Aloha Dodo:

I am a theist and a veteran of the USMC infantry. Don't be impressed. Ronald Reagan was president so, there was nothing to do but train. His 8yr presidency had 6yrs of zero conflict. So I have NO wartime benefits.

Some might say, "That's a good thing". But, my only reason to join in that volunteer service was to see how many communists I could kill in 4yrs! I'm still at zero!

And when Ronny said, "Tear down this wall!" Well, that was it!

If I had stayed in, I could have brought out the Maytag's and washed a few towel heads!

I am also patriotic but, I am also a theist who CAN'T STAND theology or religiosities! I am
antitheology, antireligious!

The Bible is just about how to breath and enjoy life without screwing it up! I translate the bible and it's really that simple. It took me years to learn how to do. I live a glorious life but, you won't find me in church!

I often feel like I'm not just talking a different language to them, but I'm in a different world. The more religious someone is, the less I can relate to anything they say; unless they manage to completely keep their religion out of it. However, the more religious someone is, the less they seem capable of that.

(July 26, 2018 at 5:29 am)robvalue Wrote: ....the less I can relate to anything they say; unless they manage to completely keep their religion out of it. However, the more religious someone is, the less they seem capable of that.

And that's a problem because....As I said it takes two to tango. You are in a different world as you say. What are you doing to reach out to understand their perspective? Or are you assuming that a fruitful conversation requires people to keep a lid on their religion?

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(July 26, 2018 at 2:29 am)Haipule Wrote: ...my only reason to join in that volunteer service was to see how many communists I could kill in 4yrs! I'm still at zero!...I could have brought out the Maytag's and washed a few towel heads!...I am also patriotic but, I am also a theist who CAN'T STAND theology or religiosities! I am
antitheology, antireligious!

I hope all that was meant to be sarcastic.

Quote:Don't be impressed. Ronald Reagan was president so, there was nothing to do but train.

You could have gotten blown sky high in Beirut.  Just before he "cut and ran."

(July 21, 2018 at 12:23 pm)DodosAreDead Wrote: Two of these in particular, a Muslim and a Christian, are among my very best friends, and we frequently debate about religion, god, politics, and loads of other controversial topics. We're all very strong minded, and rarely, if ever, do such discussions result in any one of us actually changing any of our stances.

Stahp, lol. 

Quote:But there's one thing in particular that aggravates me: their blatant dislike and disrespect of my country. They both vehemently hate it, and never fail to say so. However, their opinions, right, they're entitled to them. Right? However annoyed, disrespected, or hurt I may feel when they regularly and often tell me they'd rather die than belong to my country, I accept it. 

Why?  Is their opinion rooted in geopolitical fact...or in religious beliefs?

If someone says to me.."your country has done questionable things", I say, "no shit!"....if they say "your country is decadent before god!", I say...."and........?"

(July 26, 2018 at 3:46 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote:

(July 26, 2018 at 5:29 am)robvalue Wrote: ....the less I can relate to anything they say; unless they manage to completely keep their religion out of it. However, the more religious someone is, the less they seem capable of that.

And that's a problem because....As I said it takes two to tango. You are in a different world as you say. What are you doing to reach out to understand their perspective? Or are you assuming that a fruitful conversation requires people to keep a lid on their religion?

---

(July 26, 2018 at 2:29 am)Haipule Wrote: ...my only reason to join in that volunteer service was to see how many communists I could kill in 4yrs! I'm still at zero!...I could have brought out the Maytag's and washed a few towel heads!...I am also patriotic but, I am also a theist who CAN'T STAND theology or religiosities! I am
antitheology, antireligious!

I hope all that was meant to be sarcastic.

Silly: yes. Sarcasm: no. I really, really can't STAND theology and wrote an entire book on the Word of God vs. Theology. Well, the Word of God won!


We all know that theology is lame! Religion is lame! But, the Word of God has absativally NOTHING to do with "theology" or "religion". The Xtians here are not going to back me up. Neither are the agnostics, atheists or anti-theists because all put God in some box they can fuck with and quote Scripture! These things should not be! 

Your own life and observation is far more important than anyone's "theology", "religiosities" or even "science"!

I personally would rather talk to you about your observations over martinis rather then listen to another "theologian", religious freak or science geek!

