Quoted: Youve met 10000 and 10000 of thousands of people.

I think you have inflated those numbers quite a bit.

Check your work!

Have inquired as to their faith and belief in jesus Christ and have passed judgement on them as being of immoral character if they dont believe the same beliefs as you.

Nope.

I have met a great number of folks who I have categorized into two separate groups: folks who have good moral characters, and those who don't.

Among those that do, I have consistently found a sincere belief in Christianity. Among those who don't, I have never found a single sincere Christian.

But isn't that what we should all expect?

Remember, I have practiced in Texas and Louisiana, two solid 'Red States', here in the Bible Belt.

Folks here are steeped in Christian religion. And that's a fact, Jack.

Had I practiced elsewhere, my experiences would likely have been different.

(I would have found less folks with good moral characters! )

Nope doesnt make me feel warm and comfy.

Well, I did what I could to make you 'feel' better. It's up to you, now.

More scared and paranoid of people with dogmatic beliefs.

Boo!

Sorry, but that was my poor imitation of the Holy Ghost!



When the Christian Gestapo comes to drag you kicking and screaming out of your parents' house, just tell them that you know Eric The(GrandInquisitor)Hun personally and maybe they'll let you go, eh?

Let's see, how often has that happened in recent history.....hmmm?

Eric The(Don'tBeSkeered,ThatBloodIsOnlyGrapeJuice!)Hun  

Quoted: Regardless of what you believe or what i believe. It was nice to actually have a discussion/debate/conversation on ths forum. And you didnt call me a troll. Makes me feel better about you already.

Thanks. I enjoy good discussions about a lot of subjects, religious matters included.

Im 42. My parents would be unhappy if the christian gestapo came after they invited me and my wife and kid to dinner

I would be willing to bet that your parents are likely just as much Believers as I am, and my parents were.

Am I right?

Christianity used to be the unofficial State Religion of this Republic.

Back during our Golden Age, of course.

Eric The(Lamentable)Hun

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: A myth is a lie. Period. Once again.. What is a metaphor and can you provide an example of one? Well? Yoo hoo, Mr. JohnWayne77? If you addressed this, I missed it. If you haven't addressed this question already, please do. Thanks.

Yoo hoo, Brother JohnWayne777? If you haven't addressed hydgirl's question....

Here is a site that should help you understand hydgirl's belief system nicely. Well, so far as it can  be understood!

www.worldchanges.com/myth.html

When you talk of the 'Big J' around her, she will understand that you are referring to 'Joseph Campbell', and not to some monstrously rolled marihuana cigarette!

And certainly NOT Jesus.

Remember when you first read 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' back in Junior High?

And you went around talking about Randle P. McMurphy, and comparing some teachers to the character of Nurse Ratched?

I call it 'the Catcher in the Rye' Syndrome.

Well, you grew out of that didn't you? Of course!

There were some who read Carl Jung's works in college and NEVER got over them.

Joseph Campbell, apparently, was one such fellow.

Eric The(AndItShowed)Hun

Post from WaWaTuSi -

And yet you sell guns to people you believe to be of poor moral character?

Strange. I see nothing on Form 4473 that requires a 'Yes' answer to 'Are you an individual of good moral character?'

Are you suggesting that I NOT sell weapons to folks who may have poor moral characters?

I know this would be a great idea, for it would disenfranchise most of the folks in Blue States, but surely you cannot be serious?

What does this make you?

A businessman who adheres to the laws of Caesar when conducting a business. No more, no less.

A hypocrite? Or worse?

What foolishness!

I am a hypocrite, as I would venture to beleve that you are, as well, but I will let you declare that you're not.

That should be rich, indeed, to hear.

Got anything of substance left to discuss?

I thought not. It shows. Actually, it has been showing for quite a while, now.

Eric The(Hypocritical)Hun

Quoted: I have to admit that humanist philosophy bores the hell out of me.

It still does, doesn't it?

And the lives  of those humanist philosophers! What wretched examples of humanity they invaribly turned out to be, huh?

Carl Jung spent about four years (1913-1917) struggling with mental illness BEFORE he wrote some of his most 'influential' works!

That's what got me to thinking about 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' when I was reading hydgirl's post!

It did when I studied it extensively in college, and it is even worse now.

Indeed, it is, it always has been, and it always will be.

And when you compare such drivel to the Gospel of Christ, well, it cannot rightly be done.

But anyone with two brain cells to rub together can see this for themselves, IF they are honest.

