Not per se, no.

Has anyone else here ever noticed that when Muslims pray, they look like they're getting screwed in the ass?

I notice you have to go outside of our country to bring your examples.  I was referring to just our country, when I was describing the sacredness of churches once upon a time, which was unlike any other country in the world at its inception.  Our country was founded as a republic based upon Godly principles.  Every single charter in the individual states bares record of this.   Europe, is for all intents and purposes, godless (albeit religious at times) and has always been.  

Our country, now is not anything like it was.  We have followed the rest of the world all the way to the gutter and are continuing to go downward as I mentioned in the first line of this blog. 

But it makes sense in the whole scope of things.  We have to be brought low to be on a level playing field with the rest of the world for the Kingdom of the A.C. to take place.  A one world order means we are all in sync and are on equal grounds.  So all of this bad behavior and lack of any spiritual life needs to happen first to bring us down to snuff with the rest of the world. 

The burning of Synagogues is an anti-Semitic thing.  The Jews have been persecuted for centuries by the "so called" Christians who are really goats in sheep's clothhing. 

I've said before, if you doubt what I'm saying start talking to the older people around you.  See if they've noticed a difference.  I remember one parole officer saying that the criminals today are much much worse than they used to be.  He said there's a hardness about them, a vacancy in their eyes he never remembers seeing in the years past.  So go ask a seasoned security officer or a Parole officer or maybe someone who has been involved in Social Services for a long time.  I'm sure they will back what I'm saying up.  I'm not saying there weren't any really bad guys back then...Charles Manson and Ted Bundy comes to mind real quick.  What I'm saying is it's getting more and more prevalent.  The one or two Mansons here and there are nothing in comparison to what is walking around our world today.  Think about that the next time you get on a busy elevator. 

When I think of the 60's I think of the KKK burning black churches.  Yes, that's true.  But to the KKK blacks were animals.  They were not capable of worshipping a real God in a real church.  There was no sacredness involved here because to the KKK it wasn't really a church in the first place in their twisted religious minds.  They thought they were doing God a favor most likely.  Or they wern't thinking..period. 

it's not doing nearly as well as you think it's doing.  The churches are filled with people who are apathethic.  Satan himself has put on his Sunday best, applied for church membership and walks the aisles of many churches today.  He does his deadliest work from within the church.  The churches are in a very poor state and most Godly Pastors will tell you so.  In fact, there was a big article in  Time Magazine recently about the decline in the churches not to mention the fact they were asking if Christianity wasn't  dead.  Most polls are coming out with a declining membership. 

Let me ask you this since you go to a mainline denomination.  How well do you know your bible? Do you even bring one to your church on Sunday?  If I asked you if you could open up to any book of the bible would you be able to do so confidently without help?  If I quoted a scripture would you at least be able to make an educated guess at least which book it came out of?  If I quoted a scripture would you be able to tell me if Jesus, Paul, or John said it? 

I have health insurance and car insurance.  Always have.  You just proved my point.  My freedom in this instance has been taken away because of the actions of others.  On top of that, someone got their way and I lost my way of doing what I want to do.  Because I'm a law abiding citizen, I now wear my sealtbelt.  I have NO choice in the matter unless I wish to be a law breaker.  That's taking away my freedom. 

"The myth has to deal with the cosmology of today, and it's no good when it's based on a cosmology that's out of date. That's one of our problems. I don't see any conflict between religion and science. Religion has to accept the science of the day and penetrate it to the mystery. The conflict is between the science of 2,000 B.C. and the science of 2,000 A.D., and this is one of the problems with our tradition: where our inherited mythology, let's say our Judeo-Christian tradition relates to the Near East in the first millenium B.C. and it has nothing to do with life here and everything has to be explained. A mythological image that has to be explained to the brain is not working. When you move through a culture that is so alien to your own that the images don't click off any response, any recognition, then you're out of sync." - Joseph Campbell

I can definitely relate to this.  I am our of sync with the culture and I should be.  I'm a Christian with a Christian world view.  Makes sense. 

This was just brought to my attention.  Thought it was quite good and very modern way of saying the same thing I've been saying all along...in fact I felt at times watching this that I could have been the interviewer myself.   It's called "An Interview  With the Devil."   It's very biblical but with a current twist to make it easier for those who are unfamiliar with scripture. 

http://www.cryofthespirit.com/interview.html

Once again, you miss the point. Us in the West are out of sync with the East. You're not supposed to be out of sync with your own culture.

First off we are not nearly as out of date with the East as we once were.  Obviously the East has made themselves quite comfortable in the West now including the U.S. and Europe. 

and yes we as Christians ARE certainly to be out of synch with even our own culture.  This world is not our forever home so we are not to get too comfortable in it. 

Paul wrote to the Romans that we are not to be conformed to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  In other words like I said about the world being crooked?  We are to straighten up and fly right as God intended us. 

First the Jews and then the Christians were told to be a peculiar people.  That means different.  We are called out to be different and that alone makes us out of sync with our world here. 

