Continued from a 15year old boy.

[Mangee]

The world is built on deception. Everywhere you go you are being deceived. The drug store, furniture store, car lot, grocery store, on and on and on. The so called, "SALES EVENT," is a tip off as to the kind of mark up these stores have on their goods. "All goods well below inventory price." They are willing to take a hit, a loss of revenue in order to get your business. B__S__, is the only way to describe it. They want you to think that they are losing money by giving you bargains etc. The philosophy of the majority of conglomerates and the like is,"Do unto others." Oil, for instance is being pushed to higher levels by Wall street traders who are trying to squeeze every last dollar out of John Q.Public and the oil producers along with the oil companies are rubbing their hands in glee as the money rolls in.  A perfect example of being used is the pharmaceutical companies is this. A pill which costs approximately two dollars and up has the same thing in a placebo for about 10 to fifteen cents. The pills do the same thing yet have trouble getting the Government "Watchdogs? " to give it authentication for public consumption. I know I am straying but what is here is the cousin to the previous posts we sent back and forth. It is about things that will ever remain the same due to the underhanded, under the table, wink, wink deals that are going on in most beaureaucratic back rooms as wel as the government agencies that are supposed to be monitoring them. Lobbyists who fight , not for the common man, but for the wealthy and the wealthier are ever demanding,more. It is not however, in any way shape nor form similar to Charles Dickens ,"Oliver," who wanted more because of hunger. The hunger for a lobbyist and his clients is to fatten the already obscene, bulging bank account. To the,"Fat Cat," the word "Enough,"doesn't exist. We are broadening our horizons with these posts because as we all know, one thing leads to another and one word can change the post from hither to thither, yon and beyond.

[Mikeinthesouth]

for you lil sly kiddies out there here is the answer free of charge save the 5.00 savas sent me and the 20. mangee sent me PRAY

[Mikeinthesouth]

Just say it slow Peter J rkoff oops I mean Poppoff sorry medhelp. LOL Will you guys send me your money and I will see to it that god bless you and yours. I will mail you a definite way to contact God one on one a straight line to heaven if you only sned me twenty measly dollars to mike's mighty ministry
                                    p.o. box 1234
                                    Getoneon you, Louisiana 1122hopetohearfromu
        
                                  

[Savas]

Well, I don't think believing or not believing in God gives one an insight in coping with life's trials and tribulations. That really comes more from an inner strength of character.

One's beliefs can give a perspective that does affect how they change as a result of those disasters, though.


My biggest problem with an unquestionable faith (any) is that it leaves no room for change. By its very nature faith is static. It is a declaration that "This is how it is! nothing can change my belief!"

This applies to you atheists too, by the way. I've met quite a few lately who have a startling propensity for the "faith" they express in their lack of belief in the possibility of anything outside of definable science.

[mrwjd]

You are probably well aware that, in this age of political activism by the religious right, the rallying points are selected for the ease with which they can be emotionalized and bring voters into line, and not for any historic or traditional religious purpose.  [When I was a kid, there was this thing called the First Amendment; wonder what ever happened to that?]

For example, not many RR followers realize that abortion is not proscribed anywhere in the bible, and in fact is advocated in at least two chapters in Leviticus alone.  Yet in the small number of RR members I know, there is a disconcerting portion who are one-issue voters, who have learned that the only godly thing to do is vote on the single issue of abortion.  A useful code for the RR--they don't have to risk their tax-free status by saying, "vote for X," they can simply say, "X agrees with us on abortion," and the members have their marching orders.

The founding fathers might, I suppose, have protected the right of a family to end a pregnancy without government interference, except in those days it had never occurred to anyone that it needed protection.  They would never have imagined that government would ever mess in what was obviously a private matter--or foreseen religious leaders making it a rallying point, since it appears nowhere in biblical or church literature or tradition..  

[mrwjd]

"The interpretation of what is in the bible depends on the individual."
____

imho, the interpretation of what is in the bible depends on what serves the purpose of the religious overlords at the moment.  Which is, of course, why people used to be executed for reading it themselves--there was some illusion that they would understand it, and know that the princes of the church were lying.  Now, of course, it's much more realistic--they don't bother telling people not to read it because it has all those words and that tiny print and nobody's going to read it anyway.  To be even more certain, now they put out bibles with the politically correct portions marked, and little booklets with only the politically correct excerpts included, so people can still say "I read the bible every day" without risking running onto anything they shouldn't.

Little factoid:  Supposedly Roger Williams, a promising young cleric at the time, seized the opportunity to come to the new world and found Rhode Island largely because in his childhood he saw a person he was very close to, a person who read the bible to a little group of folks (including him) in his home every week, burned at the stake for it.  

I suppose that had something to do with the fact that, among founders of colonies for victims of religious persecution, he was just about the only one who had no interest in using his new autonomy to persecute members of other religions.  

[Mangee]

There are so may inerpretations of, not only the bible, but direct quotes, that it boggles the mind. In many instances we have different newspapers with different ideas as to what has been said. The bible is no different. The interpretation of what is in the bible depends on the individual. Throughout the ages, as each bible is reprinted, there is a possible loss of a word here or there. This in itself can change the meaning or the intended meaning. The interpretation from one language to another, in many cases, can alter the meaning. We may look up certain texts in the different bibles and in many cases find alternate meanings. What was originally written in the first writing may have undergone so many changes that the original intent is overshadowed by someone's idea as to what he/she thought was said. In many cases bible, or otherwise, an interpreter may decide that what is written meant a certain thing and decides to alter it to fit his/her own idea as to what was meant. So, we cannot truly believe what is written due to human error and human decisions that affect the true meanings which will forever remain a question mark. Whether it is Budddhism, Islamic, Roman Catholic, Hebrew or whatever, each religion puts their own meaning on what is wrtten and in many cases alters it to fit their own. You can interprt any bible in any religion to coincide with what your intent is. You can use it to start a war or use it to create peace. There are many faces to religion and it depends on which face you want to use at any particular time to fit your needs. That is the biggest problem with it. Using and altering the meaning to defend what you are doing at the time whether it is to create terrorism, create a cult, create a ministry to defraud and so on. Religion will always have many sides and will always have many bones of contention either pro or con.