoid, delusional Republicans…who, for all intents and purposes, are really just less evolved than their liberal counterparts…No, really, I am not kidding. Check this article out for more validation. I know you all have seen or maybe even some have been able to identify with this super paranoid state of existence, but it certainly negates the idea that conservatives are more right than liberals…they are just more EMOTIONAL, which explains the whole fear-mongering aspect of the conservative existence.
For example: seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003877213_brain10.html
Some key points: Analyzing the data, Sulloway said liberals were 4.9 times more likely than conservatives to show activity in the brain circuits that deal with conflicts and were 2.2 times more likely to score in the top half of the distribution for accuracy.
So not only are you paranoid, but you are also WRONG more times than those wretched liberals.
Oh, this whole idea came from an article like this, though this isn’t the exact article I read: www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1342239/Brain-study-reveals-right-wing-conservatives-larger-primitive-amygdala.html
and because you should never believe just one source: newstodaynews.com/liberal-people-have-amygdala-part-of-the-brain-associated-with-emotions-thicker-than-conservative-people/15667
The ideas you can garner from this include:
“We found that the thickness of the cerebrum, in which nerve cells neurons are, is thicker in people who call themselves liberal or left Wing and thinner than those who call themselves conservatives or right wing,” said Rees in the program BBC Radio’s Today .
Ah-ha! So not only are you more primitive in your paranoia, but you also seem to be a little less blessed with the neurons which are involved in good decision making/judgment calls. So how on earth did you ever come into power? Oh yeah, fear. What you all should really fear are these primitive, less evolved fools making decisions for you in regards to any kind of evolution, be it economic, social, whatever.
Because at the end of the day, it will be these people, unyielding, and refusing to learn anything new, even when presented with proof, who will bring their versions of hell to rain down on your parades.
**UPDATE: For those still thinking I am out of my mind for thinking Mr. King is a moron, check this out: thinkprogress.org/2011/03/09/king-muslims-plots-terrorists/…Strangely this came to my attention only after I wrote this, but should leave you all with a warm and fuzzy feeling, and hopefully something along the lines of “WTF, really? How is this guy even given an audience?” I love the comments, they are often the best part of reading any news article these days.
good one!
You are correct in your description of those who wrote the Bible being no different than man today, in most senses. They were, as we still are, “rife with all kinds of disparities, hypocrisies, and various other characteristics’as you say. That’s because we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). The difference between those who wrote the Bible and every other person that has ever lived is that those who wrote the Bible only wrote under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (II Peter 1:21). For as it says in II Timothy 3:16, “ALL Scripture is God-breathed…” Written in love from a relative in Iowa.
Sin is described in the Bible as transgression of the law of God (1 John 3:4) and rebellion against God (Deuteronomy 9:7; Joshua 1:18). In accordance with this whole belief system, I guess I am a sinner. But I also don’t care, and I reject the belief system that Jesus died for my sins, because I didn’t commit any sins thousands of years ago because I wasn’t even conceived of existing then. Now, the concept of sin to me, if I were to describe it, would be people’s abuse of each other for any number of gains, be it monetary, emotional, or simply to feel above everyone else. My religious beliefs are very centered to me in a certain reality that I did not need the good book to teach me how to be a good person because I was a good person without having someone else tell me thousands of years ago how to be a good person today. I was exposed to the right things, and in my soul, I am a happy girl who does good things for others simply because that is who I am. Now, this does not discount those who need this supreme guidance, because many of my friends and family members believe in this. For me, it is all very redundant and I have never felt lost or that I needed that, even though I have had to consider the what ifs many many times before, given these are the things that run through your head when you are facing the end.
I suppose in some ways I just have never felt like I needed something else to justify my existence…I respect those who do, it’s just not for me, at all. All love to you in Iowa, too!
Your description of sin is very good. It is transgression of God’s law and rebellion against God. Sin, as described in a Bible dictionary I use, describes it like a person who shoots a bow and arrow at a target and misses. Sin is missing the mark that God has established for the each of us in His Word.
