Bowliing and Marriage

[Mudpuppy]

it sounds to me like you've had some bad experiences with both religion and marriage sir, i celebrate my anniversary every year because God sent me the perfect match. in my previous relationship my ex and i tried to have children and found that we could not, in my wife's previous relationship (a 9 year marriage) she and her ex tried to have children and they were unsuccessful. after dating for 3 months my (then girlfriend) wife and i were pregnant with our first child, we now have two handsome young boys and are pregnant with our 3rd (sex unknown). my point is sir that just because you have had a bad experience doesn't mean it is the end of the road, and even if you've asked "God if your real, you'll do this for me" remember the teacher is always silent during the test. i'm not going to go into a 5 page description of why i'm different from most Christians but ultimately i am a Christian and a Scientist and stand firm behind both. moral of all this is don't give up, when you think your at the end of something remember your only in the middle, the true end is at the end of your life when your old and decrepit. that is when you can finally turn in the test.

No disrespect - I'm happy for you if you are happy within your existence and beliefs. My existence is a bit more complex and I understand what most don't. It's not a bad experience that has jaded me. I have 5 wonderful kids and for all intents and purposes am "happily married" as they call it. It's just I have opened my mind and realized that reality, as we know it, is all a product of our programming - it's everywhere - ESPECIALLY RELIGION. TV, politics, money, media, etc. etc. It's all a deceptive facade. I wish I didn't know what I know but I do and therefore I must live with this knowledge. I understand where we, as a plant and population, need to go but what I don't understand is how to get there.

In terms of religion I respect everyone's beliefs. It's all fine and good if you are a christian or atheist or satanist or whatever. I don't care - it is none of my business. I have my own personal beliefs and part of that is we, as mere mortals, do not have 0.0000000000000000000000000001% of the brain capacity to understand God and anyone who thinks they do is sadly mistaken. My problem with religion is the very foundation - God created the universe right? Yes. So then why on earth or anything else in the universe does God need me to defile Him by going to a brick and mortar building and give Him money? What does God need 10% of my income? Does he owe a bookie? I could talk all year about how money is bs but I don't really think it would matter. Religion, itself, is very flawed in all of it's concepts. I have studied EVERY religion ever known to man for over 12 years and they are all bs in my opinion and yes I am entitled to my opinion, period. God loves everyone and everyone should be treated as one would treat and love themselves but GOD FORBID YOU TALK NEGATIVELY ABOUT RELIGION because you are going to rot in a dark nasty place and burn in a lake of fire. Religion is the most corrupt manipulative criminal organization EVER known to man. The crusades is a bright shining example of how bad religion is for us. Oh look the muslims, christians and jews are getting along - let's send in the church's mercenaries with pre-absolution to rape, pillage, murder and completely destroy their entire existence now and forever. Good plan. Yes I want to support an organization that endorses such acts. And they still do it today. Don't fool yourself. All their touchy feely garbage is just a front. I'm not asking you to forsake your beliefs just get all the facts and then make an educated decision. History is a pretty painted picture by the victorious armies - if you did deceitful acts in the name of war and then won the war would you talk negatively about yourself? Absolutely not. Hitler was financially backed by the Rothchilds - who remain to this day a highly respected family with authority over much of the world. They hedged their bet by backing him and they profited no matter who won. They financially and conscientiously backed genocide. Things really aren't what they seem. Call me crazy. Call me delusional. Go back and let them feed off your fear of the unknown. That's all they do. Doubt and fear. It's their steady diet. They have no idea what happens when you die or what lays beyond and they know you don't either.

[Shaneshu87]

i would honestly love to meet you in person hahaha you have no idea the extent of our conversations it would be alot of fun for both parties, i don't wanna flood this thread and take it way off topic. i will not judge you or condemn you to some dark scary place based on your belief, instead i would love to pick your brain

[Aslan]

in my previous relationship my ex and i tried to have children and found that we could not, in my wife's previous relationship (a 9 year marriage) she and her ex tried to have children and they were unsuccessful. after dating for 3 months my (then girlfriend) wife and i were pregnant with our first child, we now have two handsome young boys and are pregnant with our 3rd (sex unknown).

