The holy lord of the magical spinning triangles further sayeth: the divine apex seals wilt not withstand the deadly combination of boost, lean mixture and ignition advance; if thou dost not obey this commandment the dead will be far beyond the powers of the blessed ATF to revive, so useth that combination at thine wallet's peril.
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Feb. 23, 2009 2:33 p.m. Jensenman MegaDork
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Feb. 24, 2009 2:34 a.m. friedgreencorrado Reader
Jensenman wrote:
The holy lord of the magical spinning triangles further sayeth: the divine apex seals wilt not withstand the deadly combination of boost, lean mixture and ignition advance; if thou dost not obey this commandment the dead will be far beyond the powers of the blessed ATF to revive, so useth that combination at thine wallet's peril.
"Letters to the FCians", 4:48-50
But then, Heyzeus confronted the moneylenders.
And with great wrath, he said, "..why didst thou allow thou client to buy the turbough, and the gilded tubing, and the leaning mixture box, and the tool that allows the advance of distribution?
And the moneylenders said, "..uh, he didn't take a loan, he paid for it out of his own pocket. We only got involved when he said his wife's minivan payment was gonna be late."
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Feb. 18, 2010 2:43 p.m. klipless New Reader
As an RX-8 owner, I keep a copy of this, "The Rotary's Prayer", in my glovebox at all times:
The Renesis is my power, torque I shall not want.
It maketh me stop at every frickin' other petroleum merchant, I purchase the finest octane.
It restoreth my soul, and leadeth me toward the highest redlines, for Wankle's name sake.
Yea, though I may drive through the valley of Priuses, I shall fear no unintended accelerations, for thy lack of rods and pistons, they comfort me.
Thou preparest an angelic on-ramp before me, in the presence of my terrified finance. Thou continuously drink my oil, thine engine floodeth over...and over...and over...and..
Surely hoonery and oversteer shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will heel 'n toe in the house of the Mazda forever.
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May 30, 2011 9:52 p.m. fasted58 Reader
barefoot canoe
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May 31, 2011 6:11 a.m. bravenrace UltraDork
The greatest trick the Devil ever played was making us think he doesn't exist.
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May 31, 2011 6:17 a.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker PowerDork
GOD is a category, a default. A sort bin. It is assigned to that which the human mind is not capable of working out for itself.
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May 31, 2011 8:33 a.m. Jay SuperDork
bravenrace wrote:
The greatest trick the Devil ever played was making us think he doesn't exist.
The greatest trick the human brain ever played was making itself think gods exist.
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May 31, 2011 8:36 a.m. iceracer Dork
Amen. oops.
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May 31, 2011 10:17 a.m. aircooled UltraDork
So, you are driving down a road, and there is a split in the road. One side is pretty normal, the other looks like a pretty bad road.
Probably best not to go down the second one.
I guess they are bringing back the classic... how bout' we let this one die again eh?
(I started it, I feel I have the obligation to help shut it back down)
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June 1, 2011 2:00 a.m. 4eyes HalfDork
I see the various sciences and religions as attempts to know the truth. You know accurate knowledge of how things came to be, and where everything is heading. They just go about it from opposite viewpoints.
I for one, am curious as to why mankind is the only self aware species on the planet, and why the various species have so much trouble communicating with each other.
I find it interesting that as archaeology progresses, it proves the Bible accurate as to where ancient city-states were and when and how they were destroyed. I am a seeker of truth, I will keep an open mind to all sources of knowledge and wisdom. And no the two are not the same.
I find it ironic that someone who rails against, followers of dogma being intolerant, would quote Carl Marx though.
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June 1, 2011 3:12 a.m. friedgreencorrado UberDork
4eyes wrote: I find it interesting that as archaeology progresses, it proves the Bible accurate as to where ancient city-states were and when and how they were destroyed.
I (respectfully, I hope) disagree.
http://www.amazon.com/Bible-Unearthed-Archaeologys-Vision-Ancient/dp/0684869136
(don't freak out, the tinyurl link is just another book on Amazon, and the original link was about 2,043,958 characters long...
)
Yes, the Bible mentions places that really do exist..but look at it from a different point of view! The Spider-Man comic books (unlike most comic books) actually mention that New York city exists. Much like what modern historians/archeologists have discovered about the Bible (both OT and NT) being written long after the events described in them had actually happened.
I'm not claiming that the OT & NT were intentional fictions like Spider-Man. That would be an insult to our ancient human ancestors (who, afterall..were as clever as modern humans, but never had the tools to study such things..). I just mentioned it as an experiment in thought.
I'm really not trying to insult you, dude..but you should understand that there are very good reasons why atheists exist in the US. We're not as lucky as folks in Western Europe, where kids have the chance to grow up without ever being exposed to "organized religion". Personally, my parents were Southern Baptists, and tried to force a literalist interpretation of the Bible down my throat from the time I was 4-5yrs old. Say what you might about them not being "real Christians"..but they certainly prayed to the same Christ as anyone else who follows that path.
The reason I discovered the books to which I've linked is because I wanted to retain my faith, even though my brain was telling me "this doesn't make any sense" every time those old stories came out of my parents' mouths.
Again, I'm not trying to disrespect you...I'm just trying to get you to understand why some people disagree with you.
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June 1, 2011 4:49 a.m. 4eyes HalfDork
No problem
There is much debate on the subject among the archeological community too. People (Christian, Jew, Muslim, and Atheist) all trying to prove their pre-formed beliefs, by trying to force the data to fit. But what science "knows" is constantly changing as new data is added.
They used to say King David didn't exist because there was no reference to him in the texts that were unearthed in the area, but recently an artifact was unearthed referring to "David King of "in the right area, at the right depth.
