Thursday, September 30, 2010

In Which I Am Dismissive of IQ


I'll start this out by saying that I have an IQ that falls, depending upon which of eight different results you want to look at, somewhere between really high and astronomically high. Considering that I'm a secretary, I fail to see how useful a high IQ really is. Opportunity is a useful thing, access is a useful thing, but an IQ above average isn't really all that useful.

I'm also suspicious of IQ measurements as a whole. There isn't a great deal of consensus as to what exactly is being measured, for one thing. There is a certain cultural bias to IQ tests. Also, while there is a tremendous amount of difference between the capabilities of people at the extreme high and low ends of the scale, there isn't much appreciable difference between the capabilities of people at the average and high ends of the scale. I'm not really sure why we bother to measure IQ at all, other than the fact that people really like numbers a lot.

For example, take a look at the above graph, describing IQ by religion. I suppose I could crow about atheists falling at the upper end of the graph, but look at the range described: 113.43 to 101.89. Don't feel bad Pentecostals, that's not much of a difference. In fact, given that my own IQ varies as much as 25 points depending upon which test result you look at, a range of 11.54 doesn't mean a thing. Basically, IQ doesn't vary according to religion.

Anyway, that's my thoughts on the matter. I don't know what the difference is between believers and nonbelievers. I don't think it's intelligence. I've known some very foolish atheists and some very intelligent people who believe very foolish things. Whatever it is, smarts aren't in it.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

The Atheist Survival Guide

to the Rapture . . .

I guess this would be useful for many of the people here.Since nobody believes anymore.

Since you're all damned sinners going to hell!!1!!eleventy!!!

Post Rapture Survival Guide

by Kurt Seland


The purpose of this manual is twofold:

First of all, it is to warn those who receive this manual prior to the rapture of the events that will take place in the last days as foretold in the Bible. Based on what the Bible has to say about future events, nobody in their right mind would want live on earth after the rapture. Hopefully, many will read, believe, seek God, repent and be saved. Salvation is very simple, so simple to attain, in fact, that most people cannot accept its simplicity; thereby reject it completely. However, it is complex because it is life-changing and based on that which we cannot see; it is based on faith. Simple, because Jesus does all the work.

It's simple, but it's complex. Simply complex. Complexly simple.

By the way, this is listed as the Post Rapture (Atheist) Survival Guide which I find terribly amusing because according to the rapturites only a very tiny percentage of Christians are getting raptured, which means that either atheists need their own survival guide or we're now defining everything from Catholics to Pagans as atheists.

Let me be really frank with you. If you are reading this manual and the rapture has already occurred, then you probably are not going to physically survive; you most likely will die sometime in the next few years. This manual is about the survival of your soul. You are going to go through terrible suffering. The only question that remains is whether you will go to Heaven or go to hell when you die.

What's hilarious about that is that, according to rapturites, saving your soul is as simple as accepting Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, so why the 40,000 word essay on physical conditions after the rapture? Oh, right, it's rapturite porn. I forgot.

Definition: Rapture--This is the event that will occur when Jesus calls His followers (both gentile and Jewish believers) with a trumpet blast, and in the "twinkling of an eye" they will be removed from the earth and transported to be with Jesus in the heavens.

So, not only do you not understand what an atheist is, you clearly don't know what a Jew is.

In today's political environment there is no effective leadership in the world. Every nation lacks strong and competent leaders able to deal with the problems at home and abroad. The United States, which has been the world leader for the last 50 years, has steadily lost its influence among other nations because of political leaders in the United States who have no moral center to direct their decision making process. However, this distrust and dislike of government and government leaders is not just an American phenomenon but is a common theme in Europe, South America, Asia and the entire world. Because of this leadership vacuum in the world, there is now an opportunity for a man to arise who is very charismatic, strong, and attractive to peoples of all nations. Based on the prophecies in the Bible such a man will arise, and he will be successful in uniting the various nations to rule as a dictator.

Europe, South America, Asia and the entire world. You forgot the rest of your continents, didn't you?

The foundational building block of society, that element which has always been responsible for social order and peace, is the family, and it has been virtually destroyed. The family is to be a man, his wife and their children. The man provides for the wife and children, the wife nurtures and educates the children, and the children obey their parents. In a community of families, adults hold the other adults and children accountable for their actions. The family is based on marriage.

Oh, so my disabled husband and I don't qualify as a family? Well, I guess we didn't even when he was the primary breadwinner, because we don't have children. Fuck it, then, I'm doomed to hell anyway.

