Ambassadar

Actually I saw Liza Minelli come up as a result... bleck

Personally I think the issue has nothing to do with Christianity or any one religion in particular. Sorry if I rehash any points already covered. I am just walking through the issue step by step to reach what I feel is a solid conclusion. Feel free to disagree and post corrections/comments. The question is can humans define absolute morality or would it take a higher power to define it? It doesn't matter who or what that higher power is. It also doesn't matter if that higher power can be proven to exist or not because the question remains the same whether or not that higher power is there. The burden lies on the question is it possible for man to define absolute morality? If it can be shown that man cannot define this then by default it is shown that absolute morality could only stem from a higher power. First it absolute morality must be defined. I would describe it as "A truth defining the right or wrong way for men to think or act that is true under any circumstance." As an example I will say that it is absolutely wrong to go murder your neighbor and abduct his young beautiful wife to be your love slave. A person believing in absolute truth from a higher power would have no problem describing why this act is absolutely wrong. They would merely answer "Because God said it is absolutely wrong." Boom, end of issue for them. A person believing man could define absolute truth has a tougher time describing why this act is absolutely wrong. They could answer. 1. Society says it is wrong. 2. It caused pain to the murdered husband. 3. It caused pain to the kidnapped wife. 4. It is against the law. 5. It hurts the species by killing another member of the species. 6. It just feels like a wrong thing to do. *feel free to offer more reasons why this is absolutely wrong and I will address and add them assuming I don't miss the post they were contained in.* Here are the problems with those answers. 1. Society in New Guinea said eating people was good. Society in the US said buying overvalued stocks in 1999 was wise. Society in Mongolia thought it was ok to go slaughter other civilizations during the reign of the Golden Horde. Society has been wrong about so many things through the ages that you could never claim society as an infallible moral compass. 2. If there is no God then why is causing pain wrong? All the other person is is a freak mutation of chemicals that became more and more complex over billions of years. All they really are is a complex chemical conglomeration so who cares if a complex arrangement of chemicals is "rearranged" so that it doesn't quite interact the way it did before. 3. If people don't have souls then what exactly is emotional pain? It certainly wouldn't have any eternal ramifications. If a person is not comprised of something like a soul then all their "feelings" are just neurons firing in their brain and chemical reactions occurring while electricity moves from cell to cell. How is causing electrical and chemical reactions a bad thing? 4. The law is not flawless. There have been hundreds and thousands of incidents in the history of mankind of laws that were bad. 5. Actually evolutionarily speaking killing a weaker member to prevent them from spreading their weaker genes and replacing their weak genes with superior genetics would be a good thing for the species. It happens time and time again in nature. Males battle and sometimes die for the rights to impregnate the best females. This is nothing new or shocking, merely science in action. 6. How could we say what we feel is absolute truth when another person feels the complete opposite? How could we say we are absolutely right and they are absolutely wrong when it is merely based on feelings? There is no way to get around this. Anything merely based on feelings is subjective. Basically it all comes down to this, A perfect solution cannot come from a flawed source. For this reason absolute morality cannot be created by man. Man may form subjective morality that can guide him through life and it may actually coincide with a higher power's absolute truth but it could never be called an absolute truth based on man's testimony or reasonings alone.

Actually that is a theory and not a fact at this point.

That's nice he bought the green power chunks but that just seems like a public relations move. I mean it's only for three measley months plus the timing of it makes it suspect. If he had been doing this the whole time he lived there I would respect it but for such a short time frame combined with the timing it appears to me that it is just politics as usual to try to fool the ignorant masses. Hopefully I am wrong but that sure is the way it comes across. Interesting find nonetheless. Thanks for the post.

I'm not talking about being moderate. If you look at it in context it is talking about people that say "yeah I follow Jesus" and then turn around and act like a total hypocrite. That isn't a form of being moderate. It is being a lying two faced hypocrite. The verse is saying God would rather someone flat up reject him than knowingly be a hypocrite.

My gf and I goofed around on this site today. I think the percentage plays a big role in how accurate it is. I had a pic or two I tried where the best percentage result I got was around 60% and it was terrible results. Even though I'm a guy the Michelle Rodriguez picture I got our bone structures in the pictures it compared looked pretty similar. A big part of the similarity was our heads were both turned slightly and we were smiling so that accounts for why the male/female features were nullified. My gf's were actually pretty accurate and her percentages were a lot higher than mine so that makes sense. There were definite similarities in the pictures she was compared to. My highest percentage results: Michelle Rodriguez: 78% Daniel Day Lewis: 74% William Mosely: 74% Jessica Alba: 72% My gf: Eva Longoria: 83% Tara Reid: 83% Adriana Lima: 80% I'm gonna give it another go when I can get a straightfaced pic or two of me to upload.

