Stayed Too Long

i have always wondered why I caused the death of Christ over 2,000 years ago? https://www.skeptical-science.com/religion/irish-comedian-dave-allen-shares-thoughts-religion/

Thank you for the assistance. On my screen it shows the Noir image and below that a blank image the same size as Noir. It appears on other’s screens only the printed one is visible.

Anyone know how to delete the blank jpeg image that is above?

I love Harris noting all evolution involves death….those that are not strong are destined to die. Thrown aside with no second thought. The conquerors do not look back and feel sorry for those they have crushed. That is how we must look at change in our personal lives; our past beliefs must die if we are to realize change. As in real life, death of an old idea is very hard to overcome. Past beliefs do not want to go away without a fight. They will hang on in the back of our minds until we make the decision to crush them. Then our transformation is complete, and we can move ahead and challenge our next evolution. Change is difficult, but important to our growth.

When writing about the bible, and bringing supporting data to, at least, indicate it could be inaccurate, the beliver will scramble to plug the holes. They will expound on how much reading they have done, how open they are to new ideas, and then deny the ascertation exists.

T-Bone: You give yourself way to much credit if you believe me using the 'lazy-boy-approach' is that it ".... works as a deterrent to me breaking your arguments down point by point." As I said "My long and arduous personal journey has been ridding myself of the belief that there is a God. Period." Included in that statement, has been ridding myself of the belief that the bible is of any authority. Period. Perhaps I should have stated this in the beginning and not attempted to use any examples? Again, you give yourself way to much credit if you believe it is of any consequence to me that, "I don’t like to waste my time on really frustrating, manipulative and convoluted hypotheticals." To me the entire bible is frustrating, manipulative and convoluted hypotheticals. Period.

Is this a cryptic message? What is your point?

I had never heard of the book until this thread and have not read it. My observation is based on decades of believing God was all powerful and desired nothing but the best for me and others. Growing up my highest desire was serving God, going to Catholic Mass Twice a day for years. I wanted to see God work miracles in my life and that of my family and friends. I was so depressed and thought little of myself, but believed God would make me well like my friends. I prayed rosaries, lit candles, went to confession, and received communion, all to no avail…still depressed. Then a person from the Way witnessed to me and assured me that all I had to do was believe and God would deliver me from all my depression. Believing never brought peace into my life. All the hype of fellowship, classes, and going WOW left me dissolutioned. Finally I went to mental health counseling and got my life turned around. I now find it impossible to accept life’s tragedies on ‘faith’ anymore. Believing God needed a young child in heaven when he dies of cancer, is no longer plausible to me. Accepting that a person who is crippled for life is God’s will, is no longer in my thought process. If one throws out the idea of a God having control of the universe, and things are unfolding as He wants, life is much easier to understand and accept. Life can be good or life can be a bitch. This way, no one has to dance around the elephant in the room of why terrible things happen to ‘godly people’ while ‘sinners’ live abundantly? All advancements in medicine have not resulted from any intervention from God. Polio was beaten because of scientific research, not from a priest calling on God to defeat it. If God could defeat it, He could have prevented it from happening in the first place. Religion has convinced us, that God, for some reason, will not prevent evil from happening in the world today, even though He has the power to do so. But, if we ‘do His will while on earth,’ whatever that may be, all evil will be destroyed in the future, and we will live the most wonderful life.

When purchasing an appliance, for example, the accompanying owner’s manual is very explicit on how to run the devise. When the instructions are followed the appliance will function as advertised. It doesn’t require hundreds, or thousands, of books to make sense of the manual. If the instructions were so poorly written, that thousands of interpretations were needed to make it functional, rational thinking people would discard it. The bible should be discarded as a way to successfully live life. It has so many possible interpretations, that it is not based on any solid evidence. For example, Catholics claim you must confess your sins to be saved. Others claim confessing sins will not get you heaven, but just confessing Jesus will get you on the high road to salvation. Jews do not even acknowledge Jesus, but claim they are heaven bound. Throw in Muslims and Buddhists and the path to heaven widens drastically. It is impossible to comprehend what will happen when your last breath is taken from reading the bible. A more certain outcome is absolutely nothing occurs, other than your body decomposing. Then have yourself planted next to a tree and fertilize the fruit it produces. The cycle of life is in full affect when we die also.

