Cantousent

The bible is a work of literature. Sure, parts of it offend some folks, that's the nature of the written word, but the work itself is partly a historical accont, partly the codification of customs and mores, an expression of religious belief, and a statement of cultural pride. It can be many things to the writers and the people of that time. It can also be another thing to people of different times. The only essential function of the bible is to serve as a basis for personal morals. On the other hand, it's a valuable work for study in it's own right as an ancient work of literature. I can't speak for Muslims. I don't have anything against Islam as such, but my perspective on changing values differs from yours Tigranes. I think it's good that Churches have some element of change. Why? The core values of Christianity boil down to two essential elements: that you should love your neighbor as yourself and that you should love God with all your heart, mind and soul. Religious works are often wrought with exhortations and often those exhortations reflect something timely for the author that must be actively read in good conscience by later readers. I will never respect someone for persecuting women. Likewise, I don't find the nature of any persons sexual preference to be a good basis for judging his moral character. Now, when your fervor at promoting your faith leads you to the point of denying dignity to another human being, I balk at the idea. Not only that, but I think dogma must always take a back seat to conscience. My conscience dictates that I remain a Roman Catholic. Furthermore, while I also admire folks who hang doggedly on to their convictions, I only admire them in as much as they retain their convictions. What their convictions dictate are an entirely different matter. I cannot say what is undoubtedly right, but I know that the institutional abuse of women is wrong. The parts of Catholic history in which the chruch acted unjustly are not only fair game to change, they must be changed. Change in a religious institution is not a bad thing as long as the central message, the vital message of redemption, is present. You know, most folks attack the church for not changing enough. Some folks attack it for changing too much. Some folks call me crazy for believing in God. Other folks claim I must, because of my personal views, be an atheist at heart. *shrug* I can only account for my actions and, especially on matters of religion or belief, I answer to a higher power.

comedy. The link was scarey, but the thread is pure gold.

I hate to perform necromancy on my own threads, but this is the final build and I was hoping that some of you folks might be willing to comment on what I hope to be my final build. 1 RAIDMAX Blue Aluminum Gaming Case with 420W Power Supply, Model "668WUP" -RETAIL Item# N82E16811156151 $84.00 1 GIGABYTE "GA-8IK1100" i875P Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU -RETAIL Item# N82E16813128183 $122.00 1 ATI RADEON 9800 PRO Video Card, 256MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -RETAIL Item# N82E16814102361 $266.00 1 Intel Pentium 4/ 3.0E GHz 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, Hyper Threading Technology - Retail Item# N82E16819116171 $213.00 1 Geil Ultra Series Value Dual Channel 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 w/ Blue Heatspreader - Retail Item# N82E16820144310 $191.00 1 Microsoft Optical Wheel Mouse BLACK PS/2 /USB Version 1.1a -OEM Item# N82E16826105143 $14.00 1 ACTIVISION Doom III - PC Game RETAIL Item# N82E16832133112 $49.99 1 Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack SP1a - OEM Item# N82E16837102141 $90.00 Okay, if you'll kindly bear with me: The question is first of all, the general opinion regarding the system. Second of all, I decided to go for the high end graphics card suggestion. This is something along the lines of what mkreku mentioned. The real question is, should I stay with the 9800pro or spend $70 more to get the 9800xt. One worry I have is that the 9800xt says that it supports OpenGL 1.5 while the 9800Pro says it supports OpenGL 2.0. That seems a bit counter intuitive. The speed on the board and memory are faster on the XT, but it didn't seem as if it would be a huge difference the other specs seemed pretty much the same. What to do? heh. I'd like to make a purchase on the hardware and get it assembled before the new school year begins.

Actually, I'm quite happy to see religion separated from law myself. Like I said, I don't want to end up being persecuted based on my religion. Separation of Church and State is a good principle for everyone, including Christians.

Yeah, ancient Greek and Latin tend to be harder to learn than modern languages as well.

Now, Zhadow, you know that's the cleaver +3 of frost chopping. It's clearly not the butcher knife +2 of flame licking. Otherwise, it would have flames around it.

