According to the ancient Roman historian, Tacitus, Nero used Christians as human torches for public displays
Painting: The Torches of Nero, by Henryk Siemiradzki (1878)
All three can boast a fascinating and colorful history, worthy of a box-office hit. The Greco-Romans gave us a rich tapestry of science, philosophy, history and literature, some borrowed from earlier cultures in The Middle East. They also gave us the two concepts of democracy and structured government. Their panoply of colorful Gods in mythology makes great reading, while we respect their philosophers, whom atheists love to cite in support of their arguments when attacking Christianity.
These two anti-Christian Empires celebrated their victories of war - the bloodier the better - with the goriest and most brutal of public parades, parading their prisoners' bodies and severed heads impaled on stakes, with others dragged alive in the dirt behind speeding chariots. As well their Christian prisoners provided public entertainment in the arena of the Colosseum, armed with but a spear or sword in their defence against wild animals turned upon them at the nod of an Emperor. Then there's the Golden Age of Islam, another colorful but equally brutal history, which swept across Northern Africa and Eastern Europe, taking slaves and slaughtering the rest in a blood bath, halted only by the valour of those at the Gates of Vienna.
Atheists feign an abhorrence of such blood letting and brutality, whenever relentlessly rebuking Christianity for its infamous Inquisitions, burnings at the stake, while vilifying the Christian Crusades which protected the Holy Land and the Judeo-Christian populace from the brutality of Islam. The double standards of atheism and Liberalism could not be more apparent, more steeped in hypocrisy, as it worships at the faux altar of virtue signalling.
The further back we look, the greater forward insight we can have. History speaks.
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: Christian philosophy    usurpers of the Christian doctrine   absent mention of atrocities   pagans of the Roman Empire  
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  Considerate: 79%  
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  Spelling & Grammar: 93%  
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: complete furphy    scholarly papers   chapters of books   dissertations  
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1: How exactly would you define worship in terms which would equally apply to all religions and ideas?
2: Was Nero definitely influenced to do the things he did on the grounds of Philosophy?
3: Were there any atrocities which were committed in the name of religion, and what separates them from those of the Greeks, Romans, and Islam?
Stars formed, planets coalesced, and on at least one of them life took root.
Through a long process of evolution this life developed into the human race.
Humans conquered fire, built complex societies and advanced technology .
All of that so we can argue about nothing.
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: grounds of Philosophy    name of religion   things   religions  
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As an atheist, I do worship Greco Roman philosophy because it is in fact philosophy. As far as Islamic teaching, it is not at all philosophy, it is Abrahamic religious “teaching”, therefore it does not warrant being worshipped in manner.
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: Islamic teaching    Greco Roman philosophy   atheist   fact philosophy  
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I believe that most people do only consider the Bible a historical text and nothing more
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I've never been much into the Greek philosophers myself. The only one I could really get behind was Diogenes and that's mostly just because he pretty much entirely just lived in a barrel and talked to people.
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: famous Islam    Greek philosophers   Diogenes   eyes  
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You don't have to go any further than abortion to show the barbarity of non Christians. When a people sacrifice their own young for convenience, nothing more needs to be said.
When non Christians say they are pro life, but vote for radical pro abortion Democrats, they are phonies.
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: people sacrifice    pro life   said.When non Christians   radical pro abortion Democrats  
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1. I agree that atheists and Liberals don't literally drop on bended knee in worship of these Empires. I use the word "worship" only in the literary sense, in the same way that we might say Greenies worship at the altar of the environment and likewise that atheists worship at the altar of the pagans and their history, without any connotation of actual worship, given that would be an oxymoron, because we all know that atheists worship no God, the very definition of atheism. Subsequently, it is a given that I am using the word "worship" as a literary device only.
2. Your question denoting that Nero's intentions when torching Christians had nothing to do with philosophy, distils the premise of the topic. I agree it did have nothing to do with philosophy. It was simply a manifestation of how the Roman ethos engaged in an egregious self-gratification of the most base human instincts.
