Ohtori Akio posted:

from a protestant, modern, faithful perspective church architecture as a means of expressing the way in which one intends to worship is pretty badass. i sometimes attend churches from a wide array of expressions of that from "giant box with columns" to "tiny little timbered space" and it piuts you in very different mindsets as one looks to connect with god

Cerebral Bore posted:

i tried to get my local church to set up giant dick statuary, but they just told me no and that kinda bummed me out

FirstnameLastname posted:

john brown was right, he was as right as a person can be about anything and the only thing he messed up was thinking that other people would be as right as him about slavery

i think pacifism is the ideal at the personal level when there's nothing wrong happening, but when there is, pacifism does not actually fix things. pacifism as encouraged by the state or positions of power is simply a method of divide and conquer to reduce the concentration of dissent directed towards the ruling class.

the only instances of pacifism appearing to result in positive change (Civil Rights Act, Brits out of India, etc.) have not been because of the pacifist behavior, at all, but because it offered a more palatable alternative to the ruling class than the more violent and revolutionary alternatives and by embracing pacifist ideology, the ruling class splits and marginalizes the revolutionary potential of the oppressed. Civil Rights Act f. ex. the opposing message to MLK's "I Have A Dream" was the Black Panther Party's "We are advocates of the abolition of war which can only be abolished through war and in order to get rid of the gun, it is necessary to pick up the gun."

that's why non-violent, non-disruptive protest is depicted as the only tolerable method for humans to show dissent in the western world, and why it's put on a pedestal above all other forms of dissent and treated as the 'moral' way to fight power - anything more than that, even MLK/rosa parks style civil disobedience will have society at large completely tolerate the protest being smashed to bits, because everyone has been taught and told repeatedly protest is 'supposed to be peaceful and civil', even though those being opposed are not and will not ever be

like, im not making a call to violence, but pacifism didn't end apartheid, pacifism didn't end slavery, pacifism didn't end jim crow, pacifism didn't overthrown the ancien régime, pacifism didn't give india independence, or ireland, or mexico, or cuba, or indonesia, or algeria, or vietnam. pacifism will not free palestine, pacifism will not demilitarize the police, pacifism will not remove the ruling class from power, pacifism will not liberate the working class. being a nonviolent person is admirable and i think something people should strive to be, but as a group ideology, as a means to an end, pacifism is idealistic and cannot actually even exist without a violent counterpart ensuring that it won't be destroyed - look at how useful nonviolent resistance and protest was in nazi germany lol. peaceful protests only work, and are only even allowed, when that protest is backed up by an understanding that if the protest isn't allowed to occur, violence will.

AxGrap posted:

Idk bout god or anything

ikanreed posted:

I tried to be genuinely respectful to the Mormon missionaries who showed up to my door this weekend, and let them give me as much of a spiel as they had.

I'm not impressed with the apologetics skills of the boots on the ground missionaries. "Don't you feel like without God watching you, you're tempted to do bad things" is D-tier material, boys.

Ohtori Akio posted:

Door to door proselytism is essentially hazing. They're there to cement their identity as Mormon moreso than to actually recruit.

KirbyKhan posted:

This! One of my favorite cultural values of the Mormons was The Mission and how every young man goes out for 2ish years to be where God needs them to be. Makes for a stronger person to have your faith tested and proved by the world. Also, without work, faith is merely happy thoughts. I heard the personal stories of a couple of missionaries who did work to help people who might accept the word of Jesus Christ and latter-day saints if they had water and an English teacher. The language schools are top notch too, beat out the military spook language schools in performance and effectiveness.

Ohtori Akio posted:

Door to door proselytism is essentially hazing. They're there to cement their identity as Mormon moreso than to actually recruit.

ikanreed posted:

the apparent but unprovable value of induction.

Buck Wildman posted:

Ohtori Akio posted:

TItties in my mouth

ikanreed posted:

I tried to be genuinely respectful to the Mormon missionaries who showed up to my door this weekend, and let them give me as much of a spiel as they had.

I'm not impressed with the apologetics skills of the boots on the ground missionaries. "Don't you feel like without God watching you, you're tempted to do bad things" is D-tier material, boys.

Nix Panicus posted:

If you put up with them long enough they send in a senior member to start the hard sell. I made the mistake of extending basic human decency to a missionary once and after two weeks I had a used car salesman coming around trying to pressure me into converting. You have to politely but firmly tell them to gently caress off

my bony fealty posted:

what happens if you invite them in to suck your dick?

Ohtori Akio posted:

without a doubt this happens and is a major reason for the buddy system

Nix Panicus posted:

The first time he came alone, but after that he always had company. I missed my window.

Nix Panicus posted:

If you put up with them long enough they send in a senior member to start the hard sell. I made the mistake of extending basic human decency to a missionary once and after two weeks I had a used car salesman coming around trying to pressure me into converting. You have to politely but firmly tell them to gently caress off

ikanreed posted:

It's definitely my biggest personal gulf with religious leftists, who are often more attached to the moral dimension of their religions.

Ohtori Akio posted:

the buddha of eternal milk

Poppers posted:

Lol. What is the sound of one boob flapping

Cerebral Bore posted:

sexy?

FirstnameLastname posted:

im not making a call to violence,

FirstnameLastname posted:

but pacifism didn't end apartheid, pacifism didn't end slavery, pacifism didn't end jim crow, pacifism didn't overthrown the ancien régime, pacifism didn't give india independence, or ireland, or mexico, or cuba, or indonesia, or algeria, or vietnam. pacifism will not free palestine, pacifism will not demilitarize the police, pacifism will not remove the ruling class from power, pacifism will not liberate the working class. being a nonviolent person is admirable and i think something people should strive to be, but as a group ideology, as a means to an end, pacifism is idealistic and cannot actually even exist without a violent counterpart ensuring that it won't be destroyed - look at how useful nonviolent resistance and protest was in nazi germany lol. peaceful protests only work, and are only even allowed, when that protest is backed up by an understanding that if the protest isn't allowed to occur, violence will.

Ohtori Akio posted:

gross

Fortaleza posted:

Wouldn't those schools just be run the same people

Ohtori Akio posted:

imagining the mission supervisor guys making pairs so you dont get a double gayboy team who are jsut gonna eiffel tower the first twink they meet

Xaris posted:

how do you resolve the inherent contradiction to yourself here? you say there shouldn't be a call to violence, but pacifism doesn't work. why is being pacifist admirable and good, yet then also has never been meaningful? i mean this in an earnest question -- it sounds like you still have liberal hesistencies living in your mind

personally, i'm not gunna do poo poo: im gunna post and play video games. posting > *. it's simple as a press of a button

ikanreed posted:

As long as the next one can grapple with basic epistemology, they can have at it.

Per thread's title, I do sincerely wish more people pitching The Truth of Life, put in a little bit more thought on what the concept of truth means.

It's definitely my biggest personal gulf with religious leftists, who are often more attached to the moral dimension of their religions.

Buck Wildman posted: