Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: The Decline of Religion in Europe (Read 66378 times)

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #50 –
He's overcome rjhowie on that! Don't underestimate him. :yikes:

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #51 –
Quote from: Jimbro3738 on

Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
Don't know the book you refer to… But the prognostication is way off: Mexican immigrants (…mostly illegal) are swamping our states, from Wisconsin to Washington — and all points south!

I'm not sure what swamping means (overkill?),


Ever been in a boat? Swamping refers to the boat having taken on so much water that it is on the point of sinking. In small boats, you probably won't sink (flotation installed in the boat keeps it from sinking) but if you're properly swamped the level of the water inside the boat and outside is nearly the same.

So-- Oakdale says that illegal immigrants are overwhelming us here in the states. Possible.
What would happen if a large asteroid slammed into the Earth?
According to several tests involving a watermelon and a large hammer, it would be really bad!

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #52 –
Quote from: mjmsprt40 on
So-- Oakdale says that illegal immigrants are overwhelming us here in the states. Possible.

No, he said 'swamping', and I know what that means. Is it White Man's Paranoia? I'd now ask what 'overwhelming us' means.

Bring 'em on! We have a plethora of junk jobs that nobody here wants to do.
=====================
verb
bury or drown beneath a huge mass.
"the water flowed through to overwhelm the whole dam and the village beneath"
synonyms:   swamp, submerge, engulf, bury, deluge, flood, inundate
"advancing sand dunes could overwhelm the village"
defeat completely.
"his teams overwhelmed their opponents"
synonyms:   defeat (utterly/heavily), trounce, rout, beat (hollow), conquer, vanquish, be victorious over, triumph over, worst, overcome, overthrow, crush; More
give too much of a thing to (someone); inundate.
"they were overwhelmed by farewell messages"
===================
Which is it?

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #53 –
Quote from: Colonel Rebel on
I for one, am proud that we Americans can help our dear friend Belfrager each and every day.
That we can provide such a service as to absorb all of his intense and immense dislike for us all I think is commendable.

Well done, fellow Americans.   :cheers:


/Waits for Belfrager to petition the admins/mods to kick us out (not totally unlike Europe's masters are trying to kick Greece out   ;)   :D   )

Eh eh, well answered. :)
You've clearly benefited from your stay in Europe, Southern Colonel.
Even if you stayed at the worst European place possible. Next time will be better.  :wine:

Anyway your words are a bit exaggerated, I'm a friend of the Americans, my enemies are much worst than you are.
A matter of attitude.

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #54 –
Quote from: mjmsprt40 on
So-- Oakdale says that illegal immigrants are overwhelming us here in the states. Possible.

Aren't you all immigrants except the drunk, crack addicted, American natives?
I see, you're different because you consider yourselves "legal immigrants". Such "legal" condition was given to you by who?
Smileyfaze is very right on insisting about that old piece of paper that gave you such condition, stick to it, you have no other options.
A matter of attitude.

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #55 –
Good job standing in for rjhowie on his break, Belfrager.

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #56 –
Quote from: jax on

Good job standing in for rjhowie on his break, Belfrager.

Thank you. Hope he returns soon, I have other things to do. :)
A matter of attitude.

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #57 –
Quote from: Belfrager on
Aren't you all immigrants except the drunk, crack addicted, American natives?
I see, you're different because you consider yourselves "legal immigrants". Such "legal" condition was given to you by who?

Having been born here, I'm a native American, although not drunk :drunk: (I don't drink alcohol) or cracked overly much.

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #58 –
Quote from: Jimbro3738 on

Quote from: Belfrager on
Aren't you all immigrants except the drunk, crack addicted, American natives?
I see, you're different because you consider yourselves "legal immigrants". Such "legal" condition was given to you by who?

Having been born here, I'm a native American, although not drunk :drunk: (I don't drink alcohol) or cracked overly much.


FWIW, I'm Native American dating back to Man's first arrival on this continent on my mother's side. 6th Generation Scots/American on my father's side. So, half of me can wonder when the other half will go back home to Scotland, if I start seriously expressing animosity to immigrants. Don't drink, don't do drugs---- Next.
What would happen if a large asteroid slammed into the Earth?
According to several tests involving a watermelon and a large hammer, it would be really bad!

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #59 –
Quote from: Belfrager on

Quote from: Colonel Rebel on
I for one, am proud that we Americans can help our dear friend Belfrager each and every day.
That we can provide such a service as to absorb all of his intense and immense dislike for us all I think is commendable.

Well done, fellow Americans.   :cheers:


/Waits for Belfrager to petition the admins/mods to kick us out (not totally unlike Europe's masters are trying to kick Greece out   ;)   :D   )

Eh eh, well answered. :)
You've clearly benefited from your stay in Europe, Southern Colonel.
Even if you stayed at the worst European place possible. Next time will be better.  :wine:

Anyway your words are a bit exaggerated, I'm a friend of the Americans, my enemies are much worst than you are.

:wine:  :cheers:

Yes, they are indeed somewhat exaggerated (as intended).

Anyway, the "next time" to Europe may well be coming soon. Haven't right well made up my mind yet whether to take a domestic cross-country tour of the rest of the US (scouting for places to live), or pop on back over to you all's neck of the wood (Oktoberfest being soon, after all!  :happy:  ) for a sojourn.

Been weighing the pros and cons of each for a couple of months now (and keeping an eye on the Euro in relation to the Dollar, which is 12 cents for a Euro right now, up from 10 cents last week   :(  ).

