The "Freeola Customer Forum" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Being a non-Christian is excellent, because I don't have to stick to a system of rules that govern how I live my life. It gets even better, because I don't feel that I have to impose my way of life on other people, opting instead for a simple, non-offensive attitude to see me through the day. This leads to meeting people that actually like me for the way I treat them with respect, and how I am tolerant of their beliefs. No-one can try to make me feel guilty or humble, by telling me that a total stranger, who may or not have existed 1000 years ago, died for my sins, which I hadn't even committed yet. The closest I've ever come to being emotionally blackmailed is by my cat, when it whines to get at the kitty treats. It learnt to shut up and wait.
I went to a Christian school - it was just nearer than all the other schools. I got good results, was polite, didn't smoke, drink, take drugs or play with girls - I was a model pupil. But I was still forced to repent my sins to someone else's God. If I didn't want to, fine, but I had to get up in front of the whole school and make a fool of myself because they snuck it in at the end of assembly. Despite this, I excelled in Religious Education, even though I had no interest in it. It got a bit boring, because we only ever learnt about one religion. If it wasn't for the fact that we had some Asian kids at our school, I would have been completely oblivious that any other religions actually existed outside of Christianity. Amazingly, we had a Jewish teacher for a subject that was basically a recruitment camp for a religion that shunned the plight of millions of Jews only 50 years ago. It's astonishing how totally blinkered and bias the RE syllabus is. I did hear recently that they were introducing other religions into the subject. What enlightened times we live in.
What I love most about being a Non-Christian, are the many fun and exciting ways there are of winding up the members of the Christian religion that take their faith a little too seriously. All you have to do is mention that there may be other forms of faith and religion that are better, or another God has a more booming voice and more arms, and they get all uppity. Sometimes it's not even a challenge. Take our beloved Forest Fan, for example. So convinced is he that his faith is the way forward for all humanity, he goes into this armadillo-type state of defensiveness should anybody question it. Honestly, he's more tightly wound-up than a Danish whirl in a vice. Have you ever seen anyone with shell shock? Sometimes they go into a trance, endlessly repeating phrases and sentences, over and over and over... That's what Forest Fan sounds like when you rattle his cage. Sorry to single him out, but he really is a babbling brook of bullsh*t.
One thing I do find interesting about the Christian faith, is the many ways of insulting us non-Christians. All that "thou shalt love my neighbour" nonsense goes straight out the window, if your neighbour is of a different religion. Christ on a bike, what if your neighbour is a gay!? Imagine that - a homosexual, living in a house, next door to you - would you love him (or her) then? You couldn't possibly, your religion forbids it. A gay Jew? What a mind-mental for the Christians! Imagine not knowing this vital information and then starting a conversation with one. What would your God think of you then? Better just isolate yourself from the rest of the world now. Better yet, find some fantastic way of forcing everyone else to be just like you - here's a fancy title you might like for your campaign: "The Final solution".
I was at the train station the other day, and there was a poster quoting a passage from the Bible in one of those big plastic-fronted advertising windows. It was basically calling me a fool. Now if I put up a poster saying "Suck my c*ck, or else you're a c*nt", it would get torn down pretty quickly, and I'd probably get lumped round the head a few times - even if I hid it behind some fancy religious posturing. So why should I put up with this childish name-calling? My example may have been a bit extreme, but the same sentiment is used - if you don't agree with my way of thinking, then I am allowed to call you names. There's no difference, it just gets shrugged off because the insult isn't harmful enough to penetrate. It just makes all Christians look like a bitter, hateful bunch, unable to see past their own misguided and outdated wisdom and lack of tolerance. Hopefully Forest Fan will reply to this, and you'll get some A1 examples of what I'm on about.
Yip, I'm a practising non-Christian, and damn proud of it.
I went to a Christian school - it was just nearer than all the other schools. I got good results, was polite, didn't smoke, drink, take drugs or play with girls - I was a model pupil. But I was still forced to repent my sins to someone else's God. If I didn't want to, fine, but I had to get up in front of the whole school and make a fool of myself because they snuck it in at the end of assembly. Despite this, I excelled in Religious Education, even though I had no interest in it. It got a bit boring, because we only ever learnt about one religion. If it wasn't for the fact that we had some Asian kids at our school, I would have been completely oblivious that any other religions actually existed outside of Christianity. Amazingly, we had a Jewish teacher for a subject that was basically a recruitment camp for a religion that shunned the plight of millions of Jews only 50 years ago. It's astonishing how totally blinkered and bias the RE syllabus is. I did hear recently that they were introducing other religions into the subject. What enlightened times we live in.
