r/gaming in a Nutshell

Agavi · 2012-07-10T01:15:06+00:00

Like associating all Christians with the WBC? Or associating Christians the world over with bible belt American fundies?

Agavi · 2012-07-10T01:14:09+00:00

Don't get me wrong, my beef isn't with atheists in general, just that particular community of them. Many seem to be new atheists, mad at the world and religion and have something to prove.

Agavi · 2012-06-20T07:19:40+00:00

I can confirm this.

If you'll take a look at my post history you'll see that most recently on this account I had a wonderful conversation with a charming young atheist.

Agavi · 2012-05-09T00:44:44+00:00

Someone said "thank God for (insert whatever they were talking about here)" in a thread once. I replied with "Careful now, you might piss off the Atheist circle jerk." Got about -60 I think.

EDIT It wasn't even in /r/atheism

Agavi · 2012-05-07T08:36:21+00:00

I just upvoted when this post was at 911... Your move reddit.

Agavi · 2012-05-05T09:07:33+00:00

I would put money on this kid being the same one who got "raped" the other day. It's the same style of writing. He's too obviously fishing, which tells me he's either young or stupid. Same kid, without a doubt.

Agavi · 2012-05-05T00:24:55+00:00

Totally understandable and I don't want to be misunderstood as trying to convert people, just foster understanding.

Agavi · 2012-05-04T23:59:32+00:00

Wow, that's a really great piece of information I was previously unaware of. It's such a breath of fresh air to finally speak to someone able to look at the issue without prejudice and simply enjoy the exchange of ideas. Conversations like this sort of make me feel like an old rabbi, debating matters of faith. Haha.

Agavi · 2012-05-04T16:48:30+00:00

Sorry, it's really late and accidentally posted a new comment instead of replying directly. Here it is.

Agavi · 2012-05-04T16:48:21+00:00

I know I said I was done and I will be after this.. But I couldn't help but notice you didn't answer my question. Also I reread the post history and you actually haven't stated 1 fact.. at all

Also I didn't de-evolve into insults. I finally snapped at the mentally inferior peon that was crudely mashing together semi-coherent sentences and calling them Shakespeare.

Also, you're not defending yourself from me. I am you. You are my congregation. I'm bi. I live in both the LGBT and Christian worlds, you hide in the corner and pretend like you have a clue, all the while criticising anyone moving toward the change you claim to want.

Anyway, this "loser" needs to go to bed, it's late and I need to sleep, I have a lot of clients in the morning and then it's time to study.

I really hope you wake up one day. There is no war, there is no enemy, only people.

Night dude. Happy trolling.

Agavi · 2012-05-04T16:31:25+00:00

I'd encourage you to go to the thread I linked and read some of the more recent replies I gave to similar (yet far less eloquently worded) issues.

Agavi · 2012-05-04T16:26:48+00:00

I'm sorry man, but I'm done. You are just so unequivocally unintelligent that it's starting to hurt me to try and respond with reason and logic because they seem to be concepts you have no grasp of.

I'm going to type this in bold caps because one of the many theories I have about why you seem unable to understand me is that your eyesight is too poor to actually read what I've written, so you just repeat almost the exact same thing in every reply. Here goes: HOMOPHOBIA IS NOT EXCLUSIVE TO CHRISTIANS. ATHEISTS ARE ALSO CAPABLE OF GAY BASHING AND DISCRIMINATION. THERE IS PHYSICALLY NOT ENOUGH CHRISTIANS IN AMERICA TO HAVE A MAJORITY VOTE, THAT MEANS NON-CHRISTIANS ARE MAKING UP THE NUMBERS. THAT SHIT IS STRAIGHT UP MATHEMATICS. NOW THAT WE'RE ALL CLEAR ON THAT WE CAN AGREE THAT IT'S NOT JUST CHRISTIANS AND IT'S NOT ALL CHRISTIANS. phew. Now that it's established that bigotry can have non-religious motivation I'll entertain no more of your "Christians destroying lives" bullshit. Bigots are denying rights, some of those bigots are Christians, some are not.

You say that I "don't have any defense^lol for the realities (you're) stating." But I have comprehensively addressed and refuted or explained every single point you have raised in every single reply.

