taking a break from modding

Damocles said:
Just what it sounds like. We did Israeli dancing... The church thought it was important to try to convert Jewish folks, one of the ways they showed the importance of that was "Israel Awareness Day"... This is where some of the Art Ministry stuff came around. The church I grew up in had well over 10K regularly attending members, there was a large diversity of talent. We had several teams of dancers, from young kids in elementary school, through young adults in their 30s...

Anyway, around 13 I was placed in charge of what I called the holocaust room, and each year I would put together a room that was supposed to give a slight idea of what it was like (enclosed space with slats, you would hear sounds of train, see passing scenes through slats, etc.). While all I could use were images and sound, I put together (with a team of folks) a room that reminded many of the survivors and deeply affected them (at least that is what they told me). I met quite a few folks, held conversations with survivors and in the next year would do better... Previous to that I did a 3D map of Jerusalem. I believe that it is still displayed at their yearly IAD... Like I said, often I would get benefit from their efforts, it just never was the "benefit" they were trying for... I just never believed in God any more than previously, and never would.
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Dancing for Jesus -- what an odd thing that is. What did the Israelis think of that?

I find the whole concept of going to another country that has its own cultural and religious beliefs, and values to try to convert them to yours offensive as hell. There isn't much that screams "You're backwards idiots and we're here to fix that" like that. Have a nephew-in-law who is a missionary in Brazil, along with his wife and four kids. So he's down there doing some good work (they teach writing/spelling in both Portuguese and English) but they're also basically saying "Your Catholic (or indigenous) beliefs are wrong so if you want to go to Heaven you have to believe like we do." They're super nice, kind people but still.
 
Damocles said:
Pentecostal.
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I had a girlfriend that was a Pentecostal. She said someone would stand up and start talking in tongues. Then ... someone else would stand up and decipher what the first person was saying.
I asked her if she ever spoke in tongues and she said 'Yes'. She didn't know if it was real or not and had no idea what she was saying.
 
Jack said:
I had a girlfriend that was a Pentecostal. She said someone would stand up and start talking in tongues. Then ... someone else would stand up and decipher what the first person was saying.
I asked her if she ever spoke in tongues and she said 'Yes'. She didn't know if it was real or not and had no idea what she was saying.
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It's really a 3 step process, first everybody babbles in a loud cacophony of voices saying nothing, then everybody gets quiet (almost instantly, but not really hard to describe) then one or two folks start babbling, if two do one will shut up (sometimes both then somebody new steps in to babble), then somebody translates it... apparently God speaks in Ye Olde English because there are many "verilies" "thous" etc. rarely does somebody just speak in normal English (it does happen, but not normally). When I was 8 I always wondered why folks suddenly sounded like King James' times when translating and figured it was because they felt it to be more holy because the pastor used the King James version of the Bible. It seemed to me as an 8 year old that God would want to get his point across clearly and wouldn't mess around with archaic languages.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
Dancing for Jesus -- what an odd thing that is. What did the Israelis think of that?

I find the whole concept of going to another country that has its own cultural and religious beliefs, and values to try to convert them to yours offensive as hell. There isn't much that screams "You're backwards idiots and we're here to fix that" like that. Have a nephew-in-law who is a missionary in Brazil, along with his wife and four kids. So he's down there doing some good work (they teach writing/spelling in both Portuguese and English) but they're also basically saying "Your Catholic (or indigenous) beliefs are wrong so if you want to go to Heaven you have to believe like we do." They're super nice, kind people but still.
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do you feel the same about islamic jihadists?
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
Dancing for Jesus -- what an odd thing that is. What did the Israelis think of that?