Hearing a rehash of some stale old Jungian/mythological/common thread argument sounds about as interesting to me as having a root canal.

But, but hydgirl says that it is important to do so in order to put Jungian concepts, as glossed over by Joseph Campbell, in light of her own experiences, into proper perspective!

How can you refuse her, now?

Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt so I could burn it.

Well, then, I suppose that it's only going to be Carl, Joseph, and hydgirl, in that little row boat for now.

By the way, that's METAPHOR!



Eric The(MetaphoricallySpeaking,OfCourse)Hun

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: And you can ask a twelfth time if it would make you happy to do so. Why won't you answer? I'm serious. Do you know what a metaphor is? I don't even mean in the context of mythology or religion. Just in general, what is a metaphor? This is 8th grade english stuff here, friend. 8th grade stuff? Try 4th grade.

Brother JohnWayne777, it is likely that when hydgirl went through school, 'metaphors' were taught in English class in the 8th Grade, not the 4th Grade.

Remember, we are not in 'the Golden Age' of the Republic any longer.

And it shows in our grandchildren's test scores!

Eric The(Granddaddy)Hun

Psst, pssst! Brother JohnWayne777!

[quietly speaking] Here's a cheat sheet on 'metaphors' taken from a Joseph Campbell website, use it and pass it on [/quietly speaking]

Uh-oh! I think that Teacher Ratched hydgirl saw me pass you that note!  Damnit!

'Uh, Yes'm? Note? What note? Oh, you mean this note? Read it to the class? Yes'm!'

A metaphor is a figure of speech that speaks of one thing by describing another. For example, "John runs like a racehorse" is not a metaphor, "John is a racehorse" is. It is certainly an untruth at face value, but it speaks indirectly of the truth.

So the groundwork is laid as this: the collective unconscious is a reservoir of unconscious forms that we are born with; that these forms are identifiable as archetypes; and that mythology is born from the archetypes and speaks directly to our lives metaphorically.

'Uh, Mrs. Teacher Ratched hydgirl? May I throw this in the trash can, now? Thank you.'

Eric The(JustASchoolboyAtHeart)Hun

Quoted: Do you really believe that Jesus meant for you to suspend his Christian moral philosophy when conducting business? Does that make you a 'good' person?

Hmmm. Discussing religious matters with you is like figure skating with a boat anchor, but, for the folks out there in the audience, I will answer you poor miserable questions.

What specifically did Jesus say about selling firearms to folks who were not of good moral character?

That verse seems to have alluded me, perhaps you can bring it to my remembrance?

I would guess NOT!

How about when you are at Hooters ogling and slavering over the 18 year olds as you have shown pictures of yourself doing here?

Ughh! I despise Hooters (the restaurant, of course)!

You must be thinking of George's Bar & Grill in Waco, Texas, right?

What about it?

How does ogling a young lady fir into my understanding of what Jesus would like for me?

It doesn't. Not at all. Zero. Ain't happening.

So? Your point? I mean, IF you have a point at all?

Does that come under the heading of 'adhering to the laws of Ceasar while conducting business? Is that what makes it OK?

If I comply with the laws of Caesar while conducting business regulated by Caesar, I have done only what the Lord would have me do.

Don't you read the Bible, ever?

You always get the self serving answer when answering your own questions, don't you

Yes. Indeed, I do. If no one else deigns to answer my questions, then I am surely entitled to answer them myself.

Yes, it seems you are a hypocrit but you will answer to your  God who, I don't imagine will not approve of how you split hairs.

That is a real matter of concern to me, indeed.

I am working on it, and will continue to work on it.

Until I am married or remarried, it's likely that I will continue to have some real fun with some lovely young ladies, indeed!

But as I tell each and every one of them, I am serious, and serious about marriage.

So, when I am married or remarried, I will have other sins to seek forgiveness for, but lust will not likely be one of them.

Or do you just declare yourself saved and are then free to do as yo please?

If you ever keep up with threads such as these, and you have two brain cells which you can rub together, you would already know that I do NOT consider myself 'saved' in the very least.

So, go back to reading your Mad Magazine or whatever it was you were perusing when this exchange began.

Eric The(What!MeWorry?)Hun

Quoted: Are you two are finished jerking each other off?

Ohh! Is that something that Joseph Campbell would approve of you saying?

Don't you fear his righteous wrath of something?

Metaphorically speaking, of course!

I'm not interested in Eric(theHorndogwithaHobby)Hun's answers, as amusing as he may think they are.

