Religion and Intelligence?
After witch doctors and shamans had established the illusion that gods had control over life and death, it required only a brief leap of the imagination to extend their power to the ability to grant a life beyond physical death. An afterlife seemed plausible and appeared highly desirable. After all, nobody wants to face death; nobody likes to face a state of nonexistence after his physical death. It is much more palatable to think of death as the beginning of a new life in which the essential part of our organism will continue on to a new and improved phase of existence.
Since there is no evidence whatsoever that anyone has ever returned from an existence after death, it was easy and natural to construct the belief of a more pleasant life after the short and miserable existence that humans had to endure. The concept of a wondrous life after death, a heaven, became very popular.
The idea of a life after death hard-wired itself into human emotional behavior patterns because it actually entailed hidden benefits for physical survival. Religion became synonymous with a sense of awe and fear of the gods. Gods had become omnipotent, not only with regard to normal human existence, but also with regard to a continued existence after death.
A rational examination of the origins and sources of religion, as well as the benefits and disadvantages of religion, is unlikely to change the mind of anyone who is afraid to examine these concepts objectively.
People who approach the subject of religion with trepidation or who cannot distinguish between reality and superstition, find it difficult to apply logic to their thought processes. It is much easier to belief in miracles and pseudo-science than to acquire facts and engage in incisive, rational thought.
We can observe many members of society who appear to be intelligent and rational in the pursuit of their daily life. However, on Sundays they go to their church or temple. There they participate in incomprehensible and irrational rituals involving magic, prayer and other activities demeaning to their rational minds. Their rational mind tells them that a god does not exist and yet, there they sit and pray to him.
It has been suggested that religious people compartmentalize their thought processes in order to avoid otherwise inevitable and destructive conflicts. In this manner, rational and irrational thought processes can coexist in separate, locked compartments of the brain without connectivity. Yet, one wonders if there is some inevitable leakage from the irrational to the rational compartment, surreptitiously contaminating rationality.
Even some bright people may feel too frightened to face life without the consolations of a religion, cult or sect. Their upbringing has imbued in them the belief that it is safer not to subject the teachings of one鈥檚 church or temple or mosque to close scrutiny. Furthermore, becoming an agnostic or atheist can cut one off from the comfort and companionship of co-believers in a religion. This potentially damaging consequence of doubting one鈥檚 belief system is a strong deterrent to questioning deeply imbedded religious beliefs.
Religion may also satisfy an irrational human need for cosmic significance. Some persons yearn to be more than the grain of sand in the vastness of the universe that man really is. As long as men and women feel week and insignificant in the face of awe-inspiring natural forces, logic will not be as important as religion and man will prefer the sanctuary of imaginary, all-powerful beings.
Thus, people tend to associate in communities of like-minded people. Believers restrict their circle of friend and family to other believers. They surround themselves with mirror images of themselves.
If people wear blinders successfully, then the young and na茂ve among them hear nothing but the desired belief. No reputable person in his or her sphere of life ever disagrees with or objects to the tenets of their common belief system. As time goes on, people in a mentally incestuous society consider it normal that all seemingly intelligent people believe as the community believes.
When a believer encounters non-believers, the shock may be great. The believer asks, %26quot;How can they not believe? Doesn鈥檛 everyone believe?%26quot; The believing community usually provides a convenient answer to that question: The non-believers are evil or they are possessed by an evil power. If you hang around them enough it might be contagious.
As a result, the believer becomes paranoid and afraid of non-believers, because he fails to understand that non-believers do not need to believe in anything. Non-believers rely on reason, logic and the factual evidence of the real world.Instead, the believer sees non-believers as abnormal and undesirable. Thus, religious belief maintains itself through self-affirmation, insulation and demonization of non-believers.
It is interesting to note that the degree of involv|||Truth be told, they do say that those that work science rarely care about religion. Given they%26#039;re intelligent...but off that very shallow remark:
In my own observations, I%26#039;ve come to see that religion primarily is utilized by people as a means of hope when they themselves seek to lack it, and %26#039;need%26#039; it to continue on.
Its also been my understanding that it is human nature to blame stuff on those other than themselves. They believe that they can sin, and attempt to apologize to a higher being knowing fully well they will accept it regardless. There is no doubt in their minds that this would never not come to pass, because to do so would undermine their very foundation of hope.
Oftentimes, people also fear the unknown, particularly death, and use the idea of a higher being and a %26quot;haven%26quot; in the afterlife, to stop this fear.
I%26#039;m a man who believes in logic, reason and factual evidence. I%26#039;ve also seen how the horrors of close-mindedness that is reminiscent in %26#039;most%26#039; but not %26#039;all%26#039; religious idealism that can take root in people, can lead to the worst in human nature. A.k.a. Salem Witch Hunting%26#039;s (Read The Crucible) and other such items, like the Crusade in Europe.
But any sensible person will know that religion offers hope to many, which then strengthens the foundation of our society. To take away religion is to hurt ourselves as well.|||According to Google, it%26#039;s somewhat of a gray area, but I%26#039;d be happy to do more research if you want to message me. I spent about 10 minutes looking around but it%26#039;s not an easy answer. Again, feel free to message me and I hope you are successful in what you are looking for.
Sunday 5 June 2011
Origins and sources of religion?
Religion is primarily a search for security and not a search for truth. Religion is what we so often use to bank the fires of our anxiety.A rational examination of the origins and sources of religion, as well as the benefits and disadvantages of religion, is unlikely to change the mind of anyone who is afraid to examine these concepts objectively.
People who approach the subject of religion with trepidation or who cannot distinguish between reality and superstition, find it difficult to apply logic to their thought processes. It is much easier to belief in miracles and pseudo-science than to acquire facts and engage in incisive, rational thought.
We can observe many members of society who appear to be intelligent and rational in the pursuit of their daily life. However, on Sundays they go to their church or temple. There they participate in incomprehensible and irrational rituals involving magic, prayer and other activities demeaning to their rational minds. Their rational mind tells them that a god does not exist and yet, there they sit and pray to him.
It has been suggested that religious people compartmentalize their thought processes in order to avoid otherwise inevitable and destructive conflicts. In this manner, rational and irrational thought processes can coexist in separate, locked compartments of the brain without connectivity. Yet, one wonders if there is some inevitable leakage from the irrational to the rational compartment, surreptitiously contaminating rationality.
Even some bright people may feel too frightened to face life without the consolations of a religion, cult or sect. Their upbringing has imbued in them the belief that it is safer not to subject the teachings of one鈥檚 church or temple or mosque to close scrutiny. Furthermore, becoming an agnostic or atheist can cut one off from the comfort and companionship of co-believers in a religion. This potentially damaging consequence of doubting one鈥檚 belief system is a strong deterrent to questioning deeply imbedded religious beliefs.
Religion may also satisfy an irrational human need for cosmic significance. Some persons yearn to be more than the grain of sand in the vastness of the universe that man really is. As long as men and women feel week and insignificant in the face of awe-inspiring natural forces, logic will not be as important as religion and man will prefer the sanctuary of imaginary, all-powerful beings.
Thus, people tend to associate in communities of like-minded people. Believers restrict their circle of friend and family to other believers. They surround themselves with mirror images of themselves.
If people wear blinders successfully, then the young and na茂ve among them hear nothing but the desired belief. No reputable person in his or her sphere of life ever disagrees with or objects to the tenets of their common belief system. As time goes on, people in a mentally incestuous society consider it normal that all seemingly intelligent people believe as the community believes.
When a believer encounters non-believers, the shock may be great. The believer asks, %26quot;How can they not believe? Doesn鈥檛 everyone believe?%26quot; The believing community usually provides a convenient answer to that question: The non-believers are evil or they are possessed by an evil power. If you hang around them enough it might be contagious.
As a result, the believer becomes paranoid and afraid of non-believers, because he fails to understand that non-believers do not need to believe in anything. Non-believers rely on reason, logic and the factual evidence of the real world.Instead, the believer sees non-believers as abnormal and undesirable. Thus, religious belief maintains itself through self-affirmation, insulation and demonization of non-believers.
It is interesting to note that the degree of involvement with the supernatural, including religion, is directly proportional to the degree of factual knowledge available to a person..........what you think?
ex-muslim.......young atheist!|||The origin and source of the Abrahamic religions was the physical presence of their God Yahweh. I can%26#039;t say the same for all the other religions and their god or gods.|||It doesn%26#039;t matter what you postulate. Miraculous prayers get answered everyday sir. Peoples hearts change, when they surrender to God. Then their lives change.
You cannot logically argue with a person who knows that they have experienced the love of God. But, you of course are welcome to keep banging your noggin on that wall.
You see, beyond all of the scientific knowledge that I have, and all of the evidence I have for Jesus Christ. You could careless and would argue and argue ad nauseum. But one thing you haven%26#039;t realized is that their is no arguing with a persons personal experience of God. I hope you know this to one day.
People who approach the subject of religion with trepidation or who cannot distinguish between reality and superstition, find it difficult to apply logic to their thought processes. It is much easier to belief in miracles and pseudo-science than to acquire facts and engage in incisive, rational thought.
We can observe many members of society who appear to be intelligent and rational in the pursuit of their daily life. However, on Sundays they go to their church or temple. There they participate in incomprehensible and irrational rituals involving magic, prayer and other activities demeaning to their rational minds. Their rational mind tells them that a god does not exist and yet, there they sit and pray to him.
It has been suggested that religious people compartmentalize their thought processes in order to avoid otherwise inevitable and destructive conflicts. In this manner, rational and irrational thought processes can coexist in separate, locked compartments of the brain without connectivity. Yet, one wonders if there is some inevitable leakage from the irrational to the rational compartment, surreptitiously contaminating rationality.
Even some bright people may feel too frightened to face life without the consolations of a religion, cult or sect. Their upbringing has imbued in them the belief that it is safer not to subject the teachings of one鈥檚 church or temple or mosque to close scrutiny. Furthermore, becoming an agnostic or atheist can cut one off from the comfort and companionship of co-believers in a religion. This potentially damaging consequence of doubting one鈥檚 belief system is a strong deterrent to questioning deeply imbedded religious beliefs.
Religion may also satisfy an irrational human need for cosmic significance. Some persons yearn to be more than the grain of sand in the vastness of the universe that man really is. As long as men and women feel week and insignificant in the face of awe-inspiring natural forces, logic will not be as important as religion and man will prefer the sanctuary of imaginary, all-powerful beings.
Thus, people tend to associate in communities of like-minded people. Believers restrict their circle of friend and family to other believers. They surround themselves with mirror images of themselves.
If people wear blinders successfully, then the young and na茂ve among them hear nothing but the desired belief. No reputable person in his or her sphere of life ever disagrees with or objects to the tenets of their common belief system. As time goes on, people in a mentally incestuous society consider it normal that all seemingly intelligent people believe as the community believes.
When a believer encounters non-believers, the shock may be great. The believer asks, %26quot;How can they not believe? Doesn鈥檛 everyone believe?%26quot; The believing community usually provides a convenient answer to that question: The non-believers are evil or they are possessed by an evil power. If you hang around them enough it might be contagious.
As a result, the believer becomes paranoid and afraid of non-believers, because he fails to understand that non-believers do not need to believe in anything. Non-believers rely on reason, logic and the factual evidence of the real world.Instead, the believer sees non-believers as abnormal and undesirable. Thus, religious belief maintains itself through self-affirmation, insulation and demonization of non-believers.
It is interesting to note that the degree of involvement with the supernatural, including religion, is directly proportional to the degree of factual knowledge available to a person..........what you think?
ex-muslim.......young atheist!|||The origin and source of the Abrahamic religions was the physical presence of their God Yahweh. I can%26#039;t say the same for all the other religions and their god or gods.|||It doesn%26#039;t matter what you postulate. Miraculous prayers get answered everyday sir. Peoples hearts change, when they surrender to God. Then their lives change.
You cannot logically argue with a person who knows that they have experienced the love of God. But, you of course are welcome to keep banging your noggin on that wall.
You see, beyond all of the scientific knowledge that I have, and all of the evidence I have for Jesus Christ. You could careless and would argue and argue ad nauseum. But one thing you haven%26#039;t realized is that their is no arguing with a persons personal experience of God. I hope you know this to one day.
LDS / Mormon : What do you think of the following points made about Mormon mind manipulations?
Control of Information:
Mormons feel pressured to participate in many services, which are known as callings. Being tired and busy all the time keeps the person isolated from people who are not part of the cult. As a result, a person’s way of thinking is gradually changed and controlled through the lack of information.
Environment and Behaviour Control:
Each cult tries to control the person’s environment, especially the way he or she dresses and eats. Mormon missionaries dress alike: white shirt, black tie, and a black backpack. Moustaches and beards are not permitted
Pressure their members to strive towards perfection.
one’s diet is controlled. Forbidden to drink tea, coffee or anything that has caffeine or alcohol.
Identity association:
This creates in the group a special identity and way of thinking, and at the same time is useful for isolating the followers. Some examples are: the use of the word brother or elder.|||YOU COULD NEVER BE DUPED INTO A CULT...COULD YOU?
(taken from Steven Hassan%26#039;s book %26quot;Combatting Cult Mind Control%26quot;)
Do you belong to an organisation that .
- has lots of meetings?
- keeps you so busy you don%26#039;t have time to think?
- has an infallible leader?
- expects purity?
- has rigid principles?
- expects confessions?
- speaks a cliché-ridden language?
- is at odds with the world?
- has simple answers to most of life%26#039;s questions?
- makes you feel secure?
- makes you feel more special than non-members?
- frowns on expressions of doubts?
- claims absolute truth?
- expects significant financial contributions?
- is reluctant to allow you to leave?
- controls information about its own history?
- always says you are free to choose?
UMMM within mormonism thats a YES, YES, and a YES!!
from...http://www.salamandersociety.com/cultqui…
Some interesting quotes....
Joseph Smith said, what he says is SCRIPTURE!!
%26quot;I have never yet preached a sertuon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon, and it is as good a scripture%26quot; (Journal of Discourses, vol. 13, p. 95; also see vol. 13, p. 264).
Brigham Young pushed aside the teachings of the Bible!
%26quot;I think these preliminaries will satisfy me, and I feel prepared to take my text. It is the words of Jesus Christ, but where they are in the Bible I cannot tell you now, for I have not taken pains to look at them. I have had so much to do, that I have not read the Bible for many years. I used to read and study it, but did not understand the spirit and meaning of it ...%26quot; (1854 Conference discourse, October 8). [Brigham Young obviously did not understand the Bible, and neither do any of the other Mormon prophets!]
Nothing that is true is %26quot;anti-mormon%26quot; unless the church is anti-truth.|||If you are offended by the teaching, you should leave.
There is no point in denigrating a religion that you lost faith in.
If not for you, it could be for someone else.
If you scoff, you lose.|||Truth seeker---what a misnomer to begin with.
A. I have never felt pressured to participate in anything. I go to church when I want and meetings when I want. If I don%26#039;t want to accept a calling, I don%26#039;t and I still have my temple recommend and am in good standing. As far as environment, your definition would also qualify the NBA as a cult because there is a dress code. Or a football team because they dress alike. It is a stupid assertion.
The final identity issue, people who have things in common tend to congregate together. By your interpretation, cliques at highschool are cults...you need to keep looking for truth. No matter where you look, you will not be able to rationalize your behaviors and the way you feel with happiness and what is right. No matter how many negative Troll questions you ask. Right feels right and wrong feels wrong, no matter how badly you badmouth something that is right.|||Funny my sister is the room mom for both her daughters classes, the Girl Scout leader for both her daughters troops and holds a calling as a primary teacher in the church.
Mormons are highly encouraged to gain as much secular education and knowledge as possible and going to college is stressed from the time kids are little.
They are one of the largest group of internet users in the country, too, and Utah has the most use of personal computers.
It ranks in the top ten of education as a state.
Missionaries are only missionaries for 2 or 1 1/2 years and are suppose to be dedicating their lives to this service which is why the rules exist. You dont have to become a missionary to be a mormon.
Moderation in ones diet is taught by health experts, too.
The only forbidden things are coffee, tea (not herbal) and non prescription drugs and tobacco. Mormons can eat or drink anything else. Yeah, real controlling.
We are ALL brothers and sisters. Its a title of respect for each other and if a non mormon came thru the doors on sunday they would be called brother or sister too. We dont do it in everyday life because most people dont understand the connotation. It has NOTHING to do with isolating people.
Not a single mormon is being taught to kick out and never associate with people that leave the church. What a bunch of BS.
Yes yes, I am being mind controlled and manipulated.
Forget that you repeat the same anti mormon questions and statements over and over again as every other mormon basher. It is us that are being mindlessly controlled, lol|||this particular cut %26amp; paste you have here might be the most laughable you%26#039;ve put up yet. i%26#039;ll just elaborate on a few of the lies here:
1. members are NOT forbidden from associating from former/excommunicated members. that is a blatant lie.
2. members are NOT forced to take callings. if they don%26#039;t want one, they can say no, and they are NOT rebuked or reprimanded in any way.
3. my personal favorite lie of the list: our diets are NOT controlled! hahaha......not drinking coffee or BLACK tea is hardly diet controlling. we are allowed to drink caffeine. anybody with an IQ over 7 knows that the ingredients in a mountain dew aren%26#039;t the same as a cup of coffee......
seriously, is this cut %26amp; paste the best you can do? a bunch of BS and intelligent people see right through it.
nice try though|||Those points are ignorant and inflammatory. Thanks for asking.
-Control of Information
Lol...we are NOT isolated from people who are not part of our religion! I live in Illinois. 75% (at least) of the people I interact with are NOT Mormon!! We are the only Mormons in my neighborhood. My family does more with our non-Mormon neighbors than any family in my congregation. The church expressly encourages us to get involved in the community, not to seclude ourselves from it. Whoever wrote this is either ignorant or lying.
-Environment Control
Nope, our diet isn%26#039;t controlled. The church counsels against alcohol, tea, coffee. That%26#039;s it! And if I went out and drank a beer right now...no on in the church would know! No one is forcing me not to drink alcohol. And no one tells me what to eat every day. My diet isn%26#039;t controlled at all. And neither is my wardrobe.
