Observations On Life

[Sailor Steve]

Make them good!

I've played in a lot of bands and in a lot of bars over the years, and this question seems to follow me everywhere. Have you ever noticed that every bar in every town in the world seems to have at least one bouncer who is six feet tall, four feet wide and three feet deep, and looks like he could pick up Arnold Schwarzenneger and break him in two; and every single one of them is called "Tiny", or "Junior"?

[Armistead]

A bold opposite statement is often used to exaggerate the obvious.

http://static.funpic.hu/_files/pictures/630/17/28/2817.jpg (http://www.funpic.hu/en/categories/dogs/2817_lost-dog-named-lucky?categoryId=5&position=&large=1)

[troopie]

I find life's a bit like riding a bike; if you focus too much on that pothole/tree/patch of sand you're trying to avoid, you can guarantee you'll hit it!

[Cybermat47]

Life is like the TARDIS; Ya never know where your gonna end up...

[STEED]

Born free TAX for life.

[BossMark]

Every bloke has at some stage while taking a pee flushed half way through and then raced against the flush.

[HundertzehnGustav]

that, sir, is what i shall attempt today. :rotfl2:

[Jimbuna]

None of us is as clever as all of us.

[BossMark]

I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.

[GoldenRivet]

Man makes plans, and God laughs.

[Jimbuna]

Life is just a phase you’re going through…you’ll get over it.

[STEED]

Life is a Bitch.

[BossMark]

Never under any circumstances take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

[STEED]

What ever you do, don't eat yellow snow.

[Jimbuna]

Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

[BossMark]

At the end of every party there is always a girl crying

[Takeda Shingen]

All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten. -- Robert Fulghum

[BossMark]

Sharpening a pencil with a knife makes you feel really manly.

[Jimbuna]

Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.

[Sailor Steve]

Thanks for all the replies, and pretty much all of them were witty, and contained some truth, but all are stock replies you can find anywhere online. I was looking more for actual observations on life's oddities and absurdities.

Have you ever noticed that airline captains, no matter what accent or language, all try to sound like Chuck Yeager?

[Takeda Shingen]

Thanks for all the replies, and pretty much all of them were witty, and contained some truth, but all are stock replies you can find anywhere online. I was looking more for actual observations on life's oddities and absurdities.

Have you ever noticed that airline captains, no matter what accent or language, all try to sound like Chuck Yeager?

Well, that was sort of the point in my own reply. I have personally never said nor thought anything that I would have considered wise, just as I believe that I have never had an original thought in my life. Somewhere, sometime and somehow in course of human history, there was at least one person who had thought or said every thought or statement that I have said. As such, I've never considered myself qualified to dispense advice or insight.

[Sailor Steve]

And that was a great observation, Tak! Just what I was hoping for.

As I said, your original post, and most of the others, were great, and I honor them. I was just looking for something else. I guess I'm unique in my own brand of insanity.

[Platapus]

Most people are decent, some people are not. The problem is that it is often impossible to tell them apart. Sometimes you gotta play the odds.

[Betonov]

The main proof of my superior inteligence is the fact that I am still alive, despite me being an idiot.

[Armistead]

And that was a great observation, Tak! Just what I was hoping for.

As I said, your original post, and most of the others, were great, and I honor them. I was just looking for something else. I guess I'm unique in my own brand of insanity.

I guess you're seeking ironic comparisons...not googled wit?

[Stealhead]

The main proof of my superior inteligence is the fact that I am still alive, despite me being an idiot.

:har: We must be related.

[Sailor Steve]

I guess you're seeking ironic comparisons...not googled wit?
They don't need to be ironic, just honest, and preferably personal.

[Sailor Steve]

When my older daughter turned 21, I called my dad and told him that for the first time in my life I was really starting to feel old.

He said "Let me tell you a little secret. People in their seventies really don't appreciate hearing 'children' in their fifties whining about feeling old!"

