The Dark Lord

Some people may think of God as a man who sits in heaven and manipulates the lives of others and when they will die, some people may think of God as simply the force that exists within all aspects of life and nature, and some may believe that there is no God. Who is God to you? Also these quotes may help give ideas as to what your insight truely is: Quotes came from http://www.uua.org. Credit belongs to them. Personally, I think of God as more of a force. I believe in humanist teachings, such as using common sense and the ideas of Science. I believe that God is simply the force that exists in all aspects of life and nature itself. To help prevent anyone from feeling put-down about his/her beliefs, remember: Everyone has different beliefs. No one is perfect. Anyone's beliefs are just as valid as the next person's. Having a belief doesn't necessarily make you right or wrong. No one is superior to another human being for their own personal views. Everyone is welcome in this discussion, whether you be Atheist, Theist, or Agnostic. Remember to keep it civil. If any uncontrollable outbreaks of flaming occur, mods feel free to lock this post as to prevent any further personal attacks. No intolerance will be allowed on this thread. Any inflammatory posts may be reviewed and/or deleted at any time. Respect the inherent worth and dignity of every person, please. This is just a light-hearted discussion of our beliefs as relates to the Divine, or lack thereof. This isn't meant to be a debate, so no pressure. : Also, please only post what you truely believe.

lol I'm a little creeped out to even go back to drawball now... I have a cyberstalker now. :lol: I didn't even realize Squidward could turn into a pedophile...

It's simple. If I was going on an airplane, I would bring Rick Astley, a microphone, and a karaoke machine. Rick Roll, anyone? I'm pretty sure that would be an act of terrorism now-a-days. If I was on a deserted beach, I would bring a volleyball, finger paint, and a knife.

You mean brainwashing themselves? That is potentially very dangerous and will most likely lead to suicide or mental illness. Reparative Therapy is the same thing as brainwashing an individual to make them "straight" or think "normally." It has a low "success" rate and is viewed by many experts as potentially dangerous and can lead to emotional problems and/or suicide. Reparative Therapy is pseudo-science used by many fundies who use "ex-gay" ministries to try to make a "queer boy straight." It's just a load of redneck quackery. My uncle went through this type of crap because he felt his family would only love him if he did. Now he doesn't even act human. He acts like he has low self-esteem, among other things. I've lost a perfectly fine uncle that I loved dearly to this idiotry. By the way, psychiatrists only prescribe medicine. Therapists are a different type of person altogether. I seriously doubt you'll be fine with your body if you felt like it was preventing you from being your true self and you were living one big lie.

I didn't mean it that way, at all. In fact, I'm part of a religion. I was just saying that they believe they are more logical because they are agnostic/atheist. They claim to be free from dogmatic teachings.

They're called Abrahamic religions for a reason. Anyway from what I understood, at least from the Biblical perspective and all that I've been taught, the Hebrews were slaves of Egypt, yet they weren't originally from Egypt. A family that was Hebrew and followed the god of their forefathers (Abraham, Issac and Jacob) moved there because a relative was made equal to Pharoah at that time. Then eventually they became slaves as a means to control the growing population of Hebrews. Then allegedly Moses led them out of Egypt. I seriously haven't heard that all monotheistic religions branched off of Egyptian sun-worship though. Who taught you that?

I remember making a post on a topic about the Great Phat Dupe. It was around my first time that I started playing Runescape, and I didn't know much. I expect the post was kind of funny if you look at it now. I don't know how to find it again though. I think the topic eventually died out completely.