-Identify association
So referring to each other as %26quot;brother%26quot; and %26quot;sister%26quot; in church isolates us? I showed above that we are hardly isolated. Most of the people I interact with are NOT Mormon. There is some sense of identity among Mormons, just like there is a sense of identity among Americans, among Cubs fans, among sci-fi fans, among members of a book club, among alumni of a certain college, etc.
-Control of Feeling#1
I%26#039;ve never been told NOT to associate with members who have been expelled. In fact, I%26#039;m told that it%26#039;s more important than EVER to interact with them to help them come back. We want them to come back. Whoever made these %26quot;points%26quot; doesn%26#039;t know what they are talking about.
-Control of Feeling#2
The same arguments are made against all religious people. Of course someone that doesn%26#039;t believe in God will argue that the spiritual experiences people do have are artificial. If the person making these assertions is religious...then they are a hypocrite...who are they to say their spiritual experiences are real and someone else%26#039;s are manufactured.
-Control of Information
I was a missionary and never heard of such a thing. We are taught to build on the common beliefs that we have (e.g., believe in Jesus Christ and the Bible), but we do not hide the differences. Joseph Smith is taught in the first lesson...that right there is a difference with Christianity and we don%26#039;t hide it.
Again, whoever made these %26quot;points%26quot; is way off base.|||I think you need to do some real research on the LDS church.
This list is garbage.
You could dig up similar point about my daughters kindergarten class. This is written by a bitter fool.|||Just FYI about removing family members names from LDS church records.
Legally, one can only remove their own name and any minor children that they are the legal guardians over. You cannot remove family members posthumously. So if you are saying Steve Benson removed his own name and his minor children%26#039;s names, that is possible. But he could not have any other family members names removed, especially family members that had chosen to be members in life and died (such as his grandfather).
I had to deal with this in a previous calling. A mother that did not have legal guardianship of her children (due to abuse and drug use, according to the court documents I saw) wanted her children%26#039;s names removed, but their grandparents (who were the court appointed legal guardians) did not. The church and courts sided with the grandparents.
Besides that, I think you%26#039;ve already gotten several good responses to the original quesiton. Not that I think you%26#039;re actually interested in any amount of truth.|||Therre is no such thing as mind control in the LDS church! You have the ability to go as far as you want, as long as you are willing to work, to get there!
There is no pressure to do anything that you don%26#039;t wish to do! If you do not want to serve a calling, you don%26#039;t need to do so! Most churches have a dress code, as they think you are coming to church to worship, therefore you show respect with your manner of dress!
Other churches don%26#039;t have a dress code, and that is ok, too!
As far *** the missionaries?, you see them, and you know who they are! It is not about them, it is about them sharing good news, as the bible says, to do!
And beards and mustaches reflect personal ideas of appearance! And are not appropriate while serving a mission!
And the diet part??? DUH! Alcohol is NOT good for you be any stretch of the imagination! Tea and coffee have caffeine, which are not good for you
And that is NOT a matter of striving for perfection, or identity, it is for good health!
And as far as brother and sister, believers think of god as their father, what is so hard to understand about calling each other brothers, and sisters?
And Elder is a title of respect, as is calling a priest, Father!
the LDS church is no more of a cult, that any other religion is, they all have the same definition, whether you want to admit it or not!!
Truth seeker, you seem to have serious issues with this church!
And since that is the case?, you need to just turn around and walk away!
Members of this church do not CARE about the opinions, of ex Mormons who constantly attack them!
In fact these attack do not come off as being helpful, they come off as sounding petty, and childish!
The people who are faithful members of the church follow the tenets with whole hearts, and do not have a problem with anything that they believe!
So, what harm does that do to you, or anyone else!
I could study up on, and find things about EVERY sect of christianty, to make fun of!
But, what would be the point, as what they believe does not effect me in any way!
We all have ideas that we believe, or DON%26quot;T believe, but when the LDS start attacking all of you on this site, , then you will have the right to persecute them, to the extremes that you do NOW!!!
So you should take your hate,and your poison, and your biased opinions about the LDS church, and either take them elsewhere, or swallow them, and forget it!
You impress no one with your silly,derogatory questions!|||It%26#039;s (I%26#039;m sorry) a load of crap.
First, we don%26#039;t feel pressure to do our callings despite being busy all the time, etc. We are told constantly that our FAMILY comes first. If our callings are interfereing with family business, then one goes to one%26#039;s bishop or stake president (as the case may be) and explains this to them and they graciously excuse you from your calling, in order that you may take care of your family.
Then, another BIG part of our belief is to SPREAD THE GOSPEL to those who don%26#039;t have it. How in the WORLD are we supposed to do that, if we are ISOLATED from non-members?? It%26#039;s not just the full time missionaries who do all that work. In fact, the baptism rate of people who were introduced to the church by full time missionaries is about 1%. Most of those who eventually accept baptism are those found by other members.
Lack of information? We are encouraged HUGELY to get as much education as possible. To get an education, one must get as much information as possible.
MIssionaries all dress alike (elders, anyway) but they are a tiny fraction of the total membership of hte church. Once they get off their mission, they can dress how they like.
Perfection is a goal that GOD wants for us. JESUS said, Be ye therefore perfect as our FAther in Heaven is perfect.
forbidden to drink coffee, tea, etc.
And what%26#039;s wrong with this? Besides, we aren%26#039;t forbidden, unless you are talking about going to the temple.
Two groups with the lowest health problems are the two groups with specific dietary rules; the Seventh Day Adventists, and teh Latter-day Saints.
We call EVERYONE Brother or sister, even those not in our church, when we are at church. We believe that, thru our Heavenly Father, we are all brothers and sisters.
I don%26#039;t know anyone who has been %26quot;threatened with expulsion%26quot;. Unless they have done grievous sins, like sins of morality, and even then, no one is EXPELLED. their names are removed from teh rolls, but they are strongly encouraged to come to church, and repent of their sins and come back to full fellowship.
Since most people who work for LDS are in Utah, then fear of losing one%26#039;s job is getting rarer all the time. Most Mormons live outside Utah, and work for non-Mormons. Therefore, losing one%26#039;s job is not a problem if one chooses to not believe.
Also, since most LDS now are converts, losing one%26#039;s family is also a rarity.
And, quoting one %26quot;bishop%26quot; does not prove a church wide problem exists.
%26gt;%26gt;Speaking of those who criticize and try to correct the leaders of the church%26lt;%26lt;
If one chooses to criticize the church leaders, then one shouldn%26#039;t be a member of said church. And to try to %26quot;correct%26quot; a man who millions believe to be a prophet of God is to try to correct God. This is apostasy.
%26gt;experiences a lot of love (which in fact is false, or at least superficial)%26lt;
Excuse me? We do not show FALSE love, or superficial love! I have felt it from non-LDS Christians, however. Does this condemn all Christianity?
Overwhelmed with kindness? Lower their defenses, for what? We don%26#039;t %26quot;make sure%26quot; someone has spiritual experiences. But we do give new members suggestions on what it feels like to feel the Holy Spirit. If this is bad, then again, it condemns all of Christianity.
And I don%26#039;t see how missionaries are taught to say how we are the same as others, like Catholics, except for the obvious, that we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour.|||Let me let you in on a little secret. The greatest %26quot;mind manipulation%26quot; as you would call it, is the host of supernatural events that are promised, and then occur. If God stopped answering our prayers, new membership would drop dramatically, and we would be no better than any other church.
Every worthy member of the LDS church who is over the age of 14, can recieve a revelation or prophecy known as a Patriarchal Blessing. It is preceeded by fasting and prayer. It is personal, and highly individual. In prayer we ask the Lord for those blessings that we desire. In the blessing, the Lord tells us which blessings he will give us. It is a revelation of the future, based on our continued obedience to God%26#039;s commandments. Everything in my blessing has come true (except for the rising in the morning of the first resurrection - but I%26#039;m not in a hurry). As members of the church we are continually promised that God will answer our prayers, that priesthood blessings will come true, and that the gifts of the spirit will accompany us, as we keep the standards which God has given. Our own experiences verify that these things are true, that there is a God in heaven who knows the future, and who answers prayers. Why would we ever want to give up a close relationship with God to join some other church that struggles to believe in things we have already seen?|||Steve Benson, the noted Arizona Republic cartoonist, is a grandson of the late High Muckamuck of the Mormon Church. He came to the conclusion that it was all bullshit, and asked that the church remove his name and the names of his family from their rolls. Because he came from a very influential family, they didn%26#039;t want to do it. He had to threaten them with a lawsuit, and they finally did.
If he could do it, so can you.|||YES, SPOT ON, GOOD JOB!! I LIKE HOW THESE MORMONS SAY IT IS OK TO HANG WITH EX MORMONS OR APOSTATES. THEY ARE LYING!!! THEIR OWN TEMPLE REC. INTERVIEW ASKS%26quot; DO YOU KNOW OR ASSOCIATE WITH KNOW APOSTATES OR THOSE WHO SPEAK ILL OF THE CHURCH?%26quot; LOL MORE MORMON BS.|||The best way to avoid analysis and creative thought is to keep busy to the point of exhaustion. If there is any time left over for family, it is sheer selfishness.
How many parishes have a schedule like a Mormon ward of about 600 people:
1. 3 hour block meeting - Sunday
2. Priesthood Executive Committee meeting - Sunday
3. Bishopric meeting - Sunday
4. Bishop youth committee meeting - Sunday
5. Brain numbing firesides - Sunday
6. General conferences - Saturdays and Sundays
7. Stake conference - Saturdays and Sundays
8. HQ and Utah firesides (broadcast to global chapels) - Sundays
9. Other *special* broadcasts from HQ and Utah - Sundays
10. Relief Society conferences - week-ends
11. Young men program - evenings
12. Young women program - evenings
13. Relief Society meetings - non-Sunday
14. Seminary %26quot;indocrination%26quot; (quoting kimball) – Monday to Friday
15. Personal priesthood interviews
16. Home teaching - evenings
17. Visiting teaching - evenings
18. Young men%26#039;s camp – otherwise valuable vacation time
19. Young women’s camp - otherwise valuable vacation time
20. Chapel cleanups - Saturdays
21. Stake Sports – Saturdays / Public Holidays
22. Seminary “Super Saturday” - Saturday
23. Seminay Graduation – Saturday Evening
24. Temple interview bishop - any time
25. Temple interview stake - any time
26. Genealogy research - any time
27. Temple attendance - any time (even week-long trips)
28. Service projects - any days, but mostly Saturdays
29. Ward committee meetings - whenever
30. Letter writing to missionaries - any time
31. Lesson and callings preparation time - any time
32. Scripture reading - every day
33. Road shows - evenings %26amp; Saturday
34. Missionary service conversion - 2 years
35. Missionary service Temple - 2 years?
36. Church courts prosecuting and judging - any time
37. Official curriculum study and absorption - every day
38. Stake presidency meeting - any day
39. Stake high council meeting - evening
40. Stake bishops meeting - evening
41. Ward welfare meeting - evening
42. Stake welfare meeting - evening
43. Priesthood leadership meeting - evening
44. Stake training meetings - evening or Saturday
45. Church Employment courses - any day
46. Christmas (Smithmas) concerts - evenings and Saturday
47. Genealogy open house - Saturday
48. Ward correlation meeting - any evening or day
49. Ward Choir - Sunday
50. Stake Choir - can be multiple evenings in a week
51. Journal keeping
Mormons feel pressured to participate in many services, which are known as callings. Being tired and busy all the time keeps the person isolated from people who are not part of the cult. As a result, a person’s way of thinking is gradually changed and controlled through the lack of information.
Environment and Behaviour Control:
Each cult tries to control the person’s environment, especially the way he or she dresses and eats. Mormon missionaries dress alike: white shirt, black tie, and a black backpack. Moustaches and beards are not permitted
Pressure their members to strive towards perfection.
one’s diet is controlled. Forbidden to drink tea, coffee or anything that has caffeine or alcohol.
Identity association:
This creates in the group a special identity and way of thinking, and at the same time is useful for isolating the followers. Some examples are: the use of the word brother or elder.|||YOU COULD NEVER BE DUPED INTO A CULT...COULD YOU?
(taken from Steven Hassan%26#039;s book %26quot;Combatting Cult Mind Control%26quot;)
Do you belong to an organisation that .
- has lots of meetings?
- keeps you so busy you don%26#039;t have time to think?
- has an infallible leader?
- expects purity?
- has rigid principles?
- expects confessions?
- speaks a cliché-ridden language?
- is at odds with the world?
- has simple answers to most of life%26#039;s questions?
- makes you feel secure?
- makes you feel more special than non-members?
- frowns on expressions of doubts?
- claims absolute truth?
- expects significant financial contributions?
- is reluctant to allow you to leave?
- controls information about its own history?
- always says you are free to choose?
UMMM within mormonism thats a YES, YES, and a YES!!
from...http://www.salamandersociety.com/cultqui…
Some interesting quotes....
Joseph Smith said, what he says is SCRIPTURE!!
%26quot;I have never yet preached a sertuon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon, and it is as good a scripture%26quot; (Journal of Discourses, vol. 13, p. 95; also see vol. 13, p. 264).
Brigham Young pushed aside the teachings of the Bible!
%26quot;I think these preliminaries will satisfy me, and I feel prepared to take my text. It is the words of Jesus Christ, but where they are in the Bible I cannot tell you now, for I have not taken pains to look at them. I have had so much to do, that I have not read the Bible for many years. I used to read and study it, but did not understand the spirit and meaning of it ...%26quot; (1854 Conference discourse, October 8). [Brigham Young obviously did not understand the Bible, and neither do any of the other Mormon prophets!]
Nothing that is true is %26quot;anti-mormon%26quot; unless the church is anti-truth.|||If you are offended by the teaching, you should leave.
There is no point in denigrating a religion that you lost faith in.
If not for you, it could be for someone else.
If you scoff, you lose.|||Truth seeker---what a misnomer to begin with.
A. I have never felt pressured to participate in anything. I go to church when I want and meetings when I want. If I don%26#039;t want to accept a calling, I don%26#039;t and I still have my temple recommend and am in good standing. As far as environment, your definition would also qualify the NBA as a cult because there is a dress code. Or a football team because they dress alike. It is a stupid assertion.
The final identity issue, people who have things in common tend to congregate together. By your interpretation, cliques at highschool are cults...you need to keep looking for truth. No matter where you look, you will not be able to rationalize your behaviors and the way you feel with happiness and what is right. No matter how many negative Troll questions you ask. Right feels right and wrong feels wrong, no matter how badly you badmouth something that is right.|||Funny my sister is the room mom for both her daughters classes, the Girl Scout leader for both her daughters troops and holds a calling as a primary teacher in the church.
Mormons are highly encouraged to gain as much secular education and knowledge as possible and going to college is stressed from the time kids are little.
They are one of the largest group of internet users in the country, too, and Utah has the most use of personal computers.
It ranks in the top ten of education as a state.
Missionaries are only missionaries for 2 or 1 1/2 years and are suppose to be dedicating their lives to this service which is why the rules exist. You dont have to become a missionary to be a mormon.
Moderation in ones diet is taught by health experts, too.
The only forbidden things are coffee, tea (not herbal) and non prescription drugs and tobacco. Mormons can eat or drink anything else. Yeah, real controlling.
We are ALL brothers and sisters. Its a title of respect for each other and if a non mormon came thru the doors on sunday they would be called brother or sister too. We dont do it in everyday life because most people dont understand the connotation. It has NOTHING to do with isolating people.
Not a single mormon is being taught to kick out and never associate with people that leave the church. What a bunch of BS.
Yes yes, I am being mind controlled and manipulated.
Forget that you repeat the same anti mormon questions and statements over and over again as every other mormon basher. It is us that are being mindlessly controlled, lol|||this particular cut %26amp; paste you have here might be the most laughable you%26#039;ve put up yet. i%26#039;ll just elaborate on a few of the lies here:
1. members are NOT forbidden from associating from former/excommunicated members. that is a blatant lie.
2. members are NOT forced to take callings. if they don%26#039;t want one, they can say no, and they are NOT rebuked or reprimanded in any way.
3. my personal favorite lie of the list: our diets are NOT controlled! hahaha......not drinking coffee or BLACK tea is hardly diet controlling. we are allowed to drink caffeine. anybody with an IQ over 7 knows that the ingredients in a mountain dew aren%26#039;t the same as a cup of coffee......
seriously, is this cut %26amp; paste the best you can do? a bunch of BS and intelligent people see right through it.
nice try though|||Those points are ignorant and inflammatory. Thanks for asking.
-Control of Information
Lol...we are NOT isolated from people who are not part of our religion! I live in Illinois. 75% (at least) of the people I interact with are NOT Mormon!! We are the only Mormons in my neighborhood. My family does more with our non-Mormon neighbors than any family in my congregation. The church expressly encourages us to get involved in the community, not to seclude ourselves from it. Whoever wrote this is either ignorant or lying.
-Environment Control
Nope, our diet isn%26#039;t controlled. The church counsels against alcohol, tea, coffee. That%26#039;s it! And if I went out and drank a beer right now...no on in the church would know! No one is forcing me not to drink alcohol. And no one tells me what to eat every day. My diet isn%26#039;t controlled at all. And neither is my wardrobe.
-Identify association
So referring to each other as %26quot;brother%26quot; and %26quot;sister%26quot; in church isolates us? I showed above that we are hardly isolated. Most of the people I interact with are NOT Mormon. There is some sense of identity among Mormons, just like there is a sense of identity among Americans, among Cubs fans, among sci-fi fans, among members of a book club, among alumni of a certain college, etc.
-Control of Feeling#1
I%26#039;ve never been told NOT to associate with members who have been expelled. In fact, I%26#039;m told that it%26#039;s more important than EVER to interact with them to help them come back. We want them to come back. Whoever made these %26quot;points%26quot; doesn%26#039;t know what they are talking about.
-Control of Feeling#2
The same arguments are made against all religious people. Of course someone that doesn%26#039;t believe in God will argue that the spiritual experiences people do have are artificial. If the person making these assertions is religious...then they are a hypocrite...who are they to say their spiritual experiences are real and someone else%26#039;s are manufactured.