[HundertzehnGustav]

You are only as old as you feel.
Boring, but when a Woman makes love to you like she was half her age, there must be aome truth to it - my hip hurts!

[HundertzehnGustav]

Have you ever noticed that airline captains, no matter what accent or language, all try to sound like Chuck Yeager?


That cannot be true...!
Many of them never heard Chuck yeager in the first place.

[Sailor Steve]

Well, someone else recently said "You're only as old as the woman you feel", so you could be right.

My dad had another observation on that. When I tried to describe the idea that time seems to go by faster as we age because every year we have more behind us to compare it to, he said "No, that's not it. Once you get over the hill, you pick up speed going down the other side."

[HundertzehnGustav]

trust me on this... she totally thrashed me.
defnitely true.

ARRRR!:arrgh!:

[Platapus]

Blessed is the person who has earned the love of an old dog.

[Sailor Steve]

That cannot be true...!
Many of them never heard Chuck yeager in the first place.
I know, but they all seem to affect that American midwest accent. It's weird.

[Red October1984]

Well, that was sort of the point in my own reply. I have personally never said nor thought anything that I would have considered wise, just as I believe that I have never had an original thought in my life. Somewhere, sometime and somehow in course of human history, there was at least one person who had thought or said every thought or statement that I have said. As such, I've never considered myself qualified to dispense advice or insight.

That's how I feel sometimes. I'll think I have a great idea. But. Somebody already said/wrote/invented/did whatever I thought of. I do have original thoughts when I write for school though. I have to have those original ideas.

[Armistead]

Here's one I recall that maybe Steve can relate or anyone older.

Sitting on the toilet at 4AM thinking.

"I knew I should'nt have taken two laxatives"

[AVGWarhawk]

Maybe it's just me and my wife will swear it is, as soon as we get to the register and we are next to be checked out one or more of the following will occur:

1. Register tape jams or needs to be replaced.
2. The change drawer requires a drop in the safe.
3. There is not enough change in the drawer.
4. The cashier calls to get a bathroom break.
5. The credit card machine goes down.
6. The customer ahead of us finds their card is not accepting the charge but swears it worked ten minutes ago at another store. The bickering ensues.
7. The checkout line shopper who forgets something and runs to the isle to get it thus having me wait until they return to finalize the sale.

My wife always looks at me and states she would be out of there if I was not with her at the register.

[Armistead]

Think that's bad, the other night after standing in line at Walmart for 30 minutes, someone tried to pass a counterfeit bill. I had to hear an irate lady argue with the cashier for 10 minutes, then the manager. She paid with other, but wanted her $100 bill back saying she would take it to the bank and get it exchanged....:har:

[Cybermat47]

Richard Dawkins, a man who has dedicated his life to telling people that Religion is stupid, does not believe in a God.

Stephen Hawking, a man who has dedicated his life to studying the very fabric of the universe, does believe in a God.

Result!

[Sailor Steve]

Richard Dawkins, a man who has dedicated his life to telling people that Religion is stupid, does not believe in a God.

Stephen Hawking, a man who has dedicated his life to studying the very fabric of the universe, does believe in a God.

Result!
In interesting dichotomy. On the other hand, it's still belief. The real question is, why do we believe, or disbelieve?

[Sailor Steve]

Here's a philosophical brain-teaser:

There's an exception to every rule.

Except that one.

[Cybermat47]

In interesting dichotomy. On the other hand, it's still belief. The real question is, why do we believe, or disbelieve?

Interesting response.

Thank God I'm not going to start another pointless poll about that one :D

[Sailor Steve]

Ever since the song 'And When I Die' came out in 1969 I've adhered to the Blood, Sweat & Tears philosophy:

"I can swear there ain't no heaven, but I'll pray there ain't no hell."

[antikristuseke]

Haven't really been around for long enough to make many observations about the absurdities of life, but will give it a shot.

It is usually true hardship that one goes through that makes for the best and most hilarious stories later on in life even though the subject mater is hardly ever a laughing mater, humour, especially in its darkest forms, is an awesome coping mechanism.

[antikristuseke]

Richard Dawkins, a man who has dedicated his life to telling people that Religion is stupid, does not believe in a God.

Stephen Hawking, a man who has dedicated his life to studying the very fabric of the universe, does believe in a God.

Result!

There is a small problem with this, Stephen Hawking disagrees with what you just claimed...:hmmm:
Here is a quote from him: "The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we can't understand, or was it determined by a law of science? I believe the second. If you like, you can call the laws of science 'God', but it wouldn't be a personal God that you could meet, and ask questions."

[Sailor Steve]

One of the oldies, but goodies:

Why do hot dogs come in packages of ten, and hot dog buns come in packages of eight?

[Armistead]

Ever since the song 'And When I Die' came out in 1969 I've adhered to the Blood, Sweat & Tears philosophy:

"I can swear there ain't no heaven, but I'll pray there ain't no hell."

At the Souls dark hour, through muttering lips, we would finally ask forgiveness...Does it not expose us even more for the sinners we all are?

I always like what Wild Bill wrote in his last letter to his wife...

"Agnes Darling If such should be we never meet again, while firing my last shot, I will gently breathe the name of my wife-Agnes-and with wishes even for my enemies I will make the plunge and try to swim to the other shore."
J.B. Hickok Wild Bill

[Armistead]

One of the oldies, but goodies:

Why do hot dogs come in packages of ten, and hot dog buns come in packages of eight?

Buy 8 packs of hot dogs and 10 packs of buns....

Problem solved....:D

[CaptainMattJ.]

If you expect the unexpected, it becomes the expected. and therefore the expected that you didn't expect becomes the unexpected that you're supposed to expect.

(Just a funny one)If guns don't kill people, people kill people: Does that mean toasters don't toast toast, Toast toasts toast?


Although if i've learned anything in my time here it's that you not only have to be make preparations and put foresight into your future, you also have to expect to throw all of that preparation out the window and act on the fly if necessary.

[Cybermat47]

There is a small problem with this, Stephen Hawking disagrees with what you just claimed...:hmmm:
Here is a quote from him: "The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we can't understand, or was it determined by a law of science? I believe the second. If you like, you can call the laws of science 'God', but it wouldn't be a personal God that you could meet, and ask questions."

So? He doesnt believe that a God caused the creation of the universe, but still believes in a God nonetheless. The only way the above statement would contradict what I said would be if I had said that Proffesor Hawking believed in God, the Christian deity which I believe in. As it happens, I said that he believed in a God: in other words, he's an agnostic. Perhaps the God he believes in didn't make the universe, but to actually know, we'd better ask him ourselves.

[troopie]

Thanks for all the replies, and pretty much all of them were witty, and contained some truth, but all are stock replies you can find anywhere online. I was looking more for actual observations on life's oddities and absurdities.


I find life's a bit like riding a bike; if you focus too much on that pothole/tree/patch of sand you're trying to avoid, you can guarantee you'll hit it!


Funnily enough, I didn't post this as a throw-away line (not that you could've known) and I certainly didn't google it. In fact, although it's no doubt been thought before, I've never heard anyone else make the comparison. I posted it because It's something I've been dweling on a lot lately.

When I was a kid someone was showing me how to ride a motorbike and he warned me not to stare at an object you are trying to avoid, as you will automatically steer towards it, better to to focus on the path around it.

Well, ~ ten or so years ago I found myself discontent with where my life was heading, I kept meeting older people in the same situation as I was in then, and they seemed destined to die with sad lonely lives. So I found some resolve and decided to knuckle down and 'get somewhere in life', I guess, by keeping mindful of where I didn't want to end up.

Well ten years later I'm crashing and burning in a big way and I can't help but think back to that fellers advice and think, maybe I shoulda taken that on board a little more! I mean hindsight's great 'n' all, but maybe if I focused more on what I had around me, I would've ended up at the right place anyway?

