Advice request: Today I Received "More than a Carpenter" byJosh Mcdowell through the post.

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

I politely decline all religious books, and if I were to receive one in the mail I'd simply toss in in the trash. Even before I'd left the church, whenever someone tried to get me to read a religious book or watch a religious movie, I'd actually tell them that Christian books are mostly religious propaganda, and almost always poorly written. Ditto for the Christian movies. The exception might be C.S. Lewis' Narnia series, but they can be enjoyed without the religious angle. Besides, C.S. Lewis' secular book..Till We Have Faces, is non-religious, and considered his best work. It's a GREAT read, by the way-a retelling of the Pyche and Cupid story, from the perspective of the ugly older sister.

General vent about being atheist in a very Christian community.

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

Unbelievable! One technique I use for annoying religious remarks is to respond with a vague "um-hum" as though thinking of something else. Then immediately change the subject as though that's what you were thinking of. It saves a lot of arguments. If you do this whenever the subject is brought up, you train people to stop doing it.

I don't know whether to feel sad or pity regarding a comment from a friend.

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

Too bad. But, of course, the person probably believed he "meant well." You could get the alleged "prayer benefit" by meditating and letting your mind clear so you know what YOU want to do, however.

Grandparents of shackled children: ‘God called’ on parents to have large family | fox8.com

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

Yeah, funny thing about that. It's because the voices in our heads come from (drum roll..) US! We are the gods who love to mess things up, and of course saying "God made me do it" makes you seem noble. To some.

Teach the children well

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

LOL! At least SOMEONE is educating the kids..

Why do monkeys have sex with deer?

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

Gracious!

I noticed that there are quite a few people here in Columbus OH.

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

I plan to move back to Lexington, KY, as soon as I can, and maybe by then there will some in this group who live there. Or maybe there are atheist or agnostic meet ups there, or in nearby Louisville.

Well go ahead...tell me something I DON'T know. My brain craves information.

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

Llamas protect livestock. They chase and can kill predators like coyotes and occasionally, cougars. They tend to eat everything..banana peelings, rare shrubbery and flowers, and their necks have a surprising reach. They control other livestock in the barnyard with spitting. They have zero loyalty, and if they get loose, they will high tail it out of there, but luckily, their greed will make them return, when you shake a pail of grain.

Does anyone really hook up on this site?

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

Well, there are many women on this website close to your age if that's what you want, unless you are only going for the young ones. Also many women love to ballroom dance, and is one of the things I missed doing when I moved to Thailand in 2010. So "Bon courage, et bonne chance." Ya never know until you try.

Somebody is asking why white Americans are not called European Americans just as it is with African ...

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

Because Caucasians are the "master race" and no other race matters, of course. Just ask Trump and his followers.

What book should replace the bible...

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

For most people, it would have to be comic books. Do people still read? I do, but I seem to be in the minority.

Relationships and "Gods Will": Did you or someone you know marry the wrong person as a bi-product of...

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

Definitely. I only married my abusive ex because I thought "God" was making me do it, due to a "vision." But it turned out, my ex was "praying" for that, so he actually caused the vision to happen to me. It wasn't God, it was his own energy, and my silly religious beliefs.

What do you think of Sex We Can! An Erotic Uprising premiering as part of the Fertile Ground ...

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

Probably a good idea, but not for a demisexual. Just the thought of any kind of ...that..makes me feel nauseated. I have a super strong libido, but not for any gender or person, and as a demisexual, I can only be sexually attracted to one person at a time, and only after a prolonged courtship or over a year. Right now, that isn't happening, so ..eeeeew!

If the world was populated with clones of you- what would it look like?

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

Well, for one thing, there'd be no junk food, no pollution, and no children. We'd quickly go extinct!

I find these to be very funny.

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

The unicorn comic is especially funny, LOL!

How chivalrous are you?

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

Most cis women, heavy in femme traits, appreciate men looking out for them. The ones who become angry could be women with a high percentage of male traits (as I have) which makes them feel insulted, as you would be if another male tried to open the door for you. I have to force myself to let men do things for me.

Ever just feel intensely angry and have no clue why or actual reason?