-Control of Information
I was a missionary and never heard of such a thing. We are taught to build on the common beliefs that we have (e.g., believe in Jesus Christ and the Bible), but we do not hide the differences. Joseph Smith is taught in the first lesson...that right there is a difference with Christianity and we don%26#039;t hide it.
Again, whoever made these %26quot;points%26quot; is way off base.|||I think you need to do some real research on the LDS church.
This list is garbage.
You could dig up similar point about my daughters kindergarten class. This is written by a bitter fool.|||Just FYI about removing family members names from LDS church records.
Legally, one can only remove their own name and any minor children that they are the legal guardians over. You cannot remove family members posthumously. So if you are saying Steve Benson removed his own name and his minor children%26#039;s names, that is possible. But he could not have any other family members names removed, especially family members that had chosen to be members in life and died (such as his grandfather).
I had to deal with this in a previous calling. A mother that did not have legal guardianship of her children (due to abuse and drug use, according to the court documents I saw) wanted her children%26#039;s names removed, but their grandparents (who were the court appointed legal guardians) did not. The church and courts sided with the grandparents.
Besides that, I think you%26#039;ve already gotten several good responses to the original quesiton. Not that I think you%26#039;re actually interested in any amount of truth.|||Therre is no such thing as mind control in the LDS church! You have the ability to go as far as you want, as long as you are willing to work, to get there!
There is no pressure to do anything that you don%26#039;t wish to do! If you do not want to serve a calling, you don%26#039;t need to do so! Most churches have a dress code, as they think you are coming to church to worship, therefore you show respect with your manner of dress!
Other churches don%26#039;t have a dress code, and that is ok, too!
As far *** the missionaries?, you see them, and you know who they are! It is not about them, it is about them sharing good news, as the bible says, to do!
And beards and mustaches reflect personal ideas of appearance! And are not appropriate while serving a mission!
And the diet part??? DUH! Alcohol is NOT good for you be any stretch of the imagination! Tea and coffee have caffeine, which are not good for you
And that is NOT a matter of striving for perfection, or identity, it is for good health!
And as far as brother and sister, believers think of god as their father, what is so hard to understand about calling each other brothers, and sisters?
And Elder is a title of respect, as is calling a priest, Father!
the LDS church is no more of a cult, that any other religion is, they all have the same definition, whether you want to admit it or not!!
Truth seeker, you seem to have serious issues with this church!
And since that is the case?, you need to just turn around and walk away!
Members of this church do not CARE about the opinions, of ex Mormons who constantly attack them!
In fact these attack do not come off as being helpful, they come off as sounding petty, and childish!
The people who are faithful members of the church follow the tenets with whole hearts, and do not have a problem with anything that they believe!
So, what harm does that do to you, or anyone else!
I could study up on, and find things about EVERY sect of christianty, to make fun of!
But, what would be the point, as what they believe does not effect me in any way!
We all have ideas that we believe, or DON%26quot;T believe, but when the LDS start attacking all of you on this site, , then you will have the right to persecute them, to the extremes that you do NOW!!!
So you should take your hate,and your poison, and your biased opinions about the LDS church, and either take them elsewhere, or swallow them, and forget it!
You impress no one with your silly,derogatory questions!|||It%26#039;s (I%26#039;m sorry) a load of crap.
First, we don%26#039;t feel pressure to do our callings despite being busy all the time, etc. We are told constantly that our FAMILY comes first. If our callings are interfereing with family business, then one goes to one%26#039;s bishop or stake president (as the case may be) and explains this to them and they graciously excuse you from your calling, in order that you may take care of your family.
Then, another BIG part of our belief is to SPREAD THE GOSPEL to those who don%26#039;t have it. How in the WORLD are we supposed to do that, if we are ISOLATED from non-members?? It%26#039;s not just the full time missionaries who do all that work. In fact, the baptism rate of people who were introduced to the church by full time missionaries is about 1%. Most of those who eventually accept baptism are those found by other members.
Lack of information? We are encouraged HUGELY to get as much education as possible. To get an education, one must get as much information as possible.
MIssionaries all dress alike (elders, anyway) but they are a tiny fraction of the total membership of hte church. Once they get off their mission, they can dress how they like.
Perfection is a goal that GOD wants for us. JESUS said, Be ye therefore perfect as our FAther in Heaven is perfect.
forbidden to drink coffee, tea, etc.
And what%26#039;s wrong with this? Besides, we aren%26#039;t forbidden, unless you are talking about going to the temple.
Two groups with the lowest health problems are the two groups with specific dietary rules; the Seventh Day Adventists, and teh Latter-day Saints.
We call EVERYONE Brother or sister, even those not in our church, when we are at church. We believe that, thru our Heavenly Father, we are all brothers and sisters.
I don%26#039;t know anyone who has been %26quot;threatened with expulsion%26quot;. Unless they have done grievous sins, like sins of morality, and even then, no one is EXPELLED. their names are removed from teh rolls, but they are strongly encouraged to come to church, and repent of their sins and come back to full fellowship.
Since most people who work for LDS are in Utah, then fear of losing one%26#039;s job is getting rarer all the time. Most Mormons live outside Utah, and work for non-Mormons. Therefore, losing one%26#039;s job is not a problem if one chooses to not believe.
Also, since most LDS now are converts, losing one%26#039;s family is also a rarity.
And, quoting one %26quot;bishop%26quot; does not prove a church wide problem exists.
%26gt;%26gt;Speaking of those who criticize and try to correct the leaders of the church%26lt;%26lt;
If one chooses to criticize the church leaders, then one shouldn%26#039;t be a member of said church. And to try to %26quot;correct%26quot; a man who millions believe to be a prophet of God is to try to correct God. This is apostasy.
%26gt;experiences a lot of love (which in fact is false, or at least superficial)%26lt;
Excuse me? We do not show FALSE love, or superficial love! I have felt it from non-LDS Christians, however. Does this condemn all Christianity?
Overwhelmed with kindness? Lower their defenses, for what? We don%26#039;t %26quot;make sure%26quot; someone has spiritual experiences. But we do give new members suggestions on what it feels like to feel the Holy Spirit. If this is bad, then again, it condemns all of Christianity.
And I don%26#039;t see how missionaries are taught to say how we are the same as others, like Catholics, except for the obvious, that we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour.|||Let me let you in on a little secret. The greatest %26quot;mind manipulation%26quot; as you would call it, is the host of supernatural events that are promised, and then occur. If God stopped answering our prayers, new membership would drop dramatically, and we would be no better than any other church.
Every worthy member of the LDS church who is over the age of 14, can recieve a revelation or prophecy known as a Patriarchal Blessing. It is preceeded by fasting and prayer. It is personal, and highly individual. In prayer we ask the Lord for those blessings that we desire. In the blessing, the Lord tells us which blessings he will give us. It is a revelation of the future, based on our continued obedience to God%26#039;s commandments. Everything in my blessing has come true (except for the rising in the morning of the first resurrection - but I%26#039;m not in a hurry). As members of the church we are continually promised that God will answer our prayers, that priesthood blessings will come true, and that the gifts of the spirit will accompany us, as we keep the standards which God has given. Our own experiences verify that these things are true, that there is a God in heaven who knows the future, and who answers prayers. Why would we ever want to give up a close relationship with God to join some other church that struggles to believe in things we have already seen?|||Steve Benson, the noted Arizona Republic cartoonist, is a grandson of the late High Muckamuck of the Mormon Church. He came to the conclusion that it was all bullshit, and asked that the church remove his name and the names of his family from their rolls. Because he came from a very influential family, they didn%26#039;t want to do it. He had to threaten them with a lawsuit, and they finally did.
If he could do it, so can you.|||YES, SPOT ON, GOOD JOB!! I LIKE HOW THESE MORMONS SAY IT IS OK TO HANG WITH EX MORMONS OR APOSTATES. THEY ARE LYING!!! THEIR OWN TEMPLE REC. INTERVIEW ASKS%26quot; DO YOU KNOW OR ASSOCIATE WITH KNOW APOSTATES OR THOSE WHO SPEAK ILL OF THE CHURCH?%26quot; LOL MORE MORMON BS.|||The best way to avoid analysis and creative thought is to keep busy to the point of exhaustion. If there is any time left over for family, it is sheer selfishness.
How many parishes have a schedule like a Mormon ward of about 600 people:
1. 3 hour block meeting - Sunday
2. Priesthood Executive Committee meeting - Sunday
3. Bishopric meeting - Sunday
4. Bishop youth committee meeting - Sunday
5. Brain numbing firesides - Sunday
6. General conferences - Saturdays and Sundays
7. Stake conference - Saturdays and Sundays
8. HQ and Utah firesides (broadcast to global chapels) - Sundays
9. Other *special* broadcasts from HQ and Utah - Sundays
10. Relief Society conferences - week-ends
11. Young men program - evenings
12. Young women program - evenings
13. Relief Society meetings - non-Sunday
14. Seminary %26quot;indocrination%26quot; (quoting kimball) – Monday to Friday
15. Personal priesthood interviews
16. Home teaching - evenings
17. Visiting teaching - evenings
18. Young men%26#039;s camp – otherwise valuable vacation time
19. Young women’s camp - otherwise valuable vacation time
20. Chapel cleanups - Saturdays
21. Stake Sports – Saturdays / Public Holidays
22. Seminary “Super Saturday” - Saturday
23. Seminay Graduation – Saturday Evening
24. Temple interview bishop - any time
25. Temple interview stake - any time
26. Genealogy research - any time
27. Temple attendance - any time (even week-long trips)
28. Service projects - any days, but mostly Saturdays
29. Ward committee meetings - whenever
30. Letter writing to missionaries - any time
31. Lesson and callings preparation time - any time
32. Scripture reading - every day
33. Road shows - evenings %26amp; Saturday
34. Missionary service conversion - 2 years
35. Missionary service Temple - 2 years?
36. Church courts prosecuting and judging - any time
37. Official curriculum study and absorption - every day
38. Stake presidency meeting - any day
39. Stake high council meeting - evening
40. Stake bishops meeting - evening
41. Ward welfare meeting - evening
42. Stake welfare meeting - evening
43. Priesthood leadership meeting - evening
44. Stake training meetings - evening or Saturday
45. Church Employment courses - any day
46. Christmas (Smithmas) concerts - evenings and Saturday
47. Genealogy open house - Saturday
48. Ward correlation meeting - any evening or day
49. Ward Choir - Sunday
50. Stake Choir - can be multiple evenings in a week
51. Journal keeping
Would You Mind Checking Out This Excerpt For Me?
Well, I just wrote this then (I%26#039;ve been through it about two times) and it came out better than what I expected it would considering I%26#039;m so tired. But, I%26#039;m absolutely terrible at editing my own writing, so I could do with some help. **Sorry if it%26#039;s long**
We took refuge underneath a solid piece of wood forced between two trees; it looked as if it was somebody’s old cubby. It’d obviously been forgotten long ago, the wood looked like it was rotting and water still slipped through small holes.
I pulled the sleeves of my jacket completely over my hands and made a noise that sounded similar to a horse. “It’s freezing.”
I turned to look at Saben, and instantly sighed under my breath. Clear beads from the rain were caught in between strands of his ratty black hair, which was still spiking up all over the place. In the low light his face glistened; when he’d protected me from the downpour he must’ve collected a lot more water than me. Noticing my observations, Saben arced an eyebrow.
In an attempt to distract him, I said, “Wow, my clothes are drenched.”
“Well, that can easily be fixed,” He took a few confident steps in my direction, only stopping when our bodies were almost making contact. “By taking them off…” Saben’s voice had dropped to a low murmur that dripped with lust. So that our faces were only just apart, he tilted in further and bent his knees slightly.
Before I could stop myself, a snort rolled out of my mouth and that quickly turned into ear-splitting cackles. They carried out through the empty forest, it even surprised me how loud my laughter was getting.
I held my hand to my stomach as a stitch began to form and my chuckles gradually died down. Looking up, I found a slight smirk on Saben’s face, his green eyes sparking with desire.
“You never take me seriously, huh?” A definite expression now masked his face. I shook my head and he pursed his lips. “Well, we’ll just have to change that, won’t we?”
I wasn’t too sure what he meant, but I still didn’t think he was being completely serious. That was until one of Saben’s hands slowly moved from his pocket and up to my face, his large palm completely cupping my cheek. I closed my eyes as his thumb drew light circles underneath my eye and an unmistakable warmth spread through me; he’d taken one last step closer. When Saben’s other chilly hand came up to rest against my face, I peeled open my eyes to find him looking down at me; mere inches away.
I placed my hand on Saben’s forearm, his muscles tensing at the contact. His head tilted towards mine and my eyes inevitably glanced at his full lips. They were still damp from the rain, and as the corner of his mouth twitched it seemed like they were inviting me in. The anticipation was eating at my insides, and I tipped my lips up to Saben’s expectantly, but his nose only lightly brushed mine.
Slowly, his fingers wriggled past my cheek to tangle in my hair and I gulped, noticing how dry throat was. My stomach flipped as I noticed Saben’s lips were slowly, but surely, moving closer and closer to my eager one’s.
Before I could even react, his mouth had swiftly moved away from mine and connected with my forehead. He pecked it lightly, before stepping away and leaving a trace of what felt like fire behind.
I stumbled backwards slightly; it was like somebody had slapped me across the face, bringing me back out of my daze. Saben chuckled at how much power he’d just held over me, and my heart sunk as I realised just how pathetic I must’ve seemed.
“It’s stopped raining,” I glanced up at Saben to find a grin still on his face. “Come on, there’s something I want to show you.”
One thing I%26#039;m really want to get your opinions on is if it%26#039;s too much description, especially when they%26#039;re about to kiss? And do you have any advice on how I can know if it%26#039;s over described? Saben%26#039;s a sorcerer and I%26#039;m not too sure whether or not I want this to be a spell just yet (he%26#039;s manipulating her) so that%26#039;s why I put in the daze thing. **I know Saben probably seems like a creep, but it%26#039;s just his personality and Audrey%26#039;s used to it, that%26#039;s why she takes it so lightly.** And overall, what did you think? I reallyyy appreciate the help, thanks♥|||Is this posted in WoP under the title %26quot;Ripped%26quot; or something like that? Anyways, it was good, the descriptions were nice but yeah I think it%26#039;s a tad too much. Keep it up!
PS: Oh and I checked it on the website. Could you read mine over there and comment/rate? It%26#039;s on the Beatrix Renning account. Thanks heaps!|||Hey, this is absolutely amazing. Gosh you sound like a Pro author :)
1) - Nope, the description is near perfect. But i think, in the bit where
%26#039;%26#039;his mouth had swiftly moved away from mine and connected with my forehead. He pecked it lightly, before stepping away and leaving a trace of what felt like fire behind.
I stumbled backwards slightly; it was like somebody had slapped me across the face, bringing me back out of my daze. Saben chuckled at how much power he’d just held over me, and my heart sunk as I realized just how pathetic I must’ve seemed%26#039;%26#039;
I think you need a bit more description of how she is feeling. And what she is thinking with every move he makes. Like does her breathing change, does her heart flutter? Does she feel fear? Does she feel drawn to him even more? Love has a funny way of working, you may need to ask more personal experiences before you get an accurate description.
In this bit:
In the low light his face glistened; - perhaps describe her feelings towards him. Like does she think hes Beautiful? Does she just want to hold him, and be %26#039;his forever%26#039; Make it lovey dovey. Show that she is caught up in Love or something :)
The anticipation was eating at my insides, and I tipped my lips up to Saben’s expectantly, but his nose only lightly brushed mine. - Here, show her disappointment more. With what you have given, it seems as if she%26#039;s thinking %26#039;oh well%26#039; Or not even that. You need to show how she regrets losing a small chance. Maybe something like %26#039;%26#039;His nose only lightly brushed mine, with the single touch, i felt a rush of love and daze flood through me, surging up to my brain and back down, leaving me feeling a heavy pulse. Surely he could hear my heartbeat too?%26#039;%26#039; I don%26#039;t know, I%26#039;m not 100% today, but do you get the picture more less?
Email me if you would like to have any more help :)
Your story sounds really fab! Good job, and good luck :)
-Deana.|||I actually liked it :) Good descriptions, not too much but not too little. In my opinion, anyway. But I do think you over described Saben%26#039;s movements when he was leaning in, like %26quot;he tilted in further and bent his knees slightly.%26quot; I don%26#039;t know, that bit just puts me off for some reason, for me I can already imagine him leaning down and tilting his head. But again, that%26#039;s just me, I%26#039;m weird like that.
For me, when I know I over describe something is when it takes ages for the characters to do something that in reality is quick. Or when I write a whole paragraph describing one simple action or object.
Saben seems a bit cocky and over confident about Audrey%26#039;s actions and feelings. If he isn%26#039;t manipulating her there then, to me, she seemed a little needy with the whole kiss thing. But you said that that%26#039;s what Saben%26#039;s personality is and she%26#039;s used to it then it seems like she would know he would do that. Remember, we don%26#039;t want another Bella Swan heroin, where she is dependent and needy for the guy. Strong, kick-*** heroins are better. But if he is manipulating her, it totally makes sense.
Overall, I thought it was awesome. I%26#039;m not that good at English so I won%26#039;t criticize or anything because I probably don%26#039;t know what I%26#039;m saying. Let me know if you publish this, because I wanted to keep reading it and find out that, if Saben was manipulating her, why? and why are they hiding under some trees near a cubby (in someones backyard?).
Keep writing!|||I found a way to answer this question of yours after all! ( I clicked on your profile and went from there actually lol. ) Anyway to answer your question, well everyone before me has beaten me to it, and already given you the best answers that you mostly need to know, when it comes to writing and editing your very well written descriptive piece.
:-)
The only advice I really have to give you with the continuation of this story, is to always check over your work for spelling mistakes and that your paragraphs are always spaced properly.
Anyways, carry on with the great work!|||Very good
%26#039;noticing how dry throat was,%26#039; you just need to put the %26#039;my%26#039; in their.
