W. Niederhut Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 (edited) I saw this weird video at DU today-- a sort of Evangelical Cirque du Soleil. It's part of the 2023 Christmas show at a mega church in Plano, Texas-- Prestonwood (Southern) Baptist. There's another YouTube clip from the show featuring live camels on stage and people in angel costumes suspended by wires-- like a scene from Verdi's opera, Aida. Fortunately, Donald Trump did not appear on a giant screen during the performance. Edited December 18, 2023 by W. Niederhut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Allison Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 This kind of exorbitant spectacle is proof that Churches being immune to taxation is a national scandal. 1 hour ago, W. Niederhut said: I saw this weird video at DU today-- a sort of Evangelical Cirque du Soleil. It's part of the 2023 Christmas show at a mega church in Plano, Texas-- Prestonwood (Southern) Baptist. There's another YouTube clip from the show featuring live camels on stage and people in angel costumes suspended by wires-- like a scene from Verdi's opera, Aida. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 Merry Christmas to all. A true story about a legless man in Fort Worth from Palo Pinto county. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 Part of a 12 days of Christmas I'm doing elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Gallaway Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Larsen Posted December 18, 2023 Author Share Posted December 18, 2023 3 hours ago, Ron Bulman said: Merry Christmas to all. A true story about a legless man in Fort Worth from Palo Pinto county. I can't believe Willie Nelson is still alive... he seemed pretty old to me back in the 80s. He had a house and 400 acre ranch about 20 minutes out of Fairview, Utah where my mother grew up. There was a rumor in the 90s that the IRS was going to take it due to tax evasion. Don't know if they ever did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 Pentagon Taps “Tiger Team” to Rush Weapons Sales to Israel (theintercept.com) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 (edited) Kirk, Certainly, religious wars in history have resulted in terrible carnage. Some religions, like Judaism, are predicated on genocidal tribalism. Others, like Islam, have sanctioned mass murder in the interest of promoting their religion. In the case of Christianity, Sir Steven Runciman correctly pointed out, in his definitive history of the Crusades, that the Roman Catholic Papacy directly perverted traditional Orthodox Christian theology by sanctioning the murder of Muslims to promote the Roman Catholic Crusades. The Roman Catholic Crusaders were told that they could get into heaven by killing Muslims. (The Crusaders also killed Orthodox Christians and Jews in the Levant.) Similarly, Roman Catholics and Protestants massacred Native Americans in South and North America, respectively. In contrast, the Russian Orthodox intermarried with Native Americans in Alaska, and the Aleuts and other indigenous Alaskans became admirals, priests and bishops in the Orthodox Russian Empire. (I have attended Orthodox Church services in Alaska where the congregation is mostly Native American, and prayers are chanted in Tlingit.) Also, in contrast to the Papal Crusades, the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire always focused on diplomacy-- with war as an evil last resort for defending the empire. In addition, Orthodox Christian soldiers who killed Muslims (Ostrogoths, Avars, Scythians, etc.) in battle had to do a year of repentance (epitimia) before they were allowed to enter an Orthodox Church! Killing a person, for Orthodox Christians, was considered evil, even in warfare. (This is also why the Russian Empire eschewed capital punishment.) Meanwhile, the worst genocides in human history have been committed by anti-Christian atheists and Muslims -- as Dostoevsky predicted in the 19th century, when Ivan Karamazov asked, "If God is dead, will all things become lawful?" According UCLA Professor Jared Diamond, and others, the single worst genocide in human history was the 20th century Soviet genocide of Russian (and Ukrainian) Orthodox Christians-- committed by anti-Christian, atheistic Bolsheviks. It's a history that has remained largely untold in Western Europe and the U.S. The second worst genocide in history was the atheistic Nazi genocide of Jews, Slavs, and Roma people during WWII. Contrary to popular misconceptions, Hitler and his Nazi associates were contemptuous of Christianity. They paid lip service to Christianity, at first, but later promoted a kind of tribal, neo-pagan Wotanism-- which sanctioned genocide of non-Aryan people. This is why even the Roman Catholic Pope issued an encyclical in 1939 condemning Fascism as an anti-Christian heresy. Contrary to traditional Roman Catholic theology, the Nazis believed that some people (Aryans) were more valued than others in the sight of God. Then we have the atheistic Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, and the Turkish Muslim genocide of Armenian Orthodox Christians. Finally, if you study Petronius's Satyricon, and the history of the pagan Roman Empire, you will realize that the advent of Christianity had a humane, civilizing effect on the pagan Roman world. Recall that the pre-Christian Romans tortured and killed people for sport in their Ludi. Edited December 19, 2023 by W. Niederhut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Allison Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 10 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said: He had a house and 400 acre ranch about 20 minutes out of Fairview, Utah where my mother grew up. There was a rumor in the 90s that the IRS was going to take it due to tax evasion. Don't know if they ever did. Indeed, but he figured out a great way to put a big dent in that tax bill! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_IRS_Tapes:_Who'll_Buy_My_Memories%3F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Larsen Posted December 18, 2023 Author Share Posted December 18, 2023 1 hour ago, Matt Allison said: Indeed, but he figured out a great way to put a big dent in that tax bill! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_IRS_Tapes:_Who'll_Buy_My_Memories%3F Ha! Interesting story. I'm glad he got the debt settled, hopefully he had enough money left over to have a comfortable life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 Two underrated American Christmas classics from my old neighborhood... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 If you're not a Native American are not all the rest of us descendants of Immigrants? Poisoning the blood of who? Channeling hitler indeed. Donald Trump Rally Video Appears to Show Hundreds of Empty Seats (msn.com) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Gallaway Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 (edited) On 12/18/2023 at 10:05 AM, W. Niederhut said: Kirk, Certainly, religious wars in history have resulted in terrible carnage. Some religions, like Judaism, are predicated on genocidal tribalism. Others, like Islam, have sanctioned mass murder in the interest of promoting their religion. In the case of Christianity, Sir Steven Runciman correctly pointed out, in his definitive history of the Crusades, that the Roman Catholic Papacy directly perverted traditional Orthodox Christian theology by sanctioning the murder of Muslims to promote the Roman Catholic Crusades. The Roman Catholic Crusaders were told that they could get into heaven by killing Muslims. (The Crusaders also killed Orthodox Christians and Jews in the Levant.) Similarly, Roman Catholics and Protestants massacred Native Americans in South and North America, respectively. In contrast, the Russian Orthodox intermarried with Native Americans in Alaska, and the Aleuts and other indigenous Alaskans became admirals, priests and bishops in the Orthodox Russian Empire. (I have attended Orthodox Church services in Alaska where the congregation is mostly Native American, and prayers are chanted in Tlingit.) Also, in contrast to the Papal Crusades, the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire always focused on diplomacy-- with war as an evil last resort for defending the empire. In addition, Orthodox Christian soldiers who killed Muslims (Ostrogoths, Avars, Scythians, etc.) in battle had to do a year of repentance (epitimia) before they were allowed to enter an Orthodox Church! Killing a person, for Orthodox Christians, was considered evil, even in warfare. (This is also why the Russian Empire eschewed capital punishment.) Meanwhile, the worst genocides in human history have been committed by anti-Christian atheists and Muslims -- as Dostoevsky predicted in the 19th century, when Ivan Karamazov asked, "If God is dead, will all things become lawful?" According UCLA Professor Jared Diamond, and others, the single worst genocide in human history was the 20th century Soviet genocide of Russian (and Ukrainian) Orthodox Christians-- committed by anti-Christian, atheistic Bolsheviks. It's a history that has remained largely untold in Western Europe and the U.S. The second worst genocide in history was the atheistic Nazi genocide of Jews, Slavs, and Roma people during WWII. Contrary to popular misconceptions, Hitler and his Nazi associates were contemptuous of Christianity. They paid lip service to Christianity, at first, but later promoted a kind of tribal, neo-pagan Wotanism-- which sanctioned genocide of non-Aryan people. This is why even the Roman Catholic Pope issued an encyclical in 1939 condemning Fascism as an anti-Christian heresy. Contrary to traditional Roman Catholic theology, the Nazis believed that some people (Aryans) were more valued than others in the sight of God. Then we have the atheistic Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, and the Turkish Muslim genocide of Armenian Orthodox Christians. Finally, if you study Petronius's Satyricon, and the history of the pagan Roman Empire, you will realize that the advent of Christianity had a humane, civilizing effect on the pagan Roman world. Recall that the pre-Christian Romans tortured and killed people for sport in their Ludi. Hmm..... an academic crusade now! My God. Lighten up! It's +mas! Ok, If it makes you happy Dubs. I'm into God and Santa! In that order! And in the +mas spirit and because I love harmony. And though I'm a Norcal guy! "With a half dozen deer, with Rudy to lead!" "He's gotta wear his goggles, cause the snow really flies" "and he's cruising every pad, with a little surprise!" Sounds like Mike Love lyrics that he sued Brian Wilson for! heh heh Edited December 19, 2023 by Kirk Gallaway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 (edited) New York Times: Poll shows voter disproval of Biden's Gaza policy. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/19/us/politics/biden-israel-gaza-poll.html?unlocked_article_code=1.HE0.l861.PudWw_cykfIv&hpgrp=k-abar&smid=url-share Edited December 19, 2023 by Douglas Caddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 9 hours ago, Kirk Gallaway said: Hmm..... an academic crusade now! My God. Lighten up! It's +mas! Ok, If it makes you happy Dubs. I'm into God and Santa! In that order! And in the +mas spirit and because I love harmony. And though I'm a Norcal guy! "With a half dozen deer, with Rudy to lead!" "He's gotta wear his goggles, cause the snow really flies" "and he's cruising every pad, with a little surprise!" Kirk, I only responded to the popular modern trope blaming "religion" for mass murder, because most people don't know that the worst genocides in history were committed by anti-Christian atheists-- Stalin, Hitler, the Khmer Rouge, et. al. It's a subject that I have studied in great detail over the years. The truth is that Homo Sapiens have always been tribal and genocidal. It's in our DNA. But religions teaching peace and compassion, when not perverted by sociopaths, have often ameliorated our baser human instincts. Dostoevsky was right. The horrors of Naziism and Stalinism were directly linked to the collapse of traditional Christianity in 20th century Germany and Russia, respectively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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