TheShinje

1. If OtakuBoards were a meal Allamorph would be the [b]Duck.[/b] 2. Always a pragmatist, Al Gore is using video footage from his pending divorce for a new documentary about his wife, An Inconvenient [b]Witch[/b]! 3. Boo says: â??I think my girlfriend is having an affair with an auto mechanic, last night I found a [b]Crankshaft[/b] in her bed!â? 4. In real-life Desbreko is just like he is online. The only difference is that people don't like it when Des [b]administrates[/b] in public. 5. I've tried visiting other forums before but the people there always freak me out. On one message board their most popular thread is called The [b]Paddled Broom[/b] Party.

[quote name='Deena' date='09 June 2010 - 02:20 PM' timestamp='1276046452' post='694914'] [center] [size="2"][b][font="Century Gothic"]Ok so i was talking in community chat over on Theotaku.com. We got onto the discussion of weirdest dreams. I thought it would be somewhat interesting to see what was everyone's weirdest dream was. [/font][/b][/size] [/center] [center][size="2"][b][font="Century Gothic"]I think my weirdest dream was, being chased by flip-flops that didn't have feet. None of the flip-flops even matched either. It was pretty scary as i was running away from them, (i was in the water) and it's hard to run in water lol. [/font][/b][/size] [/center] [center][b][font="Century Gothic"][size="2"]What's your weirdest dream? Remember please keep it clean. [/size][/font][/b] [/center] [/quote] There was this one dream where I was with some friends from church, and we had been enlisted in the Navy, and were at sea. However, I didn't want to stay so I decided to escape from the Navy vessel. Then my mom shows up and she's breaking me out, taking control of the Navy vessel. When she was parallel parking it so we could escape to her yacht, I realised it was a dream, and took a running jump off the bow, and ended up flying to another island, where I was swallowed by a moose. So, uh, yeah, that was pretty...weird. ;

Looks like this poll has been going quite a while. Glad I could come back and place a vote for [b]One Piece[/b]. I'm sure it deserves a forum of it's own, right about [b]now[/b]. There has been the [spoiler] Impel Down prison breakout, Whitebeard/World Government war, Ace's death[/spoiler] etc, plenty of fodder for many wonderful topics. It was the only option on the poll. It [b]IS[/b] the only option on the poll. XD

In pool F you can see the eventual winner of the [b]FIFA[/b] world cup 2010. That's right, [b]New Zealand[/b]. Why is New Zealand going to win, you may ask? Because we haven't qualified for the tournament since [b]1982[/b], where we made the finals. Such a long timespan out of the World Cup scene may make us look like minnows, but it just serves to make us [b]hungrier.[/b] New Zealand feasts on world cup glory, you wait and see! Okay, I'm a dreamer, who dreams impossible dreams. It would still be pretty [b]radical[/b] if we made it past pool play.

Rectangular avatars really suited V7, when we had the user info on top of the postbit, they were also quite original, compared with other sites offerings. I don't think I know of any other board that had such uniform, tidy and uniquely shaped avatars. Having said that, I voted for square avatars, I think they suit this layout better, they're easier on my eye.

[COLOR=#00008b][B]Who:[/B] Lurker since 2001, member since May 2002. I have had multpile usernames, beginning with SaiyanGohan2002. [B]Where:[/B] Christchurch, in New Zealand. I'm a rare anitpodean OB, I can count on one hand how many Aussies and Kiwis I know of. [B]What:[/B] Working day to day, just got a sweet new car, 1991 Nissan Bluebird. I am still into anime though it is more One Piece than anything else. Dragonball Kai is doing a good job of bringing me back full circle tpo the series that led me here to begin with. [B]When:[/B] I joined OB in 2002 to discuss my love for all things Dragonball Z. Once the DBZ forum started to die I moved to the Otaku Lounge to discuss general topics, and the Movies and TV threads got a few visits too. I miss the fellow Kiwis here that I used to know, Final_Flash and NeoCactuar. [/COLOR] [COLOR=#00008b] [B]Why:[/B] I needed an outlet to discuss my rabid fandom of DBZ. Over time I just got into this community and started posting in the Lounge as my first forum of choice. I often post in religious discussion topics. When I first started that, you could say I was pretty intolerant of other beliefs but I like to think that I've matured in these discussions to a point where they can even be pleasant. I don't even call them debates anymore, the more recent ones have more of a friends conversation feel. [B]Favorite Things About OB:[/B] - Religious discussions - The Oldies - Final Quest for Glory - Unique layout - Friendly people - Blue, lots of blue, nearly every version has had blue as it's main color, you'd be pretty bluie if you hated the colour blue. - Shinji. The guy made a little mistake about a millions years ago, but he was a pretty cool guy aside from the urban legends and the almost mythical aura of apocalyptic literature that seems to have collected around him. :smirk:[/COLOR]

