Blog Comments

Anyone pronouncing Pokémon as Pokey Man is either trolling, joking around, or completely ignorant. No one seriously calls it Pokeyman. Most of the time, they'd say Pokeymon rather than the true pronunciation of Poh-kay-mon, completely ignoring the acute mark in é.

I don't have a clue what the smurf you just said, but it touched my heart.

I'm a professional. I can't without risking my job. But if it ever becomes legal, then yeah I think it's the first thing I'll do.

Try pot.

Lol, these storys are so random :P

Amen I've started rereading the Bible lately (Roman Catholic here :P) in order to try to get a complete grasp of our religion. Anyway, I disagree with the guy at the store you mentioned. Like both of you said, Jesus kind of "ret-conned" the whole OT law. I don't know how it is exactly with most Protestant denominations, but we are taught that the Bible should mostly be treated metaphorically rather than literally, seeing as there is quite a big value dissonance between the OT and the NT, the laws of the Old Testament gain a new meaning in our culture. The Catholic Church is very controversial, I know - some say it's a tyrant, while some strong Protestant denominations say it's far too liberal, but I generally agree with these teachings. Just though I'd throw in my three cents

Also, shion, Christians should be learned in the Old Testament. Without it, the New Testament is baseless. Christians follow Jesus because He is the Messiah who fulfills the prophecy of the Old Testament (which might include making allowances for some of the rules established in leviticus!)
Without understanding the Old Testament and it's prophecies, we cannot understand the actual worth of Jesus' sacrifice. Remember that he did not come to overthrow Judaism. He came to complete it. So without Judaism, there is no Christianity. There is a lot of wisdom in the OT that still applies to the lives of Christians today.

I know that, but when these guys come in, I need to know exactly which verse to pull out.
I could've sworn that Jesus explained how many of the old testament laws were vanquished somewhere in Matthew 9, but I couldn't find it and, like I said, I simply reverted to Romans 3, since that usually kills any debate.
But he said that I was professing Gnosticism, which is exactly what I was doing, and then I didn't know where to go anymore. Because Gnosticism has obvious faults.
I know we don't have to abide by Leviticus anymore. But unless I can prove it with the actual verses in the New Testament, I end up getting steamrolled, and that's what happened. Which is, as I said, why I have to study more.

But if I can't find it, then I might be wrong. One of the best reasons to study the Bible is to find out when things we are told are in the Bible at church and by are peers are not actually in the Bible.
Making that sort of declaration requires some incredible confidence in knowledge and understanding of the text, but with all these denominations arguing with each other, and with so many Christians not ever actually even reading the Bible, it stands to reason that many of our practices are not Biblical.
This one I was debating last night is an idea I have taken for granted. Until I find out exactly what the Bible says and what Jesus said, I can't disregard the issue.

ACTUALLY
The law on eating pork and shellfish and such doesn't apply to christians as per the New Testament. Moses's law was in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, Jesus says people are free to eat those things (obviously not exact wording, it's been a few years since I read The Bible) Jesus also mentions how there was to much emphasis on Law and mostly that faith is more important then Law. So being christian, we are more so supposed to follow in the words of the New Testament, as opposed to the Old Testament. I think the Old Testament is more for the Jewish, but I could be mistaken. I don't know much about the Jewish religion.

So yes, the woman was incorrect if she was refering to Christianity.

Initially, the mini-essay was a response to an article that a friend (agnostic) sent me. I was actually going to focus on the lack of religion in Sci-Fi, but I got nervous and researched it before I wrote down my opinions and, I think, realized that I was wrong. So my response went freestyle and this is what I produced. I posted it here for S&Gs, and I am happy to hear any sort of reply. An atheist's perspective is always welcome, since, despite my confidence in my ability to see many sides of a situation, I rarely know what an atheist response is.

In any event, I don't really want to engage in a heated discussion I want to make sure I understand you and help you understand me.

Anyway, I don't disagree with you. I think you are right in that as more countries become more developed, as people become more educated and more aware of how the world works, the number of atheists will increase. That is the obvious current trend, and there is hardly much need to expound on that, considering all the unfortunate circumstances where "Christians" have proved themselves to be obstinately backward and uneducated. In the US, the Bible Belt is not comprised of the most industrious, educated states (although I wouldn't underestimate the people themselves.).
So, if religion is a method of inventing answers based on ancient myth instead of scientific method, then science will surely wash it away, very soon.
And if we follow scientific principles in order to maintain the more perfect society, Biblical morality may not be the most appropriate, and certain things that a Christian may find morally repugnant, like abortion or homosexuality, could be incorporated as healthy elements of a highly moral society.

I am guessing that you don't follow my logic because you don't use my logic, not entirely.
You see, whenever I test a hypothesis, I maintain that the existence of God is a given.

Maybe I don't need to expound on that, but I suppose I will.
I think that atheists who take religion into any sort of account when they make scientific discovery, are only using religion as an antagonistic concept. They are trying to use science to debunk religion, and if they believe that the only purpose of religion is to create baseless claims that, uh, opiate the masses, like geocentrism, then their scientific goals are quite noble and justified.