Hey! I'm amused by my answers, as well as with those lovely young things that I have been dating, and that's all that interests me!

I want yours.

But Brother JohnWayne777 doesn't love you like I do, Baby!



Again, metaphorically speaking, of course.

Eric The(MetaphoricalHornDog,Indeed)Hun

Quoted: Quoted: I have no earthly idea about your respective moral characters! Yet you judge us as a-moral based on our beliefs... Sad....

Don't be sad, little buddy, I said that I never judged you!

I don't know you from Adam, and my Master told me not to judge you, so don't get all antsy or anything.

Originally posted from Eric The Hun: I have yet to find anyone who says that they do not believe in Jesus Christ who has a good moral character.

Bullshit. You pre-judge people who have a different belief system than you as "amoral". You choose to not see the good in man. You only see what you percieve to be good in the dogma and doctrine to jude others.

No. I don't.

My, that was easy enough to say, and yet you cannot disprove it, at all!

Nice.

Originally posted by Eric The Hun: I have no earthly idea about the state of their individual moral characters, at all, but what I can see from their societies and their cultures, there is nothing that compels me believe that they have any.

I only googled 377,000 hits searching for "Buddhist charity".   Ignorance is not a virtue my brother.

Gee, I only got 359,000 'hits'!  But when I googled 'Christian' + 'charity', I got 1,920,000 hits!

And since it's very, very likely that these 'Christian' charities are in the business of helping children and victims in predominately Buddhist communities, then I say those Buddhists need to get their squatting azzes in gear!

Ahh so now we get to the nuts and bolts of it.... You think that a child molester or other miscreant is of good moral character if he believes in Jesus de Christo but a fireman who believes in say Odin is of no moral character...... NICE!

Good grief!

Put the crack pipe down, Son!

A 'child molester' is automatically not someone of 'good moral character', is he or she not?

Why would you think that anyone is thinking that he is 'of good moral character'?

Son, your arguments are beginning to get really silly, now.

Shape up!

Metaphorically speaking, of course!

How is that not a judgment?

Oh, I see now!

You are not asking about 'judgment' in the final sense of that term, you wish me to give you a pass on how your life is being lived in the here and now!

Sorry, no can do.

I don't do that in my own life. If I sin, I admit it readily, as you can plainly see.

You are asking me to state that you not rearing your child in Christianity, not bringing him or her to a knowledge of Jesus, and otherwise not giving to your child what your parents likely gave to you is something that I am going to give a nod of approval to in order to not be 'judgmental'???

No way. If you wish to make it personal, then so be it. I would rather keep it impersonal, just because we are likely to be discussing politics on another thread.

Are you that blinded that you can't see it? I wil tell you this I would not teach my childeren that God is outside somewhere up in the clouds....

That is, of course, your decision.

There will be sufficient time for your children to be taught of Jesus by others.

Maybe their own grandparents will seek to take this upon themselves!

Better watch our for your parents now!

They may be slipping some Gospel to them young'uns!  

What kind of missionary should I be looking out for? Please warn me....

Have you told your own parents to keep their mouths shut about Jesus?

Not to take your children to Easter Services?

Not to take them to Confirmation? Cathechism classes? Sunday School classes?

Wow, it really must be great around Christmas time.

People who do not believe in god have a psychological disorder? Your words no?

Yes, indeed. I truly think they do.

But not to worry, such illness can be overcome.

I am a good example of someone who has been healed of such.

If I do not teach my childeren about YOUR OUR God then I am "Some father", Your words no?

Indeed, and if you do NOT teach your children about Jesus, then others will teach them of someone.

And he will likely NOT be Jesus!

People who do not believe in YOUR God do not have morals? Your words no?

My words, No.

Read what I have written, my friend.

From Page 12, third post from the top:

I have yet to find anyone who says that they do not believe in Jesus Christ who has a good moral character.

That's all that I have said. If that somehow wounds you, then be wounded.

I could also go back and quote your attacks on my intelligence, comprehension, etc. But that would be rather boring......

Or your attacks on mine, etc., which would be equally boring, eh?

Originally posted by Eric The Hun: I have no earthly idea how Mithra calls its disciples, but then again, I'm really not interested.

Ask your lodge brothers, Brother....

Trust me, they have no more interest in Mithra than I do.

Originally posted by Eric The Hun: Nonsense. If anything, it was Judaism that influenced Zorastrianism and not the other way around. But then you are not a believer, anyway, so who cares what you think.