What I love most about being a Non-Christian, are the many fun and exciting ways there are of winding up the members of the Christian religion that take their faith a little too seriously. All you have to do is mention that there may be other forms of faith and religion that are better, or another God has a more booming voice and more arms, and they get all uppity. Sometimes it's not even a challenge. Take our beloved Forest Fan, for example. So convinced is he that his faith is the way forward for all humanity, he goes into this armadillo-type state of defensiveness should anybody question it. Honestly, he's more tightly wound-up than a Danish whirl in a vice. Have you ever seen anyone with shell shock? Sometimes they go into a trance, endlessly repeating phrases and sentences, over and over and over... That's what Forest Fan sounds like when you rattle his cage. Sorry to single him out, but he really is a babbling brook of bullsh*t.
One thing I do find interesting about the Christian faith, is the many ways of insulting us non-Christians. All that "thou shalt love my neighbour" nonsense goes straight out the window, if your neighbour is of a different religion. Christ on a bike, what if your neighbour is a gay!? Imagine that - a homosexual, living in a house, next door to you - would you love him (or her) then? You couldn't possibly, your religion forbids it. A gay Jew? What a mind-mental for the Christians! Imagine not knowing this vital information and then starting a conversation with one. What would your God think of you then? Better just isolate yourself from the rest of the world now. Better yet, find some fantastic way of forcing everyone else to be just like you - here's a fancy title you might like for your campaign: "The Final solution".
I was at the train station the other day, and there was a poster quoting a passage from the Bible in one of those big plastic-fronted advertising windows. It was basically calling me a fool. Now if I put up a poster saying "Suck my c*ck, or else you're a c*nt", it would get torn down pretty quickly, and I'd probably get lumped round the head a few times - even if I hid it behind some fancy religious posturing. So why should I put up with this childish name-calling? My example may have been a bit extreme, but the same sentiment is used - if you don't agree with my way of thinking, then I am allowed to call you names. There's no difference, it just gets shrugged off because the insult isn't harmful enough to penetrate. It just makes all Christians look like a bitter, hateful bunch, unable to see past their own misguided and outdated wisdom and lack of tolerance. Hopefully Forest Fan will reply to this, and you'll get some A1 examples of what I'm on about.
Yip, I'm a practising non-Christian, and damn proud of it.
Page:
cookie monster wrote:
> Indeed, and if incest is prohibited, how on earth did we all get
> here?
The human race is a bunch of MoFo's! :-)
> Indeed, and if incest is prohibited, how on earth did we all get
> here?
The human race is a bunch of MoFo's! :-)
Pandaemonium wrote:
> cookie monster wrote:
> Unless Eve had wide hips and we are all her children.
>
> If that were the case, I imagine there would be a lot more one eyed
> babies, banjoy duels, and "Sqealing like pigs" ;)
Heh, unless of course adam and eve were the epitome of perfect genetics.
> cookie monster wrote:
> Unless Eve had wide hips and we are all her children.
>
> If that were the case, I imagine there would be a lot more one eyed
> babies, banjoy duels, and "Sqealing like pigs" ;)
Heh, unless of course adam and eve were the epitome of perfect genetics.
I'm not a christian, heck I'm not even religious. But if you seriously think that all christians are an uppity bunch of homophobes who looks down on anyone who doesn't have the same beliefs as them, then you're serously mistaken.
cookie monster wrote:
> Unless Eve had wide hips and we are all her children.
If that were the case, I imagine there would be a lot more one eyed babies, banjoy duels, and "Sqealing like pigs" ;)
> Unless Eve had wide hips and we are all her children.
If that were the case, I imagine there would be a lot more one eyed babies, banjoy duels, and "Sqealing like pigs" ;)
WòókieeMøn§†€® wrote:
> According to the Bible, Adam & Eve were the first people on
> Earth, and we are led to believe they were much like we are today.
Indeed, and if incest is prohibited, how on earth did we all get here?
Unless Eve had wide hips and we are all her children.
> According to the Bible, Adam & Eve were the first people on
> Earth, and we are led to believe they were much like we are today.
Indeed, and if incest is prohibited, how on earth did we all get here?
Unless Eve had wide hips and we are all her children.
Flockhart wrote:
WE ARE THE NON-CHRISTIANS
> we make our choices
> we live our lives
> we don't hear voices
> our morality thrives
> you do what you're told
> your minds not your own
> war is created
> by the seeds that you've sown
>
>
> i hope you like that i wrote it in 2 minutes.
i thought it needed a title
WE ARE THE NON-CHRISTIANS
> we make our choices
> we live our lives
> we don't hear voices
> our morality thrives
> you do what you're told
> your minds not your own
> war is created
> by the seeds that you've sown
>
>
> i hope you like that i wrote it in 2 minutes.
i thought it needed a title
Blank wrote:
> I think this is probably the author's best post ever.
I agree
> I think this is probably the author's best post ever.