Okay…see…Aslan's dating style is designed to NOT have children. I think we're measuring success by different measuring systems.

when you think your at the end of something remember your only in the middle, the true end is at the end of your life when your old and decrepit. that is when you can finally turn in the test.

Ooo…thats kinda deep.

I have 5 wonderful kids

A) Thats like, at least 2 too many.
B) Any parent that reads that is thinking, " Yeah right…Five bucks says maybe 3-4 of them are wonderful and one is kinda a ***head." Nobody hits the jackpot 5 times in a row.

and for all intents and purposes am "happily married" as they call it.

Worst Hallmark message inside an Anniversary card EVER! And side note, isn't it "intensive purposes"? Interesting…nearly 40 years on this planet and I thought the saying was "intensive purposes".

My problem with religion is the very foundation - God created the universe right? Yes. So then why on earth or anything else in the universe does God need me to defile Him by going to a brick and mortar building and give Him money? What does God need 10% of my income? Does he owe a bookie?

Unlikely. Since he's God, he'd either know the outcomes of the games or fix them. But…think about it on a deeper level…does a bookie need your money? Of course not…he's got plenty of money. So why does he insist you give him your's??? Answer: It's not about "need".

Oh look the muslims, christians and jews are getting along - let's send in the church's mercenaries with pre-absolution to rape, pillage, murder and completely destroy their entire existence now and forever. Good plan. Yes I want to support an organization that endorses such acts. And they still do it today. Don't fool yourself. All their touchy feely garbage is just a front.

Damn…I need to start going to church again. It sounds way cooler the way Mudpuppy describes it!!

Things really aren't what they seem. Call me crazy. Call me delusional. Go back and let them feed off your fear of the unknown. That's all they do. Doubt and fear. It's their steady diet. They have no idea what happens when you die or what lays beyond and they know you don't either.

Cliff Notes: Mudpuppy "might" be on acid trip.

i will not judge you or condemn you to some dark scary place based on your belief, instead i would love to pick your brain

Technically, according to the Bible…which tends to be the authority on such matters…Shaneshu can't "technically" condemn you (Mudpuppy) even if he wanted to. God tends have a monopoly on judgement. And Shane…don't get too excited about picking Mudpuppy's brain…it's probably 78% full of knowledge of small engines, 20% religious history, and the other 2% a hodge podge of nonsense. If you REALLY want fun…pick ICEMAN's brain!! I bet that place is like a cross between Candyland and Chutes and Ladders…or some kind of alien circus…just imagining it makes me wanna go there.

[Mudpuppy]

**BUSTED** - you are right. The 2nd kid is kind of a PITA. She is giving me issues right now - but even so she is an A student and doesn't get into trouble. Just has a bad why should I work I want to lay around all day attitude, etc. Very entitled. I don't know how you have several other kids with zero entitlement issues raised in the same environment / mindset and 1 just kind of strays from the herd and gets different ideas. I blame the public school system. She is very impressionable and I think some of the teachers (well I know they do) try to push their opinions / beliefs onto the kids. i.e. she came home after Sandy Hook and tried to tell me that gun control is the absolute answer to stop these kind of crimes from going on. That was a very bad day for her. Wrong answer and if you come half cocked into a debate with me on a subject you know nothing about then be prepared to be decimated. I'll napalm the village and rebuild it just to napalm it again just for principalities smokey.

Shane it would be my pleasure to enjoy a cold beverage of choice and discuss anything and everything with you. I spent 9 hours on a plane from Rome, Italy to Detroit sitting next to a young priest - can you imagine that conversation?

