My beliefs are sort of on the opposite end of your spectrum geekbot, as I don't even believe in a hell, God loves us too much to see us suffer eternally.
alhough not religous.. i feel similarly.
anyone who believes that a god may create such creatures and cast aside the proportion of most is a phewl and ignored4life4life.
Judaism, and by the Fly in Goulash law, Christianity, is based on ancient myths that were turned into a moral system and were eventually coopted by governments to be able to better control their people. Your beliefs couldn't be any more ignorant if you thought the world was flat.
The very concept of punishment is meant to prevent people from doing things that would hurt others by scaring and reforming them. The concept of hell may scare people, but it's also supposedly eternal, and that does no good. Especially when you consider that nothing is really anyone's fault since actions are determined by a combination of genetics and the sum of all experiences one has had. Now shut the FUCK UP. ARGH
Whilst not in the same manner as decoy, I do agree with him. People have always looked for some kind of leader, someone to tell them what to do as stuff needs organising and you can't rely on everyone to have the same unilateral thoughts at the same time. You try putting 10 people in a forest overnight, eventually someone will start organising the building of some kind of shelter. And ultimately people have created a leader when they needed to so they feel more secure
Originally posted by Facetious
edit: (Money just PMed me his address so I can go to Houston and fight him)
I'm not going to hell, I'm Jewish. Such lies you spew forth from your wretched gullet, Sir Geekbot!
Anyway, I'm not religious at all. "People have always looked for some kind of leader", but I do sorta have this. I have my own "saving grace" if you will, but I'd rather not share it since, honestly, it's not your business. I don't mean to sound rude, but I feel that there are just some things that are meant to be kept private.
I didn't mean to focus on the concept of hell as I haven't thought about it too much. I understand it to be eternal separation from the giver of good things. The fire and brimstone are figurative illustrations of the relative goodness of being in hell vs heaven. Some people believe in literal fire, etc. I'm not sure, I haven't studied it much.
I also don't mean to "scare" people or focus on punishment, the thread title was an attempt at humor. Although I see now that hell is an important part of the ideas.
The focus of my thoughts was a response to the unconditional love comment early in Bioture's thread. Meaning, more on the fact that God specifically chose some to be saved, the moment of salvation, and the unconditional love of God towards the chosen. The flip side that there are those that are not chosen is difficult. I'll sit under a tree and think about that more.
BTW, I wouldn't really say that Christianity is based on myths (as I understand the word myths). They are based on historical and literary writings, spoken history tradition, the rule/guidance of kings and prophets of the Hebrews/Israel, the life of a man, Jesus, and the writings of his followers.
You could argue the accuracy of the historical writings to a degree but it would be a lot harder to dispute the archeological evidence of King David, Abraham, gigantic effing pyramids in Egypt built by Jewish slaves, etc. Call it a distorted history (after at least a bit of research hopefully) but it's a stretch to call much of it myth....
Thinking about it more, maybe you could call the creation story (Adam/Eve story) myth (it's obviously a revelation and not a historical or first person account) but it is just a couple of page intro to a book that's thousands of pages.
I'm talking about the Christian Bible, not the Catholic or the Koran, etc. which are significantly different.
The very concept of punishment is meant to prevent people from doing things that would hurt others by scaring and reforming them. The concept of hell may scare people, but it's also supposedly eternal, and that does no good. Especially when you consider that nothing is really anyone's fault since actions are determined by a combination of genetics and the sum of all experiences one has had. Now shut the FUCK UP. ARGH
pun-ish-ment
noun
• the infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense : crime demands just punishment.
• the penalty inflicted : she assisted her husband to escape punishment for the crime | he approved of stiff punishments for criminals.
• informal rough treatment or handling inflicted on or suffered by a person or thing : your machine can take a fair amount of punishment before falling to pieces.
Punishment might be used as a means to reform, but not always.
Second, nothing is anyone's fault? That takes the cake on fucking stupidity.
