Great Bible verses!

[yodajazz]

Sorry, Yoda but I think that the egalitarian component of socialism undermines the authority of churches and ministers -indeed a signal failure for many in the development of Christianity has been, quite precisely, the way in which churches, ministers and popes have become an institution creating its own rule book, its own hierarchies, appearing to become distant from the core message of the Gospels. This might not happen in small communities (but small communities can be oppressive in their own way), and the Quakers don't have a priestly order to dole out advice and punishment. Socialism is supposed to live and breathe through co-operation, yet in those cases where it too developed into an institution, it was seen to fail, and fail rather badly...perhaps human societies cannot organise themselves without creating hierarchies?

Your point in the other reply about Eunuchs is I think a slippage of terminology -there may have been an ancient word for the 'intersexed' who have always existed, but a 'Eunuch' is a man-made creature...

No slippage here, about the passage saying "some are born that way" especially when looking at the larger context of the passage from Mathew 19th chapter. The verse where Christ says "male and female, he (God) made them." has been used by some to justify discrimination of gender variants. Not only was 'natural born eunuchs' a phrase used during the time, but they were also recognized by Roman Law according to this reference:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...0140306AA2SG9y
(See Tim A). Of course many don't interpret Jesus's passage as referring to 'gender variants'. This is why his open sentence in the verse is key: "all cannot accept this saying, but only unto those it has been given", (Mathew 19:11). Some people just cant understand. If that's not the truth, I don't know what is. Just to be clear, I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about people that cant accept gender variance.

[buttslinger]

ALL you guys are too worried about mixing it up, let's ROCK!!!! I kind of insulted Trish, and I love her!!!

I thought socialism was totally about commerce. I think the original Lloyd's of London, group insurance of sailing ships, was a great combination of communism and capitalism. It worked.

As far as Jesus as a eunuch, some yogis can be serious cocksmen, but I don't think any of the spiritual heavyhitters chased skirts. they shoot that sexual energy up their spine through their brains, for the big payoff. So in that respect, all Men of God have limp dicks.

When Alexander the Great got to India, he talked about running into "gymnast philosophers" which were the devotees of Buddha. Jesus considered himself a hard-core Jew, but I don't think there's any doubt he was heavy into the Jewish version of yoga and breathing exercises and meditation.

I think if Jesus were alive today, he'd shake his head at what passes for religion today, just like the old Jesus updated a lot of the old Jewish hokum when he was alive, he changed a lot of that "eye for an eye" stuff. Buddha had a camp that was closed for the season in winter, everybody would retire for heavy duty soul searching on their own, but in the summer anybody could come up to him and discuss anything that vexed them, but yes, there was a lot he wouldn't discuss if it strayed from the path of salvation.
Theres's a funny story about a wife and kids showing up demanding Buddha give back their husband and dad, who Buddha had seduced away from them, and he ended up going back with his family. I guess salvation isn't for everybody.

You must admit, even after two and a half thousand years, Jesus and Buddha had some terrific one liners. Like the Henny Youngman of their time.

[Dino Velvet]

I think if Jesus were alive today, he'd shake his head at what passes for religion today

Heck yeah. I tell my family all the time how The Catholic Church has made a mockery out of God. I'm too much of a goon to them so they continue going to the fetish costume party every Sunday. I actually love my family and will never give up my crusade. My cousin's sons need to be rescued from the people who saved them. They're young and impressionable but also very bright with infinite potential. No reason for them to be harnessed by fear and insecurity.

I'm not trying to take God away from anybody. Just the shackles and domination of man.

[Dino Velvet]

Another thing about priests. Who would take advice from a biological retard who has no understanding of his own wiener? If you are a man, why would you ever prop up another man(especially one as this) above you in front of your own wife and children in your own home?

[buttslinger]

I used to come down hard on my Church until my Dad died, the Pastor and the Church show up in full force during Family Emergencies, and the Catholics really take good care of their people at the end. And Dino, I know Jesus talked with whores as equal souls, but, uh, you're going to have a tough time convincing St Peter that you hung out with hoes because you asked yourself "What would Jesus do?"
My friend came up to me during my Baptism and pulled me away, before it was over, it turned out, and the Pastor called my sister by the wrong name, so I'm not even sure if we'll get in Heaven or not.

[Dino Velvet]

I used to come down hard on my Church until my Dad died, the Pastor and the Church show up in full force during Family Emergencies, and the Catholics really take good care of their people at the end. And Dino, I know Jesus talked with whores as equal souls, but, uh, you're going to have a tough time convincing St Peter that you hung out with hoes because you asked yourself "What would Jesus do?"
My friend came up to me during my Baptism and pulled me away, before it was over, it turned out, and the Pastor called my sister by the wrong name, so I'm not even sure if we'll get in Heaven or not.

