Xianity declining worldwide

You know ....

Medicine Woman

You know, one of the things that really annoys me about these dumb-assed topics of yours lately is that they seem plucked from the Quiet Hater's Review, and don't seem to make any larger point except to express your open disgust for Christianity.

Now, first off: The shorthand for "Christian" is "Xn." The shorthand for Christianity is "Xnty".

Wasting extra characters only indicates your need to provoke people by making disrespectful jokes out of them.

Secondly, your question is so myopic I really do question whether or not I would bother shouting to you to tell you that you're about to be hit by a truck. Some things are indicative of the needs of evolution.

I'll even tell you what's wrong with that question, M*W.

They myth has been revealed. And they don't seem to care! They never cared.

So the answer is that they will do the same thing they do every day: try to take over the world.

Stop and think for two seconds before you post a topic like this and ask yourself whether or not an eight year-old with dyslexia can figure out the answer in under five seconds. If the answer is yes, you probably don't need to waste your time or anyone else's acting like a pissed-off cheerleader denouncing what you loathe so enthusiastically.

You know, behavior like yours helps perpetuate Christianity. Thanks a freaking lot, M*W.

You know, even horsesh@t has a use.

 

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Hinduism and Buddhism also send a simliar message saying it doesn't matter how or if you pray, if you do good actions (deeds) you will be reincarnated into a good life.

The caste system isn't a part of Hinduism, it was a just a social division. The Manu Smrti isn't a religious scripture.

 

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It is more correct to say that some sects of christianity believe that.

 

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Re: You know ....

 

Re: Re: You know ....

 

That's funny M*W. The catholic church does not use the term "Roman Catholic Church" in any of their documents. I've never seen any chrisitans refer to themselves as X or Xian. In fact, I've only seen Satan worshipers use X. It's a tilted cross M*W.

 

"The xians were persecuted in Biblical times, why should now be any different? History repeats itself for the betterment of the world."

What? Are you really stupid enough to think that persecuting a group of people makes the world a better place?

 

The issue or the method? What is the issue, then?

Don't worry about it. You're too much a literalist for the explanation to make any sense.

Fair enough. Most people who had cause to use the abbreviations were of the mind to write the word out, anyway. The point, though, is to save you some letters.

Furthermore, nobody likes seeing ill-wishers reducing their identity to shorthand. It's like the debate about "Xmas". Maybe that one rings a bell.

Obviously not by the same issue, since said issue doesn't exist when the word is spelled out.

Yes, even I think it's petty, but it's all a matter of what your priorities are. We'll get to that in a moment.

I'll take your word for it, as I don't see what the one has to do with the other.

That philosophy has served humanity so well. The Irish, for instance, amid a potato blight in the nineteenth century, were left to die and rot because their lamentations were characterized as "ingratitude".

It's the same principle. Apparently the Irish ingrates chose to be provoked where none was warranted.

They're still human beings. Their feathers still ruffle when someone sets out to f@ck with them. Tolerance only works so far; if one intends malice, there's not much good in toleration, is there?

It comes with the territory. First off, they're human beings, Medicine Woman. Secondly, as I understood the teachings of my Christian elders during that period of my life, being cocksure about one's salvation is more than slightly problematic. In fact, I'm sure you can appreciate the significance of such an idea when we put it into the context of the Inquisition as a sublimation of doubts about one's salvation in order to feel more confident about what cannot be known. A proactive identification--one cannot leave the pagan to burn at risk of one's own immortal soul, for whatsoever thou do not do for the least of God's brethren . . . . And so the Inquisitors went forth with the presumption that they were saved and that their wisdom would reflect that salvation, thus allowing torture, rape, and murder to be sanctified as god's work. A similar device can be found in an examination of Spaniard encomienda in the Americas.

And?

So rattling sabers is the best approach?

I agree, but that is theirs to figure out insofar as we might be wrong on that count. Spirituality is largely illusory, anyway, so . . . I guess it's left to them to decide whether or not it's important.

A sufficient dramatization that I accept and agree with.

Cha!

Don't be. Unless it's important enough to you. I won't be offended if not.

Neither was Sarah Brightman. But I'm sure that during their heyday Andrew Lloyd preferred to hear her singing instead of riding his ass like an overripe diaper. It's all a matter of what's important to you.

Hopefully. We might, should we survive, revisit such an issue if Islamic terrorists set off a nuke inside the US, for instance.

Okay, and should I pretend you were aiming for anything that you or I might agree conventionally is a positive end?

Did you want to communicate with the dyslexic 8 year-olds in order to help them learn to read, or to yell at them for being poor students?

The argument in the abstract makes sense. It does not reconcile with what I perceive in reality.

Then, quite frankly, you probably should take your mission back to committee and review the methodology.

No, actually, turning off the computer, putting the Bible away, finding a partner, and shagging their brains out until they're happy for a while is probably the most risque thing they could be doing. Throw some hard drugs in there and hey ... it could get fun.

In the meantime, I fail to see what this brand of spite profits you, me, or anyone else.

To what end? Take a look around Sciforums, which is littered with mediocre intellects moved to speak their minds. How many of them just want to bitch and moan and couldn't imagine the idea that solutions to human disagreements are, in fact, possible? Speaking minds is one thing. Saying anything coherent is another. And even more distant is saying anything coherent that is of positive use.

And all of this leads toward something. We're almost there, as you're setting the stage well.

Christianity is a symptom. The enemy lies deeper within each person.

I submit to you the example of Sciforums' atheists. They like to stick together, though mostly in name. Aside from the common label, they insist on such diversity that the word has no meaning. Fair 'nuff. Though, while sticking together is what good waffles do, I look to the basis of the common bond.

Nearly impossible. Absolutely impossible if one does not wish to set humanity back a couple millennia.

You may have noticed Raithere and I throwing around the term "disarming god" in various posts. Please give the idea some consideration: Disarming God.

If you can remove the sting from the Serpent, you need not kill it.

As gently and constructively as I can manage this one: That's your problem. That's your choice.

And I'll further soften that one, as we have arrived at a vital juncture:

In which matter?

A progressive, harmonious society of humans allowed to pursue their maximum potential contribution to the welfare and prosperity of the species? I'm there.

The extinction of Christianity? I have to nitpick terms.

I'll be happy if I can convince some Christians to merely accept the fact that they are, in fact, human beings.

Your methodology is disagreeable, Medicine Woman, both for the absence of rhetorical humanity and for the simple and observable fact that your methods function largely as a "call to arms". You sharpen "the enemy's" blade, encourage them to defend the faith in battle against the slings and arrows of persecutory zeal. Any human being is much more reasonable in a disagreement when s/he doesn't feel threatened.

You perpetuate Christianity by giving them a target to identify against; your actions result in a strengthening of the bond between Christians who imagine themselves resisting persecution. Your rhetoric justifies that perception of persecution. You empower Christianity to fight back at a time when it should be left to wander aimlessly about the pasture, wrecking the grass and occasionally getting all fouled up in the barbed wire fences.

Because people are supposed to be smarter than the ancients.

This only works out if humanity is capable of learning from history.

But, I know, I know. You're smart enough to know that ideological, memetic, or even real and literal genocide is a bad idea. And yes, I know. You're smart enough that I should trust you when you tell me that Christians are the one time an exception should be made.

What? What did I miss there?

Think of it this way: if a sex partner cheats on the other in order to be with you, are you going to believe it when the divorce is over and it's your turn to be the spouse and not the illicit affair?

I recommend Sir James G. Frazer's The Golden Bough. It's long, it's dry, and it's a headache in places. But I can sum up an essential theme for you right here: In the wood near the Lake Nemi there stood a tree, and around that tree could be seen, day and night, a solitary figure prowling about. This was Rex nemorensis, the King of the Wood. The, Queen ... uh ... well, the Queen was the tree itself. Throw in ... Virgil, I think? Anyway, this is the tale of the Golden Bough. The King of the Wood stayed with the tree, guarded her, and ruled over the forest ... such as it was. The office was his for life. However, the only way he could be replaced was the same way he took office: a runaway slave must break the golden bough from the tree in order to challenge him for the right to the title of King of the Wood. By the sword ascends the King, to the sword he shall fall.

