Joe Bob

[A Stoned Buddha]

Who is to say what anything means to someone else? Who defines these "rules" and says "this is not 'Nam" and keeps  to them? Who decides what is and what isn't? We do. For ourselves. Saying that "You are being measured by my yardstick, now explain yourself" is a stupid and pointless exercise. Yay let's disagree! I'm an elephant. There, I said it. Prove to me that I'm not. I can say what I want. Call myself what I want. There is no such thing as an absolute anything in our human fiction. It's all just wiggles with made up meaning attached. Generalizations about people are not helpful and ignore the uniqueness of each situation. Can religion be harmful? Yes, so is soda. So what? When we see something we dislike in others it often speaks to some part of ourselves we are feeling insecure about. Religions have been waning for years and will continue to do so. Be patient and don't add more negative energy to it. That only keeps the wheel turning faster. The monsters under our bed are being brought into the light. Albeit slowly. Just abide....

[Hominid]

Kinda my point...

Not really dude. The bible (recipe for religion) contains a certain amount of shit. You can edit that out without ditching the whole menu of your spiritual beliefs.
This is actually what pretty much everybody other than fundamentalists do. It's complete nonsense to say that the prime directive of Christianity is to stone none virgin brides to death. Spirituality is about a vibe. That vibe when codefied becomes a religion. But between vibe and code there are always mistakes. Thankfully we have brains which allow us to tune into the vibe and tune out the shit. I'm not a Christian. I don't like Christianity but I respect the right of any Christian to follow their faith I the way in which they choose. And if they leave out the shit in an effort to get closer to the vibe, that can only be a good thing.

Like my dad always used to say, shit or get off the pot. A half-baked Christian is not a Christian. By filtering out the shit and still calling yourself a Christian/Jew/Whatever, you're then a moderate that provides convenient cover for the ones that DO take their religion whole-hog, shit and all. And it's these moderates that we all have to respect thanks to political correctness... for some reason, as soon as you have a religious label, you're afforded all manner of respect and leeway... ever notice that?

Cherry-picking is a coward's way out of full commitment.

See, what we all do is apply common sense to these various teachings and go... "I like that, that, not that, and this..." and synthesize our own personal philosophy and set of guidelines that we then live by. Therefore the bottom line - and final authority - is our OWN sense of what's right and wrong, not any of these religions. Calling oneself a Christian, and not following all of the bible's rules is nothing short of hypocrisy.

[Boston Rockbury]

I used to own a cherry orchard and I know that 'cherry-picking' is the best way to get the ripest, tastiest cherries.

[Hominid]

I used to own a cherry orchard and I know that 'cherry-picking' is the best way to get the ripest, tastiest cherries.

Whatever dude - you're just proving my point.

[Boston Rockbury]

I used to own a cherry orchard and I know that 'cherry-picking' is the best way to get the ripest, tastiest cherries.

Whatever dude - you're just proving my point.

Your point being that people with orchards (religions) should be forced to eat unripe fruit (dodgy teachings). Why would anybody want to do that? Better to use your judgement to pick what you want.

[Boston Rockbury]

Rockbury Acres cherry farm in spring - those were the days! With my old welsh springer spaniel 'Spud' in the foreground.

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[efalgo]

I think the world would be a better place if more kids were homeschooled. So much stuff gets pumped into these kids heads in the public school system, man, um, like things that parents have no control over, and yeah...where's my drink?

[cckeiser]

I think the world would be a better place if more kids were homeschooled. So much stuff gets pumped into these kids heads in the public school system, man, um, like things that parents have no control over, and yeah...where's my drink?

Welcome dude....the bar's over there.

[Judd Dude]

Would you guys just take it easy, man?? First let me say I''m not really a religious person, that is, I don't belong to a certain faith, but I do believe there's more out there beyond our little world. If someone calls themselves whatever and don't follow all the "rules", but are still loving toward fellow man, then fuck it, at least they're using it to get through their lives as "good people". That can't be a bad thing. It's all about abiding, man.

[BikerDude]

Would you guys just take it easy, man?? First let me say I''m not really a religious person, that is, I don't belong to a certain faith, but I do believe there's more out there beyond our little world. If someone calls themselves whatever and don't follow all the "rules", but are still loving toward fellow man, then fuck it, at least they're using it to get through their lives as "good people". That can't be a bad thing. It's all about abiding, man.

If they call themselves a Nazi and insist that Nazi's are about loving your neighbor.....?
Or the Klan?
The point is that calling yourself the member of an organization who's dogma clearly supports things like child abuse and bigotry and then saying that YOUR version is about love is counter productive.

[Hominid]

...not just counter productive - it's outright mis-representation.  And Judd Dude: I do take it easy; I just call a spade a spade...  of course everything is like, my opinion man.

[BikerDude]

The claims of being all about "Love" we get from religion sound like this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkupn-XKxpM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fuDDqU6n4o

[KeepYourMindLimber]

No, Walter, you're not wrong, your just an asshole. 

[HnauHnakrapunt]

If your friend was truly a Christian she would be bound by the admonitions to murder her neighbor if they violate the sabbath (for instance).

Paul the Apostle said Christians do not need to obey all Jewish rules, because they are the followers of Jesus, not of the Judaic tradition. But we still should not eat black pudding or anything with blood  That was one of the few things he left. Wonder how many Christians remember this part.