[duffyd]

You don't need anyone's permission to be kind to others. If you have to rely on someone or something else to tell you how to treat people, then you are abdicating your own responsibility.

I hear ya. BTW, tell me, upon what do you rely to inform how you treat other people?

The craziest thing is this, when I ask a good, on target question, alan and his crowd disappear. Poof! It is one entertaining magic show, I'll tell you that.

[alancalverd]

upon what do you rely to inform how you treat other people?

Do as you would be done by. Let the punishment fit the crime. The greatest happiness for the greatest number. Primum non nocere. These are the bases of every legal system we call "civilised".

The solution doesn't have to be easy or obvious - I spend a day every month discussing the ethics of half a dozen medical research projects with all sorts of experts and laymen. It won't be found in a book of fairy tales.

[alancalverd]

Or if you want a skeptic's memorable advice

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–61)
QUOTATION:
Thou shalt have one God only; who
Would be at the expense of two?
No graven images may be
Worshipped, except the currency:
Swear not at all; for for thy curse
Thine enemy is none the worse:
At church on Sunday to attend
Will serve to keep the world thy friend:
Honour thy parents; that is, all
From whom advancement may befall:
Thou shalt not kill; but needst not strive
Officiously to keep alive:
Do not adultery commit;
Advantage rarely comes of it:
Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat,
When it’s so lucrative to cheat:
Bear not false witness: let the lie
Have time on its own wings to fly:
Thou shalt not covet; but tradition
Approves all forms of competition.

The sum of all is, thou shalt love,
If any body, God above:
At any rate shall never labour
More than thyself to love thy neighbour.

[duffyd]

I have no reason to doubt that he existed. As I said much earlier, he was a radical rabbi (addressed by his friends as such) who was killed for causing trouble. Nothing unusual about that, nor was the radical Judaism he preached beyond the very broad span of our ancient traditions.

Good football coaches teach something they refer to as "staying on your block" which simply means, keep driving your legs and keep jamming your body with full force into the defender until the Ref blows his whistle. The phrase is just a reminder, a term that stresses the importance to persist, to keep going all out, and not let anything, anything, no matter what, direct your efforts away from that single minded goal.
To wit, I have asked alan and his like-minded teammates to answer my questions which derive from the numerous and outrageous errors they make continuously. I am in no hurry. We have a long time before that whistle blows.
Be aware, and if you are intelligent and a good dude/dudess, you can't miss it: Our intellectual superheroes don't participate in these debates as though they have any confidence in the positions they hold.   

Again, my friend, what do you mean he was a radical rabbi? Where did you get that idea? You say his buds said that about him. What did they say? specifically, do you really know? (I don't think you do.)
Again, what radical form of Judaism did Jesus preach? "Nothing unusual about that, nor was the radical Judaism he preached beyond the very broad span of our ancient traditions." What are you saying? Give several examples from his preaching. I don't believe you know.

He preached HE HIMSELF was GOD ALMIGHTY

[duffyd]

Do as you would be done by.

Indeed, and that principle is biblical. It is prominently featured in your fairy tale book. See how that works? Your very own FT Book stresses just that. It is the golden rule! You just said, "If you have to rely on someone or something else to tell you how to treat people, then you are abdicating your own responsibility."

[duffyd]

To summarize the last exchange: The Bible ain't no fairy tale. What Jesus actually preached was and is HE IS GOD
He is God's son, fully GOD, fully man and His purpose, His mission was to die, to become the perfect, lasting and final sacrifice for our sins. Read John. Live in it for a couple years.

[jeffreyH]

You don't need anyone's permission to be kind to others. If you have to rely on someone or something else to tell you how to treat people, then you are abdicating your own responsibility.

I hear ya. BTW, tell me, upon what do you rely to inform how you treat other people?

The craziest thing is this, when I ask a good, on target question, alan and his crowd disappear. Poof! It is one entertaining magic show, I'll tell you that.

Maybe we disappear Poof! because we have productive work to do and not enough time to devote to discussing fairytales.

[duffyd]

You don't need anyone's permission to be kind to others. If you have to rely on someone or something else to tell you how to treat people, then you are abdicating your own responsibility.

I hear ya. BTW, tell me, upon what do you rely to inform how you treat other people?

The craziest thing is this, when I ask a good, on target question, alan and his crowd disappear. Poof! It is one entertaining magic show, I'll tell you that.

Maybe we disappear Poof! because we have productive work to do and not enough time to devote to discussing fairytales.

That is rather funny. You spend endless amounts of time discussing GOD and JESUS, the Bible, on and on. What you meant to say is you love to discuss spiritual matters from and only from your perspective and when someone points out how far off you are in your thinking, you go home crying to mommy. You have a temper tantrum every time you discover that you are terribly misinformed. I demonstrate that to you continuously and you don't like it. No offense, but that's the truth, isn't it?

