Morse

I just wanna post in your VM box. That sounds vulgar. Here's a pic of Corvallis just in case you get lost:
http://htmlhelp.com/~liam/Oregon/Corvallis/Corvallis1.jpg

I'll check that out.....it's time for bed now though. Nice talking to ya. Go eat some chicken!

I take it that last bit was sarcasm? hehehe Could you imagine being the guy that built the school and had it named after you and everything....and in the next minute you are shunned by the Christian community for a matter of following God's own laws on tithing? Craziness.

That's the link I clicked....and it took me to the home page of this forum. ODD. My parents take refuge in the fact that I have been baptized! HAHAHAHA. At any rate....my wifes experience with the church is very jaded. here great grandparents had money during the Depression and built the schools and did a lot of public good. The church wanted more than the 10% from them and they refused to give it. So the church asked them to shove off and that was a defining moment for their entire family. They never went back to church. Great people.....and they can't stand church. For me I had a real big issue with Jesus. Thought he was a good dude to some degree....but his divinity has always seemed ridiculous at best to me. My research says it's just a cobbled together legend that has grown over time.

HAHAHA Ok I found the link I need....got to your thread. The interesting thing is you sound A LOT like my wife. But she views herself as Agnostic....though she floats back and forth between that an Atheism. She does think...somedays....that there is a high power....but REFUSES to call it god.

Well I know what it is like to break away from the family with religion. Very very hard thing to do. But I'm lucky now...they have come to terms with it. They don't preach to me. They just let it be. I'm pretty guarded IRL....but if someone wants to discuss intelligently....then I'm prone to open up pretty quickly. It doesn't have to be an attack.....it can just be tit for tat.

BTW I clicked the link and it took me to this forum.......did I click the wrong link?

Ah so you wish to wax poetic in cryptic tongue. I see you have no religion and are rather against it. Well that's good. Are you against it for a reason? Did you once have one? Where you raised to be something you weren't? Oh do tell! heheehe

So what about you.....what are your religious beliefs....since it says to ask?

That's a great question and I am not sure how to answer it. Currently I have spent the past few years delving very deep into Christianity and Judaism.....doing scholarly work and investigation. I'm am more concerned about the history of religion and it's evolution over time. That to me speaks volumes about the errors of religion. I guess I'm in that "Know thine enemy" phase. Though I can't say they are my ENEMY...I just enjoy knowing as much as I can.

I currently teach music and art at an elementary level. I keep my beliefs on religion completely seperate as much as possible from the classroom. Especially in backwoods Kentucky!!!! They'd hang me from a tree if they knew! HAHAHAA I am accepting of their beliefs and understand how the indoctrination of those beliefs work. They are a child and it is highly inappropriate IMO to try to convert the theist child in a school setting. I can be a bit of a snit around Halloween when some of the kiddoes start talking about how it's all about the devil and Satanism....so instead of attacking their religion....we do a little history and prove them wrong that way. But in general I refuse to talk about religion with kids.

When 9-11 broke out and they had been taught to Hate Muslims....we had to have a heart to haert about that. I won't stand for prejudice in any form.

JFF means Just for fun

I'm not understanding how the comment you fruballed me for was funny...

Do you seriously find humor in the intentional crippling of another's mind from birth? That's sad . LittleNipper had his ability to have coherent thought torn down at an early age and has never been exposed to anything other than fundamentalist dogma until now. He can't even read the Bible outside of his fundamentalist dogma. People like him have a real disability.

JFF what is a stolid?

Hello there!

Bye the way, I noticed that you have an interest in the Victorian era. So do I, in fact I even have a Victorian style clay Churchwarden (long stemmed) pipe that I smoke. Of course I'm kinda traditional about the way in which I do things as well, so rather than matches or a lighter, I actually use a flint and steel to light my pipe. Well, I figure if I'm going to smoke a 16th-17th century style pipe, I may as well light it in a traditional manner. I like the old ways for some reason.

By flint and steel, I mean the flint (rock) and a hardened steel striker, not the modern Man's ferrocerium stick. That would be cheating.

Hello! As far as Animism, one of the reasons I like it is because it is the oldest form of belief there is. I believe that our earliest ancestors who lived in caves, painted on rock walls, and hunted and lived amongst the animals were the closest to understanding the true nature of existence. They were at one with nature and understood also the Spirit within nature. It is my belief that everything that exists has that animate, vibrational, causative factor or principal that is what I call Spirit. I do not believe that it is something supernatural, it is the natural force in all things. It is in my opinion, the same force that causes an atom to vibrate and energy and matter to have an action and a reaction. I believe the simple action/reaction effect that all energy and matter has is the same force that causes our own consciousness or awareness. In other words, our consciousness basically evolved out of the simple action/reaction that all energy and matter has. I do not believe life to be some mysterious emergent phenomena. I believe that everything that exists has that animate force that is life. Everything is animate and vibrational. Death is just an illusion, and so is the notion of something being so-called "inanimate". I believe that to call anything inanimate, even a rock, is false. The atoms which make up that rock are very much vibrational and have movement and the ability to change form and act and react. That to me is animate. That is why I believe in Animism. Sorry if I kinda rambled on about my beliefs.

Anyways, yes, I do have two animals that are my guides actually. I have a wolf and a brown bear. These animal guides will come to you in your dreams. People can not just pick and choose what animal they get. I couldn't just say "Ooh, I've always been most fascinated with eagles, so my animal must be an eagle." It doesn't work that way unfortunately, the animals choose YOU for whatever reason. But anyways, I sense a strong animal in you. Have you seen any animals in your dreams at all? Bye the way, I will be sending you a friendship request.Take care.

I don't speak Spanish.

Welcome to the forum! :foryou: