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The trouble with religion
Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2013 9:46 am
by MajGenl.Meade
is that some folks just like to shoot off their mouths

Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 3:55 am
by liberty
One problem is that people tend read and interpret the Bible in line with personal prejudices.
Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 12:32 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
liberty wrote:One problem is that people tend read and interpret the Bible in line with personal prejudices.
I would think that is true no matter what we read.
Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 4:32 pm
by liberty
oldr_n_wsr wrote:liberty wrote:One problem is that people tend read and interpret the Bible in line with personal prejudices.
I would think that is true no matter what we read.
It is my sincere hope that the Technician reading the nuclear maintenance manual interprets writing of the engineer exactly as he wrote it; there are some things of which an open interpretation is not acceptable, the Bible is one of them.
Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 4:49 pm
by Joe Guy
liberty wrote:
It is my sincere hope that the Technician reading the nuclear maintenance manual interprets writing of the engineer exactly as he wrote it; there are some things of which an open interpretation is not acceptable, the Bible is one of them.
It is my sincere hope that the engineer who wrote the nuclear maintenance manual for power plants didn't describe the process with the use of metaphors.
Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 5:36 pm
by Big RR
It is my sincere hope that the Technician reading the nuclear maintenance manual interprets writing of the engineer exactly as he wrote it; there are some things of which an open interpretation is not acceptable, the Bible is one of them.
Given how long ago the bible was written, and how our understanding of natural processes and medicine, e.g., has changed, is that even possible? For example, are we to believe that epileptics and insane persons are possessed by demons? I don't think so.
The bible was written for an audience much different from us in many ways, and looking at it critically and interpreting it is necessary to understand it. It's like if an earlier nuclear maintenance manual refers to a green valve; even if you don't have a green valve, you can still infer which valve is meant by that recitation by the language and context.
Either that or we will need an entirely new bible as often as we need new maintenance manuals.
Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 4:41 pm
by dgs49
The disturbing thing about the Bible is how easy it is for people to justify whatever it is that they want to justify - while quoting chapter and verse from the Bible to support their case.
Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 8:08 pm
by dales
"Jesus Wept"
It was true then, and it's more true today than ever!
Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 8:55 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
dgs49 wrote:The disturbing thing about the Bible is how easy it is for people to justify whatever it is that they want to justify - while quoting chapter and verse from the Bible to support their case.
Hmmm, that sounds interesting. Can you actually cite such justification and the chapter and verse involved?
Perhaps slavery and the "sons of Ham" - but details please
Thanks
Meade
Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 9:11 pm
by Crackpot
"Thou may useth this book in order to proveth what thou wilt."
Crackpotians 7:11
Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 10:20 pm
by Lord Jim
Ah yes...
The Gospel According To Crackpot....
I believe that's one of the
apocryphal gospels...
Even the Zoroastrians rejected it...
At the The Council at Nicaea it was placed in the same category as
The Gospel According To Lenny, The Gospel According To Amber, and
The Gospel According To Some Dude I Just Met, Partied With, And Let Him Crash On My Couch...

Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 11:17 pm
by Rick
Joe Guy wrote:liberty wrote:
It is my sincere hope that the Technician reading the nuclear maintenance manual interprets writing of the engineer exactly as he wrote it; there are some things of which an open interpretation is not acceptable, the Bible is one of them.
It is my sincere hope that the engineer who wrote the nuclear maintenance manual for power plants didn't describe the process with the use of metaphors.
y = ax [exponent]2[/exponent] + bx + c
Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 1:03 am
by Econoline
Rick wrote:y = ax 2 + bx + c
Now,
that's certainly open to interpretation.
Is the "2" a coefficient or an exponent? Or maybe a typo? Or does it denote a footnote which you forgot to include, or which you placed on some other page (at the end of the internet?)?

Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:05 am
by Rick
How in the world does one create an exponent?
Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 3:02 am
by Sean
Simply by getting rid of one's ponent.
Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 3:06 am
by Rick
Anyhow what I posted was a metaphor for a parable, it's the equation (less the superscript) for a parabola.
I thought it was humorous
Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 3:22 am
by Econoline
I knew what you meant...just funnin' wit'cha...
P.S. I think you meant
"y = Ax² + Bx + C" but I have no idea how to do that either...

Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 3:38 am
by Rick
Hmmmm
Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 4:21 pm
by Big RR
OK Meade, I'll play. Exodus 22:18--Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. A 2 pointer there--it says that persons who are witches exist, and that it is proper to kill them as we should not let them live and go one doing their witchy things. Featured many time throughout history, including in Salem. Are there persons who have special powers as witches that we can, and should, freely do so? I don't think so, but past religious leaders insisted on it.
There are verses used historically to justify slavery, anti-miscegenation laws, abstaining from medical treatment (like the Jehovah's witnesses discussed below on blood transfusion), refraining from artificial birth control, refraining from masturbation, the divine right of monarchs to rule, etc. No, they're rarely the only interpretation that can be drawn from the words, but they are interpretations that have been used. Face it, with any collection of writings as broad as the bible, that's bound to happen.
Re: The trouble with religion
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 8:12 pm
by Crackpot
Err you really should check your facts there rr