Clint

I have a friend who claims complaining is negative, and that everyone should refrain. He says that if everyone complained there would be chaos. And that people should put their heads down, shut up and do their own thing, preferably positive.

I get the idea of doing something positive, but I don't get why we must be quiet.

What if a person witnesses abuse, of any nature, then decides to say nothing, puts his head down, and does something positive for himself. He is absolutely fine, but the abused is helpless and worse off.

This is the actual scenario: In South Africa recently a person suffering in a neglected township complained that the ANC hadn't fulfilled their promises, and he feels they still do not have economic freedom, and suffer daily. A friend of mine read this, and said his piece, mentioned above.

Note, this person is an Afrikaans, middle-class, white male who was given the best education and has just inherited his father's insurance company. And he does no charity work, and complains about taxes.

It is easy for him to say what he does, but is it right? Should we all shut up and put our heads down? Can those with no public services, no transport, no education, no jobs say and feel the same?

Is it not ignorant of my friend to think that way?

Is it ignorant for an educated, employed white, middle-class, South African male in his late 20's to say; "Every person great or small past and present had flaws. At the end of the day its the legacy that people leave that makes a difference. Standing up and saying that you are not great because you did so and so is actually short sighted. The only truly valuable lesson in life is the one you learn yourself and not the one forced on you by others beliefs. When Mandela left we were a country in its infancy and now we are the equivalent of a teenager that just got his scooter and is having his first taste of freedom. At that point the parents/ father of the nation needs to step back and let the kids learn what is justified isn't always right and pray that the foundations set are enough to bring the kids (read country) back to its defining character and all the hopes its people had for it. When something goes wrong world I will rather put my head down and make a difference on the ground, being positive. If the whole world complained there'd be chaos. If the whole world shut up and made a positive difference we would be in a lot better place. Be it even a vote." In response to a disadvantaged, angry and neglected, black South African male, disillusioned by the failures of Mandela's legacy, the hardships he suffers, as the ANC become more and more corrupt, and the country more and more desperate?

I know Winnie Mandela did, and she got a fine for kidnapping and murdering a 14yo, while her bodyguards got jail sentences. I can't find any source suggesting Nelson Mandela himself faced the TRC about acts of terror and munitions smuggling. Please provide links. Thank you.

The man who supposedly challenged King Herod and the Romans after galvanising an army of 2000 followers, and led them to burn down Herod's palace before being slaughtered in the desert by the Romans, and crucified.

That guy. Who was he? And could links and sources be attached to answers, please. I'm very curious about the mysterious warrior.

Zoroastrian? Sumerians? Egyptians? If answers could have links, that would be appreciated.

When did Moses exist?

Why aren't they more commonly referred to than 'God'?

Did God do as the authors suggest, or are they assumptions as to what God may have done in each event? Events such as wars, crimes, and punishments, etc. Is it an honest depiction of God?

Found a tv that has lost it's cord and I'm trying desperately to find another. The thing makes no sense to me, so any help would be appreciated.

If there is a plan for each and every person, alive and deceased, it would suggest that there is a grand plan from the beginning of mankind until the end of mankind. Which means, for one to exist every member in his/her pedigree, at least, had to live exactly to their plan. Which leaves absolutely no room for free will - because the slightest of deviations from any one at any point would spoil the grand plan. And if one person's plan could deviate, so could every other's. So regardless of what people believed or knew, they undeniably lived to a singular god's plan. Such is why we are alive today, and such is the case for our grandchildren and so on. For them to exist we had to live exactly how it was planned for us to live. My point isn't necessarily about free will, it's actually to do more with prayer. If every life that has existed and ever will exist has and will live exactly as planned, then why would prayer be necessary or important? Praying for a sign or guidance is redundant, as you are or were automatically living out your plan anyway. Praying for change or good fortune is pure arrogance, because for some reason the one praying thinks, assumes or believes that the god will adjust his mighty scheme to accommodate a single person's request. Just one prayer makes about as little sense as a lot of prayers. If prayers were to be answered then there simply is no plan, and there is only free will. And while we're at it. If one's "plan" was unchangeable and was not made known, then it really isn't a plan at all. We're then living out a scripted existence predetermined and unaltered. Which means we aren't really living, we're just existing, for something else (completely unknown) and it's idea of a material world in a passage of time. Everything everyone has said and done, has already happened, and so the authenticity of each living person is lost. Every achievement, every decision, has already been achieved, and decided for you. All your hard work, and all the credit you could take, has been done for you, and credited to something else. On the flip side, every prayer you make, unintentionally compromises either a living person, or a person yet to be born. So I ask. What is the point in praying to a god that has planned your life out in advance?

no numbness of fingers or anything like that... it comes and goes. been so for 24 hours. a bit annoying... and quite painful at times. should i be concerned? any insight before i take further action?

i'm a 27 year old male.

