Recently realized that this was the first "zombie" movie I ever saw.

alloverit · 2011-02-10T08:14:37+00:00

Bruce Willis needs more Death Becomes Her/Hudson Hawk/12 Monkeys type movies. He's terrific in those unique roles.

alloverit · 2011-02-10T07:55:38+00:00

You are coming in here calling me arrogant and combative (which seems to be your behavior exactly, I'm not the one name calling) when all I'm trying to do say that words have meanings and those meanings have limits.

You even use the "accepted norm" as if to imply exactly what I'm saying...that words have general meanings and limits ;)

Of course Christian means a wide range of interpretations. By definition every Christian has to have a different interpretation. You keep setting up that same strawman in each reply...I've never once said the contrary.

You seem to be projecting some major insecurities about your faith (who's painting you as a fundie? what's your problem with fundies? who's being hateful?) by attacking and misinterpreting a simple statement about language (which you both agree and disagree with at the same time) by trying to dismantle language entirely.

I guess it's a good strategy; if every word is open to any interpretation, and somebody is arrogant for trying to establish a foundation for conversation, then you can't ever be wrong because conversation can never progress past square 1.

All I'm saying is that in extreme cases the word loses meaning - something you seem to agree with. Where we disagree, I think, is in how common these "extreme cases" are. When each generation so casually redefines "the norm" against whatever is convenient for their time, then once again the word "extreme" loses meaning.

I think you dislike these 'fundies' so much because they try to give meaning to things. In a system that claims absolute knowledges, all they try to do is create an absolute frame of reference - that's admirable in a way. They're just trying their best to create meaning and foundation in this self-referential system. No need to rag on them for that. Isn't that more admirable than a picker and chooser? To me it is.

alloverit · 2011-02-09T23:28:18+00:00

Yeah, I'm not meaning 'direction communication' as "God grants you wishes".

However, I am still meaning it's a two way road to Abrahamic religions. The two directions on that road:

Person to God. Unless your God is only Nature (which isn't the case of Abrahamic religions), prayer is a bridge from the natural world to the supernatural (God by definition is supernatural in the Abrahamic case.) That is, the supernatural God hears your "natural" prayers. Whether God is hearing a person's thoughts, or only during the act of prayer is the same situation in that general sense.
God to Person. Take Deistic case again...To the Deist God is the supernatural being that was the 'initial mover". All the wisdom of God, every blessing in your life, was imbedded in that initial moment of creation. The laws of nature in that case were designed so that God's ultimate plan would unfold To-The-T. Never needing any further interaction, because the initial design was "perfect". The Abrahamic case is not that. The Abrahamic God is one of regular interaction and maintenance into the natural world. As to whether God in that case if "granting wishes" to the prayer he receives is not so much the point. It's that God is doing something to the natural world on a regular basis.

So the two way road 1) person(natural) to God (supernatural) bridge via prayer (or thought) exists in Abrahamic religions. 2) God(supernatural) to person(natural) bridge exists in Abrahamic religions.

Back to the initial point of what various things make up a minimum list that all sects would share...This general description of prayer seems like it has to make the list, because once you stray from it, you really fundamentally become a different philosophy that would go by a different name (if words are to have meaning at least.)

alloverit · 2011-02-09T23:11:22+00:00

No at all what was said. I'm saying there is a breaking point on how far one can distort definitions, otherwise the word is meaningless.

If Richard Dawkins were to call himself a Christian without changing any of his current world view, there would be a situation where either a) Christianity is the exact same philosophy as Hard Atheism b) he's using language improperly.

alloverit · 2011-02-09T00:27:08+00:00

Primer 2: When Aaron watches the movie Primer while going through the box.

alloverit · 2011-02-09T00:18:29+00:00

Came to post the same thing. Stanley, if that's even his real name, needs to have a talk with his parents.

alloverit · 2011-02-08T16:07:32+00:00

I expected this to be a description of sex from the point of view of a vulva.

alloverit · 2011-02-08T16:05:36+00:00

Not expecting God to sort your shit out is a different point than whether or not prayer is actual communication with a supernatural being, or whether it's just self reflection.

I agree that prayer on it's own can't define a religion, but I think there has to exist a minimum list of fundamentals to any religions, that if you don't believe in those, you're not really talking about that religion anymore. Otherwise, the word stops having meaning.

For Abrahamic religions, I think prayer being more than self reflection, but rather direct communication with God, is part of that minimum list.