[Shaneshu87]

hahaha love it! i have a friend who has similar views as you do we usualy meet up at a local bdubs and talk for hours about physics, space, origins of life, religious flaws, yadda yadda, i view the bible as a metaphor, go sit through one sermon and the pastor throws metaphor after metaphor straight from the bible itself, that is why i don't believe in "Creation" as the bible sees it, and i believe that there is a God, maybe not in the way Christians picture him/her, but whoever God is he is a scientist, earth is an experiment, this also explains why there must be other life out there since no scientist only has one variable in any experiment lol but if God presented himself to humans 6,000 years ago and tried explaining quantum physics and relativity to humans who barely knew how to write and speak in a common language, they probably would have exploded.

[Mudpuppy]

Big time show stopper I like to throw out there - did it this past year with great success at a local church. They were talking God is everywhere. He is everywhere. I said I disagree. **GASP** The whole place went dead silent. I let the stagnant odor of my blatant blasphemy and total disregard of all that is sacred lay like mustard gas in WWII for several anxious moments until I laid down the hammer - God is not everywhere. God is EVERYTHING. He is the universe.

This ties into my theory of how the small human mind in comparison to the vast universe cannot possibly comprehend God or what He is or isn't or how the universe was created, etc. etc. We simply don't have the ability. Think of an ant and what their existence might be like compared to us. Then magnify that infinity x infinity and that is our existence in the universe. We have all kinds of theories, etc. but none of them ultimately would be able to be proven 100% accurate. You picking up what I'm laying down? We can't even predict the weather. That's millions of steps below even a Type I civilization. I would feel better if people would just admit we have no idea why we are here, how the universe was created and that we couldn't possibly comprehend what God is or isn't.

In the end my theory is two fold:
1. If you are positive then positive surrounds you and good things happen. A bad attitude and negatively adversely affects your existence. If you have a good attitude I am not saying bad things won't happen to you but how you deal with them makes a big difference. So the guy cut you off on the freeway - so what. It happened. Now do you a. Cut him off, pull out a pipe and smash his head in? or b. Just say whatever and go on about your day focusing on more important things? In this case it would determine the next major portion of your life - would you spend 6 years in jail for assault and battery or would you spend it as a free person.
2. Don't treat people how you want to be treated. What MP? Throw garbage on people, call them names and put them down for laughs and giggles? NO. Treat people how they want to be treated. This shows a genuine interest in a person - you took the time to figure out how they want to be treated based on what is important to them not what is important to yourself. The platinum rule. And this ties into #1 - so that guy that you just decimated his face with an iron pipe - he was on his way to the hospital because he received a phone call that a loved one was in the emergency room in critical condition - doh! Now you just gave him a bed right next to them - great job.

[Blacksox1]

This thread has become a better read. Thanks to those involved.

[MICHAEL]

Bowling is the main reason I get up in the morning! Next to my wife its my everything!! hummmm

[Mudpuppy]

Great minds think alike Mr. Iceman. Organized religion exists simply to:

1. Keep the poor from killing the rich because the poor wouldn't be distracted and figure out hey we are 6.5 billion and they are only a small fraction of that we could kill them all and take their stuff

2. Profit off of the fear of the unknown

I could talk about any of this for many years on end. This is beyond an obsession with me.

There are many highlights in the history of organized religion:
The Crusades - as I mentioned
Inquisition
Rampant (going on right now) child abuse

If you care you can read on: http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/time_to_move_on.html

I highly recommend checking out www.thezeitgeistmovement.com and watching their movies:



Part II:
http://youtu.be/HbvCxMfcKv4

Part III:
http://youtu.be/Ex8U_4rJn4s

And of course the Godfather of all things that make sense: http://www.thevenusproject.com/

Look on that site for how much his book is and then go to Amazon and see how much it is on there - it's laughable. They definitely DO NOT want you to ready Jacque's book and think about things. Thinkers are not welcome in this world.

[Mudpuppy]

Sorry revised - Amazon finally stopped trying to sell his book for $600. Now it's $150 unless you want used or Kindle edition.