uscitizen
Villified User
Umm what would you call the ordainment process of christian preachers Asshat ?
money is a fiction
- Thread starter Don Quixote
- Start date
Umm what would you call the ordainment process of christian preachers Asshat ?
Litmus
Verified User
The ordainment process.
That's my point. I don't believe that "being called by god" needs instutional backing of any kind.
Litmus
Verified User
Oh well then I better adopt the "legitimate opinions" then.
When did you become such a little authoritarian-loving follower and brainwash victim?
uscitizen
Villified User
ahz
True, anyone that wants to call themselves a minister, priest or person of god can go out and set themselves up
However, for some knowledge of theology is a handicap
For the 'hands on' (ordained) types graduating from a theological college or 'recognized' religious school is all that is required
There is an interesting book out called misquoting Jesus that can enlighten most people who throw out quotes from 'the bible' either out of context or because they heard it from someone else
As more is learned about the gospels from discovered documents (like the Dead Sea scrolls) or research into styles of writing or publication/writing dates, discrepancies have come to light that the proponents of the various bibles (who consider them god’s writings) wish would go away
For believers, knowledge is a frightening thing
Oh well
Litmus
Verified User
And for academics, the simple meaning of a narrative is obscured by political pressure.
Or completely nonbiblical theoretical overlays are created to transform christians into noahides. see dispensationalism.
The significance of religion is not historical truth. Most importantly, religions are visions of how the world should be and how humans should relate to one another.
Last edited:
Litmus
Verified User
Litmus
Verified User
http://www.goldparty.org/money.html
Money as Fiction
Money and Banking in the United States
Most of us are familiar with the children's game of paper-scissors-rock. It is a game of three-way dominance. Paper covers rock. Scissors cut paper. Rock smashes scissors. The two players simultaneously throw out one or another hand sign. The winner is the one whose sign prevails with respect to the other player's sign.
A similar relationship governs three institutions of power in society: Government, religion, and commerce. Government has power over commerce. (Government controls commerce through application of laws and regulations.) Commerce has power over religion. (Through the lures of materialistic desire, it can undermine religion's influence in personal life.) Religion has power over government. (Religion has the power to legitimize or destabilize government by giving or taking away its moral authority.) In our society, however, commerce also has power over government even if government power is supreme. The system is out of balance.
We think that money has power, but it is only as powerful as its tokens are accepted. Money in the form of paper currency is only a piece of printed paper. In the form of a coin, it is stamped metal. Even if that metal is gold or silver, there is no inherent value in it unless the public believes it has value. Ultimately, what makes the public accept money's value is government. Government declares that a particular monetary token is legal tender.
People speak of "running out of money" as if it were a physical commodity. This is a misnomer. We can no more run out of money than we can run out of inches or miles. Money is a yardstick used in the commercial sector to measure ownership and economic power. Money is fictitious. We create money by agreeing to attach value to it as if it were an object or commodity of palpable worth. Our belief is what makes money real.
Commodities which have value
The most valuable thing in the world to human beings is oxygen in the air that we breathe. Without it we would be dead in a matter of minutes. A close second would be clean drinking water. Again, life could not take place without this precious commodity. In financial terms, however, the life-sustaining air and water have little value. We simply breathe the oxygen around us; and, with a small charge, we drink water supplied by municipal water systems. In contrast, we believe that two substances of comparatively little use, silver and gold, have intrinsic value. Their value is universally recognized as a medium of exchange.
This shows the paradoxical nature of money. This commodity, whose original function was as a substitute for silver and gold, has inherently little worth. Money in itself does not even exist. It is a fiction accepted by civilized society. The fact that a certain currency is “legal tender” means the part of money’s worth is based on the fact that government is prepared to force people to accept it in exchange for the goods and services that they want.
Once money gains widespread acceptance, however, many of us make it the center of our lives. We think we are worth the amount of money that we possess. It is the basis of a socioeconomic hierarchy.
Money as Fiction
Money and Banking in the United States
Most of us are familiar with the children's game of paper-scissors-rock. It is a game of three-way dominance. Paper covers rock. Scissors cut paper. Rock smashes scissors. The two players simultaneously throw out one or another hand sign. The winner is the one whose sign prevails with respect to the other player's sign.