I thought this was interesting... House 1: The four-bedroom home was planned so that "every room has a relationship with something in the landscape that's different from the room next door. Each of the rooms feels like a slightly different place." The resulting single-story house is a paragon of environmental planning. The passive-solar house is built of honey-colored native limestone and positioned to absorb winter sunlight, warming the interior walkways and walls of the 4,000-square-foot residence. Geothermal heat pumps circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet deep in the ground. These waters pass through a heat exchange system that keeps the home warm in winter and cool in summer. A 25,000-gallon underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from roof urns; wastewater from sinks, toilets, and showers cascades into underground purifying tanks and is also funneled into the cistern. The water from the cistern is then used to irrigate the landscaping around the four-bedroom home, (which) uses indigenous grasses, shrubs, and flowers to complete the exterior treatment of the home. In addition to its minimal environmental impact, the look and lay out of the house reflect one of the paramount priorities: relaxation. A spacious 10-foot porch wraps completely around the home and beckons the family outdoors. With few hallways to speak of, family and guests make their way from room to room either directly or by way of the porch. "The house doesn't hold you in. Where the porch ends there is grass. There is no step-up at all." This house consumes 25% of the energy of an average American home. (Source: Cowboys and Indians Magazine, Oct. 2002 and Chicago Tribune April 2001.) House 2: This 20-room, 8-bathroom house consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year. The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, this house devoured nearly 221,000 kWh, more than 20 times the national average. Last August alone, the house burned through 22,619 kWh, guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of this energy consumption, the average monthly electric bill topped $1,359. Also, natural gas bills for this house and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year. In total, this house had nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for 2006. (Source: just about anywhere in the news last month online and on talk radio, but not on TV.) House 1 belongs to George and Laura Bush, in Crawford, Texas. House 2 belongs to Al and Tipper Gore, and is in Nashville, Tennessee. (Wait...Is this the same Al Gore who wrote "An Inconvenient Truth," and who received a Best Documentary Academy Award for the same?) Verified: http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp

I think you will find in the Bible that God has little tolerance for hypocritical "Christians." There is one verse saying God would rather someone be hot or cold but if they are luke warm he will spit them out which basically means the lukewarm "Christians" that are just a bunch of hypocrites are in trouble. There is other stuff in there about it as well but that one gives a nice overall view of how God views hypocritical jerks.

I think you will find that Communist countries without religion have killed a lot of homosexuals...

And someone hasn't read the thread... (note the part concerning who these people saying this statement and how their "Church" which is just their family was kicked booted by the Baptists) Pretty much every person claiming to be a Christian has all agreed that God loves homosexuals but hates the sin. Don't be throwing big blanket statement around like most Christians believe the garbage these people are spewing. My bad

I found this interesting. Apparently there is a 7,000 man strong peacekeeping force in the Sudan right now from the African Union. The UN wanted to put troops there to help but the Sudan wouldn't allow it. http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/04 ... index.html

To get an answer to this you would have to ask one of those people that isn't homosexual anymore and ask them if they are happy about it or if it causes them pain. I think saying they *might* become rapists while having no facts to prove such is kind of using scare tactics to further your side. You gave a mature and respectful response otherwise so you probably didn't realize what you were conveying with that comment. I guess what I would say in response to your post would be to find some hard data to support your position instead of just throwing out a lot of "what if's".

This statement has nothing to do with the discussion. You cannot turn a black man white, you cannot turn a guy into a girl. What you can do is disguise them as such but genetically they are still a black man and a guy. I also fail to see the relevance a kidney transplant has on the topic. So what exactly is your point? I was saying there were homosexuals that had stopped being homosexual and you responded with this. Does this mean you think homosexuality is a mental disorder(since it can be changed) because you then go on to say we should praise it. Saying a person should be praised for something you say they have no control over is a funny thing to me. I always thought praise should be reserved for something that at least took a LITTLE effort... :P

Actually all it takes is one homosexual to stop being gay to disprove that statement. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1207729/posts

Wanting to kill people merely because you don't like them is murder.