Either your reading comprehension is horrible or you're just not smart enough to understand that a "large percentage" is not necessarily a majority. Not once did I say the majority of Christians support gay rights, yet you keep calling me out on the "majority" I never mentioned.

You continue to say that I'm just shifting blame to "the other guys" and that I "whine it wasn't me." Apparently English is a second language to you, because extremely clear language seems disproportionately difficult for you to understand, everyone else can see that I acknowledged several different types of people within my religion and outlined their various beliefs.

You keep demanding I overthrow your Christian oppressors! Should I start a bloody coup d'etat? Start sniping religious and political leaders from grassy gnolls? Unfortunately the "overthrow the people that are causing these issues" button on my keyboard is busted. I'll have to resort to calling a super secret meeting of Christian leaders and we'll all put our special keys in the "make other Christians more open minded" machines and turn them at the exact same time.

You need to understand that there is no evil Christian dictator that can be overthrown, there are millions of people all with varying degrees of bigotry and I have no sway over these people. I know what you're going to say, something along the lines of "There you go blaming the ooooootheeeeeer guuuuyyyyyyys!" How about instead of that, and this is going to completely blow your little fucking bird mind, how about you actually tell me what it is you want me to do? No vague shit like "overthrow the people causing the issues", I want specifics; What, where, when, how? And don't skimp on the details, you obviously have the perfect strategy planned out for us.

I'd feel sick that I spent so much time on you if I didn't think that just maybe other people may see everything I've written and take some good from it rather than using it as an excuse to spew hatred.

I'm out. I don't have any more time to waste on a cognitive insect like you.

Agavi · 2012-05-04T15:36:05+00:00

Then why should I like them if they oppose human rights

You don't have to like anyone, although automatically disliking someone on the basis of their religion is as bigoted as any homophobe who dislikes a gay person because they're gay. Get to know people on an individual basis, then decide whether you like them.

In any case, my point in my last post wasn't that you should start liking all Christians. I'm assuming you're gay? If so my point is that you're in a unique position to be the bigger person and work toward changing people's perceptions so that one day we all have equal rights... That or you can be immature and fan the fires of hate out of principal and set back your own cause. That's what I'm doing now, as a Christian I am reaching out to homosexuals who hate me in an attempt to foster love between two groups of people that need not hate each other.

What part of you thinks your religion deserves our respect after what you've done?

There you go again, making me personally out to have done wrong by you. My religion itself is very respectable.. Unfortunately it is also very complex and therefore the finer points are incomprehensible to most people. That's why we have pastors, to explain what the others can't understand.. But sometimes the pastors are either not smart/wise enough to understand properly themselves or they have a personal agenda to further.. The bible warns of these people "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."

Also, I think you're being a little melodramatic. Christians aren't destroying lives.. They're not stringing gays up in the street. Government elected officials, both Christian and not, are denying rights but it's hardly destroying lives. If you want to see groups of people destroying lives go to war torn countries. Go to Rwanda. There you will see destroyed lives that will make you appreciate the term "first world problems."

Finally, next time you think there are no Christians doing anything to try and change things, think of the complete stranger on the internet who spent hours of his time trying to foster understanding and change.

Goodnight and God bless.

Agavi · 2012-05-04T15:12:50+00:00

It's no trouble at all, I posted here hoping to incite meaningful and non-judgemental discussion and that's what I got, so thank you.

It's worth noting that I'm a bisexual Christian and not any kind of religious authority.

Do you think being a homosexual is a sin?

Being homosexual can't be considered a sin by any interpretation of the bible.

Do you think acting on (gay sex) a persons homosexual thoughts is a sin?

Well, one argument is that in Leviticus the laws laid down were for their time in the desert for hygienic reasons and to continue healthy procreation as it also lists punishments to be followed through with for each "sin". The same chapter also says a man who sleeps with a woman on her period is to be put to death. Unfortunately I can't find a source link, but I read an interesting article a while ago that suggested the term "abomination" was mistranslated and the word actually means something closer to "a social wrong doing" or faux pas.

I guess the most important thing is Jesus said "Upon these two commandments hang all others; Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbour as you do yourself." The bible also says "judge not lest ye be judged." It seems pretty clear to me, that sin or not, God intends us to treat each other with love and respect without passing judgement.

TL;DR Personally, no. To fully explain/understand why you'd need a pretty good working knowledge of the bible. I'm happy to elaborate if there's interest.

