Why do you think I bailed out ?
can't handle a little light-hearted honesty huh? well, i'm not surprised. most people take gorifying themselves waaaay too seriously.
Some logic for both sides...
- Thread starter Lori_7
- Start date
can't handle a little light-hearted honesty huh? well, i'm not surprised. most people take gorifying themselves waaaay too seriously.
The culture BEING the religion, of course. You've said that yourself.
I've never seen Allah, have you?
I've never witnessed death by stoning am I'm quite sure you haven't either.
Can we therefore conclude Allah and lapidation do not exist?
No, they just codified it into a religion.
But, you do find them, in Muslim countries, nonetheless, codified in law, by dictators of long ago. Like you said, same as the old boss...
Enmos
Valued Senior Member
lol
Can't you recognize a joke when you see one ?
Where did I glorify myself ?
not you in particular.
i thought you were serious. my bad. XO
Hail Pig
I see the dividing line get clearer
Us and them, back and forth, to and fro, off you go
Ready to transfer as you get nearer
I practice my call to hasten your fall
No one is worthless, so I'll use you
Void of knowledge, space to fill you
Take my hate, take my pain
Wash my sickness down the drain
The herds are running into oblivion
Blinded by the lies they feed upon
Gorging on their ignorance
They'll clear a path for the rest of us
They see it coming and they don't care
They love the smell of it in the air
And follow it down to their demise
And as they fall into the skies
We'll hear their screams as they go past
And say, "Thank God, we're free at last."
I see the dividing line get clearer
Us and them, back and forth, to and fro, off you go
Ready to transfer as you get nearer
I practice my call to hasten your fall
No one is worthless, so I'll use you
Void of knowledge, space to fill you
Take my hate, take my pain
Wash my sickness down the drain
The herds are running into oblivion
Blinded by the lies they feed upon
Gorging on their ignorance
They'll clear a path for the rest of us
They see it coming and they don't care
They love the smell of it in the air
And follow it down to their demise
And as they fall into the skies
We'll hear their screams as they go past
And say, "Thank God, we're free at last."
How does this hatred affect you?
How does this hatred affect the way you communicate with others?
I'd still like to hear your answer to a question I asked earlier: You said people are greedy and that much harm comes from that. What do you think is the reason that people are greedy?
it makes me determined. it makes me somewhat alienated. it makes me feel like the trials and frustrations that i've been through are well worth it, when i was describing what god's done with my life. it makes me unsympathetic in a way. ironically, in that i care about our human condition to the point where i don't care what it will take to fix it. i feel like my emotions have been waned and i have a sense of peace, resolve, and strength that makes me invincible.
i say i hate this world but what i really hate is what we do to it, and to each other. i hate to see the careless destruction of something so precious...that has so much potential. what we do with our lives and this planet is a horrible waste of a glorious gift. so i guess i love this world and life enough to say no to the way we are abusing it. i care about what's right and am fighting for it.
it makes me brutally honest with them.
i think that a lot of our bad behavior is done out of fear, and that fear results from lies. people don't understand what they're worth, and how valuable and loved they are in the eyes of god, their creator, who sees the truth about us.
Enmos
Valued Senior Member
not you in particular.
i thought you were serious. my bad. XO
I forgive you..
Anyway, I stopped participating in this thread because there doesn't really seem to be a discussion.
Do you think that while you hate, you can still think clearly and rationally?
Do you think that while you hate, you can still discern what would be for your benefit, and for the benefit of others?
Do you hate what you do to me?
Do you hate what I do to you?
Would you say you are doing a good job in this?
Brutally honest about what?
How are people supposed to "understand what they're worth, and how valuable and loved they are in the eyes of god, their creator"?
People do not have God's perspective on things, nor God's knowledge.
yes. i think that i hate because i think clearly and rationally. for example, i'm currently taking steps to become a foster parent. i have taken classes, not that you would need to take classes to know these things, but where an instructor has given some generalities about child abuse and neglect. every day kids are beaten, starved, ignored, berated, burned, and molested. they are tortured at the hands of the people who are supposed to love and protect them. i hate that. does that mean i'm going to seek retribution on behalf of one of these children? no. if i saw a child being abused i would intervene in whatever way necessary to protect it. that's why i want to be a foster mom. but while i hate the sin, i don't hate the sinner. it's not the people that i hate. it's what we do to ourselves and each other that i hate.
sure. better than sticking my head in the sand, or numbing myself with some drug and pretending nothing's wrong like most people do.
yes. none of us are exempt from this.
yes i would. good is a relative term but i'm doing the best i can. i can't take credit really. this is god's work in all of our lives. i seek his will in my life and i make myself available and i endure. it hasn't been easy, but i'm still working to become more of what he wants me to be. which, ironically enough, is me.
everything. and i shouldn't say brutal. it's not like i try to hurt people for no reason...brow beating or whatever. it's just that a lot of times the truth isn't pretty, and no one wants to see it. no one wants to talk about it. everyone just wants to sweep it under a rug and pretend like it's not really happening...