I can see, by that screenshot that Attacks of Opportunity are not implemented correctly. Can a developer please comment on this?

The only problem is some of the words have changed. I did, however, like My Big Fat Greek Wedding. That was funny. ...And some of the words are actually the same in both ancient and modern Greek. Comedy.

I've never been to a board specifically set up for religious discussions. I will say, however, that I think most Christians who argue most strenuously for religion get bested. This is, largely, because they argue from a position of weakness. One should never demand that an opponent prove a negative. The onus lies squarely upon the shoulders of any person making a claim to prove it, not the person questioning the claim. Proof for the existence of God does not exist. ...Or, at least, solid irrefutable proof of the existence of God does not exist. If there were, argument over the matter would probably be long gone. There is no need for faith in something that is inherently true and taken for granted. Many Christians also tend to argue against what proof we do have. For instance, I have a friend at school who has some heated arguments with our atheist friends. She argues that the world is only 10,000 years old. Now, maybe the world is only 10,000 old. That might be true. ...But quite unlikely unless all of science is based upon lies. The age of the earth or the nature of evolution don't bear upon my belief in God. I see the Lord as the sole creator of the universe. In one sense, that might be galling to some folks. In another sense, why should they care. I could understand if I bullied people over it, but the way I see it, I look for something beyond but I interact on the earth according to my personal moral compass. In other words, I interact on the earth in the same way everyone else does, religious or atheist. As for religion being the basis for law... Religion is the basis for law altogether. Civil codes sprang from religion. However, I prefer a system that find a common moral ground and sets a non-religious standard for law. Most Christians benefit from the fact that the law in the United States is, in principle, secular. We have enough problems as it is without a sectarian law system. However, the basic tenets of the vast majority of religions serve as a pretty good template for law. Don't kill, steal, cheat, etc. etc. These aren't wild ideas. The only thing missing from secular law is any litmus test based on religion. Since I don't particularly relish the idea of being persecuted by another religion and balk at the idea of persecuting someone else based on his, I'll be perfectly happy with separating Church and state/law.

Come now, it was the d10 and you know it. A d4 can only give you a spread of four but, see here! the d10 can give you a spread of 1-10 OR, combined with another die, a spread of 1-100. Clearly, it is more magical.

There's a book by Roger Zelazny that sports a character, this priest who isn't sure about his beliefs. Listening to him say the Lord's prayer was funny. Your post reminded me of that character, Servant. Fear of looking stupid is what keeps a lot of academics from professing faith. On the other hand, a lot of the ones who do can be pretty agressive about it. It's kind of funny. I also had a psych professor a long time ago who had a phrase on his office door. It said, "I'm sorry if my karma ran over your dogma." EDIT: I simply have to exile myself from my own religion thread. I'm just too preachy about the whole thing.

As long as you don't go around murdering old women, Visc. After all, one stereo-type deserves another, doesn't it? I mean, folks who bomb planned Parenthood are pretty damned rare, aren't they? Out of the millions and millions of professed Christians in the united states, how many go around bombing abortion clinics? Anyhow, I have to agree with you. It is counter-intuitive to suggest that you love life so much that you'll kill someone to prove it. To use a popular phrase, what a nutcase.

