catrionn

Before you turn Christian, the Christians will tell you that salvation is a "free gift" and [G]od already loves you exactly the way you are right now, and you don't have to change or do anything differently.

After you go through the little prayer and etc. indicating that you have "accepted the free gift," though, Christians and church people start expecting you to follow all kinds of rules: Don't have sex. Go to church every week. Stifle your curiosity. Don't wear certain clothes or listen to certain music. Don't read certain books. Give 10% of your money to the church.

If [G]od already loves us the way we are, why do we have to change? Sounds like [G]od loves people better before they "get saved" - afterwards, you get nagged to death to change your entire personality.

So, I ask: if it's a "free gift" why are so many strings attached?

You guys must be keeping Star$ in business!

Forgive me for my ignorance if I say something that's way off-base; I am not Jewish and my knowledge of the dietary laws is pretty rudimentary. I always thought that the law states that you are not to eat meat and dairy together in the same meal. There's something in scripture that says not to eat a beef cooked in it's mother's milk.

But poultry and fish don't produce milk. Would it be okay under Jewish kosher dietary laws to eat a meal including chicken and milk? Or is chicken considered a "meat"?

My brother is moving there, with his wife and 2 y.o. son.

Remember, he's now born again. Would you go to dinner at his house?

From Yahoo News:

"Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former top aide pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges they lied under oath about having an affair.

The two are accused of lying under oath about an affair and their roles in the firing of a top police official.

...in a lawsuit filed by two police officers who said they were fired for investigating claims that the mayor used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs."

OK, I can see putting them on trial for using taxpayer money (i.e., the security unit) to assist them in having the affair.

However, if the affair was consensual (even if it involved cheating on spouses) and taxpayer money had NOT been used....do you think that people should be put on trial for this?

IMHO, if it had only been an affair and had not involved misuse of taxpayer money, the case shouldn't even go into court - that's a matter for the spouses to deal with.

What do you think?

I noticed some of the anti-gay people use "Gays can't make babies" as a reason why they think it's wrong.

What about straight couples who don't have kids?

What if they're infertile?

What if they meet after the woman has achieved menopause?

What if they just DON'T WANT KIDS and use birth control?

Does sex have to produce a kid in order to be "right"?

I'm female.

I'm not married.

I don't have kids.

I'm not rich enough to live in a gated community, quit work, pay for all my own healthcare out of my own pocket, etc.

I don't want to own a business.

I'm not religious.

Exactly what does conservatism have to offer that would be good for me?

1) If Papal infallibility was only discovered in 1870, were all the popes before that time fallible?

2) If one pope made a decision, could a later pope overturn it? I mean, if the pope is supposed to be infallible, wouldn't that mean his decision was right forever and ever?

Would it make a difference if the earlier pope lived before 1870?

Do you believe this is more important for women than for men? Why or why not?

I answered a question yesterday, and today I can't find my answer in the "My Answers" section of my YA profile. Would they just delete it without even telling me?

If anyone cares, I answered a question about the "heartland" (part of the U.S.) by stating that I'm glad I live in the "brainland" instead.

Suppose your teenage son was a normal kid, had a bit of an attitude, and occasionally did things you forbade him to do like staying out too late - but he wasn't really EVIL, just a normal teenager? And suppose you knew that he was headed for an eternal fire - he'd never be killed, just be horribly burned forever and ever? And suppose further that you had the power to prevent this from happening. Would you do it, regardless of how angry you were? (I mean, eternal fire for coming in after curfew is overkill, don't you think?)

If you would prevent the eternal fire from happening to your disobedient son, then you are more moral and good than the Biblical god.

"Elmer Gantry is a novel written by Sinclair Lewis in 1926 and published by Harcourt in March 1927. It tells the story of a young, narcisistic, womanizing college athlete who, upon realizing the power, prestige, and easy money that being an evangelical preacher can bring, pursues his 'religious' ambitions with relish, contributing to the downfall, even death, of key people around him as the years pass. Although he continues to womanize, is often exposed as a fraud, and frequently faces a complete downfall, Gantry is never fully discredited and always manages to emerge triumphant and to reach ever greater heights of social status. The novel ends as the Rev. Gantry prays for the USA to be a 'moral nation' and simultaneously admires the legs of a new choir singer."

"Elmer Gantry is a 1960 film based on the 1927 novel by Sinclair Lewis, which tells the story of a confidence man who teams with a woman evangelist in selling religion for profit to small-town America."

Read it or see it!

They always think everybody's picking on them and everyone's out to get them. To quote The Kinks, "paranoia will destroy ya."

They always think everybody's picking on them and everyone's out to get them. To quote The Kinks, "paranoia will destroy ya."

I mean, think about it. It's inevitable. Nobody is exempt. And sometimes, death can be a welcome relief from pain. Most people who believe in an afterlife seem to think that it's going to be much better than this earthly life.

So why, when we're faced with death, do we try so hard to avoid it? Why do we try to postpone it for as long as possible?

Of all of them, I dislike Paul the most. He was a sanctimonious little jerk who couldn't enjoy life himself, so thought he'd do his best to prevent other people from enjoying it.

Some Christians would tell me that the Biblical god has a plan for my life. But what if the Biblical god plans for me to do something that would make me totally miserable, like working as an accountant, attending a strict church, being celibate, and never getting to do anything social unless it was church stuff?

Why would a loving god make a plan for me that would make me that unhappy?