The larger point being that we still carry out this ritual today. The civilized version, of it, of course, is called a general election. But Hussein, Khomeni, Taylor, and a bunch of state officials are uneasy across Africa these days.

The future will be as we fashion it. If we fashion it by the sword, or by supremacy, or through eradication, we merely complete another cycle and begin anew, and we have learned nothing, and history repeats in vain.

Christianity cannot be eradicated. It cannot be ground under the heel. It cannot be slain. It can only be put in its proper place, its proper context. And, much as with other human beings, if that placement is not reasonably compassionate, the constraints of force will continue to limit society in the future.

Victory, to you or I, will come when Christian faith evolves--that is advances and progresses, not merely "changes"--to a point that Christians, like adherents of some other religions around the world, come to understand their faith better, and understand the value of working harmoniously in the world.

You can't win it without compassion and, eventually, reconciliation.

Remember when fighting against the irrational: humans are irrational. We tend toward the irrational. The most rational argument in the world will not be of any use unless it is implemented according to the most rational plan in the world. And that rational plan will necessarily have to account for the irrationality of human beings insofar as the rational plan may be able to properly exploit that irrationality.

 

Your obviously suffering some sort of emotional abuse because of your times being christian. Perhaps you have a distorted view of what christianity really means. We are not allowed to hate muslims. If we hate muslims, we do so by mistake.

 

I'm not Christian, but you're encouraging discrimination and segregation. You sound like a Hitler, except your goal is to eliminate the "xians". You seriously need some mental help before you start terrorizing people. It sounds like you have some kind of psychological disorder where you're really angry at your x-religion for disappointing you. You compare a group of innocent people to a small pox virus. Why do you want to kill innocent people because they're a nuisance to you?

Look at what some people are coming to, being so selfish to want to eliminate over one billion people for their own selfish purposes....what a sad world this is....

 

I'm hoping what she meant was that Christianity should be eradicated - not Christians. But nothing radical is required - this will probably be a natural result of education, though certainly it won't happen overnight.

 

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what they believe because it's a fairy tale. My words may be sharp, but my heart is soft. They're still a part of the human race, and the One Spirit of God still dwells within them, even if they don't see it. It is my mission to show them this.

Essentially, you will attempt to replace one fairy tale with another. Nice work.

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What you're doing is no better than Christians trying to convert people. Now you sound like a conquerer, who's goal is to convert people into believing what you want them to believe so that you can be happy. You let people's beliefs bother you too much because they aren't doing what you want them to do.

BTW, everything's a fairy tale; except science is made of lies constantly being replaced with new lies...

 

Two minutes to midnight?

- http://www.thebulletin.org/clock.html
- http://www.thebulletin.org/media/current.html
- http://www.netsector.com/tony/maiden/lyrics/two_minutes_to_midnight.htm

M*W

I encourage you to meditate on the idea of the clock.

 

Maybe you should visit a Christian church in your community sometime, and just spend some time watching the people there. Which of those good people took part in this blood-letting you describe? Is it the sweet little white-haired old lady who sits in the front pew with the placid smile on her face? Maybe it's the young couple with the two energetic toddlers that they can barely keep from disrupting the service? Maybe it's the middle-aged man who is bored senseless and would clearly prefer to be doing most anything else, and whose wife keeps nudging him awake throughout the sermon? Or the giggling teenaged girls whispering secrets to one another in the back pew, in between the warning glares from their annoyed mothers? No - not one of these innocent people participated in the horrors of Christianity's past.

Christians are just people, like you and me. They have their own private hopes and dreams, doubts and fears, worries and woes - just like everyone else. What makes them so evil in your eyes? Is it simply because they inherited a ridiculous belief system that's so deeply ingrained in their psyches that they'll never shake it loose in this lifetime? That really isn't their fault, you know. And making them martyrs won't help your cause at all.

I really believe humanity is outgrowing Christianity - just give it a chance. Remember the story about the contest between the sun and the wind to see which one could make the man take off his jacket? Be the sun - not the wind.

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