I don't want to be in sync with a culture that thinks things today is just business as usual.

Religions have become bullshit.

So you're a counter-culture anarchist?

If there is a god growing angrier by the day, i sure hope hes the not that brutal dude from the old testament.

i'm kinda hopin for bacchus & aphrodite myself.

You took a small part of the entire quote out of context to praise yourself. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Isn't that another kind of globalization?

Turn back Evolution and progress? Be just as stuck in the dark ages as they are? I've never heard such bullshit. They should catch up with us. You're right you ARE out of sync, and you're a pathetic, small-minded imbecile.

Congratulations. You're proving what I've suspected for years. All Christians are stupid.

exactly.  This same culture has their ladder leaning against a very shaky wall with a  crumbling foundation. 

Well sorry to say he's going to be worse than that.  Have you read Revelation?  God is all about mercy, grace, forgiveness, patience and love.  He's giving mankind every single opportunity to turn around but there's going to be a day when even God says...enough! 

and everytime you throw mud on me by calling me names you can't help but dirty yourself.  Why resort to this?  Is it because you have nothing better to say? 

Please don't come around here anymore with this type of attitude. 

I've been dirty for years and proud of it.

I did.

Hey KFC, just passin by but wanted to respond. 

I'm not surprised there is more violence, more hate, just MORE.  Aside from the faith perspective there is a practical reason for it. 

There are more people today, and the population continues to grow.  By sheer statistical analysis alone, the number of just about everything should be going up, up, up.

I think as places become more crowded, as resources become more scare, not only will we lose more and more of our rights, but we will see more and more violence and crime.

I think about it like this, if you are in a 10 x 10 room with one other person, your personal freedoms are more abundant than if that room has 100 people in it.  If it has 100 people in it, there will need to be more legislation to cover everyone's rights, because the odds of one jerk making everyone miserable are increased by the number of people in the room.

I think this is one of the reasons big cities tend to be more liberal.  When you are packed into a city, living with thousands, and millions of other people, it requires much more regulation than smaller towns.  For instance, if 5% of the people want to spit on the sidewalk in a small town, its gross, but it doesn't necessarily affect the quality of life of the other people living there.

Now imagine NYC, and if only 5% of the population there spit on the sidewalk everyday..still gross, but suddenly more people are not only doing it, but being affected by it.  It could easily become a public health issue.

As our population increases, so too will these stories.

You were saying?

I agree Tova.  In fact your analysis is one of the reasons we took our kids out of a large H.S. and put them into a much smaller H.S.  We figured the less kids, the less troubles. 

So yes, the faith and practical aspects here go hand in hand.  The tower of Babal comes to mind also.  God originally told the people to scatter and populate the earth.  Instead they congregated, staying together and got in trouble together as well.   Maybe it's that whole gang mentality thing. 

What we're seeing in our modern age is this congregating again only this time it's called globalization and it's going to, from a faith perspective, be detrimental to the masses.    Only they have no idea what's about to happen. 

That's the irony of it all if you think about it.

Go forth and multiply in your fallen state.

About globalization.  That too has its own irony.  Once we hit critical mass as far as populations go, it will be necessary for survival. 

On a smaller level just look at California and the issues they are having with water.  We can look at them and say, oh well, sorry bout your luck.  But 1/3 of America's produce comes from land that now stands like a dust bowl because the pumps were turned off that fed the irrigation canals to save the smelt (small fish, endangered species, pumps suck up and kill larvae).  We're going to be forced as a nation to import more food.

And as we continue to let green fields be developed for suburbs, factories, shopping, etc, our own farmland capacity in this country is shrinking as our population increases.  (Again ironic when so many cities, like Dayton Ohio have tons of empty homes, factories, shopping malls, etc) already built, with the infrastructure to support it, and ready for occupancy.

Reduced farm land, especially in areas that get enough rain (where irrigation isn't always necessary)....will require a "global" market of food to sustain us.

It's already on the way.  All we can hope to do is manage it.

Which comes from countries that don't care about the environment.

In one of the special features for the DVDs of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," Eric Idle says that when he was a boy in a Catholic boarding school, one of the other boys asked the priest, "Is all of that really true?" The priest said, "Well, no."

what does that have to do with anything? 

it is isn't it?  He wants to teach us a lesson.  We're being schooled.  I think it's because when it's all said and done and we've seen how vile, ugly and absorbed human beings can be we'll be screaming for real change.  Only then will we accept totally what God has to offer. 

Kind of reminds me of Abraham and Sarah.  God waited until they were so old and so barren before he had Sarah conceive a child.  He left them without a doubt they couldn't do it by themselves.  A miracle would have to take place. 

He's showing us that what man can't do, God can. 

The only way we are going to have true peace and joy is when the Prince of Peace comes to reign personally.  Up until then man just keeps on showing how fallen they really are. 

Just presenting more evidence for the prosecution.