[quote name='Zen'] [SIZE=1]I really don't believe so to tell you the truth. It's a rather negative view to have of critics of Christianity to call them the "enemies of God". [/quote][/SIZE] I was thinking more on Satan and the demonic here than someone like you who questions the Bible's logic. To this day there are many countires around the world where being a Christian is illegal. Bibles are burned and people are killed for standing up for their faith in Christ. I guess what I was trying to stress there is that the Bible continued to exist, even when there was such persectuion as the times of Caesar Nero. [SIZE=1][quote][/SIZE] [SIZE=1] Christianity places that answer in a book that is not only thousands of years old, but also one that has been altered countless times, and it seems like a very illogical thing to do.[/quote][/SIZE] The Bible was compiled by the council of Nicea around 325AD, about the time Christianity became the state religion of Rome under Constantine. While it is thousands of years old, it's content wasn't altered, either at the council of anytime since. The recently discovered "Dead Sea scrolls" pieces of the Old Testament found after being buried for thousands of years, are the same passages we have in the Bible today, give or take a few differences in punctuation. [quote] [SIZE=1]From whence came sin? Man created sin? The Devil? But did not God create both? So man must redeem himself in the eyes of God for falling to the sins that God not only ordained as sins, but also, more or less created himself. That seems border on sadistic.[/quote][/SIZE] That's a rather complex way of looking at sin. The way I look at it, sin is the act of disobeying God. You could technically say that man "created" sin, being the ones who disobeyed God, but I don't think you can say God created sin unless you tango with the idea that by allowing himself to be disobeyed, he created sin. God does not endorse sin or ordain it, but in our free will we are allowed to stumble. The amazing thing is that, even though God is outside of time and kenw that we would fall short of his glory, he still decided to make us. [quote] [SIZE=1]But we are mortals, and God is the endless omnipresent. Everywhere, all the time, capable of anything. And the difference between God in this scenario, and America in the 9/11 one is that God created the things, and was fully aware of the things, that occured, or created the beings that caused the to occur, and again, was fully aware. America didn't breed, train, or oversee the path and lives of the terrorists who flew the planes into the twin towers. [/quote][/SIZE] In this is your answer. God may be omnipresent but we are mortals. The historical accounts are in scripture for our benefit, we can learn from history and what has gone down, God doesn't need reminding, being outside of time you could say he is still there at the scene as I type this. [quote] [SIZE=1]What I meant was, why did God bother to create the world and universe to begin with? There was nothing but him, complete and perfect. He created that which would become imperfect, including Satan, the serpent, man, hell, and all other things that would come to signify "imperfection" and evil. Particularly if you are a determinist within Christianity, it becomes a weird dilemma, because that means that not only did God create the things (with all their weaknesses and imperfections), but also KNEW that they would go and do the things they did (and honestly, how can the "all knowing, all seeing" God not know it would happen?).[/SIZE] [/quote] I guess having nothing but empty space to keep you company can be pretty lonely, I would think that God wanted companionship. We don't have an account of the creation of angels and the heavens, but we do know that the highest of the choir of angels, Lucifer, rebelled from God, determined to overthrow him and become God himself. Common thought on Eden and the fall of mankind is that Satan was envious of our relationship with God, and he desired to see us suffer a similar fate to his own. He tricked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit by calling God a liar. When both she and Adam ate the fruit, the quickly discovered who the liar was, when the fruit did exactly what God warned them it would do. God was acting in our best interests to warn us away from that tree, yet Adam and Eve trusted the serpent. God persists with us, because in his knowledge of how things turn out he can see the fulfilment of redemption, he can see clearer than us just what it will be like when humanity comes back to him, full circle the way it was meant to be. [quote] [SIZE=1]But that doesn't answer where this evil came from. And why would God have a difficult time preventing evil? Working to abolish? He should be capable of aboloshing outright. He's God, he's very capable. So is he no longer omniscient? "Then why call him God?" [/quote][/SIZE] [SIZE=1][SIZE=2]Yes, he could snap his fingers and wipe out evil in one swoop, but what would that teach humanity?