genessa's Profile

Has anyone else had to cut ultra religious family out of their lives?

genessa comments on May 10, 2019:

i never had religious relatives or at least not since the great-grandparents died, after which we were raised secular jewish. i do have a niece who has been brainwashed not to talk to me (nothing to do with religion) who married not just a nonjew but a christian missionary. so now she teaches sunday school and participates in the brainwashing of small children. i don't know how this happened to her. she was always a smart, loving child. i don't know how her mother, my sister, feels about that, since she, my sister, is the one who taught her not to communicate with me. (she has turned some friends against me too.) as i say, that part has nothing to do with religion. so no, your experience is not mine, and i am sorry that it has happened to you. it shouldn't happen to anyone. g

What is the "incel" movement all about?

genessa comments on May 10, 2019:

incels do not remain involuntarily celibate. they rape and do not consider it rape; they consider that they are taking their due, that all women owe all men sex. g

Guess who is back for the 4th time .

genessa comments on May 9, 2019:

i don't think i know him, or at least don't remember him, and see no posts or comments either, so it's probably not you lol. he has a follower, just one. i wonder if he is conning her? g

Scientific evidence is great and all but I think its also important for everone to back up and ...

genessa comments on May 9, 2019:

i have no proof that the tooth fairy doesn't exist but i still know, not think maybe, not speculate, but KNOW she doesn't, which is a bummer because she's owed me a quarter for a half dozen decades, and the interest on that would pay off our mortgage. we don't know everything but that doesn't mean we don't know anything! g

Finally!!!! Potential progress!! 🤩 Rep.

genessa comments on May 9, 2019:

the senate will be as stubborn as always -- but you know what? all this cool legislation the house has been passing EXISTS now and can be reintroduced when the senate turns blue next year. those of you thinking, ach, the democratic party is the same as the republican party (wrong wrong wrong!) or isn't all it's cracked up to be (nobody's perfect, folks) should take heed. there is more to getting the senate back than partisan power or thwarting trump, who we hope won't be in office anymore anyway. it's a matter of getting things DONE that have long needed doing and getting things REVERSED that should never have been done to begin with. giving the dems power means giving ourselves a better place to live and be citizens. g

As a Christian, I can remember mocking Islam and thinking how stupid the religion was.

genessa comments on May 8, 2019:

christianity in its bibles (jews have no old or new testament; there is just the hebrew bible) and islam in its quran are violent, maybe not equally, but at any rate violent in stories, not violent in actual action. in the modern day, modern muslims do not perform those bloody laws any more than modern day jews and christians stone people to death for, say, adultery. HOWEVER, islamists (who do NOT follow quran and even perform terroristic acts on muslim holidays) and radical christians (who do not follow the christian bibles, nor understand them as far as i can tell) are plenty violent, and in the united states, christians (should we call them christianists?) are way more violent than islamists. i refuse to judge practitioners or believers in religions by their "holy" texts, since they are followed to such wildly varying degrees even by the devout. i judge them by their actions. g

How do you de-stress?

genessa comments on May 8, 2019:

your methods sound good. if they work, they work! me, i smooch on my old felines and young puppy, give my guy a big hug is he hasn't been too big a pain in the ass, i play three computer games and one mobile game, and they're intense, so my concentration goes solely on them and not on my problems. i am not the type of person who lies in the sun at the beach; i splash in the water or walk around collecting shells. so concentration is my relaxation. it doesn't work for everyone. g

Seeing that we are all atheists agnostics what makes a person choose good over evil?

genessa comments on May 8, 2019:

our humanity. the question presumes among other things, that believing in a god makes a person choose good over evil., have you seen the prison stats? there are an awful lot of christians in there, very few jews, even fewer atheists. whatever makes a person choose good over evil, it sure isn't religion, or belief in a god. g

Elizabeth Warren shames Mitch McConnell by reading directly from Mueller report on the Senate floor...

genessa comments on May 7, 2019:

good for her! as it happens, i am leaning strongly toward her for the primaries. i like several other people, and anyone of them, even those i dislike a little, is worlds better than trump (a low bar, but the ones i do like, i feel meet a much higher bar) but so far in my mind she is winning with her fearlessness, her actual plans and legislation, and this kind of behavior from her. she is not alone in courage, or having plans, and i can't wait to see who chooses whom veepily lol. but it's early days. ignore polls, folks. it's all name recognition at this point. msnbc's evening analysts are inviting all of the candidates, one at a time, to their shows, so if you want exposure to them all, and the ability to compare and contrast, that's a good network to watch of an evening, not only these days but especially these days. when campaigning ramps up and the debates begin, more people will start polling differently as the ones who don't watch msnbc get introduced to the gang. (so i am not worried about electability.) but so far... so far.... president liz sounds pretty darned good! g