The issue is that Atheists laud and applaud the Greco-Roman system of government and philosophical attributes, as we all do, but for atheists it is a distinctly discriminatory admiration, demonstrated in the fact that they shove under the mat the barbarous nature of these ancient pagan cultures. They do the same with the barbarous nature to this day of the Islamic culture. Conversely, when discussing the Christian culture, atheists wax lyrical on the barbarous history, in small part, of the Christian culture, completely omitting the great scholars which the early Christian Church produced and their equally excellent and invaluable contributions to the sciences, to literature, art, history, politics, sociology, philosophy and philanthropy. Atheists seem to be completely ignorant of it, or if not ignorant of it, then pretend it doesn't exist in our history at all.
3. My OP mentions those atrocities committed by the Church of Rome, alluding to the Spanish Inquisition, the burning of heretics at the stake, etc. I am not attempting to set Christianity's history apart from or above that of the history of the Greco-Roman age or the Golden Age of Islam. I am seeking to point out that it is the Atheists who separate Christian history unjustly and wrongfully. They recognize the great contributions of certain ancient cultures, while ignoring their barbaric atrocities without condemnation, yet ignore the great contributions of the early Christian culture, to only condemn it for its atrocities of the past. Although there are certainly several atrocities in Christianity's history, the culture was not and never has been a barbaric one per se, yet that is all atheists talk about, let alone acknowledge the greatest achievement of the Judeo-Christian ethos, that it is responsible for the civilization of the world and for the conception of our very own Western culture.
It is this patently ignorant and brazenly biased view held by atheism towards Christianity's history which this topic seeks to understand and discuss.
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Stars formed, planets coalesced, and on at least one of them life took root.
Through a long process of evolution this life developed into the human race.
Humans conquered fire, built complex societies and advanced technology .
All of that so we can argue about nothing.
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: literary device    Roman empire   moral reverence   purpose of the philosophy  
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The fact that these entities had so much brutality associated with them does not mean all of their representatives partook in them though. Aristoteles' philosophy had little to do with people doing conquest to acquire new slaves. There were some amazing Christian and Muslim philosophers too. Did not prevent beheadings and crusades, however.
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: Aristoteles' philosophy    fate of Socrates   amazing Christian   Islam  
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1. Who claims that to be so? You?
2. Because atheists bring up the atrocities of Christianity to condemn it, yet shove the atrocities of the ancient Roman, Greek and Islamic civilizations under the mat never condemning them for theirs. It is to demonstrate the double standard and hypocrisy of atheism and to question it and understand it.
3. I agree that on the face of it, when leading Christian prelates engage in atrocities that immediately belies their own Christianity and their commitment to the Christian doctrines. Obviously their Christianity must be questioned. I agree, but it is another stretch to pretend their actions are representative of the Christian doctrines, Christ's very own doctrines. They clearly are not.
4. I state that in my OP. The major influence was that we borrowed the concepts of democracy and our structure of government from the Greco-Romans - a bicameral legislature. Their scholars also brought to us great knowledge, some of which they obtained from Middle Eastern cultures, as well as the knowledge and wisdom of their own Greco-Roman scholars and philosophers. Just a tiny example is the Pythagorean Theorem, among many others.
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: Roman empire    literary device   double standard   Western culture  
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Stars formed, planets coalesced, and on at least one of them life took root.
Through a long process of evolution this life developed into the human race.
Humans conquered fire, built complex societies and advanced technology .
All of that so we can argue about nothing.
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I agree. What I don't agree with is how atheists single out Christianity, citing the brutal and barbarous deeds of flawed men to condemn it, instead of looking at the nature of Christianity itself. You also wrote ...
I agree, so why do the majority of atheists not judge Christianity by the same standard? Instead we see a persistent pattern of atheists conflating the wicked deeds of men with Christianity. It makes no sense.
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Your first sentence - I too have sincere admiration for the Greco-Roman philosophers' philosophies.
Your second sentence - I agree again. Islam is not a philosophy, but was incentivized for the purpose of conquest. The pretence of adopting the Hebraic teachings served only one purpose, to obtain a following to wage war in the name of a "religion", so to believe there was any genuine regard for Abrahamic teachings is erroneous. The Islamics are the very Nemesis of both Judaism and Christianity, beheading them daily to this day. The grand total of Christians slaughtered at the hand of Islam, across the centuries, are numbered in the billions, yet Islamics are less maligned by our Liberal and atheist kinsmen than we Christians are by our own Western kinsmen.
