Topic: GSLU community / BIRTHDAY!

Yay! Happy birthday, LDSGal!

Topic: Misc. / Caffiene

Satolkin wrote:
>Coffee. Gallons. Even that noxious crap at 7-11 that is high octane caffeine with “energy drink” crap thrown into it.

Ugh. Most energy drinks taste like shit. Red Bull is decent enough, I guess… but at those prices, I’d rather drink Mountain Dew (which pretty much tastes the same to me).

I’ve built up a tolerance for caffeine, since I’ve been drinking coffee, tea, and Coke most of my life. (And AL, you’re not scaring me! ;-) ) I got to one point in my 20’s where weaning myself from it meant two days of withdrawals, with splitting headaches. Fortunately, I’ve not returned to that point, and I make a point of going without caffeine at least one day every week.

Topic: Personal Beliefs/theories / Questions You'd Ask The God-Creature...

kookookachoo wrote:
Now about this witch thing, what kind of witches are they? People that call themselves witches?

In a nutshell, yes. In a number of cultures, though, it’s not so much self-recognition as societal recognition. Think along the lines of “witch doctors”. In Appalachian culture prior to the 20th century, midwives, herbalists, dowsers (aka ‘water witches’; precursors of hydrological and geological engineers) and others were frequently called “witches” and were recognized for providing valuable services for which qualified professionals could not be found (or the science did not yet exist).

While their practices may have been based on superstition, witches themselves are not superstitious beings. And Arandur, just to be clear my friend, you’re not including witches in fairy tales, are you?

Topic: GOD STILL LOVES US / That crazy number seven

Well, there is this… which pretty much points to these related concepts, IMO:

“Wisdom hath built herself a house, she hath hewn her out seven pillars.”—Proverbs 9:1 (Douay-Rheims)

Topic: Misc. / Digital Interface

Yes, Finix. Clean my office for me! ;-)

Topic: GSLU community / Vinyl

absoluteliquid wrote:
Those are awesome Swiss… I would LOVE to pick one of those up…don’t have an extra $500 sitting around though… The software included will even get rid of the vinyl hiss on older albums…

70’s funk and groove need the hiss, though. That’s part of what made the sound. To hear an album where it’s been remastered out just isn’t the same.

Topic: Personal Beliefs/theories / Questions You'd Ask The God-Creature...

Finix, it’s not that Buddhism is atheistic, it’s just that it’s atheistic. ;-) In other words, there’s never been such a belief in Buddhism as one that says, “If god exists, why can’t we talk to him?” Rather, the concept of “god” is not relevant to the system of spirituality that exists in Buddhism. One could just as easily be a Buddhist theist as a Buddhist atheist… and indeed, in Shinto lies a religion that is a Buddhist (poly)theism, of sorts.

RB, witches most certainly do exist. To deny that they exist makes about as much sense as denying that priests and shaman exist. Indeed, “priest” and “witch” both share the etymological connotation of one who is wise, seasoned, etc. The word “sage” (as in, “a sage old man”) is also related.

Topic: Personal Beliefs/theories / Ex-Gays For God...

AL, I wouldn’t call that a sexual orientation, just as I wouldn’t call paedophilia a sexual orientation. For one thing, there’s the matter of consent…

Topic: I Am Legend and God Still Loves Us / YO, ADMIN...

That’s assuming, though, that Time Warner would actually back this. Viral marketing being what it is, companies are more likely to disavow any knowledge of the site, leaving a poor mid-level marketing wonk holding the bag.

Topic: Misc. / The Week of Understanding

Oh, we’re down to a weekly thread now, are we?

Topic: Misc. / Caffiene

Coffee. Give me coffee. Need to get my third cup. Drank Coke this morning. Need more. Gotta go. Bye.

;-)

Topic: Misc. / Digital Interface

I’d take a pic of mine, but y’all don’t really need to see a beat-up Toshiba Satellite laptop with a couple of off-brand speakers attached to it, on a desk with a dirty coffee cup, various notes, a couple of contracts, and a small ceramic statue of Pronk (Cleveland Indians ballplayer Travis Hafner) and Victor Martinez. Plus I don’t have my digital camera with me at work right now. I suppose I could clean up a bit and photograph my office tomorrow, though…

Topic: GSLU community / Vinyl

I saw the coolest thing the other day: A turntable with a USB output. Yes, that’s right: It has the ability to convert vinyl straight to MP3 or other digital format. No patch cables, no transfer to tape or CD, just pure analog-to-digital goodness.