I tend to look at folks based on their actions and demeanor. As such, I wonder how many people here scorn me for my Roman Catholicism. The basic tenets of Christianity and, I believe this to be true, Islam are good tenets regardless of whether or not you believe in the basis for the religion. In other words, we can have a fundamental basis for agreement on most moral values. We can isolate those areas in which we disagree. We can come to some sort of common ground. It is my conviction that this is better than the idea that because of some Christian fanatics all Christians are evil. You know, I've been around some pretty hefty intellectuals. The universities are wrought with them. Folks whose genius in literature or science is manifest by their great works. These people often have very strange viewpoints, religious or not. So, heap scorn on religious fanatics. ...But scorn for me? I've been on this board for some time and I don't believe I've been fanatical about anything thus far. (well, I'm not counting the hated weighted point-buy system.) I'd rather not think that folks here might look down on me for being Catholic. On the other hand, I will bear scorn rather than turn my back on what I see as the truth. Let me ask you, would you change your views if folks on message boards were as intolerant of atheists as some of you seem to be towards religion? Maybe you've been on such boards. Did you think the group attacking someone for not believing was any worse than attacking me for my belief? In the end, I can only be who I am. I am a Catholic. I was born into a Catholic family and I was raised as a Catholic. I will be a Catholic, God willing, until the time of death. If that statement deserves your scorn, then I suppose I'll have to shoulder that burden. Instead, however, I'd rather think that folks would judge me based on what I am as a whole. For the most part, folks seem to like me on message boards. Why should anything change because I have one belief while you have another?

Well, I look at it philosophically, I think the best response is that I do what my conscience dictates. I am a Roman Catholic. I profess my faith. Sometimes, my faith is attacked. Sometimes, the attack come as really nothing more than opportunity for the other person. After all, I was outraged by the accusations that came to light. Still, I couldn't help but noticed that folks who were attacking the Catholic church on philosophical or theological grounds were now using the suffering of the victims as an opportunity to attack the church along a different route. That seems to be quite wrong. To use someone else's suffering for your own gain, particularly when it's doubtful the suffering means much to you personally, is clearly a bad thing. ...But folks who want to attack someone else's belief will find a way to attack it. On the other hand, I haven't molested anyone. Of all the priests in the United States alone, the allegations have concerned a rather miniscule percentage. Does that exonerate the church? Of course not. The priests were criminal, but the bishops who actually engaged in cover-up are actually worse. They're the ones who enabled the criminal priests access to more children.

Hey, you want more presitge classes? Heresy! Anyhow, welcome to the Lion's den. We're always expecting fun for the newest vict... I mean... member to join the club. I'm increasingly interested in NWN 2, although I was one of the folks who didn't much care for the first NWN all that well.

once again, 'JN, you win.

If I weren't married, I would become a priest because of the scandals that have rocked the church in recent years. It was a terrible thing but I think it would be somewhat cowardly for me to run away from my faith because of what some bad people did while professing a shared faith. Particularly since what these people did was against the very faith they professed.

I don't understand the view, 'JN. I'm sure you can elaborate. Is it being Catholic that makes someone commit wrongful acts or is it that the Catholic church draws people who desire to commit such acts? I was born into a Catholic family. ...But this isn't about the horrors of what molested children faced, is it? When the scandal hit the church a few years back, I was appalled. I think any person, religious or otherwise, would have been appalled. ...But I don't hear your talking about everyone who has molested children. You bring up child molestation in a thread that has started to veer towards a discussion of religion. Clearly, the acts were appalling but I do believe the nature of the offenders is what magnifies the incident with you. Well, that and the fact that it seems you have a personal vendetta against me because I had one of your threads axed. Well, 'JN, on account of my Catholicism I've had better people say worse things to me than you. So go ahead. Maybe you can write a play depicting me as a homosexual. I hear you have a real talent for these sorts of things.

The thing to remember is that atheists often don't receive the same kind of ire as a different religion. A religious person might see an atheist as someone who's misguided, but they see an opposing religion as downright evil. Plus, as 'JN gently indicates, moral lapses are magnified when the guilty party has built his life around preaching the good word. It's funny, I thought about being a priest at one time. Who knows where I would have been in that case. I would't have been lusting after altar boys, this much is true. ...But there are many ways to fall and the path is narrow for one who professes religious convictions.

Right, you don't really speak Greek. You often end up speaking latin. However, I do read the Greak aloud simply because it helps me translate it. Apparently, my wife thinks it sounds really strange because she complains about it. I like the way Attic Greek sounds. It's kind of cool. Still, unlike Latin, it does sounds weird to an American ear. Latin, though, it sounds downright familiar a lot of the time.