A similar relationship governs three institutions of power in society: Government, religion, and commerce. Government has power over commerce. (Government controls commerce through application of laws and regulations.) Commerce has power over religion. (Through the lures of materialistic desire, it can undermine religion's influence in personal life.) Religion has power over government. (Religion has the power to legitimize or destabilize government by giving or taking away its moral authority.) In our society, however, commerce also has power over government even if government power is supreme. The system is out of balance.
We think that money has power, but it is only as powerful as its tokens are accepted. Money in the form of paper currency is only a piece of printed paper. In the form of a coin, it is stamped metal. Even if that metal is gold or silver, there is no inherent value in it unless the public believes it has value. Ultimately, what makes the public accept money's value is government. Government declares that a particular monetary token is legal tender.
People speak of "running out of money" as if it were a physical commodity. This is a misnomer. We can no more run out of money than we can run out of inches or miles. Money is a yardstick used in the commercial sector to measure ownership and economic power. Money is fictitious. We create money by agreeing to attach value to it as if it were an object or commodity of palpable worth. Our belief is what makes money real.
Commodities which have value
The most valuable thing in the world to human beings is oxygen in the air that we breathe. Without it we would be dead in a matter of minutes. A close second would be clean drinking water. Again, life could not take place without this precious commodity. In financial terms, however, the life-sustaining air and water have little value. We simply breathe the oxygen around us; and, with a small charge, we drink water supplied by municipal water systems. In contrast, we believe that two substances of comparatively little use, silver and gold, have intrinsic value. Their value is universally recognized as a medium of exchange.
This shows the paradoxical nature of money. This commodity, whose original function was as a substitute for silver and gold, has inherently little worth. Money in itself does not even exist. It is a fiction accepted by civilized society. The fact that a certain currency is “legal tender” means the part of money’s worth is based on the fact that government is prepared to force people to accept it in exchange for the goods and services that they want.
Once money gains widespread acceptance, however, many of us make it the center of our lives. We think we are worth the amount of money that we possess. It is the basis of a socioeconomic hierarchy.
FUCK THE POLICE
911 EVERY DAY
That's stupid.
Oxygen and water are important but they're EVERYWHERE. If it tooks you 10 years of hard work to get an ounce of oxygen out of the ground, however, I'm sure human economic activity would be devoted to little else.
Worth is not only in importance, it is also in rarity.
Money is simply an exchange tool. It has worth in the fact that it's worth other things.
Oxygen and water are important but they're EVERYWHERE. If it tooks you 10 years of hard work to get an ounce of oxygen out of the ground, however, I'm sure human economic activity would be devoted to little else.
Worth is not only in importance, it is also in rarity.
Money is simply an exchange tool. It has worth in the fact that it's worth other things.
Litmus
Verified User
But it's only worth other things because the government says so. Money is valuable only as much as the power of the government that enforces it. They're in the process of tieing air to the currency as we speak, through environmental regulations.
I don't think you really grasp the meaning of the article, watermark.
A statist fiat currency in particular is troublesome in how it slants the power structure in society. With a statist fiat currency system such as ours, long term accumulation of power depends actually not on money but on proximity to the source of money creation, hence, the awesome power of the military industrial complex, with politicians creating wars and creating money out of thin air that goes directly into the pockets of military infrastructure contractors, who are usually close business associates, friends, and family of the politicians.
So they make a war, make fake money which has to be paid back by the tax payers, give it to their friends who make bombs, blow shit up, make more money for their friends in the construction business, build shit up again, then hold elections and switch places for the illusion of choice.
There is no reality check on going to war; money is never an issue. There is no rational prioritization of war amongst other needs.
Last edited:
Litmus
Verified User
Currency is also a tool for social engineering. If they want to put a country's workers out of business they can simply allow a country to devalue it's currency in comparison so things are cheaper there, and they then get all the work. The free market exists within a narrowly controlled fascistic system. That's why the whole neocon worldview is such a farce.