Marriage is an institution of God and therefore hated by Satan. The devil has worked very hard, primarily through communications media such as TV, movies, news journalists, and entertainment in general to convince women that marriage is detrimental to their freedom and fulfillment in life. Satan has deceived women into believing that they have the same sexual desire as men and that all differences are the result of culture. Satan has worked hard to divide men and women and have them at war with one another, and because of this, the violence between men and women has dramatically increased.

Satan convinced me that I have the same sexual desires as men? Really? It was Satan. Good to know it wasn't, I dunno, biology. The cake is a lie, kids. I'm also amused that apparently, there was no spousal abuse or rape prior to the "communications media". Also good to know.

Civil war has been a constant theme of this age and unrest will continue into the end times: man vs. women, black vs. white, Moslem vs. Jew, Catholic vs. Protestant, Moslem vs. Christian, one Moslem faction vs. another Moslem faction, one black African tribe vs. another black African tribe, nation vs. nation, people vs. people. Whatever divides people into different groups, Satan uses to inspire hate, strife and violence.

Yes, there was no hate, strife or violence prior to the "communications media". Certainly no violence recorded in the Bible. Nope, none at all. (And absolutely no incest or murder!) Also loving the racism readily apparent in your examples, asshat.

Homosexuality and all sorts of perverse behavior are accepted as normal. The world dictator (anti-christ) himself will not have the normal sexual attraction to women and may be asexual. Many theologians believe that he will probably be openly homosexual as indicated in the Bible in the book of Daniel 11:37: "and he will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women". And therefore, after the rapture, more than likely marriage will be discouraged or illegal, and homosexual and lesbian relationships highly encouraged.

Uh huh. Have you considered Haldol? I hear it's lovely in situations such as yours.

In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, Jesus spoke to his disciples and indicated to them that one of the signs of the time of the end of the world would be, "...as it were in the days of Noah so will the coming of the son of man be." We read in Genesis that in the days of Noah "the earth was filled with violence.". This speaks not only of the violence that men inflict on one another—war, civil wars, rape, brutality, murder, abortion, and other indiscriminate, random acts of violence—but the earth itself is also filled with violence. We see increasing earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, drought, lightning storms and unusual atmospheric phenomena. While all of these have existed in the past, over the last 50 years, the number and intensity of these conditions and the property damage associated with these natural catastrophes has increased. As the level of violence that the human species has inflicted on one another has increased, so has the violent reaction of the earth increased.

Two words: climate change.

This is an event that will not be hidden. The concept of the rapture has already been made known to the masses. It will be treated with ridicule, contempt and mockery by the world's media, but God will see to it that it will be highly publicized before it occurs just so that those left behind might still come to their senses. It will occur in the open, and everybody left behind will know someone who was raptured.

Everyone will know someone who was raptured? Really? What about countries that are 98% Muslim? What about Buddhist monks? Will they know a raptured person? If so, how?

So, although the rapture will shock everybody and will be covered in the media and everybody left will be aware of someone who is gone, the leaders of the world will begin their great deception, trying to convince the population left behind that there was no rapture.

If we all know people who were raptured, how the fuck is CNN going to convince us that it didn't happen?

The Bible does not say who [the Two Witnesses] are. Many speculate that they are Elijah and Enoch, two ancient prophets of God who never died. Regardless, they will be responsible for many of the natural catastrophes that will wreak havoc on the property and economy of the earth. They will have the power to prevent rain, and there will be a 3 1/2 year drought on earth until they die. They will turn water into blood and cause all kinds of plagues on earth and, in general, make life miserable for those who are living on earth. Also, they will be invincible, as many will try to kill them only to be killed by their own hands. Those who attempt to blow them up will themselves be blown up; those who attempt to shoot them will have their guns explode in their hands; those who attempt to poison them will be poisoned by their own efforts. Only the world dictator will be able to kill them and only when God allows it.

The purpose of all the misery that these two witnesses inflict on the earth dwellers is to turn people back to God in repentance. The misery will be so great that when the world dictator does finally kill these two, the world will rejoice in a Christmas-like celebration, giving gifts to one another. Three and one-half days after their death they will be resurrected and, in full view of the entire population of the world, ascend to heaven at the command of God when He calls them to "Come up here." Shortly after he kills the two witnesses, the world dictator will declare himself to be God. He is the anti-christ.

So, in short, God will attempt to convince me to love him by causing to psychopaths with magic powers to torment me and everyone else on Earth. The ways of the Lord are mysterious indeed!

