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zBrown
Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
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Aug 16, 2012 - 07:19pm PT
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God Damn It (can you say that here?) why can't you all just stay on topic?
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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Aug 16, 2012 - 07:19pm PT
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My father was an atheist and a Communist. I was reared on abuse for all things Jesus and all things American. There are still old copies of USSR Today and Soviet Life littering my late parents' house.
My grandfather was a socialist and a Master Mason. Hating Christians and Jews was second nature to him. His brother Axel drove a 44-ton Panther tank on the Eastern Front and killed Russians all day long. You wouldn't say Uncle Axel had any particular religious affiliation except hating and fighting. I do seem to remember that he hated Jehovah Witnesses with a particularly strong passion. But what do you want? Those old SS men were never much fun.
My Uncle Bob was a alcoholic who hated all religions and my mother was an agnostic. Think Aunt Grayce, the artist, was into some kind of Zen Buddhist art-as-religion pose. I guess that way she could put up with her husband's alcoholism. Then, there was cousin Curt. He was an alcoholic like his father who didn't really believe in anything but wine, beer and vodka.
I guess you might say that my entire upbringing was anti-religious. In fact, growing up in Bay View Hunters Point we used to track down Italian kids and beat them up because they were Catholics, a group we were taught to really hate. I think my late cousin used to go into the Catholic Church before services and defecate in the pews so that when THEY came into Mass on Sunday they would find a coiler in their seat.
At this stage in my life, I just don't think I'm going to undergo a conversion experience even if that would reconcile me more to my own mortality. Tough.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Aug 16, 2012 - 08:17pm PT
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Wow. Some of you guys are really mean. Spider isn't preaching or lecturing or talking or anything. He is merely asking.
1) My parents are Believers, and so am I. Divorce and other nasty mid-life crises caused me to examine what really matters. I was born again at age 31. I jumped in the baptism tank and everything - woo-hoo! God is always there for me, even if I'm not always there for him.
2) Knowing that I'm forgiven is a huge burden off. However it is also an obligation, because who am I not to forgive someone who asks me? There is a lot of wisdom to be found in the Word. I'm a big fan of the book of Proverbs. I'm awfully thankful I'm saved. Man, no one needs it more than me.
3) I'm a Bapti-costal. You'll usually find me in the choir, or with a trombone in hand. Well, back in the day when I actually went to church. Gads, if I ever went back, I would need to wear a little sign that says, "HI, my name is Pete"
I'm sure as hell not the most obedient Christian out there. But for reasons I cannot fathom, I seem to be truly blessed. God's something great in store for me, however I have no clue what it will be.
I am who I am, and that is
"Praise the Lord and Pass the Pitons" Pete
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Loomis
climber
Peklo Vole!
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Aug 16, 2012 - 08:49pm PT
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Binks
climber
Uranus
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Aug 16, 2012 - 09:03pm PT
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“Half the people in the world think that the metaphors of their religious traditions are facts. And the other half contends that they are not facts at all. As a result we have people who consider themselves believers because they accept metaphors as facts, and we have others who classify themselves as atheists because they think religious metaphors are lies.”
― Joseph Campbell, Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor
Do you know where you stand?
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Prod
Trad climber
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Aug 16, 2012 - 09:09pm PT
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I just can't stand a Christian thread with no pics of hot nuns.
Prod.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Aug 16, 2012 - 09:10pm PT
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Hey - here's a question for those of you who make mean replies above:
Why is it acceptable to bash the sh#t out of Christians, but knott Jews nor Muslims?
If this had become an anti-Jewish post or an anti-Muslim post, wouldn't everyone be "outraged"?
Thoughts?
Just askin'...
WWPRD? [What Would Piton Ron Do?]
Forgive me, Lord, for laughing at the Santa Claus photo. And, lawsy lawsy lawsy, I just love hot nuns. Those Catholic girls, hoo boy.....
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Binks
climber
Uranus
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Aug 16, 2012 - 09:18pm PT
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What roils my blood is the "believers" who accuse people who see past their metaphors as being atheists.
"Don't confuse the finger pointing at the moon for the moon."
Many of us are comfortable living in the mystery of life without having to concretize it. We are not atheists, yet we find religion tedious, unnecessary, and often destructive.
These debates become simplistic finger pointing. To save time, I'd often rather deny the validity of someone's religious beliefs entirely and stand with the atheists rather than explain that what you think you believe concretely is actually a metaphor. Religious beliefs are pretty much certifiably false if not interpreted metaphorically. The atheists at least by and large realize that the belief of most is empty.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Aug 16, 2012 - 09:21pm PT
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"Religion" - a set of rules - is probably the worst thing that ever happened to faith and a personal relationship with God.
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
-A race of corn eaters
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Aug 16, 2012 - 09:29pm PT
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So I saw the nun pic and was reminded of Pate, wonder how he is.
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
-A race of corn eaters
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Aug 16, 2012 - 09:29pm PT
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Aye, to live the freedom of Christians!
To not be constrained by the limits of scientific understanding or a science education (let alone the limits of reality); and succeeding that, to not be constrained by any commitment to try to live up to a science education or any commitment to try to support it in the world as part of a larger goal - that being better practices in the art of living. Aye, what a life and lifestyle - freedom indeed!
Freedom, free will and heaven under God. Empowering! It's not called "The Greatest Story Ever Told" for no reason.
Woe is me, I'm not so free.
Constrained by reality, tsk tsk.
Constrained by a science education, tsk tsk.
Constrained by a commitment to live up to it, or to support it, tsk tsk.
Woe is me, I'm not so free – not so free as the Christian.
Such freedom, what bliss!
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splitter
Trad climber
Hodad, surfing the galactic plane
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Aug 16, 2012 - 09:29pm PT
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zBrown, I didn't mean to offend you, I wasn't trashing Catholics in general, that was were i first heard about JC from an old nun and that
was very significant. I later came to a personal revelation on my own, but her input (simple gospel story) was vital. It was some of the other "religious" trappings that are applied to the RCC that I personaly found fault with later on.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
i dunno, me thinks johnny wore black because he was an original badass!
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Prod
Trad climber
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Aug 16, 2012 - 09:30pm PT
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If this had become an anti-Jewish post or an anti-Muslim post, wouldn't everyone be "outraged"?
Nope, not me. Anyone who is so caught up in their own beliefs and can't see people for people because they believe in some sort of different BS deserves to be questioned when they come out and thump their chests.
Prod.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Aug 16, 2012 - 09:33pm PT
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So please explain how Spider is thumping his chest? I don't get it.
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MisterE
Social climber
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Aug 16, 2012 - 09:49pm PT
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Where's the
Sunday Afternoon Posting While Drunk on Religion Thread
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zBrown
Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
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Aug 16, 2012 - 10:27pm PT
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I was just checking on the internet for the religious medal count at the Olympics. I could offer up a guess, but I can't actually find statistics on the Jews vs Christians vs Muslims vs Shenism-Taoists vs Buddhists
say there hey splitter, nothing I've said on this thread is directed specifically at you - keep on rockin' in the free world
Tobia - you can engage or disengage - that's rockin' in the free world
I often ignore stuff altogether, read it and ignore it, or fire away so that someone else can ignore me
Who cares?
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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Aug 16, 2012 - 10:28pm PT
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No religious thread worth the name does so with out Angels.
Charlie's Angels.
The Victoria's Secret Dream Angels.
The California Angels.
If there's a heaven, it's right here. It's what you make of it.
(Cue The Joker by Stevie Miller)
Trying to believe in something as intangible as an after-all ife is harder than going along with your peers.
It's not so much intolerance on the part of fundamentalists, who obviously lack imagination (forgiveable), as the need to be the same as their brothers or sisters.
It is also envy, in a way, of someone who is free of the bonds of organized religion or faith in the spiritual.
God-willing, they will mature and become less muscular, enjoying life and enjoying others enjoying it as well.
That's what Jesus was talkin' about.
I'm a catholic boy, an altar boy, a boy scout, a boy who was in the Sodality, went to two Catholic parochial schools, a Catholic high school, was wed in the Church, and am no longer affiliated, with either the wife or the Church.
I am a diagnostic awetheist. I (mostly) don't claim to be right about anything, wonder about a lot, and figure somebody made the most of what he or she had. Then they forgodaboudit.
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