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1. There are word-styles, definitions and other connotations in meaning, which make most words simply inappropriate for use as a literary device. Writers understand the intuition of it very well. Most people do as well, as you just demonstrated that you do.
2. That's irrelevant. We are not holding the philosopher responsible for anything. I am holding atheists and Liberals responsible for double standards and hypocrisy in the way they portray their arguments and discussion content, concerning past atrocities.
3. There are very egregious actions which need no "testing" because they blatantly violate the Law, the Christian God's law of the Ten Commandments. If the authority of the Church conflicts with the Christian doctrine then Christians are not obliged to carry it out. There is only one set of laws, not two. If that occurs then the authority of the Church is not upholding God's law and to remain faithful to our faith we must repudiate in our hearts the actions of those who repudiate Church law and resist the temptation to "go along with it". I think you are confusing making a spiritual judgement as opposed to a material judgement.
We are not to make spiritual judgements against sinners, because we are all sinners and who are we to know another's spiritual relationship with God?
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- You haven't answered the question though, is it disingenuous, or for that matter appropriate to use literary devises such as figurative language or euphemisms in a debate setting where semantic meaning is important and can lead to confusion?
- So, if atheists and liberals hold the philosophies of Greco-Roman culture in high regard, does it matter at all that these cultures committed atrocities given that they are not what they really care about?
- If the law in the bible is used to justify those atrocities, such as slavery in the US south and the Crusades then isn't it those who oppose that who are going against the bible and "not the real Christians" then? Could it not be argued, that those who kill in the name of God have a better relationship with it that you do?
What you don't seem to acknowledge is that the bible straight up says that many things we consider perfectly normal today are condemned by the bible, such as eating pork or re-marrying after a divorce.Stars formed, planets coalesced, and on at least one of them life took root.
Through a long process of evolution this life developed into the human race.
Humans conquered fire, built complex societies and advanced technology .
All of that so we can argue about nothing.
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Those who listen to the teachings of a religion, for the most part, don't want people listening with an open mind, because THEY are teaching what they want you to BELIEVE! DO NOT re-think these words! DO NOT come up with other theories! THEY will be considered blasphemy!
I never heard of a Greco-Roman (or other), "philosopher" who didn't allow or accept other opinions. They didn't expect to be "worshipped". They didn't expect their words to be considered "the words of God".
I, as an atheist liberal do not "worship" either … and I don't know any who DO. We listen to their intelligent, believable, thought provoking words, and think about them. That is NOT "worship".
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Are you talking about atheists, or are you talking about the majority of atheists? Those are very different things.
I do not know why other atheists or non-atheists have the positions they do, but I do connect Christianity to the atrocities it spawned. Monotheistic religion is a very convenient tool for tyrants to use to subdue the population by scaring it with the alleged wrath of the alleged supreme being in case it does not play along. It is no coincidence that in regions where religion has been especially prominent - Europe and the Arabic world - so many atrocities occurred regularly throughout over a thousand years.
In Ancient Greece and Rome religion was, first, polytheistic, second, fairly separated from the government, and third, open to criticism. They still existed a very long time ago, when standards were different and people in general were quite a bit meaner to each other - but they were a huge upgrade over religion-dominated societies.
It has been a common pattern in history: societies partaking in ideological idealism, be it religion, socialism, fascism or other similar entity, had unspeakable atrocities committed in them and were at the pit of human civilization, while societies employing a more rational and pragmatic approach (mainly Hellenic nations around the Mediterranean sea approximately from 500 BC to 400 AD, Europe and North America of the Enlightenment era, and some East-Asian countries of post-WW2 era) thrived. "Thrived" relative to most other territories of that time, not in the absolute sense - obviously Ancient Greece was a much worse place to be than even modern China by virtually any reasonable metric, but modern China, in turn, is a terrible place to be as far as modern world goes.
The recipe for success seems to be a combination of separation of ideology from government, and free markets. Everything else that has been tried so far has failed miserably.
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1. Oh for heavens sake. You would argue how to put a champagne caulk back in the bottle. Disingenuous is too silly a descriptor. It's not even relevant. No it wouldn't be, if you need it spelt out. There is nothing "disingenuous" in using the word "worship" as a metaphor to express excessive adulation, excessive adherence to a point of view or excessive popularity given to a practise. It is NORMAL English.metaphor.