This era will be the most violent of times in the history of the world. Death, brutality and destruction will be part of everyday life. One of the defining characteristics of the last days following the rapture will be a lack of peace. There will be civil wars throughout the world: people will kill one another indiscriminately. Random acts of violence will fill people with fear. Car-jackings, home invasions, drive by shootings, and bombings will all increase with an intensity that will leave people with absolutely no sense of security.

So . . . the tribulation will be like every other point in history, involving wars and violence.

Prior to the rapture, the world experienced an increase in health-related catastrophes, an increase in new infectious diseases and an increase in the return of diseases thought to have been eradicated or brought under control. The past two decades have brought on AIDS, EBOLA virus, flesh-eating bacteria, the return of tuberculosis, incurable gonorrhea, herpes and many other virtually incurable sexually transmitted diseases.

In addition to all this, because of the poor economic situation worldwide and the 3 1/2 year drought that depletes the world's supply of water, sanitation practices will deteriorate even in what were advanced nations in Europe and North America. With the short supply of water, there won't be sufficient water for flushing toilets, taking baths, washing clothes and transporting wastewater to treatment facilities. This will result in the increase of typhus, cholera, salmonella and E.coli infections.

Therefore, since you have decided to reject Christ's offer to join in the rapture, your concern is how to maintain good health in the post rapture era. You must build a supply of multiple vitamins with particular emphasis on anti-oxidants such as C and E and minerals. It will also be necessary to have a supply of disinfectants, particularly one that can be added to water to make it potable.

Yeah, I don't think Vitamins C and E are going to prevent ebola and cholera. If they could, we wouldn't have ebola or cholera, or AIDS or herpes or anything else.

The one thing to avoid, however, beyond the carjackings, wars, ebola and cholera, is the mark.

Above all, do not accept the mark of the beast on your right hand or forehead. If you do take the mark then nothing can be done for you—you will suffer the malignant ulcer making the rest of your life almost unbearable. Did you ever have a canker sore in your mouth? If so, then you know how painful that one little canker sore was. Now think of having canker sores all over your body, on your genitalia, in your mouth. Think how painful and unbearable your life will be. Then follow that misery with eternity in hell. Don't take that mark!

Is it one malignant ulcer (what is that, anyway?) or is it bodywide herpes? Please be specific. I'd like to lay in a supply of Valtrex now. Oh, and the hell. Maybe that's what the Vitamin C is for.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Guns Don't Kill People . . .

[another h/t to [redacted] who probably needs a good dose of prozac by now]

Remember our friends with the hate filled hearts? Well, now that antigay bullying is in the news again, tragically because of the suicide of a gay teen, they've decided that guns don't kill people*, gays kill themselves. And their hate filled hearts have nothing to do with it.

names have been changed to protect the innocent, and the hateful. (actually, i have no idea what the rule is with FB postings and privacy, so i'm covering my own ass.)

Dexter Peters Protect Marriage: One Man, One Woman:

SHOCK: Gay Texas 13-Year-Old Asher Brown Shoots Himself In The Head After Horrific School Torment /.

www.queerty.com

There is no good news in this story. None. It's sad, and it's endemic of the nightmares today's LGBT youth continue to face every. single. day. [another redacted],

6 hours ago · Share

·


[i have approached nazi levels of hate] Yes, it is terrible....for so many young to misunderstand their lives and be so confused as to embrace a life that leads them to these ends is horrible...children like these need all of the help that we can get for them (and don't give malarky about bullying, these kids are depressed without ever being bullied)...they need real love, caring, and concern...as well as a lot of help with their misunderstandings on sex and what is natural.

2 hours ago


[i'm an evil little man who deserves mockery] ‎"Brown, his family said, was "bullied to death" — picked on for his small size, his religion and because he did not wear designer clothes and shoes." ....I agree with the idiot - NOM's support of designer shoes must end !!!

about an hour ago


[i am a reasonable person] If the schools don't start addressing the bullying issue and take a stand against bullies and their co-defendent parents there will be more and more suicides among young people. I was picked on my whole 12 years of school for being fat, believe me I know the scars it leaves behind.

about an hour ago


[i deserve terrible things]

exactly, beth. i was picked on just because i was somewhat smaller than the bullies of the school. i got beaten up, teased, tormented ... you name it.

did i use it as an excuse to end my life? no. now ... that is not to belittle the loss of... the brown family. i don't know asher's mental state, and i guess none of us ever really will. i completely agree with the "co-defendant" idea. if the kids are being bullies at school, the parents shoulder some, if not a lot, of the responsibility, if it can be shown that they're not doing something to alter the bully's path.See More

45 minutes ago




Nothing touches these people, does it? They look at the suffering they help cause and see only another chance to hate. I would say we are doomed, but I look back at history and see times where blacks were regarded as animals, when the Final Solution wasn't viewed as such a bad thing and then I look around today and think, "there is hope, but I doubt I'll live to see it." Well, if not me, perhaps my niece. Perhaps her children.

