Otakuboards Religious Thread

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[QUOTE=Fyodark]Hey guys, I know this is really dumb, but this just sorta sparked in my mind. Remember [I]The Blair Witch Project[/I] ? Did this movie (or movie(s) if you include the just as lame sequel) have ANY connection to actual witches or wicca? I doubt it, but just a thought.

I know NOTHING about wicca etc, but just the fact that its in a forest, forests are nature, wicca is based on nature (maybe I do no a little bit :p ) so maybe it was loosely based on actual facts or something.

But man, were those ridiculous movies :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

[color=darkviolet]Yes, I remeber Blair Witch and I though it was really stupid, also the footage made me nauseas. How any person could actually find something like that scary is beyond me.

As for the connection it may have with Wicca or Witchcraft in general, I don't see it. Yes, it was set in the woods, but so are some other movies.

The way I see it is that the word Witch in the movies was being used in the way stereotypical witch is supposed to act. Scare people, eat people, that sort of thing. It was more of a hollywood witch than an actual witch. So in my opinion it has nothing to do with my religion

Whoa look I think I ranted. Okay, next![/color]

____________________________________________________________________
[quote name='Gelgoog Pilot']Uhhhhh......I think you are a little confused there. See Catholics are a sub-group OF christianity. To be a christian is to blelieve that Jesus was the son of God. I know this because I was a Catholic for oh.....say 17 years. I sorta stopped believing in it. heh. Anyway You might mean a difference between catholics and protastants or methodists and such. All these I listed (and there are more) are sub-groups of christianity.[/quote]

[color=darkviolet]Actually, you're [b]BOTH[/b] right. For some reason some Christian sects actually look down on the Catholic religion becaus etehy think it's a bit liberal-I think it's the saints thing.

Of course, I already said my part in my reply prior to this, I just thought you may want to know that there are two ways to look at this religion.

____________________________________________________________________

As for religions borrowing from religions there seems to be a lot of that going around-especially with the Christians (I'm not picking on anyone, I'm just pointing out a simple fact that I will undoubtedly need a flak vest and a kevlar for later.)

an obvious example of this fact is Yule/Christmas-unless you're of the EasternOthodox Christian tradition which celebrates Christmas in the spring-. The basic story of that is that Early Christians pushed the date back siocne nobody really knows the time when Christ was born and tells the people that they're worshipping too early and they have the wrong guy.

Another example is the If you can't beat 'em join 'em idea. When the early Christians came to Ireland to convert The Celts they had this goddess named Brigid and weren't willing to give her up so instead these priests made her into a Saint and said she nursed the Infant Jesus. Interesting huh?[/color]

[DeadSeraphim]

[QUOTE=ChibiHorsewoman][color=darkviolet]
an obvious example of this fact is Yule/Christmas-unless you're of the EasternOthodox Christian tradition which celebrates Christmas in the spring-. The basic story of that is that Early Christians pushed the date back siocne nobody really knows the time when Christ was born and tells the people that they're worshipping too early and they have the wrong guy.[/color][/QUOTE]

... What the hell? I was under the impression tha Christmas is on the 25th because that was the traditional time of a pagan celebration. It was easier just to change the name of the day.

[Mikkaddo]

[COLOR=DarkRed]concerning "Blair Witch" it is an old western american urban legend, it stems from your typical witch story . . . just shapped to match is all, you know, old woman, witch craft, selfdamnation, then th rumors, and then enter the group of moronic youths (or should I say . . . and then starts the movie) that are trying to see if its real or not . . . thats all it is, the connection to Wicca? the "Witch" was a . . . witch (betcha didn't see that one coming huh?) theres no other connections though, the sequal was fully BSed, it took a tiny bit of history behind the urban legend and went down hill from there[/COLOR]

[Mnemolth]

[QUOTE=IceWolfEyes]I wonder if anyone could explain the differences between Catholics and Christians. I know they stemmed from the same religion, but after that the definition gets fuzzy.
Icewolfeyes[/QUOTE]

I'm sure there are gonna be holes in this but it's basically on the right track. Because I'm gonna be brief, it's gonna oversimplify things a bit.