Good luck (:
We took refuge underneath a solid piece of wood forced between two trees; it looked as if it was somebody’s old cubby. It’d obviously been forgotten long ago, the wood looked like it was rotting and water still slipped through small holes.
I pulled the sleeves of my jacket completely over my hands and made a noise that sounded similar to a horse. “It’s freezing.”
I turned to look at Saben, and instantly sighed under my breath. Clear beads from the rain were caught in between strands of his ratty black hair, which was still spiking up all over the place. In the low light his face glistened; when he’d protected me from the downpour he must’ve collected a lot more water than me. Noticing my observations, Saben arced an eyebrow.
In an attempt to distract him, I said, “Wow, my clothes are drenched.”
“Well, that can easily be fixed,” He took a few confident steps in my direction, only stopping when our bodies were almost making contact. “By taking them off…” Saben’s voice had dropped to a low murmur that dripped with lust. So that our faces were only just apart, he tilted in further and bent his knees slightly.
Before I could stop myself, a snort rolled out of my mouth and that quickly turned into ear-splitting cackles. They carried out through the empty forest, it even surprised me how loud my laughter was getting.
I held my hand to my stomach as a stitch began to form and my chuckles gradually died down. Looking up, I found a slight smirk on Saben’s face, his green eyes sparking with desire.
“You never take me seriously, huh?” A definite expression now masked his face. I shook my head and he pursed his lips. “Well, we’ll just have to change that, won’t we?”
I wasn’t too sure what he meant, but I still didn’t think he was being completely serious. That was until one of Saben’s hands slowly moved from his pocket and up to my face, his large palm completely cupping my cheek. I closed my eyes as his thumb drew light circles underneath my eye and an unmistakable warmth spread through me; he’d taken one last step closer. When Saben’s other chilly hand came up to rest against my face, I peeled open my eyes to find him looking down at me; mere inches away.
I placed my hand on Saben’s forearm, his muscles tensing at the contact. His head tilted towards mine and my eyes inevitably glanced at his full lips. They were still damp from the rain, and as the corner of his mouth twitched it seemed like they were inviting me in. The anticipation was eating at my insides, and I tipped my lips up to Saben’s expectantly, but his nose only lightly brushed mine.
Slowly, his fingers wriggled past my cheek to tangle in my hair and I gulped, noticing how dry throat was. My stomach flipped as I noticed Saben’s lips were slowly, but surely, moving closer and closer to my eager one’s.
Before I could even react, his mouth had swiftly moved away from mine and connected with my forehead. He pecked it lightly, before stepping away and leaving a trace of what felt like fire behind.
I stumbled backwards slightly; it was like somebody had slapped me across the face, bringing me back out of my daze. Saben chuckled at how much power he’d just held over me, and my heart sunk as I realised just how pathetic I must’ve seemed.
“It’s stopped raining,” I glanced up at Saben to find a grin still on his face. “Come on, there’s something I want to show you.”
One thing I%26#039;m really want to get your opinions on is if it%26#039;s too much description, especially when they%26#039;re about to kiss? And do you have any advice on how I can know if it%26#039;s over described? Saben%26#039;s a sorcerer and I%26#039;m not too sure whether or not I want this to be a spell just yet (he%26#039;s manipulating her) so that%26#039;s why I put in the daze thing. **I know Saben probably seems like a creep, but it%26#039;s just his personality and Audrey%26#039;s used to it, that%26#039;s why she takes it so lightly.** And overall, what did you think? I reallyyy appreciate the help, thanks♥|||Is this posted in WoP under the title %26quot;Ripped%26quot; or something like that? Anyways, it was good, the descriptions were nice but yeah I think it%26#039;s a tad too much. Keep it up!
PS: Oh and I checked it on the website. Could you read mine over there and comment/rate? It%26#039;s on the Beatrix Renning account. Thanks heaps!|||Hey, this is absolutely amazing. Gosh you sound like a Pro author :)
1) - Nope, the description is near perfect. But i think, in the bit where
%26#039;%26#039;his mouth had swiftly moved away from mine and connected with my forehead. He pecked it lightly, before stepping away and leaving a trace of what felt like fire behind.
I stumbled backwards slightly; it was like somebody had slapped me across the face, bringing me back out of my daze. Saben chuckled at how much power he’d just held over me, and my heart sunk as I realized just how pathetic I must’ve seemed%26#039;%26#039;
I think you need a bit more description of how she is feeling. And what she is thinking with every move he makes. Like does her breathing change, does her heart flutter? Does she feel fear? Does she feel drawn to him even more? Love has a funny way of working, you may need to ask more personal experiences before you get an accurate description.
In this bit:
In the low light his face glistened; - perhaps describe her feelings towards him. Like does she think hes Beautiful? Does she just want to hold him, and be %26#039;his forever%26#039; Make it lovey dovey. Show that she is caught up in Love or something :)
The anticipation was eating at my insides, and I tipped my lips up to Saben’s expectantly, but his nose only lightly brushed mine. - Here, show her disappointment more. With what you have given, it seems as if she%26#039;s thinking %26#039;oh well%26#039; Or not even that. You need to show how she regrets losing a small chance. Maybe something like %26#039;%26#039;His nose only lightly brushed mine, with the single touch, i felt a rush of love and daze flood through me, surging up to my brain and back down, leaving me feeling a heavy pulse. Surely he could hear my heartbeat too?%26#039;%26#039; I don%26#039;t know, I%26#039;m not 100% today, but do you get the picture more less?
Email me if you would like to have any more help :)
Your story sounds really fab! Good job, and good luck :)
-Deana.|||I actually liked it :) Good descriptions, not too much but not too little. In my opinion, anyway. But I do think you over described Saben%26#039;s movements when he was leaning in, like %26quot;he tilted in further and bent his knees slightly.%26quot; I don%26#039;t know, that bit just puts me off for some reason, for me I can already imagine him leaning down and tilting his head. But again, that%26#039;s just me, I%26#039;m weird like that.
For me, when I know I over describe something is when it takes ages for the characters to do something that in reality is quick. Or when I write a whole paragraph describing one simple action or object.
Saben seems a bit cocky and over confident about Audrey%26#039;s actions and feelings. If he isn%26#039;t manipulating her there then, to me, she seemed a little needy with the whole kiss thing. But you said that that%26#039;s what Saben%26#039;s personality is and she%26#039;s used to it then it seems like she would know he would do that. Remember, we don%26#039;t want another Bella Swan heroin, where she is dependent and needy for the guy. Strong, kick-*** heroins are better. But if he is manipulating her, it totally makes sense.
Overall, I thought it was awesome. I%26#039;m not that good at English so I won%26#039;t criticize or anything because I probably don%26#039;t know what I%26#039;m saying. Let me know if you publish this, because I wanted to keep reading it and find out that, if Saben was manipulating her, why? and why are they hiding under some trees near a cubby (in someones backyard?).
Keep writing!|||I found a way to answer this question of yours after all! ( I clicked on your profile and went from there actually lol. ) Anyway to answer your question, well everyone before me has beaten me to it, and already given you the best answers that you mostly need to know, when it comes to writing and editing your very well written descriptive piece.
:-)
The only advice I really have to give you with the continuation of this story, is to always check over your work for spelling mistakes and that your paragraphs are always spaced properly.
Anyways, carry on with the great work!|||Very good
%26#039;noticing how dry throat was,%26#039; you just need to put the %26#039;my%26#039; in their.
Good luck (:
What's the first step in starting your own business?
And how about the second, third, and fourth step? :-)
Recommend me some good books to check out and put me in the right direction.
I%26#039;m thinking about my future and have think I might take some business classes at my local junior college and ponder at the thought of starting up my own business.
I%26#039;ve got a Hookah bar in mind. One%26#039;s worked in my town before (they later changed it to a bar/dance club), and I%26#039;m certain it%26#039;d work again.
|||If a Hookah bar didn%26#039;t work before, why do you think it would work now? Have you talked to the owners to find out why they changed to a bar/dance club? You may find that the Hookah concept was a money losing proposition from the start.
Before you go any further, I STRONGLY recommend you contact the Small Business Development Center (at your local community college) and talk to them; the counseling is free.
Then sign up for the NxLevel Entrepreneurial program... it%26#039;s a 12 session course that walks you through the ins and outs of starting or growing your business, and as part of that you will write a business plan. At the end of the class your plan will be reviewed by a lending professional, and will be critiqued, telling you the strong points of your plan AND the weak points.
Then you can work on the weak points and hopefully get it into shape to actually present to a lender and get the loan you need. There is a cost for the NxLevel program but it鈥檚 a lot cheaper than losing your investment.
Even if you hire a professional to write your plan, you should still take the NxLevel course. It saved me from going into a business that would have failed within a year or so, taking my investment with it. I realized by the third week of the class that I could not afford the business I was looking at and changed directions in the middle of the class.
Business plans may be a pain in the butt to prepare, but without one, your business is doomed to failure. To start with, you won%26#039;t know what your startup costs are going to be, what kind of income to expect, what your ongoing expenses are, who your competition is, and even whether or not you can make a profit. Without a GOOD business plan, you will not be able to get a business loan to get your business off the ground.
|||Your very first step is to get money|||1Getting the money.
#2name of buisnes
#3build the building or rent one
#4get the supplies
#5 get employees
#6 get working|||Lay out your business plan first. The local SBA (small business administration) will help you. Then get either investors or have the money for start up.
Then for the documents you will need to start the business account you can go to legalzoom.com
Recommend me some good books to check out and put me in the right direction.
I%26#039;m thinking about my future and have think I might take some business classes at my local junior college and ponder at the thought of starting up my own business.
I%26#039;ve got a Hookah bar in mind. One%26#039;s worked in my town before (they later changed it to a bar/dance club), and I%26#039;m certain it%26#039;d work again.
|||If a Hookah bar didn%26#039;t work before, why do you think it would work now? Have you talked to the owners to find out why they changed to a bar/dance club? You may find that the Hookah concept was a money losing proposition from the start.
Before you go any further, I STRONGLY recommend you contact the Small Business Development Center (at your local community college) and talk to them; the counseling is free.
Then sign up for the NxLevel Entrepreneurial program... it%26#039;s a 12 session course that walks you through the ins and outs of starting or growing your business, and as part of that you will write a business plan. At the end of the class your plan will be reviewed by a lending professional, and will be critiqued, telling you the strong points of your plan AND the weak points.
Then you can work on the weak points and hopefully get it into shape to actually present to a lender and get the loan you need. There is a cost for the NxLevel program but it鈥檚 a lot cheaper than losing your investment.
Even if you hire a professional to write your plan, you should still take the NxLevel course. It saved me from going into a business that would have failed within a year or so, taking my investment with it. I realized by the third week of the class that I could not afford the business I was looking at and changed directions in the middle of the class.
Business plans may be a pain in the butt to prepare, but without one, your business is doomed to failure. To start with, you won%26#039;t know what your startup costs are going to be, what kind of income to expect, what your ongoing expenses are, who your competition is, and even whether or not you can make a profit. Without a GOOD business plan, you will not be able to get a business loan to get your business off the ground.
|||Your very first step is to get money|||1Getting the money.
#2name of buisnes
#3build the building or rent one
#4get the supplies
#5 get employees
#6 get working|||Lay out your business plan first. The local SBA (small business administration) will help you. Then get either investors or have the money for start up.
Then for the documents you will need to start the business account you can go to legalzoom.com
WHY ARE INDIANS SUPPRESSED IN AMERICA?
If you look at dating ads online...like the ones Yahoo supply as headers in Yahoo Home page...I%26#039;ve noticed that Indians arent even included or mentioned as dating material. Its always Whites, Blacks, Latino, and Asian (By Asian, a lot assume oriental Asian...and it is)
In reality shows, advertisements, cartoons...ANYTHING we see only white, black, latino, and oriental Asians doing whatever they do.
Indians dont even cross one;s mind in the dating game. We are sexually suppressed. I am sexually suppressed. And it hurts!
People say we stink of curry...well? Many Indians are vegetarian. Most curry is vegetarian. Is curry really as bad as...escargots that white (French) people eat? Is it as bad as pork? Do you have any idea how animals are killed for meat? Have you read Slaughterhouse?
Maybe we are hairy...but that can be easily fixed through waxing and shaving
I don%26#039;t see why Indians are being discriminated...I%26#039;ve been rejected by so many girls because they arent physically attracted to us...because I%26#039;m Indian. A lot of my Indian friends were rejected by many girls for the same reason.
Honestly, i%26#039;ve had a lot of people say I have an awesome personality...I%26#039;m a funny guy. Even girls say that. But the girls aren%26#039;t sexually attracted to me because I%26#039;m Indian..they%26#039;ve all implied or told me that directly.
Why is this so? How can I change this outlook people have? What should I do?
For the record..I dont eat curry.|||Perhaps because you guys make up less than 2% of Americans?|||Hey, i don%26#039;t really understand Indians.
I mean, is the North Indian and South, different from each other?
Like the North speaks Hindi while the South speaks tamil, right?|||they dont have computers on the reservation|||Move to Canada. We have a sh8t load of Indians where I live. There are many Indian dating sites as an advertisement when I%26#039;m on yahoo, so its probably just because you live in America. I love eating meat, you can%26#039;t stop me. The Indian kids with parents with immigrants stink like curry, and its not a lie. This is coming from a 2nd generation Canadian, my parents are from Punjab. Most INdian guys are hairy, its pretty gross. Thank god im not a hairy indian girl. If you can%26#039;t get a girl you knwo what that means, your parents are going to make you have an arranged marraige ahaha
In reality shows, advertisements, cartoons...ANYTHING we see only white, black, latino, and oriental Asians doing whatever they do.
Indians dont even cross one;s mind in the dating game. We are sexually suppressed. I am sexually suppressed. And it hurts!
People say we stink of curry...well? Many Indians are vegetarian. Most curry is vegetarian. Is curry really as bad as...escargots that white (French) people eat? Is it as bad as pork? Do you have any idea how animals are killed for meat? Have you read Slaughterhouse?
Maybe we are hairy...but that can be easily fixed through waxing and shaving
I don%26#039;t see why Indians are being discriminated...I%26#039;ve been rejected by so many girls because they arent physically attracted to us...because I%26#039;m Indian. A lot of my Indian friends were rejected by many girls for the same reason.
Honestly, i%26#039;ve had a lot of people say I have an awesome personality...I%26#039;m a funny guy. Even girls say that. But the girls aren%26#039;t sexually attracted to me because I%26#039;m Indian..they%26#039;ve all implied or told me that directly.
Why is this so? How can I change this outlook people have? What should I do?
For the record..I dont eat curry.|||Perhaps because you guys make up less than 2% of Americans?|||Hey, i don%26#039;t really understand Indians.
I mean, is the North Indian and South, different from each other?
Like the North speaks Hindi while the South speaks tamil, right?|||they dont have computers on the reservation|||Move to Canada. We have a sh8t load of Indians where I live. There are many Indian dating sites as an advertisement when I%26#039;m on yahoo, so its probably just because you live in America. I love eating meat, you can%26#039;t stop me. The Indian kids with parents with immigrants stink like curry, and its not a lie. This is coming from a 2nd generation Canadian, my parents are from Punjab. Most INdian guys are hairy, its pretty gross. Thank god im not a hairy indian girl. If you can%26#039;t get a girl you knwo what that means, your parents are going to make you have an arranged marraige ahaha
Writing advice on love!! Please help easy ten points...?
I am not that old but i love writing and I am inspired by love. I have written a paragraph below. PLEASE read the whole thing and make suggestions! Anything like what to put next or change this here to this... THANKS GUYS
L-O-V-E. A four letter word that sends people crazy. Love can overwhelm us with a multitude of great emotions or make us as happy as we could ever be. It can bring us happiness or pain, but love it love. Along with happiness depression is a factor of love. We can not all get what we want or the person we love may not feel the same way. This depression will lead people to do awful things. It is not anyone鈥檚 fault it is just how one鈥檚 mind reacts to severe rejection. Once we commit to one person for our life that love never dies. First love is something all people remember for their entire life. Love is when you would give your life in place of another person; when you want to spend the rest of your life trying to figure that special someone out; and when you can not live your life without the person you love most.|||I%26#039;m not that old and I love to write, too! Except I am inspired by pretty much everything. I could be eating chips and watching TV and suddenly find myself thinking how few colors are really on the screen and analyzing every detail of the chips. Sorry, that%26#039;s beside the point.
Advice - Don%26#039;t state what love is. Describe it, more deeply, if you can. Like how two people feel as though their souls are linked. Stuff like that.|||Its cool... but... nothing where i%26#039;d get an epiphany from|||%26quot;happiness or pain, but love it love%26quot; First off, change %26#039;it%26#039; to %26#039;is%26#039;.
%26quot;Along with happiness depression%26quot; Next insert a comma in between happiness, and depression.
%26quot;We can not all get what we want%26quot; Change, %26#039; can not%26#039; to %26#039;can%26#039;t%26#039; it flows better. Also add a comma after %26#039;want%26#039;, another after (In the next half of the sentence) a comma after %26#039;or%26#039;.
%26quot;It is not anyone鈥檚 fault it is%26quot; Next change the %26#039;it is not%26#039; to either, %26#039;it isn%26#039;t%26#039; or %26#039;it%26#039;s no%26#039; (your choice)
%26quot;First love is something all people%26quot; Comma after %26#039;First%26#039;.
That%26#039;s all I have, hope it helped, otherwise, good luck, it%26#039;s very good!
L-O-V-E. A four letter word that sends people crazy. Love can overwhelm us with a multitude of great emotions or make us as happy as we could ever be. It can bring us happiness or pain, but love it love. Along with happiness depression is a factor of love. We can not all get what we want or the person we love may not feel the same way. This depression will lead people to do awful things. It is not anyone鈥檚 fault it is just how one鈥檚 mind reacts to severe rejection. Once we commit to one person for our life that love never dies. First love is something all people remember for their entire life. Love is when you would give your life in place of another person; when you want to spend the rest of your life trying to figure that special someone out; and when you can not live your life without the person you love most.|||I%26#039;m not that old and I love to write, too! Except I am inspired by pretty much everything. I could be eating chips and watching TV and suddenly find myself thinking how few colors are really on the screen and analyzing every detail of the chips. Sorry, that%26#039;s beside the point.