Well before you ever open your mouth about something you don't know, research. I'm not talking about your view on 'fairness' as relates to a beauty pageant, but I am talking about your nerve to talk bad about a minority you know nothing about. They don't brainwash themselves or others. Gender identity is a real psychological thing. Back OT: Okay, I can understand where you guys are getting at. A transsexual woman *can* choose her breast size. That's the only thing I can agree with on this, but I still don't think it's fair that it should be impossible for a woman who was born with physical incongruenties to never be allowed into any competitions such as this. It IS a more of a correctional process than trying to look beautiful kind of thing. The only problem with only allowing her to partake in transsexual beauty pageants is that society, in general, discriminates against such people. The show wouldn't get much media attention. Wingnut organizations such as AFA (American Family Association) will boycott it. People will protest it. If it's brought into more media attention (AKA allowing her onto the show to compete) will bring more transgender awareness and people might even learn a thing or two. I'm appalled that an online community that claims to be mostly agnostic/atheist and claims to use logic instead of parroting religious beliefs actually would say such a bad thing about someone because of their gender identification. It's really ignorant. I know that people would flame the hell out of religious posts and/or threads. They would say the Christian folk on here are mostly idiots and bigots following an archaic belief system, yet you aren't any better if you go around screaming hate speech against a minority at the top of your lungs and discrediting anyone who thinks differently than you. This has got to be one of the most bigoted sites I've ever seen. Then the people on this site will talk bad about 4chan because they are "full of immature, sick little kids." Really there are more parallels between that site and this one if you think critically. Yet, there are the few people that keep this site going. They are the mature ones that can have intelligent conversations. They are the ones who wouldn't deny any human of equality based on race, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Kudos to those that are one of the few.

I'm referring to anyone who claims that this is an unfair advantage. I'm explaining that it wouldn't be anymore of an advantage than having psychological treatment. After all, transgender surgeries don't make you necessarily beautiful.

On most nights, I cannot remember having any sort of dream. Occasionally I will have a dream in which spans over a few days. I will literally go through multiple days in my dreams before waking up, which leaves me confused about the date. I've also tried to watch anime before going to bed, in hopes of the images creating a dream. I would love to actually live out Strawberry Panic! in one of my dreams. If I'm not careful when listening to certain types of music, I will blank out and have a dream.

So obviously you're unsure if they're transgender, but if they were a "normal" person, then it wouldn't be hard? With your logic shouldn't you be labeling everyone as he/she? Since she's a male-to-female transsexual, she would obviously want to be labeled she. I've talked to many transgenders before. I'm around them every day on Soulforce forums. The only exception is if they're an androgyne. Androgynes usually have no preferences as to what you label them, along gender lines. They also dress in a manner that they are totally gender-neutral. In many cases, they belong to no gender roles whatsoever, or they are a mixture of both roles. Basically their mentality is 'unisex.' Those are the people you label with the 'he/she,' but with a transgender person, label them in a way that it's congruent with their gender identification. At the very least, do it so they don't feel put-down. It's common courtesy, y'know. You wouldn't walk up to a woman and say "How do you do, sir?" ... Unless you want to be [bleep] slapped across the face. I can understand why some people would make the argument about her undergoing surgery and hormones, but that's a corrective process. If she was born anatomically male, she would also be cursed with having higher testosterone than the average woman. It would be a total disadvantage. Basically if you feel like this would give her an unfair advantage, then allow all participants to be allowed in even if they had corrective surgery or had to take HRT in order to maintain their hormonal levels. I don't view anything of the corrective nature as cheating, and transgender surgery and transitional processes are just forms of correcting something. It's actually more like a psychological type of treatment. So in your logic, anyone who has to take antidepressants or ADHD medicines or anything of the sort shouldn't be allowed in either. Transgender transitional surgeries and hormone treatments are the only psychological treatments that can fix feelings of incongruency in transgendered individuals. For those too lazy to read my good point: SHUT UP! LET HER LIVE HER CHILDHOOD DREAMS! LET HER BE ENCOURAGEMENT TO ANYONE IN HER SITUATION!

Maybe, but on their site, they say that they practice witchcraft. Actually the German word wic means 'to bend the natural order of things.' I can see that some might not believe in reincarnation, but from what I understood they could only be a true Wiccan if they practiced witchcraft. Although I do know that some Wiccans might also affiliate with other religions. My ex-girlfriend's mother was also a Wiccan and she told me that she also practiced Christianity.

