Religion...........it blinds the world.

Originally posted by BlackGuardXIII
While I know as much about the criminal history of the church and its zealous promoters, whether knights, priests, or soldiers, I also give due note to the many good things people have done in the spirit of love, which Jesus' words conveyed to them. Jesus taught love. Love is good. But, religion is a very convenient, effective, and popular means by which megalomaniacs can pursue their goals. They are not being like Jesus, but any of the Christians who are trying to, despite all the dogmatic propaganda they are being told, are a good force on this earth, and do good deeds for good reasons. Mother Teresa, Catholic Missionary Nun, and personal hero, is a good example.
Who here can criticize her?

Mother Teresa??? She aint no bloody saint I can tell you - promoting the suffering of the poor, telling the poor that they have to accept their suffering, I bet her organisation never suffered nor her.

Saint my arse, hero only to the churches propoganda machine, not a good example.


G

Originally posted by shihulud Mother Teresa??? She aint no bloody saint I can tell you - promoting the suffering of the poor, telling the poor that they have to accept their suffering, I bet her organisation never suffered nor her.

Saint my arse, hero only to the churches propoganda machine, not a good example.

What can I say to such a reply? You can tell me that a woman who devoted her entire life to tending to the poorest of the poor, and who did so without any monetary motive, ain't no bloody saint? What does it take for you to consider someone qualifies for sainthood, may I ask? It must be quite a lot, if a lifetime devoted to charity, poverty, chastity, love, and faith is not enough. When your cocky, mispelt, uninformed, mean-spirited, crude post insults such a person as that, especially when I see nothing in it that contributes anything at all of any value to anyone, the initial feeling it created in me was one of incredulity and amazement on more levels than I could immediately grasp. Strong feelings were evoked by it, I'll give you that, and that is a compliment believe me. You got me good. But, I like Mother Teresa's words far more.
"Kind words may be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." That is much nicer, and useful, imo.
Also, she was often at odds with her church for stating that one can find God through other faiths than Christianity, a view the RCC didn't support.

Originally posted by BlackGuardXIII

Originally posted by shihulud Mother Teresa??? She aint no bloody saint I can tell you - promoting the suffering of the poor, telling the poor that they have to accept their suffering, I bet her organisation never suffered nor her.

Saint my arse, hero only to the churches propoganda machine, not a good example.

What can I say to such a reply? You can tell me that a woman who devoted her entire life to tending to the poorest of the poor, and who did so without any monetary motive, ain't no bloody saint? What does it take for you to consider someone qualifies for sainthood, may I ask? It must be quite a lot, if a lifetime devoted to charity, poverty, chastity, love, and faith is not enough. When your cocky, mispelt, uninformed, mean-spirited, crude post insults such a person as that, especially when I see nothing in it that contributes anything at all of any value to anyone, the initial feeling it created in me was one of incredulity and amazement on more levels than I could immediately grasp. Strong feelings were evoked by it, I'll give you that, and that is a compliment believe me. You got me good. But, I like Mother Teresa's words far more.
"Kind words may be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." That is much nicer, and useful, imo.
Also, she was often at odds with her church for stating that one can find God through other faiths than Christianity, a view the RCC didn't support.

Ok well here's another mispelt mean spirited post about your beloved mother teresa. Have a look at this and tell me that mother teresa was a saint. She's just like every other blood sucking religious leech that has the audacity to try and decide on the way people should live.

I'm glad its dead and I would piss on its grave if I had the chance.

G

I dont know if she was saved or not. Her acts can be bad. But if God deem her heart good and his rule he can decide if she is saved who are we to judge. If she saved she is saved if not, she dead.

Originally posted by shihulud Ok well here's another mispelt mean spirited post about your beloved mother teresa. Have a look at this and tell me that mother teresa was a saint. She's just like every other blood sucking religious leech that has the audacity to try and decide on the way people should live.

I'm glad its dead and I would piss on its grave if I had the chance.

G

I read your links contents. I don't see it. It sounds like Mother Teresa expected her fellow nuns to accept their non-material lifestyle, just as she did. What is wrong with denying wealth and privilege and living a life of simple poverty serving the poor? Donations apparently were plentiful. That tells me many folks approved of their selfless work.
Why do you see that as leeching? It is the opposite imho.
She gave all, and as I wrote, let people choose what they believed, whether they followed her faith or another. That sounds far more accepting than your views.

