Praise be to God!

Originally posted by Psychoda alternata:
A slideshow of gays partying on Falwells grave:

http://www.nbc6.net/slideshow/news/13327704/detail.html

i'm shocked. i mean, falwell spent his life reaching out to gays, supporting them, understanding them, and generally respecting them. it's not as if he blamed the 9/11 attacks on homosexuals or anything. frankly, these people have NO reason to mistreat this man's memory.

shocked, i tell you. next thing you know, new yorkers will be dancing on bin laden's mock-grave when he's confirmed dead!

Couldn't stay away, could you?

:D

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:

Originally posted by They call me Doctor Doom.:
If you object to this, I'm sure Liberty Baptist University has a forum where Falwell will be treated with respect, and "dope fiend musicians" will not.

Not surprisingly, you totally missed the point.

actually, *you* missed the point… not surprisingly.

Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
Couldn't stay away, could you?

:D

guilty, again… seriously, i tried.

While you may have a point, that kind of behavior isn't going to win over anybody in terms of acceptance of their cause.

Originally posted by sweetcell:

Originally posted by Psychoda alternata:
A slideshow of gays partying on Falwells grave:

http://www.nbc6.net/slideshow/news/13327704/detail.html

i'm shocked. i mean, falwell spent his life reaching out to gays, supporting them, understanding them, and generally respecting them. it's not as if he blamed the 9/11 attacks on homosexuals or anything. frankly, these people have NO reason to mistreat this man's memory.

shocked, i tell you. next thing you know, new yorkers will be dancing on bin laden's mock-grave when he's confirmed dead!

Brilliant comeback. I guess I better be on guard now, in you case you bust out the "rubber and glue" gambit.

Originally posted by They call me Doctor Doom.:

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:

Originally posted by They call me Doctor Doom.:
If you object to this, I'm sure Liberty Baptist University has a forum where Falwell will be treated with respect, and "dope fiend musicians" will not.

Not surprisingly, you totally missed the point.

actually, *you* missed the point… not surprisingly.

I think you can find the difference between a good man of faith versus a total asshole in the moment the asshole wants you to convert to his religion. Why they feel the need to evangelize and try to save your ass from their vision of hell or Limbo or whatever?
Now, for cultural reasons, I dont know this guy Falwell, but he seems to have been pretty controversial, so I guess he was an asshole, am I right?

I think the Bible says you should go out and bear witness and spread the faith. I don't think it's about saving you from hell, it's about spreading God's word.

Are you saying that anyone who goes out and tries to get people to see the world through the same lens as them is an asshole? That makes an asshole out of tens of thousands of activists for a myriad of different causes and beliefs.

Originally posted by lacroix:
I think you can find the difference between a good man of faith versus a total asshole in the moment the asshole wants you to convert to his religion. Why they feel the need to evangelize and try to save your ass from their vision of hell or Limbo or whatever?
Now, for cultural reasons, I dont know this guy Falwell, but he seems to have been pretty controversial, so I guess he was an asshole, am I right?

I think the Bible says you should go out and bear witness and spread the faith. I don't think it's about saving you from hell, it's about spreading God's word.

I think the bible is between 4000 to 2000 years old, I think the world has changed a lot since then…or maybe not….

At what point do you disregard writings because of their age? The Constitution and Declaration of Independence are 230 years old.

Originally posted by lacroix:

I think the Bible says you should go out and bear witness and spread the faith. I don't think it's about saving you from hell, it's about spreading God's word.

I think the bible is between 4000 to 2000 years old, I think the world has changed a lot since then…or maybe not….

At what point do you disregard writings because of their age? The Constitution and Declaration of Independence are 230 years old.

Im not saying that, if we talk about wisdom in ancient writings, Im sure we can find better ones that the bible (or the declaration of independence for that matter) in a couple of oriental little books that are least 5000 years old…
What Im saying is that you can find your own way to fulfill your spiritual needs (sorry for bringing the "s" word, but ultimately when we talk about faith, we are talking about spirituality), but if you find that in the bible (or the talmud, or the coran, or with Aliester Crowley), that doesnt mean that you need to tell your neighbor or whoever that this is the way, the only way, to get to God…someone said that human spirituality is a big ocean, and you can get there through different beaches…you dont need to spread the "word", let it by itself to find the people who are looking for it…

I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just answering the question as to why some people choose to spread their beliefs to others. And I don't think that necessarily makes them an asshole.

Besides, when was the last time that one of these "assholes" tried to convert you to his/her religion? I can only think of once that it's happened to me in the last 20 years.

Originally posted by lacroix:

At what point do you disregard writings because of their age? The Constitution and Declaration of Independence are 230 years old.