Christianity in the middle ages, rested with Catholicism. The road to Heaven went through the Church (and by Church here I mean the Catholic Church). But a few hundred years ago, around about the 16th century, there was a revolt, or revolution, initiated mainly by a Catholic priest, Martin Luther. He wasn't happy with the way the Church went about it's business. He thought it had moved away from it's purpose, there was too much corruption, etc. Anyway, seems like a whole bunch of people agreed with him, and a movement, the Reformation, was underway that changed the state of Christianity. The 'reformers' were labeled 'Protestants', protesting against the status quo. They wanted a more personal and direct relationship with God. There were disillusioned with the Church.

So basically there are two main groups of Christians. Catholics and Protestants. But don't think it's all that simple. Because not all Catholics or Protestants are the same. So within Catholicism there are denominations, like the Jesuits, Dominicans and so on, and they have slightly different views on things. On the Protestant side, there are the Anglicans, the Uniting Church, and so on. Most evangelists are Protestants, so most of mid-west would be Protestant. Actually I think the majority of 'Christians' in the US are Protestants.

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, the Protestants believe in a more direct relationship with God. It's more individualistic. And at the root of their belief is that Jesus died for our sins, and so our salvation lies within his sacrifice. So you hear a lot of stuff about 'accepting' Jesus and so on. The idea behind that is that you don't get to Heaven by doing good deeds or atonement (paying for sins you've done), but by accepting Jesus, by acknowledging his sacrifice.

Does that mean that if I 'accept' Jesus, I can become a mass murderer and still go to Heaven?? Not really, because if you truly accepted Jesus and his suffering for you, you wouldn't be the sort of person capable of doing something like that. Or something like that, I'm sure there are Protestant here who can give you the details.

As for the Catholics, they also believed in Jesus dying for our sins. But they also think that we need to do things as well, like confessing to our sins, and paying penance to atone for them.

So, in a nutshell, that's the difference between Catholics and Protestants.

As a side note, in some places in the world, protestants refer to themselves as 'Christians'. This is where it can get a bit confusing. They don't think Catholics are Christians because they don't think Catholics 'accept' the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. This is because the Catholics believe in the Holy Trinity, The Father, Son and Holy Ghost. To Protestants, there is only Jesus and he is God, and that's the beginning and end of the matter.

So if you ask them what religion they believe in, they'll reply Christian. And if you ask them whether they're Catholic or not, they look you blankly in the face and say, "Didn't I just tell you I was Christian?" :)

Now if you want to talk about Hinduism and Buddhism, that's a whole different kettle of fish! :)

[Semjaza]

[QUOTE=ChibiHorsewoman][color=darkviolet]The burning times refere to the time between 1484 when Pope Innocent VIII wrote his Papal Bull (I'd like to add a four letter word onto that) quickly followed by the Malleus Malleficarum or Witches Hammer by Heinrich Kramer and Jakob Sprenger two German Monks in 1486 and lasted until the late 1700's with the last excecution happening in Poland in 1793.

Interestingly enough, I think a movie truely based on this would be more violent than The Passion since so many people were totured and klilled.

But enough about that, it's history. History we should learn from, but still history.[/color][/QUOTE]


I started looking into this, mostly out of boredom. All I've found on the subject was a film titled "The Burning Times" that came out in 1990. It's apparently a documentary. From what I've read about it, people seem to think rather highly of it, so it might be worth checking out. Seems like quite a few places online sell it, if you're interested.

[Dan L]

[QUOTE=IceWolfEyes]Actually, Gelgoog Pilot, I'm only confused about how they differ from one another. And, if you can believe this, Christianity evolved from the Jewish religion. The forerunners for Christianity were Jewish (Jesus was Jewish, heh). Problem was, we believe in the one G-d, and the forerunners wanted Jesus to be our Messiah. The general population did not accept the idea, and Christianity was born. From Christianity branched several different religions, among them the Catholics. Now, what I want to know is, why did the Catholics branch off? What do they believe that is so radically different from Christianity that they had to rename their faith?

Icewolfeyes

*Edit* So, Chibi, they pray to saints instead of to Jesus?[/QUOTE]

Actually, Catholicism never really "branched off" and re-named itself.

Firstly, Christianity was never really given a name as a religion to start off with. After a few years people outside it started calling us "Christians", and so the name stuck.

But the word "Catholic" actually means "Including or concerning all humankind; universal:". The word Catholic actually appears in Anglican liturgy- "I believe in the one Holy and Catholic church".