Third, geekbot's beliefs are his own, he isn't saying that you have to believe the same as him. Your behavior in getting "pissed off", and then attempting to discredit him with specious statements show a real juvenile attitude. What harm does he do you by having none, one, or 20 gods?
Punishment might be used as a means to reform, but not always.
Second, nothing is anyone's fault? That takes the cake on fucking stupidity.
Third, geekbot's beliefs are his own, he isn't saying that you have to believe the same as him. Your behavior in getting "pissed off", and then attempting to discredit him with specious statements show a real juvenile attitude. What harm does he do you by having none, one, or 20 gods?
Sit on it and spin, bucky.
1. I never said punishment was always used as a reform, it is sometimes used for the purpose of prevention, as well
2. In all technicality, punishment "not being anyone's fault" may not be true, but it is true that any transgression or supposedly immoral act someone made was just the result of a combination of the sum of all their experiences, and their genetics. However, that doesn't mean that people shouldn't be held accountable for their actions. If they weren't, then people could just do anything they wanted to and societies couldn't exist. Punishment, then, acts as an addition to a person's experiences, which prevents them from committing transgressions through fear of it happening. Which brings me back to the point about the concept of eternal punishment for immoral acts in this lifetime being illogical.
Therefore, if anyone is making specious arguments, it's you, by trying to rebuke what I said with the simple response "nothing is anyone's fault? That takes the cake on fucking stupidity."
And I never said he did any harm to me, beyond annoying me with his ignorance. Now all of you fucking shut up and stop posting here and get a mod to delete this shitfest.
The focus of my thoughts was a response to the unconditional love comment early in Bioture's thread. Meaning, more on the fact that God specifically chose some to be saved, the moment of salvation, and the unconditional love of God towards the chosen. The flip side that there are those that are not chosen is difficult. I'll sit under a tree and think about that more.
You need to be Jewish, since they are the Chosen People of Israel. Also, the food is good. And, you get a lot of days off from work because of all the freakin' holidays. /my lame attempt at humor.
Therefore, if anyone is making specious arguments, it's you, by trying to rebuke what I said with the simple response "nothing is anyone's fault? That takes the cake on fucking stupidity."
spe-cious
adjective
superficially plausible, but actually wrong : a specious argument.
• misleading in appearance, esp. misleadingly attractive : the music trade gives Golden Oldies a specious appearance of novelty.
Me saying that your argument takes the cake on stupidity isn't specious. It's insulting and brief. Insulting because it earns it, and brief because it sparks an entire debate on the existence of free will and choice, which is off topic.
You should also re-read the Oxford dictionary definition for punishment that I posted. It's not just used for reform or prevention. It's the penalty you get for retribution of an offense made. That's it. You're confusing what something IS, with what it's used for most often, and then deeming to look down and label other things as shitfests, and people as stupid. I will up the ante as this is already in useless crap, however.
1: Getting "annoyed" by another person's personal belief system that does you no harm, is beyond retarded. It's genuinely a really stupid way to go through life, one that will probably be burned from your personality as you grow older and realize that nobody wants to hear your shitty poetry.
2: Make sure you're absolutely certain of your position and what you're typing, before you begin insulting people on the Internets, because if you don't, it's recorded there to be used against you.
3: You're not quite as enlightened as you seem to think yourself to be. When you tell other people that their myths make them seem as if the world were flat, your behavior makes YOU seem like a Neanderthal with a club, unreasonably angry at anything you don't want to see.
4: I'm a Kentuckian, while that opens me up for lots of jokes, I've heard them all already, so I'll just say that Kentuckians love to argue. I can keep this shit up for days or weeks if necessary. You should also take note that I'm not a Christian, which is a unique thing in a small town in the bible belt.
one thing that annoys me that's become some "magic bullet" for athiests around here (keep in mind these are high schoolers, by no means do i refer to anyone else at all) is apparently some giant paradox: how can we have free will yet also follow God's plan?
i mean, i think that's retarded. i can jump and move and spin to my content, but even though i do all that of my own free will, i'm still limited by the laws of physics. same with god-
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