Hooray for A Michigan State Professor!

You mean the chokeboys...lol

 

Yea faith, maybe I didn't make that clear, guess reading my post, I didn't I do believe that everyone should stive to not cause these situations, but its as much the verbal attackers fault as the defender if it becomes an escilated situation if someone doesnt back down.

About the whole faith thing, I used to not believe in god at all, but one time in my life my addiction to alcohol was on the verge of breaking me. I asked god for the stength to fight it and I got it. Unlike most alcoholics who just stay 100% sober I don't need to. I can go out one night a week and have 2 beers, shoot some pool, call it a night and go home, thats actually my normal wensday night. Some would say I still have an alcohol problem because of this, I disagree. Do I still go to a party / throw a party and get absolutely Bombed with my friends? Uhuh. Do I drink every night anymore? No. Can I go a week or two without a beer? Yep, though I rather not! Beer tastes good.

This was proof enough for me, someone up there was helping me. I read the bible and try to live a life of good, I don't follow every rule in the bible because I don't think its infallible, it was written by men and changed over the course of two millennia, show me something that has been around for 100 years and hasn't been changed a little. That does not mean however I dislike the people who believe different from me, nor does it mean that anyone should dislike me. These are the beliefs that have sprung from my life experiences. If anyone has a problem with that and are a believer they aren't walking the path of god, especially if they want to make a hostile exchange of words over it.

(sorry know it was a little off track, but Id figure Id throw in my 2 cents on the whole religion thing)

 

Lol no kidding.

 

Right, but the point I was trying to make is that I don't have the belief that most Christians share that certain events will bring an end to most of humanity in the blink of an eye for example. Most religions have a set script as to how the world has been, currently is, and will be. No matter how I look at that, it produces boundaries. It even causes many people to think life itself is just a hardship to get over in order to get access to heaven. More and more Christians feel the Rapture as they call it is going to happen in their lifetimes, indeed, can happen at any moment. I guess I see that as being very similar to the cultists that drank poisoned punch to hop on the alienship trailing the Hale-Bopp comet. The "Heaven's Gate cult". A group of people that will gladly, happily, eagerly, give up their life for a belief that has no basis to be true. (Yes we can argue that point until the end of time) They were afterall, a radical Christian denomination.

No, I'm not saying Christianity itself is a doomsday cult, but it certainly convinces its believers of a doomsday, I suppose by definition it is exactly that. Of course it isn't "politically correct" to call a major religion a doomsday cult, regardless of how true it actually is. The fact is, some people, many people, will take these doomsday predictions and say "It's happening in my lifetime, I can't wait." I ask you, how is that different from saying "I can't wait to drink the magical punch."? It encourages people to be eager for their own death. That can't be good for humanity. That's one of the bigger reasons why I am very much against religion, especially the doomsday ones. Yes yes, the Christian faith doesn't mention anything about people dying on its doomsday, because it substitutes it with "whisked away to heaven". But I doubt any of the Heaven's Gate cult members considered drinking the punch as suicide either.

All that being said, I believe it's better to live life not anticipating death, in any form, than it is to live life hoping it comes soon. Islamic extremists go beyond the anticipation, and they hope for death. How long until Christianity starts churning out extremists like them?

Just to be clear, I did not personally attack anybody. Understand that when I attack Christianity, I'm not attacking you. I'm attacking the mechanism behind most religions to make people think a certain way. With promises of eternal afterlife and what have you. Some people are responsible enough to take religion in moderation while many others are not. Rather than calling out the people that fall short on that responsibilty, I try to show why the religion they follow is potentially destructive. Like explaining to an alcoholic the negative impact excessive alcohol intake can cause, rather than calling them an alcoholic that needs help.

 

...did i mention i had to go to the hospital twice over that whole pea/nose thing?

 

Are words powerful? Yes. They are very influential to everything we do and how we think about things. Chuck makes the point about the whole "Mobbing" thing actually being "rumors" and the media changing the word to nab your attention quicker. He has just contradicted him self by saying this.

How? Changing the actual "meaning" of a word by changing it's "Title" is very effective.

"Shell shock" is now "Post Tramatic Stress Disorder" More words, yet same affliction. Sounds less "war like", eh? "Shell shock......Post Tramatic Stress Disorder"...

But that is "Freedom of Speech", and it is allowed.

How is saying it is "mobbing" any different from "rumors"?

How did I contradict myself?

People say something about another..."rumors". But is now called "mobbing".

Please explain.