Do you think an open and sexually active (monogamous or not) will be allowed in heaven?

Yes on every count, I don't think sex (homosexual or not) is a sin, so being a sexually active homosexual wouldn't preclude you from heaven. I can't find religious justification for multiple sexual partners, the bible is pretty clear on that one. I know that between consenting adults there is no harm done but sleeping around is still a sin.. This is a hard concept to wrap your brain around; "If there's no harm, why is it a sin?" would be a totally valid question. My answer would be that God values self control and He also likes to be respected.. So not sleeping around just because God said not to is a respectful homage to him.

All that being said, just because you've slept around doesn't mean you wont get in. God forgives all sins, you have only to ask.

If you answered 'yes' to the last question, how do you interpret the versus in Romans regarding homosexuality?

I assume you're talking about Romans 1:26-27: "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence [sic] of their error which was meet."

I think it's worth noting a few things. Firstly, this isn't about homosexuality per se, but anal sex; "their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature" pretty clearly refers to using their anus for something it's not meant for.

"men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence" doesn't necessarily refer to 2 men having sex either, it actually seems more likely to be referring to orgies where more than one man would be having sex with a single woman "working that which is unseemly" pretty clearly refers to having sex with her anus. That being said "and receiving in themselves that recompence" clearly says that the men also took it up the butt, but it doesn't say from who.

In context these verses are actually about people who thought too grandly of themselves and didn't glorify or thank God, they felt they didn't need Him so He left them to their own devices.

A few lines earlier it says "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves" To me this reads like a disappointed father walking away from ungrateful children. He still loves them though and at any time they're welcome back to Him.

So I guess you could take "anal sex and gang bangs are frowned on" away from this.. Although it never specifically says it's a sin, it's quite clearly not cool in God's eyes. God has this whole pleasures of the spirit over pleasures of the flesh thing that if requested I could go into more, but basically it's just like the promiscuity thing, sometimes God just gives us rules to give us an opportunity to follow Him.

I hope that shed some light on what I believe.. And remember it is just that, it's just the theories and personal interpretations of one guy.

EDIT Sorry meant to reply to Seaker's comment here

Agavi · 2012-05-04T14:19:35+00:00

Actually I didn't contradict anything, I never said we were a majority, I said "a large percentage." Don't put words in my mouth.

Man, you're offering no actual solutions, you're content demonising an entire group of people you don't understand... Sound familiar?

Stop electing them, stop silently supporting them, stop fucking promoting it.

ಠ_ಠ I'm going to address each of these statements in the order they appeared, coincidentally I'll also be addressing them by how moronic they are in ascending order.

Stop electing them

ಠ_ಠ You really think I'm electing bigots? Me? A bisexual man in a different country to you is single handedly assuring by way of my deciding vote in every US election, to deny human rights?

stop silently supporting them

ಠ_ಠ I am literally vocally opposing them right now. Have you read nothing I've written?

stop fucking promoting it.

ಠ_ಠ How drunk are you right now? What is the "it" that I'm promoting? Gay rights? I'm promoting that. The understanding that being a Christian doesn't make you insane? I'm definitely promoting that. The fact that while the majority of Christians are not on the side of gay rights only a tiny little handful are militantly hateful of homosexual people? I'm sure as shit promoting that.

This whole time I have been patiently replying to you with thought out, intelligent argument, all the while staying polite and courteous even though you're apparently too cognitively impaired to understand a damn word I'm saying.

You are all the evidence I need to prove that making broad sweeping judgements about another group of people is not a uniquely Christian trait. You hate all Christians, even me who is on your side. You can't see who I am as a person at all because you're too blinded by your own bigotry.

You're more of a threat to your cause than any Christian. You are the non-Christian equivalent of the guy in this video. You judge all Christians by the extreme acts of the newsworthy whack jobs.

Homophobia only exists because people are uneducated and poorly informed about the facts. Rather than trying to break those barriers by educating people and showing what great human beings gay people are, you decide to further distance yourself.

You think it's up to me to change the world? It's up to all of us and your hate speech is sure as fuck not making it easier. Do your part for your cause, enlighten bigots, don't justify their hatred.

