You're just asserting things with nothing to back it up.
You don't get to know something is true until you take the leap of faith and live it. And why would one do that unless they wanted it to be true? Right now what makes me feel sorry for you is that Satan has influenced you to the point that all you see are reasons you would not even want it to be true. Those are lies. God is good to man and so is the gospel and not just for some, but for everyone.
It's surreal to me that there are adults in the world that seem to sincerely believe this.
I lived religion. I tried to make it work. It doesn't. I can't maintain BS. It's impossible for me to listen to people talking about religion and not think of Star Wars fans arguing over the true nature of the Force.
ajax18 wrote:For me the peace I've gained in this past few months has been proof enough alone. There's nothing more powerful than to have the spirit in your life.
And yet you're itching for a civil war. Sounds peaceful.
God belief is for people who don't want to live life on the universe's terms.
I can be that stubborn. But, mostly what I meant was that I don't believe the authority exist to change my mind. Just because Mueller destroys the conspiracy that he was running an attempted coup, doesn't convince me.
Stubbornness that extreme is never a virtue. It is a prime example of "Backfire effect." This is the kind of phenomenon that causes flat earthers to persist in and double down on their belief in a geocentric, flat earth, not only despite the overwhelming and incontrovertible contrary evidence, but because of it. Highly religious people seem most prone to the "backfire effect", which is why nothing arouses my skepticism more strongly than the use of "divinely inspired" religious arguments to defend one's point of view. Backfire effect can be dangerous and even fatal. The best example I know of is the hundreds of followers of Jim Jones who unquestioningly committed suicide at his request.
I don't want to believe that our country is now led by an incorrigibly corrupt and pathologically dishonest, would-be dictator, but I honestly accept that the overwhelming evidence permits no other reasonable conclusion. For example, you cannot honestly deny that Trump's claim that John McCain did nothing to benefit veterans, while claiming credit for those very benefits resulting from a law authored by McCain, with McCain's name on it, that was passed by Congress and signed into law by Obama, before Trump even ran for President, was an outright and egregious lie!
Last edited by Guest on Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
No precept or claim is more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
“If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; but if you really make them think, they'll hate you.”
― Harlan Ellison
EAllusion wrote:I don’t know. That reads to me as some coked out Aaron Sorkin liberal fantasy version of America that elides real ideological differences among people in power and lots of real, competing, not all benevolent motives among the public.
"Amercia at it's core is an idea - the idea that no matter who you are or where you're from, if you work hard and play by the rules, you'll have the freedom and opportunity to pursue your own dreams and leave your kids a country where they can chase theirs."
You don't think Ajax believes that when America is working right, it is a place where someone who works hard and plays by the rules can reasonably find opportunity and freedom to realize one's dreams? Or that he wants to see it continue to work well for his children?
I mean, it's distilled down to the barest of concepts but I don't think one could honestly say the majority of people prefer a society where the Clinton quote isn't realized. Like I mentioned up thread, a person listening to a half hour of conservative talk radio will hear this come up call after call, but in the context of how liberals DON'T share this underlying idea. The talk radio crowd, and I think Ajax, seem to sincerely believe they are the only ones with this ideal while liberals and Democrats are a collective of takers who don't want to work or play by the rules.
I think time spent illustrating why the Democrat/liberal position is based on the same ideal that sees things from a different perspective but wants to see the same end is better spent than on treating someone as irredeemable and only worth being struck down in verbal combat.
The world is always full of the sound of waves..but who knows the heart of the sea, a hundred feet down? Who knows it's depth? ~ Eiji Yoshikawa
honorentheos wrote: The talk radio crowd, and I think Ajax, seem to sincerely believe they are the only ones with this ideal while liberals and Democrats are a collective of takers who don't want to work or play by the rules.
The irony of that is that the poorest states with the highest percentage of welfare recipients strongly tend to be red states, while the richest states with the lowest percentage of welfare recipients are blue states, thus belying that belief.
No precept or claim is more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
“If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; but if you really make them think, they'll hate you.”
― Harlan Ellison
I think most people will agree that Clinton quote because it is designed to be an inoffensive bromide. At the same time, it does a terrible job explaining what people want out of politics and why.
Ajax is a white supremacist who wants a white ethnostate. Why that is has nothing to do with the American Dream and disagreeing with him is not a simple matter of getting him to realize that people he disagrees with believe in work with the promise of opportunity.
His belief in negative stereotypes regarding lazy liberal / minorties living off his hard work aren’t why his identity politics exist. They are secondary to it and serve as posthoc justification for a broader cultural outlook. That’s why he is so resilient in the face of facts. You are confusing a rationalization for a rationale if you think he’s just confused about opponent attitudes towards the value of work.
And yet you're itching for a civil war. Sounds peaceful.
You're right in a way. I never claimed to be perfect. But I certainly wouldn't want to have to go to war without my faith. If my ancestors weren't willing to fight, my family would still be slaves. Sooner or later you'll need religion again. I just hope you realize that just because your situation is desperate doesn't mean the good things that come through God are not possible.
And when the confederates saw Jackson standing fearless as a stone wall the army of Northern Virginia took courage and drove the federal army off their land.
EAllusion wrote: Ajax is a white supremacist who wants a white ethnostate.
You just love throwing those terms around. Should anyone dare stand up for themselves is evil.
Ajax has described his own beliefs this way on Stomfront. His general objection to this description is that he prefers the term white nationalist. This is usually followed by trying to redirect the conversation to a dishonest strawman like asserting that his political enemies are seeking to kill him.
Maybe you should consider why you think expressing the political outlook of a literal Nazi sympathizer reads to you as just “standing up for themselves.”
And yet you're itching for a civil war. Sounds peaceful.
You're right in a way. I never claimed to be perfect. But I certainly wouldn't want to have to go to war without my faith. If my ancestors weren't willing to fight, my family would still be slaves. Sooner or later you'll need religion again. I just hope you realize that just because your situation is desperate doesn't mean the good things that come through God are not possible.
I could no more make myself believe in a god than I could make myself believe in Spanish speaking jellyfish.
God has to show up and talk to me, or he's just like Santa Claus. If an omniscient god exists, it already knows this about me and doesn't give a damn whether I believe in it or not; otherwise, it would have already made an appearance.
I'm kind of surprised you're bearing your testimony these days. You think you had an epiphany lately or something?
God belief is for people who don't want to live life on the universe's terms.
SPG wrote:AIDS? So I'm like a deadly disease carrier, unable to be cured, contagious, probably guilty of murder in some states...... Glad we cleared that up.
Geez, SPG. You might want to get current with the information on how folks with AIDS are actually affected by that virus, and the current state of management outcomes.
Don’t let this be yet another topic that you just make stuff up about out of thin air.