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- Go to Jesus may have died for your sins but he sure as hell didn't die for mine
Xeno-x -- I'll have to answer your comment in a post as it is fairly long
I have to also correct an exageration in my last comment it wasn't 1/2 year's wage, it was more like 1 month wages but I will cover that in the post.
posted by
gomedome
on January 6, 2006 at 7:06 PM
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you h ave aroused my curiosity
about that incident
so what was the medal and what was the deal?
posted by
Xeno-x
on January 6, 2006 at 7:26 AM
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Xeno-x - I got that part of the lousy deal that church was offering, years
ago, to be more precise. Back when I saw the Catholic Church extort almost 1/2 a years Indian wages for a little flimsy scapular medal. A non ferrous stamping, probably made from recycyled pop cans, it was that lousy of a deal. A real good public relations ploy that one was. In a land were people freeze to death, extorting 1/2 a years wages from all of the men by suggesting that if they don't, bad luck might befall them, is mafia talk. It does not surprise me at all that this religion spawned La Cosa Nostra and the true Italian Mafia. But to a certain extent I sort of admire the insidiousness of it. If you are going to masquerade as community leaders in any meaningful way at least put some decent duds on, lose the ties to the midievel, if you want to be taken seriously. Our species has expanded it's knowledge base ten thousand fold since that time, ya just gotta come up with something better than dead prophets and such a heavy reliance on the magical/spiritual realm. We can discover our own Psychotic episodes, we need not import them or have them manufactured for us.
posted by
gomedome
on January 5, 2006 at 8:01 PM
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The Church
money drives it.
posted by
Xeno-x
on January 5, 2006 at 2:10 PM
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Xeno-x - that's hilarious when you think about it
I thought worshipping God was supposed to be above squabbling about money?
posted by
gomedome
on January 4, 2006 at 7:23 PM
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Hemlocker - to attempt to answer your earlier questions
Appreciate that I have never lived within the American political paradigm. The divergent polarity between liberal and conservative partisan politics is not as pronounced in my country. I consider myself primarly a secular conservative but all political persuasions in my country must have an element of socialism inherent in their philosophies, due to our country's population dispersal in relation to it's geography. This common element that runs through all 3 of our major political parties (yes we have 3) tends to homogenize political perspective but possibly answers one of your questions. What may be called the Christian right may have their strongest influence within, but does not control our country's conservative party. Elements of this religious faction is found within all 3 parties to avrying degrees. Therefore, we do not have one party attempting to wrap the flag around the bible or vice versa. The "whos side are you on?" remark, also tends to be a question that is raised more within a country at war. . . more later.
posted by
gomedome
on January 4, 2006 at 6:53 PM
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Hemlocker and Xeno-x - you both pose some very interesting points
I have to do a few things but I will definately get to addressing your comments....thanx.
posted by
gomedome
on January 4, 2006 at 1:55 PM
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I've got to check that "died for sins" thing again
if there really is something in the NT that says that.
well, maybe sort of
but you see, sins weren't there in the first place
humans define sins
so a sin is anything that a human deems it to be.
like here in St. Louis, there's a catholic congregation where the Archdiocese has decided that the parish belongs to them (after about 100 - 125 or so years) because the parish h as about $1 m in the bank
the parish says not on ayour life
The Archbishop has excommunicated the parish's board of directors and has declared ahat anyone takling communion from the parish priest is commiting a mortal sin.
The archbishop, having decided what sin is, is acting like god.
the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
see the parallel?
people decided on what is sin.
Yeshua and later "christian" writers said that sin is just a construct of men vying for power -- that we can stand absolved of all such sin.
There are more important matters to attend to.
posted by
Xeno-x
on January 4, 2006 at 1:44 PM
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gome--
I am in that majority as well, but I wonder, of you and other bloggers who believe in questioning and criticising what, in our eyes, deserves scrutiny and criticism.: do you think that a person who holds these "liberal, secular" views re: religion could also be a rabid "patriot" ready to "drive down" anyone who dares to criticize our government and its leaders, and snarls, "Whose side are you on anyway!" I mean, can you be a sincere, passionate believer in God's kingdom and all that, and also passionately support free speech and the right of every citizen to speak out on matters of grave importance to our nation? Or on another tack, can you be a super-patriot who demonizes those who disagree with the administration's policies, and also be a free thinker, secular in the realm of religion? I guess this is more about me and my feelings of discouragement, than you or anything you have said, but I think you are a good person to ask. Thanks.
posted by
Hemlocker
on January 4, 2006 at 1:32 PM
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RckyMtnActivist -yeah, no kidding - when I first started writing this blog
as a lark, I kept track of how many times I was condemned to hell by fervant believers. 17 times, one week. All because I cannot accept the same improbable stories that others can? ....it's too funny when you think about it.
posted by
gomedome
on January 4, 2006 at 12:29 PM
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Gome...
Well, I am in the majority too! What do we get, oh yeah...eternal damnation in hell! Bring the suntan lotion and shades! 
posted by
RckyMtnActivist
on January 4, 2006 at 11:48 AM
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Zoe_BooBoo - thank you - and that is exactly what they are -
...irrational beliefs. With implausable stories told and retold so many times, that some people have the audacity to refer to as eternal truths.
posted by
gomedome
on January 4, 2006 at 10:51 AM
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I applaud you......
I applaud you for fighting the fight...........................for making every attempt to educated people out there (and there seems to be ALOT of them in blogit land) re: their irrational belief system.
Just curious.....have you read The End of Faith by Sam Harris? It's an excellent read. I wish I could send it to every person who posts to the religion/spirituality site here at blogit.
Zoe
posted by
Zoe_BooBoo
on January 4, 2006 at 10:38 AM
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DrJPT - hey, that's fine with me
.. as I state in the post, I'm all too happy to let people believe this, my beef comes in when they decide that I must be included.
posted by
gomedome
on January 4, 2006 at 10:35 AM
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Agree to Disagree
I am still in the minority!
posted by
Dr_JPT
on January 4, 2006 at 10:33 AM
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