[/SIZE] We would [/SIZE][SIZE=2]probably fall into the same traps time and again, leaving God to snap his fingers and wipe the slate clean every two seconds[/SIZE] God was rejected by humanity in the fall and we are, as I understand things, being given time to run our own affairs. It's like God is giving us a chance to run the planet ourselves without him, if only to demonstrate to all of us just how much we need him to intervene and take the controls again. We have the promise that he will, and all this suffering will end once this age passes. [SIZE=1][quote][/SIZE] [SIZE=1]Again, the problem with Free Will in Christianity is that, God knows everything. Correct? And if he knows everything, and the outcome of everything, and if he indeed does have a "plan" for everybody, then that must meen that he knows what everyone will do and has done, and there fore, what free will do we have? As well, there is a big difference between choosing something of your free will. If you were faced with "Bow to me and worship me, or be sent to burn in eternal hell fire", there isn't very much "free will" involved. Your only choices are "Do what I say, or suffer for the rest of infinity (which I may or may not send you to early if I so please". God could have easily created the world so that man was unable to stray from his path, but since God didn't, it means that he probably wanted someone to feed his ego with some way. Its like a Tyrant asking his servants "am I awesome", and killing them if they offend him in anyway.[/quote][/SIZE] The problem with free will in your example there is it doesn't exist. If God put up the safety nets and ensured the only path we could take was him, there would be no alternative and he would have ended up with robots. God does have a plan for everyone, a plan for good, not for evil, but he doesn't want to force us into it. If, in our own free will we choose him, that's is far more rewarding than just forcing your creation to do your bidding! [SIZE=1][SIZE=2]We worship God because that is our innate purpose. In perfection we will be creations that give glory to God. Ever made something you were proud of? That will be us.[/SIZE] [/SIZE] It isn't so much a case of "do as I say or burn" as it is a case of God's gudiing hand. He is assuring us that his plan is righteous and good, but taking any other paths will lead to destruction. Casting people into the fires of hell is the last thing God wants to do, and that is why we have the scriptures and a clear path out of the quagmire that we are in. Jesus came so that we might be free from the millstone of sin that is dragging us into the fire, in this regard it is not God demanding worship it is God who has taken the steps to save us. He is the firefighter with the trampoline standing outside the window which leads to safety, we just need to have enough faith to leap on to it. Worshipping Him comes naturally to a Christian thankful for Jesus' sacrifice, building that vital connection between God and us. [quote] [SIZE=1]I suppose the answer to that would be "everything and nothing". Buddhism is greatly about duality. I find all things in natural existance to be sacred, as I am part of that existance. But when everything is sacred, nothing is. Nothing is worth worship, but should be treated as sacred.[/SIZE] [SIZE=1]My particular brand of Zen is called "Soto" sect, as introduced to me by author and Zen Master Brad Warner.[/SIZE][/quote] That is interesting. As our scriptures declare "The heavens declare the glory of the Lord." I'm sure that reverence for creation is a good thing. I have come across teachings from Christians who declare that Buddhists worship the earth or something like that, so your statement that "nothing is worth worship" kind of contradicts their argument. Is it a difference between Zen Buddhism and Buddhism in general, or a misconception? [quote name='Chibi-Master']No. No, it can't. If the children are born into a society and are taught nothing else, why should they be killed? And for a debatably existing being?! That's just ridiculous! Hiding behind 'God' in order to kill innocents is vile and dishonourable! Child salvation my foot! Shame on you![/quote] I understand how you feel, I wasn't too clear on this. My position is that a loving God would require the children be taken, as opposed to left to die of starvation after a long struggle to cope with the loss of every grown-up in their society. The place would have become a basketcase with famine death and disease taking an immesurable toll on children not yet ready to run their own lives, let alone a whole civilisation. If a nation that has become corrupted must be taken out for the greater good and purposes of God (worth remembering that God judges fairly and even the adults of the fallen civilisation, having not known his way stand a good chance of knowing him in the next life) then it is only merciful that everyone goes and no-one is left behind to suffer. Something to that degree. I must admit that even with this explanation I struggle with the idea, as I am sure most do when we are talking about spilling the blood of children. What really clinches the deal regarding the God of the Bible for me is the accuracy of it's prophecy. It isn't vague, it is very specific in many cases. The prophecy concerning Tyre is a good example of this (Ezekiel 26:1 - 28:9.) The prophecy lists a series of events that would befall the city, and they happened. It was invaded by many armies, as prophecised, the city was thrown into the sea ans prophecised, when Alexander the Great build his causeway to reach the part of Tyre built on an island, and it became nothing more than a place for fishermen to spread their nets, once again as prophecised. More on the prophecy conerning Tyre can be found [URL="http://eternalministries.org/articles/ProphecyConcerningTyre.htm"]here[/URL].