2. I've already addressed that. No it doesn't matter. Quit trying to switch the focus of the argument from yourself to the Romans. The focus is on YOU and the Liberal attitude towards both the Greco-Roman culture and Christianity not the other way around. The focus is on Liberals and how they portray it compared with how they portray Christianity. Please stay on topic.
3. .We are talking about Christianity here. When you can quote from the four Gospels anything which Christ, the founder of Christianity, may have said which in any way indicates all that you prattle on about, including condoning slavery, the debauchery, licentiousness and degeneracy of the Greco-Roman culture and today's LIberal culture, let me know. Not a single Republican owned a slave. Only Democrats did. Yes, Christianity has a duty and an obligation to protect its holy relics, its historical and holy sites of its faith from destruction by the criminals of Islam. Why would Christ condemn the mission of the Crusaders? As if He would. You're clueless.
4. Phaw! Don't plant your Satanic beliefs in my head. Again Christ is the founder of Christianity. The Old Testament is Hebraic. Many things YOU may consider today are perfectly "normal", Christianity does not accept. Thanks for confirmation of that point which I made in another topic title. You didn't see that coming did you, Einstein? The leftie Satanic brigade keeps legislating much which Christianity abhors, and which is precisely why I say that a Liberal vote is an anti-Christian vote.
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Stars formed, planets coalesced, and on at least one of them life took root.
Through a long process of evolution this life developed into the human race.
Humans conquered fire, built complex societies and advanced technology .
All of that so we can argue about nothing.
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: thinking of ancient philosophers    use of literary devices   holy relics   own slaves  
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1. If people are ignorant of the common practise of the usage of literary devices in this way, then I cannot be held accountable for that ignorance. It is their loss, not mine. Literary devices are used by the literate, not the illiterate and uneducated. The topic title assumes that level of educated wit. So shoot me. You also wrote ...
2. No. Wrong. Christianity committed not a single atrocity. Yet again you repeat the lie, although corrected on that time and time again. It demonstrates just how inculcated the atheistic lie is embedded in the anti-Christian brain. Christianity is a philosophy. It cannot commit anything. Those who defy its teachings, defy its moral precepts, defying its principles and disciplines to commit atrocities are not adhering to Christianity at all, even if they falsely invoke its name to excuse their atrocities. They are charlatans, deceivers and liars and their actions are anything but in accord with the philosophy of Christianity. Why can't you grasp that?.
Similarly, the philosophies dating back to the Greco-Romans or The Golden Age of Islam were not responsible for the atrocities and barbarism of those cultures, either. Why is it then, that you are willing to accept that standard for the Greco-Roman and Islamic philosophies, but unwilling to extend that same acceptance to the philosophy of Christianity? That's my very point and is the title of this topic. You fail to answer it. You also wrote:
3. Such would require that you change the historical record and revise history. If i were to accept the hypothetical, which you falsely claim is fact, then I would be compelled to become irrational as follows:
- (a) Be compelled to believe that Christianity is not the philosophy which Christ taught nor the philosophy as the record states it to be and hold the irrational belief that Christ was a , that history is a lie and Christianity was not really founded by Christ, that even its very name is a lie. These are precisely the reasons I reject atheism because it engages all of these falsehoods;
- (b) Be Compelled to irrationally believe that a philosophy is capable of physical actions, such as beheadings. slaughter, impalings, rape, burnings at the stake, brutal and barbarous acts, as you contend it is.
4. Neither. That question showcases your totalitarian mentality for all to see. I choose to fight for and to preserve what we already have, rather than to give in to Liberal bullying which seeks to impose upon the whole of America the first option, a Liberal "democracy". If it were a Liberal "democracy" then it cannot be a democracy, just as if it were a Republican or a Conservative "democracy" then it cannot be a democracy. The descriptor itself is an oxymoron. The word "democracy" means subject to the will of the people and not subject to an "either or" philosophy, one or the other, including neither a Liberal nor a Republican nor a Conservative, nor Christian anything.Conclusion: We already have a Republic with a democratic system of elections by voter franchise, which provides for its citizens to exercise their right to accept or reject any political platform advanced by any political Party. That right allows the people to vote against the politic of any Liberal, Socialist, Libertarian, Communist, Conservative or other Party, each of which must act in accord with the will of the people, because the governing Party is the servant of the people. Its policies must reflect that will, some of which may embrace Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism and Libertarianism. If they embrace Communism, they are no longer democratic policies. You asked that question due to your flawed reasoning and a flawed understanding of what "democracy" means, for the very reason that the Liberal Democrat Party has sold out to Marxist protocols, which are not democratic.