Sorry if this is a bit lame or too serious but I just wanted to explain my quote! And who knows, maybe someone might get something out of it.

[Jimbuna]

Over the years I've often found that junk is something you throw away a few weeks before you need it.

[TarJak]

I've found life is much better when you live it rather than not.

[AVGWarhawk]

Over the years I've often found that junk is something you throw away a few weeks before you need it.


For me it's about 2 days for before I need it. Meanwhile I see the rubbish truck heading down the road after dumping my cans in the back! :shifty:

[Herr-Berbunch]

Probably not what you're after, Steve, but one of my favourites - Etiquette is used to exclude people, manners are used to include people.


And maybe something more like what you're looking for. After her bath the other night, my daughter (aged 4) mentioned being (or becoming) dead, I obviously told her that I hoped she wouldn't die - she took a moment and said, 'but Daddy, I will die eventually'. I asked her why, and she replied, 'because we need to make room for other people to live in our house'. And she's four!

[Jimbuna]

Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused.

[Betonov]

Incest, fun for the entire family

[Sailor Steve]

Buy 8 packs of hot dogs and 10 packs of buns....

Problem solved....:D
They'll rot long before I ever eat them all. :dead:

[Sailor Steve]

(Just a funny one)If guns don't kill people, people kill people: Does that mean toasters don't toast toast, Toast toasts toast?
I think that's obvious. Toasters do indeed burn toast. People don't. :D

[Sailor Steve]

As it happens, I said that he believed in a God: in other words, he's an agnostic.
Agnostic:
1. A person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience.

An agnostic is not someone who believes in an unknowable God. He's someone who believes we can't know one way or the other.

Perhaps the God he believes in didn't make the universe, but to actually know, we'd better ask him ourselves.
Been there, done that. Haven't seen an answer yet. I'm still looking.

[Armistead]

They'll rot long before I ever eat them all. :dead:


Not if you freeze them...

Again, another problem solved.

[Jimbuna]

By the time you find greener pastures, you can’t climb the fence!

[Sailor Steve]

Funnily enough, I didn't post this as a throw-away line (not that you could've known) and I certainly didn't google it. In fact, although it's no doubt been thought before, I've never heard anyone else make the comparison. I posted it because It's something I've been dweling on a lot lately.
I apologize. I saw the first line and yawned :yawn:. My bad.

When I was a kid someone was showing me how to ride a motorbike and he warned me not to stare at an object you are trying to avoid, as you will automatically steer towards it, better to to focus on the path around it.
I've noticed that. I've never talked about it because I assumed it was just me.

Well, ~ ten or so years ago I found myself discontent with where my life was heading, I kept meeting older people in the same situation as I was in then, and they seemed destined to die with sad lonely lives. So I found some resolve and decided to knuckle down and 'get somewhere in life', I guess, by keeping mindful of where I didn't want to end up.
Thirty years ago I asked a 70-year-old of my aquaintance "When am I going to stop feeling like a kid in a world full of grown-ups?"

He replied "I don't know. Ask me again in ten years."

Well ten years later I'm crashing and burning in a big way and I can't help but think back to that fellers advice and think, maybe I shoulda taken that on board a little more! I mean hindsight's great 'n' all, but maybe if I focused more on what I had around me, I would've ended up at the right place anyway?
"Maybe if I..."

That's the worst thing we can do, and the more past I have the more I seem to dwell on it.

Sorry if this is a bit lame or too serious but I just wanted to explain my quote! And who knows, maybe someone might get something out of it.
Not lame at all, and definitely not too serious, at least not for me. While I'm sorry I missed your meaning the first time around, I'm also glad because it lead to you posting this.

Thanks! :sunny:

[Sailor Steve]

Probably not what you're after, Steve, but one of my favourites - Etiquette is used to exclude people, manners are used to include people.
A good point, and one I should pay more attention to. I find myself leaning more towards the letter than the spirit.

And maybe something more like what you're looking for. After her bath the other night, my daughter (aged 4) mentioned being (or becoming) dead, I obviously told her that I hoped she wouldn't die - she took a moment and said, 'but Daddy, I will die eventually'. I asked her why, and she replied, 'because we need to make room for other people to live in our house'. And she's four!
Yes, absolutely. It's amazing what kids can think sometimes.

[Armistead]

Agnostic:
1. A person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience.

An agnostic is not someone who believes in an unknowable God. He's someone who believes we can't know one way or the other.


Been there, done that. Haven't seen an answer yet. I'm still looking.

When my grandfather was dying, my grandmother, a devout lady, asked him to beg God for forgiveness, in which he simply replied...

"For what"...

[Sailor Steve]

When my grandfather was dying, my grandmother, a devout lady, asked him to beg God for forgiveness, in which he simply replied...

"For what"...
:rotfl2:

My dad died last July. I didn't start a thread on it because I didn't want any condolences, for various reasons. Anyway, my sister posted it on FaceBook, and got a lot of replies, one of which was from a friend of hers, saying "There's a new angel looking down on us from heaven."

I told my sister how hard it was for me to bite my tongue and say nothing, when what I wanted to post was "Dad was a lifelong atheist. He not only wouldn't thank you for saying that, he'd probably laugh in your face." My sister thanked me for holding my peace.

[Takeda Shingen]

I told my sister how hard it was for me to bite my tongue and say nothing, when what I wanted to post was "Dad was a lifelong atheist. He not only wouldn't thank you for saying that, he'd probably laugh in your face." My sister thanked me for holding my peace.

I think that was a wise thing to do. People need to express sympathy in their own way. Their way is no longer of any conseqency to the departed, but lashing out is a good way to fail to honor their memory.

[Betonov]

Speaking of death, my family has a very relaxed relation with death.

This year there was an overpopulation of rodents and the lawn on the cemetary was riddled with holes and when my dad asked my grandmother (his mother) if he should do something about my grandfathers grave, she replied: leave them alone, at least he has company.

[Armistead]

:rotfl2:

My dad died last July. I didn't start a thread on it because I didn't want any condolences, for various reasons. Anyway, my sister posted it on FaceBook, and got a lot of replies, one of which was from a friend of hers, saying "There's a new angel looking down on us from heaven."

I told my sister how hard it was for me to bite my tongue and say nothing, when what I wanted to post was "Dad was a lifelong atheist. He not only wouldn't thank you for saying that, he'd probably laugh in your face." My sister thanked me for holding my peace.

When my Mom passed about a 18 months ago, my sis got a very fundy preacher to do her service, her husbands brother. Mom was a fairly strong christian, but a moderate Methodist. I recalled when her last brother died, she was irate that the preacher turned his funeral into a hell and damnation sermon. He wasn't "saved", nor would he confess on his death bed. Still can hear him yelling..

"We'll never know about Jay, all we can hope is he confessed." Then a long spill how the rest of them didn't have to go to hell and be tortured and gave an alter call...

My Mom was shaking she was so mad, stating he didn't say anything about how Jay was a good man, generous to all, faithful husband, etc...

Anyways, I told the preacher at my Mom's funeral I didn't want a hellfire Baptist sermon, to keep it on what a wonderul mother I had... It didn't take 5 minutes he was preaching one. I almost exploded, but held my peace. When he got done, I did take the stand and told people what a wonderful mom I had.

I spoke to him about it afterwards, he just went into a spill of how he goes where the spirit leads him. I told him if he can't honor the wishes of a grieving family to look for another line of work...

[HundertzehnGustav]

Been there, done that. Haven't seen an answer yet. I'm still looking.

stop looking and searching.... start finding and embracing.

[Sailor Steve]

stop looking and searching.... start finding and embracing.
Finding and embracing what? God? Show me. Life? What makes you think I'm not?