NIH saif natural immunity was strong and lasted months. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/lasting-immunity-found-after-recovery-covid-19

$250.00 to help future Wafers who are as lost and screwed up as I was after leaving TWI. Not sure of the path I would be on if I hadn’t stumbled on GSC.

A good article showing different cults https://frankreport.com/2019/09/08/former-member-the-way-international-biblical-ministry-was-rife-with-sexual-excesses-just-like-other-cults/

Yes, good observation. Looking thru the review mirror, life begins to clear and the fog slowly lifts.

You seem to be the first offshoot originating from GSC?

I believe it would be a beneficial study to look at the homeless and discover why they are not fat. To date, the current and past studies done, have not decreased the occurances of overeating in society. But my skepticism says it is just to obvious, and the powers that be will ignore it.

To me it is amazing all the studies that have been done finding out what parts of the brain supposedly cause us to overeat, or abuse drugs or alcohol. We can pinpoint everything, but it has not curbed the abuse! Alcoholism has been around forever but we cannot arrest it. One would expect an improvement when studies seem to identify why booze is abused, for example. But, things are only getting worse. We allocate money to fix the problem, but thing get worse. Does that make sense? Apparently it does to those who make such decisions. If you were having trouble in your home with rat infestation, say, and you hired an expert to fix the problem, you would expect results. If the rats continued you would fire the expert, and look at different solutions. Makes sense, doesn’t it? https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/alcohol-related-deaths-increasing-united-states

Unless we can get under control all of our stresses, daily responsibilities, access to tasty foods, and our decision making limits I am afraid obesity will continue to expand. And like our Social Security program, more will be taking from it than depositing into it. Medical expenses are estimated to be about 12% of all medical costs. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180208180356.htm With us boomers leaving the work force and receiving SS benefits and medicare, the pot of takers is growing. Add to that, the US population is shrinking, things could get bleak. https://www.npr.org/2019/12/31/792737851/u-s-population-growth-in-2019-is-slowest-in-a-century

Currently, I am in the process of shedding 20 lbs that was gained over the past few years. When I try to analyze how the weight gains occurred, the holidays and snack foods surface to the top. All those deliciously prepared meals and left overs are too much for me to avoid. Worse yet, all the chips and candies throughout the year are a killer. Craft beet is also a major problem, but the soaring prices has gotten me to imbibe very little anymore. Also at 300-400 calories per glass, it will pack the pounds on like there is no tomorrow. But when I look back at the 70’s and 80’s, there was no problem pushing back from the table after eating a plate full of food. An additional plate of 2’000 calories was not craved like they are today, not to mention a couple servings of apple pie a la Mode. Back then a single serving of potato chips was adequate, but now I sit down with a bag of family sized chips, and who knows when it will be deemed enough. In the past I attended Overeaters Anonymous, but it was to no avail at all. I left because everyone was always going to start a diet sometime in the future. After going to meetings for a year, and not seeing anyone lose weight, I dropped out. Now, every couple of years, I go through this ritual of losing a few pounds, hoping, maybe, the extra weight will stay off this time.

Getting off of drugs and alcohol are not simple either, and there are programs available to help. There are the 12 step programs of AA and NA, private counseling, inpatient programs, and probably others also. For those wanting assistance losing weight the is the 12 step program OA. There is also private counseling available, and for severe case, medical intervention may be necessary. The thing that got me thinking about obesity was a picture I saw of a crowd of people in 1970. Most people were trim and fit with only one person visible who was over weight, and not obese. A picture in 2015 showed many over weight and obese people. What has occurred in the past 50 years that can explain this phenomenon? There were fast food restaurants and processed food in the 70’s, yet people were able to maintain a healthy weight. My guess is portion control. It seems that once a person begins eating excess food, the food becomes a drug just like a narcotic or alcohol. It is uncontrollable and the demand for it is overwhelming, with many unable to deal with it responsibly.