Still not quite the same as listening to vinyl directly, but the advantage is that it reduces wear on your best vinyl albums (since you aren’t putting needle to vinyl all the time) and preserves the audio at that moment in time as effectively as possible.

Topic: Personal Beliefs/theories / Ex-Gays For God...

ratboy wrote:
Can one truly change sexual orientation…to pray oneself straight…or is it just a delusion…?

Question is, why would one want to? Sexual orientation, whether genetic or otherwise, does NOT interfere with one’s ability to participate in society. Therefore, psychologically speaking, there’s no reason to change.

That’s why the APA no longer classifies homosexuality as mental illness. There’s no reason to consider it as such.

Topic: Personal Beliefs/theories / God Is An Alien..

JibraelTrumpet wrote:
Do not be sheep.. I will continue on my voyages.. Goodbye friends..

Don’t go, JT! Stick around a while. No sheep here… just a bunch of friends who meet as we can.

More like cats, actually. Well, except for RB over there. ;-)

Topic: Photo Contest / Congratulations to the contest winner!

Indeed, Kookoo! That, or our dearest Empress. ;-)

I don’t think it’s a problem if the photo was doctored. I think the problem is that a “non-free image” may have been (or may not have been; let’s not jump to conclusions!) used, in the parlance of Wikipedia. Using a photo that is neither public domain nor one to which you have copyrights is a big no-no for commercial ventures, and is increasingly a faux pas for everyone else as well.

Topic: Photo Contest / contest winner

GSLU wrote:
Sorry, our firewall was eating incoming emails. All is fixed now.

I sent again the e-mail I’d sent a month or two ago. Look for “Greetings from SwissCelt” in your inbox. Thanks!

Topic: GOD STILL LOVES US / That crazy number seven

Who are the seven archons? And are all of them unfriendly? I seem to recall Sophia as one of the archons, and She seems quite friendly to man in many of the scriptures.

Topic: Misc. / 1000 posts...

Alright, who broke the wind?!

Topic: GSLU community / Well, now I've gone and done it...

Arandur wrote:
Anyway, I don’t think you’re destroying an ecumenical feeling. Ecumenism doesn’t mean we all should be playing nice and keeping the kid gloves on. If we’re interested in sharing beliefs and searching for Truth, all we need do is respect each other, but hit the issues as hard as we feel necessary. Don’t hold out, and don’t hide, Swiss!

You’re a good man, Arandur. And I have to ditto Satol’s sentiment: You are an enlightened Catholic. Though I hasten to add that I’ve found Catholics to be more enlightened than other Christians in the first place. ;-)

Satolkin wrote:
I actually enjoyed that post, particularly when you got to the REAL good part. I knew it was coming, and it was like driving up slowly to a really bad car wreck.

Funny thing is, it was like being in a really slow, really bad car wreck. I felt it coming on like a Mack truck, and finally said, “Screw it, I’ll just hit the ^$x%x*@ thing.” (grin)

Topic: Photo Contest / contest winner

I would love to try absinthe. Haven’t figured out how to obtain it in the States, though. Which is odd, because I’ve had much more illegal substances offered to me before on many occasions, and I refused…

Topic: GOD STILL LOVES US / Jesus is the Gift

Satolkin wrote:
>One thing I need to add, though, and you’ve got to always keep this in mind when looking at the OT, it is written from a Jewish perspective, in the context of a Jewish culture and religion that no longer exist.

Not quite. The culture is gone, as is every culture from over 2000 years ago. But the religion largely remains. I’ve been fortunate to have spoken at length with an Israeli Jew who considers himself a bit on the conservative/orthodox side (though a secular participant in modern Israeli society). He reveals that, in Israel anyway (not sure about here in the West), Jews tend to see G_d much in the manner you describe the OT G-d.

