Want to do a summary? I'd do one, but I want to play Counter-Strike and I know that it would take at least an hour to do one
its more than 1 kill3r
Official Christian position? Who made you the voice of Christendom? Created on the same day? Arrgh!!Translation sucks, especially when you have a single word that you want to translate into another single word, not a phrase. For example, the Hebrew word 'yom' means 'period of time', not 'day' as it was translated to English in Genesis. Therefore according to Genesis, God created the world in six 'periods of time', not six days. As there doesn't seem to be any scale given to these periods of time, they could have been vast, millions or hundreds of millions of years. This biblical creation was carried out by an eternal God, for whom time means nothing.I WISH people would stop suggesting they can provide evidence of this, evidence of that, evidence of God. There is no quantifiable and logical evidence, it's all faith.BTW my wife's been reading some of my posts and has smartly informed me that there is no reason to be using expletives in the forums. She's right of course, but they create a kind of special emphasis in the right places BUT... pwned by wife.
What do you mean the 'official' Christian position? You mean the 'official' Christian creationist literalist position. Don't group the views of an entire religion with the narrow-minded views of a sub-group.In my opinion, it's the Christian literalists which give the rest of Christians a bad name. The are many Christians who believe in a much older Earth, and believe in evolution and that science and religion can comfortably co-exist, but then all their good work gets ruined by the backward views of the literalists.Remember the bible is written by humans, it's not the word of God. And it's meant to be taken metaphorically, like any creation myth.
proved wrong?I'll repeat myself here.The phrase "jesus will return SOON" is from the bible, and its rather well known, and not open to much interpretation. 2000 years is not soon and he hasn't returned. therefore its a lie.the koran (sp) hasn't been edited either. And I'd be willing to bet the many long dead religions had very few edits. Theres a pattern here, but you can't see it from the inside.
"the lord is not slow in keeping his promise,as some understand slowness.he is patient with you,not wanting anyone to perish,but everyone to cometo repentance." 2 peter 3:9he has been around for awile soon could be a long time.
God the father also said that he desires that none would perish.
If that is true, then Mobil's Customer Complaints line is in heaven. For me at least. People call us and ask if they can complain about the official complaints line.
Umm...no.Unless by "God said" you mean "some random wrote"
So I'm assuming God spoke to him?
These days if someone says they've seen god they get locked up in an asylem or get checked into a rehab clinic.
This thought crossed my mind at one point a while back - if/when Jesus Christ comes back one of two things might happen:1) He might start claiming to be Jesus Christ, and end up locked in an asylum (like how Bruce Willis is locked up 12 Monkeys because he says he was from the future - in the movie, it was true but they didn't believe him).2) He might start doing miracles and stuff, which would freak people out and they could kill him OR he might get kidnapped and covered up by the American government, Roswell/X-Files style.Personally, the safest thing to do would be come back and just start smiting people. That way no-one will argue
Personally, the safest thing to do would be come back and just start smiting people. That way no-one will argue
I lived in a "monastery" for 2 years in Nelson, doing the Zen buddhism thing. It was initially set up for misguided youths (me) and people with drug and alcohol addiction. Funding came partially from the government and the lotteries commision..thanks Lotto.My days for those 2 years consisted of this.Wake up time 7am, noone is allowed to talk. It was my duty to open the zendo, to do this I took a bigass wooden hammer, and trudged over to the zendo. Outside the zendo is a large, hanging, wooden slab called a harn; with a circular depression in the middle of it from being hit repeatedly over the years. This is hit in sequence for around 5 minutes to call everyone to morning meditation. Theory is, if you ever managed to break the harn, then all vows are off..you can go drink, use drugs, and forget the chastity vow. Never did manage to break it, solid red beech 20 cm thick.After hitting it, I had to go get the Zafu (large flat cushions) Zabutons (round cushions), and Seiza benches (bench that you kind of kneel under) and place therm in ttwo rows facing each other according to where monks and people like to sit, and their seating preference. Next it;s the Shinzen's turn (place with buddha etc)There is a large bowl of incense ash there with last nights ashes and stick in it. I had to clear this away and make the surface perfectly smooth with the back of a spoon. This symbolised clearing the mind and starting anew. If there was an imperfection in this bowl I would later get the crap beaten out of me for my lack of attention.People would start to file in, shoes off of course, bow to the Shinzen, bow to anyone opposite them, and bow when anyone sat down adjacent to them. When everyone was seated, senior monk would signal beginning of mediation by hitting a large brass bowl with a brass club twice. We would then sit for 1 hour, in often freezing weather, in an upright position, enduring things like snot dripping out of your nose and forming ice, and sandflies mobbing you.If you moved it was repirmand time, occasionally a monk would hit you on acupuncture points with a stick if your attention waivered.Then it was time for walking meditation, which involved walking around in circles around the cushions etc for 5 minutes. Then 1 more hour of mediation. At the finish of this and a lot more bowing people would file out and once outside the zendo you are able to talk.Next came a healthy breakfast, funded by govt and lotteries ;p and cleanup.Next work practice; which consisted of some meditative cleaning, talking quietly is okay..but always mindful. Such thing like picking all the caterpillars and insects off the vegetables in the garden, and transporting them somewhere less harmful was common.Then it was training time, off to the dojo, where we studied Seido Karate, under Shihan Andy Barber (amazing man) for 2 hours. The meditation nicely complemented the martial arts, in that it sharpened your focus like a knife, making holes appear in others defences. Other thing the mediation gave was sharpened senses. My hearing, eyesight and touch were far more acute than usual. As an added benefit I found later at university the focus taught made learning incredibly easy.After the training it was lunch time, and clean-up. After that we usually had art of some kind. Outside tutors would be bought in to teach. I learnt how to dye textiles, and really enjoyed batique.Then it was time for more training in the dojo, then dinner, then more training then meditation. After the final mediation the zendo is closed for the night by hitting the Harn. It is now time for silent contemplative practice, where you just sit or read for 30 minutes before lights out.And that was life. Highlight of my stay there was shaking hands and listening to the Dalai Lama during his visit to New Zealand, and meeting prominent monks and martial artists from overseas when they visited. I also enjoyed hitting the Harn, and having ppl telling me to STFU as it was early in the morning, often they complained to the police, but since we were doing good things for the community the police loved us.After two years though I looked at myself and realised I was always calm, without emotion, and focused, the Zendo and Karate were my life, nothing outside that existed. I didn't like being a passionless robot, and ran off to become at first an angry chef. It was very difficult to leave this lifestyle behind, it was very additictive for me, and the people truly inspirational in their own way. But there was just no common ground, between IN and OUT.Now I am angry, swear, and do all sorts of bad crap.
October 22, 1844, was the date commonly accepted throughout the Millerite movement as the exact date of the anticipated return of Jesus, although Miller himself was uncertain of the day.
In 1844 a 25 year old man from Shiraz, Siyyid Mírzá `Alí-Muḥammad, who took the title of The Báb (Arabic; meaning "The Gate"), claimed to be the promised Mihdi of Islam.[5] The movement quickly spread across the Persian Empire and received widespread opposition from the Islamic clergy. The Báb himself was executed in 1850 by firing squad at the age of 30 and the community was almost entirely exterminated in 1852-3.
At the age of 28, Bahá'u'lláh received a messenger telling him of the Báb, whose message he accepted, becoming a Bábí. Bahá'u'lláh began to spread the new cause, especially in his native province of Núr, becoming recognized as one of its most influential believers. [2] The accompanying government suppression of the Báb's religion resulted in Bahá'u'lláh's being imprisoned twice and enduring bastinado torture once[2]
