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| Merry Christmas! Who have I offended? |
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| csmith28 |
 Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 7:06 pm Post subject: Merry Christmas! Who have I offended? |
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Grand Master
Joined: 15 Jul 2003
Posts: 1196
Location: Arizona
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Hey, it's Christmas Time. It's time to celebrate the birth of my namesake Jesus H. Christ.
Or not so much, I read the King James Version of the Bible about 20 years ago cover to cover but to be quite honest I don't recall if they called him Jesus or Chris or Christ or Christopher when he was alive.
From what I recall he was a Jew who was really pissed off about how the Jewish Church at the time had gotten so corrupt. He made such a ruckus that the Jewish Church Leaders of the time wanted him dead and the Romans were like, um, ok we'll kill him.
The Romans kinda enjoyed killing Jews.
Jesus was right about a lot of the things he said especially the Beatitudes:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall posses the Earth.
Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Historically, the Jews and the Romans have taken all the Blame(depends on who's side you are on)/Credit for the death of Jesus but if the Church of Islam had been in control of Jerusalem at the time I am quite sure that instead of being crusified, Jesus would have been beheaded and there would have been a peace loving character artist on hand to make sketches of the event so they could spread the news about the death of the infidel in the name of Allah or whoever.
I generally celebrate Christmas out of habit. I buy gifts for my loved ones, give cans of food to the food drives and buy toys for the toy drives in the spirit of giving and make a few extra donations to cheritable organizations above and beyond the annual 1% of my income that I donate to United Way. My wife and I also donate items to the Cloths Helping Kids year round here in the US. I don't donate myself to a state of personal poverty but I don't ignore the needy either. Oh and I donate Blood every now and again.
Personally, I am an Agnostic. Why?
Well, I'll tell you why. There are two basic theories of how the Universe was created.
The religious factions say there was nothing before GOD. GOD is the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end and then GOD decided to create the Universe. But if that is the case then who created GOD. Once upon a time there was nothing. Then suddenly this omni-potent being poofed in to existance in this vast void of nothingness and out of sheer boredom decided to create a Universe? What the hell, why not? It could be fun.
Indeed a Universe with one planet capable of supporting/nurturing life as we know it.
Then on the Scientific side they say the Universe was created in a HUGE Explosion. The Big Bang Theory but, they can't tell us what exploded. Once again we find ourselves in a situation in which we have to believe that at one point in time there was nothing a void, a complete lack of substance then suddenly nothing exploded into an ever expanding something.
| Joseph Heller from Catch 22 wrote: |
"And don't tell me God works in mysterious ways', Yossarian continued 'There's nothing mysterious about it, He's not working at all. He's playing. Or else He's forgotten all about us. That's the kind of God you people talk about, a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed. Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in his divine system of Creation? What in the world was running through that warped, evil, mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements? Why in the world did He ever create pain?'
"Pain?" Lieutenant Schiesskopf's wife pounced upon the word victoriously. "Pain is a useful symptom. Pain is a warning to us about bodily dangers."
"And who created the dangers?" Yossarian demanded, He laughed caustically. "Oh, He was really being charitable to us when He gave us pain! Why couldn't He have used a doorbell instead to notify us, or one of His celestial choirs? Or a system of blue-and-red neon tubes right in the middle of each person's forehead? Any jukebox manufacturer worth his salt could have done that. Why couldn't He?"
"People would certainly look silly walking around with red neon tubes in the middle of their foreheads."
"They certainly look beautiful now writhing in agony or stupified with morphine, don't they? What a colossal, immortal blunderer! When you consider the opportunity and power he had to really do a job, and then look at the stupid ugly little mess He made of it instead, His sheer incompetence is almost staggering. It's obvious. He never met a payroll. Why, no self-respecting businessman would hire a bungler like Him as even a shipping clerk!" |
Yes GOD by any other name if you have faith in him/her, created pain, cancer, natural catastrophies. These things are inflicted upon every human being on the earth regardless of their faith in a wreckless random way but if you are among the blind faithfull it is all part of some mystical plan.
Aunt Linda the Babtist was killed in a Tornado,... All part of God's ultimate plan.
Rick devout member of LDS died from fighting the war in Iraq. It was his Destiny.
Carlos the Catholic died of Cancer,... Part of the plan God had a purpose in mind.
Hassan the Muslim died in a suicide bombing... Planned. No really it was all planned but I'm not sure there was any devine intervention.
Linda, Rick, Carlos and Hassan all believe they will go to a Heaven.
But according to the sacred scriptures of each of theses individuals religiouse beliefs none of the others will go to a Heaven.
It boggles my mind.
How many Heavens are there?
The truth and the problem is that there are to god damn many people on this planet that are willing to kill and die based on their faith.
I am not one of them.
However, I am prepared to use deadly force to defend myself and my family.
_________________
Yes, I am an agent of Satan but my duties are largely ceremonial.
Last edited by csmith28 on Wed Dec 22, 2004 11:03 am; edited 10 times in total |
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| fjb_saper |
| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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Grand High Poobah
Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 20756
Location: LI,NY
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Nearly about everybody.
Just wanted to say that the scientific theory and the religious theory are much nearer to each other than people usually believe.
They both have at the origin an ACT of Faith.
Enjoy  |
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| csmith28 |
| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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Grand Master
Joined: 15 Jul 2003
Posts: 1196
Location: Arizona
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| fjb_saper wrote: |
Nearly about everybody.
Just wanted to say that the scientific theory and the religious theory are much nearer to each other than people usually believe.