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

Many answers for this, but you are the one who really knows the answer. You can try asking yourself why you're angry, just before taking a relaxing early morning walk, and let the answer come to you, without resistance. If you happen to remember some upsetting event, you can try the technique of pretending to see the scene replayed, except the way it should have been, which can often allow your emotions to change to match the new pretend memory. Of course, this could also result in you "seeing" someone else win the election, LOL!

What is the most romantic spot to which you have ever been?

birdingnut comments on Jan 26, 2018:

Lying on top of the sheer spine of a mountain ridge on Kino Beach, near Hermosillo, Mexico, in 2001, watching the meteor showers..so bright they were like fireworks, flashing different colors and trailing colored sparks through the sky! When the sun finally rose, the sea far below seemed flat, and we could see the planets, including Mercury, low on the horizon. There was a sheer drop off on both sides of us, with just enough room on the ridge for us to lie down, head to head. On the way up the mountain at 3 AM, a white morph owl swooped low over the ridge in front of us.

Why is it that when you talk to God, it’s called praying?

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

Back when I was in the church, I thought the person talking to me in my mind was "God," but one day I grew suspicious and asked the "person" in my mind, "Are you God, or are you only me," and the voice answered "Yes!" I then understood that "God," the universe, and I, are all one-no difference in energy, so yes, the voice in my head giving me answers was really my Higher Self, or whatever label one wants to use.

Why is it that when you talk to God, it’s called praying?

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

HAHAHAHA! Yeah, religious people are nuts that way..

Meetup Groups for Singles - Why so Religious?

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

When I was still in the church I made my dating profile to be looking for a man who was a Christian, but I soon found out that was a BAD thing. They seemed to often be low in intelligence, intolerant, misogynistic, were poorly educated, and most of all..boring. The kind, nonjudgmental people who were fun to be with, were usually non-religious. So now, if someone I'm considering for a date claims to be a Christian, I cross them off the list.

I asked my 8 year old nephew what his wish for the new year is.

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

It's usually not wise to buy animals for other people's children, since you have little control on how the the pet is being treated. Kids can be rough with animals, or simply forget about them. I had many wild animal pets growing up, but I took care of them myself, taking full responsibility. My parents barely knew I had them. But my siblings paid little attention to the family dogs and cats, and my mom fed them.

If you were once religious, why are you not now?

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

When my status changed after a divorce, I suddenly found out what happens to anyone in the church who goes against the norms. While people welcomed my ex and his new young lover, my kids and I, who had been very active in our church, were suddenly personae non gratae-people acted like they didn't see me, were mean to my kids, etc. I changed churches, but soon found out that single mothers are second class citizens, and eventually the hypocrisy got to me. They constantly preached that whatever happens is "God's will" so when a friend of mine who was supposed to die of cancer in two weeks, suddenly got well after I slipped him a cassette tape of Scriptures how we have authority, how we can tell mountains to move and they will, etc., instead of being happy at his healing (the man never mentioned me or the tape when he told our Sunday school class), the leader suspected me, took me aside afterward and told me to "find a church that matches your beliefs." That was the last straw. I told my daughter that we wouldn't attend any church that claims that "God is in control," and blames everything that happens on God as though humans are helpless victims of God's whims. Later I began reading the Bible in the original Greek and Hebrew, using the online Strong's Concordance, and realized that 98% of what I'd been taught in church wasn't even in the Bible and that Jesus' whole point is that we are all God that we all have God's authority, that WE are the ones who can tell a mountain to move and it will, etc. (Mark 11:23). Then I realized that we all have that power, and it has nothing to do with religion.

Where does the discussion of alien life fit in this forum?

