Religion

[Wesley]

"Adam fell that Men might be; and Men are that they might have Joy."

I've had Joy, she lives down the street from me.

"Judge not lest ye be judged."

I am hip to this.

"Natural Man is an enemy to God."

This concept is cool on paper... it is saying that the creator made us with certain hard-wired tendencies, but a big brain to over ride those tendencies. So to prove you are worthy of an upgrade, you do what you are told, even though instinct and DNA tell you otherwise. Interesting. Also interesting is the concept of being true to one's own Nature. This is being honest with yourself and The Universe. Very Zen. Each philosophical concept has definite pluses. And minuses. This is why I am an agno-poly-athiest.

[chex]

Evil Lisa is looking pretty hot right about now...

[sizz]

Homosexuallity is spoken against all through the Bible, but it's not the PERSON it's the LIFESTYLE.

Are you actually smurf serious? Lifestyle? What makes a gay person's life so different other than how they love a different gender? Please explain what 'the gay lifestyle' is because I don't get what it is or what's wrong with it.

Also, about tickle fight before marriage. I'm all for tickle fight before marriage, I don't plan on all that 'saving myself' blah blah or anything, but I understand it. I don't think tickle fight before marriage is wrong, because... well how is it wrong? It's a person's choice. I get that some people want to just have tickle fight with one person and that's kind of nice, but its also kinda idealistic and... i dunno.

"Thou shalt not judge"...Hahahahahhahahaha! Riiiiiiiight. There is no judging involved unless: you're gay, have tickle fight before marriage, get tattooed, swear, sin, etc, etc.

EXACTLY.

[chex]

Are you actually smurf serious? Lifestyle? What makes a gay person's life so different other than how they love a different gender? Please explain what 'the gay lifestyle' is because I don't get what it is or what's wrong with it.

It's the goat sacrifices and the baby eating, and they're trying to convert us all. Read your bible, before you catch "Teh Gay."

[sizz]

Sounds like a disease... Bleh.

This is a bit off topic.. but if I was religious I'd be Buddhist. Mainly because:
a) THERE'S NO GOD!
b) Its based on being nice and so on, there's no bad principles.
c) They're not anti gay or anti women or whatever..
d) You don't have to go to church, or a temple, or whatever. I mean, my mum drags me and my dad to this temple sometimes, but only once or twice a year.
e) When you DO go to the temples they give you free food (seriously, we get free thai curry)
f) Do you ever hear about extremist buddhists? Seriously? No. Other religions you do.. even in Christianity, there's always really strict ones who dis everyone who's not christian.
g) I've got a friend who's christian (and lovely, btw) and she always seems to favours Christians.. like when we talk about people sometimes she says 'Oh.. and they're Christian, which is good obviously' and I'm like WHY DOES BEING CHRISTIAN MAKE YOU BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE? In Buddhism, they don't care if you're not buddhist, they bless you and stuff anyway.
h) Its REALLY flexible. You can even go to churches and mosques if you're buddhist. My mum used to take me to church all the time when I was younger (in hope I'd become religious.. >_>). She didn't indoctrinate me into her own religion!!
i) They're mostly anti violence and.. that's good?

Views on Helzism, guys? Remember that? XD

[Yaz Pistachio]

Homosexuallity is spoken against all through the Bible, but it's not the PERSON it's the LIFESTYLE.

So being with someone you love and having a committed and faithful relationship is wrong?

[chex]

Apparently. But God still loves all his gay children, so that makes everything better.

Don't you just totally want to worship something that creates someone as gay, then tells them that indulging in that is bad?

[Evil Lisa]

Apparently it is only ok to be gay (or a pedophile) when you are a priest, pastor, or preacher and you are taking advantage of little boys in your congregation. No one ever flames these people, instead they move them to a new location to repeat what they've done.

I also love how it's not the person it's the "lifestyle". No that's not it at all. It's the tickle fight. I love when people say "yes, it is because of the tickle fight, because men and women should have tickle fight in order to procreate." But no one says anything to married people who never plan on having children or who can't. Should they not be having tickle fight either? Should that "lifestyle" be frowned upon to?

I love how God gives free will but no one can use it and still be loved by God.

And Hex, the baby eating and goat sacrificing is for the Atheists....please don't take that away from us. Gays only give people the gay. It is contagious you know. In the 1300's they had the black plague and today we have the gay! Oh the humanity!

[chex]

And Hex, the baby eating and goat sacrificing is for the Atheists....please don't take that away from us. Gays only give people the gay.

So, what you're saying is that you can't get worse than a gay atheist? Unless maybe you're a gay atheist in an interracial relationship. Then you're a goat sacrificing, gay spreading, baby eater who's trying to out breed whitey and take over the country in the race war.

[Evil Lisa]

The worst kind are gay male atheists involved in an interracial relationship and not married. They are what is going to bring on the apocalypse.

[chex]

How DARE they not get married!?

[Evil Lisa]

I know!!!!!!!!

[Yaz Pistachio]

Blasphemy.