[duffyd]

You want everyone else to believe in something you were told was true. Without any evidence. Because the grown ups that taught you that were the ones you thought you could trust implicitly.

Wrong again. Not even close. You are fibbing. You didn't find anything that supports your silliness.

That isn't going to happen. So, no matter how hard you try and however long you try, to beat them down with my your evangelising, some will just ignore you. Others will just laugh.

You now know the future! Good luck bro. Wrong again. 2 for 2

That is the way of the world. You may find some kindred souls but you share an affinity with the foil hat brigade. Just as misguided and just as dangerous to those with any sanity left.

Well sir, I am a lot of things but  I'm not joining a club where they don foil hats, yet. I noticed how they look on you and I puked. 3 out of 3. You're Out!

[alancalverd]

You really should read the bible sometime. And keep your brain switched on as you do so.

[duffyd]

I believe JFK was killed by his bodyguard to prevent him starting a nuclear war

only if the bodyguard was a member of a fundamental conservative, redneck, KKK, gun toting, anti-gay, hell, fire and brimstone, anti-women, stingy, religious, sect.

[duffyd]

"...to beat them down with my your evangelising..."

how exactly would you get beaten down by evangelization? do they use a prayer hammer? I must say, you have the capacity for paranoia on a full time basis. Hate to tell you, but you're not that important. I suggest a year in isolation, bible reading, prayer, long walks, and plums. oh yes, one more thing. A solid 10 days in a detox and a year in treatment. You need to flush all that heroin, PCP, crack, ludes, you know, the entire soup of drugs you indulge in. bless ya bro.  Say hello to Hinckley for me

[duffyd]

burning innocent people alive,

Yes. Part of the rich history of Christianity (Bruno, Tyndale (though they had the decency to strangle him first), Jeanne d'Arc, and too many witches to name here). And that's just victims within the faith. 

But your co-religionists can't take credit for all the rest of your silly rant.

Hey, 1. we strangled way more than that 2. We burned alive at least 60 to 80 million. 3. I can assure you that everyone involved in those despicable acts were the finest, the most dedicated, the most devout in every way among those who live for Jesus. 4. I know you don't enjoy reading the nonsense I write, but you always do anyway, so thanks, man.

My GOD,
People, what have you done
Locked Him in His golden cage
Golden cage
Made Him bend to your religion
Him resurrected from the grave
From the grave
He is the God of nothing
If that's all that you can see
You are the God of everything
He's inside you and me
So lean upon Him gently
And don't call on Him to save you
From your social graces
And the sins you used waive
You used to waive
The bloody Church of England
In chains of history
Requests your earthly presence at
The vicarage for tea
And the graven image you know
With His plastic crucifix
He's got him fixed
Confuses me as to who and where and why
As to how he gets his kicks
He gets his kicks
Confessing to the endless sin
The endless whining sounds
You'll be praying 'til next Thursday to
All the Gods that you can count.

That genius from across the ocean--don't ever listen- Jethro T
"many report grave emotional and mental peculiarities in response to the unusual and disturbing sounds emanating from this bunch of old cats" WARNING! Don't listen without adult supervision

[jeffreyH]

You sound like you have no moral centre at all. You are all over the place. Your beliefs don't appear to be helping you. Otherwise you would be well balanced and able to handle criticism rationally. Take some deep breaths.

[duffyd]

You really should read the bible sometime. And keep your brain switched on as you do so.

PAY ATTENTION. THEY DID IT AGAIN:
"The Spanish, Portugese, and Roman Inquisitions between 1500 and 1800 burned fewer than a dozen witches in total." SANDRA MIESEL

[syhprum]

sadly many measures were taken to increase the suffering of Bruno

[duffyd]

No evidence. No definition of God. Changing the topic. Diverting. Baiting. No qualifications. Manipulating. Trying to guilt their opponents. Refusing to answer important, basic questions. 

[duffyd]

sadly many measures were taken to increase the suffering of Bruno

Like our favorite commenter who cannot make a sound without making a nuisance of herself.

[Bored chemist]

Yes. Or 3 foot 2. Belief is acceptance of a hypothesis in the absence of facts. The working hypothesis might be strengthened or demolished by a photograph, an independent and credible witness, or an actual meeting.

Perhaps I should have asked if you could have faith that I'm 6"6'

I'm not just asking if you accept that it's possible, I'm asking you to accept that it's fact. And that anyone who denied it would be clearly foolish or dishonest.
That's the sort of "belief" that's needed here.

[duffyd]

In the meantime the undisputed facts continue piling up with no way to slow or mitigate the inevitable