So we have to keep trying. And never forget about Asher. Ever.



*I despise the argument that guns don't kill people, people kill people. Sure, guns don't leap out of their holsters and fire themselves, but guns make it very easy to kill. If every killer had to kill with their bare hands, there would be a lot less murder in this world. You'd really have to want it and be physically capable of it.

Atheists Win Again

As we suspected, atheists and agnostics know the most about religion (in the US).

In a Pew Forum survey, atheists and agnostics answered the most questions correctly, closely followed by Jews and Mormons. Out of 32 questions, atheists/agnostics average 20.9 correct answers, while white evangelical protestants (looking at you, Ray) could only answer 17.6 questions correctly.

This gets even more amusing when you break it down by what the questions were about. On questions relating to Christianity, atheists/agnostics answered 6.7 questions correctly. White evangelical protestants did only slightly better with 7.3 correct answers. It's their religion, folks, but they don't know much more about it than you and I. When asked about other religions, white evangelical protestants only managed 4.8 correct answers (shocking, I know!), while atheists/agnostics answered 7.5 questions correctly.

Even less surprising is the finding that the single most important factor in being able to answer the questions correctly was general level of education, you know, that thing white evangelical protestants eschew as liberal claptrap? You might want to get back on the learning train, guys.

Monday, September 27, 2010

I'm Going to Smear Lime Jello on My Elbows for You


I do so love a rambling semidefense of prayer as actually doing something . . . or something. You'll see what I mean.

The message came in a flurry of emails on a day that was no busier than usual. It was bad news. An old friend was letting me know that her long-time babysitter had just been diagnosed with colon cancer and was going into the hospital soon for surgery.

"Prayers!" I typed. "I'll keep her in our prayers." What else do you say? How else do you respond to really bad new? The thing is: do you really mean it, and are you really going to do it?

How about, "I'm sorry" or "I'll keep her in my thoughts"? Or, if you really actually want to do something, what about a fundraiser to pay for medical bills and missed wages, or cooking freezer-ready meals for her and her family or a gift certificate for a maid service or taking up a collection to pay for rides to and from treatment or, you know, actually fucking doing something? Oh, right, that takes effort. Got it.

So, anyway, the author managed to forget even doing the nothing that is praying.

I don't believe for a minute that God didn't get the message when I typed my email "Prayers!" and anyway, if God cared about this lovely faith-filled woman, he would be on top of it. (Leave alone for a minute the whys of her illness.)

Um, no. How about you're going to have to explain why god will answer a prayer to cure a disease he allowed a person to have in the first place. Otherwise, you've involved me in the old Steve Martin skit in which he explains that the way to be a millionaire is to get a million dollars.

But I needed to say that prayer for me as much as for her.

She has cancer, dude. Stop thinking about yourself. How selfish can you be? (Apparently, that selfish.)

Praying for others is at the heart of prayer. As has been often pointed out, the Lord's Prayer is in the first-person plural, not singular. Praying -- and I don't think I'm any better at it than anybody else -- is a joint effort. Faith is about compassion, and how compassionate can you be if you don't pray for others?

Oh, I see. I actually do things for the suffering people in my life, but because I don't talk to myself about it, I'm a sociopath.

Do I know how it works? Haven't a clue. Do I believe it works? Of course I do or I wouldn't prevail.

Ah, the unexamined life. Also, the word you are looking for is not "prevail". Prevail means to win. You mean "persevere".

There have been times when I've depended on it. Scared out of my wits in a hospital room before open-heart surgery, I took comfort in a print-out of emails from friends and family promising their prayers. And when I couldn't pray at all, I was grateful to a pair of old friends who called and prayed some sense into me on the other end of the line. What I couldn't do, they could do for me.

I'm not sure how one prays sense into someone, but fine. If prayer comforted you prior to major surgery, go for it. I would never take that comfort from you, surgery is terrifying. In fact, were you a friend of mine, I would lie and tell you I prayed for you. I would also smear lime jello on my elbows if that's what would make you feel better. However, don't tell me the heart of compassion is prayer.

There's a lot of goodness in this broken world, and prayer feels like a way of shaking it loose. I have no problems praying for dear friends who think it's a bunch of malarkey. They love me and have to accept that this is some endearing idiosyncrasy of mine like making dopey toasts or breaking into song. When you pray for someone, you learn to love them, and you think of them all day long.

