Update XXI: "Scientific Facts Are Not Hard And Fast Rules."

[Associate Justice PiT]

     And is there a good reason that you would be looking out of state?

[Associate Justice PiT]

What IT qualifications do you have? that's the real reason I'm calling it bogus.

He has a degree in 'e-commerce' from Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

Does e-commerce involve any of the following?
1. Actual programming/databases/webpage construction
2. Real math courses (at the very least, 2 semesters of calculus)


My guess is no...

     It must be a pretty useless degree, considering that he has never indicated the slightest interest in actually doing something related to e-commerce.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Given how low the bar for duration is for Bushie's walking, it's amazing to me that there are any days he doesn't hit his target. I don't have to plan or think about walking 15 minutes per day. That's just part of living a non disabled life.

     I know, it is quite amazing. I just walked about 30 minutes round trip to get lunch. Walking only 15 minutes in a day is inconceivable to me.

[Associate Justice PiT]

You guys are acting like these beliefs are part of some obscure sect like snakehandling, very problematic but also limited to a few isolated nutters. Although the SBC doesn't require a specific doctrine for membership, this is their de facto position. They are the largest Protestant denomination in the US and thoroughly dominate religious life in a very large part of the country. I usually avoid discussing religion with coworkers, but years ago, a middle age woman from Alabama I worked with was expressing her dissatisfaction with the Baptist view of salvation. How awful it is, but then she added "but that's just the way it is." She believed it unquestionably even as she found it morally repugnant. And in much of the country, that's just how it is. And she was a very middle class well spoken type who worked in an office. She was not a 300 lb man child who spends his day eating Braum's and napping.

No argument here, memph.  However, most religiouses have enough of a connection with common sense and reality to not spew the filth Bushie does.

     But they still believe in it. They believe in a heaven where they will meet Montt and Timothy McVeigh and David Koresh and others like them.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     My bad there. I'd say Eric Rudolph, but many of them admire him for his actions.

[Associate Justice PiT]

It may not be possible to contrive a more false statement than "Everyone deserves Hell."

Why would you believe such a despicable thing, Bushie? I deserve to go to Heaven and so do you. And so does everyone. We are all just products of our genetic makeup and environment.

Even Hitler's sins don't warrant eternal punishment. Thousands of years, sure, who knows, but not an infinite amount of time.

     Bushie is a modern-day Jonathan Edwards.

[Associate Justice PiT]

There is an Asian market around the corner and you still eat the garbage you do and constantly have an empty fridge!? WTF

     He could have a fridge full of fruits and vegetables right now. And he'd still just go to Braum's and have a double bacon cheeseburger with large fries and a Diet Dr. Pepper.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Bushie, are you aware of how far out of the mainstream your beliefs are on Revelation/End Times/etc.?

Like I realize they're pretty standard for your church, but do you know that most scholarly analysis believes Revelation refers to the ancient persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire (after all 666 would have been an easily-recognizable Roman numberplay reference to Nero), and not to future events/the end of the world? And all that "Antichrist" stuff isn't even in Revelation...

     But one can't get that from a literal reading, so they have to try to somehow shoehorn it into the modern day...and end up interpreting it metaphorically in the process.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Vox, perhaps it's the Fall of the Berlin Wall and subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union. Comparative politics traditionally divided the world into thirds (West=1st World, USSR=2nd World, etc.). This, with the fall of the Soviet Empire, a third of [whatever] went out,

Or maybe just a large power-outage in the late 80's.

     For the fall of the USSR to work, you have to imagine they were supplying "light" to their people as well as the West and the 3rd World, and that seems far too morally relative to square with Christian Biblical interpretation.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Bushie, are you really comfortable with saying an oil refinery burning in Kuwait in 1990 is one of the 7 most important events in the history of the universe?

It may not be one of the seven most important, but it lines up with Scripture better than a lot of other events.

How?

Let's look at the 5th Trumpet


Revelation 9:1-11, "Then the Fifth Trumpet angel sounded and I saw a star having fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit."

"Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree; but only those men who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads. And they were not authorized to kill them, but to torment them for five months: and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death, and will not find it; and they will desire to die, and death will flee from them."

"The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. And they had breastplates, like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots of many horses running into battle."

"They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek his name is Apollo."

"One woe is past. Behold, two more woes are coming hereafter".

Where are the locusts??

     The locusts are actually Tim Tebow tormenting nonbelievers with his winning football for five months (give or take) back in 2011. As for the time delay from the Gulf War, beats me.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I wonder if Bushie also thinks the Pentateuch had a single author.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I wonder if Bushie also thinks the Pentateuch had a single author.

He doesn't think that. He knows. It's fact that Moses wrote all five books except for the part where he dies.

     Except for the three different writing styles and characterizations that pervade most of it, though maybe Moses was just schizophrenic. Also, I've heard it said that Moses did write the part where he died as well.

[Associate Justice PiT]

You are not going to change my mind or even cause me to think.  I believe what the Bible says more than I believe what any man says.  The Bible was written by 40 men, but authored by God Himself. That point cannot be disproven. The Bible is the ultimate authority on life on earth and after.  There is no scholar who is above the Bible.  God authored the Bible and since no one can dispute that God is the ultimate authority about the existence of the universe (which He created), then I am going to believe God and His Word over some obsolete scholar.  And, yes, the Apostle John wrote the Gospel of John, 1,2,3 John, and Revelation.  Nobody can seriously question that.