[quote name='Zen'] [SIZE=1]I'm not here to bash a religion, btw.[/SIZE][/quote] I didn't think you were. :) [quote] [SIZE=1]But it seems pretty wacky that, for a book that is supposed to be the divinely inspired word of God, it needs people to stand up for its merits.[/SIZE][/quote] [SIZE=1][SIZE=2]Don't you think that in some way it validates it? I mean, if there is a book that is the divine inspired word of God, you'd expect that any enemies of God would attack it's wording and attempt to prove a fatal flaw in it's logic, suggesting that the author was not inspired by God at all. The fact it has withstood the scrutiny applied in various formns througout the ages, not just the recent enlightenment period, says something.[/SIZE] [/SIZE] [SIZE=1][quote][/SIZE] [SIZE=1]And going by half the things you said, a good, thick chunk of the Holy Bible is "outdated" by today's standards. [/quote][/SIZE] No, not outdaded, but every scripture in the Bible has a context and purpose. In the OT the focus was on God delivering the Nation of Israel to a standard of purity so a messiah, saviour of humaity could usher in the current era. In the New Testament we get Christ's teachings and what we, as Christians, should do in this time to spread the salvation message. An overall theme throughout all 66 books is redemption, specifically the redemption of man to God. It is all useful in some way even if some scripture is not intended to be authoritave law. [quote] [SIZE=1]For a God to accept or allow anything is for him to endorse it. He's a God. [/SIZE][/quote] This argument does not stand up when you look at what God is saying through the Bible. It is not a tome filled with his delights, his laws and what he accepts. It has a lot of that, sure, but there are also the scriptures which deal with historical accounts. It does not meant that God accepts what has happened, or enjoys it, the writer of the scripture is only reporting the event. Again, this is like saying that American's endorsed the attacks of 9/11 because they were widely reported in American media. It's hard for me to explain why we keep historical records in the Bible, some of them serve a purpose such as proving that an event which happened was prophecised beforehand, sometimes by hundreds of years, and the authors wanted the people to know that their prophets called it. [quote] [SIZE=1]And for me,the fatal flaw for Judeo-Christian God is that, why create? The fact that God created the world, the heavens, hell, his angels, and humanity and all that, and then just watch it, as bad as it can get, seems very, very irresponsible and malevolent. I'm sure people will use the "works in mysterious ways" line, but it never made any form of logical sense for God to just decide create the universe just for kicks, and then just watch all this horrible stuff happen in it, and still be deemed benevolent.[/SIZE][/quote] To understand why God created, we need to go back to the beginning, when everything was good. God and man shared a deep bond in Eden, God entrusted the world to the care of man and gave us the huge responsibility of being the guardians of this great world. When sin entered the world, it disgusted God, he was heart-broken by the disobedience of Adam and Eve, and this caused a separation. Nevertheless, God has always desired to reconcile the rift and is seen throuought history to be intimately involved in creation, a guiding hand leading our world to the ultimate redemption where the world will be put right again. God has not lef the world to rot, he didn't make it so he could sit back and watch carnage unfold. As bad as it gets, that is the curse of sin in the world. To see this is to understand the gravity of the situation, how lost we are without Him. In his mercy we will one day share the same kind of bond Adam and Eve had with God, in the kingdom to come, everlasting peace. [quote] [SIZE=1]It's very late, so I'm not quite up to further addressing the debate right this moment, but I will return to it. I leave you with a quote from the great Greek philosopher Epicurus:[/SIZE] [I][SIZE=1]"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. [/SIZE][/I] [I][SIZE=1]Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. [/SIZE][/I] [I][SIZE=1]Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? [/SIZE][/I] [I][SIZE=1]Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"[/SIZE][/I][/quote] That is a diffculty. I would say God is willing to prevent evil, and is working to abolish it altogether. He desries to reconcile us because he loves us. However, he also desires that we choose him of our own free will and it is that free will that allowed Adam and Eve to take the forbidden fruit and caused the rift. Like a naughty child, humanity is reaping the rewards of it's vice, but it does not mean that God is not benevolent, and that he does not love us. Soemtimes tough love can be the greatest expression of such emotion. [I][SIZE=1][quote][/SIZE][/I] [I][SIZE=1]Forgive me if I use aggressive language, this is, again, by no means me trying to bash or be mean about your religion. I just enjoy the debate, and gaining insight on the reasoning behind believers, and maybe sharing my ideas with them.[/[/SIZE][/I]quote] I enjoy the debate too. It's always quite interesting when I get the chance to share my faith and belief system and see what difficulties people have run into when exporing that faith. I relish the chance to offer up possible solutions to those difficulites. :) You'll find that I'm quite open minded too. I'm genuinely interested in other's beliefs and what they hold to be sacred and true. As a consequence my religious debates very rarely get nasty, so this should continue to be fun! [SIZE=1][quote]Also I'm not an athiest. I'm a Zen Buddhist, which is honestly more of a philosophy, but you could consider me a pantheist I suppose.[/quote][/SIZE] I should have concluded from you name, lol.

