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The question is - will they bring back the shower tent? If you weren’t there picture a tent with hundreds of naked men or women all out in the open with no curtains showering off like cattle. I was a teenager and it was mortifying. Let’s not forget the drugs and orgies in tent city and LCM ranting for hours under the big top. Remember when the WOWs got cancelled for being “infested with homos”? Maybe they will bring back LCM to see if the new ambassadors pass his “homo sniff test.” Any other Rock of Ages nostalgia? It’s fun to reminisce. Their beliefs are too weird to attract any new people in large numbers so they turn to the good ol’ days and hope people will come back. Ironically, I had made peace with the way and never thought about it until I got one of those post cards which brought me back into looking at this site and revisiting how screwed up it all was. what a sad bunch of whack jobs.

No, I was suggesting a different option of showing love for someone who doesn't believe in your god like getting together to have a good time as friends.

I love your meme Raf - there are two currently living with me. Cats can at times be loving and comforting listeners as they lie and purr on your lap. Then again, these same cats can also be looking down on you from atop the bookshelf considering whether they are in a pouncing mood or not.

At first I gave her a thumbs up in reply to her suggestion that I can still ask God to reveal Himself but it bothered me afterwards that I did so. I wanted to make my thoughts about the idea of God clearer and more decisive so I sent her the following in a number of messages: ~~~~~ Please don’t mistake my “letting go of trying to figure God out” as something that was wrong or bad to do. I’m thankful I did it. The idea of “God says it, I believe it, that settles it and I will obey” is Biblical conditioning that demonizes critical thinking. Yet this is what is taught as you will see below. Repetition of such ideas as this one and others like it, such as “leaning not on your own understanding,” is an indoctrination process where they become a believer’s absolute world view, one’s core beliefs, one’s neural programing in the mind. Job is an example of this. Whether you believe the book of Job is a historical event that really happened or an allegory, God allowed Satan to do terrible things to Job and his family on some kind of a bet and in the end, God reproves Job for questioning His ways to the point that finally Job submits in 42:6, “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Only after that does God reward him, not by raising his previous children from the dead (so he and his wife could stop mourning them), but giving him new ones, and we’re supposed to praise God for this? This is simply a horrendous story that no one would critically agree is loving or just if an earthly father did such things to his children. But because of Biblical indoctrination, you have “God Questions” saying the following (the italic comments are mine): “The Book of Job reminds us that there is a "cosmic conflict" going on behind the scenes that we usually know nothing about. (What evidence is there that this is true?) Often we wonder why God allows something, and we question or doubt God’s goodness, without seeing the full picture. The Book of Job teaches us to trust God under all circumstances. We must trust God, not only WHEN we do not understand, but BECAUSE we do not understand. The psalmist tells us, “As for God, His way is perfect” (Psalm 18:30). If God’s ways are “perfect,” then we can trust that whatever He does—and whatever He allows—is also perfect. This may not seem possible to us, but our minds are not God’s mind. It is true that we can’t expect to understand His mind perfectly, as He reminds us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). (This is another Biblical doctrine that demonizes our ability to think logically and rationally.) Nevertheless, OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO GOD IS TO OBEY HIM, TO TRUST HIM, AND TO SUBMIT TO HIS WILL, WHETHER WE UNDERSTAND IT OR NOT.” (Capitalization of this sentence is mine.) I abhor this kind of thinking now so I will not ask God to reveal himself because He does not exist outside of the words of men written in the Bible and even if He did, I would not worship him and his ways. ~~~~~ It shows how irrational my beleefs were when I used to accept such an evil God as being all righteous and good and therefore worthy of complete obedience to him.

Good to hear. This was a tropical storm all the way to Atlanta, though. I hope all our Greasespotters are OK. George

Southeast unscathed.

We never did find out the name of his other leg. "MARY POPPINS."

Thanks for your interest, Charity! I've done a fair amount of study on this, and no population on earth commits suicide at a higher rate than people with bipolar disorder. Even those who suffer only from major depression, without the often pleasant highs of mania, are not as likely to attempt this ghastly solution. I hope you love the book, and I welcome your review on Amazon!

