Moonlapse

As it should be, IMO

I had trouble with that too. When I consider that I may just cease to exist after death, it makes me cherish life more than I ever have. What kind of life do you really lead if this is not the final destination and you are just waiting for something better? What if all that really mattered was this life you have, and that when you die you are simply not alive just as you were before you were born. Its hard for humans to not think that they will continue to exist somehow even after they cease to exist. I don't know what happens after death, but I'm not going to let the unknown determine my actions in reality. What determines my actions is the fact that this is my one life, the most important thing I will ever have.

When I was a young Christian, my thinking was that my faith was the only true faith. Believers of other religions were decieved or had not heard the truth, thus the perogative of spreading the truth to those who had not heard it and helping the decieved to see the truth. Anyone who had not accepted the truth would be tormented in Hell after death and then be cast into the Lake of Fire after God's final judgement. Those who did accept with an honest heart would be with God in paradise.

Atheist - One who denies the existence of God. Agnostic - One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God. Theist - One who denies that God doesn't exist. Theres an important difference between God and religion.

Just because someone doesn't believe in religion doesn't mean they are atheist.

Demson, youre so analytical and skeptical about it, I'd have to say that you are an INTJ!!

http://similarminds.com/jung_word.html My mom used to give me tests like this when I was a kid because I'd never tell her how I felt. HAHA!! I'm an INTJ.

I think of it this way... Human intelligence developed hand in hand with language. Language is critical to articulate complex concepts. Animals have body language and rudimentary audible language, but no way to define concepts like 'deception' or 'greed'. So... what happens when human become curious about themselves and the world around them? How do they try to comprehend the seasons, the sun, the moon, the stars, constellations, weather, animals, plants, fire, sex, birth, growth and especially death? It's obvious that humans naturally develop cohesive world views to make sense of everything around them. Humans will also naturally resist anything that may cause a major paradigm shift of their world views, and also ignore minor inconsistencies that could potentially cause such a shift. Anyways, early humans did not have the insight to worldy phenomena that science provides us today. What did they do? They explained them the best way they could, using their knowledge and logic to formulate answers the same way we still do today. Early religion wasn't 'religion' in the modern sense of the word, it was a complete, cohesive world view necessary for the growth of civilization and culture. These views became tradition, handed down for generations. Native American culture is a good example of this. IMO, religion can give people a sense of community, an identity, exclusivity, or whatever but those are purely social. All the other explanations that religion provided were made obsolete by the discoveries that revealed the true nature of the world around us. (BTW, I was raised as a sheltered Christian child, went to Christian schools and studied the Bible for years. I had a truly honest blind faith when I was young, and it all made perfect sense to me until I became entralled with things based on logic and hard science. Then, the inconsistencies and contradictions became incredibly obvious. That is not meant to offend anyone )

I work with a man from Bosnia, and so far have learned all the 'filthy' apects of the language.

Thank ya... thank ya very much.

I was taught Spanish and English from preschool through elementary school, and as a result I have an obvious natural aptitude for learning language (but not typing ) compared most other people I know. I think this is really critical, especially now that different cultures are mixing more than ever before.

9/10. I've never taken latin but pretty much every question uses common root words, so it wasnt hard to guess.

It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them. But... you can't have babies. Don't you oppress me. I'm not oppressing you, Stan. You haven't got a womb! Where's the fetus going to gestate? You going to keep it in a box?

Thanks for the positive feedfack!

Ahh yes, Black Hawk Down was a good one. I thought the Petersburg scene in Cold Mountain was good as well.

I'd have to agree on #4, its almost traumatizing the first time you see it.

I agree... I'd rather have a federal retail tax than federal income tax.

ROFL! A true laissez faire capitalism with a complete separation of state and economy.

I have to say Aristotle, for his rationale. Logic is what inspires me.

I find the Basques very interesting as well, but have never found a very good resource on them. I do know that they are remnants of Mesolithic Europeans, so I've been focusing on that topic. Right now I'm reading a book called 'After the Ice' by Steven Mithen. Its basically a study of the rise of humans in all world regions from before the Younger Dryas and I'm finding it incredibly interesting. Right now I'm reading about the beginning of agriculture in the Middle East, but if I find anaything about Basques, I'll post it here.

YES

Thats true for most of the inital battles between 'celts' and Romans, at least until the Romans started defeating them with superior discipline. 'Woads' usually refers the Picts who are not necessarily Celts.

Deck the halls with bows of horry, fa ra ra ra raaa, ra ra ra raaa

This kind of stuff always puzzles me

Anything that involves mysticism or superstition is bogus, IMO. Don't get me wrong, people need to be free.