Heaven - A Fool's Paradise - DPChallenge Forums

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

06/20/2010 12:53:15 AM · #301

Originally posted by Melethia:

Is he the guy who is responsible for a^2 + b^2 = c^2?

Yep, same guy. He was said to be the son of a god (Apollo), and "the Pythia prophesied that his pregnant mother would give birth to a man supremely beautiful, wise, and beneficial to humankind."

rooum

06/20/2010 01:53:35 AM · #302

Originally posted by scalvert:

The stories of Jesus may be compelling to some, but they're hardly unique or original.

Very true. They were around long before Jesus or even Pythagorus. The stories of Horus and Osiris and Isis are remarkably similar and they trace back to 2-3000 years or more before Jesus.

Message edited by author 2010-06-20 01:57:18.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

06/20/2010 02:08:07 AM · #303

Originally posted by raish:

I hasten to add that dictionaries of English do not 'define' words, but rather offer a guide to common usage.

DICTIONARY, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth
of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary,
however, is a most useful work.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary (1906)

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

06/20/2010 12:46:47 PM · #304

Good news! The Louisiana senate has unanimously approved a solution for the oil spill.

Kelli

Canon EOS-D60

06/20/2010 02:27:57 PM · #305

Originally posted by scalvert:

Good news! The Louisiana senate has unanimously approved a solution for the oil spill.

Oh my! Sure, that will work!

one2one

Olympus E-5

Olympus 7-14mm f/4.0 Zuiko Digital Zoom

06/20/2010 04:40:28 PM · #306

Originally posted by Mousie:

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

Originally posted by yanko:
I'd agree if atheist parents raised their child to be atheist it would also be indoctrination. Fact of the matter, unless you're born in a vaccumn you can't escape indoctrination. Those raised in western societies will have a leaning toward western ideals and so on and so forth. Ultimately it's up to the individual to realize this and then start questioning everything.

This is my point and it makes the word unuseful. Why even bring it up if everything is taught in this manner? It's a garbage word and garbage words are usually only brought up to throw stones at the other side. "Bigot" is another classic. The word is used exclusively for someone who believes something you do not. Nobody declares someone who is on their side of an issue to be "bigoted". So it basically boils down to a covert insult or dismissal of the position out of hand; and that, my friend, is not the "free thinking" you are espousing.

I call BS.

Are children indoctrinated to not to not believe in Zeus, or is not believing in Zeus an implication of being indoctrinated to believe in God instead?

I can tell you for a fact that religion is a non-issue in my parents house, and was only mentioned when the children brought it up, and then pretty much waved off with a 'we don't do that like some people do, but your grandparents were Protestant if anything'. I was certainly NOT indoctrinated into my atheism/agnosticism. THERE IS NO DOCTRINE. There was no teaching. There was no express transfer. Is simple osmosis indoctrination? I don't think so.

I'm sure there are some indoctrinated atheists. But please. You're making the same mistake as calling atheism a faith or religion. It's a freakin' absence! And it's a way of thinking that most people, here in this religion saturated society, must come to all by themselves because they certainly aren't being taught it in churches or schools. Quite the opposite.

To proffer a self-serving analogy... you're making the same mistake as people who think gays recruit kids into 'the lifestyle' when kids just are gay and us older folks simply aren't turning them away from the club. People come to it themselves. Just like atheism, in the US at least.

Great post and so true. I've been a non-believer all my life, even as a child sitting in church listening to all the pastors and important guests that came to preach that God was it. I always thought that it was all a joke and that some adult would get up and tell us that it was all a lie but that never happened. I did try to believe in a God for a long time but I never accepted it because it went against my logic and common sense, it brought up way too many other unanswerable questions.

( I don't care if I've insulted anyone with my words, it felt very good to say it without trying to find nice words that the religionists will approve of and not take so damn personally. )

RayEthier

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

06/20/2010 09:23:16 PM · #307

Originally posted by Kelli:

Originally posted by scalvert:
Good news! The Louisiana senate has unanimously approved a solution for the oil spill.

Oh my! Sure, that will work!

Well if it doesn`t work, they can always blame the gays, scantily clad women, atheists and whatever else suits their fancy.

Ray

Kelli

Canon EOS-D60

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

06/20/2010 10:39:50 PM · #308

Originally posted by RayEthier:

Originally posted by Kelli:

Originally posted by scalvert:
Good news! The Louisiana senate has unanimously approved a solution for the oil spill.

Oh my! Sure, that will work!

Well if it doesn`t work, they can always blame the gays, scantily clad women, atheists and whatever else suits their fancy.

Ray

ROFL! And I'm sure they will!

crayon

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

06/20/2010 11:45:44 PM · #309

Originally posted by NikonJeb:

I refuse to run my life for a promise with no proof or guarantees.

and i refuse to let my life being run by a group of religious freaks who tells me what i can or cant do ;)

David Ey

Nikon D80

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f2.8D

06/21/2010 09:43:13 AM · #310

What about government freaks? Can they tell you what you can and cannot do?

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

06/21/2010 11:39:20 AM · #311

What about parental freaks? Spousal freaks? Department-head freaks? Professorial freaks (if you're in college) or Kiddygarten freaks (if you're in Kindergarten)?

Can anyone tell you what you can and cannot do?

Oddly enough, the rules my parents tried to teach me are pretty much exactly the same as the ones my Sunday-school teachers tried to teach me. I didn't always listen well, but now, in my dotage, I notice I'm pretty much living by those rules... Funny thing, ain't it?

R.

Message edited by author 2010-06-21 11:39:36.

rooum

06/21/2010 12:01:52 PM · #312

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Oddly enough, the rules my parents tried to teach me are pretty much exactly the same as the ones my Sunday-school teachers tried to teach me. I didn't always listen well, but now, in my dotage, I notice I'm pretty much living by those rules... Funny thing, ain't it?