Concerning the point of the original sin that came into world through Adam and Eve many years ago, this verse speaks the clearest to me about that: “Therefore, just as sin entereded the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” Romans 5:12 The explaination of this verse in my study Bible says, “How can we declared guilty for something Adam did thousands of years ago? Many feel it’s not right for God to judge us because of Adam’s sin. Yet each of us confirms our solidarity with Adam by our own sins each day. We are made of the same stuff and are prone to rebel, and we are judged for the sins we commit. Because we are sinners, it isn’t fairness that we need-it’s mercy”
I know that I am a sinner just like Adam was. Even if I could convince myself that I was a pretty decent individual, God’s Word tells me I am a law breaker. It says in James 2:10, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of beaking all of it.” An example of sin in my life is the many years that I devoted to making the farm that I owned and worked on, my god. I didn’t realize it at the time but I worshipped it more than I did the one true God. So I know because of breaking the first and second commandment (Exodus 20:3&4) that in light of what James says in 2:10 I in all reality have missed the mark on all God’s commands. Plus if I am truthful with myself, I daily fall short of missing the mark God has set forth in His Word John 14:15.
In reading, your story, on this blog I can see where you have gone through many trying times and events in your life where you “had to consider the what ifs.” As someone who has known the grace of God in my life I am reaching out to you because I want you to know the TRUTH. The truth comes from God’s Word which is TRUTH (John 17:17) and Jesus who is the way, the TRUTH and the life. John 14:6. It says in Hebrews 9:27, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgement,” I don’t want you to face that judgement II Corinthians 5:10, without a saving faith in Jesus Christ. This gift of God is yours for the asking John 3:16 Romans 10:9.
The devil who Adam as well as we are up against (Ephesians 5:11&12) does not want you to know the truth’ Deanna. The devil will try to use every means at his disposal to distract you from the truth and place doubt in your mind. But the truth, whether we want to accept it or not, is what is written in the Bible. All love to you in New York!
See, this is where the bible and I don’t agree. How would a supposedly humble servant explain wanting you to worship him and only him, the idea of him for all of your natural life, to repeat the same ritual of drinking his blood and body and wearing tokens illustrating his murder around your neck? It’s kind of weird to me. Granted, as I said, I love people of every religion, and don’t care if you believe in candy bars and bubble gum as long as you are not hurting anyone else in the process.
Beyond the fact that some seriously heinous things in history have been done in the name of, or perpetuated by, Christians and Christianity, I just have never felt that it was the warm all embracing loving thing that it wants to be, and there is plenty of evidence of that. I’d suggest someone should have realized a long time ago that everyone who thought that this stuff was ok in cultures and environments at large should really spend a few minutes considering the magnitude of the choices we have made as a people to destroy others in the name of our god, whatever, whomever it may be. I consider it barbaric and pretty indicative that our evolution hasn’t been as swift as I’d hope. (http://articles.exchristian.net/2002/10/how-many-people-have-been-killed-by.php) See, even if only 1% of these events were true, it would be enough for me to question those beliefs as anything I could feel comfortable with even considering believing.
Though I can also say I have my own spiritual beliefs, which have always been more in line with the Buddhists because they just make a lot more sense to me.
http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/beliefs/purpose.htm
There’s something very beautiful to me about their purity. I found no criticisms of Buddhism in any of your god’s teachings, and there is evidence to support Buddhism was around long before Christianity. It is also the only religion which seems not to breed extremists who incite violence based on their own interpretation of what it means to be a good Buddhist, Christian, Catholic, etc and they understand very explicitly that the world is full of people who have different ideas.
As far as the devil is concerned, the only devil I consider is the one from some 800 number that’s been calling while I ignore it all day every single day. But that’s small change compared to some people’s demons, which I really don’t have any longer. I have made peace with almost everyone at this point, and that is definitely an amazing thing. I don’t need this belief system because I know myself, I love myself, any “sins” I have committed I have learned from, and I’ve been close enough to the finish line to understand this in ways most of you really can’t.
The thing is, Dale, locking me in a room and forcing me to watch anything on this subject or preaching to me still won’t matter to me in the least, because the book is as relevant to my current life as any biography would be to me–sure there are lessons to be learned everywhere, I give you that, but they aren’t exclusive to the bible. But, I am who I am and I believe what I believe based on what I know. I am comfortable with how I have handled what I have seen and experienced and really don’t need additional reasoning to make me feel like my life matters enough that I whispered the secret words enough before I died to get the golden ticket into heaven. I’m trying for heaven now, because really, who knows what life will bring us next??! The point is, I know and I believe that you believe you know this is true for you…but really this is the reality you embrace and love for you. For me, trying to place meaning and context around something that has meant nothing to me…well let’s just say this fear of Satan or Hell or the Devil…it’s irrelevant. People are scary sometimes because some people are just bad…but at the end of the day I am much more suspect of bad people than any of these ideas.
I do believe this: If more people showed basic compassion for their fellow man and realized inherently everyone wants to feel they have love, a purpose, and acceptance to be who they are, we would all not only be a lot happier, we WOULD be in heaven.
🙂