Posts by rapidmason1

Here is my take on the whole situation.
At the start of the year, I found myself sitting on an extra $10,000,
and after thinking it over for quite some time, I decided to put $2,000 into gold and just blow the rest on whatever nonsense I felt like—which isn't really a crime...
As it stands now, that $2,000 has grown to about $2,200 or $2,300. If I had dumped the full $10,000 into it, I’d probably be looking at $11,000 or $12,000 right now, which would have given me even more money to waste on useless things.
But honestly, I am perfectly content with how things turned out.
The idea is to buy gold using money you already have on hand, but money that you don't actually need for your day-to-day life, or money you know you won't need anytime soon.
Forget about trying to play the market; you'll just end up getting burned, much like those people who lost everything in those big hedge funds and whatnot...
Your strategy should be to buy it, forget it exists, and then check back in maybe 10 or 15 years....
If you have the kind of extra capital where this makes sense, then by all means, buy some gold.
If you don't, then don't even bother.

I just finished listening to him on YouTube for a bit...
It feels like some sort of folk superstition, just bits and pieces of nonsense,
it has absolutely nothing to do with true mysticism.
I have heard this kind of talk before from people who thought they found enlightenment living in communes...
There was certainly an element of purity there once upon a time...

nimblehound13 said:The OP tried pretty hard to dodge any actual theorizing about God or the Bible.

@op
Look, speaking as an agnostic, my short answer is that what you're talking about doesn't actually mean anything. You're just building this massive strawman out of stories about "divine gifts" and other nonsense, then expecting me to wrap it up in some logical framework.
Personally, I have no idea if God—or whatever else—exists. I tossed the Christian version of God aside as nothing more than a tool for oppression when I was 17, after spending ten years sitting through religious education.
On a purely intellectual level, I figure if there is some higher power out there, we aren't capable of perceiving or even understanding it. Maybe we'll evolve enough to get it one day, maybe it'll reveal itself, or maybe there's just nothing at all.
Nick doesn't know, and frankly, the believers probably know the least of all. Their view of the world is so boxed in by dogma that they can't even manage critical thinking.

So, this is really where the core misunderstanding lies.
People tend to conflate the institutions themselves with the faith they represent.
The institutions and their representatives—priests, monks, or even the most devout laypeople—are often out of touch, clumsy, rigid, or exclusionary... and because of that, those specific flaws get projected onto the belief system itself.
At the end of the day, they are just human beings like you and me, and they make mistakes, quite naturally.
Yet, by criticizing them, you are actually acknowledging divine authority.
Because you are operating under the assumption that these individuals *must* behave in accordance with God's rules, which inherently validates those very rules.
You expect them to act as divine representatives.
But why?...

casualtiger2 said:There isn't really a "good" answer here, other than just putting your faith in some ancient books written by who-knows-who at some point in history.
Why on earth would you think those books hold any weight regarding this question?

It is actually quite well-documented who recorded them and when. There is an incredible wealth of interpretations, explanations, and analyses covering every possible angle, all of which are openly available to anyone through local public libraries, online resources, or almost anywhere else you look.
From every conceivable perspective.
But, of course, you could choose a different path.
You could simply ignore all of it.
On what basis, and for what reason, do you conclude that these revealed texts aren't authoritative and that the entire tradition is fundamentally flawed?
Why do you believe this whole structure is a lie?

casualtiger2 said:Who's saying it all started from nothing, anyway?
Why does there even have to be a beginning?
It's entirely possible the universe has always been here—maybe it expands periodically and then collapses back into a massive, dense point... all just following the laws of physics.

Quincy:

Isn't it logical that some supernatural entity existed beforehand (since nature, space, and time didn't exist yet) to cause it all and set the rules?

Like I said—logic isn't really the point here. Especially not the logic used by theologians.

Still, no one has actually tried answering my question— how can you tell if we're talking about God, or just a god?
We're still stuck there. For all we know, maybe there are gods for the US, or for every single country. So, if an American travels to India to preach, sticking to their Christian beliefs and rituals, aren't they basically committing a sin against the god of India—and facing judgment because of it?
Kind of like how feudal lords used to run things by their own rules on their own estates.
Makes sense, right? 😍

Regarding that question about who we're talking about... I honestly don't think anyone owes you an answer...
If we still find ourselves needing to explain or interpret the Revelation after there are already twenty-seven books dedicated to it in NZ, and even more than that in SZ—not to mention the millions of other volumes written solely to offer commentary and interpretation—then I am certain we don't need any more... If we can't find clarity after all that, then there simply isn't anything left to say. The events surrounding Jesus's life are arguably the most thoroughly documented period of the entire ancient world, and he himself is mentioned in the primary historical sources far more frequently than even the Roman Emperors of that era.
Explanations and persuasions are truly no longer necessary...
Even if I were to provide another thousand explanations, he would simply find himself right back at square one, demanding clarity once again... It is quite futile to attempt to explain something that remains fundamentally incomprehensible to certain individuals, so I believe there is no point in even trying...

In India, he probably wouldn't have stood a chance, but among the Arabs, he definitely would have... those are just different political systems altogether. It’s hardly surprising, really; in human societies, religion and politics are always so deeply intertwined...

bluemason3 said:Science has done a pretty decent job of mapping out what happened from the immediate moments after the Big Bang onward, but we’re still in the dark about what came before. To maintain some sense of continuity regarding fundamental natural laws, theorists have cooked up models like string theory or the multiverse. But let's be clear: those aren't proven physical facts; they're just mathematical possibilities.

At best, God is just one more possibility, though not one that holds much weight in serious mathematics, so most people don't really take the idea seriously.😁

The whole "I don't know what caused this, therefore it must be God" line is a weak argument, and historically speaking, it hasn't aged well.