[quote name='Zen'] [SIZE=1]Just doing the math, God killed somewhere in the two millions with his plagues, floods, natural disasters, and "damning" of several people he wasn't a fan of. Satan caused about 10? Maybe?[/quote][/SIZE] You could also argue that Satan led humanity into sin and caused them to fall away from God, bringing the death equation in the first place. Remember that God warned Adam and Eve that they would die if they ate of the fruit? Saying that Satan caused only 10 deaths is a little naive, considering that he was a major factor in the fall to begin with. [quote] [SIZE=1][B]Read in context:[/B][/SIZE] [/quote] You assume I haven't? ;) [quote] [SIZE=1][I]1) If one curses his father or mother, his lamp will go out at the coming of darkness.[/I] (Proverbs 20:20 NAB)[/quote][/SIZE] This is understandable, it's not God simiting you on the spot should you happen to utter a bad word about your parents, it is a warning against such curses and an example of just how powerful they are. Fear not, if you happen to curse your father or mother God gives you time to reconcile and you wont just drop dead, like you would if he was really baying for blood. [quote] [SIZE=1][I]2) All who curse their father or mother must be put to death. They are guilty of a capital offense.[/I] (Leviticus 20:9 NLT)[/quote][/SIZE] [SIZE=1][SIZE=2]Family was important in those times. It is important now, but Christians will not kill someone who curses their father or mother. We now live in an age of grace where God is the judge who will decide on such matters at the end, again, giving anyone who curses their folks time to reconcile.[/SIZE] [/SIZE] [quote] [SIZE=1][I]"Happy those who seize your children and smash them against a rock."[/I] Psalms 137:9 NAB[/quote][/SIZE] I knew it, I just knew this one would pop up, and it is vital that the context of this passage is explored. This quote comes form the book of Psalms, a collection of poetry and songs offered up to God by a number of people mostly by King David. These scriptures are meant to be read like someone's prayers, an honest conversation with God in which their true and raw emotions are let out. Therefore, these scriptures are not considered authoritave in the sense that they are commandments from God. Same goes for Proverbs, which is a book of insightful observations and advice, but is not considered by Christians to be set-in-stone commandments from God, to be followed to the letter. [SIZE=1][quote][/SIZE] [SIZE=1][I]From there Elisha went up to Bethel. While he was on his way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him. "Go up baldhead," they shouted, "go up baldhead!" The prophet turned and saw them, and he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two shebears came out of the woods and tore forty two of the children to pieces. [/I](2 Kings 2:23-24 NAB)[/quote][/SIZE] In the OT times, the prophet was a very important person, he was the mouthpiece of God to an entire nation. He was revered and respected. A prophet would be taken so seriously, had he got some details wrong, he would have been killed by the people. The prophets were Israel's rockstars, slander one and raise the ire of a nation. It is little wonder then that two shearbears came out and took the kids to task for denigrating and insulting the prophet. Look at the wording of this passage, it is an hiostorical account of an event which actually happened. The Bible does not go on to say something like "God was pleased with the work of the shearbears (a distant relative of Care Bears)" Books like Kings and Judges are historical in nature and are not only recording the events which God took pleasure in or condoned in any fashion. That's like saying the American people were pleased with 9/11 because the event was documented. [quote] [SIZE=1][I]Anyone who is captured will be run through with a sword. Their little children will be dashed to death right before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked and their wives raped by the attacking hordes. For I will stir up the Medes against Babylon, and no amount of silver or gold will buy them off. The attacking armies will shoot down the young people with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for the children.[/I] (Isaiah 13:15-18 NLT)[/quote][/SIZE] God is warning that their nation will be destroyed unless their is a turning away from the things which separate them from Him. He is giving a forewarning that action will have to be taken if they do not turn back to him because an ultimate plan of redemption is unfloding. They can either be part of the revolution or make way, their choice. A bloodthirsty God would have just clicked his fingers, sent meteors flyign and watched the blood flow without even a hitn of warning whatsoever. The babies and children killed in this prophetic fulfilment can be seen as a mercy killing, dependent on wether you believe in the doctrine of child salvation, which I do. A child killed and given into the arms of God before he/she is corrputed by their adherence to false gods (which are driven by demonic forces) will stand a better chance of knowing God in the afterlife. God knows better than anyone here how temporary this life is, he is focused on the eternal. I expect Heaven will be full of the children described here, enjoying the fellowship with a loving God. [SIZE=1][quote][/SIZE] [SIZE=1][I]When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment.[/I] (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT) [/quote][/SIZE] [SIZE=1]This is not God endorsing slavery, this is God accepting that slavery will happen in a fallen world and working with it. This passage gives the slave girl some rights. She cannot be sold off to foreigners, she must not be treated as a slave if she marries the son or the father, and he cannot reduce her clothing or food. If she is taken as a wife, then he must be fully comitted to her, and if he is not, she can leave.[/SIZE] [SIZE=1][B][quote]In the words of Jesus:[/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=1][I]?He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.?[/I] Matthew 15:4-7 [/SIZE] [SIZE=1]Also, Jesus criticizes the Jews for not killing their disobedient children according to Old Testament law. Mark 7:9 [/SIZE] [/quote] Jesus is criticising them for not holding to the law that they themselves prescribe, he is condemning the action of finding loopholes to circummvent God's laws and he isn't saying that their kids must die now. Jesus knows that God is ushering in the age of grace where he alone will decide on such matters, bringing us full circle. God hates hypocrisy, especially in the institutions he set up to deliver the light and trith to the world. [quote] [SIZE=1]Nice guy.[/quote][/SIZE] [SIZE=1]He is when you get to know him, rather than the caricature. ;)[/SIZE] [quote] [SIZE=1]Also I think it's rather wacky to have such an obsession with foreskins and sex lives.[/quote][/SIZE] God commanded that the foreskin be cut on the 8th day after birth, is that because God is picky? No, it turns out that on the 8th day after birth the clotting factor in our blood is at it's highest and most effective state. Something the Jewish community coudl not have known back then! Gentiles (non-Jewish) are not required the be circumcised to follow Christ. We fear not the knife! [quote] [SIZE=1]Why be sad? The denial of Christian faith and religion isn't proof of a nihilistic world view. There are plenty of other ways to look at the world and the meaning of life.[/SIZE] [/quote] Because Taperson is a Christian and it does make us sad that scriptures is twisted out of context to make God look like a mean kid with a magnifying glass, who wants nothing more than to burn our feelers off. We know a God who is loving, truthful. He is hard, but fair.