I agree
And everything PB said about religion not being the problem, just the way people abuse it by using it to manipulate people.
Good example about the football too. :-)
Good example about the football too. :-)
The old testament was a historic account of the Jewish race, sort of.
Genesis was most likely worked out by the philosiphers of the time, much like the big bang theorists of today.
They did pretty well for the knowledge of the time, working out that the Sun came first, then the earth develloped an atmosphere, rained oceans, that life started as plants and it all started in the sea.
Ofcourse, they didn't quite have the insight to imagine the complexities of environmental devellopment and evolution of life and guessed the solution which made the most sense to them - God made it, just like they make their lunch.
Great idea's, but then some idiot's decided it should be taken as "Gospel" truth and refused to think further on the matter.
Such is life.
Genesis was most likely worked out by the philosiphers of the time, much like the big bang theorists of today.
They did pretty well for the knowledge of the time, working out that the Sun came first, then the earth develloped an atmosphere, rained oceans, that life started as plants and it all started in the sea.
Ofcourse, they didn't quite have the insight to imagine the complexities of environmental devellopment and evolution of life and guessed the solution which made the most sense to them - God made it, just like they make their lunch.
Great idea's, but then some idiot's decided it should be taken as "Gospel" truth and refused to think further on the matter.
Such is life.
In answer to the original post. Why do people insist on pointing at a small percentage of people on the planet and saying 'ah, everyone must be the same as that'? Religion is a personal and a public thing, but it is also many different things to many different people.
'a gay Jew living next door to a Christian? shock, horror.' No, not really. You'll probably find at least a few of these type of situations in your area and what does it give you? Neighbours with different views who may wave to each other but not share a drink.
The one major thing that gives people cause for creating trouble is ignorance. Ignorance of someone else's point of view or where they are coming from and ignorance that people can have a different idea of life than you. Add in some born leaders who are good at understanding the public sway of attitudes and then mass brainwashing those people with any means necessary (using religion, race, politics or any other tool to as a means to achieve their goal) and you have trouble on a grand scale, but religion in itself causing this? Can't see it.
Yes, some religious groups really do try to shove their message in the faces of those who aren't yet with them, but these have all been started by people with an agenda that wasn't part of the original religion. If you take the fundamental basics of most religions, you will find that they encourage tolerance, peace and understanding. Once this is handed to a leader with policital or social motives beyond the religion it is transformed into a tool that more often than not turns itself on the message which it was originally intended to give.
In a way, religion is a bit like Football. The basic football game is simple with a simple aim and objective of scoring more points than the opposition. It can be played on many levels and once money and social elements are involved then it becomes more of a business. The aim for the bosses becomes how expensive your players are and how you can run a business, but the basic elements can remain the same. Fans (the congregation) would support their team and help them win by ensuring rules are fair and everything goes according to plan, but then social elements are introduced and we have hooligans, abuse and undermining of the rules. Is this, then, the fault of Football itself? No, it is degradation and manipulation of the sport to suit the needs of those few who have their own agendas and all this time the basic game is still played by those who have not changed the intention on park fields, in schools and in football grounds everywhere by honest people with honest rules.
'a gay Jew living next door to a Christian? shock, horror.' No, not really. You'll probably find at least a few of these type of situations in your area and what does it give you? Neighbours with different views who may wave to each other but not share a drink.
The one major thing that gives people cause for creating trouble is ignorance. Ignorance of someone else's point of view or where they are coming from and ignorance that people can have a different idea of life than you. Add in some born leaders who are good at understanding the public sway of attitudes and then mass brainwashing those people with any means necessary (using religion, race, politics or any other tool to as a means to achieve their goal) and you have trouble on a grand scale, but religion in itself causing this? Can't see it.
Yes, some religious groups really do try to shove their message in the faces of those who aren't yet with them, but these have all been started by people with an agenda that wasn't part of the original religion. If you take the fundamental basics of most religions, you will find that they encourage tolerance, peace and understanding. Once this is handed to a leader with policital or social motives beyond the religion it is transformed into a tool that more often than not turns itself on the message which it was originally intended to give.
In a way, religion is a bit like Football. The basic football game is simple with a simple aim and objective of scoring more points than the opposition. It can be played on many levels and once money and social elements are involved then it becomes more of a business. The aim for the bosses becomes how expensive your players are and how you can run a business, but the basic elements can remain the same. Fans (the congregation) would support their team and help them win by ensuring rules are fair and everything goes according to plan, but then social elements are introduced and we have hooligans, abuse and undermining of the rules. Is this, then, the fault of Football itself? No, it is degradation and manipulation of the sport to suit the needs of those few who have their own agendas and all this time the basic game is still played by those who have not changed the intention on park fields, in schools and in football grounds everywhere by honest people with honest rules.
Page: