Duff

XBL - GLENN blinks182 Only game I play online is Reach. May change in the future, tho. EDIT (as of May 2013): I play Black Ops II, Halo 4. Also willing to play Halo 3, Halo: Reach, Black Ops I, and Modern Warfare 3.

That really thin brownish paper that I had to practice my letters on in the 2nd grade. The stuff with the dashed line through the middle so you knew how tall your lowercase letters had to be. Major nostalgia.

Omission is betrayal, isn't it? I was in a similar situation a few months ago. I was dating a girl that was conservative christian. I'm atheist. It did cause problems after a while because she kept asking me to go to church with her and sooner or later you start running out of excuses why you can't go with her. Better get it out in the open now, before things get serious and unnecessary heartbreak is caused. I agree that you should make known your religious beliefs right off the bat. Because it could definitely be problematic in the future. If a serious relationship evolves, religious beliefs (or lack thereof) are bound to play a huge role. For me, I don't think I could ever marry an atheist, not because I don't like atheists. Just because so many problems would come up (private or public school, going to mass as a family, teaching kids how to say prayer, differences in how to raise a family, etc). Nor would I want someone to pretend to not care about it, because that puts them in a difficult position where they're weighing you and their own beliefs.

The feeling of something stuck between your teeth (especially when you don't have floss lying around).

I'm so glad it's the weekend. Phew. Going to mess around with my computer science homework, since I find it pretty enjoyable.

I wouldn't want to cramp Over's style, though. :lol: BTB Plan: Give Over the sniper, hide. :3

Suuuuuure, man baby. :P I'll be playing much of this evening, I think. I'll add you after my next class. :thumbup:

Psh, whenever I think of rejoining Runescape, I think of how I'd be made fun of for playing it. Halo, on the other hand, is a very 'guy' thing to do, I guess. Come play Halo with me, Dizz. :3 By that, I think I mean a computer gamer seems less nerdy to girls than a console gamer... At least from my experience.

I'd definitely be down for playing with you guys. Just having other guys I know to play with will make it fun, I think. Zierro, gamertag is GLENN blinks182. I guess I should probably register that in the official gamertag list. I'll add you next time I get the chance. Anyone else care if I add them (aeon, over, dizzle)?

I think you have it backward. There are only a few days a month which there is an egg to fertilize. There's plenty of time to have sex without worrying about having a kid. And I'm almost certain that if you follow NFP the way you should, there is no chance of having an unwanted child. And you seem to be misinterpreting what I say a lot. When I said "They would not have to worry about abortion because they wouldn't have sex until marriage," I was referring to the majority of people who get abortions, aka under-aged, irresponsible kids. I did not mean for people to think that abortion would be completely solved if everyone just waited for marriage to have sex. And I figured people who did get married would actually be stable enough to want/provide for a kid. I did not mean for you to think I said waiting to have sex until after marriage would solve the abortion problem. And I think marriage does change the possibility of unwanted pregnancy, seeing as most people (given, less and less couples are having kids nowadays) plan to have 'keep' their kids after they get married. Oh, and I think you're taking my little ideal scenario a bit too seriously. I was hypothesizing that, though the current generations would be drastically affected if everyone all of the sudden began living their lives according to Church teach, eventually the effects wouldn't be so drastic as the coming generations would find themselves dealing less and less with problems of the previous generations; so, kinda like a slow process of getting used to the Church's teachings. And I think it's obvious the way I've been posting that I do think everyone would benefit if everyone followed Church teaching (the ultimate benefit being heaven). And when you say harmful from the beginning, I think you should understand that when I said harm, I meant difficult for those who are currently going against Church teaching. It will be harmful to them in their eyes. Please enlighten me though, maybe with a citation from an actual Roman Catholic, Vatican approved document that shows that the Church strives to make life difficult for homosexuals and women. I can tell you now that, since the respect for human dignity lies at the center of Catholic Social Justice Teaching, the Catholic Church respects all people. I do suggest that, if you're caught up in the Church's view on homosexuals, you should look into that stuff yourself (make sure you look into Catholic Church Doctrine so you avoid people who argue incorrectly about the Church). I say this because I'm not extremely knowledgeable about the Church's view on homosexuals. I do know that the Church does not see women as lesser than men. And lastly, my little ideal situation was in no way talking about making the Church the ruler of the world. I would never think of that. Especially in the form of a monarchy. I did say that I only meant a sudden change in obedience to the Church: everyone starts to follow it's moral teachings. I stated that perhaps the world would be better if we all adopted the Church's teachings; not if we made the Church the world central government. I know exactly why the Church became corrupt, and I'm sure the Church knows itself. Phew. It was just a little dream scenario, that's all. :s