You and I are probably more alike than you know.
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June 1, 2011 8:31 a.m. N Sperlo HalfDork
Is it too late to bring Wiccan beliefs into this?
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June 1, 2011 8:57 a.m. Jay_W HalfDork
I am an animist, the oldest religion on the planet. I think all matter has some manner of awareness, and it depends on how complicated that assembly of matter is, as to how self aware it is. Rock? Not very. Tree? Slightly more. Ecosystem? Yah prolly. Quadcore cpu? Maybe so, and maybe with some attittude as well. This best explains why some cars and computers are the way they are...or I'm just anthropormophising. See how easy it is to get to a religious belief?
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June 1, 2011 9:45 a.m. e_pie New Reader
Duke wrote:
So, out of the myriad gods that have been imagined, believed in, and forgotten - let alone the infinite number of gods that could be imagined - how do you decide which one is THE god?
Because the Bible tells you which one it is!
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June 1, 2011 9:54 a.m. e_pie New Reader
friedgreencorrado wrote:
The reason I discovered the books to which I've linked is because I wanted to retain my faith, even though my brain was telling me "this doesn't make any sense" every time those old stories came out of my parents' mouths.
Again, I'm not trying to disrespect you...I'm just trying to get you to understand why some people disagree with you.
I fought that internal struggle for a long time before I decided that hey, if it doesn't make sense it doesn't make sense, why should I believe it.
I really hope that the world as a whole has some kind of common sense/intellegence renaissance and we as a race can shed the shackles of religion. Maybe if I'm lucky it will be in my lifetime. It's doubtful that it would mean world peace, but at least wars would then be over tangible things like natural resources and land instead of who has the better invisible friend and who's invisible friends rules we need to live by.
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June 1, 2011 9:58 a.m. e_pie New Reader
Oh hey I just noticed this was a 3 year old thread, lol.
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June 1, 2011 9:59 a.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker PowerDork
Duke wrote:
So, out of the myriad gods that have been imagined, believed in, and forgotten - let alone the infinite number of gods that could be imagined - how do you decide which one is THE god?
It's the one your parents told you to believe in!
They were lying about that berkeleying bunny with the eggs and the fat bastard with the flying deer (flying deer - I sooo should have seen thru that one!) so how trustworthy are these people when introducing yet another magical being?
This is why it's so important to baptize 'em while they are babies and keep the story straight for the whole time. The possibilities are endless in what sort of nonsense we could make real if only we made better use of this system.
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June 1, 2011 1:56 p.m. autoxrs Reader
Every child is born void of religion, there is no intrinsic "god" gene in our body. Religion, just like clothes are worn on top of what is a person. A child is born without clothes, devoid of what is good and evil and what is religion.
I dated a religious fanatic who was bent on changing me. She could never grasp how I had stronger morals and ideals than her. Telling someone you are a secular humanist makes them wonder whether you are using big words.
I urge people to go read Good without God by Epstein. Why be good? Well be good just for the sake of being good, because it is the right thing to do. Because we are all at the very core compassionate people. Being good for goodness sake is better than being good because someone told you there is a carrot waiting at the end of the stick.
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June 1, 2011 4:36 p.m. ddavidv UberDork
Being good is good for you, and typically takes you farther in life than being not-good does. That's reason enough to do it.
Being agnostic is wonderful. I get to sit back and watch the believers and atheists yell at each other in a wasted effort to convince each other who is really right. Neither side can definitively prove they are. Agnosticism allows you to consider the possibilities but accept that ultimately, it all really doesn't concern you. Humans have no control over nature or that which is created by Another. We're just here for awhile. Enjoy the ride.
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June 1, 2011 6:26 p.m. Curmudgeon MegaDork
Agnostic is all well and good, for some people it's as viable as any other belief system we humans have come up with. It doesn't work for me because I would still have to believe there is some sort of supreme being out there and I just can't do that. So I chose atheism.
autoxrs did a good job with the problems I have experienced with the atheism thing. I too have had very religious people try to change me because they claimed they were worried for my immortal soul. Hmmm. Now how does all that work again?
It came down to the old problem I have always had: religions say it's OK for me to be a complete turd to people as long as, at the end of the day, I profess a belief in some alleged being I cannot see. I can even be as antisocial as could ever be imagined but if I do this 'conversion' in my last ten seconds of life I will go to someplace where all will be easy and nice and etc.
Now if I lead my life in a good and decent manner, live by the Golden Rule etc but I profess not to believe in that same alleged being I am going to fry in torment forever.
Hmmm. Sorry, not buying that. I'll take my chances.
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June 1, 2011 7:48 p.m. 4eyes HalfDork
It seems a shame to have a sentient being, only alive for under a 100 years, loose the sum total of his education and experiences. It's a waste to loose all that information.
As a species you would think that we would have a more efficient means of transferring that knowledge to the next generation that a stack of books. By the time a person learns enough to make a meaningful contribution to society as a whole, he falls over dead.
Of course most people waste most of the time they are allocated, so them living for eternity would be wasteful too.
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June 2, 2011 8:55 a.m. Jay_W HalfDork
Hmm. A stack of books is 99.9% better than what any other species on this planet has come up with, don't knock it too much!
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June 2, 2011 5:53 p.m. friedgreencorrado UberDork
4eyes wrote: Of course most people waste most of the time they are allocated, so them living for eternity would be wasteful too.
ROFL! You're right, dude..we are a lot more alike than I first thought!
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June 6, 2011 8:37 a.m. pinchvalve PowerDork
I haven't had time to read this thread. Anything good? Am I still an atheist?
