What's your feeling about churches and Christianity?

[The_Doc_Man]

Indeed, AB. Family crises will test you in ways that you cannot imagine beforehand. My condolences to you and your family regarding your loss.

It was my mother's illness that led me to Biblical examination, looking for (and not finding) solace, comfort, answers, any kind of resolution at all. But there was nothing. All of the Biblical answers were, to me, non-answers - evasive and useless platitudes with no substance, at least from a practical viewpoint. And at that point, my belief evaporated. I have never hidden that fact.

We lost my mother-in-law just before Christmas of 2018. She was also in hospice and we had DNR orders on file. We had no decisions left to make because we had discussed them with her. She had stage IV metastatic cancer of the liver, intestine, and a few other places that had caught the spread, and she knew her time was limited.

On the other hand, I had to make the DNR decision by myself for my mother 30+ years ago because we had NOT had the chance to discuss it. Her rapid-onset Alzheimer's took away the opportunity to determine her preferences.

If you are happy where you are in your beliefs, I would not take away your happiness. But in turn I am content with my own beliefs and doubt that I would ever change.

 

[Kyrie]

The hardest pill to swallow (with any religion) is that you may have evidence for some things but to take everything you'll need faith.. faith that is because of other evidence for other things.

Without that, there can't be a religion.

The only other thing I feel is that you cannot cherry pick what you like out of a religion or not. It's an all or nothing type thing.

 

[vba_php]

The only other thing I feel is that you cannot cherry pick what you like out of a religion or not. It's an all or nothing type thing.

kind of, Kyrie. When you're a follower of Christ, there is no negotiation over what he wants from you and what you want to do materially. the new covenant established that when he died.

So maybe God is not a deity, but simply a very very advanced Alien..

not quite, Scott.

 

[scott-atkinson]

Wll you can bet somewhere someone at some point in time is having a right good ole laugh at Religion...

When a George R R Martin type of writer sits round with a bunch of like minded people and says, I've got a brilliant idea for a story lads, now hear me out....

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I have a comment which is a digression from the Christian religion but DIRECTLY in line with your comment, Scott-Atkinson:

Think of how L Ron Hubbard laughed all the way to the bank after creating Scientology from whole cloth. There he was, a hack writer and a known huckster, and yet people bought in on his totally fake religion.

Worse, think about how even a newly created religion that sprang forth from a known fiction writer and shyster became a popular religion. Here we are, in a time supposedly more highly sophisticated than the people of 2 or 3 millennia ago and we STILL can't get rid of an obvious sham. It is no small wonder that the more primitive, less sophisticated people of a non-scientific culture would taken over by some charismatic speaker pushing a new religion because the ones based on the old gods weren't working. Well, if Zeus won't answer my prayers, maybe I'll shop around.

 

[seeker9969]

Ok seriously just being new here and all. But why would u post such a explosive thread on a microsoft access blog? I am sure there are many other site just for this post, say like your own Facebook page! next thought being why did the admin of this site not just immediately delete it.

 

[seeker9969]

Ok seriously just being new here and all. But why would u post such a explosive thread on a microsoft access blog? I am sure there are many other site just for this post, say like your own Facebook page! next thought being why did the admin of this site not just immediately delete it.

Sorry guys I just realized that this was in the watercooler area. so my bad resume having your discussion LOL

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Seeker9969, as a new member you aren't expected to know everything about the way we work here. Don't worry, it is easily foregivable. Not to mention that the originator of the thread is noted for being somewhat controversial in other ways and I've tried to avoid too many vulgarities, but I'm also known to speak my mind. And I'm far from the worst. We actually DO have standards here, you just have to be chivalrous.

You do know the Robert A Heinlein definition of "chivalrous" don't you? It is when you sing the praises of your enemy while you simultaneously disembowel him. Sort of like that quote from "The Virginian" when some cowboy calls another one a "son of a bitch" and the reply is "smile when you say that, pardner."