When is it okay to say "I love you"?

genessa comments on May 7, 2019:

my thought is that it doesn't run on anyone's calendar or schedule. this is an impossible question. there is no time-related answer. when you feel it and are not afraid to say it, that's when. g

We serve the same god but give it a different name.

genessa comments on May 7, 2019:

no we don't. most of us here serve no gods whatsoever. why would you say we serve the same god on a site geared toward folks who either do not believe there are any gods or firmly believe there are no gods? and by the way, even what ali said about rivers isn't true. it isn't the same water. it may be the same water flowing through all parts of EACH river (and i have heard the opposite -- that you can't step into the same river twice because it is always changing). all rivers do not have the same water in them. anyone who has ever seen at least two rivers knows that. g

Mnuchin refuses to turn over Trump taxes to House Democrats [cnn.

genessa comments on May 6, 2019:

i don't think the dems are expecting pillow fights. this is just an extension of the snowflake myth. i would not propagate it, as i do not believe it. g

JImmy Dore satire; Satirical Sanders character referring to Biden, "He's so phony his balls are made...

genessa comments on May 6, 2019:

none of that is true and i'm fed up with this kind of divisive propaganda. people not voting for a democrat next year is what will get us trump for not four more years but the rest of his life, as he aspires to be king and the republicans are ever so willing to accommodate. the democratic party is NOT full of crap. you're talking about the wrong party here. g

I live in a very Christian and republican area.

genessa comments on May 6, 2019:

also try rent-a-friend and be specific! g

I live in a very Christian and republican area.

genessa comments on May 6, 2019:

do you have a free newspaper that takes free or cheap ads, or craigslist, to advertise a meetup? or make posters and post them where they can be seen, preferably not on church doors rofl rofl g

Should we respect other people's beliefs?

genessa comments on May 6, 2019:

it depends somewhat on what use people make of those beliefs. i knew someone who believed the moon landing was a hoax. he wasn't hurting anyone. i also knew someone who thinks jews run the world and he IS hurting people because he goes around purveying antisemitism (also infecting innocent young women with sexually transmitted diseases, but that's a whole 'nuther story). everyone has foibles. not everyone's foibles, however foiblish, are harmful. g

So, an acquaintance that you run into every week posts THIS; "Muslims HATE pork, beer, bikinis, ...

genessa comments on May 5, 2019:

i guess the acquaintance doesn't like jews either, since pork and jesus are out. anyway, muslims don't HATE pork; they're not allowed to eat it. they also not only don't hate jesus, they consider him a prophet (which means jews should be lower down on the list than muslims if these are the criteria). i didn't know jesus wore a bikini or had a dog, or drank beer come to think of it. my choice would be 5. mention some of the above. what care i if a shitstorm comes back? like their opinion would mean something to me? and i DO have a block button for when things get tedious. g

Isn’t it wonderful that the world is getting better at last.

genessa comments on May 5, 2019:

who the hell is pinker, what statistics, and do my own observations of how the world is getting worse count for nothing? feh! g

Perhaps atheists need religion to exist to justify their position.

genessa comments on May 5, 2019:

why do i have to justify my "position" to anyone? i don't have a position. i just happen to be aware that there are no gods. so if no one else believed in any gods, there still wouldn't be any. what i know has nothing to do with what someone else believes. g

Has anyone else noticed that Christians are sometimes the most amoral, hypocritical and ...

genessa comments on May 5, 2019:

how is treating people like crap not christian? when does one get to admit that if the majority of christians behave a certain way, that's how christians behave? i don't think of amorality and hypocrisy as unchristian. i think of them as very christian. it is one of the gazillion reasons i've never had any desire to be christian. g

How many of us here have done some shit like this

genessa comments on May 5, 2019:

nope, never actually ever called anyone a pansy. g

When you were a child what were you favorite comic books?

