My pet peeve is seeing a man use the bathroom and not wash his hands. ( I don't know if this happens in the ladies room).
It won't happen too often in the ladies room. Most men use the men's room.
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Richard
Skeptic
JoinedPosts by Skeptic
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52
WHAT IS YOUR PET PEVE?
by kls inwhat is it that really irritates you ,i mean the most annoying ,thing that when you see it or hear it you just clench your teeth,we all have them so let's hear yours.mine is religious boasting.there is this home builder that advertises on tv and says his crap then says we are a christien company.oh yes , because he said that i would trust him more then anyone else,he must have higher standards.
(ya right).or those people who advertise with bumper stickers of their religion,and yes the freaking door bell ringers trying to push their crap on me.isn't it what you feel inside?why advertise to everyone?does it make you feel more important or more religious?because of the attempt to show me that you have faith does not make me feel i could trust you.
this is just one of my irritants and hope not do offend,everyone has the right.
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Skeptic
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Are JW's selfish?
by JH inwhen i joined the jw, the brother who gave me a bible study said how nice it would be in the new system.
he described how nobody would be sick, how wars would cease, people would stop dying, and would resurrect.
he described how life would be so wonderful.
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Skeptic
I can honestly say that I served Jah out of love. I wanted the reward, but would have served God anyway if it wasn't there. This view seemed surprising to the Witnesses I told it to.
However, I do believe that most Witnesses want the reward, and that a significant percentage would serve God without a reward. The greatest percentage would be those who served God because they did not want to die in Armageddon.
In less controlling religions, I think you will find most serve for a reward, and few serve out of fear.
Richard
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People That Make Up Stories To Make Themselves Sound Good
by minimus in"i am meeting with the duke later on today for tea".
"i am the smartest person that i know because i can out debate any idiot here, and i can prove it!
" when i was at bethel, a few members of the governing body tried to molest me".
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Skeptic
LOL. Generally I try not to embellish. Some parts of my life were so weird that I couldn't make that stuff up.
I should fictionalize some of them and publish a book. Then people would say, "Where does he get his ideas?"
Richard
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Skeptic
My score is 90.
I had to say no to:
"Have you ever had sex repeatedly with somebody you're ashamed to be seen with?"
I have never been ashamed of my lovers (not that I have had that many). I have been very proud of them all. And yeah, if I am ashamed to be seen with someone, I am not going to have sex with her!
And I am hard pressed to think of someone I would be ashamed to be seen with. Just because they are weird doesn't mean I am. And if any onlookers can't discern that simple fact, then I don't care what their opinion of me is; I have no respect for stupid people.
And just because I am willing to be seen with someone, that doesn't mean that I would have sex with them. For example, I would never have sex with a prostitute. I shudder at the thought! For the obvious reasons, plus...why would someone pay for sex when any kind of sex can be obtained just for the asking? Sex is not that hard to get.
Richard
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How old was you when you learned to drive?
by Brummie ini've never passed my test, never needed to because i lived near the city and could get from a to b at the drop of a hat.
now living in a village it almost impossible to get anywhere so i am about to start taking lessons, at 39 i'm embarrassed and am dreading starting lessons.
what a wus huh.
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Skeptic
As usual, I analyse everything to death.
I come from a farming community, so most kids learn the bare basics of driving a standard at five. This enables them to back a truck up to a building. I always thought that backing up a truck close to but not hitting a building was a weird choice for a first time driving skill. On the other hand, the building will stop the truck if something goes wrong!
Very soon, the kid is driving the truck across the farm at a crawl. As soon as he/she is old enough to reach the pedals, the kid is plowing fields with a tractor.
Being the youngest, I was spared from that until my body developed enough that I could actually see properly, instead of peeking through the steering wheel!
Richard
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CRUEL DOT COM LUBS THEIR DUBBIES!
by Country Girl in.
http://www.cruel.com/discuss/viewtopic.php/20645
country girl
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Skeptic
I always smile when I see Christians say that the Bible is against polygamy. No where in the Bible is polygamy spoken against, except for Christian overseers in I Tim. 3:2. And that verse can be taken to say that all overseers must be married (which contradicts other parts of the Bible). Interestingly, The Jerusalem Bible translates I Tim. 3:2 as "...He must not have been married more than once..."
I wonder how many families have been broken up because the this warped view of polygamy? I feel so bad for Africian Witnesses and their families.