I volunteer at this event called the Eastercamp which is run by a conglomerate of churches in my city. It is a place where 4000+ young people come to chill out, and hear the good news of the gospel. This will be my 10th camp, 4th as a volunteer. I almost didn't get time off from work this year since the early date caught me by surprise.

[COLOR=black]Here I was, just lurking around and seeing if this place has changed much and I get baited out of retirement! Woohoo! [/COLOR] [COLOR=black][quote name='Mr. Maul'][FONT=Verdana][SIZE=1]I've heard about this one god who lives in the sky, or space, or another dimension or something. He is not just one god, but also His own Son and Spirit together as one (He's also a "He," by the way, and definitely not a She, or an It. That'd just be ludicrous). [/SIZE][/FONT][/quote][/COLOR] [COLOR=black]God as Christians understand him, lives in Heaven, his spirit dwells upon the earth and both inspires and strengthens those who live on Earth and follow him. [/COLOR] [COLOR=black]The triune God? Think of a tree, with three branches. One in the same.[/COLOR] [quote] [COLOR=black][SIZE=1][FONT=Verdana]He enjoyed killing tons of people back in the good ol' days in various creative ways (fires, floods, pillars of salt, plagues of all flavors, mysterious forces of a mysterious nature), but he really isn't into that kind of thing anymore. Mainly, He just has His followers kill each other in His name these days.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/quote] [COLOR=black]God doesn't enjoy killing anyone. You can take things like the plagues and curses out of context and say he enjoys it though. He sent prophets to warn the people that their ways would lead to destruction, he gave them months, even years, to turn away from their sins. God didn't give up on Nineveh, and when his own prophet refused to warn them, he threw that prophet into a whale for three days. In the end, Nineveh heeded Jonah's warning and was spared from God's judgement. Hardly the act of a God who so desires to rain biblical wrath upon the earth.[/COLOR] [COLOR=black]No Christian with a good understanding of scriptures would use them to defend killing in the name of God. Verses that are used to support such killings are often taken out of context. It is worth noting that every book in the Bible collection has a purpose and it's not always authorative. The book of Ecclesiastes is a good example. It is not demonstrating that life is meaningless, it is the honest observation of Solomon having lived his life and come to that conclusion. The book as a whole makes it clear, but when verses are removed and repeated in isolation their message can often become misconstrued. [/COLOR] [quote] [SIZE=1][FONT=Verdana][COLOR=black]He can read the minds of believers and non-believers alike, and He is everywhere at all times. If you don't believe in Him, He (in His benevolent wisdom) casts you into a fiery pit of torture and torment for all eternity, despite the fact that He hides Himself from all, and requires the people He created as logical and thinking beings to throw all that away and utilize a funny little thing called "faith."[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE][/quote] [COLOR=black]God is not hiding from us, he has become distant because of our sin and how humanity as a whole turned from him. Nevertheless, he sent Jesus to atone for our sins and bring the world back into a righteous reconcilliation with him. Hell is a last resort. God desires that we come back to him. If he were a bloodthirsty, nasty deity with a penchant for torturing his creations, then Jesus would never have gone to the cross. I doubt we'd be here now.[/COLOR] [COLOR=black]You'll find that the God of the Bible is actually a very loving, paitent God who is giving us this time that we may get to know him and understand the sacrifice that he made for us. [/COLOR] [quote] [COLOR=black][SIZE=1][FONT=Verdana]Also, His creations do absolutely everything in their power to destroy absolutely everything He created. [/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/quote] [COLOR=black]We have become more materialistic (against scripture) and selfish (against scripture) since the "age of enlightenment" and the teaching that we're nothing more than the result of a catastrophic and accidental galactic space fart.[/COLOR] [COLOR=black]One of the worst things that you can tell your child is that they were an accident. This is what the atheist movement wants to tell humanity.[/COLOR] [quote] [COLOR=black][SIZE=1][FONT=Verdana]Silly, right?[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/quote] [COLOR=black]Not when you understand the context, and the purpose of Bilbical scripture rather than accepting the caricature it is painted as. ;)[/COLOR]