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

I noticed how weird Americans are about UFOs, treating people who have seen them like they are insane. Yet in other countries, they are seen often and taken for granted. We saw them constantly in Haiti, zipping around the sky, changing colors, hovering, zooming sideways, etc. We'd lay on the warm water barrels on top of our building at night to watch them, like a show. We'd see them land, take off, and once one followed my husband and I in the early 1970s for about 300 miles when we were traveling to Florida from Kentucky, sometimes hovering so close it stalled our car. It acted like a friendly dog, frisking off to shine spotlights in the windows of houses we passed, then come back to us, changing colors, sometimes getting so bright it lit up the neighborhoods we were passing like a small sun, yet nobody seemed to notice it. Sometimes it would go completely dark for a few minutes, then suddenly reappear..with multiple, changing colors running around the rim like a deep sea squid during mating season. When we passed a big military base somewhere in GA, it left us to hover over the base, then it seemed to turn sideways, and took off so fast it seemed to shrink and disappear. When he was a ten year old hunting jack rabbits in Texas, my dad said he saw a small UFO drone thing about 20 feet away, running an extension arm along the power lines as though sampling the current. Once, at a church camp in Normal, IL, in 1968, all of the camp kids, counselors, my parents, and my siblings watched as what resembled a ball of fire hovered over the trees one night dropping what looked like chunks of fire into the trees, then moving up or down and dropping more until the ball divided in half, one half sinking into the trees, and the rest of the ball also turned sideways and shrank away out of sight as though moving super fast. Nobody volunteered to cross the pasture to check it out, and there were no fires afterward. The locals told us that they saw UFOs "all the time around here," and nobody seemed to take it seriously.

Do you have ESP?

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

Yup. I was born with many psychic powers, but since my sister and mom had them also, it seemed normal. Plus, in Haiti, many Haitians did also. But apparently, animals and people all have ESP, since we're all made of energy and thoughts are energy, unless people have been taught to suppress it. But I read several studies of white children captured by Native Americans during the 1880s, and they found that if the kids weren't returned within six months, it was too late. The kids all had psychic powers-able to predict the future, control the weather, heal with their minds, make game come to them, etc. and never lost them, since it was considered normal in the tribes. This even happened with captured, adult US soldiers. We missionary kids in Haiti didn't have phones so we started using ESP to "call" each other to plan beach trips and make rendezvous plans. My mom used to wake us up with a jolt by standing in the doorway and thinking "Wake up!" and we'd leap up, startled. Later on in life, my mom used ESP to "call" me when she needed me, since I lived upstairs in our double farmhouse but there was no phone. I rode all my horses without saddle or bridle, even drove them, using my mind. I could even "tell" my Walking Horses which gait to use when they were pulling a horse cart, and they'd change gaits as I thought it. I couldn't wear a watch because all kinds of watches-wind up, battery, etc., always stopped when I put one on, but I always knew the time anyway, and somehow knew the answer to every question my friends asked me, such as when someone would return from a trip. I found I couldn't play card games or games of chance because I always won..I.e., I'd always get a royal flush, no matter who cut the cards. That happened with all games of chance until I was banned from games. My kids are the same way. I saw the future so much it became confusing..I'd see a car accident happen ahead and while I was slowing down to approach the intersection, there'd be a "reset" and suddenly it was all happening again. I finally began actively blocking all my powers and trying to forget I had them, since I felt weird about it.

What is yourt favorite book?

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

I have a vast Kindle library, but when I lived in the US, I had so many books, I couldn't keep them all in the house..had to store the overflow in the attic and keep bringing them down to rotate them. I've been in Thailand since 2010, so use Kindle exclusively. I keep rereading my books, but rotate through my favorites most often.. the Harry Potter series, James Herriot series, most of Robert A. Heinlein's books, John Scalzi books, Laura Ingalls series, Joe Haldeman, Gone with the Wind, Anna Karenina, and now my latest favorite of all..the indie Catskinner Book series. Unbelievably satisfying to read! The premise..an ordinary, skinny guy had an alien being attached to him as a toddler by his parents, that seems like a voice or personality in his head, but that loves to kill, and when it takes over he becomes lightning fast, has superhuman strength, etc. so has managed so far to evade the law, and have money for his paid hits. But he gradually realizes that the world is not as it seems as he begins to notice the aliens really running things by using willing people. I'd never read anything like this before..it's almost like a Calvin and Hobbes thing where the tiger is both real and a toy. https://www.amazon.com/Catskinners-Book-Lost-Doors-ebook/dp/B008MPNBNS

How many times have you been married?

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

I've been in long-term marriage, in relationships that were both long and short, etc. and I've discovered that I'm resistant to playing the "wife" role. After a while, I'm done with it. I prefer being in a relationship, in theory, but the reality tends to make me feel claustrophobic.

What is the best bible rebuttal for John 3:16?