So, without the prayer, I cannot "learn to love"? Get over yourself. Also, hatred also makes you think of people all day long. As does obsession.

That babysitter is getting out of the hospital soon and going into rehabilitation. I've been checking in and am attuned because she's on my badly maintained list. "You're so nice to ask," my friend says. But I'm not being nice. I'm doing what I think is essential and will keep trying. "You're in my prayers" is a powerful thing to say and even more powerful when you show how you mean it.

That babysitter could use an awful lot of things. She could use help cleaning her house. She could use a big platter of baked ziti. (I'm Italian. We believe in the healing power of pasta. For everything.) She could use a million things that don't involve you making yourself feel better about your inaction.

pic link

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Traditional Gender Roles Foster Sexual Abuse

While writing yesterday afternoon's post, I came across a fascinating study about traditional gender roles/Judeo-Christian culture and sexual abuse. I didn't have time then to really read it, but now that I have, wow. (It's actually a summation of 100 different reports. Um, meta study?)

More than 100 reports in the scientific and professional literature, involving more than 35,000
subjects, indicate that rapists, child molesters, incestuous parents, and sexually motivated
murderers are typically very conservative in their sexual and social values and sometimes more
religious than average—suggesting that in many cases traditional sexual morality is a
contributing factor in sexual abuse rather than a deterrent.

Alford, Jane, C. James Kasper, and Roger C. Baumann. 1984. “Diagnostic Classification of
Sexual Child Offenders.” Corrective and Social Psychiatry and Journal of Behavior Technology
Methods and Therapy 30: 2–12.
This study of 50 incarcerated child sexual offenders found that, while growing up, 65% attended
church daily, 33% attended church weekly, and only 2% attended church rarely. The offenders
found no conflict between religious devotion and sex with children.

Apparently, somebody needs to stop preaching John 3:16 and start explaining that sex with kids is bad.

Alford, Jane, Mary Grey, and C. James Kasper. 1988. “Child Molesters: Areas for Further
Research.” Corrective and Social Psychiatry and Journal of Behavior Technology Methods and
Therapy 34: 1–5.
This study identified three factors of child sexual abuse as having their roots in the use or misuse
of Judeo/Christian tradition: (1) patriarchalism places the man as head of the family and the
owner of his wife and childred; (2) boundaries between various sexual activities become
confused because all sex is considered sinful; (3) sexual activity within families is hidden behind
a curtain of secrecy.

That's a good point. In traditional gender roles, women are not in charge of their own bodies, their husbands or fathers are. It's not hard to see how easily that can become license to anything you wish, especially if consensual sex is viewed as bad.

This study quantitatively synthesized the results of 72 studies of rape attitudes, which included a
total of 19,944 subjects. Factors that predicted rape acceptance included traditional gender role
beliefs, adversarial sexual beliefs, needs for power and dominance, and conservative political
beliefs
.

Again, I'm not shocked.

Finkelhor, David. 1979. Sexually Victimized Children. New York: Free Press.
One of the findings in this study of 530 female and 266 male college students was that girls
whose mothers punished them for asking questions about sex or for exploring their own bodies
were 75 percent more vulnerable to sexual abuse than other girls in the study.

It is a common tactic among fundys to prevent, sometimes violently, children from masturbating. (Children masturbate. It's totally normal. The only thing you need to do about it explain that there is a time and a place.) And, in the larger culture, it's surprisingly common for women to have never gotten out a mirror and take a look at their own genitals, to have no idea what various structures are, and to consider the entire area gross.

Gebhard, Paul H., J. H. Gagnon, W. B. Pomeroy, and C. V. Christenson. 1965. Sex Offenders:
An Analysis of Types. New York: Harper & Row.
This study included 1,356 convicted male sex offenders, 888 non-sex-offender prisoners, and 477
controls. The incarcerated sex offenders, like prisoners in general, tended to be less religiously
devout than the control group. However, 40 percent of the incest offenders against adult
daughters were devout. Moral inhibitions, fear, and lack of opportunity had deterred many sex
offenders from engaging in premarital sex. Heterosexual offenders against children (noncoercive)
were generally moralistic and conservative, holding to the double standard and good
girl/bad girl concept. Most opposed premarital sex. Incest offenders against adult daughters were conservative, moralistic, sexually restrained, religiously devout, and traditional. Heterosexual aggressors against children (who used force or threats) had a Victorian attitude: their sexual activity with their wives was constrained, with minimal foreplay; they often used prostitutes; they held to the double standard and the good girl/bad girl concept. Some rapists used the good girl/bad girl concept to their advantage: any girl who can be picked up easily can legitimately be forced to have sex. Repeat offenders had more prepubertal sex play than incidental offenders. But after puberty, repeat offenders had more inhibitions and worries about sex: they worried more about masturbation and had less premarital sex because of moral considerations and fear of disclosure. Perhaps because of this restraint, they developed more responsiveness to the sight and thought of females and became preoccupied with unconventional sexual activities.

