Hot Button Topics (religion, politics, sports)

Simonorged · January 23, 2013, 10:38:01 AM

This is where all tension is free game, think of it as a vocal collisium.
Also if you have something to rant about, rant it here.
This is the place for arguments and debate.

I'm a christian. Specifically Evangelist.

I know that the usual stereo type for Christians is that we are critical and judgmental, but we are not suppose to be. The fact is that we are human, and that makes it easy to judge. But if you have ever read the bible it says, love your enemy's as yourself and if you judge you will be judged. These are actually two separate verses but you get the point.

It's not our place to judge, are only job in life is to help one another, NOT condemn.
And we Christians often forget that.

We cant take the splinter out of the friend eye without taking the 2 by 4 out of our own.
And mine is pretty lodged in there.

I apologize if I judge any of you, it's not my place to and I've no room to.

And another thing, why is it that for most major organizations (whether religious or not) we have the idiot speaking for the masses? The most out there, the most condemning and the one who most often sticks his/her foot in mouth.

edit by Pitkin: fixed a typo in the topic title.

NejinOniwa · January 23, 2013, 10:43:33 AM

Sports isn't a hot topic
I demand a refund!

Simonorged · January 23, 2013, 10:47:03 AM

Conversations get pretty heated about sports where I'm from. People have gotten killed over it.

not kidding

Simonorged · January 23, 2013, 11:00:28 AM

Seriously why is it that we always have the least competent speaking for the masses.
For the Christians you have the Westbourow Baptist church.
For the Muslims you have the terrorists.
For the atheists the people who try to shut every religion down.

While most people just want to help the poor or the sick or want to fight for equality aren't heard because of the morons who demand the attention.

alfonso_rd_30 · January 23, 2013, 11:09:57 AM

Quote from: NejinOniwa on January 23, 2013, 10:43:33 AM
Sports isn't a hot topic
I demand a refund!

Try telling that to the Guadalajara and America fans over here.... heck... try to say that to every fan of every single team in the MX league that does't support America...

Nichi · January 23, 2013, 11:11:44 AM

@Simon: Indeed. Granted, it's always the vocal minority that makes the majority look bad in anything :\

alfonso_rd_30 · January 23, 2013, 11:14:21 AM

Quote from: Simonorged on January 23, 2013, 11:00:28 AM
Seriously why is it that we always have the least competent speaking for the masses.
For the Christians you have the Westbourow Baptist church.
For the Muslims you have the terrorists.
For the atheists the people who try to shut every religion down.

While most people just want to help the poor or the sick or want to fight for equality aren't heard because of the morons who demand the attention.

because they are attention whores trying to force everyone to think like them? and don't realize their best way to prove the "superioroty" of their beliefs is just to do what they have to do...?

Chocofreak13 · January 23, 2013, 11:46:47 AM

there will be groups like that in every religion. and if there isn't enough population for that to occur, then other religions will make up stories about the obscure ones.

for example: not all pagans/wiccans dance naked in circles around fires late at night. we also don't sacrifice humans, and only a small percentage even sacrifice animals. i don't know anyone that does either of these things. (well, at least i don't THINK i know anyone who dances naked. as for sacrifice, that's just messed up, man.) we don't use blood in rituals (not as far as i know, anyway) and we don't praise the devil. (not even [actual] Satanists do that.) even covens aren't a complete truth; while most pagans/wiccans operate within covens, not all can find access to one or want to join one. (i'm the latter.) some prefer to worship alone. i consider religion a personal experience, not something to really be shared, so i choose solitude. maybe if i was in a coven i'd be more religious, but tbh i get the feeling there might also be some peer pressure involved, and i don't like that.

Simonorged · January 23, 2013, 12:02:45 PM

The Jews up to a certain point sacrificed animals. So really I see no problem with that, of course when the Jews did it they used an animal that they used as a food source.