The problem with Mother Teresa is that she depended on the poor and had motivation for keeping the people she worked with in that state. As we know, donations were plentiful, they just weren't used effectively because they would destroy the source of her power.

This is not uncommon in any industry actually.

The American automakers purposely make cars like crap so they can keep the parts and maintenance industry alive. Japanese companies just sell their cars for more money.

Big software companies are amongst the worst. They take in huge money and it goes mostly to support that wouldn't be required if the software was more robust.

Then there's the inkjet printer business who'll give you a free printer as long as they got you buying their cartridges.

Originally posted by Columbus
The problem with Mother Teresa is that she depended on the poor and had motivation for keeping the people she worked with in that state. As we know, donations were plentiful, they just weren't used effectively because they would destroy the source of her power.

not uncommon in any industry

The American automakers purposely make cars like crap
Big software companies are amongst the worst.
Then there's the inkjet printer business who'll give you a free printer

So, what you are claiming is that she spent 60 years in the slums of Calcutta, for no pay, tending to the outcast poorest of the poor, as a scam? She kept them poor so she could keep such a lucrative thing going? Wouldn't you love to have that cherry job? What kind of charity, service work, volunteer work, and palliative care work do you do? If you can name one person more devoutly dedicated to selflessness and love, I will congratulate you. Is your lifework more humble and giving? What is with the cars, software, and printers? Did she have a hand in their scams? Then what are you getting at?
Give me a break.

Originally posted by BlackGuardXIII
So, what you are claiming is that she spent 60 years in the slums of Calcutta, for no pay, tending to the outcast poorest of the poor, as a scam? She kept them poor so she could keep such a lucrative thing going? Wouldn't you love to have that cherry job? What kind of charity, service work, volunteer work, and palliative care work do you do? If you can name one person more devoutly dedicated to selflessness and love, I will congratulate you. Is your lifework more humble and giving? What is with the cars, software, and printers? Did she have a hand in their scams? Then what are you getting at?
Give me a break.

For one thing, Mother Teresa was brainwashed, so her actions were inauthentic. As nice as it sounds to spend your life doing work for no money and helping the poor, doing so in the name of the church totally contaminates her work.

The church from its inception has used charity to gain control of the population from the bottom up, favoring the poor and uneducated because they are easily swayed and hand the church political power too easily.

Princess Diana did nothing, but at least her "credibility" was secular and didn't motivate people to commit their lives to a worthless self-serving organized disease.

Oprah is the same as Diana. If Oprah starts a church, then I would be really scared of her potential.

As for me, I prefer to keep my identity confidential, but I do help people, sincerely, with no expectation that they will reward me with fame and power.

guard, can you name one thing that mama t actually did for the world? sure, she may have given the dying a place to die comfortably... but that's about it. hell, she even called the hospices "houses of dying" herself. there was no effort to get these people adequate medical care, no effort to erradicate disease, just the relatively easy job of getting people beds to die in.

Oprah makes over $100 million a year. She lives on a palatial estate, and shops at the most exclusive boutiques in the world. Her closets are full of designer clothes, and her tastes are as expensive as they come. Sure she does good work, but compared to Mother Teresa? Mother Teresa owned nothing when she died; a bible, sandals, habit, beads, that was about it. Total value: $10? at most. Diana lived the life of a royal, and though she did good work too, it was a hobby. To Mother Teresa it was her life's work.
I am not Christian, not any religion, but I do not hold anyones faith against them. Nothing matters but the legacy, imo, and Saint Mother Teresa has left a legacy of giving. She tended to those whom none were tending. I cannot find fault with that. Christians can be sincerely good people, too. She helped many, and she set a shining example that all of us would do well to try to live up to. No modern person has given more than her, imo.

Nimrod is Zoroaster the originator of Zoroastrianism. Hinduism comes from Zoroastrianism...............and yes you will find pleny of information to cover the truth. And yet there is information to show the truth also. If you really want the truth you can find it.

So you are saying in essence that Nimrod was a time traveller? Because Hinduism is over 5000 years old and Zoroastrianism is about 2600 years old.

Hinduism is the oldest continual religion on the planet, if you don't count shamanism/totemism.