Unfortunately, explaining science isn't really the objective of the Christian religion, which is the only one I dare or care to discuss. The Bible isn't a science book. It's a history book (and a prophetic book). Scientists can prove everything all the way back to the specific details of how the universe was created, and it will have no serious bearing on whether the Bible is right or God exists. It will have no bearing on the the definition or the consequence of sin in the Bible. It will have no consequence on the importance of understanding that God is holy, the alpha and omega, the creator and the destroyer, the one to pass a final judgment on our souls. The Bible discusses the nature of God, the importance of understanding the consequences of sinfulness and disobeying God, the path to salvation and the little bit of Godly wisdom that those who seek the Lord are blessed to learn.
The Bible does not serve at all to explain anything about the science of the world. It discusses only, perhaps, the science of the spiritual battle, which cannot be experimented with by using any element of the periodic table in a laboratory (unless we're being metaphorical, of course).

I mean, it is already clear that scientific reasons govern how and why everything we understand happens. It is only logical that there will be scientific reasons for how and why things we don't yet understand happen also.
If you are an atheist, your conclusion might be that the scientific understanding erases the presence of God.
If you are a Christian, your conclusion is that science is the tool that God uses to operate our world.
Forget miracles. If one happens for you, that's great, but every Christian knows it's a better idea to hide in the cellar during a tornado than to play baseball and expect protection from God.

So! Oy, I hope you don't mind reading all this! So, my logic is:
First, God does exist.
When science discovers all the answers, it won't affect God, since God likes science and has decided to use it for our universe.
Since God exists, which is a given in my argument, then he will not disappear when people merely understand science, his tool.
If people do not use God as a scapegoat for scientific theories they don't understand, God will remain only as who He professes to be, and I believe His credibility will skyrocket among the educated who will no longer see God or the Bible as a fairy tale that contradicts science.

That is how my logic works.
Judging by your final comment, I don't know if you have fathomed all that has been said or not already, but it is what it is.

What use is Christianity?
That's a very simple question that is extremely difficult to explain to somebody who does not have faith in Christ. I'm going to get all religion and not so much explanation of logic, so get ready.

The value of Christianity is, of course, the promise of eternal life. Being born again. But there is also the important element of the Holy Spirit being within a Christian that causes the transformation. A Christian is keenly aware of right and wrong because of accepting Jesus and the Holy Spirit into his heart, as opposed to merely following written rules in the Bible or on a paper somewhere in the Vatican or anywhere else.
Becoming a Christian has very little to do with an individual's actions or the actions of anybody else. It is a direct result of God communicating directly with the individual. And once God chooses you, the idea that God does not exist becomes kinda laughable, which is why I am so firm in my belief that the use of God as a given is so important in my logical analysis of things.
And like I also said in the initial blog post, God did not send Jesus to die for our sins just so that he can be forgotten. The Bible itself discusses entire generations that have fallen into Godlessness and were destroyed, rebuilt, or allowed to exist for whatever reason. Solomon is a perfect example of somebody who was blessed by God and then chose to disobey anyway. The consequence was the eradication of Israel, a country that was not rebuilt until about 65 years ago. God flooded the Earth and saved only Noah and his family. God forced poor Jonah to get eaten by a whale before he agreed to the sinful city of Nineveh and preach to them so that God could save those people. Why does God erase an entire civilization and then torture one good man in order to save the same sort of people who committed the same crimes as the ones who are now destroyed? The reasons behind God's decisions are not for us to know, but what we can derive from the Bible is that nearly the entire world can turn atheist , but it would only be part of God's plan for the future. And so, again, I am not afraid for my God, myself, or the future of Christianity when I see trends move one way or another. I am born again, and I know God, and I know what use Christianity is to me and you and the entire world forever on into the future.
The atheists fight a scarier battle, for they do not yet know God, and the more they believe they must fight Christianity, the more difficult it will be for them to find the desire to seek Him.
My mission is only to talk about the glory of God and to pray, since I cannot do anything else but leave the world in God's hands.

Anyway, I am having trouble keeping my piece solid here. I think I'm drifting too far between one point and another, so I will end this for now.

I don't know how much in the way of feedback or criticism you're looking for, but I don't follow your logic, and I figured you might be interested in an atheist's perspective. I think you need to put a little more thought into why exactly there are more and more atheists. Which is related to another criticism: that you point to humans needing to be better people to be atheists. I disagree. There are irrational, sad, angry, pathetic, deluded atheists, just like there are intelligent, thoughtful, kind, and happy ones. The difference is not moral code, but in intellectual values. Atheism is often not even embraced willingly; I know anecdotally of many former devout Christians who went through months, years of struggle coming to grips with it in the face of how they'd been indoctrinated.

That being said, there are more and more atheists in the developed world; the atheist proportion of the US population has more than doubled in the past two decades. This is not (directly) a social or moral increase, but primarily an intellectual one. As more and more knowledge becomes available, people become aware more. It's not a coincidence that the development and education is often positively related to the amount of atheism. This trend will only continue, barring a massive apocalypse that reverts humanity back to the caveman era, and I would bet money on the fact that, eventually, atheists with be a majority in developed countries.

