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Religion • Re: My Neighbor Believes in The Devil.

2013-12-15T15:01:56+00:00

It's also rather interesting how the image of Pan has been co-opted by Christianity as the image of Satan. And in the process turned from a friendly god of woods, fields, animals and sexuality, into the dark side of Yahweh as in the animated GIF above.

The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame wrote:
'This is the place of my song-dream, the place the music played to me,' whispered the Rat, as if in a trance. 'Here, in this holy place, here if anywhere, surely we shall find Him!'

Then suddenly the Mole felt a great Awe fall upon him, an awe that turned his muscles to water, bowed his head, and rooted his feet to the ground. It was no panic terror—indeed he felt wonderfully at peace and happy—but it was an awe that smote and held him and, without seeing, he knew it could only mean that some august Presence was very, very near. With difficulty he turned to look for his friend and saw him at his side cowed, stricken, and trembling violently. And still there was utter silence in the populous bird-haunted branches around them; and still the light grew and grew.

Perhaps he would never have dared to raise his eyes, but that, though the piping was now hushed, the call and the summons seemed still dominant and imperious. He might not refuse, were Death himself waiting to strike him instantly, once he had looked with mortal eye on things rightly kept hidden. Trembling he obeyed, and raised his humble head; and then, in that utter clearness of the imminent dawn, while Nature, flushed with fullness of incredible colour, seemed to hold her breath for the event, he looked in the very eyes of the Friend and Helper; saw the backward sweep of the curved horns, gleaming in the growing daylight; saw the stern, hooked nose between the kindly eyes that were looking down on them humourously, while the bearded mouth broke into a half-smile at the corners; saw the rippling muscles on the arm that lay across the broad chest, the long supple hand still holding the pan-pipes only just fallen away from the parted lips; saw the splendid curves of the shaggy limbs disposed in majestic ease on the sward; saw, last of all, nestling between his very hooves, sleeping soundly in entire peace and contentment, the little, round, podgy, childish form of the baby otter. All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.

'Rat!' he found breath to whisper, shaking. 'Are you afraid?'

'Afraid?' murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love. 'Afraid! Of HIM? O, never, never! And yet—and yet—O, Mole, I am afraid!'

Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads and did worship.

The Bible clearly describes Satan/Lucifer as beautiful - the most beautiful of the angels "

God wrote:
You (Satan) were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty

Apparently he was more of a stud than Jesus, who was fairly plain

God- Isaiah 53:2 wrote:
He (Jesus) had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him

When people 'see' the face of Satan they imagine something like Ayatollah Khomeini or Osama bin Laden
satan-fire.jpg

rather than Orlando Bloom
satan-fire-bloom.jpg

Oh well it's all mythology so why should the Christian habit of making sh!t up bother me?

Statistics: Posted by A Person — Sun Dec 15, 2013 3:01 pm

Religion • Re: My Neighbor Believes in The Devil.

2013-12-01T19:09:04+00:00

I'm actually surprised you got him to admit it.

Most people try to circumvent it, or just give me an exasperated dumb look with I have confronted people.

I still to this day, don't understand how people don't see Jesus as a demi-God.

They too, have told me they're all one-in-the-same.

I then follow their logic and ask "Jesus is God"....

Which gets me absolutely nowhere.

Religion is not a subject that should be thought to much about. It may cause migraines, and loss of appetite.

Statistics: Posted by Liv — Sun Dec 01, 2013 7:09 pm

Religion • Re: My Neighbor Believes in The Devil.

2013-11-30T21:34:39+00:00

I once mentioned to my friend the Lutheran pastor that I consider Christianity to be a polytheistic religion -- meaning that it has multiple gods, not just one.

He thought I was referring to the old bit about the Trinity, and started talking about how Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all differing manifestations of the one "monotheism" god.

I said, that's not what I'm talking about. Think on it: there is, of course, God in Christianity, but there is also Satan -- Lord of the Underworld. Also, there is the Angel Michael, the messenger of God, the Angel Gabriel, God's herald... EACH of these characters, and others from the Bible are EASILY recognizable from Hebrew mythology as "gods' just like Zeus, Hades, Hermes, and so on.

He thought about that for a moment, then had to admit I was correct.

That's me, just subverting the dominant paradigm yet again.

Statistics: Posted by SouthernFriedInfidel — Sat Nov 30, 2013 9:34 pm

Religion • My Neighbor Believes in The Devil.

2013-11-30T15:44:40+00:00

the devil.gif

It's quite odd to know how many people believe in the Devil according to a recent YouGov poll. When asked: "Do you personally believe in the existence of the Devil or not?", the overwhelming answer is yes! That's right that fictitious metaphor for human's capacity to do bad, apparently is REAL to over 57% of the population. That's like saying you believe Sponge-Bob actually lives in a pineapple, up under the sea.