Advice - Don%26#039;t state what love is. Describe it, more deeply, if you can. Like how two people feel as though their souls are linked. Stuff like that.|||Its cool... but... nothing where i%26#039;d get an epiphany from|||%26quot;happiness or pain, but love it love%26quot; First off, change %26#039;it%26#039; to %26#039;is%26#039;.
%26quot;Along with happiness depression%26quot; Next insert a comma in between happiness, and depression.
%26quot;We can not all get what we want%26quot; Change, %26#039; can not%26#039; to %26#039;can%26#039;t%26#039; it flows better. Also add a comma after %26#039;want%26#039;, another after (In the next half of the sentence) a comma after %26#039;or%26#039;.
%26quot;It is not anyone鈥檚 fault it is%26quot; Next change the %26#039;it is not%26#039; to either, %26#039;it isn%26#039;t%26#039; or %26#039;it%26#039;s no%26#039; (your choice)
%26quot;First love is something all people%26quot; Comma after %26#039;First%26#039;.
That%26#039;s all I have, hope it helped, otherwise, good luck, it%26#039;s very good!
Why are Indians and the Indian culture not really regarded in America?
If you look at dating ads online...like the ones Yahoo supply as headers in Yahoo Home page...I%26#039;ve noticed that Indians arent even included or mentioned as dating material. Its always Whites, Blacks, Latino, and Asian (By Asian, a lot assume oriental Asian...and it is)
In reality shows, advertisements, cartoons...ANYTHING we see only white, black, latino, and oriental Asians doing whatever they do.
Indians dont even cross one;s mind in the dating game. We are sexually suppressed. I am sexually suppressed. And it hurts!
People say we stink of curry...well? Many Indians are vegetarian. Most curry is vegetarian. Is curry really as bad as...escargots that white (French) people eat? Is it as bad as pork? Do you have any idea how animals are killed for meat? Have you read Slaughterhouse?
Maybe we are hairy...but that can be easily fixed through waxing and shaving
I don%26#039;t see why Indians are being discriminated...I%26#039;ve been rejected by so many girls because they arent physically attracted to us...because I%26#039;m Indian. A lot of my Indian friends were rejected by many girls for the same reason.
Honestly, i%26#039;ve had a lot of people say I have an awesome personality...I%26#039;m a funny guy. Even girls say that. But the girls aren%26#039;t sexually attracted to me because I%26#039;m Indian..they%26#039;ve all implied or told me that directly.
Why is this so? How can I change this outlook people have? What should I do?
For the record..I dont eat curry.|||Im INDIAN!
I love curry, rice and the culture!
I love watching bollywood movies....
Most Indians are vegetarians becausethe majority is Hindu, Muslim. They dont eat meat or pork.
I feel sorry about girls rejecting you. I hope you find your perfect match one day!|||Cause India is in Asian.|||aww i dont hate indians.|||Why was the Indian in the cupboard?
In reality shows, advertisements, cartoons...ANYTHING we see only white, black, latino, and oriental Asians doing whatever they do.
Indians dont even cross one;s mind in the dating game. We are sexually suppressed. I am sexually suppressed. And it hurts!
People say we stink of curry...well? Many Indians are vegetarian. Most curry is vegetarian. Is curry really as bad as...escargots that white (French) people eat? Is it as bad as pork? Do you have any idea how animals are killed for meat? Have you read Slaughterhouse?
Maybe we are hairy...but that can be easily fixed through waxing and shaving
I don%26#039;t see why Indians are being discriminated...I%26#039;ve been rejected by so many girls because they arent physically attracted to us...because I%26#039;m Indian. A lot of my Indian friends were rejected by many girls for the same reason.
Honestly, i%26#039;ve had a lot of people say I have an awesome personality...I%26#039;m a funny guy. Even girls say that. But the girls aren%26#039;t sexually attracted to me because I%26#039;m Indian..they%26#039;ve all implied or told me that directly.
Why is this so? How can I change this outlook people have? What should I do?
For the record..I dont eat curry.|||Im INDIAN!
I love curry, rice and the culture!
I love watching bollywood movies....
Most Indians are vegetarians becausethe majority is Hindu, Muslim. They dont eat meat or pork.
I feel sorry about girls rejecting you. I hope you find your perfect match one day!|||Cause India is in Asian.|||aww i dont hate indians.|||Why was the Indian in the cupboard?
Can you help me with my sonnet about peace?
I just wrote this sonnet, but it doesn%26#039;t have a lyrical quality to it.
Peace, oh Peace, come out wherever you are
The fight for you has become so extreme
The sincere idea of you seems so far
You show up in fashion, doodles and dreams
But an abundance of absence in one鈥檚 mind
We crave you in our hearts, but don鈥檛 act for you
Let鈥檚 bring you to life, you鈥檙e needed in mankind
We鈥檒l start off simply to make you come true
by merely respecting the opinions
Of one another and take pride in that
And we shall try to end all of the hate
We鈥檒l become equals and avoid dominion
We鈥檒l then avoid conflict, deaths and combat
The key to peace is to negotiate
Is it good? How can i change it?|||use the iambic pentameter
U/U/U/U/U/
U being un-emphasized and / being emphasized also try using the format
abab cdcd efef gg
ea of the letters a line and the end of ea. line rhymes with the other of the same
example:
Shall I compare thee to a Summer%26#039;s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And Summer%26#039;s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And oft%26#039; is his gold complexion dimm%26#039;d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature%26#039;s changing course untrimm%26#039;d:
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.|||Doodle seems a bit...out, maybe you could replace it with something else.
Try to match the syllables in sentences and it will have more of a lyrical quality in my opinion.|||A sonnet, or to be more precise, an Elizabethan or Shakespearian soneet is 14 lines. 3 stanzas of 4 lines each and a final stanza of 2 lines. A rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. Written in iambic pentameter, which is 10 syllable with alternating stressed syllable on even numbers
da dah da dah da dah da dah da dah.
try again.
Peace, oh Peace, come out wherever you are
The fight for you has become so extreme
The sincere idea of you seems so far
You show up in fashion, doodles and dreams
But an abundance of absence in one鈥檚 mind
We crave you in our hearts, but don鈥檛 act for you
Let鈥檚 bring you to life, you鈥檙e needed in mankind
We鈥檒l start off simply to make you come true
by merely respecting the opinions
Of one another and take pride in that
And we shall try to end all of the hate
We鈥檒l become equals and avoid dominion
We鈥檒l then avoid conflict, deaths and combat
The key to peace is to negotiate
Is it good? How can i change it?|||use the iambic pentameter
U/U/U/U/U/
U being un-emphasized and / being emphasized also try using the format
abab cdcd efef gg
ea of the letters a line and the end of ea. line rhymes with the other of the same
example:
Shall I compare thee to a Summer%26#039;s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And Summer%26#039;s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And oft%26#039; is his gold complexion dimm%26#039;d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature%26#039;s changing course untrimm%26#039;d:
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.|||Doodle seems a bit...out, maybe you could replace it with something else.
Try to match the syllables in sentences and it will have more of a lyrical quality in my opinion.|||A sonnet, or to be more precise, an Elizabethan or Shakespearian soneet is 14 lines. 3 stanzas of 4 lines each and a final stanza of 2 lines. A rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. Written in iambic pentameter, which is 10 syllable with alternating stressed syllable on even numbers
da dah da dah da dah da dah da dah.
try again.
How many of you belive in Ghosts?
ghosts exist?
yes they do exist..
like Living things have different forms..they also have different forms
and they can take the face of anyone..they can appear like small children,or they can be like an old person..
Usually they dont interfare with humans,and they cant be seen by human eyes,their communication language is different,IF they want to talk to u..they can change their vocal frequency so that u can hear them..not very clearly,
what they like?,they like Meat,pure uncooked of goat,or cow
meat,nuthing else
they dont have much feelings like we have,but a little bit,
their transpotation speed is like..they can travel 600Km in 15 minutes
usually,they convert to vapour-like form and then they can fly..
they can make themselves feelable touch-able or opaque..if they want to,and they cannot get inside a sealed/or vaccum chamber..however a hole the size of our hair is enough for them to pass through,
it is a special skill and one can master to communicate with them,but their Mood is very unpredictable,sometimes dangerous,
they dont want to be interfered,they have too much strength,and they CAN read one%26#039;s mind..if they want to,they can lift heavy objects,
and if u go near them,u feel alittle bit of..heat,and often if one is near you..some of ur hairs..on ur hands or somewhere rise,they also have the same religions has we have
and most of them know many languages of humans.their age ,lifespan can be too much..about 10,000 years ..
when they are near ,metallic things are affected by them
some of them are good,some are bad
i cannot tell how i know these thing..if u want to belive or not..its up to yuo..i just told you what i know,and its real,not even a single sentence is a lie,
i requested to take their photo..but ghosts dont like it..they refused..otherwise they would break my camera
from all my personal experiences and encounters with ghosts..i come to dicide one thing about their nature,,
THEY ARE VERY UNPREDICTABLE!
if u want to contact me..emailme is zohaib_star123 at yahoo.com|||Yeah, maybe. But, I doubt you know anything more about such beings than anyone else does. How do you know they%26#039;re ghosts? They could be anything. Non-human entities, thought forms, etc. |||I do
as I have studied them
but they are nothing like you describe
edit
omg I dont know where to start with what you have written lol
they would break the cameras ?
then why have some been captured ?|||I only believe in the ones that show up at my door on Halloween.|||see a doctor please
0 and by some cake|||I believe in ghosts
But I do not beleive that they are many of the things that you described |||I believe there are ghosts...but they come in different forms.
yes they do exist..
like Living things have different forms..they also have different forms
and they can take the face of anyone..they can appear like small children,or they can be like an old person..
Usually they dont interfare with humans,and they cant be seen by human eyes,their communication language is different,IF they want to talk to u..they can change their vocal frequency so that u can hear them..not very clearly,
what they like?,they like Meat,pure uncooked of goat,or cow
meat,nuthing else
they dont have much feelings like we have,but a little bit,
their transpotation speed is like..they can travel 600Km in 15 minutes
usually,they convert to vapour-like form and then they can fly..
they can make themselves feelable touch-able or opaque..if they want to,and they cannot get inside a sealed/or vaccum chamber..however a hole the size of our hair is enough for them to pass through,
it is a special skill and one can master to communicate with them,but their Mood is very unpredictable,sometimes dangerous,
they dont want to be interfered,they have too much strength,and they CAN read one%26#039;s mind..if they want to,they can lift heavy objects,
and if u go near them,u feel alittle bit of..heat,and often if one is near you..some of ur hairs..on ur hands or somewhere rise,they also have the same religions has we have
and most of them know many languages of humans.their age ,lifespan can be too much..about 10,000 years ..
when they are near ,metallic things are affected by them
some of them are good,some are bad
i cannot tell how i know these thing..if u want to belive or not..its up to yuo..i just told you what i know,and its real,not even a single sentence is a lie,
i requested to take their photo..but ghosts dont like it..they refused..otherwise they would break my camera
from all my personal experiences and encounters with ghosts..i come to dicide one thing about their nature,,
THEY ARE VERY UNPREDICTABLE!
if u want to contact me..emailme is zohaib_star123 at yahoo.com|||Yeah, maybe. But, I doubt you know anything more about such beings than anyone else does. How do you know they%26#039;re ghosts? They could be anything. Non-human entities, thought forms, etc. |||I do
as I have studied them
but they are nothing like you describe
edit
omg I dont know where to start with what you have written lol
they would break the cameras ?
then why have some been captured ?|||I only believe in the ones that show up at my door on Halloween.|||see a doctor please
0 and by some cake|||I believe in ghosts
But I do not beleive that they are many of the things that you described |||I believe there are ghosts...but they come in different forms.
I'm sure my mother is bipolar?
She randomly flips out on me, she freaks out if things dont go exactly her way, she doesnt let anyone have a say in anything and when she is screaming at me, she randomly makes a lame jokes and starts cracking up. She went on a whole speach to my boyfriend saying he has no ambitions in life, he is basically a loser, he doesnt even have a job, (he is only 18, and is finishing up a NORMAL highschool) . I asked her if she could drive me to the gym and she agreed and then when i walked downstairs, she screamed at me saying i guilted her into it.
The house is completely clean now, and she screamed at me saying if one thing is EVER out of place again i am losing every privilage i have. She seriously things a house with a dog, a cat, 2 kids, and 3 adults is going to stay clean forever.
She punished me for saying that she has a job, which she does, she contracts a house that we are about to move into.
Here are some symptoms of mania, a type of mood in bipolar disorder.
Feeling unusually “high” and optimistic OR extremely irritable (yes)
Unrealistic, grandiose beliefs about one’s abilities or powers (yes)
Sleeping very little, but feeling extremely energetic (she sleeps alot and takes naps alot)
Talking so rapidly that others can’t keep up (when she is on rampage, yes)
Racing thoughts; jumping quickly from one idea to the next (always changes mind, yes)
Highly distractible, unable to concentrate (yes)
Impaired judgment and impulsiveness (maybe?)
Do you think she is bipolar or has some kind of mental disorder?
What she does alot of the time is just ridiculous|||Yes judging only by the information you have provided.|||If you think she is, get her help asap. My mom had it and she committed suicide, bipolar people are more likely to commit suicide, get her into a hospital or something. I wouldn%26#039;t wish what I went through when I lost my mom on my worst enemy.|||No she is not Bipolar. Sounds like she is stressed out from trying to work and keep up a house with 3 adults, 2 kids, a cat and a dog. Maybe she is going through menopause....... but no it is NOT Bipolar
The house is completely clean now, and she screamed at me saying if one thing is EVER out of place again i am losing every privilage i have. She seriously things a house with a dog, a cat, 2 kids, and 3 adults is going to stay clean forever.
She punished me for saying that she has a job, which she does, she contracts a house that we are about to move into.
Here are some symptoms of mania, a type of mood in bipolar disorder.
Feeling unusually “high” and optimistic OR extremely irritable (yes)
Unrealistic, grandiose beliefs about one’s abilities or powers (yes)
Sleeping very little, but feeling extremely energetic (she sleeps alot and takes naps alot)
Talking so rapidly that others can’t keep up (when she is on rampage, yes)
Racing thoughts; jumping quickly from one idea to the next (always changes mind, yes)
Highly distractible, unable to concentrate (yes)
Impaired judgment and impulsiveness (maybe?)
Do you think she is bipolar or has some kind of mental disorder?
What she does alot of the time is just ridiculous|||Yes judging only by the information you have provided.|||If you think she is, get her help asap. My mom had it and she committed suicide, bipolar people are more likely to commit suicide, get her into a hospital or something. I wouldn%26#039;t wish what I went through when I lost my mom on my worst enemy.|||No she is not Bipolar. Sounds like she is stressed out from trying to work and keep up a house with 3 adults, 2 kids, a cat and a dog. Maybe she is going through menopause....... but no it is NOT Bipolar
Do you believe people who are racist and claim to be religious truly are?
I for one do not. No where in the bible is a person taught to hate. I bring this up because of the election where people are bluntly coming out and saying that they are not voting for Obama because he is BLACK! Like their race is so much better, no one%26#039;s race is better than anyone%26#039;s and it seems to predominately be the Caucasian race who over the course of the history of the world have been the worst hateful race known to man full of lies, cheating, stealing, claiming things that aren%26#039;t theirs like they own the damn world! They don%26#039;t own anything! This is no one%26#039;s world but the LORD%26#039;s and just like he brought you in this world he can take you out. I believe everyone has a right to their opinion and I don%26#039;t look down on people who vote for McCain just as I don%26#039;t expect them to look down on who I vote for, treat others the way you want to be treated. I%26#039;m an unbiased person always and even though I%26#039;m a democrat an i know who I%26#039;m voting for, every speech, every debate that those two men have I go in unbiased, because maybe just maybe the other can make me change mind OR the one that I%26#039;m for will continue to solidify my decison. There are times when I feel that on a certain debate question McCain may answer it better than Obama and there are times when I think Obama may have answered a question better thant McCain. That%26#039;s what being unbiased is about. When it comes to election day whether you know now or then that%26#039;s when you make your final THEN biased decision. SO why can%26#039;t people in this world, this country, get this? You can%26#039;t get mad at people for voicing what policies in a candidate they like better than the other and that%26#039;s why they aren%26#039;t voting for an opponent but you CAN look down on someone for being racist. That%26#039;s the one time a person SHOULD be allowed to judge a person. People like that are trash to me, they don%26#039;t deserve any rights or privileges in this world, they shouldn%26#039;t be allowed to reproduce and if they have children social services should be allowed to take them because they are living in an unstable home. And they are certainly NOT religious and I will dispute that to their face in a heart beat! It%26#039;s just sickening how this world is. Maybe we just need another 40days 40 nights scenario because clearly the idiots of the world that are this way didn%26#039;t learn from the last time and I speak for all people in every race and of every color but for some reason people%26#039;s true colors are coming out in this race. If there are Caucasian people reading this that aren%26#039;t racist, that is wonderful but how does it make you feel when people of your race are, I would be so embarrassed just as I am of certain people in my race who expect Barack to %26quot;ACT BLACK%26quot; whatever the hell that means, clearly they are not educated.
People use the term %26quot;WAKE UP!%26quot; so loosely on this site in particular for who to vote for but they need to be saying %26quot;WAKE UP!%26quot; to all the animals, not people who believe racism is an accepted because it%26#039;s not, it never has been and it never will be, and when they finally realize that it%26#039;s going to be too late for them.|||I don%26#039;t vote period. But in any case, ethnicity is no excuse to say %26quot;I%26#039;m not voting for him%26quot; regardless. Somehow though, many people feel Bush was a good president, to these people I call nimrods. Honestly, Chris Rock said it the best %26quot;America is ready for a black president, hell we just had a retarded one%26quot;! As far as the whole %26quot;act black%26quot; thing goes, he can act as stereotypically black as he wants on his free time, but in that oval office, as long as he behaves as a president should, such as doing his job, I got no problem with a black man being president.|||AMEN !|||Yes! Religion is a type of singular way of thinking. The same as racism. Both are equally bad.|||It%26#039;s a shame that instead of condemning racism, Jesus chose to condone slavery.