'It'?? I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't mean that in a derrogatory manner, but seriously, she's a she. If you're afraid of 'technicalities,' I'm showing you the technicalities. If they prefer to be labeled as 'she' or 'he,' then label them appropriately. You are only giving homophobes ammunition to fire against this minority that is often bashed and victims of hate crimes...

Benjamin Franklin would (if he were alive today) be against many things the US has done and he would believe the United States deserves to fall. "Any society that takes away a little liberty for a little extra security deserves neither and will lose both." Bush is going against our forefathers. Yet it's partly Americans [in general] who should take some responsibility on themselves. After all, they did vote him TWICE for 2 consecutive terms. If you even want some liberties back, vote Democrat next time. I'd rather pay higher taxes and have a better economy than have fewer rights as a citizen. All these '[bleep] Obama, I'm voting McCain' things are just stupid. You'd practically be voting someone that's going to continue Bush's 'legacy.' Also what's wrong with gays having rights? They're human beings. All men are created equal. You cannot justify "separate, but equal," especially since the conservative government we have in office operate "separate, but unequal." They use all of our precious tax dollars to fund a war most Americans don't even believe is just. Also all it has done was fuel anti-Muslim hate, make oil prices skyrocket, and hurt our economy. Just my little rant about my country.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080813/ap_ ... y_shooting I take this kind of stuff personally. I am a resident of Little Rock and this happened just miles away from me. He was a superdelegate for Hillary Rodham Clinton. Now the shooting of the Unitarian Universalist church in Knoxville (a liberal church) and now another killing of a liberal person. Is it just me, or are some idiots doing this as a way to protest equal rights, especially in the GLBT community? I know the gunman in Knoxville admitted he did it because they were all liberal and he intended to kill everyone in the church, children and all. This is very disgusting.

I believe paganism now-a-days is generally referred to as neo-paganism. Wicca is an example of this. It's an earth-centered religion with the belief in a god and a goddess. Usually God is referred to as the Horned God or the Great God (resembling Pan from Greek mythology) and Goddess is a triune divine being. Most Wiccans focus their worship on Goddess. Their trinity is as follows: The Mother The Maiden The Crone They also practice witchcraft. They are strong advocates of religious tolerance, as long as it abided by 'harm none.' (See Witch's Rede) They believe that "Whatever you send into this world will return unto you times three." Basically it's a karma system and they believe in reincarnation until you have enough karma to enter the Summer Lands, which is the witch's heaven. I find it coincidental that I put a link to a major pagan website in my signature. Check out www.wicca.com for some neat facts about them. I'm not pagan, but I did date a girl a few months ago that was a Wiccan. I think paganism just comes from traditional Celtic worship, before the Christians assimilated them into Christian faith.

With my experience with transgender people, they ARE authentic with their gender identification. Gender (gender identification) relates to your status as boy or girl. Thus, SHE (yes, SHE) is qualified to run in this competition. She has been through transgender surgery, which means she is now anatomically congruent with her identity. Allow her. Also to the above people, discrimination is wrong. It's not like she's sub-human FFS. She's a freakin human being. She might not fit into YOUR view of the norm. :o Ohmygosh! The world is coming to an end! If you don't want her to be in the competition, don't watch the show! I'm surprised many of you can't get it through your puny little brains. They only want to live out their dreams. You know, having dreams isn't illegal yet. And also, transgender girls (born anatomically male, but have female gender identification) aren't men running around in wigs, they aren't gay men using excuses to sleep with heterosexual men, and they aren't perverts asking for a reason to be allowed into women's locker rooms or bathrooms. Your ignorance is FAIL. By the way, Jesus called and asked for his religion back. :lol:

I've actually been told by Master Masons that the Illuminati is a branch of Masonry, but they claim that it's most likely just an inner sorority type thing. Basically just a fanclub for old people.