genessa comments on May 5, 2019:

i never read comic books as a kid -- with one exception. when i went into the hospital, aged nine give or take, to have my tonsils out, we stopped in the gift shop and i picked out a comic book. it was a green lantern and it was about a boy who had a piece of moon (or extraterrestrial at any rate) rock in his head that made all his dreams come true while he was dreaming them -- and he had a penchant for nightmares. the green hornet figured it out and saved the day. i have since then searched and even found a list of all green lantern comic book plots and never found that one. did i dream it myself? g

I'm a middle school Science teacher.

genessa comments on May 5, 2019:

nope, i cannot relate at all. it is logical to disbelieve in gods. why does atheism have to be researched and proven? the claim that gods exist is what needs to be proven, not the absence thereof. it took you a long time; no shame in that. however, if it came more easily to someone young, how is it offensive -- unless you're jealous that they didn't have to go through what you went through? i've been an atheist since i was 15. i didn't do any research. i just realized there were no gods. should i have kept believing because i hadn't read enough religious texts? and which ones should i have read? i wasn't christian before i was an atheist, so would it have been necessary to read christian texts? my family was secular-jewish but i had no idea whether or not my parents believed in any gods until i was an adult and asked. it turns out mom wasn't sure but thought she did believe, and dad wasn't sure but thought he didn't. they'd never mentioned it to me one way or the other, so i wasn't brainwashed and i wasn't following my parents' beliefs (as i didn't actually know them). how do you know your students' upbringings? how do you know what they have or have not read? how do you know they're repeating what family members told them? have you that little respect for your students? maybe you should view them as human beings with minds of their own. g

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz Signs Law Making Marital Rape Illegal [patheos.com]

genessa comments on May 4, 2019:

i thought it already WAS illegal! geez! but i voted for tim and i'm glad i did. g

Against cheerfulness: Practising the Greek virtues of wisdom and courage is one thing.

genessa comments on May 4, 2019:

not all cheerfulness is fake or insincere. you can be cheerful by nature and still be angry or upset about certain things, or even about many things. comedians who point out society's ills do so by making us laugh but we laugh because we recognize the truth of what is being pointed out. as for laughter's being the best medicine, that actually has nothing to do with cheerfulness per se. laughter is LITERALLY good medicine. i have felt physically better after watching an episode of murphy brown. it WORKS. it isn't hypocritical, psychotic or fake. if you don't take care of your mind and body, how can you fight the injustice of the world? now the insane cheerfulness i see in the pinwheel-spinning eyes and frozen smiles of evangelicals is another matter. ugh! g

I just watched Rachel Maddow interview of Kamala Harris.

genessa comments on May 4, 2019:

the cool thing about the democratic candidates so far is that (again so far) they have kept good relations going, and if this continues to be the case, some of those who do not become the eventual candidate (and only one can, after all!) will likely become cabinet members. g

What is the longest amount of time you have ever gone without sleep?

genessa comments on May 4, 2019:

without ANY? three days. that was about 40-45 years ago. without more than an hour or two at a time? a week or more. without meaningful sleep? years. g

I've been attending AA meetings for some 8 months now.

genessa comments on May 4, 2019:

i have no experience of such organizations but i read an article within the last year about how aa may not be as effective as it claims to be. i do not want to discourage anyone from trying to recover. recovery is good. if it's working, it is working. but if i needed such a service i would be hesitant to go to one that urged acceptance of a higher power. g

I remember growing up loving this stuff, I will not touch it today.

genessa comments on May 3, 2019:

we did not have a kosher household but my mom nonetheless did not serve this. i discovered it on my own as an adult. i love it. g

"Make Elizabeth Warren Hate Again" "We don’t just need Elizabeth Warren’s ideas.

genessa comments on May 3, 2019:

we don't need anyone's hatred. warren's anger is righteous. she's not a hater. g

Hi! I'm new here and I right now I'm going through a "deconversion" period.

genessa comments on May 3, 2019:

you are a work in progress (aren't we all? but i mean regarding religion). you may remain a believer in some kind of god, or you may do what most of on this site would consider better and that is realize there are no gods, a scary realization UNLESS and UNTIL you also realize that this is not a bad thing. you can still be a good person. you can still stand up for your rights and not take crap for loving whom you love and being who you are. let me just say i think you're doing great so far and however it works out you have my admiration for giving it the amount of thought you have given it, and hopefully will continue to give it. you do not have to reach the same conclusion most of us here have reached (again, we hope you do lol). the fact that you are thinking at all puts you ahead of the game! so many just accept whatever they've been told, without thinking at all. good luck and keep us posted. g