The same trends have happened and continue to happen when religious faith or prejudice confronts reality or logic; eventually, over generations, reason wins. It used to be taboo for interracial couples to marry, but eventually that not only became legal, but widely accepted. Gay marriage used to be unthinkable, and now a bare majority of the country supports that right -- and eventually it will be entirely legal and widely accepted as well. Evolutionary theory (unlike other, much less understood theories, such as gravity) came under and still comes under fire from fundamentalists, but science continued onward and now anti-evolutionism is (justifiably) considered backwards and is a minority view of very religious areas in the developed world. I could also cite abortion or marijuana or geocentrism or numerous other examples.

There are some vaguely religious beliefs that science can't directly contradict. The non-perceivable, deist clockmaker-type god for one, and that is only because it is entirely useless, in that it says absolutely nothing about how the universe or anything in it works -- so naturally it is compatible with any and all observations. The religions with more personal gods and that assert natures and actions to their deities do not fair so well when held up to scientific scrutiny. And if Christianity becomes more like the former as more and more gaps are filled, what real use will it be?

Holy cow! I just figured it out! I don't need a friend! I want a female in a work relationship with me, one that doesn't extend outside of work! Preferably in the same position as me (which won't happen, since I'm the boss...).
But that's what I miss.
Wow. How enlightening. Thanks for all your help.
Gotta find a suitable employee now maybe.
Maybe not. Maybe I need a second job. lol
Maybe I just gotta get my chick fix in some sort of other environment. Bleah.

lol Freya.
I never said I was becoming creepy, only old, and I was kinda eluding exactly what I meant there. I'm too good looking to be creepy. I'm too young to be old. And I'm too manly to be uninterested in women.
However, I will admit that I may have written my blog imperfectly, possibly focusing too much on the physical beauty of women, possibly implying some sort of impotence on my own part, as though there is something that I cannot achieve. That isn't really the case. I didn't mean to describe myself as an old, lonely pervert, even if I aim to determine whether that is what I am, but then again, it is what all men are destined to become, as opposed to young, lonely perverts. Aging shouldn't be creepy for other people though, only for the person who is closer to death. And if you did understand me as well as I would hope, then the sad news is that you will one day learn how the quest for youth and beauty are timeless, classic elements of human nature that have existed since before recorded history.

Anyway, I was thinking about how I felt today, as I was trying to communicate with an elderly Frenchman, and I think it isn't only the absence of beauty that is agonizing. I think it's also the absence of conversation. I mean, everybody I talk to is either asking me for money or asking me to reduce the prices of things I paid good money for. I hate talking about money.
Or else it's stuff about Christianity. I'm a solid Christian and I know the Bible real well, but I don't need to talk about it all the time. I understand the joy of people who are finding God for the first time and want to tell the world about the exciting verses and everything that I've heard countless times etc. Or the old, long-time Christians who want to lecture me on stuff that they suppose I don't understand. lol I know my religion better than many of the "bishops" and "apostles" and whatnot out there, unfortunately.

I don't merely want to be around a couple girls under 60. I think I miss the conversation with an educated youth. Somebody creative. Some sort of female college graduate who hasn't become a lawyer yet. I think I would like to meet somebody like that. And yeah. Be friends. Friends without "benefits."

And AngelWings, I don't actually have any guy friends either. I know guys who I used to be friends with, but have since become business partners and/or buddies who I see once or twice a year.
That's kinda what growing up is all about. Losing all your friends and praying you're married by the time you become more dedicated to work than socializing.

Perhaps I shouldn't post my darker thoughts on this blog though.
Foolishly, I wasn't actually expecting any sort of response. Now I feel like I have to think about things that would otherwise pass away after a few nights, until something more urgent forces its way into my world.

I just... what? o.o man you really are turning into a creepy old man.

Classes are a good idea. I've taken dance classes before and have always wanted to take a cooking class too...sounds like a lot of fun. What about your guy friends...do they have any female friends (that they're not trying to hook up with)? Maybe try to do a get together or something with people. I try to do a board game night once every week or two with a group of friends...and sometimes we'll find good BYOB restaurants in the city to all grab dinner together. Everyone loves food

Oh yeah. That's right. I was actually looking for a Sunday class. I want to learn how to dance to country music. Forgot. I'll research that.

Try situations outside of a bar/club/party environment. If you have time and enjoy learning, pick up a class. I've met a few friends (acquaintances is probably more accurate) by signing up on the local frisbee golf board. Some of those were female. People looking for partners to play with.

If you don't have time, just start talking to people. I had a nice long conversation about my dog, that delved into the best little place in town to get a burger with a very pretty young lady at the Pet Smart last week.

Maybe she was dropping hints for me to take her out sometime, but I wasn't getting that vibe.

Boxer-briefs are the perfect undergarment. Good luck with your new reputation. Maybe you can play it to your advantage like Sponge Bob.

Squats are the one exercise I try and do no matter what. I usually do them with my hands behind me on the bathroom counter so my arms get some work too.

It took you three drafts to figure out your character has to be a female? I think that's the first thing most people decide on. xD Interesting.