Richard
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Israel's WMD... Are they next?
by William Penwell in.
is israel next on the us hit list?
as you can see from this nbc news repost, they as many wmd as britain or franch.
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Skeptic
Thanks everyone for making one of the more high quality threads on this forum. Very intelligent discussion on the whole.
I enjoyed Simon's comments regarding nuclear capability. Good point.
Israel will not be "next" simply because Israel has U.S. support. Also, the Bible Belt region in the States is very politically powerful and used to believe that God supports Israel, and thus America should as well. Do they still believe this and do they still strongly influence American policies regarding Israel?
Israel is no saint in the Middle Eastern relations muddle. Nor are the Arab nations. Having talked to people from Lebanon and Israel, I am aware of some of the issues on both sides, and it is very complex at best. There is no simple view, and no simple answers.
Richard
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Whats the best internet music file sharing thingy....?
by ScoobySnax inhave been using morpheus for a couple of years now, and hasn't been too bad at all, got about 400 tracks download.
since gettiing aol broadband, the diversity seems to have diminished a bit, either i'm on the wrong dsl provider or morpheus isn't as good as it used to be.
the one i was on previous (can't remember the name now) went totally pearshaped after it got served a writ for using copyrighted material.....anyway, know of any other good music file sharing sites?
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Skeptic
HS,
Are you just speaking for yourself all all the other readers when you use the phrase 'haven't convinced anyone'?
Well, you got me there. Logically, I cannot speak for all readers.
It seems to me that a vast amount of ignorance is being bandied about by people with opinions, but no knowledge of the industry.
Yup, that's me.
I believe that Napster lost their trial because they were centralized. If they had moved the mp3s from one computer to a maximum of two others, they would have been within U.S. law. I could be wrong, as I am relying on my memory.
All the worlds record companies, and most of the worlds musicians are firmly against the downloading of music which is illegal in all the countries that are at the forefront of this downloading, though it is true that Nigeria and the Falkland Islands are yet to pass opinion on the matter. I would challenge you to produce the name of five musicians of public note, who defend their fans right to illegally ( I am in North America ) download their music. Are their opinions to be ingnored, the very ones who create the music?
I wouldn't want people illegally downloading my music either. I would want the royalties. I write software for a living. Of course, I don't want people copying my software. I want the dough. That said, I have no strong objection to people making personal copies of software. I don't have any illegal copies myself simply because I have a hangover morality from the days when software piracy was considered by everyone to be morally wrong. Also, the sources I have for any illegal software on the planet are likely to plant a nasty virus in the illegal copy. Another reason is that my business is best ran if I stay well within the law. That said, I know people are going to copy my software. So I charge enough that I make money anyway. And the illegal copies are advertising. If I desire, I can put in copy protection to minimize the amount of illegal copying. As for businesses losing money, well the software industry suffers from people writing software for free. Much high quality, fully featured software is available legally for nothing. The GNU Project is a good example of this. Try to compete with that. Yet we do. For the record, I currently have no unpaid for copies of music, except for a Celine Dion CD that was in my CD drive when I bought my computer. It is obviously a home-made copy. Do I download music from the net? Of course. And half or more of what I get is crap. Seriously, store-bought music is much better. The rest of it I tire of listening to after a while and delete. When I get a CD burner I will probably burn them on to CDs. But for now, I delete them to save on disk space. Am I a hypocrite for my view? Yes. I figured I would just admit that up front. The truth is, my view on copying most things is mixed, inconsistent and hypocritical.
Incidentally, people do not steal because they won't get caught, people steal because they are thieves. It is after they have stolen that they then hope that they will not get caught.
