Shamoozal.com - Smorgas Board

He, ironically, got a bit preachy about his beliefs. People told him to tone it down a bit and he lost it and left.

There was a thread about religion or something. Basically he was speaking negatively about religion (as he frequently did) and people here called him on his constant "Atheism is so great you're stupid for believing in god" junk. It turned into this big thing and he left. While I am closer to his beliefs that that of the majority here (I think) I disagree with the way he went on about it. It was kind of like "You're a moron for believing in god." I have no problem with people believing in God, and very few people who do actually push it on people (which does bother me but like I said, is rare). The level that absolutely drives me insane is the Santorum level. Where he thinks that HIS religious beliefs are more important than the constitution.

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Holy waaaaaaaaars.

I only worship one man.

WaffleJesus

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WWW.MOVIEWISEGUYS.COM

Praise his warm holy squares! PRAISE!

Yeah that guy is an asshole. I also can't stand that sort of shit.

Speaking of holy things, I never got my daughters baptized. My Mom probably secretly hates me. I'll get to it eventually....

Good man.

*Signs off forever*

Hahaha. To be honest I haven't exactly figured out how I'm going to handle the whole Catholic thing with the girls. I mean I think I have a plan. I will baptize them and I will send them to a CCD class so they learn a bit about it. They'll get all the sacraments and shit. I guess we'll go to church once in a while. I don't want to force it on them, but I want them to learn a thing or two about it and then they can do whatever they want with that knowledge when they're older. If they're into it, cool, if not, cool.

where do they even do CCD classes anymore?

Im still not sure if im gonna go down this road with my kids.

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It's a very tricky thing. When I was very young (like less than 10) we went every weekend and I did the little Sunday school type thing where they bring the younger kids into a separate room and do a kind of less boring/more kid-friendly version of mass. Eventually my family just stopped going, I don't remember why but it just stopped.

One of my biggest issues with going to church is that the preacher is basically an employee of the catholic church. If you are donating money to the church you are giving money to a group that has covered up a large amount of sexual abuse committed on children. They literally just transferred the people to a different location. Hell in 50 years there have been 10,667 allegations against 4,392 priests accused of sexual assault against a minor in the United States alone. While I'm sure there are a decent amount of false accusations that number is still pretty crazy, there are something like 41,000 priests in the US currently. It would take a ton of time to calculate the exact percentage of priests that have been accused of some form of sexual assault since priests die and new priests enter every year but I bet the percentage would be high enough to be alarming.

It's just massively difficult to trust a large group of people who believe/preach that homosexuals are going to hell and what they do is wrong yet they put massive effort into covering up child molestation (with something like 80% male victims). These people should have been outed immediately but instead they were protected and that makes me very uneasy.

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I went to church in my parents hometown this past weekend (protestant). It's a very poor town with a lot of good hearted people. The minister's they get usually seem a bit off (not in a sexual way or anything like that), I think partly because the pay is pretty bad compared to other areas so nobody wants the job.
Anyway, he mentioned that there was someone in need and that he was going to help them out by doing some carpentry work for them, but wanted the church (along with 4 others) to raise $200 for this person. Turns out it is his sister-in-law.
There was also a high school girl there who was putting on a charity event for her senior project. He suggested that the church donate $50 for her.
So basically he wanted the church to give $1000 to his sister in-law and $50 to an actual charity. I felt like throwing up.

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- Oh, great. You killed the invisible swordsman!
-- He's dead, all right.
--- How was I supposed to know where he was?
- You were supposed to fire up. _We_ both fired _up_.

Church is a good place for your kids to interact with other kids. I don't mind going to church except when I meet those people who are always judging you. Basically, in their eyes, if you're not a hardcore Christian, then something is wrong with you. They're judging you even though the Bible specifically said not to judge. What makes them think they're so much better? Because they believe in God? They need to get off their high horse. Same thing with the hardcore atheists, they're not better because they don't believe in God and when they act like they are, they're just being a bunch of douchebags ala Powerdusk.

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"If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. "

I don't think we're doing it. If we do, it would only be because Mandy's grandmom would be really upset if we didn't. She's really into it.
Mandy's sister is an atheist and did it just for her Grandmom. Kind of ridiculous but I get it.
She already has high blood pressure and anxiety issues on top of other health problems so I don't want to add to it.

But I think I am actually against it. If my kid gets into it when he's older then I think it will mean more to him to start from the beginning.
I'm not against that happening. I'll still Catholic. I just don't plan on going to church at all or sending them to catholic school... so why do the baptism?

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Part of me sort of feels like I "have to" and the other part of me thinks it's the "right thing to do." Which I guess is basically the same thing. Neither of which are me genuinely thinking they need it. I guess because it's so ingrained into me like I feel like it's pretty much my duty. The thing is, I want to still go through some of the motions with them at a young age because I don't want them growing up not knowing anything about it. I want to give them that knowledge, and like I said, they can do what they want with that. I feel like if they grow up completely without it, that of course they're just not going to care in the end. So I want it there a little bit so they're more aware than they would otherwise be.

My niece on Dem's side was baptized as some, I don't even know, Indian belief thing. I don't even know. Apparently her then husbands friend got some mail away certificate to be able to do this shit. It seriously just sounds like a bunch of hogwash. She did this because she hates the church (Dem's family also grew up with lots of Catholic school, etc) but yet still wanted her baptized. It just makes zero sense to me. Anyway, years down the line her grandmother (not Dem's Mom) took her to a few masses at, I think, a protestant church. Apparently she ended up asking all sorts of questions and found herself enjoying going to church. I don't think she has any idea of this fake thing she's baptized as, and I feel like she's been sort of robbed as a result. I'm not sure where I'm headed with this story, I just wanted to share it. Haha.

Nick and Sword, those are reasons why I really can't stand the whole church aspect of religion. It really is a bunch of shitty and crummy people. From the huge end of the spectrum like you explained Nick, to the smaller issues like Sword did are just many of the reasons. I know for a fact some our priests were taking extended vacations at some pretty sweet locations on church dollar. I know of a priest that had a 50k GROCERY bill for a years worth of food. My Mom and Dad have been extremely dedicated to their church and I've seen them get shit on countless times over the years, and yet somehow they're still dedicated to it.

The last time I went to church, a few months ago, it was for my Mom and Dad. They had a special little prayer said for them or something for their anniversary during a mass. Anyway, I had no idea who the priest was at this church. Guy goes up there and he's preaching about family values and shit (it was father's day weekend) and all I'm thinking is "What does this guy know about being a Dad?" I just find a lot of priests tough to take, and consider they're the dudes leading these masses, they're like one of the most important parts of the whole thing. I've known some nice priests over the years, the one that married my wife and I is a great guy. He seems pretty geniune anyway. If anything ever came out about him I think I'd be really let down and I'd just be done with church completely. Hahaha.

I can understand that bc im pretty sure if Gmom manf was still alive she would be upset too

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We did ours and Colleen hasn't taken Bobby to church since. I told her I would never go to Church, I just don't get into it, never have never will. I'm not even baptized Catholic.

Motha Fuckin Jihad, Shamoozal style.

My father is a preacher, and yet I haven't been to church in years. I know awful people, who will burn in hell according to their own religion, and incredibly kind ones all convening in the same place. I think the judgmental ones push me away the most though. Going to church every week doesn't make you better than anyone else. Meanwhile, my brother is an atheist, yet still plays the piano and organ for my dad's church pretty frequently.

It's a weird world we live in.

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Do priests actually make a profit or do they just have their "necessities" paid for?

I wonder how much their expenses are per year, how much profit they make (if any), and such. Like how many hours do they work? I know they run like 2 services on Sunday and 1 on Saturday, as well as attending catholic school masses and such. I'm curious how many hours do things classified as work per day.

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Does the catholic church believe that if someone is not baptized they will go to hell? I think some denominations believe that and that is why so many babies are baptized.

I've met some people who were baptized as a child want to go through the baptism process as an adult, but are not allowed because of church law. I think baptizing a child kind of takes away a big moment for them if they do eventually choose to join a church.



I don't know about priests, but at least in the protestant church, the preachers earn a salary. They also have certain things paid for or at least a stipend for home/food/travel/etc. Number of services doesn't directly tie to it, but size of congregation does. So if the church is big enough to have multiple services they earn more. They are "on call" all week to pray for the sick, visit people in the hospital, etc. So they actually take "vacation" time in which they'll give out a number of another preacher if something like that comes up. They also get paid extra for weddings/funerals.
I *think* our preacher gets paid somewhere in the $30k range, with another probably $15-20k or so for necessities. However one of the churches where I live now is operates with a $500k budget so I'm sure their preacher makes a lot more.



....Man what a fucked up birthday thread haha

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- Oh, great. You killed the invisible swordsman!
-- He's dead, all right.
--- How was I supposed to know where he was?
- You were supposed to fire up. _We_ both fired _up_.

Swordsman is on the money.

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Thats how I'm feeling these days. If they get into it when they know whats actually happening then it would mean a lot to them.
It kinda sucks that we would have to do it just for older generations to be happy. But sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet.
Still not sure what we're doing. We talk about it every now and then but never get to a 100% decision.

My grandparents have all passed away. So its only the one on my wife's side that we have to take into consideration.
She's very sensitive about religious stuff. She's the Powerdusk of Catholics.

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WWW.MOVIEWISEGUYS.COM

She worked with my Mom, I know this to be true. Hahahaha.

I guess you did just say your father was a preacher so you would've been a better source for Nick's question haha.

I grew going to a very small church that was always worried about how to keep the lights on so I ended up learning a lot more of how the finances worked than I would've liked. It got to a point where the business side of things made me start to despise organized religion.

_________________
- Oh, great. You killed the invisible swordsman!
-- He's dead, all right.
--- How was I supposed to know where he was?
- You were supposed to fire up. _We_ both fired _up_.

It's allright bro. You worded it way better than I would have. Me no speak good.

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