America is in need of a moral revival

[BluePhantom]

Those guys were not united. They were independent businessmen operating independent booths in the Temple. The guild system didn't come into being until the Middle Ages. Jeez. No Mensa membership for you

I am no expert on this, but it seems they were functioning as a central bank.

Money Changers

The Temple was, not the people themselves. They were independent businessmen in competition with everyone else

 

[BluePhantom]

It has to be moral and spiritual.
Catching the new wave of decency towards each other would mean just thaw before the cold snowstorm. The US will never be a mentally sane country of mutual aid and neighbourliness, nothing could help. IMO

I think we could very easily turn it around if we taught our children not to be bullies empathy etc. instead of teaching them fairy tales and stories that don't make sense and trying to scare them and guilt them into being good people. or even suggesting that somebody masturbating is not a good person. So religion it's way out dated so of course it doesn't work. I go into good schools and I see good teachers and good principles teaching the children very well and those kids are going to become productive members of society and God isn't mentioned once. on the other hand you go to black communities and you'll see a very high number of religious people and yet there circumstances in life are piss poor.I think not only Americans but all human beings are not too bright at least the majority of us aren't. so convincing somebody over the imaginary man watching their every move is only appealing to stupid. we need to stop doing this and we need to appeal to logic and common sense. we need to be a more informed citizen. less lazy ignorant greedy

Well on some points I agree and on some I don.t Religion does not need to be eradicated. I would argue that it needs to be taught more actually. The simple fact of the matter is that religion has been and remains one of the most powerful influences in the world. It has guided our history, helped establish the framework for our system of values and mores, it affects economics, foreign relations, you name it. Yet most people, Christians included, don't really know what any given religion is all about, usually including their own. A woman named Katherine Sayers did some research in Great Britain in the 1940s and discovered that about 1% of the population really understood what Christianity was all about and where it came from. That's pretty depressing.

We see this on these boards daily. Christians don't understand their own scripture and traditions and neither do atheists and yet they bicker back and forth on points that are actually totally irrelevant since both sides are reading it incorrectly. Because religion continues to increase the level of friction in society (theist vs. non-theist, Christian vs. Muslim, etc) I think high schools should be mandated to offer a class on world religions. Not just a couple units in a sociology class were you spend a week on each religion, but a full semester class (or two semester) where you really dig into each one and say 'here is what the Muslims believe', 'here is what the Jews believe', etc. This should be done not with the goal of converting students or telling them what to believe, but with the goal of informing them about what each religion believes. By doing this, we can cut through the misunderstanding and focus on the actual differences that influence world events and cause friction in our local and world societies.

 

[BluePhantom]

Those guys were not united. They were independent businessmen operating independent booths in the Temple. The guild system didn't come into being until the Middle Ages. Jeez. No Mensa membership for you

I am no expert on this, but it seems they were functioning as central banks.

Money Changers

Even if Jesus threw out the money changers, it does not mean he was against their operation altogether.

According to the NT, he was upset because they turned a holy temple into a market. That is what I got from the story.

He didn't work ... My bet is he was getting a cut of the take. How else would he buy the services of Mary Magdalene?

And here is a perfect example of my previous post. Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute. The Bible mentions her very rarely and identifies her simply as one woman among several who travelled with Jesus and supported His ministry financially. From that, we can infer that she was perhaps widower but was clearly wealthy and independent. The ability to travel around meant she had no ties, such as a family to look after, and did not need to work to stay alive. Her ability to support the ministry further suggests that she had a great deal of financial resources.

Her reputation as a prostitute came from a speech by Pope Gregory I in the late 6th century, wherein he lumped all the wicked shit that it says 'a woman' did in the Bible and threw it all on Magdalene. This morphed into what scholars call the "composite Magdalene", that is, the conglomeration of a bunch of shit that was attributed scripturally to anonymous women and later blamed on her.

I realize Luddly was being a smart ass, but this is the exact kind of stuff that comes from Church tradition and is not supported by scripture. It creates misunderstandings and friction.