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

I suppose that if you sent an unsolicited link to a course, your coworker gave you tit for tat for sending that verse, LOL! If you don't believe the Bible, then why would you care? It's just nonsense. But, if you want to get technical and mess with your coworker's head, you can say that, according to Strong's Concordance, an alternate version of that verse is just as valid; Because Divine energy is pleased with the adornment of the world, you give to yourself humanity, that anything and anyone that trusts in itself/themselves will never be rendered useless, but enjoys unceasing fullness of life. http://www.godrules.net/library/kjvstrongs/kjvstrongsjoh3.htm

If you could learn any language, what language would it be and why?

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

If I could "magically" speak a language it would be Chinese. I am fluent in Haitian Creole, can get along in, and read, French, Spanish, and now some Thai. I started to get fluent in Japanese several years ago but quit, because it was interfering with speaking Thai. I learned American Sign Language for fun years ago, but I'd need practice.

We know that people worship religion and its' figures, but what I find equally disturbing is ...

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

I certainly "worship" highly talented people and even animals. After the lights came up after watching Avatar in 3-D, I sighed and said, "OK, OK..I'm putting up a James Cameron shrine now.." My son's horse, Black Jack, saved his life on more than one occasion, winning him a lifetime of adoration from my grateful family and a lifetime retirement on our farm, alongside the horse who helped Black Jack save my seven year old son from a vicious stallion that was trying to kill him. We all also almost worshiped Naomi, a Blue Heeler, who was smarter than we were and took care of us all..including following my son when he wandered off into the woods, then coming to get us and lead us to him. Photo is of my eight yr old daughter on Black Jack, pulling my 11 yr old son on our Kentucky farm in 1990.

Ten movies I regret having spent valuable life hours watching (in no particular order): 1.

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

I agree those movies wouldn't be my choice, except I loved watching Lucy both at the theater and online.

What’s your favorite genre of movies?

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

My perfect Netflix TV show is the Cuban immigrant remake of One Day at a Time, but also Atypical, Grace and Frankie, Call my Agent, Chuck But if I've recently watched all of that genre, I default to sci-fi stuff, like Sense8 or Glitch Nature documentaries historical documentaries, series like The Crown. Oddly, I enjoyed watching Mad Men a few times. But shows I love that aren't on Netflix are the Tremors movies, Two and a Half Men, the Big Bang Series.

What happened when a public school student sued over prayer [cnn.

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

Seems illogical that if God knows everything and is in everything, that there would be any need to say a public prayer to a captive audience. If everything that happens is "God's will," why pray at all? Why give people medicine if they are supposed to be sick? Now I do think it makes sense for everyone to agree on something, and unite/focus their energy, but that has nothing to do with religion.

It seems counterintuitive that Christian people are seeking companionship by using dating sites that...

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

Yeah, I agree. I think most people just go along with religion as a default, to agree with family and friends, and only obey the rules they must, to look good, and avoid hell, in case it exists.

What do you have faith in?

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

"For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." -Einstein For now, I believe in physics, that we are creating our own universes/reality. “I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness." – Max Planck, theoretical physicist who originated quantum theory, 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics

Do you ever miss the religious life?

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

Once I became disillusioned I never attended church again. I have meditated at Thai Buddhist temples with my Thai friends and students but doing my own thing more than following the monk's chants. I did briefly miss the activities and friends I'd made in my singles group, but soon filled the former church time with bird photography trips, hikes, riding horses, new friends, etc. I do miss that belief that there's a strong, wise God looking out for me and all I have to do is be passive and let things happen. It's disconcerting to realize that I am responsible for my own life.

What is your response when people threaten you with religious punishments? (i.e. Hell/Jahannam)

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

If condemned, depending on the person doing it, I just chuckle and say I don't believe the way I used to. If they persist, I might say that "Not everyone believes like that." I usually don't bother to implicate myself, to avoid annoying arguments.

If you already know, that you have the best woman in the world, then what are you waiting for ?

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

If a woman is asking this question about a man, there's usually only one reason he won't marry her..it's because the woman allows him to hang around without a commitment. He wants to keep his options open in case she ages, gains weight, or he meets someone hotter. Men who lead girlfriends on for years, claiming not to believe in marriage, often marry quickly after they break up, and he meets someone he respects.

