[Sangman]

I am so fucking tired of meeting pretentious women. Fucking hell.

[Ronin]

Do you mean like hipster women or something? Have you tried drinking or socialising in bars near dockland areas? You won't find any pretentious women there, also stay away from college students and recently graduated college students, I find people with a large amount of newly learned knowledge to come off as quite pretentious as they are constantly looking for openings to shove their new knowledge in your face, I have been guilty of that very thing myself.

@Hank I think that if someone comes to the conclusion that they are an atheist then that is a free thinking person, same as if someone comes to the conclusion that they are Mormon. At least they got there by their own decisions as opposed to people who are born into a religion then automatically defend it tooth and nail and believe everything because it's theirs and they could not be wrong, must be everyone else that's wrong, I find that an absolutely bizarre way of thinking and a little scary. I can't quite come up with any other way of describing this other than brainwashing (it can be cultural too).

[Sangman]

Pretentious as in: they say something that pisses you off, in your anger you say something that is meant well but with a poor choice of words and quickly apologize. They ignore you for a week. You clear the air and turns out they were so offended that they don't want have anything to do with you anymore.

So you know whatever, somebody who gets that pissed off over something so trivial is not ready for any kind of relationship anyway.

[Mark]

Forge, on 28 December 2013 - 09:56 PM, said:

ol' saint nick
or more Formerly known as Nikolaos of Myra, or Saint Nicholas
another documented and real person. He supposedly started the (modern day) gift giving tradition

I'm sorry, but you couldn't be more wrong. Everyone knows that the real story of gift giving and Santa Claus was chronicled on the Xena: Warrior Princess TV series. It was started by a man named Centiclese who handed out some overstock from his basement full of toys on the winter solstice. I know its a fact because I watched that episode last week.

[Komenja]

Krampus is where it's at.

[Forge]

Ronan, on 29 December 2013 - 09:31 AM, said:

....then I would take it literally and believe absolutely everything as I don't think you are meant to pick and choose which parts to believe.
I see all the holy books this way, believe every part of the book or be sceptical of every part, this makes sense to me.
It's not even about not believing in a god or not it's more about not believing the ancient texts created in a time of vast ignorance/superstition of the cosmos and reality. Though you could argue that we are still at this point, who know what we may discover down the line?
Religion is such a touchy subject though, I'm not sure how deep down the rabbit hole we should go as people can get very upset.

other than being taller through diet and having a longer life span due to diet, medical advances, and easier living style; humans as a whole have not evolved in the last 50,000 or so years. They were just as intelligent then as they are now. Regardless of our scientific discoveries and advances we're still an ignorant and superstitious lot.

Religious texts should be taken for what they are; divinely inspired scripture written by man. Popular ideology of the time it was written is littered throughout. (i.e. not eating pigs - we now know why eating undercooked pork can kill you). I find the bible an ethical, moral, and spiritual guideline. I don't find it necessary to take every word literally at face value. I don't find it a requirement to beat the crap out of my kid to make him behave. I like lobster. Homosexuals are humans with feelings, not some perverted subspecies. etc, etc., etc.

we can go all the way to the bottom of the rabbit hole. since only two people here seem to have any religious belief, and i'm one of them, only half the delusional people are going to get offended (and i'm not the one - i feel people can believe/not believe whatever they chose)

is there any scientific necessity for there to be a god? no. is there any scientific reason why there can't be a god? nope.
i suppose it all boils down to By Design or Completely Improbable Circumstances in a Universe so vast that just about anything is bound to happen at least once

[Forge]

Fox, on 29 December 2013 - 01:50 PM, said:

Most of these are very questionable, and not even accepted by the scholars you mentioned, there are very few documented histories of the Bible outside of the Bible itself.

interesting that the majority of scholars and historians believe Jesus was a real person, but they contradict themselves by not believing their references.
learn something new every day.