Psst, Emma Watson fans. Check this photograph out. Drop dead gorgeous I tell ya. [hide][/hide]

You do realize that women can have unwanted pregnancies when they're married, right? She could have been chaste before marriage, had as many kids as she wanted (Even none if she didn't want any children), and then she'd have to either use contraception (Which is against some Catholic doctrine), continue to squirt out babies against her wishes, or never have sex again despite having fulfilled all of God's expectations. Ever heard of Natural Family Planning? Married couples can have sex (save for maybe a week every month) without having to worry about the wife getting pregnant. That is an easy way to avoid unwanted pregnancies when they are married. And it's completely natural. It just involves charting when her time of the month is so you can find out what does she'll be fertile and which days she won't be (or something like that, don't fuss at me over the lingo, I don't know it :P). So by being Catholic for ~5 generations we can take away the central nervous system's reaction to stimuli? I'm being a bit facetious, but there is no life without pain. And no offense, but we (Europeans) did follow the Catholic Church's teachings for many generations; it was called the Dark Ages, and I'm pretty sure there was an insane amount of misfortune, pain, and suffering even under the most benevolent of Popes. Diversity and division of power helps to minimize the tyranny that ALL earthly organizations create with enough influence and power. You completely missed an important part of that statement. Look at the bold. Of course they would continue to feel pain if they stubbed their toe or accidentally scraped their arm. Those pains aren't due to Church teachings. And the Dark Ages were a probably at a time during which the papacy was rather corrupt (as I hinted to Nomrom). The papacy now is very stable. Even if there was a benevolent Pope who actually was chosen for his merit, you cannot blame the disease and horribleness of the Dark Ages on the teachings of the Church (those teachings that were actually credible, as opposed to ones that were made for political gain, etc).

Going to my chemistry lab in a bit. Today's experiment required a lot of planning. Took up a lot of my day, I guess. I'm swamped tonight, though. I have to proofread a poem analysis and make adjustments to it. I also have to read another 30 pages in The Republic. I'm hoping they'll have mildly entertaining content, or else I'll probably fall asleep midway. I'm loving my computer science class so far. I actually look forward to doing the homework and learning knew things. I never felt that way about PHYS 103 when I took it... Maybe it's a sign that physics isn't for me. We'll see.

Val Jester - The National. The violin (or whatever it is) is soothing. Next I'll probably listen to All The Wine - The National. Probably because I just like the groove to the song, how the lyrics are spoken, everything.

I've always wondered if anyone actually did that. I might try it now. :o

Didn't see that until now. I think I got the gist of what your point was just by looking at the link text. And I'll say those were the results of bad popes who were affected by politics and who came to power through force and not because of their merit. I think we've already gone over that the Catholic Church has owned up to these actions and admitted it had been corrupt. That still doesn't do any damage to the fact that the Catechism of the Catholic Church clearly expresses it's universal salvific will.

Could you clarify what you mean? The way Catholics believe God to be, he fulfills all of our desires. He is the ultimate desire. Thus, we would do anything to achieve 'God', even if it meant putting aside our other desires. I think that's what he means. EDIT: Nevermind. Though, the point is still good. :P

Should it come at the misfortune, harm, or pain of others though? The theory behind the Church says no, but again...as we aren't perfect, neither is the way we carry out His will. It's why so many people today struggle against the Church. If you think about it, though, a person living by Catholic doctrine would not suffer misfortune, harm, or pain because of it. They would not have to worry about abortion because they wouldn't have sex until marriage (just one example). It's going to be hard for those who have already done things that are discouraged by the Church. But what if the Church was able to convince a generation to follow it's teachings? I'm, of course, speaking of an ideal life. But if the Church was able to convince a generation to follow it's teachings, and that generation was able to do the same to the next, slowly but surely, people would not experience misfortune, harm, or pain due to the Church's teachings. I'm speaking ideally. I realize that. Just something to think about. :)

A very good clarification. Other Christian denominations don't believe in purgatory. My apologies. Though, I feel, since heaven is a place for perfect people, we must go somewhere beforehand to become perfect, as we are not perfect when we die.

