What is Digg?163 Comments
- AyaJulia, on 03/20/2008, -1/+56Man, if these people were doing this in any context other than a religious ritual, they would be in psych wards. ._.
- Pigeon, on 03/20/2008, -3/+37Nailing yourself to a piece of wood is bad for you? No *****!
- phatbyte, on 03/20/2008, -1/+28"The festival is sponsored by Coca-cola..." just in case for those rusty nails xD
- dshey, on 03/20/2008, -1/+25in related news, resurrection rates at an all time high.
- inactive, on 03/20/2008, -4/+24Anyone willing to do this should be encouraged as a way to remove them from the gene pool.
- inactive, on 03/20/2008, -13/+26religious lunatics.
there'll be a time, religiousness will be considered, or should I say, realized, to be a condition. - faithlessphil, on 03/20/2008, -0/+13It's really hard to give context to this event. Even those of us who were born and raised in the Philippines are baffled by what goes on here in the name of penitence.
Catholicism was brought here as a means of subjugating the native population. The end goal was to pacify the population, to teach them the religion with a greater focus on the belief that we begin in a sinful condition, and that we must spend our lives trying to make up for our inherent sinfulness. For many people in the country, especially outside the larger, more secular cities, this is the only form of Catholicism they've ever known.
It started out with just one guy, of course, but somehow, it caught on. Devotion, no matter how grotesque, can often be compelling, and people started making pilgrimages to San Fernando. It actually became a tourist attraction, which is one of the most twisted things I can imagine. Foreigners flocked to the country, some of them devotees, others just satiating a morbid curiosity. And for many of the poor people who live in that area, I imagine they saw it as an opportunity to make things a little better for themselves. So they built it up. It became a spectacle, an event, a festival of culture.
For some of those people, they really do believe they're doing something beautiful and grand. Some of them are just there to get paid, or to get noticed, or for other reasons that can only be thought of as failings of the society at large. The Catholic Church could always step in, send a letter or something telling these devotees that crucifixion is not the way, but at this stage, it's probably too late. This is beyond religion now. - Pigeon, on 03/20/2008, -1/+12Is that your best comeback? He's right, there is not one shred of evidence supporting that religion is true yet billions of people seem stupid/scared/unhappy/brainwashed (take your pick) enough to believe it. If your so right... prove it.
- inactive, on 03/20/2008, -15/+26Time for another quiz, fundies!
WHO WAS THIS GOD?
- God was his father
- He was born in a cowshed.
- A human woman, a virgin, was his mother.
- His birth was prophesized by a star in the heavens.
- At a marriage ceremony, he performed the miracle of converting water into wine.
- He was powerless to perform miracles in his hometown.
- His followers were born-again through baptism in water.
- He rode triumphantly into a city on a donkey. Tradition records that the inhabitants waved palm leaves.
- He had 12 disciples.
- He was accused of licentious behavior.
- He was killed near the time of the Vernal Equinox, about MAR-21.
- He died "as a sacrifice for the sins of the world."
- He was hung on a tree, stake, or cross.
- After death, he descended into hell.
- On the third day after his death, he returned to life.
- The cave where he was laid was visited by three of his female followers.
- He later ascended to heaven.
- His titles: God made flesh. Savior of the world Son of God.
- He is "God made man," and equal to the Father.
- He will return in the last days.
- He will judge the human race at that time.
- Humans are separated from God by original sin. The godman's sacrificial death reunites the believer with God and atones for the original sin.
Did you guess Jesus Christ? Well, again you'd be WRONG!! HE WAS... OSIRIS-DIONYSUS, an Egyptian God who's story existed thousands of years before Christ allegedly came around - Coffeedemon, on 03/20/2008, -1/+10You know... I think its embarrassing to see a response like that from a 23 year old.
Calm down and grow up. The original statement might be a bit inflammatory but nowhere near this foolishness. - PaxImperium, on 03/20/2008, -2/+11Can't people just believe in the good stuff and dump all the superstitious garbage?
- inactive, on 03/20/2008, -3/+11this is ***** retarded
- PaxImperium, on 03/20/2008, -1/+9"Believe it or not it IS possible to believe in God WITHOUT being blinded by fairy tales of great floods or women being turned into pillars of salt for looking at the wrong thing (Victoria's Secret catalogs?)."
What makes YOUR religious belief more valid than anyone elses?