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: use of literary devices    nbsp   common practise of the usage of literary devices   Christianity  
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Islam has been at war with Christianity every since its inception for centuries. Where have you been? I would expect an American citizen to know that, but the ignorance of atheists never ceases to amaze. You yourself said Islam is not a philosophy. I agreed with that and then took that straight back to the topic, i.e., knowing that is the case, knowing that Islam was formed as an excuse for war and conquest, knowing that it lops off Christian heads, knowing that Christianity, unlike Islam, is a peaceful philosophy, then why would a non-Islamic Westerner, prefer to worship at the altar of Islam than at the altar of Christ? It makes no sense.
You still fail to address this obvious anomaly and contradiction in thinking. I say bigotry explains this anomalous and illogical attitude. Prove me wrong, then.
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.
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: last reply    Happy K   page   arguments  
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That does not make sense. Furphy means "a rumour or story, especially one that is untrue or absurd". I was making a polite obsecration, not a furphy. Now, about the topic: Pagans were generally more peaceful than monotheistic people. They accepted that people would worship different gods, and respected all those who did. The monotheistic theists, however, killed all those who worshipped different gods, which I'm sure we can all agree is not very peaceful. So, I would say that the pagans would have been more peaceful.
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It really does not. Look, ideologies do not commit atrocities; humans do. However, ideologies are often used to justify atrocities, or to organise people to commit atrocities. In this regard all mainstream religions have a very poor record. You could say that the religions themselves have nothing to do with it and that people pervert them in order to weaponize them... Perhaps. However, the fact that religions are so easy to pervert and weaponize speaks volumes about their nature. You cannot easily pervert and weaponize a good idea, such as, for example, a free market, can you? No, the idea has to have some very specific properties in order to be weaponizable.
From studying various ideologies (religious and otherwise), I believe that the main property that makes them weaponizable is being rooted in fantasies. When something is rooted in solid logical foundation, you cannot easily misinterpret it without breaking that foundation and making it obvious that you are not talking about what you claim you are talking about. But when something is rooted in fantasies or pseudo-science, then it already has a broken logical foundation, and as such breaking it even further does not make much difference in the eyes of people.
Socialism, Christianity, Islam, Fascism, etc. - all these things are based on ideas that are not supported by any evidence. They are idealisations of the world, they are how people strawman a lot of things in the world in order to make it look simpler than it is. It does not mean they have to lead to atrocities, but it does mean that they are very convenient tools to do so.
Compare it to what the Greek philosophers talked about... They appreciated the inherent complexity of the world and refrained from making big claims they could not back up with strict logic. Their goal was to understand the world better, not to convert someone into their subjective views. Socrates even developed a famous questioning method which is applicable to any view, including ones he himself held. Criticising their own ideas was at the core of their world view.
Is this the case with the "evil four", as I call them - socialism, Christianity, Islam and fascism? Hell no. Among the followers of these ideologies asking inconvenient questions is frowned upon. In many Christian and Islamic theocracies of the past people were executed for even daring to suggest that the holy books did not contain truth only; in socialist and fascist countries similarly questioning the dominant ideologies was always, at the very least, dangerous.
In Ancient Greece questioning the official ideologies was what the whole philosophy was about. Were there still atrocities? Sure. But to connect those atrocities to the philosophers would be terribly wrong. There were some philosophers - for example, Plato - who believed that certain atrocities were justifiable and even necessary, but even they, again, kept an open mind and constantly debated these views with people, rather than trying to force them on them.
Regarding religion itself, Ancient Greece and Rome were quite a bit more critical of it. While Christianity and Islam contain the idealised supreme beings that are always right, Roman and Greek gods constantly betrayed each other and humans; rather than being avatars of virtue, they were seen as, in turn, idealistic manifestations of various human traits, both good and bad ones. While people worshipped those gods and even sacrificed humans for them sometimes, the gods themselves were not seen as perfectly good beings; no, they were seen as perfect in very specific aspects, not necessarily positive ones.
