Author Archives: Wonder

Fun with Belief-O-Matic (Is that anything like a Veg-O-Matic?)

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It slices, it dices, it juliennes! and then it tells you what religion you are.

Basically you answer a little quiz & the little calculator adds up how closely your responses match up with their list of beliefs (kinda like a spiritual computer dating service… is this how e-harmony works?)

as they put it…. The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa

SO here’s my results… ok the 1st one was kind of a no-brainer, (although I’m somewhat disappointed to find I match any category 100% – the math must be off somewhere, it MUST be!!!) some suprises – my answers match neo-paganism, baha’i & 2 kinds of buddhism more closely than catholicism(grandma jo would be disappointed) the high match with LDS i have to attribute to spending a large chunk of my formative years in Arizona… i’ll probably edit this later after i read the descriptions….

1. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%)
2. Orthodox Quaker (83%)
3. Bahá’í Faith (82%)
4. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (82%)
5. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (79%)
6. Liberal Quakers (79%)
7. Jehovah’s Witness (73%)
8. Unitarian Universalism (69%)
9. Seventh Day Adventist (63%)
10. Neo-Pagan (53%)
11. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (53%)
12. Mahayana Buddhism (52%)
13. Theravada Buddhism (52%)
14. Reform Judaism (52%)
15. Eastern Orthodox (50%)
16. Roman Catholic (50%)
17. Jainism (48%)
18. New Age (48%)
19. Islam (45%)
20. Orthodox Judaism (45%)
21. Sikhism (45%)
22. Secular Humanism (38%)
23. Taoism (38%)
24. New Thought (34%)
25. Hinduism (34%)
26. Scientology (30%)
27. Nontheist (20%)

Sexuality, intentional communities, and the idoloatry of marriage

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At this point these are just random thoughts…. I think American Christians, especially of the “evangelical” persuasion, have made an idol of the “Traditional Family”

Do gay/lesbian people and celibate people have a common difficulty fitting in to the evangelical christian world?

I know from outside the church it might seem like the two groups have nothing in common – celibate people by definition don’t have sex, therefore (supposedly) aren’t engaging in “immorality” so should have the approval of all the good little curch folks, yes?

oh no, no, no, my friends…

While there are whole online and in-person communities of “Christian Singles,” a large percentage of which function as much more than simple mee(a)t markets. However most of them seem to have at their core the idea that that singleness is a “condition” (cured by application of a wedding ring??) or a “season in life” in which we’re all just out there waiting for God to bring us our One True Love, with whom we will then rush to the altar, say our vows, and settle down to our true business… having babies and building a “Christian Family”

Well what about the family of God? What about Paul’s comments that the married person’s attentions are divided between heaven and earth, while the single is more free to attend to the things of God? what about the hints in the bible that in the “last days” people will be relieved that they have no children?

Within a few months of splitting with my ex (to whom i was not legally married, but i did consider him my husband, and many of our friends came to understand us likewise) I was talking about the breakup with a friend, and expressed the thought that maybe i wasn’t ready to be married. I’m sure she meant well, when she opined that i should get ready as i wasn’t getting any younger. >:| note to self: statements of the obvious are hardly ever encouraging.

Just. Friggin. Pathetic.

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Lacking Papers, Citizens Are Cut From Medicaid

WASHINGTON, March 11 — A new federal rule intended to keep illegal
immigrants from receiving Medicaid has instead shut out tens of thousands of
United States citizens who have had difficulty complying with requirements
to show birth certificates and other documents proving their citizenship,
state officials say.

Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio and
Virginia have all reported declines in enrollment and traced them to the new
federal requirement, which comes just as state officials around the country are
striving to expand coverage through Medicaid and other means.

To Christians who talk like the Devil

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You almost make me ashamed to call myself a Christian.

Then I remember that you do not speak for Christ.

When you go around threatening people with beatings, rape, and murder because you disgree with them politically or culturally, you do not speak for me, you do NOT speak for the church, and YOU DO NOT SPEAK FOR CHRIST.

As a matter of fact, you’re acting in direct disobedience to the teachings, spirit, and example of Jesus, as well as several Biblical principles. Anybody with even a passing acquaintance with the most watered-down versions of Christianity knows this. You know it.

SO SHUT UP.

Or stop calling yourselves Christians.

If you care anything for the Gospel, retract your vitriol. Repent of your threats, and your hatred. Because you are harming this country, and you are harming the cause of Christ. What does a non-christian have to judge the claims of Christ by, but the behavior of those who profess to follow him?

However, I suspect that you care nothing for the Gospel, not the real one. I suspect you think “winning the world for Christ” means forcing everyone to act, dress, and think like your preacher tells you, so you don’t have to ever think about whether you’re doing right. Except that you’re too lazy to even do that for yourself, so you’d rather have the government do it for you. The same government you so resent paying taxes to so that people in real trouble have food and clothes for their kids, and decent care when they get sick. REAL things that Jesus ACTUALLY MENTIONED AS HOW CHRIST WILL IDENTIFY HIS FOLLOWERS

Think i’m Kidding?

Matthew 25: 31-46 (King James Version, just in case you consider all other versions corrupt)

31When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
King James Version (KJV)

You’ve sold out. You wouldn’t know Jesus if you tripped over Him on your doorstep, and he certainly wouldn’t recognize you.