OH, MY GOD May be this question has been asked and discussed here before.

genessa comments on May 3, 2019:

do you feel comfortable saying "oh shit" when you bang your toe? are you REALLY calling on anyone to defecate? it's an expression. when i say "holy moley" i am referring neither to holiness nor to garlic. g

Just random thoughts.

genessa comments on May 3, 2019:

i had no idea it was prayer day. i knew it was holocaust remembrance day. i think every day has a lot of stuff marked on its calendar spot. no one on msnbc mentioned prayer day though. g

What to say when hijacked by two born agains in public

genessa comments on May 2, 2019:

i think "go away" is a good first parry. if that doesn't work, "go the fuck away" is a bit stronger. g

Just wondering here.

genessa comments on May 2, 2019:

not necessarily specifically since that date; i have noticed its presence growing since before then. but yeah, since then too. g

The person who has never really attempted to ask himself or herself the basic questions of ...

genessa comments on May 2, 2019:

not everyone is that intelligent, and by saying so i am not putting anyone down. not everyone can do this. most people would not even understand those questions. they just want bread and circuses and someone to love. we may think they're not living life fully, but maybe we shouldn't expect so much from the average person. g

I run a very modest Airbnb and was wondering how to leave a Gideons Bible ironically? [abnb.me]

genessa comments on May 2, 2019:

put it in a bookcase with other books, and file it under FICTION. g

Why do the very people we trust commit sin

genessa comments on May 2, 2019:

who here trusts church folk? not many, and certainly not i. i would not call any of the people to whom you're referring "the very people we trust"! also, what is sin? there is ethical and unethical behavior, and there is crime. sin is a religious concept. you won't find a lot of folks here thinking about sin. as for why church people do bad things, the answer is simple: because they can. g

Barr ensures Congress can't stop Trump now [cnn.com]

genessa comments on May 2, 2019:

no, barr has ensured that an angry house will work harder than ever to carry out its investigations. he has blown it. if only he cared. he's just playing for time. it may work but not forever. g

Electing an atheist president? [bigthink.com]

genessa comments on May 2, 2019:

we may or may not have ever elected an atheist president. we haven't elected an openly atheist one yet, although it is possible lincoln was one. not sure. trump is probably less an atheist as an opportunist. there are so many things he doesn't believe in (pretty much anything except his own right to take anything he wants, be it a pussy, a country or everyone's money) that not believing in any gods is likely incidental, not philosophical. i don't think he examined evidence/lack thereof and came to a logical conclusion. he would be an accidental atheist at best and should not count. it might be a long, long time before we have an intelligent and openly atheistic president. the american public is still too superstitious. when football players stop praying before games, when congress stops holding invocations, maybe that will be a sign. i'm not holding my breath. g

THE GENERAL & HELLOS BLACK HOLE -- There's some kind of ongoing glitch that draws my posts from...

genessa comments on May 2, 2019:

i believe that moderators are able to move posts they find inappropriate or otherwise don't want in their groups. i am not sure if this is so, or how they do it, or if they have total freedom in their choice of a landing spot. you can ask the moderators of the groups in question whether (and if so why) they have done this. it's the only thing i can think of that might be happening, it isn't happening to me, as far as i know. g

Oh Yes! and I don't even like Hillary. :)

genessa comments on May 1, 2019:

i just saw her on the rachel maddow show, not for the first time, and i still like her. someone tried VERY hard to condition us not to like her. it didn't work with me. g

Okay so I want to vent about my grandpa for a moment here.

genessa comments on May 1, 2019:

there is no effective way to prepare. i knew my mother was dying and her death was a shock anyway. you also can't force someone to live if they are resigned to death, or force them to take treatment if they're convinced it will kill them, or kill them faster. all you can do is love him. well, one other thing: you can write him a very calm letter explaining how you feel and what you think about treatment (and leave the dream part out; he doesn't need to know that; make this about HIM). emphasize that you love him and are not trying to control him. it might not change his mind but it will let him know how you feel. g

[thetimes.

