The Cincinnati Beacon notices a relationship between global warming and pirates.
General consciousness about global warming seems to have reached a new critical mass, perhaps thanks to Al Gore’s movie and the growing awareness of green technologies.
But has anyone noticed, while more people become aware of global warming and take steps to combat it, that our culture has become filled with even more pirates? Pirates, in many ways, are experiencing a renaissance in America right now.
Read it here.
@ mike meier, well said my friend.
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@shawn, no you are in no way proving that god exists, is real, that the bible is true etc etc. Oh, and since I do not believe in your god, nor believe that the bible is his word, I fail to see how I blapheme against something. Something that has no meaning to me as a “holy” text.
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Mmmm, it IS, as Mike meiers and many other here say, full of holes, illogical.
Oh, and to answer Prof. B♥♥ty,
I believe that whoever is going to take responsibility and do something about global warming, regardless of religion, is right. Speaking of “right”, not to be rude, but technically, you should have said, “Whom do you think is right?”.
“it IS, as Mike meiers and many other here say, full of holes, illogical.”
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That’s why it’s called the “Holey Book” :))
Ah, you got my (rather weak) pun Nikkiee! :) I also thought that that must be why it’s called holey : meaning full of holes :))))
Hi again, I have read all your arguments and I can tell you are intelligent people to bring up all these facts. However there is one thing that I need to bring up myself, and that is that scientific facts are not always correct. Sometimes the method of determining data is faulty, and often just a mistake is made. So it is not correct to say that science has proved this or that fact, because sometimes science is right and sometimes it is wrong.
To the person called Jingles, I am very glad to see that you have read the Bible! This gives me hope. I want to say to you that the nature of the Bible is not to be taken 100% literally, because obviously we are in the 21st century and the Bible was written two thousand years ago. There are many metaphors that we need to apply to modern life. This is the beauty of God’s word, it is relevant now as it was then. I mean, obviously there were no TVs, computers, cars, etc. in Jesus’ time! So the meanings are to be interpreted metaphorically in many cases.
To the Iron gill Kidd, yes you are right, it is of course possible that God’s plan includes global warming. I am not disputing this, and I am not disputing global warming’s existance. I am only saying that God made this earth for us, we are God’s children, and if you have faith you can see that there is no way God will let us come to harm or destroy the earth. His plans are mighty and great!
I am not God, I cannot prove who wrote the Bible with scientific facts, but I know as a fact in my soul that this is God’s true word and that His son Jesus Christ died for me on the cross. Faith can be as strong as fact. I hope you will see that I am not trying to fight anyone here, but I say that if you have faith you can begin to see what I mean by all the words I’ve said.
In Christ,
Shawn
Hi Shawn
“Sometimes the method of determining data is faulty, and often just a mistake is made.”
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You mean in an individual experiment or in ther overall process which involves repitition of the experiment by a number of peers, many of whom are often based in different countries, and thus have different political and religous beliefs?
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“So it is not correct to say that science has proved this or that fact, because sometimes science is right and sometimes it is wrong.”
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You make the scientific process sound like some sort of ad hoc hit or miss process! Not so! I suggest you make yourself a little more familiar with all the steps that make up the scientific process from observations to the formulation of a hypotheses, through to experimental design, then carrying out multiples of the same experiment, getting enough supporting peer reviews of experimental results (i.e. replication of the same experiment under the same conditions getting the same results) and finally getting your research passed through the scrutiny of science journal publishers to get it published in a reputable science journal.
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Yes, Science has on occassion gotten it wrong. However this is usually rectified quickly via intense peer reveiw and then publisher scrutiny.
The safety valve process that is peer review plus the scientific process in itself means that new ideas and possibities are continually researched and our understanding constantly updated.
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If you have evidence of where science has got it wrong and this has not subsequently been rectified, I’d love to see it :) Thanks.
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Now, upon discoveries of contradictions contained in that holey book….ummm…
RAmen :)
Hello Shawn!
I’ve been wondering something, but first I would like to pose a number of questions to you.
If you say others cannot know Jesus was not the Son of God because we were not there to see it, then how is it you can say for sure that he was? After all, you were not there to see it either.
Also, you acknowledge that the bible contains many metaphors, so how do you know which parts are metaphors and which are meant to be taken literally?
Couldn’t the miracles it claims Jesus performed have been metaphors?
I personally cannot prove weather god exists or does not, but while I don’t believe in a God, I do recognize the possibility that he may exist, just as the Bible describes.