Of course, we can't be referring to the actual denomination in that liturgy, because if we believe that Catholics are the one holy church, then surely we're in the wrong place?

The Roman Catholics are called such because of this-

The base of the religion is in Rome, and the religion is universal- open to anyone, including Gentiles- which is the main difference that came with Christianity.

So although nowadays the Roman Catholic church is thought of by many to not be Christianity, actually it never changed the name of the religion, because the name isn't so much the religion as a statement about it.

And in fact, the other denominations branched off from Catholicism, not the other way around, because the ones leading those divides felt that Catholicism was missing the point (And then there's Henry the 8th, who just wanted a divorce but couldn't- so Anglicanism on the whole isn't actually a great deal different from Catholicism because he didn't really want to worship any differently, he just wanted to get rid of his wife).


As for Mnelmolth's statement that Protestants don't believe in the Holy Spirit, I have no idea [i]where[/i] you got that from, but certainly not from the majority of protestants.

[Skye]

Damn I missed a lot... ::coughs::

Anywho, yeah. I go to a Unitarian Univesalist Church/Congregation. Gods, I could go on and on anbout UUism. Its really complicated, so I won't. LOL, Has anyone else noticed I say ?gods? instead of god? I haven?t really chosen a God/dess to worship, yet, so I like to keep it widely varied. My best friends mom is a pagan, as is Alia(My best friend). Her mom is a priestess to Ma?at, the Egyptian goddess of Justice and balance. Alia is a witch, like me, with much Celtic and Wiccan backdrop.

I went to a Christian church for half my life(which is only 13 years), and then we found UUCG. UUCG is a congregation made up of Jews, Christians(Yes), Wiccans, Witches, Hindus, Budists, just about every religion you can think of! In my COA class(don?t ask), we had a Trinitarian Unitarian Christian(figure that one out) come talk to us, and he actually got the whole class to THINK. Sorry, but we are ages 13-16, so we got destracted easily.

One member of our congregation is very ld(84, I think she said), and when she was a teen, she fell in love with a black man(ugh, I hate saying black), and they wanted to marry. Back then?. ****, I?m getting off subject. ^^;

[Epitome]

[size=1]Wow, I didnt realize that this thread would cause so much discussion, but anyways. I have been reading through alot of the posts and I might be mistaken but I havent seen anyone say that they were Jewish, or at least I havent read any that do say that. And I am also glad to see that there is a wide variety of religions on the borads, which to me is great.

But to stay on topic, I got sick today. And it made me start thinking about the religion that Tom Cruise believes in and him and Nicole Kidman(sp?), his ex-wife, split up for. It believes in that when you become sick or when something bad happens to you, your God is very displeased with you and he thinks of that as a punishment for you. Its scientology(sp?) I believe. And I was wondering what you all thought on this as well, do you believe that sickness or a bad day is caused because of your unloyalty to your God? I dont but I would like to hear your opinions on this.[/size]

[Godelsensei]

[COLOR=Gray][SIZE=2][FONT=Courier New]Now, now, don't turn into Carrie's mom here, Hataki Vash. Well, you said you don't believe it's true, so you're not. But you know what I meant, right? *sweat*

Obviously, being an atheist, I don't think this is true. I should hope no one else does, as it seems like this is a very Dark-Ages kind of opinion to posess.

About the Tom Cruise thing, thank you for answering a question I have been vaguely wondering about once every three months.^^" I thought there was some religious group alot of these big-time actors were involved in...never knew for sure.

Not that it matters. *shrug*

PS: I love your banner.^^[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Mikkaddo]

[COLOR=DarkRed]really? by that reasoning the powers that be shine down on me! Im almost never sick, and when I am, its always like . . . 2 days? ahh! going off on a tagent! AB ABES TANGENS MONSTRUM! anyway . . . I also noticed that no one at least not yet said anything about being jewish . . . don't know why, but they didn't[/COLOR]

[Shinken]

Well, I figure it's time I stir up some conversation once again! :D

I think it might be very productive if people posted why they believe in their respective denomination(s). (I sincerely hope that people don't start posting why there religion is "right", and why everyone else's is "wrong".)

Myself, well, as for Christianity... I can't really disregard the likelihood of the existence of a God, and I also can't ignore my upbringing.

