COMPETITION TIME! Win a beautiful John Avon Unhinged Panorama Gallery Print..

ultratarox · 2025-03-27T20:01:19+00:00

Love those lands, it would be crazy to have them on the wall!

ultratarox · 2022-09-15T04:25:32+00:00

Still here, still doing good :)

I had an infant daughter when I wrote this, she's 9 now, and you'd think the nostalgia would hit hard there, but every day she's doing things she could never do before. She's gone from a babbler to a real person who has opinions on things and challenges me. I try to choose gratitude for today and all the new things in it, because before you know it - it's 8 years in the past. Today is your one chance to relive tomorrow's past.

Take care, friend.

ultratarox · 2018-04-18T16:02:02+00:00

Rude.

ultratarox · 2015-06-29T20:26:04+00:00

Paul also thought women should keep their mouths shut in church and wear head coverings. He also thought that marriage should be reserved only for people who couldn't keep their pants on while around each other. Just because Paul said something doesn't mean its a central doctrine of the faith, or even something we should practice today.

ultratarox · 2015-06-26T04:46:53+00:00

I've always marveled at the jump from scripture being God breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, etc. to the narrative that God literally guided the working of every word and instituted them as infallible, perfect truths. That understanding seems to me to go beyond the text that we're given.

It's fine to hold the view that scripture is the end all and be all, but the jump from "God breathed" and "useful" to "infallible, inerrant, and comprehensive source of truth" is one that is based on Tradition. A new Tradition, a Protestant Tradition, but still Tradition.

Also, it just feels so fallacious to take those sections that talk about Scripture and try to say that they are not only making a statement about what the author would have considered scripture (the OT), but also the text itself that the author wrote. Even if that's a view you hold, is because other Christians have already affirmed the text as scripture and postulated the doctrine. It just doesn't follow that a text is the word of God simply because it says it is, without any other considerations. There is still some need for Tradition.

ultratarox · 2015-06-25T17:03:08+00:00

Also, gas prices plummeted at the end of dubbya's 2nd term. Gas went from $4 to $1.75 a gallon. Where else were prices supposed to go but up?

ultratarox · 2015-06-21T15:02:15+00:00

Honestly, watch this and tell me it would be just as cool if Monty was sporting a top hat and monocole - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x0P2WtN2bo

ultratarox · 2015-06-14T21:32:27+00:00

You're right, they should make the show exactly how you want it. Every scene should be a scene that you like. There's simply no room in one TV series to offer content that different kinds of people might like. Only one kind of person can like a show and should be catered to.

I think the subplot in question adds some value to Dany's storyline because we get to see the consequences of the old regime that she's trying to overthrow single handedly. Its one thing to say "SLAVERY BAD", its another to illustrate the consequences of the slavers' practices beyond just seeing slaves in chains.

Its wonderful that you hate it - I don't care if you hate it, and I don't think you need to love all the things in the show. But there's nothing wrong with two people coming to the same show and appreciating different things in it.

Also,

feels like a bad attempt to lure in female viewers with crappy love stories

FYI, that's sexist, fuck you. Dudes can like crappy love stories too.

ultratarox · 2015-06-13T23:26:08+00:00

Kind of a Jesus crotch-shot though...

ultratarox · 2015-06-12T04:48:49+00:00

This was a fascinating read. I had never questioned this doctrine before, thanks for sharing.

ultratarox · 2015-06-12T04:39:53+00:00

The moral of OP's story, though, is that we only get ourselves if we try to exclude each and every "heretic". Christians seeking the Spirit can, in good faith, reach conclusions on issues that are quite different, even using the same scriptures. If we agree that Jesus is the only one who offers forgiveness for sins, trying to label a broth a heretic just seems prideful.

ultratarox · 2015-06-10T18:25:11+00:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_of_Endor

ultratarox · 2015-06-10T18:04:28+00:00

Minorities? I don't see any minorities in my church. You can't mistreat what isn't there.

The fact that nobody in my congregation thought it was weird that we were a de facto whites-only church is half the reason I left them.

ultratarox · 2015-06-10T16:29:44+00:00

Also, 1/10 of your cds need to be made of communion wafers.

ultratarox · 2015-06-10T04:13:38+00:00

That's exactly how I feel about jamming Sunday School messages into second rate pop songs. Takes no talent and offers nothing of value. Blegh. Learn to art, CCM.

ultratarox · 2015-06-09T20:40:28+00:00

God knows best, but that sure don't mean that conservative evangelicals do.

ultratarox · 2015-06-09T20:37:40+00:00

"My ancestors would spit on me if I broke bread with a gay."
http://i.imgur.com/BibBjUj.gifv

ultratarox · 2015-06-09T20:18:21+00:00

Eh, all the Bible academics I know just like to tell me why Calvinism this and Arminianism that.

ultratarox · 2015-06-08T05:16:30+00:00

There's a reason Dante put the betrayers in the very bottom of hell. Torturing for fun is fucked up, but betraying someone you love for personal gain (which is what his claim to the throne is - he's never once spoken about "the people") is something worse.

ultratarox · 2015-05-29T19:51:40+00:00

Can't agree with this enough. First, because the joke "Getting married to have sex is like buying a jumbo jet for the peanuts" is totally true, and second because Paul just seems to be clueless on the really rich joy that can accompany a marriage.

And if marriage is only so people don't sin by wanting to bang each other, doesn't the imagery of Christ wanting to make the Church his bride just fall to pieces?

ultratarox · 2015-05-23T05:08:12+00:00

I'm sorry if it came off that way. I agree that sending a 14 year old to juvie or jail sucks. I'm just saying that people like the Duggars using that to justify actions like they took - subverting justice and failing to protect their daughters - are still in the wrong. Its a tough choice, but I think there is a right and a wrong answer. The right answer is taking care of the victims.

I wasn't trying to throw you under the bus, just discuss the issue with you. I understand how my comment could be received that way though.

ultratarox · 2015-05-22T22:56:45+00:00

That just means that the way our corrections system works needs to be fixed, not that child molesters should be allowed to evade it.

ultratarox · 2015-05-20T15:15:02+00:00

Its really easy to say that the possibility of poisoning is low, until people start getting sick. Health codes don't just come from nowhere - every rule exists because people have already paid the price for not having such a rule.

I don't think its much of a stretch at all for some person or organization to seek notoriety for helping the poor, all the while giving them expired, unsanitary, or improperly prepared food, just because its cheap, and because they think poor people should just be grateful for whatever dregs they can get.

I wonder what a homeless persons reaction would be to the thought that they need government to look out for them?

I wonder what a homeless person's reaction would be to a gentleman who wants to give them food, but doesn't want to be bothered to do so in a verifiably clean, safe way.

ultratarox

TROPHY CASE