I think we need more of this Liberal Agenda everyone keeps bleating about. The next time someone starts talking about traditional marriage and how it "protects women", you might want to point out that it does not.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Hate. Filled. Heart.

(h/t to [redacted]. I don't have a facebook account.)

Apparently, the new Catholic answer to the overwhelming evidence of decades (if not centuries) of abuse, the abuse of hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent children, covered up as an institutional imperative, to the point where one can only assume that the leadership of the RCC came to the rather odd conclusion that the organization exists purely to pander to pedophiles is . . . man, that was some sentence . . . seriously, that was alliterative there at the end . . . the abuse is all made up by the Gay Agendatm . to punish the Church for supporting Prop 8.

Yes, that's right. Priests didn't sexually molest an entire generation of Catholic children, and religious leaders of every description don't regularly abuse their authority and their followers, it's just those dirty gays and their stranglehold on our culture. The hierarchy of the Church didn't do everything possible to keep those priests from facing repercussions, it's just the Gay Agendatm again.

Man, when your religious beliefs require that you view hundreds of victims of childhood sexual abuse as shills for a nonexistent agenda, you are officially fucked. You have no morals. You have no soul. You're a shell, spewing nonsense from your hate filled heart.

Good luck with that.

[name removed because i'm the better person] I believe that Bishop Eddie Long is being falsely accused of sexual abuse because of his strong public objection of the homosexual lifestyle. Let's not judge him. We don't know what proof will be given. Instead, lets pray for justice for the Bishop. I believe this to be just another attack against the children of God who speak out against evil in the world.

20 hours ago · · Flag

  • [another asshat] likes this.

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[conspiracy theorist] You know, it's really interesting that you mention that, because a FB friend of mine who is strongly pro-homosexual (and also admits to being a homosexual) posted a link "proving" that Bishop Long actually committed sexual abuse. That's a really good point you make there!

6 hours ago


[asshat] You know...that they are attacking him and accusing him of this tends to lend credence to the fact that their organizations using the Catholic name ARE indeed as fake as the Bishop reported.

5 hours ago

[original name removed. i'm still the better person] Rennie, I sure hope your fb friend got his link "proving" that Bishop Long is guilty of committing sexual abuse from reliable resources. If he is guilty then he needs to pay the price . A man is considered innocent until proven guilty but I would'nt go around accusing when I know that every word that comes out of my mouth will be judged by God.

4 hours ago


[yet another asshat] I don't remember where he got the link, but the same source that provided the "proof" also provided a news story a few months ago reporting that a high school here in Mississippi was unfair for not allowing a lesbian girl to bring her girlfriend to the prom. That much I DO remember.

You know, I have to wonder something. If one of their children came home and said that the priest molested them, would they say, "Oh, honey, stop lying for the Gay Agendatm."? I think not.

Also, some research shows that

More than 100 reports in the scientific and professional literature, involving more than 35,000
subjects, indicate that rapists, child molesters, incestuous parents, and sexually motivated
murderers are typically very conservative in their sexual and social values and sometimes more
religious than average—suggesting that in many cases traditional sexual morality is a
contributing factor in sexual abuse rather than a deterrent.

Yeah. It's not the Gay Agendatm, it's your agenda, asshats.

C'mon, Really?

I have Christian Post newsfeeder in my reader, and I don't generally try to review 76 posts at once, but man these people are freakin' delusional.

Survey: 4 in 5 Americans Say Students Should Be Able to Pray at School Events

So, what's stopping them? I know we liberalCryptoFacistIslamatheists are this close to ruling the world, but no one's in control of your thoughts. You can pray all you want, whenever and where ever you please. So, apparently, 4 in 5 Americans don't really mean "pray" so much as they mean "make a big spectacle of praying so everybody notices".


Man, have I messed up. I’m a Christian, but I walked away from the Lord and got involved with a non-Christian girl. I think I love her. She is sweet and we get along, but she’s not a believer. We got involved in some stuff, sexually, that we shouldn’t have (and I was the one persuading her to do it). Before long, I became convicted about the sexual sin and about being unequally yoked with an unbeliever. I broke off our relationship.

