The Greatest Effect

I'm pretty new to this so bear with me.

First of all I do proclaim the LORD JESUS CHRIST to be the author of my SALVATION and
encourage you all to answer the call of GOD before it's too late!!!

My Question is:

Of every conspiracy, abnormal occurance, and hidden power regime (domestic or E.T.)WHAT do you think has had the greatest impact on civilization?

Which one(s) will determine or have already determined the course of the history/future?

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1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

 

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I believe it was the ET experience... that is "E"gocen"T"ricity.

 

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I think the greatest conspiracy/hidden regime to ever affect civilization is institutional Christianity. In the early days of the church, faith was invested in small groups campaigning for spiritual and political freedom. Once the Christians came to political power, their fight for spiritual survival became a campaign for spiritual dominance. Aside from a distasteful lack of respect for better-conceived philosophies, the Old Church persecuted the scientists whose views were still in harmony with the idea of God, but offended this or that local bishop's narrowmindedness; the Church opposed the printing press and literacy. In the name of God's peace, the Christian institution has, over the millennia, repeatedly created its own conflicts in order to butcher large numbers of people.

The Salem Witch Trials were about property. Catholic Spaniard missionaries installed "encomienda", a slavery system designed to "rescue" the savage souls of the indigenous populations. In a single generation, through warfare and disease (both accidentally and intentionally transmitted), wiped out 90% of the indigenous American population, and in the United States, an idea called Manifest Destiny finished the job. In the Southern United States, African slaves were denied literacy in the name of God: it seemed that letting them read and learn new ideas might be "upsetting" to their allegedly simple minds.

Christians around the world are ill-represented in the modern day. Turn on any television station and you're likely to hear from the Christians eventually, about some issue or another. And, strangely, it's only the really dumb ones who want to talk on television. The ones who describe how their rights were violated as Christians when the school board didn't make the Jewish kid say the Nicene Creed, ad nauseum. Or the PTL lady who insists that God "gave makeup to the Christian women so they could be prettiest." How about the alleged "cultural" aspect? There's Carmen, who insists that Christians are entitled to only one vision of Jesus Christ. Or the Reverend Falwell, who thinks the First Amendment to the United States Constitution is reserved for Christians. Or Lon Mabon and his OCA, which mounted horrible campaigns against homosexuals ... (two people died for the crime of being gay during that campaign).

Churches are not about faith, they are about dominion. Religious freedom, inside the institution of Christianity, is about being undisturbed in your Christian godliness.

And never once do the good Christians stand up and say anything to their public-nuisance brethren. Not once have I seen a real campaign between Christians to wrest power and representation from the hands of corrupt leaders. As Camus pointed out: Sisyphus must be happy. In the United States, we keep electing dumbasses to public office; this must be our deepest will. And so it is with Christian faith: silence equals complicity. The sins of the church are now a burden for each individual who holds dear that faith to carry.

And each day people reaffirm their faith in God, and go to the voting booths and elect social Conservatives whose platform package looks proper, but whose motives are shite. And what kills me is that when one of these pathetic excuses for a human being--much less, a Christian--gets caught in some ridiculous "sin", the Christian public gets their dander up and rushes to the defense of his virtue.

By some mechanism of politics, rhetoric, and paradox, the entire potential of the Christian promise goes out the window. I think that not only have these institutions of Christ directly interrupted various efforts by other philosophies to progress humankind, the Christians have also made their own power of change forfeit. The hope of the movement has been lost in dogmatic whining and politics. Given the amount of influence Christianity has had on the world in general, I think this failure to realize any sense of Christian potential is its greatest shortcoming. It is the church's greatest crime. And the people who support those churches .... Well, they don't have much of an excuse either.