 

[sealybobo]

It has to be moral and spiritual.
Catching the new wave of decency towards each other would mean just thaw before the cold snowstorm. The US will never be a mentally sane country of mutual aid and neighbourliness, nothing could help. IMO

I think we could very easily turn it around if we taught our children not to be bullies empathy etc. instead of teaching them fairy tales and stories that don't make sense and trying to scare them and guilt them into being good people. or even suggesting that somebody masturbating is not a good person. So religion it's way out dated so of course it doesn't work. I go into good schools and I see good teachers and good principles teaching the children very well and those kids are going to become productive members of society and God isn't mentioned once. on the other hand you go to black communities and you'll see a very high number of religious people and yet there circumstances in life are piss poor.I think not only Americans but all human beings are not too bright at least the majority of us aren't. so convincing somebody over the imaginary man watching their every move is only appealing to stupid. we need to stop doing this and we need to appeal to logic and common sense. we need to be a more informed citizen. less lazy ignorant greedy

Well on some points I agree and on some I don.t Religion does not need to be eradicated. I would argue that it needs to be taught more actually. The simple fact of the matter is that religion has been and remains one of the most powerful influences in the world. It has guided our history, helped establish the framework for our system of values and mores, it affects economics, foreign relations, you name it. Yet most people, Christians included, don't really know what any given religion is all about, usually including their own. A woman named Katherine Sayers did some research in Great Britain in the 1940s and discovered that about 1% of the population really understood what Christianity was all about and where it came from. That's pretty depressing.

We see this on these boards daily. Christians don't understand their own scripture and traditions and neither do atheists and yet they bicker back and forth on points that are actually totally irrelevant since both sides are reading it incorrectly. Because religion continues to increase the level of friction in society (theist vs. non-theist, Christian vs. Muslim, etc) I think high schools should be mandated to offer a class on world religions. Not just a couple units in a sociology class were you spend a week on each religion, but a full semester class (or two semester) where you really dig into each one and say 'here is what the Muslims believe', 'here is what the Jews believe', etc. This should be done not with the goal of converting students or telling them what to believe, but with the goal of informing them about what each religion believes. By doing this, we can cut through the misunderstanding and focus on the actual differences that influence world events and cause friction in our local and world societies.

didn't you read where I showed that control hypocrite Greeks prayed to some Greek God to get better when they got sick. he came along and she just had a healthy diet rest and herbal medicine. we took a huge leap forward for we stop thinking everything was God. now what is God responsible for? other than everything. or nothing

 

[BluePhantom]

It has to be moral and spiritual.
Catching the new wave of decency towards each other would mean just thaw before the cold snowstorm. The US will never be a mentally sane country of mutual aid and neighbourliness, nothing could help. IMO

I think we could very easily turn it around if we taught our children not to be bullies empathy etc. instead of teaching them fairy tales and stories that don't make sense and trying to scare them and guilt them into being good people. or even suggesting that somebody masturbating is not a good person. So religion it's way out dated so of course it doesn't work. I go into good schools and I see good teachers and good principles teaching the children very well and those kids are going to become productive members of society and God isn't mentioned once. on the other hand you go to black communities and you'll see a very high number of religious people and yet there circumstances in life are piss poor.I think not only Americans but all human beings are not too bright at least the majority of us aren't. so convincing somebody over the imaginary man watching their every move is only appealing to stupid. we need to stop doing this and we need to appeal to logic and common sense. we need to be a more informed citizen. less lazy ignorant greedy

Well on some points I agree and on some I don.t Religion does not need to be eradicated. I would argue that it needs to be taught more actually. The simple fact of the matter is that religion has been and remains one of the most powerful influences in the world. It has guided our history, helped establish the framework for our system of values and mores, it affects economics, foreign relations, you name it. Yet most people, Christians included, don't really know what any given religion is all about, usually including their own. A woman named Katherine Sayers did some research in Great Britain in the 1940s and discovered that about 1% of the population really understood what Christianity was all about and where it came from. That's pretty depressing.