A Dozen Camels Disqualified From Saudi Beauty Pageant Over Botox Injections : The Two-Way : NPR

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

I loved the link and posted it on Twitter. But of course, we Americans torture horses and dogs to win ribbons for physical perfection as well. Handlers put ginger sticks up the rears of Saddlebred show horses, even foals, to make them hold their tails up, they break their tails and set the tails to heal held upright, but unable to wring them and show distress in the ring, or even use them to switch off flies. They put drops in their eyes so the show horses will hold their heads high and prick their ears while trying to see and look "alert," they put painful, weighted shoes on Walking Horses to make them do "the Big Lick" in the show ring, race thoroughbreds when they are still babies, often killing them. But still, nobody uses botox that I know of, so that's a first!

A Question for Theists What would your deity think of me: coerced, as it were, into the flock ...

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

Yeah, this post confused me, since if you don't believe in God, who cares? Also, who cares what the believers believe. But if you were trying to draw out religious fanatics, I thought this website's name would already have given them a clue.

A universe from nothing? Anyone knowledgable about Physics?

birdingnut comments on Jan 25, 2018:

No Big Bang? Quantum equation predicts universe has no beginning http://phy.so/342681669 via @physorg_com This theory solves some of the anomalies of the older Big Bang model, eliminates "dark matter" and other unsolved problems. It also seems consistent with energy not being destroyed or created.

Oklahoma Lawmaker: Rape and Incest are the ‘Will of God’

birdingnut comments on Jan 24, 2018:

Well, since humans are gods, the real ones in charge of our lives, in a way, the rape and incest being committed is the will of the evil "gods" doing it.

Anyone of us on here going to the Superbowl?

birdingnut comments on Jan 24, 2018:

I used to think American football was "stupid," having grown up abroad where "real football" (called "soccer" in the US) is the popular sport. Sometime during the past decade I became an American football fanatic for a while, until I could no longer ignore the permanent and often deadly brain damage being done to the NFL players. I still love it, but only if I can become detached enough to pretend that their lives don't matter.

DId u ever notIce that people who do not lIke anImals are generally dIslIked themselves?

birdingnut comments on Jan 24, 2018:

Sometimes people who don't like animals are closed off from others in general, but sometimes they are just "people persons." People who relate to animals don't always relate well to people.

Was I wrong to laugh in her face?

birdingnut comments on Jan 24, 2018:

White evangelical Christians are mostly taught from childhood to check their brains at the church door and be obedient to old white men. Any questioning is met with condemnation. Also, they don't read the Bible they defend so religiously or they'd know that the punishment for breaking several of the Ten Commandments was death by stoning. Shoot, you were supposed to be stoned if you picked up a stick on Saturday, or talked back to your parents.

Are you Bilingual/Trilingual/Etc.?

birdingnut comments on Jan 24, 2018:

Fluent in English and Haitian Creole, can get along in, and read Spanish, French, and now some Thai. For a while I was semi-fluent in Japanese, but it was interfering with my Thai language recall, so dropped it. Also, became semi-fluent in American Sign Language.

Finally, some people I might have something in common with. Hi :)

birdingnut comments on Jan 24, 2018:

Hi. Just joined, myself.

Well, damn! Learn something new every day, if you're paying attention. [huffingtonpost.com]

birdingnut comments on Jan 24, 2018:

My parents are Caucasian American but I was born and grew up in Haiti, where Creole is spoken and the cooking is VERY spicy. The basic food is rice and black beans, with meat and vegetable red sauce, fried plantain bananas, with plenty of stuff added, depending on what is available, such as casava bread with hot pima peanut butter and smashed avacado spread on it.

Saw a post on Facebook that Americans can't read. Is it true or just another secular media post?

birdingnut comments on Jan 24, 2018:

The US public school system was designed to hold kids back and make sure they can't read phonetically. I used to substitute teach in two eastern Kentucky counties during the 90s. Most of the people, students and teachers could barely read, and avoided it. I used to sneak in a quick class after their assigned "busy work" was finished, to teach the kids to both read phonetically and speed read in 10-20 minutes, using song and color to access the right hemisphere of the brain. I found that all kids learned to read and speed-rapidly, including preschoolers and "special education" kids, since the right side of their brains didn't appear affected.