genessa comments on May 1, 2019:

but there IS islamaphobia and it has no new definition; it is what it has always been: fear or hatred of muslims, period. there IS antisemitism, and although some people think criticism of israel is in and of itself antisemitism, some criticizm of israel is (the jews don't deserve a country, israel should be given to the palestians, israel should not exist as a country) and some is not (israel has a fascist prime minister and his policies are hurting and sometimes killing palestinian people). meanwhile, we poke fun of christianity, not christians (except for evangelicals, for they deserve our reactions to their pushing their religion on us). jews don't proselytize. you're right in that we don't poke FUN at muslims; we spew HATRED about them -- not about islam, not about islamists (who themselves are not representative of islam or muslims) but about muslims, as if we must hold every muslim responsible for terrorism. therefore i disagree with everything you've said. g

How many on here either have decided to abandon major social media platforms (FaceBook, Twitter, ...

genessa comments on May 1, 2019:

not me. i'm a writer and i have a nice big collection of potential readers on facebook, which i also enjoy on many levels, not least the ability to connect with old friends and distant family. i also subscribe there to such venues as nyt, wapo, salon, the atlantic, dan rather's news and guts, and many more, and i get directed to news about which i care faster there than i do here. i don't see a conflict. i enjoy both sites differently. and this site is not exactly narcissism-free! g

What specifically happened that made you turn into an atheist/ nonbeliever?

genessa comments on May 1, 2019:

i just stopped one day to reconsider everything i believed in because i found out that something my folks had always told me turned out not to be true (they hadn't lied; they were just wrong). god went out the window pretty fast. it wasn't traumatic or anything. g

What is with this Atheist/Agnostic divide stuff lately.

genessa comments on Apr 30, 2019:

i see that some of y'all have not noticed. i have. it saddens me. i think both labels embrace a range and the ranges sometimes overlap. i call myself an atheist but i don't diss agnostics for being undecided (not my concept, just what i see in the arguments) and i don't care to be dissed for being arrogant (not how i see myself). it is also irritating when people start telling us who we are and what we do or should believe, and that applies to each other as well as to believers. it is equally annoying when a believer tells me that atheism is a religion and when an agnostic tells me the same thing. my main concern isn't what other people believe. let 'em believe in the cheesecake deity if they want, or the tooth fairy. it starts to matter to me when religion gets legislated, executed and/or adjudicated, or forced upon us through other means. this is where atheists and agnostics are, or should be, the same: fight for separation of church and state (and separation of door-knockers, street-doom-criers, pamphleteers and such from ordinary people minding their own business). g

Here's an interesting retort for those Religious Apologists who try to silence rational and factual ...

genessa comments on Apr 29, 2019:

as @mischi also implied, sometimes you can only reach someone from within that person's own bubble. i have but two words for christian trumpkins: "golden calf." for generic evangelicals, i just tell them, firmly, that i am not interested. if they persist, i get firmer. i have not been converted yet, so it must be working. g

Satanic Temple sues Minnesota city over rejected pentagram monument.

genessa comments on Apr 29, 2019:

they make good points but not everyone is clever enough to get them. most people probably believe that the satanic temple is as its name proclaims: satanic, and since so many religious folks believe in the satan of the christian bible (not even present in the hebrew bible, i might add -- there is a ha-satan, which simply means "the prosecuting attorney" and has nothing to do with sin or demons or any of that jazz) they will see this as a paeon to their worst enemy. this will not convince them to separate church from state. it may have the opposite effect of galvanizing them into advancing the careers of such jackasses as we already have, who proclaim that america is a christian nation and should put god above country. i hope the point gets across to more people than otherwise but i fear a backfire instead. g

Which 5 candidates will drop out first?

genessa comments on Apr 29, 2019:

only 15 are shown here. there are about 20 now (and counting). i don't know who will drop out before debates; some may fail to reach the debate requirements, which may then prompt them to drop out, or effectively squeeze them out. all i can say is that i hope none of them will put personal ambition before the country and divide the liberal vote by then running as an independent. g

So instead of wasting my time going to church today I picked up my yard

genessa comments on Apr 29, 2019:

well, next sunday can you come pick up MY yard? i'm tired! :-)) g

Matt Dilahunty once made the statement that "Atheists are those that don't BELIEVE in a god, and ...

genessa comments on Apr 29, 2019:

no, i don't agree. what i think is that people spend too much time trying to define words that actually each have more than one meaning in that their meanings are broad. an atheist can be someone who doesn't believe in any gods, or someone who firmly believes there are no gods. both are atheists. some agnostics explain themselves by saying they don't believe in any gods but cannot state that there definitely are none because they don't know; others say they're simply unsure; others are offended when people say agnostics are unsure. there is a RANGE for each and they overlap. i won't oversimplify just so we can have two clearly labeled barrels to toss people into. g