We see this on these boards daily. Christians don't understand their own scripture and traditions and neither do atheists and yet they bicker back and forth on points that are actually totally irrelevant since both sides are reading it incorrectly. Because religion continues to increase the level of friction in society (theist vs. non-theist, Christian vs. Muslim, etc) I think high schools should be mandated to offer a class on world religions. Not just a couple units in a sociology class were you spend a week on each religion, but a full semester class (or two semester) where you really dig into each one and say 'here is what the Muslims believe', 'here is what the Jews believe', etc. This should be done not with the goal of converting students or telling them what to believe, but with the goal of informing them about what each religion believes. By doing this, we can cut through the misunderstanding and focus on the actual differences that influence world events and cause friction in our local and world societies.

didn't you read where I showed that control hypocrite Greeks prayed to some Greek God to get better when they got sick. he came along and she just had a healthy diet rest and herbal medicine. we took a huge leap forward for we stop thinking everything was God. now what is God responsible for? other than everything. or nothing

It doesn't matter, Sealy. The point is you are not going to eradicate it as much as you would love to try. Perhaps there will be a time in the future where religion doesn't exist in our world, but it won't be in our lifetime if it ever happens at all. As it is, it is so intertwined with society that ignoring it or remaining uneducated about it means one cannot understand the forces and influences that direct society and relations between nations. Bitching about it or calling it bullshit may satisfy some internal motivation you have, but it will not change the nature of the dialogue or the direction of the world. For, I can assure you with almost 100% certainty that neither you nor I have convinced a single person on these boards (and probably elsewhere as well) to abandon their previously held belief system in favor of another.

 

[AVG-JOE]

I'll not submit to Muslim Sharia Laws and 'morals' any more than I'll submit to the morality espoused by America's current Christian leadership.

How can the leadership of the greatest military empire that invests about half of the budget in military be Christian?...

That's a damn fine question, Bro'. A damn fine question.

"Praise the Lord... and pass the ammunition!"​

 

[sealybobo]

It has to be moral and spiritual.
Catching the new wave of decency towards each other would mean just thaw before the cold snowstorm. The US will never be a mentally sane country of mutual aid and neighbourliness, nothing could help. IMO

I think we could very easily turn it around if we taught our children not to be bullies empathy etc. instead of teaching them fairy tales and stories that don't make sense and trying to scare them and guilt them into being good people. or even suggesting that somebody masturbating is not a good person. So religion it's way out dated so of course it doesn't work. I go into good schools and I see good teachers and good principles teaching the children very well and those kids are going to become productive members of society and God isn't mentioned once. on the other hand you go to black communities and you'll see a very high number of religious people and yet there circumstances in life are piss poor.I think not only Americans but all human beings are not too bright at least the majority of us aren't. so convincing somebody over the imaginary man watching their every move is only appealing to stupid. we need to stop doing this and we need to appeal to logic and common sense. we need to be a more informed citizen. less lazy ignorant greedy

Well on some points I agree and on some I don.t Religion does not need to be eradicated. I would argue that it needs to be taught more actually. The simple fact of the matter is that religion has been and remains one of the most powerful influences in the world. It has guided our history, helped establish the framework for our system of values and mores, it affects economics, foreign relations, you name it. Yet most people, Christians included, don't really know what any given religion is all about, usually including their own. A woman named Katherine Sayers did some research in Great Britain in the 1940s and discovered that about 1% of the population really understood what Christianity was all about and where it came from. That's pretty depressing.

We see this on these boards daily. Christians don't understand their own scripture and traditions and neither do atheists and yet they bicker back and forth on points that are actually totally irrelevant since both sides are reading it incorrectly. Because religion continues to increase the level of friction in society (theist vs. non-theist, Christian vs. Muslim, etc) I think high schools should be mandated to offer a class on world religions. Not just a couple units in a sociology class were you spend a week on each religion, but a full semester class (or two semester) where you really dig into each one and say 'here is what the Muslims believe', 'here is what the Jews believe', etc. This should be done not with the goal of converting students or telling them what to believe, but with the goal of informing them about what each religion believes. By doing this, we can cut through the misunderstanding and focus on the actual differences that influence world events and cause friction in our local and world societies.

didn't you read where I showed that control hypocrite Greeks prayed to some Greek God to get better when they got sick. he came along and she just had a healthy diet rest and herbal medicine. we took a huge leap forward for we stop thinking everything was God. now what is God responsible for? other than everything. or nothing