As for Buddhism, it just feels right for me. Every single facet of it fits my personality, and it's just something I agree with. Also, many portions of Christian doctrine just didn't seem necessary to me, so I found myself looking for something a bit more practical, in my opinion. So, lo and behold, my Global History teacher started talking about Buddhism. Everything about it made sense, so I went on and started learning more about it, as did my friend Steve. Next thing you know, we're the only two Buddhists in the entire school! (A somewhat close-guarded fact, due to the amount of morons in our school who take any facet of individuality and turn it against you for the masses.)

So, how did others come into their religion, and why?

[Mikkaddo]

[COLOR=DarkRed]well theres a funny story behind why Im animalist, but first, I am the only one at my school . . . and can tell no one but my friends out of the knowledge that the many many morons there would only ridicule me for it . . . anyway. when I was still very young I was getting catholisism shoved into me, so I started to read up on it, and it just didn't make much sense to me (and please no arguments . . . Im not saying its wrong nor trying to make an argument). but I was also interested in Theology in general, so I started to read up on other religions as well. lo and behold, I found Wiccan, it was so amazing, all the different divisions of it, all of them drasticaly different in ritual and teachings. soon I found Animalism within it. I read about its story of "creation" which doesn't start at a "begining" but rather an end, and it made sense to me. it made sense as I had always believed that time couldn't have just suddenly up and started, what Animalism said is that the world died, and was revived. also I had always believed in reincarnation, and it spoke of the souls of the dead being take from the earth, and put back after each person's birth. this was comforting to me as I had not seen anything this sensible in most of the other religions I had read about. then I made a far more comforting discovery, a friend of mine for many years, was already an animalist! which was astounding to me as I had just discovered it a year before. however, there is a problem, my family is so devoutly catholic that were I to say anything about being even close to Wiccan they would most probably disown me . . . so I can't tell them that. and also I have only mentioned tiny bits and pieces of what Animalism teaches of "creation" this is to avoid any heated arguments that could follow, Chibihorsewoman knows why . . . and I certainly don't intend to act as Narius did. but I hope too (and Im starting to ramble so if it no longer makes any sense don't worry its normal) that this helps those that may have been wondering why I chose animalism as what I follow. [/COLOR]

[Narius]

Funny because you just said the same thing I said about my beliefs, but about your own, only less bluntly. You say A certain religion didn't make sense to you, as did I, You said you believed in something else that pretty much went completely against the teachings of another religion, as did I. Strange how someone who did the same thing as me would actually then judge me in the same post. Guh, some people's children.

[IceWolfEyes]

Hey, guys, I think you conveniently forgot to read some of my posts. I AM JEWISH. There, I feel better now.


[QUOTE]Funny because you just said the same thing I said about my beliefs, but about your own, only less bluntly. You say A certain religion didn't make sense to you, as did I, You said you believed in something else that pretty much went completely against the teachings of another religion, as did I. Strange how someone who did the same thing as me would actually then judge me in the same post. Guh, some people's children.[/QUOTE]

Narius--Please do not compare you to me. I did say that I didn't understand certain religions, but I also asked for explanations by the people who practice them. Note the difference.

[Narius]

[QUOTE=IceWolfEyes]Hey, guys, I think you conveniently forgot to read some of my posts. I AM JEWISH. There, I feel better now.




Narius--Please do not compare you to me. I did say that I didn't understand certain religions, but I also asked for explanations by the people who practice them. Note the difference.

Icewolfeyes[/QUOTE]
The post was quite obviously pointed towards the post directly above it...it in fact reffers to specific things in said post. And who's to say I haven't heard explanations of others religions? You assume too much of me.

[Mikkaddo]

[COLOR=DarkRed]Uhh no. Narius what I said was completely separate from what you said, I made no generalizations about the followers of any religion. you said that all those that follow religion follow it blindly. your now saying that I self-contradicted, I did nothing of the sort, also I in no way offened anyone, and the fact that I said it less than as you stated "bluntly" proves that. were I to state exactly what describes it, it would be sure to offend people. so because of that I said it in such a way that was unoffensive. and that is unlike any of your posts, including the one regarding IceWolfEyes' missread. where you meant to cause contraversy, I only stated my beliefs. for you to compare me to yourself in that sort of way is in it self ridiculous, elementary, and immature. frankly if thats the way you choose to deal with those that believe differently you have no business dealing with anyone of any society. [/COLOR]

[Narius]

Once again the degrading flames of a childish fool. Perhaps you want to remain on topic rather than trying to belittle me hmm? Or is your arguement so flimsy you have to use personal attacks to keep up? That would make much more sense in this case. Lets see here.