[Clovvach]

but if I was religious I'd be Buddhist.

Same with me, but I've heard Buddhism is actually more of a philosophy and not a religion.

It's ridiculous, not to mention harmful to make someone feel guilty over something completely natural.

I've heard Gorge Carlin say the exact same thing and I agree.

EDIT: Also, I never got people who think it is wrong to be gay. And it's sad that a lot more people at my school think it's wrong to be gay than I thought there was.

[Yaz Pistachio]

Honestly, most kids at my school are cool with it. But there are a select few (Who happen to be very religious. Coincidence?) who think it's wrong.

[Clovvach]

It may just be where I live. Texas is a highly religious area, what state do you live in? (If you don't mind me asking).

[Yaz Pistachio]

Good ol' New York.

[chex]

Clov, I know I've said this before, but I don't know how you keep your sanity, being an atheist living in Texas. Especially at your age. Props to you. (I don't think I can pull that off...)

[Clovvach]

Lol thanx, but the people I live around seem to be more tolerant than the people I hear about. As in, some people still hate atheists and gay people, but they don't express that to the point where they drive me crazy.

[Naesme]

Ok, lemme go through what I have time for right now. First off, gay is a lifestyle. How is it a lifestyle? Um, that's kinda self explanatory and I can't believe i have to explain. Lifestyle is how you live your life, and it includes such things as values, morals, beliefs, hobbies, sexuality, gender identity, career choice, what you do with free time, etc etc etc. Gay is sexuality which is a lifestyle.

Tickle fights are not merely physical pleasurable activities. They emotionally bind the participants together. If you freely run around and have tickle fights, sooner or later you lose that emotional aspect of it and it means less to you. On top of that, humans have a tendency to relate present situations with past situations. Basically, this means humans are likely to base their partner's tickle fighting abilities with past lovers, which can lead to disinterest in the partner if they don't measure up to past ones. I honestly can't imagine why anyone would use tickle fights as a measure of if they are marrying the right person. Tickle fights are a display of love and symbolically representative of two people bonding and becoming one. This actually happens emotionally and mentally if it is done in true love. These are actual studies and observations, and have been proven. Those that wait to have tickle fights are generally more satisfied with them than those that do it freely. Also, when deciding who to marry, look for the one who has a personality and beliefs that match up closely to your own, but is strong in areas you aren't and weak in areas you are strong. This is hard to do if you have tickle fights with them, because you are likely to use those tickle fights as a deciding factor.

The Old Testament and New Testament are different periods of time, yet the message is still the same. God never stops loving, but he does punish the wicked. God's punishment can be softened or even stopped by repentance though. It's a common theme everywhere in the Bible, and makes perfect sense. God is our Heavenly Father, and punishes us when we do wrong....just like Earthly Parents punish their children when they misbehave. So don't say it's 'unfair' or 'evil' or 'unjust'. It's the same principal as Earthly parents, so it's completely fair and good and just.

And if you look through the Bible, you see that as times changed and things happened, God changed some rules to match. For example, in the Old Testament, stoning (the OT death sentence) was used a lot, but in the NT that changed. Now, there was more forgiveness and leniency. Why? Because God had sent his son into the world to save it, and show that God still loves the world and is acceptant of obedient, repenting hearts. So God never changed, what changed was the rules and how things were dealt with. The world has evolved more now, and just like women in the NT had more rights than in the OT, women now have more rights than in the NT. However, homosexuality has not become good in God's eyes. Just like murder and theft and stuff like that. Homosexual people are loved by God just like everybody else, but they live in a sinful lifestyle (explained above). Some people are homosexual for very legit reasons....such as 1) mental disability, 2) hormonal imbalance, 3) chemical imbalance in the brain. Doesn't mean all homosexuals are mental, just that they have something that makes them different than others and that can actually be classified as a defect. We as humans don't want to classify it as such however, because it is a lifestyle choice and we want to say all lifestyles are natural and acceptable. There are holes with that theory though, but that's a different explanation. But other homosexuals are that way because of 1) rejection, 2) past troubles, 3) peer pressure, 4) confusion, 5) can't get enough of those tickle fights (yes, that is a real reason, i've heard that excuse before, in many different ways)...and the list goes on. I don't agree with homosexuality, but i've met some really cool gay people, and some who were more christ-like than a lot of christians. So I don't hate them, I just don't agree with them. BIG difference.

As a side note, the 'religious leaders' that violate their own principles, like homosexuality and pedophilia, need to be taken from their position, and the pedos need to be put in jail. Being a 'religious leader' does not give one the right to do anything they want.

We can be loved by God with free will, we just have to live by his rules. We can have church however we want, hang out however we want, do whatever we want, so long as the rules apply. Same as in society. You can drive anywhere, as long as you do it legally. You can buy anything, so long as you don't steal. You can have parties, so long as it is legal. It's not unfair or unreasonable or unheard of.

Being Christian makes nobody better, when someone says 'that's good that they are christian' they mean that the person is Heaven bound which makes us happy. Nothing to do with being better than anyone.

That's all for this rant.