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Brian Lewis
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 August 2012
Posts: 476
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| Posted: 31 January 2013 at 8:41am | IP Logged | 1
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I believe there is another trend that largely gets ignored, the apethist. Of course, we don't care if you know if we believe or not. We don't care if you believe or not. We just feel there are more interesting things to discuss as the entire debate is irrelevant to us.
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John Bodin
Byrne Robotics Member
Purveyor of Rare Items
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 3911
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| Posted: 31 January 2013 at 8:44am | IP Logged | 2
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Random observation: Every time I see the title for this thread, I think, "Oh, so now all atheists are officially gay, and they should come out of the closet?!"
:-)
Note that I'm posting this as a "closet Christian" who has no issue with gays or atheists -- you know, the kind of Christian who's typically referred to as a "heretic" by the nutcase ultra-conservative "christians" who really have nothing to do with any people of true faith, IMO.
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DW Zomberg
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 June 2012
Posts: 444
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| Posted: 31 January 2013 at 8:52am | IP Logged | 3
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True faith. Contradiction in terms. Read what Jesus actually taught and you'll find that there's no such thing as a true Xian either.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133334
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| Posted: 31 January 2013 at 9:44am | IP Logged | 4
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The Christian faith hits a huge speed bump right in the most important part of its own mythology.Having co-opted Messianic Prophesy as the justification for their tales of Jesus (tales without any historical extra-Biblical support, I hasten to add), they were presented with the rather imposing problem that nothing in that prophecy tells that the Messiah will be rejected by most of those he has come to "save", treated as a common criminal, and arrested an executed by the ruling authority. The whole POINT of the Messiah, in fact, is that he would drive that authority out of the occupied lands, his victory to be complete and total. Ironically, tho I am convinced Jesus was a completely fabricated character, built of the "good parts" of many other tales (much like Robin Hood, as I have noted before), his "epic fail" in living up to Messianic Prophecy is one of the few things that actually lends some CREDIBILITY to the story. The fact that Jesus was completely unable to accomplish, in his lifetime, any part of the mission for which he was supposedly sent to Earth, adds a touch of humanity to the story, and makes it seem a tiny bit more "real".
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Aaron Smith
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 06 September 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 10461
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| Posted: 31 January 2013 at 9:47am | IP Logged | 5
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Various faiths become so ingrained in their cultures that people are often unaware of when they are making their presence felt. The simple reflex of saying "God bless you" when someone sneezes is an example of hundred of years of programming.
***
Even after not believing in the religion I was brought up in, it took me several years of effort to drop the habit of saying "God bless you" at the sound of a sneeze. It's now been over a decade since I've said it.
Not long after I stopped saying it, I was working in a store when a customer, a woman in her sixties, sneezed. I said nothing. The conversation then went like this:
Customer: "Well?"
Me: "Well, what?"
Customer: "Well, what do you say when somebody sneezes?"
Me: "I don't say anything."
Customer: "Why not? That's rude."
Me: "Why do you assume everyone around you shares your religion?"
Customer: "Well what are you then? Some kind of a Jew?"
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133334
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| Posted: 31 January 2013 at 9:51am | IP Logged | 6
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That poor woman! She probably became possessed by a demon because of you, Aaron!!
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Howard Mackie
Byrne Robotics Security
Armed and Dangerous
Joined: 16 February 2005
Posts: 666
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| Posted: 31 January 2013 at 9:56am | IP Logged | 7
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Whenever I sneeze I assume it is up to ME to say, "Excuse me." You know...on the off chance I just sprayed the air with all of the nasty little viruses that live in my nose and mouth.
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Byron Graham
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 September 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 935
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| Posted: 31 January 2013 at 9:57am | IP Logged | 8
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My issue with "coming out of the closet" is that religion is so far off of my radar that in order for me to "come out" I would actually have to put some effort into getting it on my radar so I could denounce it. You might as well say that I should "come out" about not believing in that guy waiting for the bus twelve blocks from my house because I don't ever think about him, either. Except just now. If he even really exists...
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133334
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| Posted: 31 January 2013 at 9:58am | IP Logged | 9
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In these enlightened days of the 21st Century, I suppose the correct "response" when someone sneezes should be "Do you need a kleenex?"
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133334
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| Posted: 31 January 2013 at 10:01am | IP Logged | 10
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You might as well say that I should "come out" about not believing in that guy waiting for the bus twelve blocks from my house because I don't ever think about him, either. Except just now. If he even really exists...•• Bertrand Russell, the famed British philosopher, mathematician, and atheist, had his own model of this scenario. He acknowledge that it was impossible to PROVE there was not a china teapot presently in orbit around Saturn, so he would adopt an agnostic position on the subject. I'm reminded of a George Carlin quote, here paraphrased. If people are told there is an invisible man in the sky who created everything and who looks after us, they believe it. If they are told the paint is wet, they have to touch it.
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Howard Mackie
Byrne Robotics Security
Armed and Dangerous
Joined: 16 February 2005
Posts: 666
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| Posted: 31 January 2013 at 10:08am | IP Logged | 11
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I am not in the habit of wearing comic book related attire, but when I was working at marvel in the "good old days", it was common for creators to get some of the licensed material. I had a LOT of Ghost Rider t-shirts, and sometimes they made good beach attire. So...one day my wife and I were taking a walking on a beach in Cape Cod with our young daughters. The kids were playing int he sand ahead of us, my wife and I were walking hand in hand-- we the picture of a young family. Sure...my hair was halfway down my back, and I was wearing a t-shirt with giant FLAMING skull on it...so what? Well, an much older(&0s?) couple is strolling down the beach toward us, and I could see the guy eye-balling me from a hundred yards away(it was a BIG flaming skull). I could also see that his wife(I assume they were not living in sin) was trying talking to him in a way I can assume was to try to calm him down. As they approached us my wife and I smiled pleasantly. The guy comes right up to me, points at the Ghost Rider figure on my chest, and says"Does that make you happy?" My wife always gets a little tense in situation like this, but it wasn't like I was going to haul off an hit a guy 40 years my senior--I mean how embarrassing if HE knocked ME out! Instead, my grin got wider as I thought of the recent Ghost Rider sales figures, the royalty check I just received, and how it had payed for the 3 wek vacation my wife and kids were having on Cape Cod. I replied, "You have NO idea how happy it makes me." The gents face turned beat read, his wife pulled him past us, and I called, "Have a nice day!"
IF I believed in a god, I'd like to think that made him/her/it smile too.
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David Plunkert
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 03 July 2012
Posts: 536
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| Posted: 31 January 2013 at 10:19am | IP Logged | 12
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"Well, she must have gotten it from someone." Why? I didn't. iiii I'm fairly certain that Christians don't consider their lack of belief in other religions an "it" or equivalent to believing. Its like me not being a lumberjack should be considered my occupation.
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