a perfect example of this is a documentary called "earthlings" that i have out on my myspace page. it details the routine ordinary lives of animals on earth that are used for consumption or entertainment or research. and i encourage people to watch it, but no one ever will. they tell me they don't want to see what happens to these animals...that it would make them sick...horrify them.
but i ask them, "well, don't you consume animal products?" and they say flat out, "well yes, but i don't want to see what actually happens to them!" they say it like i'm crazy for even suggesting it. and it's a perfect example of how people don't give a shit about what they're doing wrong, just as long as they don't have to see or suffer the consequences. not that they don't, they just pretend they don't. you can see what we're doing to this earth, and you can see what people's diets are doing to their health. and again, they don't care.
sitting and watching that movie was some of the hardest two hours i've ever had to endure. i sat there the entire time with my hand on my mouse, and i wanted to turn it off so badly. i cried like a baby several times. but i did it. i did it because i do give a shit. and i do want to know the truth about what i contribute to. and i am sorry for doing the wrong thing. and i want to stop.
you can know him. like you would know a person...you may not be able to adopt their perspective entirely, but the more intimate a relationship becomes, the more you understand about them. about how they think and feel about you, and about lots of things. it's really true that you can know god. if you want to know him, that's all you have to do, and he'll show himself to you. i swear.
Those are some very absolutistic statements you make - "No one wants to see the truth". If you say that, you have included yourself among those who "do not want to see the truth", as you have included yourself among those who "want to sweep it under the rug and pretend like it's not really happening".
I gave trying to get to know God over ten years of my life. No success. I didn't get to know anything that I could with certainty call "God".
You and many others say that this is because I didn't really want to know him. Suppose I believe this. Then I also must believe that I am evil, devious, pretending to want something when the truth is I don't.
If I do believe about myself that I am evil, devious, pretending to want something when the truth is I don't, I will not seek to accomplish anything, I will just passively sit here and wait for the time to pass.
IOW, the "truth" that I am evil, devious, pretending to want something when the truth is I don't, does not set me free or help me further.
Have you ever considered that Christianity might be yet another one of those hateful things we do to ourselves, things that are wrong?
it's not such a big deal to eat animals because they're not like humans. animals are superior to plants, so they eat plants, and we are superior to animals, so we eat animals.
don't be sorry, you have never done anything wrong.
sowhatifit'sdark
Valued Senior Member
So presumably some humans should be able to eat some other humans given their being better in certain skill areas.
my concern isn't so much with the fact that we eat animals, it's how we go about doing it that's the problem. though i prefer not to consume animals because if another sentient being doen't have to lose their life for me to have mine then i see that as best. i think of the way it was in the garden. we started out as vegans. it was only after the flood that men began to eat meat. it seemed to be in response to a serious depletion or change in the enviroment. so ideally, i think that we were meant to be vegan, and i have personally experienced vast improvements in my health because of this type of diet. there is also an avoidance of the commercialization of food to consider. and this is where the problem lies, there is a total disrespect for the animals and the planet in the name of greed. they treat the animals so horribly, they pump all kinds of chemicals and toxins and drugs and hormones into our food, and pollute the planet with the waste. then there's the waste of over-production to consider. i used to work at an applebee's restaurant, and i threw more food in the garbage than my customers ate on a daily basis. i don't want to participate in a system that does these things, so i try my best to avoid it.
i don't agree with you, and i am sorry. i consider things like greed, wrath, envy, lust, pride, gluttony, and sloth to be "wrong". and i am sorry that i am this way. i don't want to be this way anymore. i want to be changed. you don't think that's reasonable?
some humans do. and i agree with the point you're making. just because we are different, doesn't mean that we are better or more valuable. animals are very valuable to us and to the ecosystem of our planet. we don't respect it.
even if we do consume animals, we could do it with respect. i don't see that.
in getting to know god, i have realized things about myself, through my own experience, that allows me to see the same things in other people. also, my own quest for the knowledge of god was a search for the truth, whatever it was, barring all consequences. when i looked back on my search, i realized i had been hindered in the past by a reluctance to know the truth about him.
usually that's how i am prompted to change. i see behaviors that i don't like in other people, and then i look at myself, and see the same behavior. i may have different circumstances surrounding the behavior, and there are always varying degrees but, we are basically all the same on the inside. the way we feel and think and respond, and the things we need and lack as human beings are very much the same. but our intentions can change. god changed mine.
i think that religion can be used in a lot of different ways, good and bad. but i know that god himself, can not be "used". he can be known though. i know this because i know him. i can not speak for your intentions or your life path, but i do know that you are no different than i am inherently. no more evil or devious. only you know what your intentions are and why and how open you are to receiving him into your life. everybody has a different way. but if you want to know him, he'll find that way. i demanded it of him, and that worked.
There is no respect in killing and eating.