- They finish 6th, behind Newcastle Utd and Tottenham Hotspurs.

- Lose the FA Cup final, to Liverpool.

- Lose the UEFA Champions League final, to Bayern Munich.

I read a year back, regarding the Birmingham City situation, that for Chelsea to qualify as FA Cup runners-up, Liverpool would have had to have finished between 1-5 in the EPL. UCL runners-up don't get anything. And because the cups were won by a team outside of the top 5, there would be no need for a 6th to become available, or for the cup runners-up place to become available, for Europe.

Or am I wrong? If Chelsea don't win a cup, or finish above 6th, would they qualify for a place in Europe or not? Isn't that what happened to Liverpool, as a result of their 2010/11 campaign, sort of?

Is He in control? Or are objects and events beyond His control?

Is everything going according to a plan? Or do people and things veer from His plan?

Do prophets see God's plan for the future? Or are they predicting the future of man?

Lastly, does God have a plan for your life?

If yes, that means EVERYTHING in the past has gone according to His plan, to allow for your existence. Otherwise you wouldn't have been planned, and God doesn't have a plan for you.

Which begs me to ask, did God plan every one of His own and Man's failures, and consequences?

Leading me to ask, why were people punished for following a plan?

(i.e. God planned to personify himself, and live as Jesus Christ, so that he may die for all of man's sins. So when Judas hands Jesus over to the Romans to be killed, is he not following a plan? In fact, of all the disciples, it was Judas that Jesus entrusted to turn him over to fulfill his destiny. So why then, is Judas "punished"?)

(i.e. God makes Adam in his image - void of knowledge. Then he makes Eve. Then he makes a tree of knowledge, not to be eaten from. Then a Serpent of his making (with an unexplained personality - his creation wasn't addressed,), convinces Eve - void of knowledge - to eat the fruit of knowledge. Damning mankind to a future of knowledge. The reason for the tree is so that man does get tempted, as a test. If God didn't plan for man to be tempted, he would have put it in something inedible. So the plan was for the reason for the tree of knowledge's existence to be justified. So why then, are men and women "punished"?)

In every passage, not only does God speak as if He is part of a narrative comprised at the time, but he sets up everything that he does to fail, so that there would be a lesson to be learned in every story (narrative). So that we may learn that wrong behaviour would be punished, and good rewarded. Yet, we weren't supposed to be knowledgeable, (or were we,) hence the tree. So then why are we supposed to be learning, and at the same time avoid being knowledgeable?

My girlfriend's boss slates her regularly, belittling her in the process, by calling her stupid. Now, employers say things that are nasty all the time, and employees for the most part can brush it off. However constant and ignorant abuse is another story. If my girlfriend suffers from dyscalculia, can her boss get away with insulting her day-in, day-out?

And lastly, what can be done? We all know how precious a job is these days, but the well-being of someone is more. Does she suck it up and remain an abused employee, or do she quit and hope another job comes along. A little insight would be appreciated.

Thanks

My girlfriend, of 3 years now, asked me to do something romantic for her and make her a "Mixed Tape". Yes, she told me, the "something romantic" she wanted immediately after asking me to think of something. She also added it should reflect me, and not be random songs. I found it was tough choosing just 20. Anyway, so here it is:

1. Bob Dylan - If Not For You

2. The Ramones - Baby, I Love You

3. The Cure - Lovesong

4. Nirvana - About a Girl

5. R.E.M. - At My Most Beautiful

6. Cranberries - You & Me

7. Blur - To The End

8. Semisonic - Singing in My Sleep

9. The Verve - Sonnet

10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps

11. Anberlin - The Feel Good Drag

12. The Distillers - Dismantle Me

13. The White Stripes - Fell in Love Wiith a Girl

14. Rise Against - Swing Life Away

15. Thrice - Red Sky

16. A Perfect Circle - A Perfect Circle - The Nurse That Loved Me

17. Portishead - Sour Times

18. Radiohead - All I Need

19. Foo Fighters - Walking After You

20. U2 - All I Want is You

(I just want your thoughts. Do you approve of the songs? The order? And if not, why not?)

>>> I haven't given it to her yet.