Im not saying that, if we talk about wisdom in ancient writings, Im sure we can find better ones that the bible (or the declaration of independence for that matter) in a couple of oriental little books that are least 5000 years old…
What Im saying is that you can find your own way to fulfill your spiritual needs (sorry for bringing the "s" word, but ultimately when we talk about faith, we are talking about spirituality), but if you find that in the bible (or the talmud, or the coran, or with Aliester Crowley), that doesnt mean that you need to tell your neighbor or whoever that this is the way, the only way, to get to God…someone said that human spirituality is a big ocean, and you can get there through different beaches…you dont need to spread the "word", let it by itself to find the people who are looking for it…

I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just answering the question as to why some people choose to spread their beliefs to others. And I don't think that necessarily makes them an asshole.

True that, perhaps my comment was too strong, didnt want to hurt anybodies feelings, but I dont like people to tell me how to get to God, to their God…I think everyone can find out by themselves, and if not, then they go to a church or something…
Now , again, I dont know this guy Falwell, and I dont know if he tried to impose his beliefs to other people for reasons beyond faith…

Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
While you may have a point, that kind of behavior isn't going to win over anybody in terms of acceptance of their cause.

agreed, but let's remember that these are a few people (not thousands) so it can't be taken as indicative. the media loves this kinda stuff, so it's actual social relevance can't be judged by this one photo spread. while i can't blame people for that kind of reaction, one could hope that they'd take the high road.

Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
At what point do you disregard writings because of their age? The Constitution and Declaration of Independence are 230 years old.

one advantage that the constitution and the declaration have over major religious texts: they've been re-interpreted, on an on-going basis, through the courts. religious texts on the other hand are to be taken as dogma. one of my biggest issues with fundies is that they want their texts to be taken literally without re-thinking them, asking themselves how the times affected the original writing, etc.

What about the Greenpeace activists on the Mall who are trying to spread their message? Shouldn't they just sit at home and hope that everyone finds out the message on their own?

Originally posted by lacroix:

I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just answering the question as to why some people choose to spread their beliefs to others. And I don't think that necessarily makes them an asshole.

True that, perhaps my comment was too strong, didnt want to hurt anybodies feelings, but I dont like people to tell me how to get to God, to their God…I think everyone can find out by themselves, and if not, then they go to a church or something…
Now , again, I dont know this guy Falwell, and I dont know if he tried to impose his beliefs to other people for reasons beyond faith…

But various religions and individuals DO interpret and reinterpret the Bible in differing ways.

Originally posted by sweetcell:

Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
While you may have a point, that kind of behavior isn't going to win over anybody in terms of acceptance of their cause.

agreed, but let's remember that these are a few people (not thousands) so it can't be taken as indicative. the media loves this kinda stuff, so it's actual social relevance can't be judged by this one photo spread. while i can't blame people for that kind of reaction, one could hope that they'd take the high road.

Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
At what point do you disregard writings because of their age? The Constitution and Declaration of Independence are 230 years old.

one advantage that the constitution and the declaration have over major religious texts: they've been re-interpreted, on an on-going basis, through the courts. religious texts on the other hand are to be taken as dogma. one of my biggest issues with fundies is that they want their texts to be taken literally without re-thinking them, asking themselves how the times affected the original writing, etc.

Originally posted by cale:
I think it is plainly obvious that the Bible was written by plain old humans, and not even divinely *inspired*

Did you just figure that one out all on your own?

What about the Greenpeace activists on the Mall who are trying to spread their message? Shouldn't they just sit at home and hope that everyone finds out the message on their own?

I believe, and I can be wrong, that those Greenpeace guys are talking about deforestation, endanger species and other kinds of problems…now thats a reality as far as I know, but people who start saying that you should follow them because of what a book says â??and if not you are going to burn in hell, or worse, that you have to give them money so they can take the "word" fartherâ??… well, you can choose. Maybe they are right, who knows, but I really doubt it.
Now, I see the point of your question, but in all truth I dont see a lot of similarity in the message between a Greenpeace guy and a evangelical, even when the way how they reach people could be similar…

Of course I wasn't comparing their messages, only that they certainly both have the right to actively spread it.

Originally posted by lacroix:

What about the Greenpeace activists on the Mall who are trying to spread their message? Shouldn't they just sit at home and hope that everyone finds out the message on their own?

I believe, and I can be wrong, that those Greenpeace guys are talking about deforestation, endanger species and other kinds of problems…now thats a reality as far as I know, but people who start saying that you should follow them because of what a book says â??and if not you are going to burn in hell, or worse, that you have to give them money so they can take the "word" fartherâ??… well, you can choose. Maybe they are right, who knows, but I really doubt it.
Now, I see the point of your question, but in all truth I dont see a lot of similarity in the message between a Greenpeace guy and a evangelical, even when the way how they reach people could be similar…

Of course I wasn't comparing their messages, only that they certainly both have the right to actively spread it.

Oh, they have the right to spread their word, but what happens when they take the "word" to your lawmaker, and they eventually complain about abortion, that its evil, and its evil because God say so.
Then they are messing with your liberties, with your rights…and we dont want that, do we?