h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How 'bout - a few onions?

Forget onions... how about amoebas?

This conversation is getting bizarre.

Huh? Huh? Did I just say that? Sorry, forget myself for a minute. Pass a fish to scrub. Weasels! Aaarrghh!! Weasels!!! That'll be €25 please. I *do* like the dictionary - did you bake it yourself?

>>> please could you stop the noise im tryna get some monkey
..from all the unborn monkey voices in my headdddddd

Hmm, I suppose I might as well have a † after my name again, as it seems to be in fashion. Come to think of it, I usually go against fashion as a matter of principle. Perhaps I should have a ‡ instead.

This browser says they are both ?s............

Amoebas? Pah! I'd like to see an Amoeba that could make you cry when you cut it!

Take a look at my journal post on Israel's latest policy on Christian celebration at http://www.h2g2.com/U56404 . (BTW, I am not christian so please don't include me on any list). I just thought if I told about it here I might get some interesting aggitated replies .

and rightly so. I'm a christian and i'm tired with those annoying conversations with my freinds, mostly members of the local atheists united, defending my belief with little more than a teaspoon and a small haddock. I need some winning arguments to use, any ideas?

I'm an atheist and my political belief are somewhere in the scope between Socialism and Blairism but just because I believe them doesn't mean I am narrow minded. I am self critical and therefore I am critical of my beliefs as well as others. I do not believe Jesus is the actual son of God or that Mary was a virgin. I believe than like everyone else, he had a normal birth with no hovering star but like Moses and Mohammed, Jesus was an extraordinary man that connected to 'God'. Maybe he could levitate, heal and do other great deads but I cannot believe the story literally.

The same goes with Judism - some of the stories don't make sense and should NOT be taken literally - did God really mean it is a sin to cut toilet paper on the Sabbath?!?

Please don't get mad at this post and you are welcome to preach to me (not spam though ) about what's wrong with my argument.

Amen! I'm not going to shout, Christian is a word that cannot be defined. But my personal definition is Christian -> Christ-ian -> Christ-like. So if you are a good person, then you are a christian. But my definition means that no one is christian, beccause no one is as 'good' as him/her/it/ so, just ignore me

Come to the Christianity forum if you really want to get stuck in. I reckon it's only fair to let the christian types have thier own little bit of space free from reality.

I agree with what you say except that stuff about ignoring you . Unfortunately I do not believe in selflessness which is what most people think Christianity is about. It should be rephrased to 'direct physical selflessness' as when you help someone you are not gaining anything directly physical. You do gain either power, happiness or removal of guilt which I consider to be the motives, selfish motives - psychologically/indirectly selfish though. So to me a samaritan is either a control freak, someone that needs to make himself feel morally above others or someone enravenged by guilt. Well, that must have angered a few, can't wait to read their response .

I can see that this post was intended to provoke us... so I won't get too hyper.
Tell me: what is a 'Christian type'? I suppose you mean social and TV stereotypes.

The post was not done to provoke. It is my true opinions and the only reasons I posted it was because of the post above about Christianity meaning Christ-like meaning selfless and was triggered by Gag Halfrunt saying there is nothing as good as Christ - which I seem to have misunderstood the first time I read it! The only reason I end with a note about angering/provoking is in an ironic sense - trying to prevent too much rage towards my last post - which seems either to work or for my post to be ignored. I do actually want to here the argument against my post. Just because I believe something doesn't mean it can't change my belief. I find it interesting to read views and opinions that contradict mine as I think it is always fair to here both sides of an argument and make one's own choice.

Equality for all. Each to their own. Different opinions (though not always relevant) are always allowed.

So why isn't anyone arguing against my opinions? Lack of arguments are boring as both parties views are unaffected. An arguement/debate can strengthen and clarify both parties views so please post a reply to my earlier post.

I enjoy a good debate... so here goes.

Firstly, your point about Judaism - Jesus was at pains to point out to people that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. That silly stuff that was brought in about toilet paper or whatever was simply dreamed up by the Pharisees. What God actually intended was for it to be a day when people would stop their normal jobs, and focus more specifically on Him; but it was certainly not meant to be a drudgery.

Is there any particular reason why you do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God? The thing is, it can never be proven by debate whether Jesus is or is not the Son of God, it's a much more personal thing than that.

I don't agree that Christians do what they do out of a need to rise above the rest of society; the ones that are selfless are selfless because they are modelling themselves on Christ, who was completely selfless.

Anyway, enough of that, I'm actually starting to sound serious... What is wrong with me?

I'm not very good at arguing
But the motive from my point of view if I help somebody is not for my personal gain. It is ultimately to glorify God, and to honour him. And maybe to help somebody - why do you need a motive for helping somebody? Doesn't a motive defeat the concept of kindness?
Christ didn't have an ulterior motive when he helped people. In fact he helped the same people who condemned him to die. Christ is the ultimate in goodness, kindness and love, which sounds cheesy but is actually quite a serious thing. I try to be like Christ because that is what he has asked me to do, 'being like him' in the sense of loving others & God like he did. There is no way I can be totally like him, I sin and make mistakes like any other person, but I try not to because I know it hurts him when I do. He died instead of me & everybody else, because we should die to pay for our sins against God; but because Jesus loves us so much he did it for us.
Does that answer your questions?

First of all, I can't believe Jesus is the son of God and that he is absolutely perfect as I believe that Jesus, as the rest of us, was born a normal birth. I simply cannot believe that God impregnated a woman to bring down his child. I do not believe in God in the same sense as any religion I know of. I do not really believes 'he' exists, especially in a form that impregnates or makes any physical contact with human beings.
As I do not believe Jesus was absolutely perfect and I don't believe there is such a thing as selflessness then I do not think samaritans are selfless. They are GOOD and KIND and GIVING but not SELFLESS as they are driven by their psychological motives such as happiness, lack of guilt and 'getting to heaven'. You say it defeats the concept of kindness but all it does is warp it - now you see my view of it. I believe Jesus was raised to be GOOD and KIND and he grew up to be closer to 'God' than the rest of us. I do not believe he was born with such a spiritual connection - that God picked him from the rest of humanity. The means that Jesus worked to become what he was - he wasn't just given it.
Finally, Jesus died because people (non-believers) feared him as he upset their belief system. Jesus obviously loved humankind and would die for another but I believe he died because of our sins, not for them.
(BTW The reason this debate is so serious is because I'm questioning your beliefs and most people find it hard to joke about them.)