Unequally yoked

genessa comments on Apr 29, 2019:

i don't consider that my job. unlike some christians, do not feel i must save everyone. let people be. if your family is happy as they are, as long as they're not trying to make you be something you're not, why try to make them be something they're not? my guy watches wrestling two nights a week. i think it's stupid. he enjoys it. i leave him alone. g

I call him by the old fashioned term "Asshole"

genessa comments on Apr 29, 2019:

now, now, don't insult assholes. depending on your metabolism, an asshole is useful between one and whatever number of times per day. there is no earthly use for trump. g

Death arrangement

genessa comments on Apr 29, 2019:

from google: Body donation. Contact local medical schools and teaching hospitals. ... Direct cremation. This involves simple cremation, without costly memorial services. ... Direct burial (also known as “immediate burial”). ... Mausoleum. ... Backyard burial. ... Burial at sea. ... “Green” cemetery burial. ... Cryonic freezing. g

this post isn't actually about my being a mess, but i have to explain that i'm a mess for the post ...

genessa comments on Apr 28, 2019:

hey everyone i appreciate all the advice about the tinnitis but what i was eager to share was how the one show that is usually reliable turned into a horror show for me because of my ptsd regarding eyes! lolol! okay, just thought i would mention that. carry on! g

Despite being atheist, im pretty sure I 100% believe in Tarot cards.

genessa comments on Apr 28, 2019:

there definitely are tarot cards in the world. i own a pack. the cards are pretty. when i used to resd them for people, i did NOT, as someone suggested below, ask questions. i read them cold. however, the cards have no magic powers whatsoever. as has also been suggested below, they provoke thoughts and feelings. they enable me, the reader, to give decent advice, and insofar as one can predict predictable things (no, you should not murder your husband or you'll go to prison) it can help in that regard, but it cannot enable me or anyone else to make predictions about things beyond our control. it is not, i repeat NOT, magic, or connected with spirits or spirituality, or anything supernatural. those who have no affinity for the cards will find them useless. those who have unrealistic expectations of them will find them useless. those who want to attribute powers to them will be disappointed. g

It seems like every day at work I get religious people randomly asking me if im Christian and ...

genessa comments on Apr 28, 2019:

from googline texas aclu: How do I contact the ACLU in Texas? If you would like to file a complaint, click here to fill out our legal complaint form. Texas Bar Lawyer Referral Service (click on “find a lawyer”) or call 1-877-9TEXBAR (toll free) Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid or call 1-888-988-9996 (toll free) now, you don't have to contact them right away. you can complain to the powers that be in your company that you are being harassed. make sure you have a concrete request, such as "i would like the other employees to stop giving me christian literature, asking me about religion and/or trying to get me to their churches." be as calm as possible. you can meanwhile mention that you thought of going to the aclu but realized that a simple request might be appropriate, since soliciting religion and harassment in general are INappropriate in the workplace. the mention of the aclu may serve as a kind of protection against being dismissed. i don't know if texas is an at-will state, which, if it was, would mean an employer doesn't need a reason to fire an employee, but if discrimination is involved, that trumps the at-will bit. so mentioning the aclu and making it clear that you feel you're being harassed expressly because of religion could be that much protection. if your efforts there are ineffective, then you will want to contact the aclu and ask how to proceed and whether they think you need them to press charges. g

This editorial cartoon was published in the NY Times international edition, to be followed on Monday...

genessa comments on Apr 27, 2019:

disgusting. g

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, ...

genessa comments on Apr 27, 2019:

side note that doesn't really answer your question (but i thought i should mention it): the disorder you wish to mention is not schizophrenia but dissociative identity disorder, once called multiple personality disorder and probably due for another name change in the future because for some reason that always happens. to answer your actual question: yeah, the bibles are inconsistent. note that you mentioned bits of two different bibles. the quotation from deuteronomy is out of context (the context doesn't help that much but is interesting so i link it here, and please note that this is a direct translation from hebrew and did not pass through the hands of emperors, popes or kings): https://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0520.htm meanwhile, yes, that portion of the hebrew bible is brutal, dealing with war. of course that's people, not a fictional skydaddy, making that recommendation for how to treat conquered people. i know you know that but are presenting this as god's words because you want to make a point. i cannot help you with regard to the chrisrian bible since i have never been christian and have no deep knowledge of that particular bible. i do know that if jesus existed (maybe and maybe not) he was jewish, so i suppose that jesus, even as a fictional character, would be well familiar with deuteronomy. meanwhile, one does not have to be schizoid or dissociative to change one's mind, or to be flighty and inconsistent. if there was a god and he said those things, and if we counted jesus as not only having existed but being a manifestation of the same god quoted in deuteronomy, one could just consider him an untrustworthy son of a bitch, not necessarily mentally ill but just unreliable (at best). good thing there is no such animal, eh? g

I have a buddy I was in Vietnam with.

genessa comments on Apr 27, 2019:

alas, his political views and his racism are wrapped up together. i wish i had a solution. there probably is none. he is the product of his upbringing, and his upbringing is largely brainwashing. the best you can do, i think, is ask him not to rant on racistly. explain that it makes you feel bad (i think "offends" would not be a useful word even if it's accurate). explain that you don't feel the same way, offer to explain why but give him a way out -- for example "if you want to know why it makes me feel bad i can tell you, but if you'd rather just drop it, that's okay too, but it hurts me to hear what you're saying so please don't lay that on me." g

By the logic being employed by a couple of our more Islamphobic members: because a minority of ...

genessa comments on Apr 27, 2019:

you said it. i've been saying this for a long time but you said it so well (and it's okay that you misspelled pence's name because pence has misspelled his darling christianity, figuratively speaking; it may revolve around a fictional skydaddy but my understanding is that it is supposed to promote some kind of love among mankind. i do need new glasses but i can't manage to blame myself for not being able to see christianity that way. HOWEVER, i do not blame individual christians i know who take the good parts and treat folks kindly and ignore the howlings of the megachurches. as for republicans.... i can somehow manage to distinguish between the ordinary republican voter and republican elected officials and appointees, and between either of them and rabid republican voters who are also terrorists or erstwhile terrorists. the part of your post i like BEST, though, is the part about bibi. he does NOT represent all israelis (and i am convinced he trumpishly stole his election, and no i have no sources, just a gut feeling, so i can't provide evidence much less proof -- i am just stating my feelings here) and certainly does not represent all jews (even if trump wants to call him MY prime minister rofl rofl). meanwhile, every muslim i have met in person has been a kind, normal individual who would no more rape or pillage or terrorize than you or i. oh as for stalin... did you ever notice how saddam hussein physically fashioned himself after stalin? find pictures of each and look at them side by side. spooky! but hussein didn't represent iraquis either. dictators are not in the business of representing the people of their countries, eh? g

Well that'll do it I suppose Christian Teacher Ended Her Husband’s Porn Habit… By Shooting ...

genessa comments on Apr 27, 2019:

yeah that is a viable cure. of course now there is a new disease and the cure is administered through the courts. g

Today I tried to give my mother advice, and she said that the bible says that one should not listen ...

genessa comments on Apr 27, 2019:

is she a trumpkin? if so, then say two words to her: golden calf. and you have my sympathy. g

I just wanted to get some other opinions on this.

genessa comments on Apr 26, 2019:

i encounter it all the time here and on facebook, usually not in connection with religion, and although mostly with regard to politics, sometimes, surprisingly, not. g

Poor Bob Barr

genessa comments on Apr 26, 2019:

funny meme, but it's bill, not bob. actually his name is asshole but still. g

Hannity pondering bailing on Fox News because he no longer feels the network is loyal to Trump: ...

genessa comments on Apr 26, 2019:

good. 'bye-eeeee seanie! g

Birth Of A Nation (Movie) on You Tube is outstanding and will guarantee your anger.

genessa comments on Apr 25, 2019:

since when i there another version anyway? outstandingly what? it's wonderfully produced and directed and acted and it's horrible. i am not going to purvey that racist horror. g

Would anyone be opposed to mandatory psychological evaluation for all citizens?

genessa comments on Apr 25, 2019:

unfortunately, psychiatric evaluation really isn't one-size-fits-all. if it became institutionalized in the way you describe, people who were stable but quirky might be excluded unfairly from... whatever. creative people, gone. i don't like this idea. i think that more attention needs to be paid to trigger behavior, and then the evaluation should be based on whatever is suspected, not standardized. g

