We all say we are something.

Christian.

Atheist.

Unitarian Vietnamese Baptist.

I started thinking about the validity of our titles, and how many of us actually live up to them...and it occured to me that our titles probably mean very little.

I think for the majority of the world, one's particular faith is not expected to mean anything religious to them, rather it is expected to form a part of their ethnic and cultural (and possibly moral) identity.

What do you guys think ?

I didn't choose to be called God, it just sort of fell into place.

I was born with mine, though it took me years to find it. It's about the shape of my soul and my purpose in life. It's about a culture and an heritage. It's about a morality and a book. I'm a Jew and it's just fine by me.

all christian are paulists

Yeah, otherwise they'd all be Jewish and Noahides...

Ok, I appreciate your input guys, but it's off topic.

I am wanting to know if you think the majority of the world chooses it's titles for the purpose of fitting or achieving a persona, rather than for personal gain or conviction ?

I don't have a title.

I > all of you.

Ok, i'll answer meaningfully.

I don't have a title. I never picked one because if I do I feel i'll have to, in a sense, 'live up to it' and I don't want to do that.

I don't really like to "title" or label myself. If I do, it tends to get confusing and I have to fully explain it to most people, which I don't always feel like doing.

But the closest thing to what I would "title" myself would be an Agnostic Atheist.

quote:Originally posted by Digital_Savior:

Ok, I appreciate your input guys, but it's off topic.

I am wanting to know if you think the majority of the world chooses it's titles for the purpose of fitting or achieving a persona, rather than for personal gain or conviction ?



yes, i think many. From "lord of the flies"; i think this is a world filled with the character of "piggie". especially in the western world. I think this also applies to which sports teams that a person is a fan of, even the sports (or hobbies one has), make of vehicles (i.e. ford v. chevy), vegetarian, etc.

i think in a way, these are all forms of 'trying to fill a personal void'.. a choosing of gods, if you will.

this world all the people in this world every last one of them r gifted the title human and they throw it 2 the side 2 pick up some religious title if we believed in the human race in the good of people we wouldn't need religion we wouldn't need title's until man realizes this we r bring's of our own death

quote:Originally posted by Garibaldi:

I don't really like to "title" or label myself. If I do, it tends to get confusing and I have to fully explain it to most people, which I don't always feel like doing.

But the closest thing to what I would "title" myself would be an Agnostic Atheist.

What the hell?

That's a contradiction right there...

Agnostics neither believe nor disbelieve in God, and atheists don't...

Redundancy/stupidity...

I usually don't go by a title. I mean, there are certain things I agree with others on, but for the most part I don't have beliefs that align with any certain title.

Titles are good, though, to find people of similar beliefs.

Satabism, my whole family are christians. One day me and my friend were in the book store, just browsing, i've allways been intrested in Satanism, when we found the Satanic bible, We filliped through it in saw how much more sence it made than christianity, my family arn't big christians, infact they think atheists, and i intend to keep the fact that im a Satanist a scret from them until a move out, not because im ashamed of it, but because i want them to keep buying me food/clothes.

quote:Originally posted by PossesedSmurf:

Satabism, my whole family are christians. One day me and my friend were in the book store, just browsing, i've allways been intrested in Satanism, when we found the Satanic bible, We filliped through it in saw how much more sence it made than christianity, my family arn't big christians, infact they think atheists, and i intend to keep the fact that im a Satanist a scret from them until a move out, not because im ashamed of it, but because i want them to keep buying me food/clothes.

Thats the story you said before. You got the Satanic Bible by Anton Lavey e-book and said how much it made sense. Not in a book store.

EDIT: And Parker I'm ashamed of your spelling.

[This message has been edited by SlaysGays (edited 06-23-2005).]

All that this is doing is verifying Digital Savior's original assumption that the religious titles we associate ourselves with do, in fact, mean absolutely nothing in 98% of the people.

one does not pick a title and then live up to those standards.

one lives up to standards which they set themselves and is titled by others.

otherwise its like saying your a surgeon and then killing people in surgery untill one lives and then saying you finally lived up to being a surgeon.

POSER, is the slang term.

quote:Originally posted by Paradise Lost:

Ok, i'll answer meaningfully.

I don't have a title. I never picked one because if I do I feel i'll have to, in a sense, 'live up to it' and I don't want to do that.



Fair 'nuf.

But what about the rest of the world ?

Why do you think THEY grab a title and hold on to it for dear life ?

quote:Originally posted by The Marksman:

one does not pick a title and then live up to those standards.

one lives up to standards which they set themselves and is titled by others.

otherwise its like saying your a surgeon and then killing people in surgery untill one lives and then saying you finally lived up to being a surgeon.

POSER, is the slang term.

I think you described YOURSELF.

What about others ? I don't find a majority of people living up to anything, let alone their religious titles.

I personally believe people pick titles based on what is comfortable to them.

quote:Originally posted by PossesedSmurf:

Satabism, my whole family are christians. One day me and my friend were in the book store, just browsing, i've allways been intrested in Satanism, when we found the Satanic bible, We filliped through it in saw how much more sence it made than christianity, my family arn't big christians, infact they think atheists, and i intend to keep the fact that im a Satanist a scret from them until a move out, not because im ashamed of it, but because i want them to keep buying me food/clothes.

So, based on the morality you find within the religion of Satanism, you think it is ok to hide who you are from your family, because you might not be able to gain from them anymore ?

Ew.

I have never met a Satabist before.

NEAT-O !

http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif)

i'm an agnostic, because i just don't know. and maybe a skeptic, because i don't think anyone can really know. but even that i'm not sure about. i can't prove anything 100% true to myself -- any given thought i have about the nature of the universe i can look at from another perspective and say, "well, it sorta makes sense and might be true, but there's no absolute certainty." for example, i think that a God-type being probably exists, and i feel on an intuitive level that such a being should exist, but really i can't rule out the possibility that he doesn't exist.

it doesn't trouble me much though. i think i learn more this way, because i don't block out any possibilities by accepting one thing as the Absolute Truth -- every idea that i examine gets a fair chance.

quote:Originally posted by Digital_Savior:



Fair 'nuf.

But what about the rest of the world ?

Why do you think THEY grab a title and hold on to it for dear life ?

Because they're weak and think being part of some big group will make them feel better or give them more power. The truth is, when you're part of a group of idiots, you're an idiot yourself.

For the 100th time, you're an idiot.

quote:Originally posted by SlaysGays:

Thats the story you said before. You got the Satanic Bible by Anton Lavey e-book and said how much it made sense. Not in a book store.

EDIT: And Parker I'm ashamed of your spelling.



I read in a book store dumbass,No money then tho, and my dad was looking at comoputer books, which i later bought, my boko on proramming and osx bible, thats when i went home n got the e-book. Go fuck urself trailer trash.

quote:Originally posted by Digital_Savior:

So, based on the morality you find within the religion of Satanism, you think it is ok to hide who you are from your family, because you might not be able to gain from them anymore ?

Ew.

I have never met a Satabist before.

NEAT-O !

http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif)

Im 14, with no job, so yes i will hide it from them till i can move out, you would to.

[This message has been edited by PossesedSmurf (edited 06-24-2005).]

quote:Originally posted by Sephiroth:

I was born with mine, though it took me years to find it. It's about the shape of my soul and my purpose in life. It's about a culture and an heritage. It's about a morality and a book. I'm a Jew and it's just fine by me.

I like this thread. Gets right to the heart of the matter.

I try not to classify myself, knowing that in two weeks my understanding of God, man, and this world will have evolved and changed into a new thing.

No man is righteous.

I guess if I were forced to, I'd call myself an intellectual.

"A man can know himself, his surroundings, and that there is unknowable."

My "title" is Jewish. I was born this way, didn't choose it. I don't mind it, though. I'm not so much a believer of the faith as I am a believer in many of it's teachings and traditions. I don't agree with all of them, but for the sake of tradition I uphold the holidays and whatnot. Besides I'm supposedly a direct decendant of Abraham and our tribe is considered respectable.

It really has a lot more to do with religion than spirituality in my case.