I find the whole concept of going to another country that has its own cultural and religious beliefs, and values to try to convert them to yours offensive as hell. There isn't much that screams "You're backwards idiots and we're here to fix that" like that. Have a nephew-in-law who is a missionary in Brazil, along with his wife and four kids. So he's down there doing some good work (they teach writing/spelling in both Portuguese and English) but they're also basically saying "Your Catholic (or indigenous) beliefs are wrong so if you want to go to Heaven you have to believe like we do." They're super nice, kind people but still.
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I had a good friend who was what I would call a progressive pastor who told this story, and I'm paraphrasing:

A remote village was visited by some Christian missionaries who decided they would convert the villagers to Christianity. They taught the villagers that salvation could be found only through belief in Jesus Christ. All others were cursed with eternal damnation'. One day the village elder asked the missionaries what would have happened to the villagers if no one had found them and taught them about the Christian Dogma. The missionaries replied 'You would certainly be saved. God would not punish you if you had no way of knowing the way to Him'. To which the village elder replied 'then why did you tell us?'

It's a great point. Religion is personal. Stop trying to convert others to your way of belief. It only leads to the worst human atrocities on record.
 
Concart said:
I had a good friend who was what I would call a progressive pastor who told this story, and I'm paraphrasing:

A remote village was visited by some Christian missionaries who decided they would convert the villagers to Christianity. They taught the villagers that salvation could be found only through belief in Jesus Christ. All others were cursed with eternal damnation'. One day the village elder asked the missionaries what would have happened to the villagers if no one had found them and taught them about the Christian Dogma. The missionaries replied 'You would certainly be saved. God would not punish you if you had no way of knowing the way to Him'. To which the village elder replied 'then why did you tell us?'

It's a great point. Religion is personal. Stop trying to convert others to your way of belief. It only leads to the worst human atrocities on record.
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Good story.
 
Damocles said:
Old people babbling repetitive phrases while raising their arms in the air. Not that exciting.
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True speaking in tongues is going and preaching in another groups language that the preacher doesn't speak.
Not this babbling about nothing to pretend to be holy!
 
Damocles said:
It's really a 3 step process, first everybody babbles in a loud cacophony of voices saying nothing, then everybody gets quiet (almost instantly, but not really hard to describe) then one or two folks start babbling, if two do one will shut up (sometimes both then somebody new steps in to babble), then somebody translates it... apparently God speaks in Ye Olde English because there are many "verilies" "thous" etc. rarely does somebody just speak in normal English (it does happen, but not normally). When I was 8 I always wondered why folks suddenly sounded like King James' times when translating and figured it was because they felt it to be more holy because the pastor used the King James version of the Bible. It seemed to me as an 8 year old that God would want to get his point across clearly and wouldn't mess around with archaic languages.
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Good observation for an 8 year old.
 
AssHatZombie said:
do you feel the same about islamic jihadists?
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Do they go to other countries and try to change their religions, culture, values, traditions? If so, yes. I despise proselytizing on an organized scale by any religion.* If your faith is that great, then show us by your example and maybe we'll look into it further.

* And ppl selling stuff door to door too.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
Do they go to other countries and try to change their religions, culture, values, traditions? If so, yes. I despise proselytizing on an organized scale by any religion.* If your faith is that great, then show us by your example and maybe we'll look into it further.

* And ppl selling stuff door to door too.
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they decapitate fellow muslims that aren't radical enough for them. that's fine with you? you're a total hypocrite.
 
AssHatZombie said:
they decapitate fellow muslims that aren't radical enough for them. that's fine with you? you're a total hypocrite.
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Evidently this comment "If so, yes. I despise proselytizing on an organized scale by any religion" just slipped right by in your haste to look the fool again.

Your stupid gland has spasmed again. Please get that looked at. Might be cancerous.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
Evidently this comment "If so, yes. I despise proselytizing on an organized scale by any religion" just slipped right by in your haste to look the fool again.

Your stupid gland has spasmed again. Please get that looked at. Might be cancerous.
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do you make a distinction between non coercive sharing and coercion or decapitation?
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
Evidently this comment "If so, yes. I despise proselytizing on an organized scale by any religion" just slipped right by in your haste to look the fool again.

Your stupid gland has spasmed again. Please get that looked at. Might be cancerous.
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what if it's in their own country, but force is involved? fine with you?
 
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