(July 27, 2018 at 2:34 am)Haipule Wrote: Silly: yes. Sarcasm: no. I really, really can't STAND theology and wrote an entire book on the Word of God vs. Theology. Well, the Word of God won!


We all know that theology is lame! Religion is lame! But, the Word of God has absativally NOTHING to do with "theology" or "religion". The Xtians here are not going to back me up. Neither are the agnostics, atheists or anti-theists because all put God in some box they can fuck with and quote Scripture! These things should not be! 

Your own life and observation is far more important than anyone's "theology", "religiosities" or even "science"!

I personally would rather talk to you about your observations over martinis rather then listen to another "theologian", religious freak on science geek!

Might I ask what you consider the Word of God?

I tend to be more intuitive and understanding of certain things than others, and it seems to me that your personal take on the Word of God is just that: personal. It is not anything that can be demonstratively proven as real. In fact, according to the wonderful science of psychology, you could very well just be imagining that something exists when it does not.

(July 27, 2018 at 2:38 am)Kit Wrote:

(July 27, 2018 at 2:34 am)Haipule Wrote: Silly: yes. Sarcasm: no. I really, really can't STAND theology and wrote an entire book on the Word of God vs. Theology. Well, the Word of God won!


We all know that theology is lame! Religion is lame! But, the Word of God has absativally NOTHING to do with "theology" or "religion". The Xtians here are not going to back me up. Neither are the agnostics, atheists or anti-theists because all put God in some box they can fuck with and quote Scripture! These things should not be! 

Your own life and observation is far more important than anyone's "theology", "religiosities" or even "science"!

I personally would rather talk to you about your observations over martinis rather then listen to another "theologian", religious freak on science geek!

Might I ask what you consider the Word of God?

I tend to be more intuitive and understanding of certain things than others, and it seems to me that your personal take on the Word of God is just that: personal.  It is not anything that can be demonstratively proven as real.  In fact, according to the wonderful science of psychology, you could very well just be imagining that something exists when it does not.

The Word of God is the God given theopnustos--God-breathed Scriptures. I taught myself how to translate them perfectly according to the grammatical inflection of the autographed languages of the bible. A feat that took me years. It took me so long because of my own theological prejudice of what those words MUST mean right? As well as, the theological prejudice of my teachers.

To this end, I LOVE God's Word found in Scripture(the bible), and HATE every theological nuanced imposed upon it! The English translation of the bible is soo bad--the simple truths about the right here, right now, that life I discovered, has been completely burned beyond recognition!


For some crazy ass reason, the hierarchy of the church thought it was talking about "salvation", "sin" and "spirit" while inventing religion and worship so they could have their power!


I look at the hierarchy, known as "the clergy", with their invented nonsense, like a brick looks at a stained glass window!


I did not "imagine" proper noun declension or, verb conjugation! I honored it as it is written in the autographed language by the original writers. I found something gorgeous! Did I do something wrong?

Anyone who prays and believes that God (the ultimate creator of everything), is taking the time to listen to them is already a deluded victim and should be hospitalized.




Sad but true.

(July 27, 2018 at 3:04 am)Haipule Wrote: The Word of God is the God given theopnustos--God-breathed Scriptures. I taught myself how to translate them perfectly according to the grammatical inflection of the autographed languages of the bible. A feat that took me years. It took me so long because of my own theological prejudice of what those words MUST mean right? As well as, the theological prejudice of my teachers.

To this end, I LOVE God's Word found in Scripture(the bible), and HATE every theological nuanced imposed upon it! The English translation of the bible is soo bad--the simple truths about the right here, right now, that life I discovered, has been completely burned beyond recognition!


For some crazy ass reason, the hierarchy of the church thought it was talking about "salvation", "sin" and "spirit" while inventing religion and worship so they could have their power!


I look at the hierarchy, known as "the clergy", with their invented nonsense, like a brick looks at a stained glass window!


I did not "imagine" proper noun declension or, verb conjugation! I honored it as it is written in the autographed language by the original writers. I found something gorgeous! Did I do something wrong?

Oh, the same scripture written by man, the same man who created religion and theology. Gotcha! You haven't found enlightenment; you're still a fool for god as are those whom you rail against on the basis of religion and theology.

Sorry, but your personal interpretation is no more accurate than that of any other theist. Nice try, however.