Bella · January 23, 2013, 12:22:55 PM

And among agnostics you have the militantly undecided. Not really. Indifference and uncertainty is a bad breeding ground for extremism, which is precisely why I like this school of thought so much.

Simonorged · January 23, 2013, 12:35:08 PM

I hate to sound dumb here but, Ow my head, too many big words. >_<

Chocofreak13 · January 23, 2013, 01:05:03 PM

agnostics are those who believe that there might be something out there, there might not be. what she's saying is that sort of laid-back attitude isn't exactly one that harbours extremist values, meaning that agnostics as a whole don't go around doing anything crazy. i used to be agnostic, actually. (i used to be Shinto too, but that's not the point.)

as for animal sacrifice, it is also still practiced by Santeria. it's my understanding that they then use the slaughtered animals as a food source (community dinner, etc). the point i was making, though, is that your stereotypical christian will blacklist paganism/wicca under many false pretenses, such as the assumption that we sacrifice children/animals. we don't. (and for the record, Satanists don't either.)

Simonorged · January 23, 2013, 01:49:57 PM

And what about the cases where such sacrifices have indeed happened.
They certainly used Satanism as a reason.
Of course that takes us back to the "idiots speaking for the masses" part.

alfonso_rd_30 · January 23, 2013, 02:17:08 PM

@ kari: again, morons in power. most christias could care less if the other religions sacrificed, ate or even raped animals, it's their choice, but we are to try to guide people to the glory we know there is, same with the more agressively pro active jeovah's Witnesses (which I must say avoid me like the plague...) you used to be shinto...? that's wow...!

Personally I find it cool for someone to wear pentagrams, to me, the pentagram is the sign of the first pact of God... but know well the inverted one means bad things...

@ bella yeah agnostics are cool...

Chocofreak13 · January 23, 2013, 03:43:17 PM

the inverted pentagram is just a pentagram. it's the connotations associated with it that make people thing it's bad. again, the ties to satanism.

i detest jehova's witnesses. it's not only their slave-like devotion to their faith or their incessant need to "save" people (even when they tell them to go away, they don't want to be "saved"), but also because they find nothing wrong with beating their children senseless. there are special rooms in the meeting halls devoted to smacking around their children, providing such items as paddles and wooden spoons. if the child makes the slightest peep during the sermon, that's grounds for a beating.
how do i know this? someone i know read a book on their practices. and i used to know someone who was raised jehova's witness. she was beaten by her uber-religious parents and even molested by church officials. idk what happened to her, but last i heard she was a drug addict. not surprising considering she never got the help she needed.

i was shinto years ago, during that whole "finding oneself" period everyone goes through (mine was in regards to religion). i would have stayed shinto considering i agree with basically the entire groundwork they laid out (everything has a spirit, revere nature, pay tribute to the spirits regularly, especially on holidays), but i figured that since i didn't have access to a shinto temple to worship at, and didn't live near an asian community, i didn't have the resources needed to practice effectively. thus, i turned to paganism/wicca, which my sister had books on at the time, and fit the things i believed in nicely without the need for a communal meeting place (since the nearest religious centres are all christian/catholic; the nearest synagogue is several towns over, on the far edge of a city called Nashua). if i end up living near a shinto temple in the future, i think i'd worship there and participate in ceremonies such as the first shrine visit of the new year.

the pentagram, while cool, has a deep spiritual meaning for me. as i said before, i feel safer with it, as a catholic would with their rosary or cross.
the spiritual significance as i know it is in a couple ways, such as the shape. look at it, and then look at this. i've always noticed the similarities between the human shape and the pentagram's shape, and i imagine that's part of the idea.
it's also possible the 5 points of the pentagram can reference the 5 elements: wind, water, earth, fire, and (cheesy as it sounds) heart/personal spirit.

also, it's not just morons in power. sarah palin never got as much power as she wanted and yet she appeals to masses of people. i think it's more about who yells the loudest, since after all, whether it's negative or positive, attention is attention.