Cheers,

Lost

seems like it has most to do with you being stupid

quote:Originally posted by PossesedSmurf:

Im 14, with no job...

Aha...this explains everything.

quote:...so yes i will hide it from them till i can move out, you would to.

No...actually I wouldn't.

As a matter of fact, I didn't.

I was a satanist, though not of your sort, and I was very open about it, with only my family.

They were horrified.

By the way, I think it is important for you to read up on the local abandonment laws pertaining to your state.

"Approximately 18 States14 and the District of Columbia include abandonment in their definition of neglect, while 13 States,15 American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands provide separate definitions for establishing abandonment. In general, it is considered abandonment of the child when the parent’s identity or whereabouts are unknown, the child has been left by the parent in circumstances where the child suffers serious harm, or the parent has failed to maintain contact with the child or to provide reasonable support for a specified period of time."

This explains it well: http://www.canter-law.co.uk/family/parental.htm

Your parents cannot kick you out until you are 18.

If they do, they can be thrown into jail, I think.

*shrugs*

quote:Originally posted by Avril Lavigne:

seems like it has most to do with you being stupid

Your title here in Totse is Avril Lavigne...

You would like us to think of a hard core, punk bitch with a vendetta against the world whenever you post.

Do you live up to it, or do you just use it to make yourself feel comfortable ?

I live the life of a person who is Agnostic, purely because, we don't know anything about life after earth, we can't prove or disprove the existence of god. In my personal opinion, I believe that people who think that there is god (any religion really), or people who constantly try to disprove it (atheists), are just stupid.

The only people who do know, are dead, we are not, so why get into these whole petty arguments about the existence or nonexistence of something?

It is not petty to me to know that you are going to Hell when you die, because you "don't know".

If I am right, and my faith in God is justified, then what kind of steward of His kingdom would I be if I DIDN'T try and spread the good news about His love, grace, and marcy, which can save you from that same Hell ?

I would rather argue that He DOES exist, than to argue that He doesn't, and bring people down to Hell with me.

Hmm, typical.

Nah, actually, you're justfied since I did call you stupid. Even still, I stand by my statement.

[This message has been edited by prozak_jack (edited 06-25-2005).]

Good for you.

I am sorry to hear that.

So far, everyone here has maintained that they CHOSE what they are titled very carefully, based on their personal beliefs.

Not ONE person has admitted to claiming a title out of social convenience or appearance.

Is that right ?

I know, nobody wants to be the sheep...

My Title?



Well technically, it's 'Miss', because I'm not married.

quote:Originally posted by Nephtys-Ra:

What the hell?

That's a contradiction right there...

Agnostics neither believe nor disbelieve in God, and atheists don't...

Redundancy/stupidity...

He meant he was an unsure unbeleiver.

<BLOCKQUOTE>Digital_Savor

So far, everyone here has maintained that they CHOSE what they are titled very carefully, based on their personal beliefs.

Not ONE person has admitted to claiming a title out of social convenience or appearance.

Is that right ?

I know, nobody wants to be the sheep...

</BLOCKQUOTE>

In a world where christians r the main religion if is very very difficult 2 go against the masses that say he does exists 2 b an athesis i 4 one and more than proud 2 go against all the religion shout from the roof tops i'm an athesis and if i am wrong and there is a god and sends me 2 hell then i will know i went down believing what i believe from the beginning till the end



[This message has been edited by Shaokhano (edited 06-25-2005).]

No title... Why would I need a title? Just so I can be flamed/uplifted by it? Actually this is a title but whatever.

Lukewarm Christian.

Though that probably makes me just a bog standard Christian.

In truth I dont like to define others by their labels, be them borrowed, inherited or stolen.

Most of them are all equally cuntish. It's only the flavour that differs.

That includes Christians.

I guess I really don't have a title. If I was forced to choose, I'd say Catholic, but I'm losing my faith again.

I go through periods of intense faith and longer periods of disbelief.

Edit~I've believe in a God, but my belief in Christianity (Jesus and such) is faltering. Not that I care, nor that it matters, it just does.

[This message has been edited by King_Cotton (edited 06-26-2005).]