Thanx,
Tiassa

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"Let us not launch the boat until the ground is wet." (Khaavren of Castlerock)

 

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Tiassa,

As you might be aware by now, I am not a big proponent of organized religion. Nor do I condone injustices or murderous acts committed by any group. However, I am curious about the propagandizing tone which I am picking up from your post above. Therefore;

May I ask... What do you perceive to be better-conceived philosophies and why? To what end would you imagine that other philosophies would progress humankind, if not thwarted by institutional Christianity as you allege? Can you organize and share with us, in a fashion such as you did above, the murderous acts and injustices committed by non-Christians throughout history, or, in that manner, the murderous acts and injustices committed against Christians throughout history?

Lastly, can you identify those who have spoken out against murderous acts or injustices of any kind in this society as being either Christian, institutional Christians or non-Christians? (Would any of these conditions lend more or less credibility to their position on a given situation, in your opinion?)

Just curious.

 

I think that the greatest impact upon civilization is the cessation of the practice of feeding Christians to lions.

Damn it.

There is already a group for this topic. Take it where it belongs.

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The Belief that there is only truth and that oneself is in possession of it
seems to me the depest root of all evil that is in the world
-Max Born

 

Be gone, Satan.

 

Hiiiissssss!

Enter the realm of Satanananan, Jesus saves.
Ok this has all gone south, hehehehe!
I am the evil monkey what lives in your nuts.

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Well this time I'd like to start out by saying OUCH!

2-TS
I don't know how to respond to your reply as far as its true intention but, initally I disagree cause sometimes being egocentric benefits society. Before you can begin to understand the outside you must first understand the inside. I don't think there is anyone out there that won't agree that in order to save or help someone else you must first know how to survive on your own. Who can survive without a solid foundation be it good or evil? No one. I do however agree with you because we live in a world of power and any desire of power comes from within.

In my opinion egocentricity begat evil, but it was by that same principle that many individuals (good)began preparing themselves for the battles that were and are to come.

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1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

 

Hello Apocalypse,

Although presented (perhaps weakly) via pun, my intention was true.

I do believe that the power of egocentricity has had the greatest impact on our civilization and that it has determined and will most likely continue to determine our future.

What I don't get is why was my one word answer perceived in a negative sense? Is it a matter that the word "egocentricity" inherently denotes a negative connotation?

 

Ask any plumber. The greatest impact on civlization was duct tape. The strangest thing about duct tape is that it does no good on ducts.

 

Yeah, yeah, Oxygen... That's one of my husband's philosophies, too... and on a good day, when he's workin' on the car, he bends over and you can see his butt-crack! LOL

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2 tiassa

Apparently you are not hard to fool. So many groups commit atrocities against society and claim to be christians. Like JonesTown, Wacco, and many other groups who feed off of peoples weaknesses. Bill Clinton got caught messing around and the first thing he said to restore his image was that he was a christian. Christianity is more than a belief it's a way of life and TRUE Christianity doesn't shed blood for self glory or plunder. the church you seem to be talking about may be the Roman Catholic Church and just in case you didn't know Catholics are NOT Christians.

Christianity doesn't hate homosexuals it hates homosexuality. If the bible doesn't support it (and not all bibles are the word of God) Then Christianity doesn't. We're living in the New Testament not the Old.

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1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

 

Apocalypse,

Does Christianity hate diabetes, or sickle cell anemia, or Alzheimer's? Does Christianity hate left-handedness? Does Christianity hate schizophrenia? These are all biological conditions that are not under individual control.

So is homosexuality. It is clearly abnormal (because it does not help with promotion of an organism's genes). And, it is also clearly physiological. As an apparent heterosexual, the idea of being attracted to a member of your own sex is probably repulsive to you. The idea of being attracted to a person of opposite sex is equally repulsive to a homosexual. Homosexuality is (for the real homosexuals) <u>NOT a choice</u> -- it is <u>who they are</u>.

The Bible doesn't account for this because the <u>men</u> who wrote it were gravely ignorant and couldn't help it any. Just another sign that the Bible does not come from "God".

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I am; therefore I think.