[quote name='Rosencavalier']Oh, yay. Christianity. Don't forget children, your lord and saviour brought you into a world of disease, pain and suffering, and will end up sending the majority of you to a place of fire and torture, and burning, and spice girl albums - - but he loves you. And he needs money. [/quote] Let me help you understand this. God did not intend this world to be a place of pain and suffering, this is the symptom of the generational curse of Adam and Eve that began with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and will end with the second coming of Christ. This world will be fixed again. Our lord and saviour, Jesus Christ, did not bring us into this world, he came to restore it to the father's original intention. He came to bridge the gap between man and God. It's true that many people will end up in a place of fire, burning as punishment for their sins. A just God requires that evil abnd wickedness is punished. How can God be good if the murderer, or the rapist, is not brought to account for their crimes? Here's the good news. Jesus, our lord and saviour, took the punishment that was meant to be ours, so that if we accept what he has done and follow him, we will be made one with God when the generational curse is broken. And my God doesn't need money to infect peoples lives. Our financial offerings are voluntary. ;)

Easter is originally a pagan holiday, like Christmas, and they were assimilated into Christianity to make it easier for followers of pagan religions to follow Christ, something like you don't have to give up your culture to follow Jesus, but direct your worship to him, the saviour. Horus, the son of Osiris, is not a pre Jesus messianic figure. He did not die to reconcile humankind to God. Christianity stands alone in this regard. Look at other religions, they are centered on what you can do for your God/s. Look at Christianity (be careful when you do this, there are many wolves about) and it's all about what God has done for us, should we accept his sacrifice, we will be reconciled to him in eternity. Christians remember this on Easter, regardless of the pagan origin.