"Many great thinkers and scientists believe in God without subscribing to the notion that there is ONE true religion (which is what leads to 99% of the problems between religions)."
...and how is this relevant?
"They and I just don't believe that humans are the pinnacle of intelligence in a vast universe. Science does fill in many of the holes that religions once described as God inspired, but for every question answered, there are just as many either not answered or newly created."
So basically, "We don't all the answers therefore I will make up an answer with no evidence to fill this blank." Got it.
"This post has gone on too long. Look, it is possible to believe in God WITHOUT believing in religion."
Why? - PaxImperium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+7So virginity is good enough for you too?
- hmcook87, on 03/20/2008, -2/+8you're right. many religious people have parted from reason long ago, no amount of logical argument or evidence will sway them as they can always come up with some excuse or just ignore the subject altogether. some religious people however are only religious because they haven't really through about it much, if these people make the effort to do a bit of critical thinking they will quite often "see the light" and come over to the side of reason, logic and evidence. Religion was humanities first and most primitive attempt at science and philosophy, it's sad that so many people live their lives in a fantasy world, believing they can chat with the all-powerful creator of the universe.
- Khast, on 03/20/2008, -2/+8Religion makes you do some pretty weird things. Worst of it is, they think you aren't good enough for god, unless you are willing to do these crazy things. This happens in almost all organized religions....just to different degrees of insanity.
- inactive, on 03/20/2008, -0/+6IF YOU LIKED THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, your kids are gona love the violence in the book of LEVITICUS
Gay-bashing, daughter-selling, animal-burning, sinner-stoning... It is delightfully evil and violent!
http://www.Evilbible.com - Charlotte_Web, on 03/20/2008, -0/+6I would say that even the context of a religious ritual, these folks are nuts.
Not to mention the fact that they seemed to have completely missed the message of the New Testament. - PaxImperium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5"Absolutely nothing and I never claimed it did. I also didn't claim to be religious."
Quote:
Believe it or not it IS possible to believe in God WITHOUT being blinded by fairy tales of great floods.
Maybe I should be more specific, what makes YOUR claim of a god more valid than anyone elses?
"It's relevant to dildo's post which is what I was replying to. A belief in God AND science does not have to exclusive. As long as you don't push your beliefs on someone else, what difference does it make what someone believes in? That's my problem with most organized religion in that it's their way or the highway (to hell)."
A belief is science and a God are epistomologically exclusive. Theistic belief relies on faith with is the opposite of science. I have no issue with theistic belief, I do have an issue with any theistic claims. Any claim can and must be challenged, there is nothing "sacred" about a belief in a god.
"Still doesn't mean that God doesn't exist or is in some form that we can't understand. Science is man's attempt to understand what was formally attributed to what most religions claim is God's creation. Did God create the heavens and earth? I have no idea and won't push God as the solution to what science doesn't YET understand."
I agree that we may never ever have any evidence to support or reject the existance of a god therefore why even bother to respect an unsubstantiated claim?
If a theist believes in a god and does not preach or make any claims, it would not a problem. However, many do and that is not acceptable.
"The "Why" you have to answer for yourself. If you don't want to believe that something could be bigger than yourself or humankind, no amount of digg posts would change your mind. Believe what you want to believe. Free will and all that."
Which does not answer my question. Just because you WANT to believe in "that something could be bigger than yourself or humankind", does not make it true or even a justified belief. - Zuggy, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5The thing I find funny is that Jesus wasn't executed in a unique fashion, and many Christians don't realize that. Being crucified was one of the Roman Empire's favorite forms of execution. Sure many (most?) were just tied with rope and left to suffocate, but wearing a cross would be no different then wearing a little syringe to signify lethal injection if he were executed today.
- skektek, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5Happy Zombie Jesus Day!
- PueSi, on 03/20/2008, -1/+6They're not hurting anybody but themselves, let them be.
It's not like they're stoning people to death or bombing abortion clinics, they're just showing their faith in a wacky way.
Jews circumcise and nobody says *****... - Charlotte_Web, on 03/20/2008, -4/+9Where to start, where to start...
First of all, read this scholarly rebuttal of your list:
http://www.tektonics.org/copycat/mithra.html
To summary, Mithraism predated Christianity, to be sure; however, most of what is known about Mithraism (which is very little) comes from the period when Mithraism and Christianity were in competition with each other in ancient Rome. The B.C.E. version of Mithraism does not support your points (for example, Mithra had maybe one or two companions, not twelve; nor is there any reference to Mithra dying and being resurrected).