I made no generalizations at any time, I said some of them, or I said it is stupid to be like one, once again your reading comprehension is just so pathetic it almost makes me want to cry. I mean have you passed grade three english? I would seriously love to know if you have, cuz it would amaze me if you did. Uh yeah, you offend me, by continuously flaming my person in a thread where until now I simply stated my beliefs then you went on a rant about me being contradictory, childish etc. etc., so yeah you are being quite a dick, not to everyone just to me. Ooooo somebody has a belief that contradicts mine! Lets whine and not give anything contributing towards the discussion, lets just make stupid snide remarks towards his personality because we have nothing better to do. And I'm supposedly the bad guy here. Strange how that works out.

Now back to you, yes you stated your beliefs, and stated that you believed that a certain religion didn't make sense, which is of course what I had said which started this entire arguement, and you know the downward spiral of people just being rediculously childish towards the entire situation.

...and as for the last sentence...Isn't that precisely what you are doing right now? I believe that religion is not true, once again I state BELIEVE, incase you guys miss that again, so to say that I treat people with differing views childishly or with aggression would double back on you quite a bit more, since you are personally attacking me for my beliefs. I on the other hand am now personally attack you because well, your a hypocrite like I said before and quite a dumb one at that.

[Godelsensei]

[COLOR=Gray][FONT=Courier New]...*sweat drop*

Honestly, you guys...you're acting like France and England here!

Anyway, to answer the question that was asked some posts ago...

Though it doesn't entirely adhere to your question, "how did you go about believing in your religion", as I have none, I will answer accordingly.

It's kind of blurry, to be quite honest, as I gave up on religion when I was six years old. However, I think what really made me question my beliefs was when I was talking to some sixth graders at the (inadequate) school I attended at the time.
One of them was whining about having to give something up for Lent, or something like that, and I asked why she kept Lent if she hated it.

Her: ...*shrug* I dunno. Just [I]because[/I]. That's what you're supposed to do.

Other kid: You're stupid if you question God. You're going to go to hell.

Me: o.O I'm going now...*walks off to play with Beth, my best friend at the time*

I had had my doubts before, but these two individual's inability to answer such a simple question really made me wonder. I asked my mother the purpose of Lent when I got home that day, and she explained it to me. I then understood the purpose of the holiday, but I still scrutinized it.
The gears of my six-year-old mind were whirring rapidly for weeks after that. If my mother said it was true, it had to be. Right?

Well, it's kind of an anti-climax, but I woke up the day after Easter and thought, "What the hell?" I spent the next four or five years pretending I believed in God, but you know...when my dad finally informed me that he, too, was an atheist (I guess he'd been reluctant to, as my mom had taught me some of the basic stuff about Jesus and whatnot--not that she's super-relgigious or anything, but you know...).
Maybe it wasn't an evil thing, after all.

And it's not. *shrug*[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Guest Crimson Spider]

[QUOTE=Dan L]
And in fact, the other denominations branched off from Catholicism, not the other way around, because the ones leading those divides felt that Catholicism was missing the point (And then there's Henry the 8th, who just wanted a divorce but couldn't- so Anglicanism on the whole isn't actually a great deal different from Catholicism because he didn't really want to worship any differently, he just wanted to get rid of his wife).
[/QUOTE]


That's not what I heard. The story that is in many modern history books:

O.K. There was somewhat of a devide in the Christian Church. A group (known today as Catholic) believed that you were to use symbols such as the statue of Jesus to pray while the other side (eventually called protestant) did not.

That was kinda it. The two eventually split, and Catholicims dominated Europe. The rest a rather insulting history.

[Retribution]

Im a Christian because

1. It's my upbringing.
2. It's doctrines make sense to me. Only a couple of the explainations baffle me because some things, humans can't comprehend divine happenings.