Does your religion teach racism is wrong?
For centuries, biblical verses were used to %26quot;prove%26quot; slavery is the will of god, just like now they%26#039;re used to %26quot;prove%26quot; homophobia is the will of god.|||True Christians are not Rasist. They love everyone. Please understand that ustrue believers are dwindiling fast. dont fall for the trap.
People use the term %26quot;WAKE UP!%26quot; so loosely on this site in particular for who to vote for but they need to be saying %26quot;WAKE UP!%26quot; to all the animals, not people who believe racism is an accepted because it%26#039;s not, it never has been and it never will be, and when they finally realize that it%26#039;s going to be too late for them.|||I don%26#039;t vote period. But in any case, ethnicity is no excuse to say %26quot;I%26#039;m not voting for him%26quot; regardless. Somehow though, many people feel Bush was a good president, to these people I call nimrods. Honestly, Chris Rock said it the best %26quot;America is ready for a black president, hell we just had a retarded one%26quot;! As far as the whole %26quot;act black%26quot; thing goes, he can act as stereotypically black as he wants on his free time, but in that oval office, as long as he behaves as a president should, such as doing his job, I got no problem with a black man being president.|||AMEN !|||Yes! Religion is a type of singular way of thinking. The same as racism. Both are equally bad.|||It%26#039;s a shame that instead of condemning racism, Jesus chose to condone slavery.
Does your religion teach racism is wrong?
For centuries, biblical verses were used to %26quot;prove%26quot; slavery is the will of god, just like now they%26#039;re used to %26quot;prove%26quot; homophobia is the will of god.|||True Christians are not Rasist. They love everyone. Please understand that ustrue believers are dwindiling fast. dont fall for the trap.
What are the values of Hallucinogens in Today's Society?
What is value? How exactly does our society place value on a certain object? The question here is value, and by value I refer to the value of hallucinogenic drugs. But, I understand that this concept maybe shocking, or appalling to some, I鈥檇 like to logically draw my conclusions from fact, showing that the misconception surrounding these drugs may draw certain fallacies. Second, I will show how the value of these drugs have changed over time. Third, I will delve into the idea of value, and what exactly it is, in accordance to these substances. It is my hopes to show both sides of the debate that value is an opinion, and doesn鈥檛 remain constant from person to person.
The first fallacy is this government鈥檚 questionable prohibition of these drugs. Now up until 1968, LSD, Peyote, Psilocybin Mushrooms, and other hallucinogens were legal within the U.S.. So Peyote and mushrooms have been around for thousands of years, but the dangers were finally realized in 1968. Logical. So they made them illegal, only to partially legalize them again in 2005 with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Within this act, it was stated that any and all drugs that were used in behalf of a religious ceremony, could not remain illegal in the United States, without being unconstitutional. So they鈥檙e illegal and dangerous, but legal enough to be used in church, and safe enough that many religions feed them to their congregations. Were the hippies and beatniks not using it for spiritual purposes? What if a massive rejuvenation of their counterculture caused the foundation of a hippie church? Wouldn鈥檛 the government be forced to recognize them?
The history of these drugs, that we know of, dates back to three thousand B.C. in China and Mesopotamia. These drugs include Psilocybin mushrooms, Kava Kava, Marijuana, Mescalin or peyote, and Ayahuasca. The ancient Aztec, African, and Mayan cultures all ingested Magic Mushrooms as parts of rituals, with depictions of an entire villages starting off certain days of the year with a spiritual trip in order to enlighten their mind, and explore their aspirations in life. Islanders in the West Pacific ingest the root of the Kava Kava plant, usually in tea, and refuse to conduct business without it, stating that it keeps their view on the world in check. My last example is that which led me to this subject, Amazonian tribesmen prepare Black Ayahuasca Tea, which is rumored to be one of the strongest hallucinogens known to man, in a spiritual coming of age ceremony. In this ceremony they are supposed to face their fears, become comfortable with the minute part they play in the grand scheme of things, and the gravity of their everyday impulsive decisions. The point is simply that humans have been not only ingesting these mind altering substances since our conception, but that they had once played a more integral part of our lives. Maybe humans have lost touch with their inner self, their spiritual side, especially in this technological age where religion and spirituality are on the back burner, and science is on the forefront.
To explore whether or not they hold value, I need to explore exactly what they do to you. Hallucinogens fully open up the human brain, confusing your serotonin receptors in your mind into using the left side of the brain, or the imaginative engine. Contingents of these drugs are visuals, a sense of euphoria, a motley collection of psychotropic colors confusing your senses, along with alternate views of long held ideals. The experience most often brings out memories, experiences, apprehensions, hopes, aspirations, and nightmares. Your mind will wander to the utmost brink of its sanity, forcing whatever one may be thinking in the back of one鈥檚 mind to materialize in front of their eyes. These things that truly make or break our psyche, that etch out how we act every day, and the assumptions that we make as we move through our daily lives, can all be easily be altered. Many will feel that they fully understand, everything, the world around them, their lives, and even their hopes and dreams, showing people what they truly value. The trip is controlled by the mind, showing how powerful their mind truly is, and allowing people to face their apprehensions. We all have experiences that frighten us, scar us, leaving our mind paralyzed with too many concerns. It can make one look back on their life, and look forward, with visualizations of what may come, and what one is doing with their lives. We act too often on impulse, to what we need at the moment, forming a blind beast of modern man. Modern man has lost his spirituality with the advance of science, but that spirituality has been tied too close to outdated and power-hungry religions. Instead, people should find spirituality in one鈥檚 every day menial tasks, find reasoning behind it, and change their outlook on these tasks, than maybe a more profound, intelligent, and responsible modern man may come to be. So do you believe there|||Fat chance in hell im reading that,
But Psilocybin, Fly Ageric (amnita muscaria), DMT, Salvia, LSD, and all that other good stuff is absolutely NUTS!
hahah|||Salvia is amazing, so is Wild Kratom and K2 Smoke Mix.|||Ah too long! And this sounds like a homework question.
The first fallacy is this government鈥檚 questionable prohibition of these drugs. Now up until 1968, LSD, Peyote, Psilocybin Mushrooms, and other hallucinogens were legal within the U.S.. So Peyote and mushrooms have been around for thousands of years, but the dangers were finally realized in 1968. Logical. So they made them illegal, only to partially legalize them again in 2005 with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Within this act, it was stated that any and all drugs that were used in behalf of a religious ceremony, could not remain illegal in the United States, without being unconstitutional. So they鈥檙e illegal and dangerous, but legal enough to be used in church, and safe enough that many religions feed them to their congregations. Were the hippies and beatniks not using it for spiritual purposes? What if a massive rejuvenation of their counterculture caused the foundation of a hippie church? Wouldn鈥檛 the government be forced to recognize them?
The history of these drugs, that we know of, dates back to three thousand B.C. in China and Mesopotamia. These drugs include Psilocybin mushrooms, Kava Kava, Marijuana, Mescalin or peyote, and Ayahuasca. The ancient Aztec, African, and Mayan cultures all ingested Magic Mushrooms as parts of rituals, with depictions of an entire villages starting off certain days of the year with a spiritual trip in order to enlighten their mind, and explore their aspirations in life. Islanders in the West Pacific ingest the root of the Kava Kava plant, usually in tea, and refuse to conduct business without it, stating that it keeps their view on the world in check. My last example is that which led me to this subject, Amazonian tribesmen prepare Black Ayahuasca Tea, which is rumored to be one of the strongest hallucinogens known to man, in a spiritual coming of age ceremony. In this ceremony they are supposed to face their fears, become comfortable with the minute part they play in the grand scheme of things, and the gravity of their everyday impulsive decisions. The point is simply that humans have been not only ingesting these mind altering substances since our conception, but that they had once played a more integral part of our lives. Maybe humans have lost touch with their inner self, their spiritual side, especially in this technological age where religion and spirituality are on the back burner, and science is on the forefront.
To explore whether or not they hold value, I need to explore exactly what they do to you. Hallucinogens fully open up the human brain, confusing your serotonin receptors in your mind into using the left side of the brain, or the imaginative engine. Contingents of these drugs are visuals, a sense of euphoria, a motley collection of psychotropic colors confusing your senses, along with alternate views of long held ideals. The experience most often brings out memories, experiences, apprehensions, hopes, aspirations, and nightmares. Your mind will wander to the utmost brink of its sanity, forcing whatever one may be thinking in the back of one鈥檚 mind to materialize in front of their eyes. These things that truly make or break our psyche, that etch out how we act every day, and the assumptions that we make as we move through our daily lives, can all be easily be altered. Many will feel that they fully understand, everything, the world around them, their lives, and even their hopes and dreams, showing people what they truly value. The trip is controlled by the mind, showing how powerful their mind truly is, and allowing people to face their apprehensions. We all have experiences that frighten us, scar us, leaving our mind paralyzed with too many concerns. It can make one look back on their life, and look forward, with visualizations of what may come, and what one is doing with their lives. We act too often on impulse, to what we need at the moment, forming a blind beast of modern man. Modern man has lost his spirituality with the advance of science, but that spirituality has been tied too close to outdated and power-hungry religions. Instead, people should find spirituality in one鈥檚 every day menial tasks, find reasoning behind it, and change their outlook on these tasks, than maybe a more profound, intelligent, and responsible modern man may come to be. So do you believe there|||Fat chance in hell im reading that,
But Psilocybin, Fly Ageric (amnita muscaria), DMT, Salvia, LSD, and all that other good stuff is absolutely NUTS!
hahah|||Salvia is amazing, so is Wild Kratom and K2 Smoke Mix.|||Ah too long! And this sounds like a homework question.
Hallucinogens and today's Society?
What is value? How exactly does our society place value on a certain object? The question here is value, and by value I refer to the value of hallucinogenic drugs. But, I understand that this concept maybe shocking, or appalling to some, I鈥檇 like to logically draw my conclusions from fact, showing that the misconception surrounding these drugs may draw certain fallacies. Second, I will show how the value of these drugs have changed over time. Third, I will delve into the idea of value, and what exactly it is, in accordance to these substances. It is my hopes to show both sides of the debate that value is an opinion, and doesn鈥檛 remain constant from person to person, and there is a possibility that they can have value.
The first fallacy is this government鈥檚 questionable prohibition of these drugs. Now up until 1968, LSD, Peyote, Psilocybin Mushrooms, and other hallucinogens were legal within the U.S.. So hallucinogens have been around for thousands of years, but the dangers were finally realized in 1968. So they made them illegal, only to partially legalize them again in 2005 with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Within this act, it was stated that any drugs that were used in a religious ceremony, could not remain illegal, without being unconstitutional. So they鈥檙e illegal and dangerous, but legal enough to be used in church, and safe enough that many religions feed them to their congregations. Were the hippies and beatniks not using it for spiritual purposes? What if a massive rejuvenation of their counterculture caused the foundation of a hippie church? Wouldn鈥檛 the government be forced to recognize them?
The history of these drugs, that we know of, dates back to three thousand B.C. in China and Mesopotamia. These drugs include Psilocybin mushrooms, Kava Kava, Marijuana, Mescalin or peyote, and Ayahuasca. The ancient Aztec and Mayan cultures all ingested Mushrooms as parts of rituals, starting off certain days of the year with a spiritual trip in order to enlighten their mind. Islanders in the Pacific ingest the root of the Kava Kava plant, refusing to conduct business without it, because it keeps their view on the world in check. My last example is that which led me to this subject, Amazonian tribesmen prepare Black Ayahuasca Tea, which is rumored to be one of the strongest hallucinogens known to man, in a spiritual coming of age ceremony. In this ceremony they are supposed to face their fears, become comfortable with the minute part they play in the grand scheme of things, and the gravity of their everyday impulsive decisions. The point is simply that humans have been not only ingesting these mind altering substances since our conception, but that they had once played a more integral part of our lives. Maybe humans have lost touch with their inner self, their spiritual side, especially in this technological age where religion and spirituality are on the back burner, and science is on the forefront.
To explore whether or not they hold value, I need to explore exactly what they do to you. Hallucinogens fully open up the human brain, confusing your serotonin receptors in your mind into using the left side of the brain, or the imaginative engine. Contingents of these drugs are visuals, a sense of euphoria, a motley collection of psychotropic colors confusing your senses, along with alternate views of long held ideals. It most often brings out experiences, apprehensions, hopes, aspirations, and nightmares. Your mind will wander to the utmost brink of its sanity, forcing whatever one may be thinking in the back of one鈥檚 mind to materialize in front of their eyes. These things that etch out how we act every day, and the assumptions that we make as we move through our daily lives, can easily be altered. Many will feel they fully understand the world around them, their lives, and their hopes and dreams, showing people what they truly value. The trip is controlled by the mind, showing how powerful it is, and allowing people to face their apprehensions. We all have experiences that frighten us, scar us, leaving our mind paralyzed with too many concerns. It can make one look back on their life, and look forward, with visualizations of what may come, and what one is doing with their lives. Humans act too often on impulse, to what we need at the moment, forming a blind beast of modern man. Modern man has lost his spirituality with the advance of science, but that spirituality has been tied too close to outdated religions. Instead, people should find spirituality in every day menial tasks, find reasoning behind it, and change their outlook on these tasks, than maybe a more profound, intelligent, and responsible modern man may come to be. So is there another side to this world? Or is it all simply in the mind? And even if it were, would that make it intangible and artificial, if these words I am typing are simply an invention of the mind?|||I%26#039;m sorry -- what does this have to do with being gay?|||....and thanks for the 2 pts !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!|||U have a lot of patience for typing such a big question
But i dont have any for reading it|||You get an A.|||i really hope you didn%26#039;t type all that looking for a good responce
hopefully it was cut and paste lol|||Short version~~~ tripping is awesome|||Psilocybin is an interesting chemical, and a friend of mine is conducting research on it through a local university. So I think I know what you%26#039;re driving at.
But maybe instead of trying to write a Masters%26#039; thesis in this venue, you trim it down and see if people agree with your point.
The first fallacy is this government鈥檚 questionable prohibition of these drugs. Now up until 1968, LSD, Peyote, Psilocybin Mushrooms, and other hallucinogens were legal within the U.S.. So hallucinogens have been around for thousands of years, but the dangers were finally realized in 1968. So they made them illegal, only to partially legalize them again in 2005 with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Within this act, it was stated that any drugs that were used in a religious ceremony, could not remain illegal, without being unconstitutional. So they鈥檙e illegal and dangerous, but legal enough to be used in church, and safe enough that many religions feed them to their congregations. Were the hippies and beatniks not using it for spiritual purposes? What if a massive rejuvenation of their counterculture caused the foundation of a hippie church? Wouldn鈥檛 the government be forced to recognize them?
The history of these drugs, that we know of, dates back to three thousand B.C. in China and Mesopotamia. These drugs include Psilocybin mushrooms, Kava Kava, Marijuana, Mescalin or peyote, and Ayahuasca. The ancient Aztec and Mayan cultures all ingested Mushrooms as parts of rituals, starting off certain days of the year with a spiritual trip in order to enlighten their mind. Islanders in the Pacific ingest the root of the Kava Kava plant, refusing to conduct business without it, because it keeps their view on the world in check. My last example is that which led me to this subject, Amazonian tribesmen prepare Black Ayahuasca Tea, which is rumored to be one of the strongest hallucinogens known to man, in a spiritual coming of age ceremony. In this ceremony they are supposed to face their fears, become comfortable with the minute part they play in the grand scheme of things, and the gravity of their everyday impulsive decisions. The point is simply that humans have been not only ingesting these mind altering substances since our conception, but that they had once played a more integral part of our lives. Maybe humans have lost touch with their inner self, their spiritual side, especially in this technological age where religion and spirituality are on the back burner, and science is on the forefront.
To explore whether or not they hold value, I need to explore exactly what they do to you. Hallucinogens fully open up the human brain, confusing your serotonin receptors in your mind into using the left side of the brain, or the imaginative engine. Contingents of these drugs are visuals, a sense of euphoria, a motley collection of psychotropic colors confusing your senses, along with alternate views of long held ideals. It most often brings out experiences, apprehensions, hopes, aspirations, and nightmares. Your mind will wander to the utmost brink of its sanity, forcing whatever one may be thinking in the back of one鈥檚 mind to materialize in front of their eyes. These things that etch out how we act every day, and the assumptions that we make as we move through our daily lives, can easily be altered. Many will feel they fully understand the world around them, their lives, and their hopes and dreams, showing people what they truly value. The trip is controlled by the mind, showing how powerful it is, and allowing people to face their apprehensions. We all have experiences that frighten us, scar us, leaving our mind paralyzed with too many concerns. It can make one look back on their life, and look forward, with visualizations of what may come, and what one is doing with their lives. Humans act too often on impulse, to what we need at the moment, forming a blind beast of modern man. Modern man has lost his spirituality with the advance of science, but that spirituality has been tied too close to outdated religions. Instead, people should find spirituality in every day menial tasks, find reasoning behind it, and change their outlook on these tasks, than maybe a more profound, intelligent, and responsible modern man may come to be. So is there another side to this world? Or is it all simply in the mind? And even if it were, would that make it intangible and artificial, if these words I am typing are simply an invention of the mind?|||I%26#039;m sorry -- what does this have to do with being gay?|||....and thanks for the 2 pts !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!|||U have a lot of patience for typing such a big question
But i dont have any for reading it|||You get an A.|||i really hope you didn%26#039;t type all that looking for a good responce
hopefully it was cut and paste lol|||Short version~~~ tripping is awesome|||Psilocybin is an interesting chemical, and a friend of mine is conducting research on it through a local university. So I think I know what you%26#039;re driving at.
But maybe instead of trying to write a Masters%26#039; thesis in this venue, you trim it down and see if people agree with your point.
The origins and sources of religion?