I learned a lot from my mother dying never asking for God's hand once. I would have beheaded the priest that attempted to intrude.

I went to Catholic School and know nuns and priests as a mixed bag. They are also owned people maybe partially not aware of the evil they have joined hands with. The awareness is key for the level of accountability to be held.

God is God and if he exists he looks after the innocent possibly punishing the guilty too.

[Stavros]

No slippage here, about the passage saying "some are born that way" especially when looking at the larger context of the passage from Mathew 19th chapter. The verse where Christ says "male and female, he (God) made them." has been used by some to justify discrimination of gender variants. Not only was 'natural born eunuchs' a phrase used during the time, but they were also recognized by Roman Law according to this reference:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...0140306AA2SG9y
(See Tim A). Of course many don't interpret Jesus's passage as referring to 'gender variants'. This is why his open sentence in the verse is key: "all cannot accept this saying, but only unto those it has been given", (Mathew 19:11). Some people just cant understand. If that's not the truth, I don't know what is. Just to be clear, I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about people that cant accept gender variance.

At the risk of being considered pedantic, the word 'Eunuch' in the Bible appears to be a translation from Aramaic into Greek of the word 'Saris'. The quote from Matthew does not mention Eunuchs in the sense in which I understand it, where a part or all of the male genitals have been removed -most commonly the testicles. Eunuchs did exist in ancient societies and that is where I probably misled you, and their function was to mediate between men and women where spaces were segregated, in a place of religious worship, a palace -since they were a form of servant they would appear to be available only to the higher reaches of the state or religion. If anything, the Matthew quote may actually be more accurately referring to the intersexed and thus the key point you make remains completely valid.

[buttslinger]

When I went to Sunday School I hated that scratchy suit, and all the kids there tried real hard to prove they weren't sunday school sissies.
A close friend of mine was Irish-Catholic, and his little brother died in a drunk driving accident four days before Christmas, seventeen years old. My friend, his sister, and lots of my other friends had been semi-complicient by kinda aiding and abetting his drinking lifestyle, the Mother LITERALLY went to the nuthouse later. My friend was out in the yard pulling up trees from the ground, lots of heavy drinking, and after bad-talking the Church for years he went in to confess to the Priest. His sister was actually more emotional usually and she sat still and quiet, making me even more nervous. My friends and I all turned Catholic for that period, going to Mass and stuff. They say nobody really is afraid to die, it's the people around them they fear for.

[martin48]

I think you briefly spoke of this before, Jamie

Hi, Silcc69. For the answer to your above issues, see 7.4.2: "God’s Relation to the Old Testament", pp. 46 ff. of my following article (published under my legal name):

James Redford, "The Physics of God and the Quantum Gravity Theory of Everything", Social Science Research Network (SSRN), Sept. 10, 2012 (orig. pub. Dec. 19, 2011), 186 pp., doi:10.2139/ssrn.1974708; PDF, 1741424 bytes, MD5: 8f7b21ee1e236fc2fbb22b4ee4bbd4cb. http://ssrn.com/abstract=1974708 , http://archive.org/details/ThePhysic...ryOfEverything , http://theophysics.host56.com/Redfor...ics-of-God.pdf , http://alphaomegapoint.files.wordpre...ics-of-god.pdf , http://sites.google.com/site/physico...ics-of-God.pdf

Additionally, in the below resource are six sections which contain very informative videos of physicist and mathematician Prof. Frank J. Tipler explaining the Omega Point cosmology, which is a proof (i.e., mathematical theorem) of God's existence per the known laws of physics (viz., the Second Law of Thermodynamics, General Relativity, and Quantum Mechanics), and the Feynman-DeWitt-Weinberg quantum gravity/Standard Model Theory of Everything (TOE), which is also required by the known laws of physics. The seventh section therein contains an audio interview of Tipler.

A number of these videos are not otherwise online. I also provide some helpful notes and commentary for some of these videos.

James Redford, "Video of Profs. Frank Tipler and Lawrence Krauss's Debate at Caltech: Can Physics Prove God and Christianity?", alt.sci.astro, Message-ID: jghev8tcbv02b6vn3uiq8jmelp7jijluqk@4ax.com , 30 Jul 2013 00:51:55 -0400. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!to...ro/KQWt4KcpMVo , http://archive.is/a04w9 , http://webcitation.org/6IUTAMEyS The plain text of this post is available at: TXT, 42423 bytes, MD5: b199e867e42d54b2b8bf6adcb4127761. http://mirrorcreator.com/files/JCFTZSS8/ , http://ge.tt/3lOTVbp

[martin48]

Enjoy the following - it may only be allegorical, if not ..... shit!




Revelation 9:7-19




7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.

8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.

9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.

10 They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.

11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).
12 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.
13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God.

14 It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”

15 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.

16 The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.
17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur.

18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths.

19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.