R.

Like a Manchurian Candidate of politeness.

NikonJeb

Nikon D850

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR

06/21/2010 01:42:59 PM · #313

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

The difference being that your parents, generally, will not tell you that you'll burn ibn Hell if you don't do it their way. Parents also are a little more careful about telling you that everyone else's system is wrong simply for being different.

one2one

Olympus E-5

Olympus 7-14mm f/4.0 Zuiko Digital Zoom

06/21/2010 04:25:38 PM · #314

Originally posted by scalvert:

Good news! The Louisiana senate has unanimously approved a solution for the oil spill.

Let's pray to end the oil spill, yeah sure go ahead. Don't pray for eradicating child abuse though. Or rape, or hunger because God doesn't give a crap about these things, he cares about some liquid gushing out of a hole in a gulf instead. Pathetic!

NikonJeb

Nikon D850

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR

06/21/2010 04:47:54 PM · #315

Originally posted by scalvert:

Good news! The Louisiana senate has unanimously approved a solution for the oil spill.

Originally posted by Jac:

How 'bout if some of us wish that the human race weren't raping and abusing the planet indiscriminately? I'm certainly proud of what we've done as humans to kill millions of years worth of growth & evolution with *one* colossal fuckup. Maybe the way we're killing each other off is part of a greater plan to salvage what's left of the planet we haven't yet managed to destroy.

Louis

Nikon D800

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D

06/21/2010 04:54:19 PM · #316

Originally posted by Jac:

Originally posted by scalvert:
Good news! The Louisiana senate has unanimously approved a solution for the oil spill.

Let's pray to end the oil spill, yeah sure go ahead. Don't pray for eradicating child abuse though. Or rape, or hunger because God doesn't give a crap about these things, he cares about some liquid gushing out of a hole in a gulf instead. Pathetic!

During the Bosnian war, I remember hearing a news item about some kids that were dismembered by ordnance while they were out tobogganing. They all died. The same day, I saw some vapid American awards show where some empty-headed fool accepted a piece of schwag by saying a prayer of thanks to God for giving it to them. To paraphrase Nietzsche, a god that stupid would have to be abolished even if he existed.

Message edited by author 2010-06-21 16:54:35.

shamrock

Nikon D300

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D

06/21/2010 07:59:55 PM · #317

Originally posted by NikonJeb:

heh. my inlaws once told my hubby that very thing.

RayEthier

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

06/21/2010 09:21:30 PM · #318

Originally posted by NikonJeb:

Originally posted by Bear_Music:
Oddly enough, the rules my parents tried to teach me are pretty much exactly the same as the ones my Sunday-school teachers tried to teach me. I didn't always listen well, but now, in my dotage, I notice I'm pretty much living by those rules... Funny thing, ain't it?

The difference being that your parents, generally, will not tell you that you'll burn ibn Hell if you don't do it their way. Parents also are a little more careful about telling you that everyone else's system is wrong simply for being different.

I had to chuckle out loud when I read this and I remembered my dear departed mother.

I have no doubts whatsoever that, as a staunch Catholic she would have preferred seeing me meandering about hand in hand with a prostitute than to associate with a Protestant. :O)

Ray

Message edited by author 2010-06-21 21:22:13.

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ED

06/22/2010 12:35:25 AM · #319

Originally posted by crayon:

Originally posted by NikonJeb:
I refuse to run my life for a promise with no proof or guarantees.

and i refuse to let my life being run by a group of religious freaks who tells me what i can or cant do ;)

Bear had it right to call this out. Assuming one can replace "religious freaks" with any moniker of authority, can we all agree on the bankruptcy of such as statement?

Let's assume I am going to adopt the same adage. As my first act of what I "can do", I am going to do my best to make you live by my rules. What are you going to say now? No fair? You can't do that? It will then come down to force fait loi which at the moment would suit me fine because, like it or not, I currently have the numbers.

Can we see how such an attitude, applied universally, would quickly ruin us all?

Apple iPhone 5

06/22/2010 05:30:02 AM · #320

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

Let's assume I am going to adopt the same adage. As my first act of what I "can do", I am going to do my best to make you live by my rules. What are you going to say now? No fair? You can't do that? It will then come down to force fait loi which at the moment would suit me fine because, like it or not, I currently have the numbers.

An army of Christians, on some kind of 'Crusade' ?

Matthew

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Peleng 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye MC In M42 Mount

06/22/2010 05:56:28 AM · #321

Jason, I would still be interested in knowing if you agree with the statement that you believe that your personal beliefs within your sect of christianity are right, even if they do not accord with other world religions, other sects of christianity, or with other people within your sect?

06/22/2010 10:43:27 AM · #322

Originally posted by Matthew:

Actually, I believe I'm bound to be wrong on some aspects. What are the odds I happen to have it 100% correct?

Don't you feel the same? Or do you think you have it down perfectly?

06/22/2010 10:45:05 AM · #323

Originally posted by JH:

Originally posted by DrAchoo:
Let's assume I am going to adopt the same adage. As my first act of what I "can do", I am going to do my best to make you live by my rules. What are you going to say now? No fair? You can't do that? It will then come down to force fait loi which at the moment would suit me fine because, like it or not, I currently have the numbers.

An army of Christians, on some kind of 'Crusade' ?

Exactly. "You can't tell me what to do" doesn't put any sort of governor on such activity. Neither of us want that.

Message edited by author 2010-06-22 10:45:59.

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

06/22/2010 11:31:35 AM · #324

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

What are the odds I happen to have it 100% correct?

Appeals to probability won't do you any favors.

Message edited by author 2010-06-22 11:31:47.