A rational examination of the origins and sources of religion, as well as the benefits and disadvantages of religion, is unlikely to change the mind of anyone who is afraid to examine these concepts objectively.
People who approach the subject of religion with trepidation or who cannot distinguish between reality and superstition, find it difficult to apply logic to their thought processes. It is much easier to belief in miracles and pseudo-science than to acquire facts and engage in incisive, rational thought.
We can observe many members of society who appear to be intelligent and rational in the pursuit of their daily life. However, on Sundays they go to their church or temple. There they participate in incomprehensible and irrational rituals involving magic, prayer and other activities demeaning to their rational minds. Their rational mind tells them that a god does not exist and yet, there they sit and pray to him.
It has been suggested that religious people compartmentalize their thought processes in order to avoid otherwise inevitable and destructive conflicts. In this manner, rational and irrational thought processes can coexist in separate, locked compartments of the brain without connectivity. Yet, one wonders if there is some inevitable leakage from the irrational to the rational compartment, surreptitiously contaminating rationality.
Even some bright people may feel too frightened to face life without the consolations of a religion, cult or sect. Their upbringing has imbued in them the belief that it is safer not to subject the teachings of one鈥檚 church or temple or mosque to close scrutiny. Furthermore, becoming an agnostic or atheist can cut one off from the comfort and companionship of co-believers in a religion. This potentially damaging consequence of doubting one鈥檚 belief system is a strong deterrent to questioning deeply imbedded religious beliefs.
Religion may also satisfy an irrational human need for cosmic significance. Some persons yearn to be more than the grain of sand in the vastness of the universe that man really is. As long as men and women feel week and insignificant in the face of awe-inspiring natural forces, logic will not be as important as religion and man will prefer the sanctuary of imaginary, all-powerful beings.
Thus, people tend to associate in communities of like-minded people. Believers restrict their circle of friend and family to other believers. They surround themselves with mirror images of themselves.
If people wear blinders successfully, then the young and na茂ve among them hear nothing but the desired belief. No reputable person in his or her sphere of life ever disagrees with or objects to the tenets of their common belief system. As time goes on, people in a mentally incestuous society consider it normal that all seemingly intelligent people believe as the community believes.
When a believer encounters non-believers, the shock may be great. The believer asks, %26quot;How can they not believe? Doesn鈥檛 everyone believe?%26quot; The believing community usually provides a convenient answer to that question: The non-believers are evil or they are possessed by an evil power. If you hang around them enough it might be contagious.
As a result, the believer becomes paranoid and afraid of non-believers, because he fails to understand that non-believers do not need to believe in anything. Non-believers rely on reason, logic and the factual evidence of the real world.Instead, the believer sees non-believers as abnormal and undesirable. Thus, religious belief maintains itself through self-affirmation, insulation and demonization of non-believers.
It is interesting to note that the degree of involvement with the supernatural, including religion, is directly proportional to the degree of factual knowledge available to a person...what are your thoughts on origin of religion?|||Origins or religion is in curiosity without knowledge or resources.
Imagine 10000 years ago a person sleeping by a river, under the stars, and gazing upon the mountains and thinking to himself where all this came? Of course having no knowledge of astronomy, geology or topology, he is unable to understand them, but comes up with an all-in-one easy answer...something called %26quot;god%26quot; did it. This way you can answer any question without actually knowing anything. Sadly, this worked too well and till this day people still prefer the easy answer to the true one|||The origin of religion depends what religion your talking about -- Blessings !|||Power crazy people.|||well written. you make some excellent points. sadly, most religious people won%26#039;t even read it before answering. but, judging by what you wrote and the thought you put into it, you already knew that. I think the origin of religion is the basic human need to understand things. Fear of the unknown. Especially in matters of death.|||A the above said, the origin depends on which religious myth you are talking about. The creation of Islam is fairly well documented, other religions less well so. I imagine many started as folklore fables .|||Reason and faith are a false dichotomy. Better to reason regarding faith and to have faith in reason.
Religion has its origins in shamanism which could be characterized as attempts to transcend reality and thus influence it. The archetypal example is spiritual healing by medicine men.|||Man first hear the Gods in the sound of the thunder.
People who approach the subject of religion with trepidation or who cannot distinguish between reality and superstition, find it difficult to apply logic to their thought processes. It is much easier to belief in miracles and pseudo-science than to acquire facts and engage in incisive, rational thought.
We can observe many members of society who appear to be intelligent and rational in the pursuit of their daily life. However, on Sundays they go to their church or temple. There they participate in incomprehensible and irrational rituals involving magic, prayer and other activities demeaning to their rational minds. Their rational mind tells them that a god does not exist and yet, there they sit and pray to him.
It has been suggested that religious people compartmentalize their thought processes in order to avoid otherwise inevitable and destructive conflicts. In this manner, rational and irrational thought processes can coexist in separate, locked compartments of the brain without connectivity. Yet, one wonders if there is some inevitable leakage from the irrational to the rational compartment, surreptitiously contaminating rationality.
Even some bright people may feel too frightened to face life without the consolations of a religion, cult or sect. Their upbringing has imbued in them the belief that it is safer not to subject the teachings of one鈥檚 church or temple or mosque to close scrutiny. Furthermore, becoming an agnostic or atheist can cut one off from the comfort and companionship of co-believers in a religion. This potentially damaging consequence of doubting one鈥檚 belief system is a strong deterrent to questioning deeply imbedded religious beliefs.
Religion may also satisfy an irrational human need for cosmic significance. Some persons yearn to be more than the grain of sand in the vastness of the universe that man really is. As long as men and women feel week and insignificant in the face of awe-inspiring natural forces, logic will not be as important as religion and man will prefer the sanctuary of imaginary, all-powerful beings.
Thus, people tend to associate in communities of like-minded people. Believers restrict their circle of friend and family to other believers. They surround themselves with mirror images of themselves.
If people wear blinders successfully, then the young and na茂ve among them hear nothing but the desired belief. No reputable person in his or her sphere of life ever disagrees with or objects to the tenets of their common belief system. As time goes on, people in a mentally incestuous society consider it normal that all seemingly intelligent people believe as the community believes.
When a believer encounters non-believers, the shock may be great. The believer asks, %26quot;How can they not believe? Doesn鈥檛 everyone believe?%26quot; The believing community usually provides a convenient answer to that question: The non-believers are evil or they are possessed by an evil power. If you hang around them enough it might be contagious.
As a result, the believer becomes paranoid and afraid of non-believers, because he fails to understand that non-believers do not need to believe in anything. Non-believers rely on reason, logic and the factual evidence of the real world.Instead, the believer sees non-believers as abnormal and undesirable. Thus, religious belief maintains itself through self-affirmation, insulation and demonization of non-believers.
It is interesting to note that the degree of involvement with the supernatural, including religion, is directly proportional to the degree of factual knowledge available to a person...what are your thoughts on origin of religion?|||Origins or religion is in curiosity without knowledge or resources.
Imagine 10000 years ago a person sleeping by a river, under the stars, and gazing upon the mountains and thinking to himself where all this came? Of course having no knowledge of astronomy, geology or topology, he is unable to understand them, but comes up with an all-in-one easy answer...something called %26quot;god%26quot; did it. This way you can answer any question without actually knowing anything. Sadly, this worked too well and till this day people still prefer the easy answer to the true one|||The origin of religion depends what religion your talking about -- Blessings !|||Power crazy people.|||well written. you make some excellent points. sadly, most religious people won%26#039;t even read it before answering. but, judging by what you wrote and the thought you put into it, you already knew that. I think the origin of religion is the basic human need to understand things. Fear of the unknown. Especially in matters of death.|||A the above said, the origin depends on which religious myth you are talking about. The creation of Islam is fairly well documented, other religions less well so. I imagine many started as folklore fables .|||Reason and faith are a false dichotomy. Better to reason regarding faith and to have faith in reason.
Religion has its origins in shamanism which could be characterized as attempts to transcend reality and thus influence it. The archetypal example is spiritual healing by medicine men.|||Man first hear the Gods in the sound of the thunder.
Please read my promt 2 of my personal statement. Topic: something that describes you?
Because of Iaido, the Japanese Martial Art for swordsmanship, I have changed from an ordinary high school student to a well disciplined Martial Artist. My ability as a responsible student comes from the strict Iaido training that helps maintain the body鈥檚 harmony with the mind and spirit.
The way of a warrior (Bushido) taught to every Martial Artist sums up the principles one should follow in life. There should never be any regret on past or present actions, fear鈥檚 nonexistent, no doubt in one鈥檚 actions, honor and loyalty is sacred beyond anything. These methods are taught through the art of Iaido, and it enforces upon students like myself. I carry this law throughout my day and never straying far from it. Because by taking this class, I feel self-awareness and self-confidence in anything I do. There is no sense of envy or want for material goods, I am content with my surroundings and could hope for nothing else.
One of the most significant traits that I have gained in this Martial Art is the essential component needed for any task: focus. The key to entering this class is to keep one鈥檚 mind focused on training; there is no room for distractions and only a blank mind will further one鈥檚 skills. Not only does this train me for fighting with a sword, but it has become a skill that I use for school and work. The impact it has on my learning abilities has definitely proven itself with a show of my grades.
Iaido鈥檚 principles and values completely describe my personality. I have a keen interest for other cultures and their customs and this not only provides me with the necessary trainings but also an in depth lesson on the Japanese history. These skills and lessons that I learn each day will help guide me to enhancing my life鈥檚 journey. |||Cool, really cool Japanese tradition culture... i can%26#039;t give any comment to the culture since its ur culture and its really interesting for me... i hope i can see it in front of my eyes, the material arts... Yeah, its really true what u say, i cant deny it... material art or any other defensive art from many culture will teach u all the meaning of life, the discipline and focus... that things not just for the material art only but for ur lifestyle... what u wrote really interesting, informative and inspiring me... i really wanna know more bout Japan, Japanese culture and their modern life... hope u can tell me more...
The way of a warrior (Bushido) taught to every Martial Artist sums up the principles one should follow in life. There should never be any regret on past or present actions, fear鈥檚 nonexistent, no doubt in one鈥檚 actions, honor and loyalty is sacred beyond anything. These methods are taught through the art of Iaido, and it enforces upon students like myself. I carry this law throughout my day and never straying far from it. Because by taking this class, I feel self-awareness and self-confidence in anything I do. There is no sense of envy or want for material goods, I am content with my surroundings and could hope for nothing else.
One of the most significant traits that I have gained in this Martial Art is the essential component needed for any task: focus. The key to entering this class is to keep one鈥檚 mind focused on training; there is no room for distractions and only a blank mind will further one鈥檚 skills. Not only does this train me for fighting with a sword, but it has become a skill that I use for school and work. The impact it has on my learning abilities has definitely proven itself with a show of my grades.
Iaido鈥檚 principles and values completely describe my personality. I have a keen interest for other cultures and their customs and this not only provides me with the necessary trainings but also an in depth lesson on the Japanese history. These skills and lessons that I learn each day will help guide me to enhancing my life鈥檚 journey. |||Cool, really cool Japanese tradition culture... i can%26#039;t give any comment to the culture since its ur culture and its really interesting for me... i hope i can see it in front of my eyes, the material arts... Yeah, its really true what u say, i cant deny it... material art or any other defensive art from many culture will teach u all the meaning of life, the discipline and focus... that things not just for the material art only but for ur lifestyle... what u wrote really interesting, informative and inspiring me... i really wanna know more bout Japan, Japanese culture and their modern life... hope u can tell me more...
Christians - if you read a book on the Bible written by a pastor that totally supported homosexuality would ?
you be open to changing your mind/heart about the matter? Would you be willing to read it at all and form an opinion?
believe it to be true? Could it change your mind?
There is a good book called %26quot;What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality%26quot; that I highly recommend. It goes over all the Bible passages that refer to homosexuals, and the author, who%26#039;s a Christian and a pastor, looks at the text in the ORIGINAL langauge it was written (mind you there have been countless translations over the centuries, and people have written in their own biases if you study this kind of thing). the text in the original language, as well as delving into the historical context, definitely is thought provoking. and i think that every Christian/believer who claims to believe the Bible is God%26#039;s Word, really should devote the time and energy to really STUDYING it, not taking it simply, literally, and for what it means on the surface.
And for those that believe that the Bible is 100% true and correct, I would contend that there are parts that you disregard because times have changed. Certain sexual practices that were ok then, like if a woman%26#039;s husband dies, she is supposed to have sex and reproduce with his brother, there is a strict ban on wearing clothes that are of mixed material (polyester/cotton), etc. Stoning people for adultery is another one. Sleeping with one%26#039;s wife while she is on her period was a serious sin, another example.
What are your thoughts?
check out: Soulforce.org -- read the writings of Pastor Mel White
((peace))|||I read that book and I thought it was great.
But I honestly believe that %26quot;The Children are Free%26quot; by Jeff Miner is a better one. It explains it more clearly and has been refuted less by anti-gay christians.
%26quot;What the bible really says about homosexuality%26quot; has been more refuted by anti-gay Christians for some reason or another.
I think though, In all honesty, Christians are going to believe what they want to believe. Even though the bible supports slavery and has many contexts that are invalid today, they will always hold onto the notion that homosexuality is not one of those contexts that we should abandoned like numerous other things in the bible have been abandoned by the church throughout history.|||You probably should have put this in the Religion/Spirituality section...|||Can%26#039;t wait for the answers to this. But to be honest you won%26#039;t get many from the bible bashers because once they are cornered they either choose to not answer or come up with a load of crap!|||I%26#039;m an aethiest and the Church%26#039;s anti-gay attitude just strengthens my beliefs. Christianity and the Church bothered me way before I considered myself gay.
That being said, I couldn%26#039;t agree with youmore. People who take the Bible literally are clearly derranged. I mean, look it at- most of it is absolutely absurd. To me the Bible is no more valid than say The Epic of Gilgamesh or any other ancient religion. Chistians always roll their eyes at other religions as if THEIRS has been proven. It%26#039;s just as ridiculous as any other one.|||let me put it this way....every religion and its followers will without a doubt not only frown upon homosexuality but will HATE without thinking twice about pple they dont know....if theres a minority, the majority will oppress them in some way.
religious pple may talk about the love of god but they will hate and discriminate! they%26#039;r all hypocrites...well most of them......
believe it to be true? Could it change your mind?
There is a good book called %26quot;What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality%26quot; that I highly recommend. It goes over all the Bible passages that refer to homosexuals, and the author, who%26#039;s a Christian and a pastor, looks at the text in the ORIGINAL langauge it was written (mind you there have been countless translations over the centuries, and people have written in their own biases if you study this kind of thing). the text in the original language, as well as delving into the historical context, definitely is thought provoking. and i think that every Christian/believer who claims to believe the Bible is God%26#039;s Word, really should devote the time and energy to really STUDYING it, not taking it simply, literally, and for what it means on the surface.
And for those that believe that the Bible is 100% true and correct, I would contend that there are parts that you disregard because times have changed. Certain sexual practices that were ok then, like if a woman%26#039;s husband dies, she is supposed to have sex and reproduce with his brother, there is a strict ban on wearing clothes that are of mixed material (polyester/cotton), etc. Stoning people for adultery is another one. Sleeping with one%26#039;s wife while she is on her period was a serious sin, another example.
What are your thoughts?
check out: Soulforce.org -- read the writings of Pastor Mel White
((peace))|||I read that book and I thought it was great.
But I honestly believe that %26quot;The Children are Free%26quot; by Jeff Miner is a better one. It explains it more clearly and has been refuted less by anti-gay christians.
%26quot;What the bible really says about homosexuality%26quot; has been more refuted by anti-gay Christians for some reason or another.
I think though, In all honesty, Christians are going to believe what they want to believe. Even though the bible supports slavery and has many contexts that are invalid today, they will always hold onto the notion that homosexuality is not one of those contexts that we should abandoned like numerous other things in the bible have been abandoned by the church throughout history.|||You probably should have put this in the Religion/Spirituality section...|||Can%26#039;t wait for the answers to this. But to be honest you won%26#039;t get many from the bible bashers because once they are cornered they either choose to not answer or come up with a load of crap!|||I%26#039;m an aethiest and the Church%26#039;s anti-gay attitude just strengthens my beliefs. Christianity and the Church bothered me way before I considered myself gay.
That being said, I couldn%26#039;t agree with youmore. People who take the Bible literally are clearly derranged. I mean, look it at- most of it is absolutely absurd. To me the Bible is no more valid than say The Epic of Gilgamesh or any other ancient religion. Chistians always roll their eyes at other religions as if THEIRS has been proven. It%26#039;s just as ridiculous as any other one.|||let me put it this way....every religion and its followers will without a doubt not only frown upon homosexuality but will HATE without thinking twice about pple they dont know....if theres a minority, the majority will oppress them in some way.
religious pple may talk about the love of god but they will hate and discriminate! they%26#039;r all hypocrites...well most of them......
Is the right to free speech, and the right for one's opinion only available to those within immoral circles?
When some one who is Christian, or is just trying to live a righteous life, not necessarily a proclaimed Christian, gets censored because they do not like someone else%26#039;s lifestyle. Is this the way of a free democracy? Are the righteous supposed to keep quiet? Should they accept that others are trying to for them to accept their wickedness?
Do they not have a voice and a God-given right, according to our Constitution, to speak their mind? Especially when their opinion is asked for? Perhaps the agenda for Obama supporters is to change the very foundations for which this country has stood for 200+ years. If I ask for an opinion, like I did here now, I EXPECT to get answers that I do not agree with, don%26#039;t worry, you may still get best answer if you answer rightly....
|||Freedom of speech is for everyone, but as a practicing Christian you should be mindful of what you say. Don%26#039;t let your good works be evil spoken of. Our opinions and beliefs may differ, but we should always treat others the way we want to be treated. If what someone says grieves the Holy Spirit in you, admonish that person in love as the Lord leads you, not for self gain,vengeance or any reason, other than to restore that brother or sister, and is best done privately when possible, not in a open discussion that will put a person on display. A person%26#039;s intentions or motives are what matters most.