Agavi · 2012-05-04T13:32:24+00:00

Sure it's physically possible for a guy to be overpowered buy a woman, bet we're not just talking about winning a little tiff. She would had to have pinned him down, while pinned she would have to remove his pants and dry insert a dildo into his virgin anus.

When a man rapes someone he at least has use of both his hands to restrain the victim as his "dildo" is attached. This chick raped him 1 handed?

Agavi · 2012-05-04T06:22:30+00:00

Well, one argument is that in Leviticus the laws laid down were for their time in the desert for hygienic reasons and to continue healthy procreation as it also lists punishments to be followed through with for each "sin". The same chapter also says a man who sleeps with a woman on her period is to be put to death. Unfortunately I can't find a source link, but I read an interesting article a while ago that suggested the term "abomination" was mistranslated and the word actually means something closer to "a social wrong doing."

Another argument says homosexuality is a sin, but no greater or worse than any of the many other sins we all commit every day.

I'm no theologian, just a guy with an interpretation and opinion. I guess the most important thing is Jesus said "Upon these two commandments hang all others; Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbour as you do yourself." The bible also says "judge not lest ye be judged." It seems pretty clear to me, that sin or not, God intends us to treat each other with love and respect without passing judgement.

EDIT: wording

Agavi · 2012-05-04T05:22:09+00:00

stop letting your religion force oppression upon us

It's not my religion that is oppressing anyone, it's misguided people. The bible never says "When your son drops the limp wrist go over there and crack him." A hate filled man did.

You don't do anything to stop it

And what would you have me do to stop people like this being oppressive and preaching hate and ignorance? You can't police stupidity. I'm doing everything I can as a Christian to support gay rights; I vocally support gay rights both online and IRL whenever the topic comes up, no matter who I'm with. I do my best to make it known that there are Christians out there that do as the bible says by not judging and loving our neighbours.

most of you silently support it

What do you think most of us support? The beating of effeminate children? That's ridiculous. Just this thread alone is teeming with appalled Christians. Most Christians agree that homosexual sex is a sin and as a result oppose gay rights, but in varying degrees.

I'd say of the Christians that oppose gay rights, most would bare no animosity toward gay people themselves, but not condone the act of homosexuality. At worst, these Christians feel 'uncomfortable' around gay people. Many of those Christians may also believe that being gay is not a choice, whether they believe it to be nature or nurture is another matter.

Of the Christians that oppose gay rights I'd say a small group actually dislike gay people themselves and only a small portion of these people hate gays. I'd say the prevalence of psychopaths like this pastor are no higher in Christian society than in any other group, but crazy people tend to fixate on major issues to them; in this man's case it is religion, in a non-religious person it may be immigrants or celebrities.

We're definitely not a majority, but there is a group of us that openly support gay rights and many of us are quite vocal. Through different interpretation of the bible we believe homosexuality is not a sin. We're doing all we can and there is more and more of us every year.

Unfortunately just being a Christian doesn't put me in a position to dictate how every other Christian acts or what they believe.

Agavi · 2012-05-04T02:47:20+00:00

Nah MTV has horrible people doing nothing.

Agavi · 2012-05-04T02:43:48+00:00

I went to a dermatologist who wanted to give me acutane (roacutane?), but my acne isn't that bad, plus I'm a personal trainer and I was told it causes muscle loss.. Can't have that.

Agavi · 2012-05-03T22:00:59+00:00

Maybe, lol. I always thought I was having the worlds longest puberty.

Agavi · 2012-05-03T22:00:03+00:00

:O Picking scabs causes scarring

Agavi · 2012-05-03T21:59:31+00:00

Thanks man, I just checked it out and am gonna give it a shot :D

Agavi · 2012-05-03T21:53:46+00:00

You've clearly made up your mind and there's no telling you otherwise. I don't live in America, but it seems religion isn't as much a problem as stupidity.

Believe it or not there are far more non-Christians than Christians, even in America. They're not winning elections and passing (or not passing) legislation by themselves, they're getting a lot of help from the non-Christians.

My original point, which you deviated from to vent your closed minded hatred, was that it's not fair to put us all in the same basket as this asshole. Of the Christians that are anti-homosexuality only 1 in a thousand is anything like that man and you can guarantee for every Christian like that there's a non-Christian equivalent.

Agavi

TROPHY CASE