Comments on: Losing Is the New Winning

By: jonn1

jonn1 — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 05:35:50 +0000

comment6,

By: شات كتابي

شات كتابي — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 19:54:37 +0000

I registered REPUB last Tuesday for no other reason than to help the push for Bob Vanderplaats for IA gov’ner, among other “conservative”-type leaders. But Iowa repubs just wanted the wishy-washy Branstad (Ex-gov, ‘83-’99), who has no chance against jackass-incumbant Culver. I’m returning to “no party” thanks.

By: Soccer, an anti-competition mentality and entitlement « Totalrecoil

Soccer, an anti-competition mentality and entitlement « Totalrecoil — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 01:29:22 +0000

[...] is a much more rigorous analysis of the situation at Zomblog who takes it way further than a mere soccer league [...]

By: TK

TK — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:03:54 +0000

KimberGrl: These kind of places exist all over the world, helping people get out of their poverty. It is people of faith that do this, I have yet to see this kind of effort make by atheists.

You don't get out much do you?

By: Random Nuclear Strikes » Victory Through Defeat!

Random Nuclear Strikes » Victory Through Defeat! — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:17:36 +0000

[...] Found at Zombietime [...]

By: Ken

Ken — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 01:06:25 +0000

the prohibition against competition is often a prelude to a more Orwellian inversion of reality.

I beg to differ. In many cultures it’s seen as one of the only things that keeps social harmony humming along smoothly. Nicholas Kristof wrote an interesting article about this topic:

http://classes.yale.edu/03-04/anth254a/article_bank/NYT_980412.htm

By: jelena

jelena — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:27:46 +0000

i might have forgotten two things.
first: sure, you have to believe to be saved. but it’s certainly not your good deeds that will get you to heaven.
second: the discussion about property like if jesus had property is mostly bound to the question if the church should have worldly power and interfere with political matters. and as zombie pointed out with constantine, his probable conversion and his political interest in christianity – plus in the interpretations of eusebius and lactantius – you can find this tendency towards political theology since the beginning of the 4th century already.

By: jelena

jelena — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:57:54 +0000

i guess there’s some confusion about christian tradition and typically all this chit chat about what jesus really meant before ‘the’ churchs takeover corrupted the true faith. i wouldn’t claim to be an expert on the topic but here are two or three things i can think of in this context. first of all, yes, jesus was a jew in the tradition of the late apocalyptic prophets. so he acted on the assumption that the end of the world – that is the end of the history to be seen as the interim between fall of mankind/ expulsion from paradise and salvation – is imminent. thus he breaks with all jewish – that is worldly (as it is you’d say the way of life then) – tradition. family? wouldn’t be the same when he claims that those who listen to his words were his family not his mother and his brother waiting outside. property? what’s that good for? leave it behind because it’s just dead weight while you should prepare for the end of the world. and above all: there’s nothing you can do to appeal to god – you wouldn’t have to follow the religious rules anymore to be saved in the end. don’t you try to bargain with god! ok, let’s say this certainly had some ‘political’ consequences. it was kind of a rebellious act i guess. now. as the story goes on jesus sacrifices himself for the greater good, that is – to be short – humankinds salvation. the ultimate sacrifice, which by now would be ritually re-enacted in the sacrament (while the catholics are much less symbolic in that matter). but as jesus sacrificed himself and resurrected his followers still have to wait for his second coming which would then put an end to the historic world. so they wait. for quite a while but the world still goes on. and when the first generation vanishes there’s paul who thankworthy found a solution for the dilemma: as we still live in the world we’re already saved. the rules in the world wouldn’t apply to us any other than like in a formal way. but no following the rules will make god love you better or love you at all. the calvinists later would be very strict about that point. and here’s also the thing with the worldly possessions and there meaning: for them getting rich, being successfull and so on is a sign which might tell you that you’ll be saved (after calvin found that following augustin in that matter the story of jacob and esau sheds some light on the fact that god might have chosen those to be saved before all times and without humanly recognizable reason). if you’d become an alcoholic or fail in business you might be damned. yeah, sorry about that. so, if you’re one of the happy few and you get into a lot of money remember, don’t spend it, don’t use it on pleasure, it’s just a sign! the best you can do is to live abstinent from the worldly matters because there’s no good coming from the historic world. there’s no right and everything’s corrupted in the world as luther pointed out pretty impressive…
ok. enough of this. i think the main thing about christianity to be concluded is to deny yourself. salvation only comes from god. don’t you dare to be so egomaniac and claim you convinced god to like you, that you by any means changed his mind!

By: Ringo the Gringo

Ringo the Gringo — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 23:35:23 +0000

I must say that I’m enjoying the give and take on this thread.

By: Rhinestone Suderman

Rhinestone Suderman — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 23:28:13 +0000

Well, I find the aggressive Christian asshole approach works just fine when coming up against the aggressive unbeliever asshole approach, whose message is usually some riff on the old Ayn Randian objectivist schtick: money, and money alone, is the true measure of human worth, and that it’s a waste of time to feel any sympathy for “losers”, who aren’t rich—or who get sick—or who ever need help—which actually includes most of the people on the planet at some point in their lives. Only superior “winners” count!

And I’ve never, ever, had a church tell me I need to pay up in the here and now, or I won’t go to Heaven; that’s B.S.!