our home galaxy contains up to 1 billion stars...our universe contains over 50 billion galaxies with billions of stars...why here would god take his stand...send his god son to deliver us...a big galaxy with a nondiscript star with a few planets and we are the center of gods attention...makes you wonder....sometimes...
A well written and interesting take on life and the universe, though rather deep for a gladiator.
Sirona suggested that we are all part of all part of something wonderful - that is life.
The idea that there is a separate entity sitting on a throne in heaven making petty rules and tempting his first humans with a fruit tree, is absurd.
most of us are familiar with, or at least have heard of, friedrich nietzsche's virulent criticism of christianity: according to nietzsche the belief in, and desire for, "another (higher or future) world" and "eternal life" betrays a hatred of this world and real life, of power and beauty, of the animal and the "body," a "slave morality" which essentially consists in "resentment" against everything real, powerful, beautiful, etc.
christian "spirituality" is shameful "nihilism," nihilism in disguise, the central emblem of which is the cross, understood as the very negation of life, with the "will of power" and the cruel beauty it is made of.
nietzsche lumps together christianity and anarchism as expressions of the same basic rejection of reality.
The Christian outlook was laid out by the Abraham 'the father of those having faith.' It was said of him that he was, 'reaching out for a better place, that is one belonging to heaven. He saw himself as a temporary resident on earth.
The trouble with spending ones whole life looking towards a heavenly life is that our life on earth is devalued by not living fully in the now. Christianity along with most other religions sees the body as a disposable vehicle fit only to carry a soul to the next life.
The life we have is wonderful already and all efforts to improve life right now is a very moral endeavor. Reaching out for a 'better place,' shows a lack of appreciation for what we have.
The Epicureans believed that the absence of pain and suffering was the highest ideal. Buddhism teaches the same and as such are more a philosophy than a religion.
Memento Mori - Remember that we all must die
this happened to me years ago when i was still living in nashville tn.
i was driving home from work one day and i was in the turn lane getting ready to take a left.
i had a green arrow and i proceeded into the intersection.
Middleman
The explanation is simple. They were modern day gladiators doing their day job.
Morituri te salutant.
i, as most persons, think a sexual assault of a child is a very horrible thing.
like most parents, i would want to put the person to death that assaulted my child in that way, but is that just?
i'm two ways about it: i feel for the child, and the child's family; but at the same time i am wondering if it is deserving of death?
In rainbows: Killing people is wrong because killing people is wrong.
Are you tying to put me out of work?
Do you want hungry lions and tigers on your conscience and a world over-run by Christians?
Try to see the bigger picture and stop being narrow minded, will ya?
Morituri te salutant
if it was to just have a place to live somewhere on earth untill they died, didn't many of the pagans already have this?
maybe that is why so many times they just went with the religion of their neighbours.
did they have some faith of going to heaven?
Abraham was reaching out for a place not belonging to earth - the original Doctor Who time traveller. I am a time traveller that came along later, during the Lion eating Christian era.
The Jews were only two of the tribes of Israel. But as a nation they hoped that if they pleased their God Jehovah, he would not have them turned back into Egyptian slaves. Or set upon by the Assyrians or Babylonians at Jehovah's behest. What a wacko!
Don't you get tired of all this God, slaves, Christians and Gladiator stuff found in the Bible? After two thousand years of it I am weary of it myself.
Morituri te salutant
i, as most persons, think a sexual assault of a child is a very horrible thing.
like most parents, i would want to put the person to death that assaulted my child in that way, but is that just?
i'm two ways about it: i feel for the child, and the child's family; but at the same time i am wondering if it is deserving of death?
Your society has gone soft in the head.
The death penalty should be enacted upon all useless people. Murderers, child molesters, tax collectors, Jehovah's Witnesses and anyone who talks about their religion whatever it is.
Death could be a swift sword stroke for lesser offenders but child molesters should be thrown to the lions.
To die in the arena is an honour so these undesirables have nothing to complain about.
We who are about to die salute you!
back in 1959 i became best friends with a fellow who was instrumental in my becoming a jehovah's witness.
yesterday i attended his mother's funeral.. from the time i was 12 years old i became a part of johnny's family and got to know his mother, jennie, very well.
in fact, she was more instrumental in convincing me there was intellectual merit to the reasoning process of consulting the bible and drawing jw conclusions than any of the arguments johnny and i had.. fast forward a bit.
Brave of you to share this experience Terry.
Trips down memory lane, revisiting old friends, towns, congregations can be very emotional and disturbing. They can cause us to doubt the defence mechanisms we have put in place and restart a longing for the way things used to be.
As a gladiator I have learned to never try to stroke a tiger. However cuddly it looks it is still a tiger and it will bite your hand off.
We who are about to die do not want to live forever.
this thread, and others like it, got me thinking that, if this board is representative of society, there is definitely an anti-theist wind blowing in western nations, much more so in europe than here in the united states.
could it happen here as it happened there?.
from edward j. derwinski "religious persecution in the soviet union - transcript".
I am Albinus, and I train with the short sword and buckler. I will kick your ass.
Shortsword and Buckler eh! I have never met them but they are good names for gladiators. Ass kicking is easy - it is the lions you have to watch out for.
this thread, and others like it, got me thinking that, if this board is representative of society, there is definitely an anti-theist wind blowing in western nations, much more so in europe than here in the united states.
could it happen here as it happened there?.
from edward j. derwinski "religious persecution in the soviet union - transcript".
BurnThe Ships & Hillary.
I can see that you both like a good fight. Ever thought of becoming Gladiators like me?
Instead of fighting with words you could rip each other to shreds with an assortment of wonderful weapons. The hours are short but tiring. The best part is you get to dress up.
You would both have to change your names, though, to something more aggressive like Brutus and Spartacus. Hillary is a definite no-no. I don't need a name because I am The Gladiator in the same way that God needs no name.
We who are about to die salute you. See you in the arena.
i read of someone on this site that gave a public talk and disassociated himself at the end of the talk.
has anyone here da'd by giving a comment at a meeting?????.
it would be kinda cool with the big generation light coming up to just raise my hand, say i don't believe it, and be done with it.
Little Toe
Good to see you are still around. I thought you had been thrown to lions but then I remembered you had just got married. Time to end that honeymoon and get some Scottish fresh air.