Some things are a mystery to all religions, such as [for instance] the end of the world, stated above, which was actualy the beginning. Sounds 'out of the box'

[Dagger]

[quote name='Godelsensei][COLOR=Gray][FONT=Courier New]Honestly, you guys...you're acting like France and England here![/FONT'][/COLOR][/quote]

I love you, Godel. ^_~

CS, I don't really understand what aspect of Dan's story is supposed to be incorrect.
I, too, was taught that Henry VIII founded Anglicanism. And the issues which lead various Protestant denominations to leave the Catholic Church must have encompassed much more than an objection to the use of religious icons.

Anyway....

I've always been intrigued by the idea of reincarnation. Could somebody list the religions that consider it a possibility? I'd also be interested in learning whether any of them have a positive outlook on reincarnation.

~Dagger~

[Mikkaddo]

[COLOR=DarkRed]To Narius

so says the man who reverts to childish "nany nany boo boo" tactics when faced with the truth, if you truly never belittled anyone but only stated your beliefs, than why did you make such an effort to try and belittle me? why if I am so miussguided do you feel that what is needed is moronic and thoughtless insults rather than actual thought out words? you say Im the one offending and saying that other religions are wrong. I am not, I said yes that it didn't make sense to me, but I never said that it didn't make sense PERIOD, where as you had stated many times that it was all wrong PERIOD, only once or twice saying that it was your belief. you obviously haven't even read your own posts, and have no right to rag on anyone else in this thread, what would be best is to leave the thread, if your so offended. afterall the best way for you to end this aparent endless offense you feel from myself and others is to simply stop posting, yet you continue. explain that.[/COLOR]

[Mikkaddo]

[COLOR=DarkRed]Altron, could you please explain what you mean by "out of the box"? [/COLOR]

[James P. Galvatron]

I was wondering did anyone know any information on the Adventist Church I need to know about it my mother practices it I really don't know much about it so I am not that very much attached to that branch of Christianity.
So if anyone has any information on that church would you please tell me; I also want to know why do so many Christian people always believe when certain things happen its a sign of the end of the world like some people in America are saying the end of the world is coming soon, but they do not realize that just because bad things are happening to America doesn't mean its the end of the cotton pickin world.

One last thing I need to know does anyone have any information on other branches of Christianity and some information about the Islamic religion besides teh slander people at my school have been speaking most Christians believing almost everything the media says.

[Narius]

[QUOTE=Mikkaddo][COLOR=DarkRed]To Narius

so says the man who reverts to childish "nany nany boo boo" tactics when faced with the truth, if you truly never belittled anyone but only stated your beliefs, than why did you make such an effort to try and belittle me? why if I am so miussguided do you feel that what is needed is moronic and thoughtless insults rather than actual thought out words? you say Im the one offending and saying that other religions are wrong. I am not, I said yes that it didn't make sense to me, but I never said that it didn't make sense PERIOD, where as you had stated many times that it was all wrong PERIOD, only once or twice saying that it was your belief. you obviously haven't even read your own posts, and have no right to rag on anyone else in this thread, what would be best is to leave the thread, if your so offended. afterall the best way for you to end this aparent endless offense you feel from myself and others is to simply stop posting, yet you continue. explain that.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]
wasn't any effort at all, don't really have to try to do something that easy, you pretty much do my work for me. Anyways as I said, Up until now I hadn't, but since you neglected to read....again...what a surprise....I said that I'm simply retaliating because you are trying to do it to me. If you had stuck to the facts I would have as well, instead you made it personal, and now your critisizing me for making it personal? Thats the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I once again NEVER...ok seriously read very carefully, like I dunno what you can possibly do to try and understand this any better, I N-E-V-E-R said that they were false, period, I said that what I was saying was my belief, you simply assumed that since I didn't say I wasn't saying that what I say is absolute truth, that that was what I believed, which is stupid. I would know better than you what I meant to say, and since grammatically it never says what you claim I am saying, your entire arguement is fruitless and simply an annoyance. Why should anyone leave the thread? Its called a discussion for a reason, not "Don't post here unless you explisitly agree with everything everyone else says and if you don't then some moron is gonna flame you instead of sticking to the issue."

I see no reason why I should be the one to admit I was wrong when I was obviously not in the wrong at all. Why would I leave the topic when you can do the same just as easily? Explain that.