The article does make for a very good read, I suggest you open YOUR mind and check it out. - DestroyFascism, on 03/20/2008, -1/+6Crucifixion? Good! line to the left, one cross only....
- hmcook87, on 03/20/2008, -1/+6true that. Jesus dying for the sins of the world is an excellent example of a phenomenon known as "scapegoating". This was common in ancient times when people would symbolically place the sins of their tribe on a goat and then drive the animal off into the desert to die of thirst, thereby allowing the tribe's sins to be forgiven. The story of Jesus takes this one step further by using a horrific human sacrifice in place of the goat. Christians view this is one of the greatest moral actions of all time, but in reality the idea of Jesus dying for everyone's sins is rather abhorrent as it removes responsibility from the guilty and places it on the innocent. Would it be moral to send an innocent person to prison to pay for the crimes of another?
Of course Jesus died not so much for sins committed by everyday humans, but for a specific sin, the "original sin" of Adam and Eve, fictional characters from the book of Genesis, who were set up by God to inevitably fail. Not only does God conspicuously place a very tasty looking apple tree right in the middle of the garden, he tells them not to eat the fruit, knowing full well that saying this will only make the pair want to try the apples more. To make matters work he places a (talking) snake in the garden who he allows to mislead them and talk them into eating the apple. After the deed is done God shows up, after his mysterious absence during the snake's speech, and gets all pissed off and starts handing out punishments. Now, since this story never actually happened (a talking snake? really?), Jesus was brutally executed because a fictional character ate an apple at the beginning of time. In addition to this, the sacrifice was unnecessary anyway, as an all powerful God could easily forgive the sins of humanity, without anyone having to be brutally murdered. Unless God just enjoyed watching Jesus die. If you read the old testament, you will see it would hardly be out of character. Oh yea, greatest moral action of all time. Christians of course will have come up with at least half a dozen excuses by now, or perhaps wont even have made it to the end of the comment, outraged that I would dare to write a frank criticism of their ideas. - skeptic42, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5Don't feed the troll.
- artliquide, on 03/20/2008, -2/+6At least they have corporate sponsorship.
- PaxImperium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4"Absolutely nothing and I never said that it was. It is simply my belief. People are free to make up their own minds and except in instances where they would hurt others to force their beliefs, I wouldn't criticize them for doing so."
Thanks for the clarification.
"Not necessarily. There are many concepts in science that cannot be proven, but a belief in them are necessary to further our knowledge. "
I disagree. I'm a Bayesian Probability adherent and what may be true is based on evidence. Many concepts of science are unproven(proof only exist in math) BUT all scientific concepts can be falsified which means that it can be "proven". Only a few assumptions exist in science. Faith and many theistic beliefs can never be falsified.
"Observation doesn't always equal proof, it simply means that it is what is currently known and accepted."
An observation is a single datapoint and adds to a body of evidence to either support of disprove a claim.
"Theistic beliefs don't HAVE to conflict with science."
No they don't but theistic claims do.
"Not every scientist is an agnostic or atheist."
So? I don't get the relevance of this statement.
"Investigating phenomena that is not clearly understood is the basis for almost any scientific endeavor."
What phenomena? You actually have to show that there is even a phenomena to investigate. Many scientists are already studying god as nothing more than a neurological effect.
"As we understand more about the universe and our place in it, maybe we will eventually find some evidence of God. I'm not saying that is where it will lead."
Maybe. But why belief in a god until this occurs?
"I never, ever claimed that it was true. As far as justification goes, if it is MY belief, what other justification is necessary?"
That is an actual answer. No, if you believe in something without any justification or evidence, that is your prerogative. However, there are some people who are actually interested in figuring out if our beliefs are actually true. - PaxImperium, on 03/20/2008, -1/+5Yawn...
- moletimer, on 03/20/2008, -1/+5Thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to get my tetanus jab every time I want to ram rusty nails into my hands and feet : )
- robotto, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4I doubt they do it themselves. They just lie down and have their friends do it.
- inactive, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4Jesus DIED for your sins. Don't be half-assed about it and finish the job!
- Dested, on 03/20/2008, -1/+5I half expected this to be on the onion. I thought, not gonna get fooled again.