Apparently you do.

Actually, no. I merely answer your posts for reasons other than you suppose.

BTW Zorastrianism already had all that same stuff in the new testament.....

Oh good!

Then you can point out the 'Sermon on the Mount' given by Zarathustra, eh?

Let's see it!

Ignorance is bliss eh?

You seem to be a happy fellow, so, yeah, I suppose it is!

"Mithraic sculpture depicted the Taurobolium with invariable consistency. Mithras was always depicted in the cave kneeling on the back of the bull, dagger in hand, wearing a flowing cape and Phrygian cap (the rounded, conical hats currently en vogue amongst rap-music fans). He was shown pulling back the bull's head by its nostrils and stabbing it with the dagger, back foot extended over the bull's right leg. A dog and a snake were shown leaping into bull's wound, representing the dualistic conflict of good and evil at the moment of creation. A scorpion was shown at the bull's genitals, depicting evil seeking to destroy life at its source. Ears of corn sprung from the tail of the bull representing victory of good over evil. During the celebration of the vernal equinox, the Phrygian priests of the Great Mother attributed the blood shed in the Taurobolium to the redemptive power of the blood of the Divine Lamb shed on the Christian Easter. It was maintained that the dramatic Taurobolium purification ritual was more effective than baptism. The food that was taken during the mystic feasts was likened to the bread and wine of the communion; the Mother of the Gods (Magna Mater) received greater worship than the Mother of God (Mary), whose son also had risen again. An inscription in the Mithraeum under the Church of Santa Prisca in Rome referred to Mithras saving men by shedding the eternal blood of the bull. On the very spot on which the last Taurobolium took place at the end of the fourth century, in the Phrygianum, today stands the Vatican's St. Peter's Basilica."

Again, this is pure speculation and is admitted as such by those who offer it up.

Notice how they contrast the two communions. IF the Mithratic rite preceded Christianity, why contrast it?

This is weak, indeed.

Myth is a poweful thing....

Well, since I cannot find a 'Mithric' congregation in the Dallas Phone Directory, this is one myth that seems to have expired with exceeding ease!



Tell you what, let's 'google' Mithric + charities!

Aw, shiite!

Just 12 hits, and none of them reflecting a site that collects funds for the relief of the poor and oppressed by anyone named 'Mithras.'

Sounds pretty dead to me. Just another dead myth. Like so many others.

Perhaps you should ask your Mason brothers.. OOPS

Now, why would I ask any of my Masonic Brothers about anything so remote from what we believe, as Mithraism?

Well you gotta either disprove of the masons or yourself.....

'Disprove' what?

That some fellow can write about something that he knows nothing about?

Hardly.

Eric The(Eternal)Hun

Quoted: Quoted: Are you suggesting that I NOT sell weapons to folks who may have poor moral characters? I know this would be a great idea, for it would disenfranchise most of the folks in Blue States, but surely you cannot be serious? I am not advocating any government inteference as I am sure you would like to paint me as doing. But a free and responsible individual needs to conduct business moraly. What I am suggesting as a responsible gun dealer if you believe someone is of "poor moral character" that if you sell to an individual you believe (read judged) to be of poor moral character you are no better than those you believe to have no moral character. A businessman who adheres to the laws of Caesar when conducting a business. No more, no less. CEASER? Thou shalt have no other Gods before whom?

'Ceasar'? No, Caesar. And the Lord told us to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.

I obey the laws of Caesar regarding this matter, as I would counsel all to do, and, as I am certain that Jesus would do, as well.

WWJD? would de Christo sell guns to someone he believed to be of poor moral character? If you are willing to sell your hardware all willy nilly to people who (you believe) are without any morals your asking the government to get involved.... And Eric, THAT IS BAD......

Don't come to my gun shop or my table at a gun show, and tempt me to do that which is evil.



Like selling you a weapon, or something. Other than that you should have no interest in what I do.

Originally posted by Eric The Hun: What foolishness! I am a hypocrite, as I would venture to beleve that you are, as well, but I will let you declare that you're not. That should be rich, indeed, to hear. Got anything of substance left to discuss? I thought not. It shows. Actually, it has been showing for quite a while, now. Eric The(Hypocritical)Hun

I know you are but what am I?

Wow that takes me back a few years....to the First Grade!

Nice tactic counselor.

Well, now that takes me back..... to last week!



This week is too young for me to have heard that comment already!

Eric The(ButIWillHearItSoonEnough!)Hun