Sevens. From the Pythagorean view (which is pervasive and very useful, which is why I lean on the Bro. as a significant thinker) we have a combo of 3 and 4, which are indicative of the Spiritual (3) and the Material (4) intertwined. (esoteric meaning, BTW, of the Masonic Square and Compasses, if anyone cares, as well as the Seal of Solomon). In addition, and probably most importantly, seven occurs with regularity in Nature, which is why so many of the world’s religious/ mystical systems incorporate it into their cosmogeny. To get real deep into it, Arandur, we’d have to split this off into a real weirdass thread involving astrology (not the crap in the newspaper), chakras, procession of Eqinoxes, and all kinds of strangeness that probably nobody wants to read.

That would be so incredibly awesome. And considering the few of us who’ve chimed in lately constitute perhaps the majority of readers on this site right now, it wouldn’t be all that great a waste of bandwidth. ;-)

Topic: GOD STILL LOVES US / Jesus is the Gift

Arandur wrote:
Swiss, I don’t have or read Strong’s Concordance. Your account of Creation seems to be speaking of man being made twice, once by God and once by Satan…which is it? Are there two forms of mankind running around with different creators?

In a way, yes. God created man, and then YHWH created Adam. The sons of God (i.e. man, as created by God) then intermarried with the daughters of Adam, as is shown in Genesis 6. Thus, the two forms became one… and because of the subsequent flood of Noah (same chapter), there is today only the one race of man.

If man and woman were created alike in the image of God, how was Adam created from the slime of the earth (Gen 2:7), then placed in the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:8) before any woman was created?

Why is this a problem? God can make woman either at the same time as man, or afterwards, and she can still be in His image. Further, God can make man, then plant him a garden for him to live in as a way of letting His new child see His creation of Adam’s new home.

And yet, this does not refute the explanation I offered. Moreover, why was Eve not given like opportunity?

I don’t really care much about the Nephilim or see how they’re a problem. Traditionally they are seen as either the offspring of humans and angels, or just as great men given some theory of supernatural origin to explain the supremacy of these heroes or villains above most other humans. The idea of the Nephilim gives much fodder for fantasy, but I don’t see how they’re very important, other than to show how even early on great men were capable of folly and to recognize the differences in power some men show above others in our world.

Then why include it in the scriptures? And to differentiate their fathers from the “daughters of Adam” seems rather peculiar.

As for YHWH, Jesus speaks of himself and the Father in these terms,

No, He doesn’t. “Before Abraham was, I am” is not the same as “I am that am”. The former declares immortality. The latter declares self-sufficiency. They are really two completely different concepts, even though the two are conflated in the vision of God most Christians have. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say that self-sufficiency tends to render agape moot: To wit, why would a completely self-sufficient being have love or concern for others? Self-sufficiency is essentially solipsism, and not philosophically in line with a paternal God.

and treats YHWH’s Scriptures and prophets as True and Sacred.

And for good reason: Virtually all of those scriptures and prophets point to a salvation from YHWH. Look, for example, at the passage of Proverbs 8:1-9:6. (This passage is particularly useful to us Gnostics and Marcionites, as it’s a direct revelation of Sophia.)

How would you reconcile that with your idea that the OT was really all Satan’s doing? In addition to all of the OT proclamations against Satan? Just how schizophrenic is this god you propose? ;)

You’re confusing scripture with deity. That the OT exists does not mean that it was inspired of… well, Satan. For centuries, Christians have made this presumption, and as a result have tried to proclaim as holy actions that have made Jews blush with humility. Not that Jews consider their own G_d to be Satan, of course… but there is a large distinction to be drawn between how Jews view these OT scriptures and how Christians view them.

Anyway, I’m on the verge of running off on a tangent. ;-) The point is, only orthodox Christians make the mistake of viewing the Old Testament as a testimony (excuse the pun) to righteousness. It really is not. It’s more the story of how far man can fall in the absence of God. Which is not to say that God is absent from the OT… no, any good Rabbi can tell you how the Talmud shows how G_d inspired man, and how man still managed to muck it up anyway.

The only difference is, Marcionites see someone behind man’s failing.

Topic: Misc. / 1000 posts...

As I recall, no one else is even close right now. I think AL is next with 679 posts (as of this post).

Topic: GOD STILL LOVES US / Jesus is the Gift

I’ve a theory on that one, too. But I’ll spare y’all it for another time.