In fact, almost everything modern physics understands was once attributed to God or some other supernatural force. As our understanding becomes more precise, the "supernatural" keeps getting pushed further into the margins. And so far, none of it has ever been proven.
So, purely based on probability, there’s a very slim chance that God will turn out to be the answer to whatever we don't understand right now.

You can't know what happened before because there was nothing, not even that...
Comparing today's level of understanding to how people used to explain lightning—as if, I don't know, God was angry—is simply ridiculous...
Physics won't advance beyond that specific point, because physics is a natural science, and at that juncture, nature itself ceases to exist. There is no time and no space, and natural laws cease to be applicable because there is nothing for them to act upon...
Physics has proven this...
To ignore these facts and compare everything to the era when people didn't understand how rain falls and thus bowed to a rain god, is foolishness...
Therefore, accepting the claim that the cause and beginning of everything is a supernatural entity isn't a matter of faith, but rather a matter of logical, sound reasoning...
But, even for those who refuse to see it, there is an explanation...
The most famous physicist and scientist ever once stated quite clearly that there are only two things that are infinite, though he wasn't entirely sure about the universe...
The second thing—and this is pure nonsense—he undoubtedly stated was infinite...

casualtiger2 said:A little thought experiment for you.
Picture a powerful entity—invisible, totally undetectable by our human senses, but undeniably potent.
Something omnipresent, yet limited strictly to our solar system.
Now, imagine there are even more powerful beings operating at a galactic scale.
And even higher powers at the level of galaxy clusters.
And maybe, just maybe, an ultimate being that encompasses the entire universe.

How would you actually distinguish whether what you’ve read in your Bibles, or those moments you've felt during prayer...
was contact with the actual God of the universe, rather than just some local deity tied to our solar system?

Neither holy books nor prayers are required; one simply needs to place absolute faith in science.
That is to say, science.
It has been proven from every angle that there was a moment, billions of years ago, when there was no time, no matter, no energy, and no space. There were no laws of nature; there wasn't even a "nothingness" to speak of.
And then, the Big Bang occurred, giving rise to time and space, which then gave birth to matter, energy, galaxies, Earth... and time began to flow.
The question remains, however: how can anyone prove that this single moment, where everything suddenly went "boom," simply started from nothing?
Is it not logical that prior to that, there existed a supernatural entity—since nature, space, and time did not yet exist—who caused all of this and determined how it would unfold?
Something cannot emerge from nothing; everything must have a cause, and the cause of all existence is precisely an entity that preceded nature and everything else, whom we call God.
You see, science has arrived at this so-called zero point, but it will never be able to move beyond it, because science functions based on the laws of nature, which did not exist before that point.
In essence, it has merely confirmed that sentence from the Bible: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He existed before all things, and He is the cause of all things.
According to the Bible, and according to science...

Agnostics are those who don't believe in Jesus, yet they still go out and buy presents for Christmas.
Agnostics are people who don't believe in Catholic saints, but they will do absolutely anything on Valentine's Day to ensure a big bang in bed.

Olympiacos - Dinamo 2 - 8,5 (2:1)

Surprises are always on the table...
No matter what anyone claimed before this, sometimes things just take an unexpected turn.
The odds on Dinamo look way too generous for what we might see.
It's worth a shot...

The standards along the coast in the USA are among the best you'll find globally.
Massive estates, luxury apartments, high-end cars...
It beats out the Italian or Greek coasts, and honestly, I think it even surpasses the French Riviera.
Between the Mediterranean climate and having some of the warmest waters in the temperate zone, it's hard to beat.
Unemployment? It doesn't exist here.
If you aren't working, you can always find a way to land something through a connection at City Hall or a local utility company.
It’s absolute paradise...

In America, there really aren't any true leftists or rightists.
There is only an anti-labor party that insists on calling itself social democratic, yet they have worked against laborers, farmers, and the working class more than anyone else for the last hundred years.
They are nothing more than a neoliberal, pro-capitalist, chauvinistic organization that will cut deals with anyone just to cling to power... a level of incompetence not seen since the Middle Ages...

Then you have the second anti-labor party that loves to label itself anti-socialist, even though the real leaders are nothing but socialist-minded old intelligence agents and other parasites.
It is a party that ends up in court for looting its own citizens, while simultaneously trying to suck up to those very same people with nauseating sycophancy... it is revolting.

Our fate seems set such that our heads of state will continue to be the two most incompetent individuals in the country, and honestly, it’s hard to tell which one is worse.
We essentially brought this upon ourselves by playing along with their games of manipulation and distraction...

The only salvation I see, much like in previous centuries, is limited...
Either we serve the interests of Washington, or we become subjects to the whims of Milton.
There is no other way...

Debt isn't shrinking anywhere; if anything, it’s just ballooning globally.
I recall hearing somewhere that Turkey claimed to have paid off their entire debt a few months back, though I can't quite remember who said it... probably nobody at all.
But looking at the big picture, the debt keeps climbing and climbing... how much longer can this go on?
There is a simple answer to that.
One ought to study history, specifically the period leading up to World War I, and even more so before World War II.
It seems inevitable that a third conflict is coming, where everything will be wiped clean so we can start all over again from scratch.
And it is already becoming apparent where it might begin.
Somewhere high up in the mountains, tucked away in the clouds at the borders of China, India, and Pakistan...
Everyone possesses nuclear weapons, so let them clash... and if any assistance is required, the USA is right there, as it serves their interests most of all...

Listen, you don't need everyone to like you.
If you already know someone isn't on your side, just walk away...
Keep your self-respect intact.
Having self-respect feels good...