They both have at the origin an ACT of Faith.
Enjoy |
The big difference between the two is, at least Scientists try to base their theorys in the analysis of available facts and I've never heard of a Scientist burning anyone at the stake for disagreeing with them.
Indeed scientists have persecuted each other to a certain extent and they attempt to publicly embarrass each other on occasions but they don't strap C4 to their bodies and blow up Coffee Shops to make their point.
I have often wondered why the Universe actually has to have had a defined beginning. Why do we have to think of it those terms?
If the Universe has a beginning, it means the Universe almost certainly will have an end. Then what?
_________________
Yes, I am an agent of Satan but my duties are largely ceremonial.
Last edited by csmith28 on Wed Dec 22, 2004 8:02 am; edited 1 time in total |
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| jefflowrey |
| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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Grand Poobah
Joined: 16 Oct 2002
Posts: 19981
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Actually, the act of faith behind Science is more fundamental than just "the universe started".
The real act of faith is, that there is anyone there to actually make observations in the first place...
_________________
I am *not* the model of the modern major general. |
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| bduncan |
| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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Padawan
Joined: 11 Apr 2001
Posts: 1554
Location: Silicon Valley
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Jeff,
I've got faith that you are in fact a real person, and not just a figment of my imagination. Otherwise I'm wasting a lot of time on this site talking to myself 
_________________
Brandon Duncan
IBM Certified MQSeries Specialist
MQSeries.net forum moderator |
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| csmith28 |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2004 8:01 am Post subject: |
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Grand Master
Joined: 15 Jul 2003
Posts: 1196
Location: Arizona
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| jefflowrey wrote: |
Actually, the act of faith behind Science is more fundamental than just "the universe started".
The real act of faith is, that there is anyone there to actually make observations in the first place... |
Well,... maybe if we play our cards right we can get a Government Funded Grant and do a study to determine whether or not there is anyone there.
_________________
Yes, I am an agent of Satan but my duties are largely ceremonial. |
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| bower5932 |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:20 am Post subject: |
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Jedi Knight
Joined: 27 Aug 2001
Posts: 3023
Location: Dallas, TX, USA
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| From a Christian point of view, you might want to read "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" by Josh McDowell. It gives a lot of details on evidences that support the Bible as being inspired. I've found it to be useful in my faith, not sure what it might do for you. |
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| csmith28 |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2004 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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Grand Master
Joined: 15 Jul 2003
Posts: 1196
Location: Arizona
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| bower5932 wrote: |
| From a Christian point of view, you might want to read "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" by Josh McDowell. It gives a lot of details on evidences that support the Bible as being inspired. I've found it to be useful in my faith, not sure what it might do for you. |
Thanks for the suggestion bower but I have decided to take a rather heroic stance on the whole salvation thing.
"Don't worry about me. Save your self."
As far as the Bible being the Word of God as written buy individuals inspired by devine intervention. Well, if there weren't so many versions of the Bible I would be more accepting.
I read the "Authorized (not sure by who) King James version "Old and New Testaments" Translated out of the original tongues and with all former translations diligently compared and revised"
RED LETTER EDITION
It was a good but very dry laborious read. Some of the books in the Old Testament were filled with nothing more than begating and kings taking concubines and multiple wives and so n so begat and so on and so on. Once you get past those bits it gets more interesting but it's still very preachy.
The operative words here are, version, translated, compared and last but not least revised.
The original books of the Bible and the Koran(aka Quran) were written when less than 1/2 of 1% of the world population was literate.
These literate people were all royalty and Church Leaders. Even the vast majority of monks in the Catholic contact admin that copied the Bible by hand for royalty were iliterate. They simply aped the characters clueless of the meaning.
The content of what we now recognize as the Bible and the Koran were subject to hundreds of years of editing by Catholic Church in the case of the Bible and the Church of Islam in the case of the Koran.
A lot of things went on before the age of enlightenment when literacy among the masses was promoted and things like printing presses were invented.
Regards,
Chris
_________________
Yes, I am an agent of Satan but my duties are largely ceremonial.
Last edited by csmith28 on Wed Dec 22, 2004 6:17 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| bower5932 |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2004 6:12 pm Post subject: |
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Jedi Knight
Joined: 27 Aug 2001
Posts: 3023
Location: Dallas, TX, USA
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You could always teach yourself Greek and Hebrew and go back to the original versions rather than a translation.
And on another subject, I always thought that the C in cmsith28 stood for Charles and not Chris. Not sure why..... |
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| csmith28 |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2004 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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Grand Master
Joined: 15 Jul 2003
Posts: 1196
Location: Arizona
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| bower5932 wrote: |
You could always teach yourself Greek and Hebrew and go back to the original versions rather than a translation.
And on another subject, I always thought that the C in cmsith28 stood for Charles and not Chris. Not sure why..... |
Yeah, I guess I could. But I probably won't. Even if I did I doubt I or anyone will ever get access to the originals assuming they haven't been destroyed or otherwise altered.
On the other subject, yeah, my first name is Chris, actually Christopher. It wasn't until late in my life that I discovered that Christopher was a Greek name that meant Christ-bearer.
There is a lot of irony in that.
Match that up with Smith derived from the Saxon smite or strike. Alternatively it's a an
English occupational surname for a man who works with metal.
So, based on my name I should either be walking around smaking people in Christ's name or making blessed horse shoes.
But then again, what's in a name?...
_________________
Yes, I am an agent of Satan but my duties are largely ceremonial. |
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