You have said that science is not always correct and therefore cannot be completely trusted, but why can’t the same logic be applied to the Bible? Wasn’t the Bible (from the point of view of an Agnostic) originally just writing down observations of the world, and forming a hypothesis about how the world was created?
The original scientific theory of the universe?
This brings me back to my original thesis; I’m wondering if even though you believe in God with all your heart, even though you have not a shred of doubt that you are absolutely right, when you look at the matter impersonally, do you acknowledge the possibility that God might not exist, and that the Bible might be wrong?
Do you think that there is a possibility that the Bible was written by men who were just trying to understand the world around them? Is it possible?
Oh, and one more thing, you seem to be saying that fact scientific fact is meaningless because its wrong, and then you said that your faith was as strong as fact… seems a bit strange to me. Just a thought.
Toodles,
TheTriangle
Hi Pointy Dude - nice post!
Good points.
:D
@Shawn
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“To the person called Jingles, I am very glad to see that you have read the Bible! This gives me hope. I want to say to you that the nature of the Bible is not to be taken 100% literally, because obviously we are in the 21st century and the Bible was written two thousand years ago. There are many metaphors that we need to apply to modern life.”
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Ahh but Shawn, herein lies my problem with religion. You yourself can see the bible is metaphor, and as such I trust you to ignore the vast majority of its teachings in an effort to be a civilised member of our society. Unfortunately, it is too much to hope that all of humanity can do the same.
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When you get down to it, both Yahweh and Jesus come across as rather vicious people (ex. think John 15:6, not very tolerant of other faiths… ) and the nature of the bible is such that it promotes and justifies their behaviour.
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While this is in itself not inherently bad, (though rather distasteful in my opinion), what it results in is propagation of the idea that this sort of behaviour is not only acceptable, but even desirable. This is a bad thing. A verrrrrry bad thing. This sort of approach has resulted in denominations such as the Westborough Baptists.
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It’s all very well to argue that it is metaphor and parable, but it doesn’t change the simple fact; the bible is about Yahweh and his followers doing bad things to people.
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Why? Because the bible said they were bad people.
The bible teaches a single opinion. If you fit the mould, that’s all well and good. Unfortunately, not everyone does. There are people that are born gay, or who do not believe in an invisible big brother. According to the bible, they should be killed (no ifs, no buts, just dead). Even if you do not take it to the admittedly extreme end as advocated, it still teaches you that there is something wrong with these people.
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So, you see, there’s the clincher.
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However you look at it, the bible preaches that one set of people is inferior to another. As long as people are taught by this book, this will continue (as an aside, I’m not saying no religion = no prejudice, but no religion would definitely result in less prejudice).
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If you really want to believe in a god, by all means go for it. However, as long as you use the bible to define your god, things will go horribly wrong.
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Jingles
Well, I just have to say that it is typical of people like Mr. Realmenlovechrist, to do the whole ‘read the bible, but realize that a lot of it is metaphors, but it still all pertains to todays values’ blah, blah, blah. Have you actually read your bible? I have. And I found that along with it being the most confused and contradictory piece of almost unreadable bull, it is also something as a christian I personally wouldn’t want my followers to actually read in case they realized how awful it and their god comes across as being. It is full of murder, rape, genocide, infanticide etc. all perpetrated by god himself. His instructions to his people are always about killing or shunning those who don’t believe or belong to his tribe…sect etc. The bible actually starts with Mr. God deciding that he likes Abel’s offerings but not Cain’s, causing Cain to be all pissed. Why? Why pit one brother against the other? Because even if you aren’t omnipotent and know all and see all, you would know that by doing something like that you are going to cause hard feeling between people…no matter how nice they are. So although Cain’s reaction, albight a little extreme, ends by killing his brother. This event would never have happened without god’s interference. (And what the hell does god need to have burnt offerings for anyway?) So Cain is exiled and ends up in the Land of Nod and gets married. Wait a minute, where did Nod come from? I thought Adam and Eve and offspring were the only people on the planet? So if that is correct, god has set up a situation where, if people want to get married they have to marry a relative, isn’t that incestual? Anyway…he gets kicked out and god tells him that because he killed his brother he is going to have to pay, at least seven times over for his sin. Oh and by the way, so do all his decendents. What? Even people without guidance from god don’t normally make the children pay for the deeds of their fathers. If you keep reading the bible it actually continues to get worse. The killing goes on and on, and all because god specifically told his followers to do that. “Raze this city and kill everyone, even the animals who live there…oh but keep all the gold and jewels for yourself.” Nice, real nice. Oh what a loving god this is…please don’t mind my sarcasm. So Realmen, if you are a supporter and proponent of christianity, I suggest that you go and take anger management courses, because the last thing this world needs is more people who are religious. And when I say religious, I mean any religion, I am not signalling out the christians. Most religions are xenophobes and would gladly scourge the world of all the other peoples who don’t believe and practice in whatever mythical, superstitious form of worship they have developed. Thank the FSM for all the atheists in the world…without us there would not be a sane person alive.