So I'm flicking through the good ole Fox News Channel (it's my poison) and I come across this guy caled Glenn Beck. At first I think that he's another Bill O'Reilly or a Sean Hannity. One of those big time, all-shouting pundits who gets a show of their own. BUT, after watching a few episodes, I'm amazed. This guy is actually a parody of the named pundits on the FNC! His drama queen routine, it's so obvious to me now, that I can't believe I thought he was serious at first. Good on the FNC for providing another comedy slot to go along with Red Eye.

[quote] Almost a month ago, I came up with the “brilliant” idea to pull an April Fool’s prank this year on the Wolverine Files website. A week ago, I put the finishing touches on the article, ran it past a bunch of people, all of whom thought it was believable, funny and wanted to be in on the roll out. But as April 1st came closer, I started to have doubts. Would people get angry at the website and at me for trying to fool them? Would people sniff it out too quickly? Would it work too well, overloading my servers? Or, would Joe Quesada have a cow and send the Marvel lawyers after me to shut down the site? How about all of the above. Well, except for Marvel lawyers trying to shut me down. I’m shooting for that for next years April Fools.[/quote] Looks like they got a few people, lol. Wolverine: Prima Aprilus = Wolverine: 1st April. Clever. :p

I would tell my 10 year old self that school isn't that bad, what with it's guaranteed holidays every school term and cruisy 6 hour days. I'd tell him if he thinks that's bad, he should see the workforce! And I'd say that with[B] every intention[/B] of altering the past and my fortunes in the present, bugger the whole "it made me who I am" sap. And I'd tell my 10 year older self absolutely nothing, I would however, love hanging out in his six million dollar mansion in the hills (caused by telling my 10 year old self to get the family investing in Google.).

Now the HAVE to use it. No buts, it's the winner! Plus, since New Zealand has the Union Jack on our flag, we get to use it too!

How about this? FMA: All your base are belong to us, yours are our mini-skirts and discussion of FMA timely. Nuts are go make your post!

[SIZE=1][COLOR=crimson]I voted for Naruto since it's the only series on the list that I watch. I don't even know what Fruits Basket is, but the others I simply haven't seen. I think a welcome return to series-specific anime forums is quite timely, I never got used to the one-thread-per-anime idea. It works when the conversation revolves around the latest episode, but when threads about other aspects of the series are merged into the one thread to compete with other conversations on that anime, it can get quite jumbled and confusing. Maybe it's just me, but I do think having anime-specific forums will encourage more activity in the Anime Lounge. Having said that. I do hope a forum for my favourite anime, One Piece, makes it up there eventually.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

My text messages ringtone is set to the Fox News Alert theme. I couldn't find a ringtone of it so I ripped the audio from a tape and turned it into a ringtone .mp3. Yes. My ringtone is the Fox News Alert. Because it's awesome.

The mechanic I go to is a straight-up guy. He's never tried to sell me anything I don't need and he even goes out of his way to find the cheapest option for me. Some mechanics are shady people who will try to squeeze more money out of people who don't know the workings of a car from a bar of sopa. Then again, you'd get computer techs who do the same thing. Rip-off scamsters, gah.

[color=teal]To be more serious on this, reducing our pollution is definately a good thing. I'm already doing my bit, cutting down on what I put into the air or down the drain, The thing is, I just don't need some boffin telling me the world will go to hell in a handcart if I don't. I'll clean up my act for the sake of keeping the planet pretty, not because I believe that we'll turn this planet into another Venus if we ignore the issue. The biofuel crap really bugs me though. Food crops destoroyed for the sake of taking fuel from the top rather than the bottom. Ironic that this predicament is more likely to send the world into that proverbial handcart.[/color]

Well that does it. I'm going to have to get a long-distance girlfriend now! I've resolved to make my carbon footprin as large as possible just to stick it to whoever coined the term "carbon footprint." The whole global-warming myth is a joke. How can carbon emissions resulting from fuel under the earth be considered "bad carbon" while carbon from biofuels, the stuff that's made from the stuff food used to be made out of, be considered "good" carbon? Both fuels release carbon into the atmosphere, but the so-called "biofuel" lays waste to food crops to achieve this. God help this wacky world!

Seeking and finding springs to mind here. If you go about your business on Friday the 13th expecting and looking for spooky, scary or just plain weird stuff, you're going to find it. Spend the 13th like a normal day like I did, and it will be a normal day. I did however, have a wacky, freaky and unusual Thursday the 12th, but it doesn't mean ALL Thursday the 12th's are cursed days.