According to Wiki Zoroastrianism is the oldest religion based on revealed scripture which is different than being the oldest religion.

I'd like to see the "truth" you espouse. Could you please direct me to some links that show that Zoroastrianism is actually older than Hinduism?

Since they don't really have anything in common, this is a very interesting comment on your part. Zoroastrianism comes from Mithraism, which may have been studied by Jesus, and where his resurrection ideas came from. Hinduism is far more ancient.

But if you have some proof to refute the common knowledge, I'm all ears.



[edit on 5-5-2007 by MajorMalfunction]

Originally posted by BlackGuardXIII
Oprah makes over $100 million a year. .... Sure she does good work, but compared to Mother Teresa?

The measure of a cult is the voracity of its followers. I have seen and dealt with Mother Teresa-ites, Oprah-ites, and Princess Diana-ites. They are all the same people, and by far mostly women.

Mother Teresa owned nothing when she died;...

It was her choice in essence. I doubt she would have been so poor if she were not brainwashed though.

To Mother Teresa it was her life's work.

I recommend reading the following book on your saint:
The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice by Christopher Hitchens.

You may choose not to believe it, but Mother Teresa made the same choice.

...I do not hold anyones faith against them.

If someone is selling snake oil, that is the reputation that should hang them.

I cannot find fault with that.

If you turn a blind eye and only look at the good things, then you will only see the good things.

Christians can be sincerely good people, too.

But not because they're Christians, in spite of it.

No modern person has given more than her, imo.

If Oprah gave one year of her salary it would be more than Mother Teresa gave in her lifetime.

guard, not having many possessions when you die doesn't mean you're a good person or that you've done good things for the world. people take the example of plenty of people who really didn't do that much good and use it for good all the time. example: jesus. he really didn't do anything for people that other claimed deities hadn't done before, but his example won out because of circumstance and luck.

Originally posted by Columbus

Originally posted by BlackGuardXIII
Oprah makes over $100 million a year. .... Sure she does good work, but compared to Mother Teresa?

The measure of a cult is the voracity of its followers. I have seen and dealt with Mother Teresa-ites, Oprah-ites, and Princess Diana-ites. They are all the same people, and by far mostly women.

Mother Teresa owned nothing when she died;...

It was her choice in essence. I doubt she would have been so poor if she were not brainwashed though.

No modern person has given more than her, imo.

If Oprah gave one year of her salary it would be more than Mother Teresa gave in her lifetime.

I agree to disagree. You feel Oprah's cash, one years income even, would be more than Teresa's charity work... if she gave it. I don't. Money solves nothing. Oprah and Teresa both do good work, but I see their life work as very different. I also do not say Teresa was brainwashed. She was just a giving, modest person, who asked little, and gave what love she could. Money doesn't equal love, that is my view.

You also need money in this day and age in order to help people. Of course it's not everything but a lot of times it eliminates worries and hunger and then people are free to love and do other things.

Best way is to use money to create something which teaches people how to fish, to educate them and show how to live and improve, so they don't need help anymore and maybe are even able to help others later.

Religion blinds a lot of times, but some people become enlightened by it, like Mother Teresa was. She dedicated her life to God and helping others. Her kingdom was not of this world. Imagine having a president like her.

Originally posted by BlackGuardXIII
(...) Mother Teresa owned nothing when she died; a bible, sandals, habit, beads, that was about it. Total value: $10? at most. Diana lived the life of a royal, and though she did good work too, it was a hobby. To Mother Teresa it was her life's work. (...)

This was her most powerful message.

[edit on 12-5-2007 by detonator]

I ran up on this lovely article just a minute ago.

It's an absolute shame people just can't see. A grieving thing.

A recently released study by The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, found that the number of adults who say they subscribe to no religion jumped from 14.3 million in 1990 to 29.4 million in 2001. This represents a 205 percent increase over the time period! According to study directors Egon Mayer and Barry Kosmin, “the present survey has detected a wide and possibly growing swath of secularism among Americans. These are the seculars, the unchurched, the people who profess no faith in any religion.” To those who “profess no faith in any religion”, I say praise the Lord!