I guess I am the first Christian to post on this thread. Let's see... if that is the same group that was protesting soldiers then from what I know their "Church" is basically their family. They get lots of media time because they are crazy and the news loves to show crazy people. All you have to do is read the Bible and compare it to what they are saying to show they have pretty much created their own religion under the guise of Christianity. As to God and homosexuality... God hates all sin... homosexuality is a sin so God hates homosexuality... he also hates selfish pride, adultery, lying, rape, murder, etc etc Everyone struggles with certain sins more than others. That doesn't make them ok. Also keep in mind God loved everyone(homosexuals included) enough that he sent Jesus to pay for everyone's sin. All anyone has to do is accept his payment.

Off the top of my head I would say it was when I was in 5th grade and my teacher spilled boiling water on me when she tripped on a person's chair while carrying her coffee water. It got me from the base of my neck all the way down to the top of my butt. That was many years ago but I can still remember it vividly. I collapsed on the floor and they ripped my shirt off so it wouldn't keep burning. Someone that didn't see the water get spilled on me part said it looked like I was having a seizure because the pain was so intense. After the initial burn I sat in a chair waiting to go to the school nurse and looking at the only part I could see of the burn that was the back of my left arm and I just remember watching it bubbling with blisters that would grow and grow and then pop and a new one would form in the same place and grow and pop. That was the most intense pain I have ever felt in my life. All the skin on my back turned purple because most of the layers except the deepest layers died and I had massive blisters over the upper parts of my back. They were so big they would sag inwards and when I walked I could feel the pus inside them sloshing around. I saw a picture of a Kurdish guy that got hit by chemical weapons and the burns on him looked like my back burn. The thing about burns also is that the pain doesn't leave. Even with painkillers once I got to a doctor it was killing me. I had to go in for weeks and get bandaged every day like a mummy from the waste up and I couldn't go in the sun for two years. I was so close to having to get skin grafts over the worst parts. Thankfully that wasn't necessary.

Update on the situation:

Good point about the compressed air. I saw a show segment on that on one of the science channels recently. As to the original article I read this article about a year or two ago I think so it isn't 100% up to date which might be why the compressed air isn't on there but it does a great job covering the issues. One thing that struck me about Ethanol is that to be completely reliant on ethanol we would have to dedicate 70% of our available cropland to its production. Of course this would create all kinds of troubles with food production which means in reality the idea isn't really feasible. A lot of the politicians seem to be jumping on the ethanol bandwagon because it sounds great on the surface and I find that worrying. Brazil is about the only country right now that is self sustaining in producing ethanol but they are also one of the largest if not the largest sugar producer in the world so for them it works. For it to work for the US we would need to import from places like Brazil to supplement local growth. This would still mean the US was reliant on fuel needs from other countries. I personally think the best solution is to build more nuclear power plants. If we built enough we could drive electricity prices way down so recharging a car whether it be batteries or compressed air tanks or breaking water down into hydrogen would become a lot more cost effective. France and other European countries have shown just how well nuclear power can work. People just need to quit freaking out over it(California) because it really is about the best solution we have until solar panels get more efficient.

This is by far the best article I have ever read about the alternative fuel debate. It is the most economic based and scientific viewpoint I have read while minimizing all the politics going on regarding the subject. If you are going to read one article on this topic this should be your article. After this you can recognise all the political agendas people are trying to push under the guise of science. http://www.popularmechanics.com/science ... 90341.html

The Bible's response to A. This is concerning a Church that is following God supposedly but is really being the weekend warrior types...

How can you be ahead of your time if you are God? I am curious where you came up with this statement. I have never read anything of the sort concerning Jesus saying love your neighbor as yourself only applying to fellow Jews. I would like to know your reference for this statement. If you read in the Bible about Jesus he helped people that were not Jews and he also shared his message with them. Heck, he died for them also... John chapter 4 is a reference if you want of Jesus conversing with a Samaritan woman. (Jews stayed away from Samaritans and she was really surprised he even started talking to her) He got his morality from God because he IS God. He also said he didn't come to change the law, he just came to fulfill it. The whole old Testament is setting the stage for Jesus coming. All the sacrifices and everything else were symbolic of his sacrifice for us. Once he payed that sacrifice then there wasn't any need to continue sacrificing. There wasn't a need to continue a lot of that stuff after Jesus came because him coming and dying and his message fulfilled a lot of it.

Talk about incredibly ignorant statements...

Basically they were inspecting a ship suspected of smuggling in international waters and the Iranian navy captures them. http://biz.yahoo.com/ts/070323/10346238.html?.v=2

Fishing in Finland Gross Speed: 75 WPM Errors: 3 Net Speed: 72 WPM Accuracy: 96%