Posts by Jack Wood43

bluemaker52 said:Suicide serves as ultimate proof. If you view it through the lens of exercising one's own will, it's an extreme act, but it truly is.

Bradley Davis33 said:I honestly can’t decide if this whole thing is hilarious or just plain sad.
If I say it’s funny, I’ll just get hit with a wave of insults flying everywhere, and then I won’t be smiling anymore.
But if I say it’s sad, I realize all these users actually have the luxury of obsessing over every little thing happening on Reddit with such intense passion... and I should just thank God that I can afford to treat this forum like it's their biggest problem. Like, chill out!

Through all this, I’m still fascinated by the whole pack mentality and the cliques.
Oh, please, I am *not* going to use the term hypocritical mob mentality again, because someone would probably take offense and claim I have bad intentions. Apparently, I'm known for those. ☕

Because my memory is actually pretty sharp, and I remember warning rowdyhawk10 about being biased and non-objective in topics like, say, "Wahhabi Corner." Everyone else just stayed quiet (except maybe Scott Nguyen2, I think), and they were having a blast at the time.
I also remember the insults flying left and right during those Sufi vs. Salafi showdowns. I saw the exact same level of communication from both sides, even though I really expected some decency and gentleness from one group. And back then, nobody complained that the number of bans from the other side was way higher.

So, this current situation has me feeling a bit confused.

Especially when you consider how we even got here in the first place.
It all kicked off once the discussion wrapped up following the official statement from the Islamic Community of America. No, the argument was basically... well, the community can't react any other way; they aren't going to go out and start throwing punches.
Give me a break!
A lot of the blame is being pinned on ruggedwolf. Could ruggedwolf have just debated herself? And did ruggedwolf actually debate herself?
Not saying anything about comments like "half-sibling," "God will humble you more than you already are," or addressing Sunnah with a tone of "I wouldn't want to be in your shoes..." as if any of us care what anyone else is wearing... I don't want to explain why I didn't react to that stuff. It's too depressing.

The moderation is bad. There have always been issues with moderating the Religion section—I've been writing here for four years, so I think I'm qualified to say that.
rowdyhawk10, you are subjective about certain issues, and I suggested a long time ago that you can't participate in certain discussions as both a regular user and a moderator. I even suggested you shouldn't moderate threads where you obviously can't stay objective, but nobody agreed with me back then.
But what "golden age" of moderating Religion are we talking about that makes this current state such a shock?
In my early years on this forum, I read things that were way worse, and they were totally allowed.

This whole forum boycott makes zero sense to me. 😕
I guess I write because it gives me pleasure and because I feel like I have something to say.
Once it stops being fun, I'll stop writing without making a big deal out of it. I won't be sitting around expecting someone to convince me to stay.

Basically, I find it hard to believe we're capable of getting this worked up over forum debates.
It just goes to show how much we all love reading what we write, how convinced we are that our opinions are incredibly important, and how vital, vital, vital we think we are... that we can end up with this kind of mutual hatred just defending our internet arguments.

Anonymous said:What really gets me, though, is that the person who started this thread hasn't actually contributed anything meaningful about love in response to all these posts. And then, they have the nerve to wonder if there isn't anyone "intellectual" around to lend a hand—and then they expect us to forgive them for it... It’s pretty bold to keep acting surprised that there aren't more discussions on love.🙂

Rachel Martinez11 said:All jokes aside, here is my actual take—any solid argument deserves a look. I’d pivot my stance in a heartbeat if someone proved me wrong. There’s no shame in that. For me, it’s just common sense to strive for growth rather than clinging to being an idiot just to protect my ego.

Rebecca Cox2 said:It isn't just a theory; it’s blatantly obvious in experiments where people debate someone who either agrees with them or disagrees. When subjects praise their interlocutor for being brilliant—or tell them they're being stupid—those same people then rate the other person's intelligence. Even when the person they are talking to was just an actor following specific instructions for the study, the result is almost always the same: nearly everyone rates the person who validates them, tells them what they want to hear, or agrees with their stance as smarter, more intelligent, or kinder, regardless of the actual topic being discussed...