I can go on and on, but the crux of it is that Ancient Greece and Rome had very contrarian cultures, while Christian and Islamic countries have had very conformist cultures, and only relatively recently did some of them break out of it. People still refrain from making harsh statements about god in public in the US, for example, because of the stigma associated with it: the country is still heavily religious, and questioning this religion, again, is frowned upon.
There is a reason the Founding Fathers had such admiration to Ancient Rome, as opposed to, say, European cultures of their time: they themselves, while heavily religious, were heavily critical of established religious theories. Ancient Rome contained a lot of contrarian elements the American system was built on, something that monotheistic religion-based societies typically lack.
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If your head was "lopped off", I get the feeling nobody would know the difference. All Abrahamic religious teachings are not philosophy, they are "spiritual" teachings. As far as one Abrahamic sect being at war with another, it still does not concern me other than it is a great source of entertainment. I am not a member of "western culture", and there is no need for me to abide by some doctrine of "western society". The American ideal centers around individualism first and foremost. That is the doctrine I abide by.
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You misunderstand. I wasn't defining your comment as the furphy. I was defining the rumour or the story which you accepted as the furphy. You then wrote ...
The era to which you allude, references the early Hebraic peoples, (Hebrews), particularly when they entered the land promised to them by God - The Promised Land - later named by the Romans as "Palestine". At the time the Hebrews entered it, it was known as Canaan. The Canaanites were sodomites and paedophiles - paedophilia legalised through arranged marriages with child brides - according to both historical and Biblical Texts, and the reason God set His people at war against them, to wipe them out. They practised Satanic rituals of sacrificing baby infants to their Gods in burning flames, burning them to death. Are you defending that?
God has historically throughout the historical record and as also accurately documented in the Biblical texts, demonstrated that He shows NO mercy towards such licentiousness and debauchery. Nothing has changed, except that Christ civilized and changed the rules, provisioned that we Christians must now leave it up to God to judge these abominations. We still abhor them, however, in a very peaceful manner and no longer physically wipe them out by the sword with armies. They are even given equal rights by the State, so quit whining and perhaps review your world view of defending depravities, while attacking Christianity..
I remind you, that Christianity was not even in existence during that era. Also you persist with the same, same, same misconception which all Atheists peddle in their attacks upon Christianity. Why they even need to attack it is telling. Christianity is not a material entity. It is a metaphysical philosophy. How can it go out and slaughter people? If I have said it once, I have said it a dozen times in this forum, those who would defy the moral principles, the Christian precepts taught by Christ, those who defy its doctrinal Canon of teachings are not acting according to the Christian moral code at all. They defy it. Quote a passage to me from the Christian Gospels, the teachings of Christ, where He advocates the slaughter of anyone? He gave us the Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill". L E T T H A T S I N K I N . Meanwhile, Islam is slaughtering Christians daily, to this day, with no need to go back eight thousand years, but you are silent against them. Say nothing and look the other way.
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@Grafix
****** Christianity is not a material entity. It is a metaphysical philosophy. How can it go out and slaughter people?
Do you ever check the you write? You contradict your own and don’t even know you’re doing it
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I'm sorry, I don't understand how the use of shouty caps could be helpful in any way. Now, about the pagans. I agree with you that it is not the religion itself that kills people, it's the follower of the religion. Did you know that the Qur'an prohibits killing as well? The Christian god is not very forgiving, especially in the Old Testament.
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You are half right. It is both. If you knew anything about the Christian doctrinal Canon and its teachings you would already know that it is both. It's Ten Commandments double as both laws and as philosophies, including much of the teachings outside of the stated precepts of its law. One law is, for example, "Love they neighbour as thyself", which is the moral equivalence of the Confucian philosophy, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". That is unarguable and we readily identify that phrase as a "philosophy" taught by that same Chinese philosopher; Kongfuze (K'ung Fu-tzu) 'Kong the master of Philosophy', known to us as Confucius. I don't think you can fly the argument that Christianity is not a philosophy, therefore. Confucius even had "disciples", just as Christ also did. Then you bleatingly plead ....
How little you understand the primary necessity in appropriate debate of objectivity, particularly when debating the philosophy of others. I don't give a rat's arse what or who you are, as you clearly don't give a rat's arse about who or what I am, indifferent to my head lopping, needing to state you would not miss it. We aren't debating your background, your politic or the culture you hail from. We are debating the merits of various philosophies.