[HundertzehnGustav]

ah!
I didnt say what or where... nor did i say you were sad and bitter.
(although... "serious" might be an adjective that matches my perception of you.?)
whatever, i get off topic.
what i mean: stop running after an answer. Just stand still for a second, and the answer you are running after will hit you... in the back.
It was right behind you, trying to catch up with you all the time.
:)

[Sailor Steve]

Oh, I'm not running after anything. When I say "looking", it's more like "waiting for someone to show me something - anything."

I'm not actively seeking anything anymore. Stopped doing that years ago. I'm a true sceptic. I don't even believe the atheists. :sunny:

[HundertzehnGustav]

Ouch!:D
so you don't believe in any damned thing...
not even that a "damned" state exists!

How about this one,
"Life is a Party - if you invite the right people"
said that when i was 16... and boy am I having a hard time!

[Sailor Steve]

Ouch!:D
so you don't believe in any damned thing...
not even that a "damned" state exists!
What ever gave you that idea? I don't put my faith in things that no one can see or show. There's a difference.

How about this one,
"Life is a Party - if you invite the right people"
said that when i was 16... and boy am I having a hard time!
Sounds okay to me. I'm not sure it's true, but then I'm not sure about a lot of things.

[Cybermat47]

I don't get what this 'confession' stuff is. Shouldn't you be telling God, rather than a Priest? Anyway, I think that, if there is a hell, people are sent there based on their treatment of others, rather than their religion.

[GoldenRivet]

if there is a hell, people are sent there based on their treatment of others, rather than their religion.

This

[Jimbuna]

Possibly :hmmm:

[HundertzehnGustav]

you are scratching your beard there...
what are other, similar reasons to be sent to hell?

[Jimbuna]

you are scratching your beard there...
what are other, similar reasons to be sent to hell?

Only the devil can answer that :yep:

[Sailor Steve]

I don't get what this 'confession' stuff is. Shouldn't you be telling God, rather than a Priest? Anyway, I think that, if there is a hell, people are sent there based on their treatment of others, rather than their religion.
What you think and what the faith you follow teaches seem to be at odds.

You say you're Christian, and Christianity in most of its forms teaches that you can only be saved if you acknowledge Christ as the only salvation. How good a person is doesn't enter into it.

[HundertzehnGustav]

Hold on... was that not wriitten in a 2000 year old Soap opera they later labeled Bible, and attempted to instill as THE BOOK?

...ugh, i do not even want to go there...
bad stuff bound to happen.:timeout:

:haha::haha:

[Sailor Steve]

...ugh, i do not even want to go there...
I'm not trying to go there. I'm just pointing out my perception of a discrepancy between what he says he believes and what he says he thinks.

[HundertzehnGustav]

then you will find many discrepancies...

what we say (based on what we see) and what we believe (based on what we heart, were told, are hoping for) is a very common thing in us, us humans.

:D

[Cybermat47]

What you think and what the faith you follow teaches seem to be at odds.

You say you're Christian, and Christianity in most of its forms teaches that you can only be saved if you acknowledge Christ as the only salvation. How good a person is doesn't enter into it.

The trouble with the Bible is that it was written by people, so they might have slipped some untrue things in there. I mean, for all we know, the book of revelations might have been written in or changed by a pope or other religious figure, to force people to never question the teachings of Christianity through fear of eternal damnation. Also, the homophobic elements might have been written in by homophobic Christians.

Of course, if all of that turns out to be true, I'll be filing a complaint with God :D

[Armistead]

The trouble with the Bible is that it was written by people, so they might have slipped some untrue things in there. I mean, for all we know, the book of revelations might have been written in or changed by a pope or other religious figure, to force people to never question the teachings of Christianity through fear of eternal damnation. Also, the homophobic elements might have been written in by homophobic Christians.

Of course, if all of that turns out to be true, I'll be filing a complaint with God :D

That's a hard issue I learned in Bible College years ago. I grew up believing the bible was perfect without error, but found it to be simply false.