It doesn't matter, Sealy. The point is you are not going to eradicate it as much as you would love to try. Perhaps there will be a time in the future where religion doesn't exist in our world, but it won't be in our lifetime if it ever happens at all. As it is, it is so intertwined with society that ignoring it or remaining uneducated about it means one cannot understand the forces and influences that direct society and relations between nations. Bitching about it or calling it bullshit may satisfy some internal motivation you have, but it will not change the nature of the dialogue or the direction of the world. For, I can assure you with almost 100% certainty that neither you nor I have convinced a single person on these boards (and probably elsewhere as well) to abandon their previously held belief system in favor of another.

no I don't think God will ever completely go away but just like Christianity is a lot less violent today than it was in the past maybe someday Islam will too and I won't have a beef with religion. but you're right none of that will probably happen in my lifetime. so my real hope is that religion improves over time not goes away because it's never going away. there will always be lots of people who believe in God

 

[sealybobo]

I bet you one day Christianity and Islam will drop the non believers are going to hell schtick.

 

[BluePhantom]

I bet you one day Christianity and Islam will drop the non believers are going to hell schtick.

Well Christianity is on that track. Islam is about 500 years behind us so it will probably take them a bit longer

 

[zaangalewa]

I bet you one day Christianity and Islam will drop the non believers are going to hell schtick.

Well Christianity is on that track. Islam is about 500 years behind us so it will probably take them a bit longer

Islam is not "behind" us - it's a nearly completly different thing.

 

[Abishai100]

Shadows and Avocados

America is ruled by two forces:


1. Gog --- Bill Gates, Ellen DeGeneres, Heath Ledger, Joe Montana, Barack Obama

2. Magog --- Tom Cruise, Monica Lewinsky, David Duke, John Holmes, Jerry Springer

Gog represents opportunism optimism, creativity festivity, and populism leadership, while Magog represents daredevil courage, media circus acts, free speech controversy, insider-trading, and libertine lifestyle promotion.

The representatives of Gog are like the capitalism gargoyles (advocates of networking) who create profitability.

The representatives of Magog are like traffic sentinels (agents of power) who illuminate profiteerism.

If America is to tackle the likes of the AntiChrist, then a moral revival should include a focus on how this proposed Gog-Magog gauntlet catalyzes psychiatry dialogue. We don't want Magog simply to be a spiritual shadow of Gog.

Maybe what we really need is a way to market toy water-guns as consumerism symbols of vigilantism temperance.







Enron

 

[xdangerousxdavex]

It's a miracle to revive the dead. I don't believe in miracles.

 

[AVG-JOE]

It has to be moral and spiritual.
Catching the new wave of decency towards each other would mean just thaw before the cold snowstorm. The US will never be a mentally sane country of mutual aid and neighbourliness, nothing could help. IMO

I think we could very easily turn it around if we taught our children not to be bullies empathy etc. instead of teaching them fairy tales and stories that don't make sense and trying to scare them and guilt them into being good people. or even suggesting that somebody masturbating is not a good person. So religion it's way out dated so of course it doesn't work. I go into good schools and I see good teachers and good principles teaching the children very well and those kids are going to become productive members of society and God isn't mentioned once. on the other hand you go to black communities and you'll see a very high number of religious people and yet there circumstances in life are piss poor.I think not only Americans but all human beings are not too bright at least the majority of us aren't. so convincing somebody over the imaginary man watching their every move is only appealing to stupid. we need to stop doing this and we need to appeal to logic and common sense. we need to be a more informed citizen. less lazy ignorant greedy

Well on some points I agree and on some I don.t Religion does not need to be eradicated. I would argue that it needs to be taught more actually. The simple fact of the matter is that religion has been and remains one of the most powerful influences in the world. It has guided our history, helped establish the framework for our system of values and mores, it affects economics, foreign relations, you name it. Yet most people, Christians included, don't really know what any given religion is all about, usually including their own. A woman named Katherine Sayers did some research in Great Britain in the 1940s and discovered that about 1% of the population really understood what Christianity was all about and where it came from. That's pretty depressing.