 

[vba_php]

Sorry guys I just realized that this was in the watercooler area. so my bad resume having your discussion LOL

exactly. =) this is not necessarily a "cooling type" of thread, but it IS interesting to say the least.

on a side note to this, I have informed people at my catholic church and other churches as well that it is very possible in the near future, as AI becomes more sophisticated, the "uninformed" or "ignorant" people of the world that fall into the snare of having their entire lives controlled by software, will claim to experience all types of miracles. More than likely they will come in the form of them being subjected to predictive analysis and algorithms. As a matter of fact, i personally can already do this to some degree because people are so predictable virtually everywhere in the world. Check out the attached image, which is what i send to recruiters located in this country but are originally from India. They think they're pretty smart by sending out hundreds of messages from database queries via their software and making it sound like they're personalizing the email. I'm sorry, but that technique is over in the USA. people are sick of that. people made their millions doing it via the concept of "big data", it had it's time, and now we're back to good 'ol human conversation to do business. It will linger on of course, but I'm sure most of it is over by now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s4F1LcRKhv1lPpc5fwDbEc_tsXIsyCsX/view?usp=sharing

 

[seeker9969]

exactly. =) this is not necessarily a "cooling type" of thread, but it IS interesting to say the least.

on a side note to this, I have informed people at my catholic church and other churches as well that it is very possible in the near future, as AI becomes more sophisticated, the "uninformed" or "ignorant" people of the world that fall into the snare of having their entire lives controlled by software, will claim to experience all types of miracles. More than likely they will come in the form of them being subjected to predictive analysis and algorithms. As a matter of fact, i personally can already do this to some degree because people are so predictable virtually everywhere in the world. Check out the attached image, which is what i send to recruiters located in this country but are originally from India. They think they're pretty smart by sending out hundreds of messages from database queries via their software and making it sound like they're personalizing the email. I'm sorry, but that technique is over in the USA. people are sick of that. people made their millions doing it via the concept of "big data", it had it's time, and now we're back to good 'ol human conversation to do business. It will linger on of course, but I'm sure most of it is over by now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s4F1LcRKhv1lPpc5fwDbEc_tsXIsyCsX/view?usp=sharing


View attachment 78571

Interesting thoughts there. that being said, I agree with you. throughout history people blindly follow and dont question anything. The leaders know this and use it to their advantage. the only way out is to educate onself

 

[vba_php]

The leaders know this and use it to their advantage. the only way out is to educate onself

the people I work for don't have enough brain power to figure that out, unfortunately. by the way, mr. newbie, I had to call my cellular carrier today to ask them about a constant clicking sound I hear on almost every phone call I make. I have no doubt that I'm probably being tapped by a government agency because I'm attracting a lot of attention to myself by revealing information to the general public that they otherwise wouldn't know. I'm not worried though, because I'm not a criminal. After 10 days of noticing the constant clicking when on a phone call, I looked it up and found this, which confirmed that I'm probably right: https://koolspan.com/mobile-phones-tapped/. and actually, on a recent call to GoDaddy inquiring about a new domain which would host content about how criminals operate in the underground economy and how to help protect yourself again scammers in foreign countries, 2 minutes into the phone call, the agent took his headset off and put me on speakerphone. LOL. I love it. I wonder if he thought I wouldn't notice.....

 

[The_Doc_Man]

the people I work for don't have enough brain power to figure that out, unfortunately

And yet you consistently deny that you are a judgmental person. {sigh}

The question, Adam, is not whether anyone is listening to your phone calls but whether they are charging admission for folks to get a laugh at your expense because of your rampant paranoia and arrogant self-importance.

That clicking you hear could be rapid switching and packet-reassembly since VOIP doesn't involve a continuous connection but rather involves a long series of sequential packets. The clicking could be inter-packet switching as the phone tries to re-merge the digital data stream into an analog stream for your speakers. It is the audio equivalent of video pixelation on your cable TV.

And Adam, in this case, TRUST me. If you were really revealing data that the government didn't want people to know, you would have been visited by men in dark suits; men with no sense of humor; men who carry all sorts of interesting and painful devices. They would have carted you off to the slammer and there would have been a bench trial with a private court. You have too big an internet footprint for them to not find you if they want you. The fact that you are still posting here means you haven't aroused enough interest to bother them. You ain't that important.