In that regard, I made the point that, although we are agreed that Islam is not a philosophy, I used the fact that the grand total of Christians slaughtered at the hand of Islam, across the centuries, is numbered in the billions, yet Islamics are less maligned by our own American atheist Liberal kinsmen than we American Christians are. I was making the point that the philosophy of Atheism is not only anti-God but anti-Christian. It supports the attacking of Christianity, too often citing atrocities going back centuries, which it loves to blame Christianity for, although they are all before Christianity existed, yet with no need to go back centuries, it's followers ignore and are silent about atrocities occurring under their very noses to this day - the slaughter and oppression of Christians daily by Islamic, North Korea and China governments. The point being made was that I have no respect for such cowardly double-speak and hypocrisy in the philosophy of atheism, touted by its followers, but it seems my point was completely lost on you.
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Again, you switch horses midstream in another confused babble of incomprehensible argument with this ...
Time to take a laxative and pop that self-appointed oracle right out the other end. If you cannot fit in with American ideals, then maybe you migrated to the wrong nation. A S S I M I L A T E or L E A V E. The freedom to whine against America's ideology, founded on the Western Judeo-Christian ethos, is a right which its very ideology grants to you and fiercely protects for your benefit, but yet you rail against it, unable to appreciate it, in your ungrateful and stinking thinking.
Like the rest of your UNHOLY diatribe, your very last sentence is an aberration and a complete fabrication. If you cannot write according to the truth, then don't write at all and spare us your bile.
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Correct. I did write that. Then you complained with this ...
What? Where's the ? Since when has a Christian person been a metaphysical philosophy? The word "metaphysical" means having no materialistic structure that can be seen, touched or felt. It is non-physical. We are very physical in our being. Can be touched, seen and felt.
Islam is not a philosophy, it is a political construct, a theocracy which has written into its law the practice of Jihad, which means to school its young in Madrasas in the practice of Jihad. The practice of Jihad is to slaughter, by beheadings, those who are identified as Infidels. That's us. You and me. We are Infidels, according to Islam, because we reject the Islamic so-called religion, are non-believers of the Islamic religion. We are also not in our person a metaphysical philosophy, either, hence we can be slaughtered at the whim of Islamic Jihad. Unlike a mataphysical philosophy, such as Christianity, we could pick up a gun and shoot a Jihadi, but we don't because our Christian philosophy, a metaphysical entity, holds to the law of, "Thou shalt not kill". I don't see that metaphysical philosophy walking around in the flesh, do you? i don't see it walking around holding a rifle, do you? It can't because it is not a physical entity, apart from the fact that if it could, it would not, because its own philosophy forbids it.. Understand now?
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**** Sigh, Dee. Maybe I should come over to your house once a week and school you in the art of comprehending plain English.
*** Christianity is not a material entity.
****is a metaphysical philosophy.
It is a metaphysical philosophy
****How can it go out and slaughter people?
How can it go out and slaughter people?
Islam as a subject that deals with "first causes and the principles of things".which makes it a metaphysical philosophy Your blatant double standards are hilarious , when cornered and called on your double standards you as usual attempt to your way out and do it very badly
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The philosophy of American idealism does not align with your view of some sort of clarion call that I haven't heard that you feel somehow beckons me to come to the aid of all Christians world wide. We are a nation that allows us the freedom to pursue our own happiness. Because we have that freedom, that means we are free to not have to be called on to come to the aid of others outside of our nation whenever their safety is in danger. We are free to embrace the fact that if they cannot fight for and attain there own freedom of their own accord, then they probably don't deserve freedom to begin with.
How can I get on with my pursuit of happiness if I'm expected to be "on call" to support others outside our country by financially supporting, or to be expected to be drafted whenever others freedom is "at stake"? The merits of the philosophy of individualism can easily be demonstrated to be superior to your collectivist ideology. The idea that I must consider any others, let alone Christians before myself is not an American ideal. It is more akin to the ideals of communism and social justice which I do not invest any faith into. Your communist philosophy runs contrary to the true ideals of American individualism. I'm pretty sure the government of China and North Korea are not Islamic, but that's neither here nor there because the ideals of individualism allot me the freedom to realize it's not my problem if they mistreat Christians. It is the problem of those Christians alone. If we are expected to be called upon to fight for the freedom of others who cannot attain it for themselves, we cannot consider ourselves to be free ourselves.