Fox, on 29 December 2013 - 01:50 PM, said:

My point is, the history of Jesus is based (if not copied) on other histories or tales, and thus it is not real. In fact, if we were to delete the parts of Jesus history that originate from Krishna legend, there would barely be anything left.

sure. why not. you forgot the transition from that region to persia with zoroastrianism before being taken up by the hebrews and their monotheistic beliefs.
You can take almost any religion (monotheistic or otherwise) and put it almost seamlessly over the top of another religion. Most have one big "good" god - usually with a son, and one big "bad" god always in conflict with the "good" god and his son. There's been religion since modern man has been around, so naturally belief systems will bleed over. Oddly most religions worldwide do look alike. You'd think there would be a bigger variety if there wasn't something to it.

Fox, on 29 December 2013 - 01:50 PM, said:

All archeological evidence shows that the workers of the pyramids were not just egypt based on their graves, but they weren't "slaves" either.

the bible doesn't call them slaves either. a popular misconception.

[Ronin]

Forge, on 29 December 2013 - 01:57 PM, said:

other than being taller through diet and having a longer life span due to diet, medical advances, and easier living style; humans as a whole have not evolved in the last 50,000 or so years. They were just as intelligent then as they are now. Regardless of our scientific discoveries and advances we're still an ignorant and superstitious lot.

Religious texts should be taken for what they are; divinely inspired scripture written by man. Popular ideology of the time it was written is littered throughout. (i.e. not eating pigs - we now know why eating undercooked pork can kill you). I find the bible an ethical, moral, and spiritual guideline. I don't find it necessary to take every word literally at face value. I don't find it a requirement to beat the crap out of my kid to make him behave. I like lobster. Homosexuals are humans with feelings, not some perverted subspecies. etc, etc., etc.

we can go all the way to the bottom of the rabbit hole. since only two people here seem to have any religious belief, and i'm one of them, only half the delusional people are going to get offended (and i'm not the one - i feel people can believe/not believe whatever they chose)

is there any scientific necessity for there to be a god? no. is there any scientific reason why there can't be a god? nope.
i suppose it all boils down to By Design or Completely Improbable Circumstances in a Universe so vast that just about anything is bound to happen at least once

I would say there are plenty more folks here with religious beliefs but they probably prefer to just stay out of these kind of discussions for obvious reasons.
Is there any evidence at all that could suggest a gods hand in anything we perceive in reality? No. Is there a reason for me to believe in a god? No, I have not found one yet. Could there be a god? Yes, but until a reason for one or evidence for the existence of one is found then I won't be believing that one exists.
I wouldn't call you delusional for believing in one though, as it is possible though highly improbable, that's your choice seeing as that is an option, and I don't consider it as a mark of intelligence either as to whether or not you think a god exists. Though I do personally have difficultly understanding how people can believe giving that there is zero evidence to suggest that one could be.

You may say, there is no reason to not believe that a god could not exist. This is true but all the gods have been created by us (god conveniently hates public speaking and prefers quiet 1 on 1 encounters with severely dehydrated and starved characters) and many with very convenient characteristics of the people of those times like Islams Allah telling people to chop heads off right left and centre and enslave the fuck out of everyone who doesn't believe in me (the Greek gods are by far my favourite with Zeus shapeshifting into the appearance of a hotties husband for a quick bit of in-out, in-out , like a boss), but why gods get horny?

Why would we create gods A: Comfort/fear of the unknown (what happens when we die? Don't worry it gets better) B: Control (religion has been used as a form of control since forever, god can see you jerking off in the dark stoppit!) C: Unity/manipulation, bring people together under a common idea and they will fight others who have a different idea, very useful for warlords and kings and modern governments, D: Moral guidelines, a lot of the religions have pretty solid morals that stop the poor from tearing the rich to pieces.
I see the idea of a made up god as a very human thing to do for entirely selfish reasons, nice examples are Joseph Smith and L. Ron Hubbard. Those guys did ok but lets be honest if they were born a 1000 years earlier people today wouldn't laugh at them so much and they would be taken way more seriously, that is had they not be slaughtered for competing with the other businesses I mean religions of the time.

I wish there was a god though, just so all the truly nasty people can't escape a proper godlike punishment.

[Master Fibbles]

Fox:
Bart D. Ehrman: atheist/agnostic, former Evangelical, man with PhD in New Testament from Princeton, teaches at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Believes Jesus was a real historical person.

His book answers all of your objections in a clear, scholarly, and almost polite way. I've already pre-ordered his newest book How Jesus Became God and I am really looking forward to it.


I've decided that I need to begin a nation-wide search for a new job. I like my job and I support the company I work for but I just cannot work for a company. I need to work in a school as a teacher. There is a void in my life for the last year or so which has basically been the fact that I'm not teaching or working towards teaching.

I just need to put together my teaching resume and begin the long process of searching for high school Latin or religion positions.

[Forge]

Ronan, on 29 December 2013 - 03:09 PM, said:

Is there a reason for me to believe in a god? No, I have not found one yet.
Could there be a god? Yes, but until a reason for one or evidence for the existence of one is found then I won't be believing that one exists.

my exact perception to the situation
I just choose to believe
personal experiences you could say, but nothing that can be proven through scientific methods


as far as was Jesus a real person?
there's just as much, if not more evidence, that he was more real than Cleopatra.
(since most archeological evidence was wiped out after her death - seems the natives didn't care for her selling out to the Romans and tried to erase her existence)

without a body you can't prove that anyone back during that time was real. All archeological and documentation evidence can be construed as hearsay and mythological fancy if you want to swing it out to the extreme

[Master Fibbles]

We have more certain evidence for the existence of Jesus called the Christ than we do for William Shakespeare.

[Kathy]

Ronan, on 29 December 2013 - 03:09 PM, said:

Though I do personally have difficultly understanding how people can believe giving that there is zero evidence to suggest that one could be.

I have even more difficulty understanding why people believe in specific religion's god.

[The Commander]

Oh I believe Jesus was a real person, there is some scientific evidence to back that. Do I believe he could do all them miracles? No way in hell, nor do I believe in a God or some other superior being.

Anyway,
inb4 Zaxtor makes a thread on this.

http://www.stuff.co....tical-condition

[Lunick]

What's up with all the celebrities and car accidents lately...

[The Commander]

Lunick, on 29 December 2013 - 07:39 PM, said:

What's up with all the celebrities and car accidents lately...

Skiing is a motor vehicle?

[Lunick]

Err, car related people celebrities*?

[The Commander]

Lunick, on 29 December 2013 - 07:43 PM, said:

Err, car related people celebrities*?

Nice try... Read the article next time

[Lunick]

Suck my dick.

[The Commander]

Lunick, on 29 December 2013 - 07:46 PM, said:

Suck my dick.

Kathy would love to.

[Forge]

The Commander, on 29 December 2013 - 07:53 PM, said:

Kathy would love to.

i think Kathy would need a bottle of wine(or two) and a back massage first.
Even jail cell tramps have standards

[Lunick]

Forge, on 29 December 2013 - 09:25 PM, said:

i think Kathy would need a bottle of wine(or two) and a back massage first.
Even jail cell tramps have standards

Are you saying I'm not up to scratch?

[Forge]

Lunick, on 29 December 2013 - 09:46 PM, said:

Are you saying I'm not up to scratch?

oh, no, no, no.......yes

[Lunick]

Forge, on 29 December 2013 - 09:55 PM, said:

oh, no, no, no.......yes

I'd say yes too, I think Kathy has high standards.

Edit: Oh yeah, I found these two apogee games on eBay that will probably be too pricey for me but maybe someone will want them here:

http://www.ebay.com/...984.m1423.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/...984.m1423.l2649

[The Commander]

Trust me Lunick, Kathy wants you.

[Lunick]

Still the best thing ever.

[Kathy]

The Commander, on 30 December 2013 - 03:01 AM, said:

Trust me Lunick, Kathy wants you.

What if I want you?

[Radar]

Fags, doesn't anybody want me?

[The Commander]

Kathy, on 30 December 2013 - 07:38 AM, said:

What if I want you?

You would have told me if you did.

[Kathy]

I'm shy and afraid of the Big Kiwi Man.

[Master Fibbles]

Is he "Big Kiwi Man" because he is a Kiwi or because he has large kiwis?