I just heard from her though, and she is pregnant, with my baby. So here’s my question. Do I marry this girl, and become unequally yoked or do I not marry and have my child be born into a family in which his or her parents aren’t married to each other?

I know I’ve really messed up. I’m just trying to figure what to do now, to keep from making it worse.

You're a jerk. You talked this "sweet" girl into sex, then decided it was sinful and she wasn't good enough for you and bailed. Now, you don't even feel bad about that at all, you're just trying to make yourself feel better about things. Here's what I want to know, and what nobody really addresses, is why the fuck would she want to marry you? You're a jerk. You got what you wanted and left, no doubt slut shaming her on the way out. And now you expect her to make a lifelong commitment to you as your spouse? I hope she laughs in your face.

Christians Will Make Capitalism Work in China

A faithful BreakPoint listener alerted me to an article from the BBC, written by Christopher Landau. Landau reports that the valve company’s owner, Weng-Jen Wau, believes that the more Christian employees he has, the better his business will prosper.

“If you’re a Christian you’re more honest, with a better heart,” Wau says. And if they do something wrong, “they feel guilty-that’s the difference,” he notes.

An employee at Wau’s factory agreed. “If everybody became a Christian,” he said, “it would have a very big impact, and would really help the development of our factory.”

First of all, no. Secondly, I can prove it. 75% of Americans are Christians, and in case you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. And the country wasn't exactly crawling with nonChristians in 1929, either.

Given the Yay! quality of the article, I guess Christians want the US to start emulating China now. My how times they are a'changin'.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

If Knowledge is the Problem . . .


I rarely see this said outright.

"You can educate yourself right out of a relationship with God."
It would make one wonder if you had a relationship with God to begin with.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste..a soul is worse.

How? How can you educate yourself out of a true relationship with the Creator? Really? How can truth and knowledge be a bad thing?

Look, suppose you're in love with someone and the more you learn about them, the less you like them. Does that mean the knowledge was the bad thing, or the relationship was the bad thing? Would you encourage someone to remain as ignorant as possible in that situation simply to preserve their relationship?

Of course you wouldn't. If knowledge of evolution, of physics, of radiometric dating, of history, of anything, destroys your faith, the problem isn't knowledge.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Your Issues Have Nothing to Do with Religion

In today's episode of Your Issues Have Nothing to Do with Religion (h/t to Kathryn31), we meet Tzvi Fishman and Michael Tuesday, who have written an article on God-approved married sex that makes me weep for their wives. (Note: standard Jewish teaching on the subject is that sex between spouses is a mitzvah and should be enjoyed any way the couple wishes. This group is apparently rather bizarre, even for fundamentalist Jews.)



So, what does God approve of in the sack? Not a whole lot.



In public and private forums, HaRav Leon has emphasized that the mitzvah of marital congress should not be carried out in a timid and fearful manner, but rather in a robust, loving, and joyous fashion, so that the souls which are brought into the world will be robust and joyful in their service of G-d. Referring to the Gemara that tells how Rabbi Eleazar would conduct his marital relations against his own will as if a demon were compelling him ("kfao shed" - Nedarim 20b), HaRav Leon takes vehement exception and warns that if a person engages in marital relations in such a way, then the offspring, G-d forbid, will be like demons.

Yes, they are indeed saying that whatever your mood is during sex will affect the behavior of the resultant offspring. They say it repeatedly. Sex while angry results in angry children. Thinking of someone else during sex results in horrible children. This is so 5,000 years ago . . . well, so's the holy book, I suppose.

It is a severe transgression for a husband to force himself upon his wife against her will, or when either of them is angry, for this results in children who are aggressive and crude.

"Forcing yourself upon your wife" is rape. That is why it is wrong. End of story.

It is the man’s duty to please his wife, to make her feel loved, and to take the time needed to make sure that her pleasure is complete.

I'd take that more seriously if you didn't just say that rape is wrong because it produces "crude" children.

Before marital relations, a husband should ask G-d to forgive him for all transgressions to the Brit [of a sexual nature] which he committed in the past, including brazen conduct with his wife, which gave strength to the Sitra Achra [negative forces] and caused pain to the Shechinah [Divine Presence]. His intention should be that in engaging in proper and holy marital relations, the souls which fell captive to the realm of impurity through his sins should be rectified and returned their Maker. Both husband and wife should have the intention to bring a holy soul into the world. They should long to unite the Holy One Blessed He and the exiled Shechinah. By guarding his eyes and his thoughts, the husband will radiate holiness and blessing to all of the spirituals worlds that were damaged through his former wrongdoings.

Catch that? Your every sexual thought can cause others' souls to fall captive to the realm of impurity. Boy, Catholics have nothing on this guilt!