Maybe something will happen and Bush will be out before his term terminates. Oh well. This IS the same idiot that America has voted for TWICE.

Then why so many Republicans who constantly talk bad about homosexuals and then they say they don't believe in gay marriage? :o Also I've heard McCain even say that he's against discrimination, but he says no to equal marriage and no to anti-discrimination laws for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, or even transgenders? That's denying gays rights. That would be like them saying that African Americans cannot marry among themselves or even saying an African American has no right to marry a caucasian person. And another thing, your precious president Bush tried to pass an anti-gay marriage amendment, just so it would be harder or impossible for the "evil" liberals to succeed in their "homosexual agenda." There is a gay agenda, and it goes as follows: 1. Be loved and accepted by society 2. Raise a family 3. Buy groceries Ok, that was a joke, but the conservatives still make out the "gay agenda" as if it is some sort of conspiracy theory. Homophobia cannot be justified, even if you use the Bible. Oh and if you do use the Bible in order to write the nation's laws, you are also denying freedom of religion. There ARE religions that aren't against gays, you know.

He's saying the Council of Nicea basically put what they wanted in the Bible. Anything they didn't like they threw out of the window. In history, Jesus was basically a reformer. He tried to reform Judaism, but instead his followers broke ties and started their own religion. I guess he also is thinking of the atrocities of the Roman Catholic church. They murdered the Templar Knights, started the Inquisition, burned "witches," slaughtered thousands of Muslims during the Crusades, etc. There were also groups during the Plague Years (1300s) that would self-mutilate themselves in hopes of preventing infection from the Bubonic plague. Not only that, but Opus Dei was a Catholic movement that believed in self-mortification, which was basically getting a whip and beating yourself on the back when you sinned or had bad thoughts or whatever. Not only that, but the Protestants and Catholics fought a 30 year war against each other. Also currently you have a cult called Westboro Baptist Church that goes around with signs saying "GOD HATES [bleep]S" and they protest funerals. Basically there were tons of stupid things committed in the name of Christianity is what he's saying.

That's what you get when you vote Republican on the ticket [in America]. Most Republicans/conservatives claim to uphold family values, yet they slander the homosexual community, deny them of rights, and then they constantly try to solve problems with war. My dad always makes pro-war speeches in my house and he slanders the homosexual community. A conservative representative in Oklahoma made a comment about the homosexuals spreading AIDS and causing wars and ruining the "American Dream." Really that's the kind of bull that goes on in America. They're clueless. People always smear Obama because they think his ideas are too farfetched and that the Republican Party can give solutions and how they will do it. FOX News has smeared Obama by calling him Osama instead of Obama and they made a comment about the "terrorist fist jab." They also have made statements about his wife being his 'baby's momma,' which is derrogative slang referring to having his child out of wedlock. They're racist, fascist, war-hungry, homophobic SOBs. "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin

I do remember seeing this on my homepage (AT&T) but then again they also had a story of a Texas sheriff chasing down a chupacabra and had it on camera. I'm not really saying these stories were bogus, but I'm just skeptical. Although the chupacabra thing was kind of freaky. Basically it looked like a dog with short hind legs and long legs in the front, had a weird shaped head and large teeth and long snout. It's back had a distinctive ridge on it. Other than that it looked like a wild dog or something. The video was good quality, but really I don't know how they even thought it was a chupacabra... Anyway this could all be one joke.

Fixed the E. Has anyone noticed that if you try to draw over some of the real good drawings that haven't been marked on, it does nothing whatsoever? I mean if I attempt to put a streak on it, it disappears and is like what it was before. I wonder if we could do that. It would protect our logo.

No one ever said the UUA is part of Christianity... We should all know that they're an autonomous religion. Although Mormonism and JW are cults of Christianity. (A cult is basically just a new religious movement, not anything bad or subversive.) I have a cousin that's JW and she told me that basically they are Christians, but they don't like to associate with the rest of Christendom, and they totally reinterpret scripture.