Who can say no to a question like that? But salvation comes to whoever accepts the Christian Lord as their Saviour regardless of what life they lead before that. I could live a sinful life until my end of days and repent with sincerity and a humble heart and (possibly) be Saved. And while the true test for the spirit of a man or woman would be to love a child gotten on them by rape or otherwise would be to love them unconditionally, we aren't perfect. According to Christianity, the only perfect person who walked among us was the Christ who even then gave himself to save us. That's the point. No one can. This is why the Church feels it should be doing what it's doing. I don't even want to bring it up, but I have to: the Church believes in purgatory. If the Church is successful in helping the people of the earth lead better lives, they'll spend less time in purgatory, therefore having an easier road to heaven. I know that many people don't believe in purgatory. I'm not proving it exists. I'm merely clarifying to Kimberly why, even if God has incomprehensible mercy, urging us to live by the Church's ways is still worth it.

I'm pretty sure my idea of what the church wants and your idea of what it wants are still two very different things. I'm sure that's not what you were getting at. But okay. Time to stop going of topic, i think. I know what the Church wants. I've said it. If whatever you think the Church wants is different than what I know the Church wants, then your idea of what the Church wants is incorrect. The Church wants every person to make it to heaven (aka. eternal happiness). This is because it believes a place such as heaven exists. Just as you admitted to, an eternity of happiness (if it were to exist) is worth the bit of struggle during our earthly years. By admitting to that, you should realize that is why the Church is so set on getting people to live lifestyles as the Church teaches. Even if these lifestyles are a bit difficult, at least they'd be helping you gain eternal happiness. If you think the Church wants to oppress it's people, force people to follow its rules, etc, then you're wrong. EDIT: It's plainly written in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I've read it. I can make the above claims.

The humans of the Church can be flawed (why else did the Crusades and the Inquisition happen?). And I highly doubt that 1 in every 20 people who make up the Magisterium (that is, the teaching authority) are pedophiles. Actually, I'd doubt if any of them were. They're the ones who agree on Church teaching, who decide what it is. Because various priests around the world have made mistakes does not mean the current doctrine is of bad character.

Now that you've answered my question, you have an idea of what the Church feels. And that was what I was getting at.

Exchanging a life of challenges for an eternity of happiness. Yes, I think that sounds like a good deal. In your eyes yes. Because you choose to believe in a fairy tale. In my eyes no. Because i choose to believe in science. I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't label religious doctrine in such a condescending manner. It isn't very mature. Oh, in your eyes, is an eternity of happiness not worth a short life of challenges? Is that not a good deal? That was your question to me. Now I ask it of you. If your answer is that it does sound like a good deal (which it will be), then you'll understand why the Church is doing what it is doing. And I find it too funny that you label a good Catholic life as miserable. You can't have sex until your married? How awful! You can't abort a child because you never thought that your girlfriend would get pregnant, even though you are thoroughly warned that birth control is not 100% fool proof? Dang, I'm sorry. It's so tough not being able to do everything that you want to do. That sure makes life completely miserable, huh? I'd label it how ever i want to :\ If you're not happy with it you're welcome to take it somewhere else. And now you're just being ignorant because you fully know that faulty birth control is not the only reason women accidentally get pregnant. Also, in my eyes there is no eternal happiness because like i said, i don't believe in fairy tales. So why should i face any sort of unwanted challenge? Thanks Noxx. I'm sure you understand. And I do know fully well that faulty birth control is not the only reason women get pregnant. Would you like me to write a few essays that cover every example of a complaint a person would have against the Church? I didn't ask if there was eternal happiness. I asked, if there was, would it be worth a challenging life to achieve it. It's a simple question. I'm asking you to put yourself in the Church's shoes. If you did believe in eternal happiness, would you not want to help everyone try and achieve it, even if it means living a challenging life here on earth.

Once again, I know this. I know that people don't want to have the Magisterium (lovely ad hominem, by the way) tell them what to do. That is not what we are arguing (at least, I am not). The point is, the Church does believe in an afterlife, and therefore acts accordingly. You cannot say that their intentions are bad. You don't have to believe it, but it (the Church) is in existence and will continue to urge people to live lives that follow Church teaching. They're trying to help people live better lives. That's why they're 'telling' people what to do. You don't like it? Too bad. They have every right to want happiness for everyone.