During marital relations, the husband and wife should not think of anyone else, for in addition to damaging spiritual worlds, this brings great harm to the children who are born from such unions.

Again with this nonsense!

The exclusive position of the marital union is with the wife lying on her back, facing up, and the husband lying upon her, facing down. This way of union is the select and most perfect union, which the Torah desires. This is called, "the face to face union." Any other position is almost certain to bring about the spilling of semen in vain. If the woman is on top of the man, this is considered brazenness (Shulchan Aruch, 240:5) and the pull of gravity will surely cause the wasting of semen. The same is true if they are standing or sitting. Anal intercourse is considered an act of loathsome brazenness. Besides the absolute spilling of semen in vain, this is considered in the Kabbalah like sacrificing one’s children to the idol Molech. Intercourse from the back is also brazenness, even if the organ of the Brit is inserted into the proper place, and the pull of gravity will cause the spilling of semen in vain from the wife, since she lies on her stomach. Furthermore, because the strongest of klipot surround the buttocks of the woman, when the Brit passes by this impure area, it will be polluted by klipot and these klipot will be transferred to the wife’s sexual organ and to the offspring of such a union. Only in the case of physical handicap or advanced pregnancy may this positioned be approved by a qualified rabbinic authority.

My butt is Teh Evul? Good to know. I thought it was my boobs. Also, um, there's no difference in the length between vagina and anus ever. They're always the same distance apart, whether you're approaching from the front or the rear. I'm also terribly amused at the concept of asking someone other than your partner if you can pretty please do it doggy style.

Oral sex is certainly not kosher, causing the eyes to see what is forbidden to see, and causing the spilling of semen in vain.

So, a husband is not to see his wife's genitals, ever, nor is a wife to ever see her husband's penis. Ever. Um, yeah.

As a warning, the wife should continue to lie on her back after marital relation for approximately ten minutes, and not turn on her stomach or side, and not immediately rise from the bed to go the bathroom, so that her husband’s semen should not flow out from her and cause the wasting of semen.

Okay, here's a little anatomy lesson, or several. Semen is not entirely made up of sperm. Sperm will travel up the vagina to the uterus, though it might take longer than 10 minutes, but the rest of the ejaculate will come back out no matter how long you wait. In fact, given that the uterus/vagina is a self-cleaning organ, it's absolutely guaranteed that all of the ejaculate is eventually coming back out, save for the one sperm who fertilized an egg. Always. Guaranteed. Waiting 10 minutes is useless.

As for not getting up to go to the bathroom, another anatomy lesson. First of all, I suspect these people don't know that the urethral opening and the vaginal opening are two separate holes. (A surprising number of people do not know this.) So, peeing after sex will not clear out the semen. However, the urethral opening is close enough to the vagina that, especially during face-to-face sex, the urethral opening can be irritated or have bacteria introduced to it, which can lead to UTIs. Doctors recommend that women always pee after sex. I guess UTIs are holy!

The marital union should not be engaged in during the day. Children resulting from such unions, when the klipot are strongest, will be afflicted with sufferings throughout most of their lives. If a man cannot control his lust, and if there is thus a danger of spilling semen in vain, then relations may be conducted in a dark room, under blankets or sheets.

Really?

Having relations in a lighted room, whether by lamplight, candle, or moonlight, causes suffering in the children who are born from such unions. Rather, the marital union should be in a dark room at night, preferably after midnight when the klipot are weakened, and the couple must cover their bodies with a blanket or sheet out of modesty. Sabbath night after midnight is the most suitable time for a holy union.

No, really? I just can't see how anyone who believes this ever manages to have children. Also, every time of day is "after midnight", so you might want to be specific as to the ending time for holy unions.

It is a very great mitzvah to engage in marital relations on Sabbath night. It is also fitting one other night during the week, also on Rosh Chodesh, and on holidays when relations are permitted. A Torah scholar should endeavor not to engage in marital relations during weekdays, but rather on Sabbath night after midnight. On the night of the wife’s ritual immersion, or when she hints that she would like his favor, he can engage even during the week, preferably after midnight. It is known that marital relations on weeknights are more accessible to the influence of klipot, therefore one should strive for added holiness.

Never! You are never to have sex!

After going to the bathroom, it is proper for both husband and wife to wait ten minutes before engaging in marital relations. Otherwise impurity will be transferred to the offspring of such a union, adversely influencing their spiritual make-up.

Bodily functions = bad babies

Wow. I don't even know what to say. And if this is a Poe, well, check out the website, that's one determined Poe.

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