There were no printing presses in that day, so scripture was copied over and over, with each scribe making changes, corrections, deletions and additions. We have but a few pieces of scripture within 100 years of Christ, that was also copied. It's clear that Luke and Matthew were copied from Mark, with changes, not to mention we have no clue who wrote the gospels, except that the story evolved as each was written. Paul didn't write many of the books in the NT he is given credit for. Most Scholars agree it's simply impossible to know what the original transcripts said.

Regardless of the changes, when studied in the greek, I could no longer find this eternal torture pit. The concept of eternal torture in hell didn't take hold until almost 400 AD. For the most part the early church believed Christ would save all men, in his timing and order.

So many problems arrived when politics and christianity combined under Rome. Thousands of doctrines were created from bible verses to control the masses with guilt and fear. Sadly when the church took on the belief of an eternal torture pit, they themselves became agents of torture in God's name and we entered a dark period as evil as any in history.

I have beat my head over this to the point of exploding, but I can't figure it out. I hope God exist, but my belief is if he does, he will hardly be as any religion portrayed him.

[Cybermat47]

^^^

Do you know if early Christians had a concept of Heaven?

[Sailor Steve]

The trouble with the Bible is that it was written by people, so they might have slipped some untrue things in there.
Now you enter Jefferson's Dilemma (as I term it). Thomas Jefferson was convinced that Jesus was the greatest human moral teacher (his words) who ever lived, but was not divine. He therefore took all of Jesus's sayings and teachings and put them together in his own condensed version, leaving out all the miracles and the ressurection. The dilemma is that of course Jefferson didn't know what was true and what wasn't, yet he chose to edit it for his own purposes. We don't know for a fact that any of it is true, and if you're going to pick and choose how do you know what to leave in and what to take out? You end up believing what suits you and ignoring what doesn't. That's pretty much what everyone who disagrees with one part or another ends up doing.

I mean, for all we know, the book of revelations might have been written in or changed by a pope or other religious figure, to force people to never question the teachings of Christianity through fear of eternal damnation. Also, the homophobic elements might have been written in by homophobic Christians.
Or the whole thing might be absolutely true, and by picking and choosing you may be condemning yourself. Or the whole thing might be made up by men, and there is no God.

I don't pretend to know which is true. The Christians may be right. The Atheists may be right. For all I know the Muslims may be right. All I'm saying is that if you're going to claim to follow the God of the Bible, it might be a dangerous game to only believe the parts of the book that suit you.

[Armistead]

^^^

Do you know if early Christians had a concept of Heaven?

Of course they did, but somewhat different than ours. You have to remember they had no bible and few letters, mostly used oral tradition.
Many of the beliefs, rituals and traditions were much different. Eventually that led to councils to start forming stone doctrine.

Even the early church from Polycarp, Ignatius, Clement, Irenaeus, Origen were often at odds because they had different versions of text, which along with their political and personal influences, redefined and edited text to push their positions. It's also clear that later Church Fathers using different copies, changed opinion and formed new doctrines

Sad, Church Fathers often deemed the preceeding fathers as heretics or some of their views as heretical, not to mention other church leaders during this period were often so much at odds that they sought the death of other church leaders, such as Polycarp. This clearly proves severe issues from the period of the Apostles, early and later Church Fathers.

Heaven and Hell were debated much for 400 years after Christ, most of what we believe in now was determined or formed under the Roman Catholic church for political reasons of control.

[Armistead]

I screwed up the qoute, anyways...Steve said.

Or the whole thing might be absolutely true, and by picking and choosing you may be condemning yourself. Or the whole thing might be made up by men, and there is no God.

I don't pretend to know which is true. The Christians may be right. The Atheists may be right. For all I know the Muslims may be right. All I'm saying is that if you're going to claim to follow the God of the Bible, it might be a dangerous game to only believe the parts of the book that suit you

The fact is if we got the books of the bible back to even the state of the earliest copies, it would be radically different than today. The fact is most denominations have different views based on different verses. Most will simply follow the belief of whatever church they found salvation in. trusting what they're being told is true, never testing it for themselves.

