Holy War

[PoetWarrior]

I'd like to caution everyone about KSU187's posts.

Believing everything is equal to believing nothing.

[KSU187]

I still love you though Poet...

[bubbles4ksu]

Heard a new song yesterday by Casting Crowns called "Already There". It talks about how my future is God's memory and he is standing at the end looking back at my life knowing exactly how it played out. I love knowing that even though I am not sure exactly what the future holds, God's already been there and done that. So thankful for that comfort!

This is crazy talk. I mean seriously, how can anyone believe this?

gives them validation for horrible decisions.  "part of god's plan"

God is completely outside of, therefore not dependent on, and transcends our space/time domain and three dimensional reality.. See, God can not only "see" our future, but He can also "see" an almost infinite number of hypothetical futures based on how we utilize our free will.  Theoretical physicists might label these realms, which are as real as the one we currently live in, "parallel universes."

God also does not "see" in the sense that we see with our eyes either.  Again, He is not an old man with a beard, nor is He a "He." God completely Transcends all anthropomorphic qualities attributed to Him.

"Part of God's Plan" is a trite platitude, but when looking at everything with reincarnation in mind, perhaps those things WERE meant to happen.  Sure, some dude in a white robe didn't do it to them, but maybe their karma, and past lives, dictated that certain events needed to take place to create a karmic balance.  

The whole predestination vs. free will argument has been something people have grappled with for centuries.  But the answer lies in the fact that they are both true to a certain extent. Before the soul manifests itself on our planet or others, a karmic pattern based on a variety of circumstances (individual karma, astrological alignments, past lives, etc.) is set forth and has a magnetic-like pull, outlining a general direction for the soul during the incarnation. However, it is ultimately up to the individual, through utilizing his or her free will, on whether or not they will experience soul growth during this incarnation.

Sadly to say, some lives have this "general karmic pattern" set up so strongly, that it is practically impossible for them to experience soul growth for a particular incarnation.  However, since free will is involved, sometimes they do, and overcome the odds.

To avoid vagueness, "soul growth," in the broad sense is: The learning of spiritual lessons, though a series of lives on earth, which enables the soul to become liberated from threefold suffering: physical disease (understanding the impermanence and illusion of everything on this earth plane, including our own lives), balancing and overcoming mental inharmonies, and the dispelling of spiritual ignorance.  Through the application of spiritual principles (Love, Faith, Charity, Honesty, Virtue, etc. etc.), and personal attunement with the God, an individual can bring this growth about.  He or she will go through several realms, astral, causal, and physical (like earth), until the soul has reached a sufficient enough vibratory level to merge back in to the Infinate, and then.. Eternal Bliss.

Oh, eff it, kinda hard to explain.. What I'm saying is... Life is like this:

I saw a funny little quip the other day commenting on the futile effort to explain our existence "with a language that evolved to communicate where the ripe fruit was." Apparently the secret to advance our language to where it can achieve such awesome understanding is to capitalize certain words like: He, Love, Eternal Bliss, etc.

[pike]

http://onemansblog.com/2011/08/06/christians-openly-advocate-killing-athiests-on-fox-news-facebook-page/

This is pretty hilarious, and indicative of the inbred religious redneck morons we still have in our country. Notice how awful their grammar is. And oh yeah, it sucks your religion is suffering a slow, painful trip to obscurity.

[Bookcat]

http://onemansblog.com/2011/08/06/christians-openly-advocate-killing-athiests-on-fox-news-facebook-page/

This is pretty hilarious, and indicative of the inbred religious redneck morons we still have in our country. Notice how awful their grammar is. And oh yeah, it sucks your religion is suffering a slow, painful trip to obscurity.

"the more devout they (Christians) are....the more they view Thou Shall Not Kill as NEGOTIABLE..." - G. Carlin

[the KHAN!]

http://onemansblog.com/2011/08/06/christians-openly-advocate-killing-athiests-on-fox-news-facebook-page/

This is pretty hilarious, and indicative of the inbred religious redneck morons we still have in our country. Notice how awful their grammar is. And oh yeah, it sucks your religion is suffering a slow, painful trip to obscurity.

Did Atheists become the majority when I was napping? Oh, wait, there are still over a billion Catholics in the world....yeah...obscurity. 

[pike]

http://onemansblog.com/2011/08/06/christians-openly-advocate-killing-athiests-on-fox-news-facebook-page/

This is pretty hilarious, and indicative of the inbred religious redneck morons we still have in our country. Notice how awful their grammar is. And oh yeah, it sucks your religion is suffering a slow, painful trip to obscurity.