 

[vba_php]

of course I'm not important! It was just an idea! I have no idea, nor will I ever have an idea. and nor do I care either. as I've said many times before sir, I'm a nobody that can't possibly know anything. That's the way the geniuses of the world see it, because their heads are so far up in the damn clouds they don't even see the humans living on earth anymore. you know, don't you, that some of these posts of mine, are meant to rile you up?? =) You get so pissed off sometimes at the things I say, it's kinda fun reading your responses. Sometimes I'm smiling pretty big and laughing a tad when reading your words. I'm just giving you a little grief my man. I still like ya. I like all senior citizens. after all, I work with some and my dad is one as well!

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Oh, Adam, I don't know what to say here. In the great scheme of things, we are all important to ourselves and to those who love us. But if you are doing this to rile me up, Adam, then you ARE right (and so was I). You aren't that important.

 

[vba_php]

You aren't that important.

I'm only doing it to rile you up *sometimes*. Not all the time Richard. Most of the time I'm generally interested in what you have to say, and it's a great discussion that ensues. As far as me being important around here, I'm sure the people that read my stuff fall into one of these:

=> I scare them
=> they hate me
=> they don't know what to say to me

what do you think grandpa? am I right? perhaps, if anything, I provide a bit of comic relief in this place? oh and by the way, I constantly use the "=>" assignment symbol because I want you to recognize that the new way is in and yours is out. No more procedural. Now it's structural. Didn't you mention OOP earlier? That symbol is classic for PHP. But unfortunately in a lot of cases in PHP when using it, it makes no sense and can be substituted for something else that makes more sense. Personally, I use it most to reassign array elements to a new collection. and I've never understood why that process is mandatory in the language either!

 

[vba_php]

hey by the way, Richard, what did you get as a retirement gift? One of my friends on facebook just posted and showed a photo of her husband's retirement gift, which was a beautiful looking clock. I told her that he was lucky. He could've gotten what the police officers in the movie SPEED got, and that was nothing more than a cheap gold watch!

 

[AccessBlaster]

As far as me being important around here, I'm sure the people that read my stuff fall into one of these:
=> I scare them
=> they hate me
=> they don't know what to say to me

I would add:
=>confused
=>sad

 

[vba_php]

=>sad

why would they be sad, AB? I haven't posted anything that included a "sad song" for quite a while. Per Nautical Gent's request.

 

[vba_php]

That clicking you hear could be rapid switching and packet-reassembly since VOIP doesn't involve a continuous connection but rather involves a long series of sequential packets. The clicking could be inter-packet switching as the phone tries to re-merge the digital data stream into an analog stream for your speakers. It is the audio equivalent of video pixelation on your cable TV.

And Adam, in this case, TRUST me. If you were really revealing data that the government didn't want people to know, you would have been visited by men in dark suits; men with no sense of humor; men who carry all sorts of interesting and painful devices.

Richard,

If you're still reading this, I have discussed this issue with the agents at GoDaddy, and I noticed that the clicking sounds started happening about 1 month ago when I started asking the agents there about deep-level security measures I would have to take if I wanted to create a controversial website that could possibly be noticed by black-hats and criminals if it gained any visibility at all. and of course, during my phone call I used keywords such as "criminal", "underground economy" and "NSA" as part of my questions. 2 minute into the 1st phone call I made, the agent took his headset off and put me on speakerphone. [laugh]. almost every phone call after that 1st one I would experience the clicking sounds, sometimes there would be 5 or 6 in a row intermittently, sometimes 1 or 2 on occasion, and sometimes one long tone lasting 2-3 seconds. So if someone is indeed listening in or tapping them, they've probably realized by now that I'm a nobody not worth pursuing. And at this point, what I've noticed over the past few days is that on every phone call, there is either 1 or 2 clicks on phone calls that last 30 minutes or no clicks at all. So if I'm right and they were indeed tapping me, I would guess they'll give up pretty soon.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Just remember, Adam... Even though you are not paranoid, it still doesn't mean everyone isn't out to get you.