If at all possible try to build up, not tear down. Only speak from facts and not hearsay in order to not ruin ones reputation by false information.|||To remove it is to eventually remove it for those who believe and follow Jesus Christ. Hitler did this and 12 million Christians 6 million Jews, and 2 million Gypsies and Homosexuals were executed.
Any one who supports the suppression of speech and the freedom to practice religion is supporting the eventual murder of millions of people.|||Where is the government trying to stifle your freedom of speech???
|||As long as you are not openly and blatenly spreading lies about a person or advocating harm, then you have every right to your opinon. But dont forget that not every one will agree.
Example: A person can say that a homosexual lifestyle is sin. But they can not say that homosexuals are evil and must be wiped from the face of the earth.|||If you are referring to a specific instance of a violation of someone%26#039;s constitutional right to the freedom of speech, that claim of infringement should be brought in a lawsuit against the United States (or other acting government agency) in a court of law. It is the victim%26#039;s responsibility to ensure that constitutional wrongs are corrected by our judicial system (or, the victim can plead their case to the ACLU and hope they file a lawsuit on behalf of the victim. You know, the ACLU: that group which conservatives love to rail against because they defend the rights of innocent victims. If you feel conflicted about seeking their help, I would definitely understand).
However, if you%26#039;re just trying to get pity points by claiming you%26#039;re a victim, but you%26#039;ve never really been %26quot;censored%26quot; at all, then you might want to whine about it to someone who cares.|||I think everyone has the right to speak but no one has the right to but into others lives. The out spoken Christians who insist on condemning others for their actions (gay, abortion, other religious beliefs) should shut up and leave others alone. Those who practice and believe while respecting others are great. Let us go to hell in our own way and to the hell of our choice.
FYI: In my religion Christians are wrong and will suffer for it but I don%26#039;t sit outside churches with signs yelling at them.|||Yell from your soap box as loud as you want, but don%26#039;t try and limit the liberty of your neighbor because you think what he%26#039;s doing is immoral. |||There is a difference between speaking ones mind and pushing for one%26#039;s opinion to become law. Christians have every right to speak out about what they believe, but they do not have the right to alter the constitution or create laws that suppress the rights of others. |||Who is censoring you? Do you honestly think that if someone disagrees with you they%26#039;re interfering with your right to free speech? I%26#039;ve got news for you, those who disagree with you also have a right to free speech, including the right to tell you what they think of your opinions.
You have the right to say whatever you want. However, when you cross the line into trying to impose your opinions on those who don%26#039;t share them, you%26#039;re no longer protected by free speech laws.
It%26#039;s the same principle that says your right to swing your arm stops right before it hits my face.
Do they not have a voice and a God-given right, according to our Constitution, to speak their mind? Especially when their opinion is asked for? Perhaps the agenda for Obama supporters is to change the very foundations for which this country has stood for 200+ years. If I ask for an opinion, like I did here now, I EXPECT to get answers that I do not agree with, don%26#039;t worry, you may still get best answer if you answer rightly....
|||Freedom of speech is for everyone, but as a practicing Christian you should be mindful of what you say. Don%26#039;t let your good works be evil spoken of. Our opinions and beliefs may differ, but we should always treat others the way we want to be treated. If what someone says grieves the Holy Spirit in you, admonish that person in love as the Lord leads you, not for self gain,vengeance or any reason, other than to restore that brother or sister, and is best done privately when possible, not in a open discussion that will put a person on display. A person%26#039;s intentions or motives are what matters most.
If at all possible try to build up, not tear down. Only speak from facts and not hearsay in order to not ruin ones reputation by false information.|||To remove it is to eventually remove it for those who believe and follow Jesus Christ. Hitler did this and 12 million Christians 6 million Jews, and 2 million Gypsies and Homosexuals were executed.
Any one who supports the suppression of speech and the freedom to practice religion is supporting the eventual murder of millions of people.|||Where is the government trying to stifle your freedom of speech???
|||As long as you are not openly and blatenly spreading lies about a person or advocating harm, then you have every right to your opinon. But dont forget that not every one will agree.
Example: A person can say that a homosexual lifestyle is sin. But they can not say that homosexuals are evil and must be wiped from the face of the earth.|||If you are referring to a specific instance of a violation of someone%26#039;s constitutional right to the freedom of speech, that claim of infringement should be brought in a lawsuit against the United States (or other acting government agency) in a court of law. It is the victim%26#039;s responsibility to ensure that constitutional wrongs are corrected by our judicial system (or, the victim can plead their case to the ACLU and hope they file a lawsuit on behalf of the victim. You know, the ACLU: that group which conservatives love to rail against because they defend the rights of innocent victims. If you feel conflicted about seeking their help, I would definitely understand).
However, if you%26#039;re just trying to get pity points by claiming you%26#039;re a victim, but you%26#039;ve never really been %26quot;censored%26quot; at all, then you might want to whine about it to someone who cares.|||I think everyone has the right to speak but no one has the right to but into others lives. The out spoken Christians who insist on condemning others for their actions (gay, abortion, other religious beliefs) should shut up and leave others alone. Those who practice and believe while respecting others are great. Let us go to hell in our own way and to the hell of our choice.
FYI: In my religion Christians are wrong and will suffer for it but I don%26#039;t sit outside churches with signs yelling at them.|||Yell from your soap box as loud as you want, but don%26#039;t try and limit the liberty of your neighbor because you think what he%26#039;s doing is immoral. |||There is a difference between speaking ones mind and pushing for one%26#039;s opinion to become law. Christians have every right to speak out about what they believe, but they do not have the right to alter the constitution or create laws that suppress the rights of others. |||Who is censoring you? Do you honestly think that if someone disagrees with you they%26#039;re interfering with your right to free speech? I%26#039;ve got news for you, those who disagree with you also have a right to free speech, including the right to tell you what they think of your opinions.
You have the right to say whatever you want. However, when you cross the line into trying to impose your opinions on those who don%26#039;t share them, you%26#039;re no longer protected by free speech laws.
It%26#039;s the same principle that says your right to swing your arm stops right before it hits my face.
Mentally killing one's self ?
I think this might have something to do with multiple personality disorder but I%26#039;m not sure. about 4 years ago i got tired of being bullied etc. and attempted suicide multiple times. I gave up on the suicide idea and decided to stop trying at everything. One day while i was arguing with my dad everything turned white . I woke up the next morning and everything changed, eating habits, attitude, personality, my taste in art/music, my immune system became stronger,
my I.Q even went up and, It%26#039;s like I%26#039;ve been like a different person since then. I know the brain has strong effects but the effects were so immediate that it blows my mind. I thought I might be repressing my memories or something but i remember it all.
Any theories on what happened it%26#039;s been driving me crazy.|||I%26#039;d be asking a doctor this, it was obviously very serious.|||thats crazy! wow maybe you are like a wizard or something O.o
im not making fun that sounds serious!
~.MiMi.~|||It could be related to MPD. Maybe it could%26#039;ve also been a spiritual experience or something.
God Bless!|||I%26#039;d go to the doctor! You just might be right..
my I.Q even went up and, It%26#039;s like I%26#039;ve been like a different person since then. I know the brain has strong effects but the effects were so immediate that it blows my mind. I thought I might be repressing my memories or something but i remember it all.
Any theories on what happened it%26#039;s been driving me crazy.|||I%26#039;d be asking a doctor this, it was obviously very serious.|||thats crazy! wow maybe you are like a wizard or something O.o
im not making fun that sounds serious!
~.MiMi.~|||It could be related to MPD. Maybe it could%26#039;ve also been a spiritual experience or something.
God Bless!|||I%26#039;d go to the doctor! You just might be right..
May I try to help you see the inability for a "missing link" to change the truth of the creation account?
Man became man when God blew into his nostrils thus giving him Gods Spirit (Breath). That is how we are made in his likeness. How we go to that point is a great deal less important than the fact that we now have at this moment in history something that separates us completely from the rest of all creation. We have God%26#039;s spirit. If it was literal clay that he formed with his hands or fashioned in some other way does it change who we are? For that matter does God have hands that are in some way like ours, I think not. We need God to have human attributes not God. All life came from the earth, dust, clay. There is not a single evolutionist that would claim that life started elsewhere.
However, man is not like the rest of life on this earth. Yes we are just as biological as all life but, that where it ends. Our experience of what it is like to conscious is unparalleled and our concept of both time and space a so very far apart from even that closest biological relative the Chimpanzee. We share close to 96% of genes and DNA with the Chimpanzee. Can you list any higher level consciousness concepts that we share in common with them? We are unique and uniquely positioned in our Galaxy, Solar System, and Universe, to be able to observe, contemplate, and enjoy all that this universe, galaxy, and solar system have to offer.
Even now the very mind that you use to ask this question and the very nature of it shows how very unique you are. We have just begun to learn how our mind\brain works. I do not mean how on a quantum level the electro-chemical transmission of potential is passed from one Neuron down the Axon to a Synapse across the Synaptic Gap into a receiving Dendrite of another Neuron. We have observed that, the question is why it would produce Love, Art, a concept of itself or time. All things considered, based on the known facts, it is impossible to rule out God.
When you have stood by grace alone in the all encompassing beautiful glow of Christ%26#039;s radiant love and herd with your own ears his note that provides answers to all questions in a moment of peace that words cannot explain you know that it, He, is the only answer for all suffering mankind. I seek not to control any one鈥檚 mind only to help, and hope that all might know the Christ now.|||If anyone has the courage to face the esoteric writings, he will discover that man does not come from nature. He is a product of different creation. Through the fall man fell from a higher order of existence into nature. And it is Christ that restores all things to His image.
Truth is stranger than fiction. Who could have thought of a greater plan than God?|||%26quot;Man became man when God blew into his nostrils thus giving him Gods Spirit (Breath).%26quot;
Are you kidding me???
.|||well... that totally explains it. i guess i%26#039;m a creationist now. mother will be so disappointed.|||If it was literal clay, what does that make Gumby?|||no. i have faith in Zeus and you can%26#039;t change that.
ADDED:
%26quot;How we go to that point is a great deal less important%26quot; I think it is and if you do believe that somehow the Christian god is responsible for evolution i would disagree.
Evolution by random mutation and natural selection is a brutal, wasteful mechanism that produces many defected and diseased life forms before it gets one that can actually survive, its a mechanism that does not care about the life it produces, it plops us here the same way it did AIDS or gorillas or mice. [not how you would imagine an infinitely intelligent and powerful being would would go about making things, not to mention all loving and just one]
Also if the changes that make up evolution initially appear by random chance, not directed by any purpose, then God has nothing to do with evolution, period.
If the changes appear randomly, then by definition there is no purpose guiding them.
What defines randomness is not that any given event (or genetic mutation) cannot be predicted by an observer; what defines randomness is that the entire process has no direction. If there is overall direction, then the process is not random.
The entire universe was not made for us and its existence does not center around us, that is just an incredibly selfish view in my opinion, the whole concept of an eternal soul and an all loving god constantly looking out for me and reading my thoughts and all is just human selfish nature i think.
but if you can prove all the skeptics wrong then i will believe you. i don%26#039;t now because i don%26#039;t find it is consistent with reality.|||Yeah, you won%26#039;t get the atheists to buy into this, even though it%26#039;s obviously the truth. They%26#039;re too busy waiting for science to never figure it out. It%26#039;s kind of funny actually. They think humans just magically developed our conscious minds and our ability to conceptualize.
It%26#039;s like humans were walking along and tripped, %26quot;Oops, well there%26#039;s our consciousness!%26quot; Ridiculous.|||humans from clay and ribs, talking snakes, magic fruits, curses....this makes more sense to you than a species ability to adapt and advance in its environment? if it is impossible to rule out god, then why must god be taught to a child who has no understanding or recollection of god from the womb?|||Remember, %26quot;god%26quot; is nothing more than a nonsense word created by man to explain away all of the things we can%26#039;t yet understand.
Religion is a disease of the mind, born of fear, which has done nothing but bring untold misery down upon the human race.|||%26quot;All things considered, based on the known facts, it is impossible to rule out God.%26quot;
It is completely possible and plausible to rule out god. There is no proof of god accept what believers say they feel. Feelings are not something that you can sit on a table and measure, there for it is not something that can be scientifically and irrefutable proven. It is through faith alone that you believe in your god, and faith is nothing that can be proven while you are alive here on Earth.
I applaud you for having faith in something, but do not confuse your feelings of truth for what constitutes as proof.|||Now can you explain it in a way that seems totally logical and that doesn%26#039;t make God look like a bored kid that makes castles in a sandbox, then puts ants in them, and then makes colorful drawings around them to keep them happy and distracted?|||No such thing as a Missing Link.
As for humans other than our species, and human-like hominids that were our predecessors and cousins, the archeological evidence is enormous, overlapping and proof of our ancestry.|||%26quot;All life came from the earth, dust, clay%26quot;There is not a single evolutionist that would claim that life started elsewhere duh!.That%26#039;s funny clayman! We are 70% water you dumb ***.You lost me at God blew,we became man and fact.You should have said i think God blew into clay and gave something nostrils and i know this because i have read the bible which is the most fact based book every written.But i sure wish i had a few more people believing what i believe because stupidity sure is lonely even with all this radiant love.
However, man is not like the rest of life on this earth. Yes we are just as biological as all life but, that where it ends. Our experience of what it is like to conscious is unparalleled and our concept of both time and space a so very far apart from even that closest biological relative the Chimpanzee. We share close to 96% of genes and DNA with the Chimpanzee. Can you list any higher level consciousness concepts that we share in common with them? We are unique and uniquely positioned in our Galaxy, Solar System, and Universe, to be able to observe, contemplate, and enjoy all that this universe, galaxy, and solar system have to offer.
Even now the very mind that you use to ask this question and the very nature of it shows how very unique you are. We have just begun to learn how our mind\brain works. I do not mean how on a quantum level the electro-chemical transmission of potential is passed from one Neuron down the Axon to a Synapse across the Synaptic Gap into a receiving Dendrite of another Neuron. We have observed that, the question is why it would produce Love, Art, a concept of itself or time. All things considered, based on the known facts, it is impossible to rule out God.
When you have stood by grace alone in the all encompassing beautiful glow of Christ%26#039;s radiant love and herd with your own ears his note that provides answers to all questions in a moment of peace that words cannot explain you know that it, He, is the only answer for all suffering mankind. I seek not to control any one鈥檚 mind only to help, and hope that all might know the Christ now.|||If anyone has the courage to face the esoteric writings, he will discover that man does not come from nature. He is a product of different creation. Through the fall man fell from a higher order of existence into nature. And it is Christ that restores all things to His image.
Truth is stranger than fiction. Who could have thought of a greater plan than God?|||%26quot;Man became man when God blew into his nostrils thus giving him Gods Spirit (Breath).%26quot;
Are you kidding me???
.|||well... that totally explains it. i guess i%26#039;m a creationist now. mother will be so disappointed.|||If it was literal clay, what does that make Gumby?|||no. i have faith in Zeus and you can%26#039;t change that.
ADDED:
%26quot;How we go to that point is a great deal less important%26quot; I think it is and if you do believe that somehow the Christian god is responsible for evolution i would disagree.
Evolution by random mutation and natural selection is a brutal, wasteful mechanism that produces many defected and diseased life forms before it gets one that can actually survive, its a mechanism that does not care about the life it produces, it plops us here the same way it did AIDS or gorillas or mice. [not how you would imagine an infinitely intelligent and powerful being would would go about making things, not to mention all loving and just one]
Also if the changes that make up evolution initially appear by random chance, not directed by any purpose, then God has nothing to do with evolution, period.
If the changes appear randomly, then by definition there is no purpose guiding them.
What defines randomness is not that any given event (or genetic mutation) cannot be predicted by an observer; what defines randomness is that the entire process has no direction. If there is overall direction, then the process is not random.
The entire universe was not made for us and its existence does not center around us, that is just an incredibly selfish view in my opinion, the whole concept of an eternal soul and an all loving god constantly looking out for me and reading my thoughts and all is just human selfish nature i think.
but if you can prove all the skeptics wrong then i will believe you. i don%26#039;t now because i don%26#039;t find it is consistent with reality.|||Yeah, you won%26#039;t get the atheists to buy into this, even though it%26#039;s obviously the truth. They%26#039;re too busy waiting for science to never figure it out. It%26#039;s kind of funny actually. They think humans just magically developed our conscious minds and our ability to conceptualize.
It%26#039;s like humans were walking along and tripped, %26quot;Oops, well there%26#039;s our consciousness!%26quot; Ridiculous.|||humans from clay and ribs, talking snakes, magic fruits, curses....this makes more sense to you than a species ability to adapt and advance in its environment? if it is impossible to rule out god, then why must god be taught to a child who has no understanding or recollection of god from the womb?|||Remember, %26quot;god%26quot; is nothing more than a nonsense word created by man to explain away all of the things we can%26#039;t yet understand.
Religion is a disease of the mind, born of fear, which has done nothing but bring untold misery down upon the human race.|||%26quot;All things considered, based on the known facts, it is impossible to rule out God.%26quot;
It is completely possible and plausible to rule out god. There is no proof of god accept what believers say they feel. Feelings are not something that you can sit on a table and measure, there for it is not something that can be scientifically and irrefutable proven. It is through faith alone that you believe in your god, and faith is nothing that can be proven while you are alive here on Earth.
I applaud you for having faith in something, but do not confuse your feelings of truth for what constitutes as proof.|||Now can you explain it in a way that seems totally logical and that doesn%26#039;t make God look like a bored kid that makes castles in a sandbox, then puts ants in them, and then makes colorful drawings around them to keep them happy and distracted?|||No such thing as a Missing Link.
As for humans other than our species, and human-like hominids that were our predecessors and cousins, the archeological evidence is enormous, overlapping and proof of our ancestry.|||%26quot;All life came from the earth, dust, clay%26quot;There is not a single evolutionist that would claim that life started elsewhere duh!.That%26#039;s funny clayman! We are 70% water you dumb ***.You lost me at God blew,we became man and fact.You should have said i think God blew into clay and gave something nostrils and i know this because i have read the bible which is the most fact based book every written.But i sure wish i had a few more people believing what i believe because stupidity sure is lonely even with all this radiant love.
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