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #60 –
Quote from: Colonel Rebel on
Anyway, the "next time" to Europe may well be coming soon. Haven't right well made up my mind yet whether to take a domestic cross-country tour of the rest of the US (scouting for places to live), or pop on back over to you all's neck of the wood (Oktoberfest being soon, after all!   :happy:   ) for a sojourn.

Forget Oktober festival, it's a boring endless vision of Germans wearing strange dresses while being drunk with their lousy beer.

From Lisbon to Istanbul just follow the Mediterranean Mare Nostrum line and you'll finally discover what Europe is about.
As for your domestic cross-country tour, I suppose that route 66 it's not anymore what it used to be. Besides you need a convertible, a wild blond, a shotgun and some open banks just to have fun. :)

Never the Euro and the European life was so much accessible to you, get rid of your dollars. :)
A matter of attitude.

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #62 –
Quote from: Jimbro3738 on

Portuguese beer is superior.


Portuguese beer?
I don't know about the lady in the picture but "Super Bock" doesn't sound Portuguese at all.

It's a brand of the Carlsberg Group.
A Vikings (Vikinger) drink, so to say.  :cheers:

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #63 –
Quote from: krake on
It's a brand of the Carlsberg Group.

Course it's not, it was bought. If you can't beat them buy them. They don't even dare to change the brand's name.
Same happens with Sumol, (a non alcoholic fruit juice) that systematically beats Coca Cola selling, Coca Cola had to bought them and maintain the name.

Glorious capitalism...
A matter of attitude.

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #66 –
Quote from: Belfrager
Forget Oktober festival, it's a boring endless vision of Germans wearing strange dresses while being drunk with their lousy beer.


Why should I forget Oktoberfest?

It is what is behind the Beer that matters

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #67 –
Let's hear it for Waitress Beli.

No foam, but plenty of substance.

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #68 –
Sad. I don't tolerate lactose.

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #69 –
Quote from: Belfrager on

As I said, you're not religious.

I.e. not born into a religion, right? But my point is that even those baptised at birth are not born into religion. Conversion is indispensable for any sense of religion, as far as I can tell from my own experience and as far as I have read Christian authors, most of whom are Catholics.

Quote from: Belfrager on

Quote from: ersi on
If religion is not a philosophical system, how is it possible for me to confuse them?

Er... not to much smart? :)

This would of course be a possibility. The other option is that religion (any major religion anyway) comes with its philosophical system and way of life. A rather recent quote to that effect, "Scriptures are an interesting theme because it must have "intemporality" the same time being understandable for each and all  generations. First you need to understand all the theologian system adjacent to it." From this quote we learn that comprehension of scriptures is inseparable from theology, i.e. the philosophy of the religion. See?

Quote from: Belfrager on

There are a few relevant Protestant theologians but none of them are known to anyone in this forum. From the German branch of Protestants, certainly not the Americans.

Ratzinger? I was twice or thrice close to buying his book, "Introduction to Christianity".

Quote from: Belfrager on

Forget the actual protestant sects and analyze Lutero and Calvino, they are the only ones that matters. And what they did is not a matter of religion but finding a way of promoting the bourgeois born without nobility rights but having the money for financing nobility and kings. That's what Protestantism is about, capitalism.

Yours truly Catholic, Belfrager :)

I have read some Luther. There seems to be some portion of anti-Catholicism in his project, not only capitalism.

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #70 –
Quote from: ersi on
Ratzinger? I was twice or thrice close to buying his book, "Introduction to Christianity".

That one is from the German Catholic branch... :)
Read his books, you have the intellectual preparation for that and you'll not regret it.
Quote from: ersi on
From this quote we learn that comprehension of scriptures is inseparable from theology, i.e. the philosophy of the religion. See?

I see perfectly. The problem is exactly what do we mean by "comprehension of scriptures".

Imagine two ignorants that both wants to learn let's say Chemistry. One starts mixing products and substances babbling about very proudly because there aren't any intermediaries between him and Chemistry, he doesn't need them, doesn't want them  and will not tolerate them, the other enters to the most reputed and important Chemistry University.
Who do you think that will have the best "comprehension of chemistry"?

The first followed the Protestant way, the second the Catholic way.

You must have heard about that Catholic teaches the Catechism to our children. That's exactly similar to normal elementary school but regarding religious matters, to give them (naturally with a language and complexity of concepts adapted to their ages) a basic global understanding and a solid corpse of knowledge that allows them to keep studying for their entire life.

I will not advice you to read the Catechism :) (well, everyone should read it...) but I believe that you'll understand better what I'm saying if you read some lines of, for example, the Compendium for the Social Doctrine of the Church.

I'm certain that maybe you don't agree with everything but you'll agree that you have a very very solid text in front of you with a dense and deep philosophical, theological and, specially, a work in the defense of human dignity right in front of you.
You tell me where you can find similar works at any other religion.
A matter of attitude.

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #72 –
Jimbro is talking about Christianity…
进行 ...
"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #73 –
And why not? I'm from a Christian family and was a practicing Catholic for about 38 years. Baptized and confirmed. I had a rosary and a scapular! And went to Catholic schools for 11.5 years. I was practically a priest by osmosis. I'm even impressed by the new Pope....

Re: The Decline of Religion in Europe

Reply #74 –
Quote from: Jimbro3738 on
I'm from a Christian family and was a practicing Catholic for about 38 years. Baptized and confirmed. I had a rosary and a scapular! And went to Catholic schools for 11.5 years.

What happened then? a case of severe brain injury?
I've heard that it can be treated with a lot of rest and, very specially, not posting at all.
I hope you can recover soon. :)
A matter of attitude.