Biden boosters telling me another "hold your nose" candidate is the path to victory.

genessa comments on Apr 25, 2019:

by the way, i am not by any means a biden booster. i am a GET A DEM INTO OFFICE AND GET TRUMP INTO PRISON booster. g

If more republicans come forward like this woman, maybe the new POTUS will be somebody decent?

genessa comments on Apr 25, 2019:

too late for the republican party. it is, as a unit, corrupt. g

Biden boosters telling me another "hold your nose" candidate is the path to victory.

genessa comments on Apr 25, 2019:

oh so not being perfect or being too centrist isn't better than having a nazi in the white house? biden is not even close to being my first choice and he won't get my vote in the primary but i'll be damned if i let trump stay put! get REAL! g

I'm in the US Virgin Islands so I can't vote for US mainland elections, sadly.

genessa comments on Apr 25, 2019:

welcome! those are legitimate interests for sure. i trust we can gather enough members to get a good conversation going :-)) g

We are open for business! If I can post a cat - it means the site is working right?

genessa comments on Apr 25, 2019:

can't beat cats for an opening act! :-)) g

Yes, we removed the general forum.

genessa comments on Apr 24, 2019:

so we all have to join groups, whether we want to or not, to make our voices heard, be it through our original posting or through responses to others' posts? this is quite disappointing. i understand your point of view and i am not savvy enough to offer a solution, but i can't help how i feel, and it WILL affect my participation here. that's not a threat (as if the world would end if i posted less!) it's an observatoin. g

Have you ever been overcome by emotion in a professional setting?

genessa comments on Apr 24, 2019:

emotions are good. if you've been avoiding them, this was a good chance to stop doing that destructive thing. you don't have to emote all over the place; floods cause mudslides! but a little boohoo now and again is a damned good thing. g

There is a good political reason to not impeach trump.

genessa comments on Apr 24, 2019:

i understand that theory and there is some validity to it, and yet i don't agree that this is the right course to follow. leaving trump in office another two years won't just finish off the republican party (maybe); it will endanger us for those two years, and it may also have the reverse effect and give the republicans time and motivation to secure their permanent power, make trump a dictator, and, oh, i dunno, maybe blow is all up on the side. g

I wonder if there is a certain falseness when someone chooses not to identify themselves; when they ...

genessa comments on Apr 24, 2019:

sometimes. sometimes they're just being playful. role-playing games are fun and some people carry role-playing into more than just games online. i don't, but i know some do. but think of this: sometimes role-playing is an expression of a part of you that really exists and can't practically be expressed in any other way! does that make it dishonest or MORE honest? g

What's the oldest thing you own and still use?

genessa comments on Apr 24, 2019:

my bladder. wait, my nutcracker, bottle openeer and cracked craved antique chair are all older than i am. they joined my family before i did. i still use them. i have books older than i am too. g

Name an old school word that we don't use anymore.

genessa comments on Apr 24, 2019:

i use all the damned words! i use words other people SHOULD be using, like "twice" and "easier" instead of "two times" and "more easy." watch a couple tv commercials or narrated documentaries and you'll see what i mean. copacetic. groovy. i still say those. okay i don't say ice box, but i never did. i'm only 67. i missed ice box. g p.s. glad to see you corrected the meme. "a old school"? seriously?

Why do people cheat in monogamous relationships?

genessa comments on Apr 24, 2019:

if they're cheating, they're not IN a monogamous relationship. they might think, or pretend that they are. the other party in the relationship may or may not believe it's monogamous. it's just not. g

I have come to realize there is no where to escape "god talk".

genessa comments on Apr 24, 2019:

that's why we have categories other than "relgion & spirituality" here. don't like? don't click! g

This has most likely been discussed multiple times, so apologies for creating yet another ...

genessa comments on Apr 24, 2019:

i have been suicidal and sometimes still feel that way, and there is nothing anyone can say or do. it just has to pass, and for some it doesn't. the more situational it is, the less likely it is to pass without effort (o if someone is suicidal out of desperation for being homeless, telling that person it will pass is stupid; helping the person get a home would be useful!) if it is totally internal, medical intervention may be called for. there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and sometimes there is no solution. as for religious folks wondering why we don't kill ourselves, the answer is simple: this is the only life we have. i have heard us wondering why they don't kill themselves since they are so eager to go to heaven! g

[friendlyatheist.patheos.com] This is discrimintation