A hypocrite in all his might, So wrong in that he thinks he's right. Still he hears not. Still he sees not. Will he?

Victor paul wierwille, NaRd., valued belief above all action (without exception, or, if you prefer, without distinction). He taught believing is something you do, faith is something you have. So, works-dependent, not faith-dependent, salvation was the foundation of his theology, doctrine, dogma. Beleeeve in four crucified, let the Greek language and the textual evidence be damned!! Just look around you today. Pay attention. Belief is the source of all division. In spite of evidence and facts and reason and logic, billions of people cling to their beliefs. Children are abused and murdered everyday because of belief. Genocide has always been justified by belief. Belief is the bedrock of theocratic fascism. (I'm feverishly resisting stepping over the precipice into politics!) Science is improved by better science. I believe something to be true until I no longer have to - until I know, until I see. I respect anyone's RIGHT to believe, but I don't have to respect WHAT they believe. Notice, the more you know, the more you question; the less you know, the easier it is to be sure of your stupid, stupid beliefs.

I want to understand what you are saying in the posts above because as of now, I see "beleef," as you call it, as being the basis of Christianity. Belief is defined as follows: Oxford Dictionary = an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists - a firmly held opinion or conviction Cambridge Dictionary = the feeling of being certain that something exists or is true: Merriam-Webster Dictionary is very similar to the above except for its definition #3 which says “conviction of the truth of some statement or the reality of some being or phenomenon especially when based on examination of evidence. What I find noteworthy is that the word "evidence," or any form of it, is not included in the first two definitions and is used as an add-on with the third, meaning evidence is helpful but not necessary. This is important since evidence is the available body of facts indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid, and fact is a thing that is known or proved to be true. Without proven facts, a belief is subjective and is no guarantee of truth no matter how firmly held it is by someone. A child looking at a flower can hold the belief that it is a flower (which is a fact) but for the child to believe what someone taught her - that the flower is made by God, this would be holding onto a beleef since this is not a proven fact. Finally, since beleefs are not based on facts, evidence to the contrary means nothing to those who hold onto them.

I’ll tell you what’s behind those ideas. BELEEF. Who requires you to beleeve? The ideologue, the politician, the propagandist, the grifter, the charlatan, that’s who. The liar needs you to beleeve. Only the liar will preach the importance of beleeving above all else Belief has no place where truth is concerned.

I’m not advocating for there to be no more religion - I just wonder if religion was replaced with humanism one person at a time, would the world be actually worse for it. I don’t think so but many others might think differently because of the millennia-old Christian orthodox belief that humans are naturally wretched without the saving grace of a god. Believing you’re wretched can indoctrinate people to act accordingly. That's why it is sometimes said that if one deconverts from their religious beliefs, they will no longer have morals and, therefore, begin to behave more immorally. This religious bias-based logic is simply false. When humanism is encouraged instead of such beliefs, the idea of “the potential value and goodness of human beings” would help people to “emphasize common human needs” and promote “solely rational ways of solving human problems.” (Quotes are from the definition of humanism by the Oxford dictionary) In that sense, I think the world would be better off. One other thing, I often hear the point being made that unbelievers can do the good works that believers of all religions do, but in contrast, they will not do the harmful works that these believers can do to themselves and to others because of their beliefs.

To see as a child. To see as a child before cultural, political and religious conditioning. To see without judgement. To see without beleef. To see what actually is. So, to see purely, completely, serenely. To see everything with awe and wonder. This is real liberty and power. This is the new birth, again. But it may only come as a glimpse. Don't ask me how. I cannot say and I would not say. It can't be uttered. But we all had it once. (All without exception, or, if you prefer, all without distinction.) This can't happen while clutching, clinging, to dogmas, doctrines, presumptive conclusions and beleefs.

Did they do "don't stop speaking"? You wouldn't need to sue but a cease and desist would be fun.

Not a Real doctor

I don't have the intestinal fortitude to watch this right now - and most likely ever. Any word on how The Young Adult Rock 2024 went?

ugh. That is all. Carry on.