 

2 Boris

Not to make this a debate on homosexuality but, when God created a partner for Adam he created Eve (woman). Without that bond we wouldn't exist as we do. I don't believe homosexuality can be grouped with sickle cell, diabetes, or Alzheimers. In response to your mentioning of the Bible, are you familiar with Sod'om and Gomor'rah (Gen: 18,19,--)? I believe homosexuality is a demonic spirit, that establishes itself through serious emotional, mental, and social circumstances. One thing I can say is that the power of God can cure anything sickle cell, diabetes, Alzheimers, and homosexuality. Sometimes love is deceptive it can make things feel right when they're wrong and, that goes for any type of relationship. We get comfortable with things that are wrong and before you know it, it becomes part of our lifestyle, and we'll defend it to the end. God has a better plan for all of us.

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1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

 

Apocalypse,
True love is NEVER deceptive! What makes
your beliefs above others?

 

Apocalypse,

To my knowledge, sickle cell anemia, Alzheimers and diabetes are all incurable. I do not know of even one instance (even among the most faithful of Christians) where patients with these diseases went into remission. If God can cure all, he certainly ain't doing it for the faithful.

And yes, you <u>can</u> group homosexuality with those diseases, and you should. You cannot possibly understand how a schizophrenic feels, or how an autistic thinks. You similarly fail to understand the state of homosexuality. It is not an "evil spirit"; it is not a psychological problem. It is in every way as real, as integral, and equally undeniable to a person, as heterosexuality is to heterosexuals, or as maleness is to males.

I will not argue with your creationist claims; suffice it to say that they fall on very deaf ears in my case. But, in addition to procreation, consider other pathological conditions. Think of the dwarfs, the siamese twins, the distrophics. Would you claim that they as well are fallen from God's grace? Yet, it is equally impossible for them to lead normal lives.

It doesn't matter what you think was "meant" for all humanity. To individuals, what matters most is their personal state. Not the doctrine, not what the establishment believes, not what God is supposed to want -- but what they feel inside, and what they live with every day. This reality is far more powerful than any argument you can wage, religious or not. You claim to speak for God, but a religious homosexual <u>knows</u> that you do not -- in precisely the same way you claim to "know" that you do.

The recent social outing of homosexuality is <u>not</u> a sign of decaying morals. Rather, it is a sign of greater freedom. Homosexuals were not less frequent in the past; they were merely repressed into a life of perpetual hiding. Which was not a state of grace, any way you put it.

(By the way, I am not a homosexual. Though I happen to know some...)

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I am; therefore I think.

 

First 2 Flash
I think you misread my post.
It reads:
"Sometimes love is deceptive it can make things feel right when they're wrong and, that goes for any type of relationship."

I didn't say "True" love was deceptive

 

2 Boris
They said a lot of things were incurable in the past but today most of those things that were incurable are treat release situations.

You don't understand what faithful Christianity is. It is even beyond my grasp sometimes because people like you feed doubt into the minds of those who want to believe.

The fact that you stated you didn't know of any instances of remission of those diseases proves that you didn't look hard enough to find the evidence to defeat it.

You would be amazed of the healings that God has performed in and through people it has never ceased.

Instead of trying to answer all your questions I'll let you know who you can ask

GOD!!!

 

Sometimes I wonder: is it religion that perpetuates close-mindedness, or is it the other way around?

One last shot, and I will stop here. The simple message is: what <u>you</u> are, and what <u>you</u> feel, does not a full description of reality constitute. You should try to ponder the possibility of alternative perspectives, just as vibrant and viable as yours, but perceived through another person's eyes (literally).

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I am; therefore I think.

 

Boris,

I agree with you all the way!

Apocalypse

your qoute:

"The fact that you stated you didn't know of any instances of remission of those diseases proves that you didn't look hard enough to find the evidence to defeat it."

How much evidence do you need??

Your qoute:

"You would be amazed of the healings that God has performed in and through people it has never ceased."

Where exactly is your evidence???

One last thought, open your mind. Don't let the church do the thinking for you.

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The Belief that there is only one truth and that oneself is in possession of it
seems to me the depest root of all evil that is in the world
-Max Born