Do not talk to me about it anymore.  You are not going to change my mind.  Ever.  Period.

Christ almighty, this post hurts my head.

Just because something cannot be disproven, it ignores that it also can't be proven. But since "faith" fundamentally requires no evidence to justify it, you end up in a "logic" circle. You can't disprove it, therefore you're wrong - I don't need to prove it, I'm right. See?

Of course it can be questioned - your central problem is that you've had your capacity for analysis taken away from you. The Bible has been translated, re-translated - re-structured, re-ordered and written over a thousand years

"You are not going to change my mind.  Ever.  Period" - what are you so afraid of? If your faith was secure, you wouldn't be afraid of asking questions...

Your Church and its views on Biblical interpretation are doing all who go a terrible disservice. I'd trust biblical scholars, who ACTUALLY understand what the Bible was ACTUALLY saying, over some backward, paranoid, anti-intellectual "preacher" in Oklahoma any day.

The reason I say that adamantly is I believe that there is no book or no written publication higher than the Bible.  I believe it is infallible and inerrant.  2 Timothy 3:16 says "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."  Virtually every Christian believer understands that God Himself cannot lie.  Therefore, if Scripture is given by inspiration of God, or God-breathed as some translations say, then I believe that God told each of the 40 writers like Moses, Joshua, Paul, etc. what to write.

About your hesitancy of the translations, I understand where you're coming from, which is why a lot of preachers I know, including myself, like to go back to the original Hebrew (Old Testament), Greek (New Testament), and Aramaic (Gospels) to properly understand the Bible.  If we go back to what is originally written, then we can avoid having to trust men.  Because, as you well know, these scholars are just men and don't know everything.  They don't have the mind of God.  Also, I might remind you that it doesn't take years of seminary school to understand the Bible.  All one needs to understand the Bible as it was meant to be understood is the Holy Spirit, which is the third person of the Trinity.  He is the best teacher.  Two of my pastors never had a single unit of seminary classwork, but I believe they were led by the Holy Spirit.  Were they perfect?  No, but no man is perfect in his teachings, not even the Pope.  I have been told over and over again in my whole life to take what my pastor or any Bible teacher says and match it up with the Bible.  If it doesn't match up with the Bible, then I am to believe the Bible and politely bring it up to the teacher so he may correct it.

Yes, they do.

The Bible is a complex work, written by many people over many many years. Without understanding its context, then most of it doesn't make sense, except as the way your uninformed and uneducated leaders do. No wonder your interpretation is so damaged.

I have news for you... the Bible was written by men as flawed as anyone else.

     It's sad that people are reading the Bible with no understanding or interest in its historical context. Speaking as an atheist it's a wonderful work of literature, yet the very Christians who claim to exalt it degrade it to the level of a self-help book. I would think that they'd try to find the majesty in the Word of God and understand it on as many levels as possible. That's the approach that the rabbis and the early Church fathers took to reading it, and I find their interpretations to be endlessly fascinating.

[Associate Justice PiT]

For the record, one Cinnabon has 880 calories.

So Bushie... that's 1/3 of your recommended daily caloric intake in one cinnamon roll.

I did not have a Cinnabon.  I had a cinnamon roll from Braum's.  According to this website: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/en/nutrition-facts-calories/braums/2 - It was 460 calories for an entire roll.

     That's still a lot of calories for a mere accoutrement of a meal.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Bushie, let me make this clear.

You make pathetic choices.  You are given plenty of advice, yet you ignore all of it.

You come from a very privileged upbringing.  You have loving parents, a college degree, a car, and plenty of financial support.  You get plenty of advice from us for how to improve yourself, yet it is all for nought.

Everything you do is a fiasco.  You use religion as a shield to cover up your own pathetic life choices.


God would not be happy with the fact that you lie, defraud your parents, and live a life of sin (gluttony).  The Bible says that NO CHRISTIAN WILL LIVE IN SIN (1 John 3:9).

Bushie, by your own religious book, you WILL GO TO HELL IF YOU DIED TODAY. 

Your eating habits are GLUTTONOUS (not to mention all the other frauds you've commited.  I'm not judging you.  YOUR RELIGIOUS TEXT IS.  Gluttony's a sin, plain as day (probably moreso than homosexuality).  And you continually partake in that sin with no repentance or contrition.  Not to mention your pattern of lying and extortion (mooching off of your parents), and the Bible says that liars will have no place in the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9)

I am not an Evangelical Bushie, but using its interpretation of the Bible it is pretty clear you are not saved.

EDIT:  This may seem harsh, but I really think you need a major wake-up call.  I detest Evangelical theology, but since Bushie subscribes to it, he needs a dose of his own medicine.

That doesn't scare me.

It's not about scaring you, Bushie.  I'm trying to point out your hypocrisy in claiming you are saved by your religion when your own text says you are not.

The point is this:  you believe the Bible so much that you would reject basic science (such as the Big Bang Theory and evolution) because the Bible says so.

The Bible also says that no true Christian can live a life of continual sin.  Check out the Bible verses I sent you.  A Christian that is living in sin surely is not saved based on your religious text. 

Explain YOUR interpretations of the verses I cited if they don't mean what they clearly say.

Cue Bushie post #975,337 involving the phrases "washed clean in the blood of Christ" and "pure in His eyes".

     Before or after he No True Scotsmans various bad Christians for not being sincere in their faith?