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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 05/09/2012 : 21:18:55 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Kil
But not because he professed to being Christian, but because he used Christianity for personal gain. |
Which is also just about a definition for most priests, pastors, rabbis and mullahs. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2012 : 21:51:49 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by HalfMooner
Originally posted by Kil
But not because he professed to being Christian, but because he used Christianity for personal gain. |
Which is also just about a definition for most priests, pastors, rabbis and mullahs.
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So you're saying that most of them care more about the fantastic living that being a priest or a rabbi will get them than the religion itself? Most of them? |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2012 : 22:14:21 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Kil
Originally posted by HalfMooner
Originally posted by Kil
But not because he professed to being Christian, but because he used Christianity for personal gain. |
Which is also just about a definition for most priests, pastors, rabbis and mullahs.
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So you're saying that most of them care more about the fantastic living that being a priest or a rabbi will get them than the religion itself? Most of them?
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I didn't rule out a real belief in religion, but otherwise, yeah.
Most don't make great livings, but some do, and others are trying to emulate the financial success of the rich ones. Once in a profession, I think most people's youthful ideals (if any) about it fade, and they start looking for ways to improve their material life. Since sky pilots of all kinds are trained in the business of offering nothing for something, it's especially easy for them to go all the way in terms of greed. It's not just the rich that are greedy, after all. There's a lot of poor people who have a gambler's drive to improve their lot at any cost to others.
But look, I was a bit off-track. The one thing in cases like Kinkade and many other Christians that I most dislike is really their smug assumption of superiority as humans here on earth. Given raw data like the relatively low numbers of atheists in prison, and high teen pregnancies and venereal disease in the Bible Belt, that fatuous assumption is likely to be even more false than it is offensive. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2012 : 23:53:11 [Permalink]
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| Hmmm.... I think Kinkade was a connman. I don't really see him as a hypocritical Christian anymore than I see Soapy Smith as a hypocritical soap salesman. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2012 : 01:04:47 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Kil
Hmmm.... I think Kinkade was a connman. I don't really see him as a hypocritical Christian anymore than I see Soapy Smith as a hypocritical soap salesman.
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For Kinkade himself, I'll settle for agreeing with you on the Soapy Smith comparison, though that conflation is a bit of an insult to Soapy. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Fripp
SFN Regular
USA
727 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2012 : 05:31:48 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by HalfMooner
...their smug assumption of superiority as humans here on earth
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That is precisely what I was trying to articulate--their assumption, as well as their assertion, that they are superior to the rest of us. And when they continually wave signs like "John 3:16", they are shoving their perceived superiority into others' faces (i.e. "I have found The Truth and you should do as I did... or else.") |
"What the hell is an Aluminum Falcon?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought my Dark Lord of the Sith could protect a small thermal exhaust port that's only 2-meters wide! That thing wasn't even fully paid off yet! You have any idea what this is going to do to my credit?!?!"
"What? Oh, oh, 'just rebuild it'? Oh, real [bleep]ing original. And who's gonna give me a loan, jackhole? You? You got an ATM on that torso LiteBrite?" |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2012 : 07:10:47 [Permalink]
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Then there's this article in "The Guardian," Thomas Kinkade: the secret life and strange death of art's king of twee:In death, the man who at his peak claimed to be the world's most successful living artist perhaps achieved the sort of art-world excess he craved.
On Tuesday, the coroner's office in Santa Clara, California, announced that the death of Thomas Kinkade, the Painter of Light™, purveyor of kitsch prints to the masses, was caused by an accidental overdose of alcohol and Valium. For good measure, a legal scrap has emerged between Kinkade's ex-wife (and trustee of his estate) and his girlfriend.
Who could have imagined that behind so many contented visions of peace, harmony and nauseating goodness lay just another story of deception, disappointment and depravity, fuelled by those ever-ready stooges, Valium and alcohol?
Kinkade was a self-made phenomenon, with his prints (according to his company) hanging in one in 20 American homes. At his height, in 2001, Kinkade generated $130m (£81m) in sales. Kinkade's twee paintings of cod-traditional cottages, lighthouses, gardens, gazebos and gates sold by the million through a network of Thomas Kinkade galleries, owned by his company, and through a parallel franchise operation. At their peak (between 1995 and 2005) there were 350 Kinkade franchises across the US, with the bulk in his home state of California. You would see them in roadside malls in small towns, twinkly lights adorning the windows, and in bright shopping centres, sandwiched between skatewear outlets and nail bars.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Kitsch "artist" Thomas Kinkade dies at 54