We see this on these boards daily. Christians don't understand their own scripture and traditions and neither do atheists and yet they bicker back and forth on points that are actually totally irrelevant since both sides are reading it incorrectly. Because religion continues to increase the level of friction in society (theist vs. non-theist, Christian vs. Muslim, etc) I think high schools should be mandated to offer a class on world religions. Not just a couple units in a sociology class were you spend a week on each religion, but a full semester class (or two semester) where you really dig into each one and say 'here is what the Muslims believe', 'here is what the Jews believe', etc. This should be done not with the goal of converting students or telling them what to believe, but with the goal of informing them about what each religion believes. By doing this, we can cut through the misunderstanding and focus on the actual differences that influence world events and cause friction in our local and world societies.

didn't you read where I showed that control hypocrite Greeks prayed to some Greek God to get better when they got sick. he came along and she just had a healthy diet rest and herbal medicine. we took a huge leap forward for we stop thinking everything was God. now what is God responsible for? other than everything. or nothing

It doesn't matter, Sealy. The point is you are not going to eradicate it as much as you would love to try. Perhaps there will be a time in the future where religion doesn't exist in our world, but it won't be in our lifetime if it ever happens at all. As it is, it is so intertwined with society that ignoring it or remaining uneducated about it means one cannot understand the forces and influences that direct society and relations between nations. Bitching about it or calling it bullshit may satisfy some internal motivation you have, but it will not change the nature of the dialogue or the direction of the world. For, I can assure you with almost 100% certainty that neither you nor I have convinced a single person on these boards (and probably elsewhere as well) to abandon their previously held belief system in favor of another.

Religion will always be a part of Monkey-kind. Monkeys are spiritual creatures.

Because we know that we'll eventually die, we have questions that, left unanswered, create fears that could drive us insane. Religion is the beliefs, hopes and wishes that help us keep in check the animal instincts within for moment-to-moment survival that Monkeys, with our budding Sentience and eye opening understanding of how brief our moment on The Timeline is, translate as a healthy fear of death.

The best we can hope for with regards to religion is a population which is educated to the point of understanding that nobody knows, and shit happens. Monkeys manipulated by their fears is the problem, not our wishes for a continuance on The Timeline.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

America needs to accept we're no more special than anyone else. And rather than being entitled to special considerations, merely a part of the planet, not in charge of it.

4% of the planet's population, but consume 25% of its resources. What does a farmer do if feral pigs invade his land tearing it up without giving anything back? What we're inviting.

 

[xdangerousxdavex]

America needs to accept we're no more special than anyone else.

Oh, do you think some huge percent of Americans still think so?

 

[ABikerSailor]

America needs to accept we're no more special than anyone else.

Oh, do you think some huge percent of Americans still think so?

It may not be a huge percent of Americans, but it is a large (if not all) percentage of the tea baggers and those who are ignorant enough to follow Ann Coulter.

 

[Abishai100]

Grendel

The American comic book superhero Batman (DC Comics) has become very popular. Batman stories have been adapted into popular animated programs, comic books and issues of course, Halloween costumes, toys, television series, and big-budget Hollywood (USA) movies.

Batman (DC Comics) is a caped crusader. By day, he is the socialite and wealthy businessman Bruce Wayne, but by night, he wears a cape and mask and becomes the Dark Knight, devoted to tackling crime syndicates and the criminally insane in a fictional place called Gotham City which is seething with corruption and mania.

When I watch traffic-paranoia Hollywood (USA) movies such as "The Warriors" (1979) or "American Psycho" (2000), I am reminded of the governance-anxiety trends that illuminate the social popularity of the vigilantism-inquisition Batman empire.

One of Batman's nemeses is Bane, a brutish freak who pumps himself with a bizarre chemical which makes him terrifyingly strong. Bane captures America's curiosity about strength-control ethics, a curiosity which reveals a capitalism slant towards power-profiteerism moralism. For example, why have a number of iconic American athletes such as Barry Bonds (MLB) been accused of using illegal performance-enhancing drugs (steroids)?

Dialogue is the hallmark of democracy, and no character in world literature captures the intellectual intrigue associated with general dialogue than Grendel, a mythical monstrosity who ironically displays qualities of omniscience.




Gotham

Grendel