yer i just wanted to back up LJS i am an ex-cristian i went to a C of E school (church of england) and i went to a christian club for more than 9 years and LJS is right it is full of “If u do not follow my great plan i will smite you” come on people if that is a god what the hell is satan like all happy and forgiving open ur eyes people we are all here together we all have to share the planet
backing up pt & ljs, just a slighty funny phrase, “thank god for atheists” & “god give me an atheist!”
@ ljs - you said not signalling out christianity - you meant singling out didn’t you? sorry to be a pedant.
Shawn, there is no such thing as a scientific fact. Science works to explain the facts, it doesn’t create them.
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Here is the question I asked my Dad that he would not answer - “If you had been born in a non-Christian country, would you still be insisting that the non-Christian religion you grew up with was the true religion and would be inisiting that I go along with it, just as you are doing with Christianity?” Turns out he was born Catholic but that church shunned him because he was born out of wedlock, so the family became Lutheran.
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Anyway, the point was that people get their religion from their family and community, not by actually examining it and the alternatives.
A little joke to help make my point:
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A Jewish man moves into a strict Catholic neighborhood. Every Friday, the Catholics practically go crazy - because while they’re morosely eating only fish, the Jew is in his backyard barbecuing steaks. So, the Catholics work on the Jew to convert him.
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Finally, by long endurance, the Catholics succeed. They take the Jew to a priest who sprinkles holy water on the Jew and intones, “Born a Jew… Raised a Jew… Now a Catholic.”
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The Catholics are ecstatic. No more delicious but maddening smells every Friday evening! But come the following Friday, the scent of barbecue wafts through the neighborhood. The Catholics all rush to the Jew’s house to *remind* him of his new diet. They find him standing over the sizzling steak, knife in one hand, his other hand dipping in water. He sprinkles water over the meat, saying, “Born a cow… Raised a cow… Now a fish!”
Oh it does this my lawless, piratical, black heart much good, when I read over these statements from the true unbelievers (excepting of course the FSM). Sigh…if only it weren’t such a waste of time to argue with all the people wearing their faith induced blinders. Can you imagine what a peaceful paradise this planet would be if everyone just believed in doing good for the sake of being good? No jihads, no holy wars, no crusades, no inquisitions, no morphing poor little innocent children into people who only live a hairs breath from the Dark Ages. If I had an actual say in the school boards of the world, I would make the Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan mandatory reading in EVERY GRADE!
I know, Long Jane Silver. When I replied to shawn i had little hope of making him understand where i stand and why. But i still had t say it, if only for my sake. It will never cease to amaze me how blind and blinkered people can be when it comes to their faith.
@Wench Octarine from DidYaBringABeerALong XXXX!
(….give a Castlemaine XXXX for anything else!)
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@ ljs - you said not signalling out christianity - you meant singling out didn’t you? sorry to be a pedant.
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Shouldn’t the ’s’ of sorry, after the question mark, be capitalised? :D
Hey Shawn.
I read your last post and was somewhat disturbed by one thing. You seem, yourself to be a brilliant person, however, it seems to me that you are afraid that something terrible will happen to you if you “lose faith” in God and that to take action would be to “lose faith” that God will save us all from any harm. This, however is a terrible misconception. I understand where you are coming from, in a way, but at the same time, you must realize that trying to do your part to prevent global warming could also be part of God’s plan. I am fairly sure that there is a Christian saying, “God helps those who help themselves”. I think that this phrase may be easily applied to this situation.
By the way guys, stop insulting Christianity. Although I am not a Christian, I believe that it is unnecessarily rude and that if I were Shawn, I would probably be a bit upset that everyone is attacking my religion. Also, he probably won’t want to listen to you if all you’re going to do is attack him.
@Jingles
Interesting long post a while back. Keep up such good work and don’t apologise, some pirates like lengthy posts with a good bit of substance.
If you ever want to give YECs an impeccable source on radiological dating methods then try
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http://www.asa3.org/aSA/resources/Wiens.html
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It’s an extensive write-up, I actually know one YEC who changed his mind because of it after he found it.