I do not owe you or any Christians an apology for the supposed oppression committed by Islam or any other groups for any reason. I do not align myself with any religious groups, I am a representative of myself alone. Your claim that Christianity is a philosophy because it is inspired by other philosophies does not convince me. I do not deny that Christianity, and other religions do possess many of the merits of great philosophical thinkers like Confucius, but that does not render those religions philosophical in and of themselves.
The philosophy of individualism also espouses the merits of peace. Aligning ourselves with other political, religious, cultural or racial groups is a purposeful alignment with collectivism and needless struggle. Part of accepting the merits of peace is a full understanding that alignment with the struggles of others is an alignment with war. To truly accept peace, we must have a realization of how we can become part of the problem when we capitulate to the "clarion call" of struggle. If you yourself head the call for the struggle of other Christians, that is your choice alone and does not concern me in any manner. I do not align myself with the struggles of others over my own pursuit of happiness, my embrace for individualism, and my acceptance of peaceful resolution.
Your assertion that I am "anti-God" or "anti-Christian" does not move me or alarm me in any manner because I do not seek the approval of those who claim to be a proper representative of Christian values. The bible says that we all fall short of God's grace, including yourself, so you are in no way in higher standing than I when it comes to God's supposed love and forgiveness. It also means that an assertion by anybody of being a representative of God or Christianity is fallacious because according to the bible we are all representatives of human kind and no one person stands above others in that sense.
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Now that we've sorted that out, what precisely was you point, other than to nitpick in the most flagrant form of pettifogging that I have seen yet coming from you. Well done and what a complete waste of time, because it still does not in any way shape or form alter my arguments, at all. Like to now try to refute those? But you won't. You never do. You just fill up these pages with the most useless waffle in a way that I have never before seen on any chat board, as prolific as yours.
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https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2016/06/07/opening-swiss-tunnel-may--isnt-satanic/
Oh wait, that's just a guy in a costume. Never mind, guess the demon isn't real and we don't have to worry about anything.
Stars formed, planets coalesced, and on at least one of them life took root.
Through a long process of evolution this life developed into the human race.
Humans conquered fire, built complex societies and advanced technology .
All of that so we can argue about nothing.
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You really should learn not to continue forcing q-tips into your ears when you encounter resistance.
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***** I should have written "Islamics are slaughtering Christians". So shoot me.
Where are these “slaughters of Christians taking part “? Regards Jihad tell me how that’s happening all over the world?
Also you constantly claim “well they’re not real Christians “ when Christians engage in despicable behaviour using the no true Scotsman fallacy time and time again , your own government under Bush talked about a “crusade” against certain countries you do know what a “crusade” is right? Proving yet again your appaling hypocrisy.
Please don’t write back with a long winded copy and pasted novel in reply
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You know that old show from years ago Seasme Street? The coookie monster in that was not a real monster , humans sometimes wear things called costumes that make them appear to be something they’re not , don’t worry you will cover it some day in kindergarten
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Then you try this one on, showing a complete lack of comprehension of what is actually being said ...
I'll reply back however I see fit, bossy britches and if you are too lazy to read it, then more the ignorant fool ye be. Quote back to me where I have said that "they are not really Christians". I have no idea whether they are really true Christians or not. That is between them and God. Let no man judge another on the score of his state of sin or his relationship with God. That is a teaching of Christ Himself. I say that the individual actions which do not align with the teachings, the laws, the doctrinal precepts and moral codes of the Christian religion are not true reflections of Christianity. They are not true reflections of the teachings. They do not truly represent what Christ taught. Condemn the actions, not the philosophy. Condemn the actions, not the teachings. Condemn the actions, not the religion.
The reason you are so ignorant, the reason I must repetitiously over and over type the same thing is because your brain has shut down to anything other than what you want to believe. Your ears and eyes are closed tight. It demonstrates not only an inability to see the world as it is, but an inability to listen, to process information and to think logically, aside from the bigotry you harbor, which is more than apparent.
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Yet another hate filled rant from a guy who thinks people wearing costumes are “demons” and card and coin tricks are done by utilizing satanic forces enough said
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