- inactive, on 03/20/2008, -2/+5The guy that runs www.tektonics.org is full of ***** and most of the crap on his "Apologetics" site is not even considered by any biblical scholar I know of. The guy just makes ***** up and totally ignores complete lack of evidence.
Long before Jesus, Dec. 25th was celebrated as the date of Mithra's birth. Mithra was also associated with the sun, and his followers marked Sunday as his day of worship, they called it the Lord's Day. A few of the extra-biblical traditions seem to have found its way to Christianity through Roman Mithraism.
Among the milder ceremonies of the followers of Mithra were baptism in holy water and a partaking of a sacred meal of bread and wine. After passing several ordeals the converts were "reborn" as a new man in Mithra. Though Mithra had ascended into heaven he had promised to return and bring life everlasting to his loyal followers.
With all the similarities of Mithra to Christ, there are some that say that Christianity came from Mithraism but that is just nonsense. For a time, the two religions co-existed together and even competed with each other but Christianity survived. At the same time, there could be prophetic questions here in prefiguring the true Son of God that would come later. There had been many Messianic types of Christ in the Jewish scriptures (David and Joseph for example) and God may have been telling Gentiles also, but this is merely conjecture and there are other religions with the same similarities. The Wise men from the east who visited Jesus were said to be Zorastrian.
The similarities to New Testament Christianity cease upon a closer examination of Mithraism. They were a secret society, they had graded membership, women were excluded, Mithra is one of many gods and they had a separate priesthood called "Fathers." - GunOfSod, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3We need this to become a much more widespread practise. The gene pool needs a good clean out.
- ranirastabout, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3"I'm a true believer, I can stand the pain, the spirit of Christ will pervade me, I will be o... ARGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THAT REALLLY HURTS!!!!!!1!!!!!" - Jose, Filipino Christian
- closetosomet, on 03/20/2008, -1/+4"NaN undefined : Why the BBC thinks Christ did not die this way"
classic! - inactive, on 03/21/2008, -0/+3------------I'm sorry but as a Christian I want to say this ....-----------------
A "reasonable Christian" is like a naked man standing in the snow who knows that he is cold, accepts the fact that he is suffering, admits that the weatherman was correct in his forecast, realizes that others are questioning his behavior, but inexplicably ignores his lack of clothes. - hmcook87, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3they're christians, hardly in their right mind.
- xsecretfiles, on 03/20/2008, -7/+10Crucifixion makes baby Jesus Cry!
- protogenxl, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3Crucification is Bad, You shouldn't crucify your self M'Kay
- Testiculese, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3Yep, that's God looking out for the believers!
- MacParrot, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3That part of MP Life of Brian really cracked me up. The part that was even better was when one person in line (A Pythoner who's name escapes me at the moment) when asked if he was there to be crucified says, "No, I was set free." The questioner says "Really?" and the person in question says, "No, I'm just kidding. Crucifixion."
- argusbargus, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3Jesus walks into a motel. He throws a bag of nails on the counter and says, "Can you put me up for the night?"
- hmcook87, on 03/20/2008, -1/+4"a deeper fashion" is that what you call pretending to crucify yourself?
- inactive, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3---------"All right, no reasoning with you, so piss off."------------
Its funny seeing Christians get pissed off with lack of evidence for the mythical Jesus. When you piss them off they start cursing like whorehouse bouncers. Even better yet, they don't recognize any irony in it. - Charlotte_Web, on 03/20/2008, -3/+6BTW, The article ends with this conclusion: "In not one instance has Acharya made a convincing case that Christianity borrowed anything from Mithraism. The evidence is either too late, not in line with the conclusions of modern Mithraic scholars, or just plain not there."
- inactive, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3------------------"The story of christ well predates his birth. Read the old testament of the bible, Jesus is mentioned through out. Many prophets well before his birth prophesied of his coming."-----------------------------
JUST THE FACTS, MAAM!
-NO eyewitness account to the Jesus claim. Not ONE (not even in the Bible!)
-NO archaeological evidence, not ONE ancient work found that mentions Jesus
-The Jesus story copies many direct attributes from earlier religions and the similarities early Christianity shares with then-contemporary religion and mythology is staggering.
When you can show eyewitness to the Jesus claim and/or archaeological evidence, I'm all ears -
Show 51 - 100 of 161 discussions
Check out the new & improved 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is