You know, it's funny, Phosphor. I have quite a few stories to tell. My biggest worry is that I will be trapped during the interview process. I've already exchanged emails with the head of the history department at California Baptist University. It was an encouraging and positive experience. With that in mind, I'm looking forward to speaking with him. Growing up, my best friend belonged to a christian family. I remember getting him involved in Dungeons and Dragons. Then the mandate came down from the pulpit, Dungeons and Dragons is evil. Okay, so I invested some money in an alternative: Gamma World. Oops, ALL role-playing games are now evil? Hmm, I say, I'm Catholic. I go to church. I help old ladies across the street. It's not like Dungeons and Dragons has caused me to join the Pagan Cult of Goat Slaughter. Well, my friend went home and told his mom all about my compelling argument. Her response, Catholics worship Satan. At the time, I just thought it was this particular family. Nope, I've heard it since. So, based on my Roman Catholocism, I've been called a whore, a Satanist, end worse. Then there's the fact that, while I'm not ashamed to claim my Christianity, I tend to be private about it. If asked, or if it's pertinent to a conversation, I'll be forthcoming about my religious beliefs. I don't broadcast my religion. Why? Not because I'm ashamed. Rather, I have always believed that my actions and my demeanor should properly convey my beliefs. So, if it comes to religion, then I'll have a frank and honest discussion. The outcome of those discussions that arise from a mutual desire to explore religious belief with another person have been my way of spreading the word over the years. I don't believe I have always made an impact, but I know I have made some sort of impact on others by sticking to one core value, that my religion should not impose itself on the unwilling. Because of this, I have, based on my personality not on my religion, been said to be an atheist, to lack conviction, and a coward. My religion, that I supposedly don't have, keeps in check my inclination to knock on his ass someone who calls me a coward. So, I often feel as if I can't win. I'm not an atheist. I go to church and I engage in the sacraments. Now, this is my theory, living a good life is more important than preaching the good word. Does that mean I look down on folks who go door to door preaching to others? Not really. I answer the door and step out on the patio and discuss the issues with folks. I have no problem engaging in discussion with others and I find religion fascinating. Some seem weird to me and some seem somewhat disgusting. Hell, Monte's scares me! ...But I recognize that my personal beliefs probably seem strange to a good many folks. Still, I think living the life of a good Christian, in as much as we are able, speaks far more to the skeptics than any number of words. We should not exhort others to be worthy of Christ unless we endeavor to be worthy of him. Acts that show true conviction must be in your heart and done by your hand before they come out of your mouth. ...and since perfection is outside of our reach, I truly believe a gentle word is far more compelling to non-Christians than the harsh one. I may be wrong. Who knows what the ultimate truth is? I trust that I'm following the right path in adhering to my Catholic beliefs. God willing, I will be a positive influence on the world. ...Or at least my own little corner of it.

I can't speak any other languages at all. I'm quite proficient with ancient Greek. I'm somewhat proficient in Latin. I will be starting German soon. I'm taking a reading/writing proficiency course offered to Grad Students. I doubt I'll be able to speak it, but that's not the point. I'll be taking either French or Italian next year. That's the same deal as German. I have to pass a reading/writing proficiency exam in each, although I spend a lot of time translating Attic Greek as it is, so an exam doesn't worry me in the least.

Yeah, but you can eat the goats and they regenerate in sunlight. My exposure to myths tends to be those from Greece and Rome, but I can tell you that things change constantly in myths over time.

Not nearly so boring as a candle. ...And much more entertaining to read. hehehehe Bikini studies in CBU? Hmmm, let me see, this is the final question I had to answer: "In the space provided please describe how your Christian experience is related to your philosophy of higher education. What influence do you think a teacher should have upon his or her students? How do you propose to integrate the Christian faith with the teaching of your particular subject area?" I gave an honest and straightforward answer to it. ...And I don't think the fact that I'm Roman Catholic (leaning towards Monte's Pagan cult right now) will hurt me. I hope.

lol Hey, I don't know who's fooling whom in Russia, but if there's a new spaceship, I hope I get to ride.