Friends, the Scriptures tell us that through the person and work of Jesus Christ we have been saved from many, many things. He has rescued us from our sins (Matthew 1:21), from perishing (Matthew 8:25), from this perverse generation (Acts 2:40), from the wrath of God (Romans 5:9), and from death (Romans 6:23). Amen to that! However, there is something else He has delivered us from as well that seems to have gone unnoticed and unrealized by many for centuries and that is our deliverance from “religion.”

Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary traces the word—religion—back to the Latin word religio meaning “to tie, to bind, to restrain.” The word is actually a combination of two words, re and ligare. The prefix re means “to return,” and ligare, from which we get our word ligature, means “to bind.” Perhaps no word more accurately describes the man-centered, performance-based, reward-punishment systems that men have devised to earn God’s acceptance and favor than this word “religion,” also known as, “return to bondage.”

What Jesus Christ came to do almost 2,000 years ago was not bring us back into bondage, but deliver us from it. He didn’t come to set up a new system of laws and regulations to live by. He came to blow them all away so that we might now serve Him in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter (Romans 7:6). In fact, it was to the religious and the self-righteous of His day that Jesus had the most condemning things to say. Why? Because they were leading so many away from a true relationship with God through the enticements of the most wicked deception Satan has ever used against mankind – religion!

Source

Originally posted by MajorMalfunction

So you are saying in essence that Nimrod was a time traveller? Because Hinduism is over 5000 years old and Zoroastrianism is about 2600 years old.

You seem to be having a major malfunction with your dates. (pun intended)

You seem to be under the mistaken impression that the the Iranian prophet Zoroaster was responsible for the religion of Zoroastrianism.

It's too late for me to look up but if you do a search on a Russian archeaologist and Zoroaster you will find verifiable evidence that Zoroastrianism was around long before the Iranian prophet. Nimrod is the original Zoroaster and also the source of Hinduism.

Hinduism and Zoroastrianism are the two of the oldest surviving religions and derive from a common origin.

Per Wiki.

Zoroastrianism is alot older that 2700 years.

Originally posted by WiseSheep
These are the seculars, the unchurched, the people who profess no faith in any religion.” To those who “profess no faith in any religion”, I say praise the Lord!

Most of these people are not "unchurched", they've been abused by the church, like you and me. These are people the church will never win back because their methods have been exposed.

He has rescued us from our sins (Matthew 1:21),

You say we are made free from bondage, but sin is disobedience, and obedience is bondage.

...from perishing (Matthew 8:25),...

How many times do I have to point out the multitude of meanings for death are designed to confuse you.

...from this perverse generation (Acts 2:40),...

A rhethoric that never seems to go out of style. If every generation has been perverse, how can you claim that this generation is getting more perverse? It's Zeno's Paradox.

...from the wrath of God (Romans 5:9)...

Such a god is not worthy of faith.

...and from death (Romans 6:23).

You already said that, but of course, there are so many kinds! And that's really my point.

...our deliverance from “religion.”

Christianity is a religion, no matter how you try to deny it. They have only redefined the word religion to exclude you, just as they redefined cult, death and truth and so many other words. To confuse and to control you.

...religion— accurately describes the man-centered, performance-based, reward-punishment systems that men have devised to earn God’s acceptance and favor ... also known as, “return to bondage.”

You only refuse to see that your cult was created by men also, and call others blind. If you have no reward-punishment system, what is Hell?

Because they were leading so many away from a true relationship with God through the enticements of the most wicked deception Satan has ever used against mankind – religion!

Aside from the fact that Christianity is exactly a religion, you seem to accuse us of having a reward-punishment system, which we clearly don't. What punishment do we threaten you with? None.

Originally posted by Columbus
You say we are made free from bondage, but sin is disobedience, and obedience is bondage.

You think you are free, but you know not freedom. You don't know the nature of the thing that has you bound. You don't know the nature of the thing that led you here to me. You have deceived yourself and given yourself over to it.

If you only knew how you are being used. If you would start looking into it you would see.

You were led here as a test. You are part of a conspiracy. Part of something bigger than yourself and you don't know it. What I'm telling you sounds like insanity to you. If you ever see, it is very real.

What you refuse to believe in exists and is using you.

You and countless others are part of an organized attack on christianity that was documented over a hundred years ago as to how it would be precisely carried out.

Your mindset is a creation of the thing you are bound by. It's using you to do it's dirty work only to destroy you in the end.

It has no respect for your life neither now or then. I wish you could see.