[CaptainMattJ.]

Believing in a god is a much easier pill to swallow than organized religion, by far. Especially since organized religion has been the basis of manipulation and discrimination for millennium by so many of the corrupt.

Though even simply believing in a god i don't feel necessary. I dont feel the need for a being to have created everything. If i believe in anything it would be in the power of the universe itself.

[Randomizer]

A bit too much Christian proselytizing around here so here's Epicurian's Paradox as a rebuttal:

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?

Back onto the topic:

Life is good. Particularly when you consider the alternative.

[Sailor Steve]

Life is good. Particularly when you consider the alternative.
:yep: :rock:

That's what Jimmy Stewart said when someone asked him how he felt about getting old. :sunny:

[HundertzehnGustav]

what IS the alternative?
Non-life. Death.
is it any good or any bad? How to compare?
do you have notable experience in both domains? (before this life and after this life? - 3 domains?)
(define noteable - years? lifespans? aeons?):timeout:

A very vague statement to me... and not an observation on life, but a comparisation to "everything non-life".

[Cybermat47]

^^^^

When your dead, you don't have to worry about anything!

[HundertzehnGustav]

prove that.

because what we percieve as dead, might be a different state of "being alive".

and as long as you are alive (from this life's experience) i think that "being alive = worrying".

[Sailor Steve]

what IS the alternative?
Non-life. Death.
is it any good or any bad? How to compare?
do you have notable experience in both domains? (before this life and after this life? - 3 domains?)
(define noteable - years? lifespans? aeons?):timeout:

A very vague statement to me... and not an observation on life, but a comparisation to "everything non-life".
No, we have no real way of comparing. That said, the only real evidence we have points toward the concept that we cease to function entirely. The alternative to comparing life to death is that the dead don't seem to make that comparison. Is being asleep worse than being awake? I hate the fact that I've now spent twenty years of my life asleep. I may not hate being dead, but thinking about it from the living point of view makes it look pretty bad by comparison. There's nothing we can do about it; we are going to die. Still and all, I think living is better.

On the other hand, sometimes I hate my life, so maybe I'm wrong about that too.

[AVGWarhawk]

Any day above ground is a good day...as some say. :hmmm:

[Betonov]

Life after death ??
I'm still trying to believe in life after birth :shifty:

[HundertzehnGustav]

^^
awesome!

:rock:

[HundertzehnGustav]

No, we have no real way of comparing. That said, the only real evidence we have points toward the concept that we cease to function entirely. The alternative to comparing life to death is that the dead don't seem to make that comparison. Is being asleep worse than being awake? I hate the fact that I've now spent twenty years of my life asleep. I may not hate being dead, but thinking about it from the living point of view makes it look pretty bad by comparison. There's nothing we can do about it; we are going to die. Still and all, I think living is better.

On the other hand, sometimes I hate my life, so maybe I'm wrong about that too.

Maybe...
Maybe even your sleep is a different way of being alive and awake.
a sort of "being alive and awake - somewhere else, doing the debriefing of what we have seen here"

therefor, you did not sleep.
no need to be mad about sleep=waste of time.

:sunny:

thing is that memory is not carried over from one state to another.... or only subconcious traces of it.

so its not "past life" "present life" and "next life"

Its more than one life in paralell...
How's that for train of thought?

[STEED]

The only advice I can give is no advice.

[AVGWarhawk]

That is solid advice. :up:

[u crank]

Any day above ground is a good day...as some say. :hmmm:

'Everybody wants to go to heaven...
..nobody wants to go right now.'

:D

[Jimbuna]

Enjoy life while your here, your a long time dead.

[Armistead]

The only advice I can give is no advice.

Wise men don't need it, fools won't heed it....