Did Atheists become the majority when I was napping? Oh, wait, there are still over a billion Catholics in the world....yeah...obscurity. 

slowly

[WillieWatanabe]

[OK_Cat]

pfffffffffffffffffffffft

[ben ji]

I guess you can add Uganda to the list of countries we have troops in...

[husserl]

If we simply say the word empathy, it sounds mushy. If a scientist like Tania Singer shows, using fMRI scans, that women’s brains light up in three places when they get electric shocks, and that when their partners are shocked, their brains light up in two of the same three places, we understand empathy not as a hard-to-define feeling but as something that people experience in a physical sense. ... Neuroscience also shows that a reward circuit is triggered in our brains when we cooperate with one another, and that provides a scientific basis for saying that at least some people want to cooperate, given a choice, because it feels good.

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/07/are-humans-naturally-selfish.html

full article:

http://hbr.org/2011/07/the-unselfish-gene/ar/pr

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/rat-empathy/all/1

[LickNeckey]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-09-aris-survey-nones_N.htm

A closer look at the "Nones" — people who said "None" when asked their religious identity — shows that this group (now 15% of Americans, up from 8% in 1990) opts out of traditional religious rites of passage:

•40% say they had no childhood religious initiation ceremony such as a baptism, christening, circumcision, bar mitzvah or naming ceremony.

•55% of those who are married had no religious ceremony.

•66% say they do not expect to have a religious funeral.

"Your parents may decide for you on baptism and your spouse has a say in your wedding, but when people talk about dying, they speak for themselves," says Kosmin.

He expects the number of Nones to continue to grow as each generation begets more.

[KSU187]

I don't see Religion going anywhere anytime soon.. Belief and consciousness is an evolving process.  As we humans shed our old and worn out belief systems (i.e. fundamentalism; Islamic, Hindu, and Christian to name a few) there is going to be a change in the collective consciousness, and some resistance to the acknowledgement of a Higher Power or being part of a religious body, mainly due to having felt cheated by out-dated and ridiculous sounding dogmas.

This resistance and reluctance to admit religious affiliation can in some cases be based on how crazy certain religious people are, and the desire not to be "one of them." It is natural to try to separate from ignorant people.   

Also, another take on it is that now more people have access to the internet and can investigate any religion they want, so you find people with very eclectic viewpoints. These people might not have a religious affiliation, but are believers in God.

However, you do have some points noticing a trend, but making the huge jump to "Religion is done-for" is Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!).

Pew Research has some good stuff on this topic..

http://www.pewforum.org/Topics/Beliefs-and-Practices/Importance-of-Religion/

http://www.pewforum.org/Age/Religion-Among-the-Millennials.aspx

Just like when Francis Bacon stated: "A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion," humankind will pass through this phase, the shedding of old beliefs, and to a greater understanding of Reality.

[LickNeckey]

However, you do have some points noticing a trend, but making the huge jump to "Religion is done-for" is Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!).

not sure if this is directed at me or not. 

if it is... that is not the argument i am trying to make. in fact in the article it states that many "nones" are believers of a higher power but feel that "organized" religion has no/little value for them. 

I do believe however that as science continues to develop and we increase our understanding of the natural world "religion" will continue to fade into obscurity.  non-belieg/agnostic is already the 4th largest belief system on the planet.

[nicname]

What I can only presume are hardcore gpc wabash'rs say "eff you" to all the non-believing goEMAW haterz.

http://www.kansas.com/2011/06/26/1908924/as-girl-lay-near-death-family.html

tl;dr

Some God-fearing folks suited up and prayed to a saint.

Not EMAW, squawks

['taterblast]

['taterblast]

['taterblast]

['taterblast]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/12/12/religion-in-americas-states-and-counties-in-6-maps/

[yoga-like_abana]

If someone has time they should definitely go through this thread like the other teams' game threads and highlight it.

[michigancat]

this one is crazy because of the state lines.

['taterblast]

also because Mizzou/SEC

[0.42]

If someone has time they should definitely go through this thread like the other teams' game threads and highlight it.

Serious question:  Are you a god?

Do you wear a bubble wrap suit and shoot lightning at people?  tia

[jmlynch1]

also because Mizzou/SEC

Yeah, that was the big thing for me.

[bubbles4ksu]

i'm glad there aren't more baptists in kansas. we could stand to have fewer methodists, but i guess that's true for every state. it would sure be nice if the lutherans would set up shop in one region the way the LDS have.