That's basically just preaching to the choir.

The real issue is that when it comes to serious matters, you can't solve anything just by throwing out arguments...

ocean view said:

Umberto Eco: "Even though I have a doctorate in aesthetics and I'm over seventy years old, I wouldn't dare define beauty. If I were to offer a definition of beauty, I would be nothing more than a common charlatan. Just as God can only be defined through negation, one could say the same about beauty." (New York Times, December 4, 2006).

Aside from the fact that I don't have a doctorate and I'm nowhere near seventy, I'd sign off on everything else he said. What about you? 😉

Ivory said:lol....wow....it’s been a long time since I laughed this hard...

There’s this old idea that a person's life truly begins with the spark of consciousness. But what actually is consciousness?
When do we actually start perceiving the world? And how do we process it?
If consciousness starts at birth, why don't we remember being born? Or even most of our childhood up until age four or five? There’s probably some medical explanation out there, but that’s not what we're looking for here... or is it?
Bottom line for me: abortion is the killing of a person. It’s taking away a life after it has already been gifted at conception.
@nobody
Just my Friday thoughts... go ahead and give it another read...😉

feralranger81 said:Does that mean there's no life without consciousness? For example, could I just slaughter my mother while she sleeps since she isn't conscious at the moment?

Chris Peterson53 Jack Wood43 said:Yeah, I'm interested too.
Why is it that we say parents love their children, yet they worship God or adore their spouse?
So, are we saying that love is the higher plane, while "loving" is just the lower one?
Or the other way around?
Does loving someone actually mean you'll want to kiss them too?
Can you actually love someone, or is it possible to cross that line and reach true devotion?

So, that Henks guy tells this girl he used to love—the one who walked away from him—and she once told him:

Come on, Forrest Gump—you clearly have no idea what love actually is.

That really stung! Later on, he told her exactly how it was.

Maybe I’m not exactly a genius, but I sure as hell know what love is.

And then she asked him later, right before he passed—once it finally clicked that he was actually a decent man, better than anyone else she had ever known. hin She met him because he was honest.

Where have you been hiding? You've been dodging every argument lately. How are things going over there? Even she was out there walking the walk.

She should just tell him straight. He’s been fighting battles both in times of peace and during the war.

He claims he saw the sky reflecting perfectly off the surface of the lake.
If the desert meets the ocean right where the sky touches the horizon—during that twilight hour, dawn or dusk, I can't quite recall the term—then we might actually have something worth talking about.
Even if you lump it all together into one single mess.

And even if it's beautiful.

And even then, she was genuinely happy that he had such a beautiful life.
She’s hurting, and honestly, she wishes more than anything that she could have stayed right by his side the whole time.

I told her, "Tom Hanks." Well, you showed up!

Who you love is your business! Don't go overanalyzing it. You don't need some big, brilliant brain to guide you through that—you just need an honest heart.

Sandokan
Sandokan.
Warm and tender is The Love and People know The way to Love cruel and bloody is The War and People know How to make War but The People Can be unfair and there's
Warm and tender is The Love and People know The way to Love cruel and bloody is The War and People know How to make War but The People Can be unfair and there's
War is cruel and bloody.
Warm and tender is The Love and People know The way to Love cruel and bloody is The War and People know How to make War but The People Can be unfair and there's
Warm and tender is The Love and People know The way to Love cruel and bloody is The War and People know How to make War but The People Can be unfair and there's
And they’re completely on their own out there. No one is coming to save them.
I truly love my fellow Americans.
I have a deep, unshakable love for my country.
And everyone just seems to get it.
All in one place.
All together now.
Let's get to work. Together.
Hand in hand, let's head straight for the sun.

Sandokan
Sandokan.
Give me some warmth and i will be The One Sandokan.
Sandokan