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Which is sad considering the edicts to "do unto others as you'd have them do unto you", and "love all others as you love yourself"*, right? (* short version)

Furry Christmas to you, too...erm...I mean Merry Christmas.

Actually, for some, that is already implied when considering they think virtually any form or all of media is "the devil's" influence.

Sorry, that's speaking an entirely different language than I have knowledge of. Wouldn't know a doodad from a doohickey. But thanks for the trying.

Hi, not sure where else I could have posted this. But, has anyone else had problems lately in getting to this forum directly? I keep getting a message page when I do saying that the page can't be reached due to: IP address may have changed, IP server may have changed, or the IP carrier may have changed. Had to get here via Facebook page (thank goodness for a way). What's going on?

I undoubtedly believe many would agree with you both regarding the advantages of this forum. It has been a form of family for me, as well. Yes, we squabble, at times, and just as often we support each other. Like family. Only difference, we don't know each other's faces or homes, most often, which makes the kindness of strangers especially nice. I am also grateful for my ever loving and supportive wife, whom I credit for saving my life by forcing me to discover and remedy my sleep apnea, which my blood relatives had only joked about or ignored for years. I am also very grateful for a good job with benefits that have greatly helped my family this past year. Thank you, brothers and sisters, for tolerating my rants, accepting my praises and contributions, and for teaching me and supporting my curious mind.

Yes, but also he's a bit stupid according to the Batman vs Superman movie. Who goes against a being that is both virtually invulnerable, except to kryptonite, and potentially deadly wearing armor to protect from injury but leaves his face (or chin, I should say) exposed? A single finger flick from Superman could render a fractured jaw, or jam up said jaw to fracture skull or penetrate brain to seriously injure or kill. You can answer that Superman isn't a killer, but Batman's mindset at the time was that he was or could be.

Thoughts and wishes here, too, brother.

Sure he did, he was super rich and had the power of persuasion. How that even worked, I have nooo idea.

Funny, nerdy, and possibly accurate. LOL

I see your point. But when looking from the view I previously shared, one could view "supreme beings" as sentient forms evolved to higher understanding and abilities, (or higher on the evolutionary scale, if one believed in that theory). In this string, there can be a species devoted to being supreme in comparison to man. Thus, allowing more than one. Man seen capitalized would lead one to assume an entire species or life form, thus God might also.

Well, I didn't ask why God permits different religions. Someone else did. I simply stated that I don't know, and supposed it was due to allowing us to form our own thoughts and opinions on it. Thanks for elaborating your position, though.

Even in the court system, there are levels of supreme. There are the municipal, state, and federal. The federal is the ultimate end.

Like the old commercial says, "you never know until you try!" I am more often open minded than not, which allows me to absorb information that I might not otherwise have known. Try me, friend. Whether it works, or not, we're only sharing in open conversation, at least.

My guess, man often does not see a deity being an equal or lower on the ladder of power and knowledge. Hence the supreme, meaning greater. The Norse gods, for example, were given human emotions and turmoil for man to emphasize understanding of the stories, yet they were also given abilities and intellect that man did not then or ever have. (Even today.)

i, honestly, can not answer that. it has only been my experience that the answer I stated has often been given to me by Fundamentalist. Be they Methodist, Baptist, or whatever. Their response is often the same for many things, and vary according only to their bias. Myself, I can not say what the answer may be for a God to allow many religions, even if some offend Him. Maybe to allow us to shape our thoughts on our own? I don't know.

Many Fundamentalist would reply, "Because He gave us free will". The blanket response to many things, including why evil even exists.

I rather like that tree idea. Wish I could have seen it. It had a nice tie in as tribute to the area. Funny, though, those executives had no concern for offending those of other faiths by having a Christmas display at work, in the first place. I use to work for a court house for a time, and there was so much concern to be so PC that no displays of any religious holidays for any religion were allowed during those times. We were also instructed to be only allowed to say "Happy Holidays" to maintain a sense of neutrality with our patrons.

Indeed. Man has always found a need to understand everything in order to believe it. Faith, alone, is hard to accept when it comes to things outside of man's capability to grasp as possible in tangible or intangible form. I can accept there is something unknown that exists that can't be explained or is too complicated to try, be it God or some universal power that flows through everything like "the Force" of the "Star Wars" sagas. I can also fathom that an intellectual could oversimplify a explanation to someone of limited understanding that the explanation could still be misunderstood and ridiculed or dismissed altogether, much like a book may. Is there a God? I don't know, but accept the possible. Are there paranormals like ghosts or angels? Don't know that, either, but accept it as possible. (Why not, if all things are possible with God, and He made all things, couldn't He have made a universe as complicated as Himself?) Man is indeed afraid of the unknown, and cannot grasp nonexistence for which man could possibly create straws for comfort. So, my response is simply summed up as, "I don't know, but can accept that I don't know what is possible when it comes to God or supernatural occurrence."

Actually, I think some may have to keep records of some kind, in order to maintain their tax exempt or non-profit designation with the tax laws that the IRS is suppose to help maintain.

I envy you now, Von.

Even for only having been seen, changes things than the way things might otherwise have been. Changes a view, a thought, an emotion, etc. Even only for that, a mark is left, however intangible. If that isn't a legacy in itself, then maybe legacies don't really exist.

I think might be better stated as, "accepting the possibility of", rather than "attempting", perhaps?

Just out of curiosity, has anyone made Mythic Legend yet? I imagine it might be a moderator, if so.

This may only highlight how much we still don't know, but may have some relevance to the discussion. I remember a Reader's Digest article that questioned the existence of God, or if prayer was indeed of any help. (Not sure which was the main topic of it.) Anyway, in it a doctor had done a series of brain scans on people to determine if anything happens while people pray compared to anything else. He seemed to find that there was an area of the brain that appeared to be active during the prayer moments but not any other time. And, always, it seemed to provide a sense of calm to the test subject. As he was a doctor of science, he concluded he couldn't accept that it was proof of God or anything divine, but also couldn't accept that there wasn't something unexplained happening that was perhaps outside the normal.