mererdog

I believe it. After all, you are really, really old. I read through all your newsletters a couple weeks ago and was lamenting the lack of archiving from the original software. All you guys have been a suprisingly big part of my life, so reading the old stuff is like going through a family photo album. It gives me a warm feeling in my belly despite all the moments of "what was I thinking!?" Or maybe because of them?

I don't know. How drunk are you and how low is your self-esteem?

Also, if anyone who has already had time in the Hotseat wants another go round, I'd be glad to set it up. New people can also mean new people asking questions! Just say something here, in the signup topic, or in my PM inbox....

I went ahead and started your hotseat topic, mentioning that it may take some time for to start answering questions. Hopefully, when you are ready to start answering, people will have some good questions ready for you. Remember, you are under no obligation to answer any questions. If you let us know of any topics you wish to be "off limits" we will respect your wishes. You can also PM myself or Atwater Vitki with any related concerns. Enjoy! Your link...

Yeah, it looks like it's gone.

On the desktop version of the site- In theupper right-hand corner, your username is a drop-down menu. Select account settings. Then select notification settings from the right side of the new menu. On the mobile version- Click the icon with three horizontal lines in the upper right-hand corner. Select account. Select account settings. Select notification settings.

Try "artificial" or "awful". Those are my favorites...

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You see how defining something as being beyond scientific understanding makes it pretty much impossible to have evidence for it? I mean, at best, people can show evidence of something that you don't understand, or show evidence that experts don't understand something, or show how something is unexplained or underexplained, but what does any of that really prove? blue text is fun

I think your definition is flawed because, based on it, lightning was once supernatural.

Why?

The Holy Spirit?

And yet how people interpret and respond is a function of how the message is communicated. If you want to be understood, you have to speak the right language, use the right idiom, avoid the wrong slang, and punctuate effectively' You know what I mean? If you are misunderstood, it means you failed to communicate effectively, and it should prompt you to learn to do better, not to find fault with the other guy's abiliy to understand- assuming, of course, that you want to be understood.

That is an excellent analogy, but I don't think it applies here. I see the fruit of our words as being how those words effect others, because the point of speaking seems to be the chance that another will be somehow changed in hearing what is said. So the fruit of a book like the Bible is the effect it has on others- what it inspires in them, what it justifies them doing, what it makes them ashamed of, or even whether it makes them laugh.Clearly, the Bible has been the inspiration of atrocities. This has happened. You can blame the people for failing to umderstand the true message, but this is like blaming someone in a foreign country for not understanding English. Poor communication leads to misunderstanding. A bad tree can't give good fruit. But I want to emphasize that this does not seem to be an issue with the whole Bible. Only parts. There are parts that are used over and over to justify horrors. Those parts are clearly bad, in my view.

A good tree cannot give bad fruit. Parts of the Bible clearly give bad fruit.

The Bible was used as a moral justification of slavery for centuries.

God has never said that to me. Only sinful men who could be lying to me have done so. Did God speak to you directly, or are you putting your faith in the words of men who claim God talked to them?

And topics were started there as frequently as other areas...

The Bible also makes a distinction between laws of man and laws of God. So "Do not murder" becomes "Do not kill without God's permission." Places in the Bible where God orders people to kill do not violate that (fairly common) interpretation of the commandment, but some killings the government doesn't consider murder might violate it.

A narrower translation is "You shall not murder", which creates a distinction between lawful and unlawful killing.

Yep.

Always remember... If your kids do something good, it because you are a good parent. If your kids do something bad, it is because they are bad kids.

"cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" Genesis 1 has God blessing man with dominion over the Earth, but Genesis 3 has God cursing the Earth... And if we use "I made you" to give God credit for the good men do, should we not also use it to give God blame for the bad men do? Doesnt the Bible specifically say that God makes evil men intentionally?

Possibly. It would be fairly normal for there to be something strange about you, though. Most people are at least a little odd.

It is strange to consider some of the uses of a thing. It is creepy to consider some uses of a thing...