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What I like about living up north
November 24, 2013 at 6:20 pm
After living up here for a few months, I came to the realization that no one has asked me in small talk "so what church do you go to?" as if I go to one. Or "what denomination are you?" as if I belong to one. When I lived in the south, it seemed that in most conversations I had one of those questions would get raised eventually.
My ignore list
"The lord doesn't work in mysterious ways, but in ways that are indistinguishable from his nonexistence."
-- George Yorgo Veenhuyzen quoted by John W. Loftus in The End of Christianity (p. 103).
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RE: What I like about living up north
November 24, 2013 at 6:23 pm
"What church do you go to?" is code for "Have you seen Elvis today?" It's basically harmless.
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RE: What I like about living up north
November 24, 2013 at 6:24 pm
Many northerners are more interested in your ethnic/racial background. Different focus, but still clique-ish.
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RE: What I like about living up north
November 24, 2013 at 6:32 pm
Never gotten asked that before. Not even by family. But then Denver is quite liberal and ethnically diverse..
If I were to create self aware beings knowing fully what they would do in their lifetimes, I sure wouldn't create a HELL for the majority of them to live in infinitely! That's not Love, that's sadistic. Therefore a truly loving god does not exist!
Quote:The sin is against an infinite being (God) unforgiven infinitely, therefore the punishment is infinite.
Dead wrong. The actions of a finite being measured against an infinite one are infinitesimal and therefore merit infinitesimal punishment.
Quote:Some people deserve hell.
I say again: No exceptions. Punishment should be equal to the crime, not in excess of it. As soon as the punishment is greater than the crime, the punisher is in the wrong.
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RE: What I like about living up north
November 24, 2013 at 6:33 pm
Ha! That's funny! I moved from East Tennessee to Upstate New York in the middle of high school, and I remember thinking something was missing when I was meeting people, but not being able to put my finger on it. It was that! No more "what church do you go to?"
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RE: What I like about living up north
November 24, 2013 at 6:50 pm
One of the reasons I'm staying in the Northeast until I die.
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RE: What I like about living up north
November 24, 2013 at 6:58 pm
At least over here the only real thing to watch out for about 'oop North' is outlined in this song (NSFW lyrics, but you shouldn't be watching it at work anyway):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9tWpR5HZnQ
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: What I like about living up north
November 24, 2013 at 7:12 pm
I had much the same sort of cultural upset when we moved to NZ.
In Northern Ireland, religious affiliation was everything - literally. It determined where you could live, what streets you could walk on, where you could work (even what kind of work you could do), how you were treated by the peelers - everything.
Even when I travelled outside of Norn Iron, as soon as people found out where I was from, practically the first thing I was asked was, 'Protestant or Catholic?'.
In New Zealand, people ask where I'm from. I say, 'Belfast, Northern Ireland.' They pause and say, 'Is it nice there?' That's it.
Refreshing.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
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RE: What I like about living up north
November 24, 2013 at 7:39 pm
(November 24, 2013 at 6:20 pm)teaearlgreyhot Wrote: After living up here for a few months, I came to the realization that no one has asked me in small talk "so what church do you go to?" as if I go to one. Or "what denomination are you?" as if I belong to one. When I lived in the south, it seemed that in most conversations I had one of those questions would get raised eventually.
Generally speaking (and I'm aware I could be walking into a poo storm here), it's the other way around in the UK. Southerners are a lot more relaxed about religion where as Northerners are a bit more wound up. I'm speaking as a Southerner who is now living up North, much like yourself but on a different continent.
MM
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions" - Leonardo da Vinci
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
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RE: What I like about living up north
November 24, 2013 at 8:12 pm
Full disclosure: no one's asked me that down here in the 6 years I've been living in Charlotte.
On the other hand, I suffer from Bitchy Resting Face. I assume this makes me unapproachable.
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