(*example) Why is God given all the credit for knowledge passed down?

Exodus and Moses are precursors to Christianity. So Christians, (and Jews for that matter,) the God you label as the source to your moral code and way of life, (should he exist) has learnt everything from man, instead of vice-versa.

When man was already establishing, (or had established) moral codes and laws, why did "Yahweh" feel compelled to then teach man, what they had supposedly learnt already? And then continue to through individuals such as Jesus, when in actuality, everything taught to Jesus was in turn taught to him by a man already in existence - John.

So the knowledge already existed, yet there had to be a bible written stating claim to all knowledge passed down over thousands and thousands of years.

Why is it that when man learnt to write they discredited everything they achieved and handed over responsibility to a higher power? And today, when people can observe certain misleadings, why do they choose not to see it in black and white, like a historian would?

Yahweh and Moses and Jesus are all frauds based on an example such as. Why do hey hold such significance in the wrong light? They should rather be seen for what they did, not what Yahweh intended for them to do.

Moses was a liberator, Jesus was a political activist and Yahweh - their downfall. They should also be seen as: Moses a murderer, Jesus an extremist and Yahweh - an excuse.

Mark was Scottish, and born in a time when the Scottish were a threat to the English. Prior to his birth, the King of England had a brief spell of paranoia and asked if all the first borns in Britain be killed, because at some point one of his ancestors might have strayed, and illegitimate love children (slash) heirs could surface and threaten the king's thrown. So the massacre began, and in one case, a baby Scot was saved by it's mother and cast down a river of sorts and ended up in the hands of the King's wife.

They adopted the Scot, and he became brothers with the King's biological son, Richard. Mark was taught everything Richard was, by the English education system, including the knowledge provided by the English god. The two got older, Richard became King, Mark became his lieutenant, who one day witnessed a Knight harass a Scotsman and Mark pushed the Knight, who fell and died.

Mark was torn when he met his long-lost sister who told him who he was, he then fled England, north to Scotland, where a tree stood, there he reflected on what had happened and deduced what it was that needed to happen using his very own complex mind - clever chap. After learning about Scotland, he picked up a stick and set off back to England to go help the Scots being forced to build random things for the King. Once there, he challenged his brother, and over a long period even eluded authority, and simultaneously managed to gather fellow Scots to follow him.

After a series of unfortunate events for England, the common cold spreading around the country, food spoiling due to the weather, which had turned ugly and some children and cattle dying, etc, Mark's brother Richard, eventually decided to let the Scots go. Mark led the Scots north, across rivers and valleys until a hill worth climbing dawned on Mark, who insisted on going up alone.

Up there he wrote down everything he learned in England, in reverse then brought it down the hill to his people and told them he was blessed with this knowledge by the Scottish god. Some questioned him, and were swiftly killed for it, but most followed because they believed Mark was sent to help them and educate them. Mark told them there was land promised to them, and that if they lived by their god's commandments they would live in peace.

Why did Mark, copy the English laws, write them in a different order and then claim they were issued by his adopted 'god'? (Passing the god off as a moral and intelligent being, far superior than that of the English, completely discrediting England's intelligence. Granted they enslaved the Scots, but the Scots were taught to enslave as well - as long as the slave wasn't a fellow Scot.)

Why would the Scots mindlessly follow Mark? Looking back on the story, would some Sots today still believe Mark was blessed with the knowledge of their god? Wouldn't it be easier to accept Mark had learnt those things himself, and decided to spread the knowledge he had north to those who needed it?

If you could teleport, how would you do it?

Would be like Nightcrawler from the X-Men and leave a purple cloud behind?

Or would you be like a Mortal Kombat (game,) and slip down into the ground and pop up again? What effects would your teleporting have?

Tremors hit the southern cape of South Africa Saturday afternoon. Is there a richter scale reading? Or any educated guesses as to the scale of the tremor(s)? Reports suggest they were light and obviously harmless. What caused them? Is there any reason to be excited? (Yes I get excited, not scared.) I'm disappointed I didn't feel the tremors. Any possibility of more?

From his first X-Men movie to the X-Men first class he has confused me immensely. His movies spawned sequels and origin spin-offs, but where does it begin and where does it end? I'm an X-Men fan, and I understand the source material is vast and often doesn't fit a straight and coherent timeline, but I don't understand how he could get so much wrong. Using the characters and the movies, (even the ones that aren't his,) can anyone post a comprehendable timeline? I'm really curious. And while you're at it, which characters, to you, has he ruined?