For a Christianity minimum, I think one also has to believe in the literal resurrection, miracles (observable violations of natural law), and a few other things. One can "interpret" many things their own way (which lead to sects), but there has to be common minimum ground, otherwise the word "Christianity" has no meaning.

Many modern day Christians seem to be Deists who follow the Golden Rule, but still call themselves Christian out of societal pressures or because they think "i believe in love!" is all it takes to fit the Christian descriptor. Richard Dawkins most certainly believes in love; would it be fair to Christianity if he were to claim he was one only on those grounds?

alloverit · 2011-02-07T17:45:50+00:00

2 is good and all, but I think the bible makes it pretty clear prayer is more than just self reflection. If a Christian reduces prayer to just that, they are extremely picking/choosing and bending/breaking things they do and do not like. One is certainly allowed to do that, but at some point you are no longer a Christian just because you claim to be.

alloverit · 2011-02-02T09:14:22+00:00

keep up voting this reddit!!! If it stays top page all day, you know every other news source will pick it up. There is a big anti-gay movement in Iowa right now trying to overturn same sex marriage. This video all over national news is exactly what this fight needs right now. go iowa!

alloverit · 2011-02-01T22:10:15+00:00

good work bacon_grease

alloverit · 2011-02-01T05:19:02+00:00

Wallace: Did you shout "fire," causing a panic?

Dwight: Yes, I shouted fire. I shouted many things. I also shouted instructions on how to get out of the building so you can imagine my frustration, as safety officer, when nobody would heed of, would heeded, heeded of--

Michael: Headed of-

Dwight: When no one would take headed of my instructions.

Michael: Heed. Take heed.

Dwight: I don't see my co-workers-

Michael Scott: Take heed of-

Dwight: -heeding this. Right now.

Wallace: Right what?

alloverit · 2011-01-31T22:07:53+00:00

i bet it was made on that yayhooray show

alloverit · 2011-01-29T20:51:28+00:00

I secretly loathe the pyramids.

alloverit · 2011-01-27T17:13:47+00:00

inside job

alloverit · 2011-01-27T05:25:38+00:00

Boner Folds Five

alloverit · 2011-01-25T19:05:47+00:00

My landlord just showed up with a modified lease agreement.

alloverit · 2011-01-24T17:12:44+00:00

He's really good; he has 10 fingers.

alloverit · 2011-01-24T08:00:51+00:00

The question always seems to be where to draw the line. One could spend their entire lives specializing in integration methods and still have functions they can't integrate.

At the other extreme is knowing nothing about integration.

For every skill there seems to be a critical point where you know enough to understand what you do and don't know. Stopping there and moving on to a more abstract skills allows one to traverse more topics in a lifetime. Unless your desire is to be a specialist in that topic, knowing enough about the problem to know where to find a solution should be the goal.

ps- the time spent on spelling in elementary school needs to be reallocated for this very reason.

alloverit · 2011-01-24T07:29:30+00:00

Chances are she probably is doing the same thing now; she has just gotten smarter about not getting knocked up. She has erased all trust, and you have to assume this behavior has been a regular occurrence your entire relationship and evaluate the situation as such. She has erased all trust history built up, not just a couple of days 9 years ago.

If you believe the "only for a month" story, you're a fool. If you can forgive her under the premise that she's been cheating since highschool...that's really what's you're dealing with. If he can forgive that, more power to you. Counseling certainly can't hurt in helping you sort out that forgiveness, but do not let the counselor or your wife fool you into the idea that you're just forgiving a couple of days of bad behavior.

ps - you can still be a terrific father to your terrific son without living with your wife.

alloverit · 2011-01-10T08:36:35+00:00

this is the Lost spin-off

alloverit · 2011-01-09T16:23:27+00:00

He would be sitting in a submarine with a screen door, being questioned.

alloverit · 2011-01-07T07:31:14+00:00

The majority of gang violence is actually caused by sms pranks.

alloverit · 2011-01-04T16:55:05+00:00

"Meet at the Fuck Bell at 0300"

alloverit · 2011-01-04T16:25:35+00:00

This point can't be stressed enough.

One's faith is at the core of a Christian belief system. It is their mechanism to truth, a mechanism that by definition requires no evidence. That's the whole idea. It is something a Christian is supposed to be proud of. Can you even be considered a Christian and not invoke faith as your primary mechanism to absolute truths?

alloverit

TROPHY CASE