Hell and God cant Co-exist.

[madog]

You think what you like 

I don't need you to tell me that.

But I did anyway 

[Neo-Scholastic]

I tend to forget that this is an International forum. Some people will not be familiar with popular radio shows on National Public Radio in the USA. "The Prairie Home Companion" is a show that has been aired for at least 20-years now. It includes brief sentimental stories about a small town in Minnesota (Don'cha know). The storyteller is Garrison Keiller. He pokes fun at the culture of Norwegian-American Lutherans. It's all good fun, the urban professionals in the live audience laugh at the antic of the town folk who are represented as uneducated, emotionally stifled, hicks. I laugh too. Having grown up in a small Midwestern town I can see myself and some of my family members.

Now I live in Chicago where people make a big deal about their national heritages. The Polish-American's march on Pulaski day. Saint Patrick's is hugely important to the Irish-Americans. "Tony and Tina's Wedding" and "Flanagan's Wake" are two of the most popular long-running comedies in Chicago. Both poke fun at the idiosyncrasies of their respective national identities. At work we freely poke fun at each other based on stereotypes that are sometimes spot-on.

I say all this not to invalidate anyone's feelings about being offended. I just hope that those who were can understand that my comment to Jor, who I consider an online friend, that she was acting Irish by answering a question with another question was not intended to be derogatory. From where I stand comments like that are par for the course in a country and city where people can recognize and joke about the unique peculiarities of their own cultures.

So if now, after having fully explained my attitude and motivations, someone wants to continue vilifying me as a racist that it is their right, but I am not obligated to change how I express myself when I feel I have done nothing wrong other than provide insufficient context for what I said.

[Homeless Nutter]

[...]It's all good fun, the urban professionals in the live audience laugh at the antic of the town folk who are represented as uneducated, emotionally stifled, hicks. I laugh too. Having grown up in a small Midwestern town I can see myself and some of my family members. [...]

Well then - I guess we do have something in common after all. I may have grown up on the other side of the world, but I can totally see you and some of your family members as uneducated, emotionally stifled hicks.

[Neo-Scholastic]

Why do I even bother?

[Catholic_Lady]

Let me try to explain from my perspective. If you're actually interested in hearing it, and not just interested in criticizing us Christians for what you think we all believe in, regardless. 

Personally my belief is that Hell isn't a physical place, it's a state of being. It's when a person has fully and consciously rejected God after they die, which at that point means they have rejected love and goodness, since they learn at that point that God IS love and goodness. This is a self punishment because we are creatures of love, made for love, and we need it to be happy. So when we are so filled with hate and pride and greed that we reject love and goodness, we are only making ourselves miserable and empty. That is Hell.   

Hope that helps clear it up.

Deb, if that's your interpretation, you're not even religious!

There's way too much fairy floss and cream puffs in that explanation, I feel like I'm in OZ.
Who in their right mind would consciously reject "anybody" after they've died?

I would be the first to acknowledge that I was wrong (due to insufficient information.)   and go from there!   woot!

Not religious? That's the understanding of Hell that is held by a lot of Catholic theologians.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/18/arts/h...wanted=all

[Catholic_Lady]

What in the world has this thread gone to anyway? What's all this talk about the Irish and racism??

[emjay]

To be honest sometimes I just wish we could all reset... the whole world. Just reset and accept from the get-go that we're all flawed - we get angry, we get arrogant, we get butthurt, we generalise, we make assumptions etc sometimes no matter what our aspirations may be to the contrary, just because we're human. If we could just accept that and stop holding each other to these impossible standards, then perhaps there would be no reason to ever call each other hypocrites or no reason for hurt pride. It may be idealistic to think that could ever happen universally but it does already in some parts, and is one of the many things that I think we can learn from Buddhism... to accept these human traits as human traits, without judgement.

[emjay]

This was for me a very inspiring video if anyone's interested and it does touch upon this subject. It's long but he's very down to earth, likeable, and funny :

[madog]

What in the world has this thread gone to anyway? What's all this talk about the Irish and racism??

Please I let it drop. that I take my daughters nationality being used as an insult should have been the end of the  subject  ....

I have seen the decades of insults aimed at a nationality that doesn't just end in pleasant jokes but goes on to effect housing, employment, etc, etc 

[Pat Mustard]

Why do I even bother?

Some of us are wondering the same thing. All we get from you is throwing the same old shit at the same old windmills.