Interestingly enough, most of these devil believers live in the south are republican, have only a high-school degree, and are protestant. They're my neighbors.

I should admit, I'm not completely surprised, as the Devil lives not to far from here, just outside of Siler City.

According to the Washington Examiner, 4 out of 10 people are "sometimes" processed by the Devil. Considering the road-rage, and Black Friday violence, one might wonder if this is true.

It is not.

People are just ass-holes, and like to use the Devil as an escape goat, though in the case of my in-laws, I'll make the exception.

The question is whether the belief in the Devil is worse than in a God. Can you believe in one without the other? More importantly, shouldn't the absurdity of such beliefs, allow people to reflect on their concepts of good and bad, so they don't see our internal moral compasses manifested into Beowulf and the Beast?

Interesting, the image most people have in their heads is completely false. Most interpretations of the Bible suggest he was this beautiful little cherub, who become the devil because he looked fabulous, and became too smart. So the moral of the story is, if you want to stay away from the devil: stay stupid, and be ugly. Such is the way of the Lord.

Statistics: Posted by Liv — Sat Nov 30, 2013 3:44 pm

Religion • Re: Religious fanaticism: helpful or not?

2013-11-25T19:55:05+00:00

Amen!

The more I look at the world, I realize many people are so far from my mindset, it would be complete misery to spend any more time with them than I had to.

I used to think it was just me, being different, but the more I travel, the more I think it's just this area (or the Bible-Belt in general).

Statistics: Posted by Liv — Mon Nov 25, 2013 7:55 pm

Religion • Re: Religious fanaticism: helpful or not?

2013-11-24T14:08:49+00:00

If the Westboro Baptists are the kind of people that make it to Heaven, it sounds much more like Hell. And the company in Hell sounds like my kind of Heaven.

In fact I have met very few people that are convinced that they are going to Heaven, whom I would want to spend a year with, let alone eternity.

Statistics: Posted by A Person — Sun Nov 24, 2013 2:08 pm

Religion • Re: Religious fanaticism: helpful or not?

2013-11-23T01:48:14+00:00

Meh... hell is in the eye of the beholder.

Statistics: Posted by SouthernFriedInfidel — Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:48 am

Religion • Re: Religious fanaticism: helpful or not?

2013-11-22T23:35:31+00:00

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:
Yes, I called Gandhi a fanatic.

Apparently he is going to Hell.

script

Statistics: Posted by Liv — Fri Nov 22, 2013 11:35 pm

Religion • Re: Is LOVE a God?

2013-11-10T03:14:46+00:00

Eros/Cupid was the god of love, not love itself. Just as Ares/Mars was the god of war not war itself. The Greek/Roman gods inspired humans to do things.

we today, see love not as a deity, but a feeling, a sensation, which even atheists can't describe all that well.

I think we can describe it as well as anyone can describe any emotion. We an describe how it feels, the chemical and electrical changes in the body/brains of the person experiencing it and the outward symptoms. Far better than the fanciful descriptions of imaginary spirits inhabiting our bodies.

Liv wrote:
So why have most followers of Christ seem to have missed the message?

If they can completely miss the bits where Christ explicitly tells them to give their wealth to the poor and to treat prisoners and the poor with compassion if they want to be sheep rather than goats, and only concentrate on the non-existent bits where He tells them to accumulate wealth, oppress homosexuals and stop anyone from using contraception, then this obscure passage is easy to ignore. But then they're Christians, not followers of Christ.

Statistics: Posted by A Person — Sun Nov 10, 2013 3:14 am

Religion • Is LOVE a God?

2013-11-09T22:51:35+00:00

valentines-day-the-year-of-love-and-the-greek-god-eros-hori.jpg

Well we know it used to be.

There was Aphrodite, Goddess of love, and mother of Eros: the actual God of love which some of us know as Cupid.

Of course that's all mythology now, and we today, see love not as a deity, but a feeling, a sensation, which even atheists can't describe all that well.

Yet many atheists believe in love, is this then, by default, them believing in some god, or merely a chemical reaction inside their body designed to encourage sex, and evolution.

Yet the question remains if love can go from a God to an internalized "emotion", could modern day Gods, such as the Christian God, eventually become internalized as simply a part of being human. Dwelling within?

But the Bible already says this:

Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?
1 Corinthians 3:16

So that means there is no heaven, no man in the sky, just us, humans with the potential (e.g. God within) to manifest heaven.

So why have most followers of Christ seem to have missed the message?

The Buddhist get it, and the God of love exemplifies the concept.

To me I'd bow down before love, than God any day.

Wait, that's it... maybe God is the love God, or merely just love.

You decide.

Statistics: Posted by Liv — Sat Nov 09, 2013 10:51 pm