Only the stupid ones worry about getting caught after the crime is committed. There are always the percentage who are just plain old-fashioned criminals. For the average person, I think there are several reasons why they would commit an illegal act. 1) They don't know it is a crime. I honestly believe that it is legal to download music using Kazaa. Though I haven't checked Canadian law about this. 2) It is not normally considered morally wrong by them and/or their community. Illegal copying of music has always fallen into that category. As has taking home a pen from the office. People who would shamelessly tape music off the radio or a TV program using their VCR may not illegally copy software. Weird, but true. 3) They consider it to be a "minor" crime and think they can get away with it. Speeding is an example of this. 4) The penalities if caught are low. 5) They can screw the government or a big corporation somehow. That is the old "they deserve it" or "it won't hurt them" reasoning. 6) The argument that if everyone is honest, prices will go down and people will get richer is bogus. First, not everyone is going to become honest. Second, prices are set by the law of supply and demand. Businesses will not lower prices as long as people will pay the price asked. Thirdly, if people stopped downloading music, most would not purchase the CD anyway. True, if everyone became honest tomorrow, musicians would gain a little. But not by a lot, because lots of people just would not buy the CD. Those who would likely purchase it now anyway.I am a little baffled by this statement as it does not even get near to the heart of the matter of whether stealing from 'greedy' record companies which people do because it is easy, is actually any different from stealing from any another large 'greedy' corporations which deal in other commodities, such as electricty, phramaceuticals, motor cars etc. etc. Are you suggesting that CD's should be attached to the mains and if not paid for discharge enough voltage to kill a person...lol I hope not as it seems that you would be the only person to survive that particular ritual...
No, there is little difference, other than people's perceptions. Your solution to the issue of illegal copying is interesting though. I feel for the musicians who craft their music and lose some of their profits to illegal copying. I feel for the software developers who craft their software and lose some of their profits to illegal copying. And no, I don't feel strongly enough about it to stop downloading music. Both need to find a business model that works because illegal copying will always be here. Perhaps someday and encoding method will be developed that eliminates casual copying. Sophisticated copying cannot be stopped. Richard
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Religions are supposed to breed happiness. Why do they not do that?
by SpannerintheWorks infrom the jw's to the catholics, happiness is promised!
religions are supposed to breed happiness.
spanner
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Skeptic
demar, I did that and found Christianity wanting in many respects. What you say is just assertions.
Love and happiness is only found in truth.
I agree.
We experience shame because we know we are guilty of living on our own terms.
Nope. I stopped feeling ashamed and guilt-filled once I started living on my own terms.
Thats why no matter how good you try to live you always feel like it's not good enough, and your right.
No, that is because I am human, and because of my personality type. And because of a perfectionist father and because of the Christian faith. And you know what? Often I know I live "good enough". Especially considering the conditions I have had to live under.
You know there is something wrong when God thinks you are not good enough from the day you are born. And the problem is not with the newborn, it is with God. How can a baby less than a minute old be sinful? What is so sad is that Christians teach children that they are not good enough in God's eyes. Can you say "recipe for low self-esteem"? A co-worker pulled his young kids out of children because the Church had them say they were a sinner in need of being saved. He knew that was not healthy for them. I agree.
No man can ever experience true happiness and joy apart from Christ.
False. I have many times. So have many others. And I know many Christians who do not experience true happiness and joy. Please don't pull out the tired "then they are not really a Christian" card.
Richard
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Religions are supposed to breed happiness. Why do they not do that?
by SpannerintheWorks infrom the jw's to the catholics, happiness is promised!
religions are supposed to breed happiness.
spanner
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Skeptic
Religions are supposed to breed happiness. Why do they not do that?
The answer is simple: no one thing can guarantee happiness.
Religion is one of many things that promote unhappiness by trying to provide the answers to life by giving one-size-fits-all rules. Real life is not so convenient.
Also, I have seen religions breed happiness. One of my friends used to be a drug-addicted hooker. She found Jesus and is now off the streets, drug-free, and married to a nice fellow. She is still poor as a church mouse, but she is most definitely happy. She is a very beautiful woman inside and out; her husband is lucky to have her.
When I was born-again, I met another former hooker, taken off the streets after finding Jesus. I think she was a former drug addict as well. I don't know her at all, she visited our church group and gave her experiences.
My first girlfriend was the former town slut, now reformed after finding Jesus as well. The self-respect she gained has also given her much happiness. Alas, when I had my chance to give her my virginity, I had to decline; I knew she would hate herself afterwards. What I hated was many of her former lovers would tell me how lucky I was and how hot she was in bed and what they did together. Part of it was wanting her past to stay in the past; part of it was envy that I would not be tasting the fine wine of her sexuality.
I know former thieves, drug-addicts, adulterers etc. who straighten out their lives after becoming a born-again or a JW. Some people are so down that even a cult can dramatically improve their life.
Religion attracts all kinds of people. Some are happier because religion meets their need to worship God while allowing them a normal life.
Richard