Penny

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

Christian Theology

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You're not entirely wrong. I never said you need to earn your way to heaven. That's why I clarified with phrases such as 'Of course, since we are human, all of that is pretty much impossible. But to attempt to live in the faith, as much as you can, is something God wishes.' True belief merits action. One who does believe will acts accordingly.

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and the most important one

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Now, theologically, it is true to say that no amount of good works can 'buy' someone into heaven. Because Heaven is a perfect paradise and no man is perfect, therefore no one is ever worthy. However, to not attempt to live a live of giving and kindness is also blasphemous. To put it simply:

If you love Jesus, you'll care about following him. If you care about following him, you'll do christ-like things. If you do christ-like things, you'd be a follower. Someone cannot say 'I love God and am a believer' and then regularly cheat on his wife, for instance.

Also always take Romans with a grain of salt. Not to say it is false, per say. However, Paul is not Jesus. Romans and the like is secondary compared to books like Luke.

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Norse Paganism

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Didn't Audumbla the Cow lick the first Aesir out of ice and not salt? I don't recall reading a translation that claimed it was salt, or salt water.

@POOHEAD189

Boys boys, both of your imaginary friends are pretty.

John 15'14 (lol): You are my friends if you obey me.

@POOHEAD189

If someone said that to you in real life you would back the hell away without making eye contact.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

@Penny Respectfully disagree. :P

@SleepingSilence

Disagree about what? That assisted suicide should be legal?

While true, some survive even bullets to the head...it's low, but that chance makes the idea of trying so, especially when you're younger. It's an incredibly selfish decision.

(Self inflicted gun head wounds.)
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5175460

For patients who survive SIGSWs to the head, the injuries sustained are often devastating and require multiple complex procedures performed by a diverse team of specialists.

Data measuring the average costs and reimbursements of these cases suggest that UIHC approximately “breaks even” or makes a small profit in the treatment of these patients. This implies that while these cases place a large burden on society—one source estimates an annual cost of $11 billion in lost productivity alone in the United States.

@SleepingSilence

Lost productivity! The horror. If attempted suicide is unprofitable people should definitely rethink it.

communications.yale.edu/sites/default…

A new study, a first of its kind, shows that civilians who
are shot in the head or have other penetrating brain injuries, have a 42 percent chance
of surviving. The senior author of the study, Kevin Sheth, is an Associate Professor of Neurology and
Neurosurgery at Yale. The study, published in Journal Neurology, includes 400 patients
at two major trauma centers.

@SleepingSilence

I think I found the study this is referencing and the methodology is measuring people that are admitted to trauma centers. I think it excludes people who are pronounced dead at the scene. So if you are alive when you get there, you have a 42 percent chance.

A study on suicide lethality from the American Journal of Public Health (RS Spicer, TR Miller - Suicide acts in 8 states: incidence and case fatality rates by demographics and method. - American Journal of Public Health, 2000) rates lethality as follows:

Drug/poison ingestion 1.5
Poison by gas 41.5
Suffocation/hanging 61.4
Drowning/submersion 65.9
Firearm 82.5
Cut/pierce 1.2
Jump 34.5
Other 8.0

Making firearms the clear winner. Im actually a little surprised at just how few death are accounted for by OD and Cutting although its possible that suicide by OD is poorly captured in their data.

I'm not arguing that we should be offering assisted suicide in outpatient clinics for anyone who wanders by, but I do think that is is a sensible option to have on the table. Terminal patients often choose to die simply by stopping treatment even though we could keep them alive for months or years longer. Some simply opt to kill themselves and make an end to it one way or another. Id just as soon have it happen in a humane dignified way, rather than buying a shotgun and eating a shell.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

Christianity is a faith as worthy of respect as Islam or Judaism.

@POOHEAD189

Exactly as worthy.

That's getting into the discussion of assisted suicide right?

@SleepingSilence

Unfortunately assisted suicide is illegal in the majority of places. This dosen't stop a certain amount of what we might term self-empowerment however.

The elderly seem a lot more successful at 4:1.

@SleepingSilence

I haven't read the statistics but my impression is that older people are more likely to go for guns or the types of drugs they need to get the job done.

Younger people are more likely to go for hanging or cutting which are super unreliable, or try to OD on something that really isn't potent enough to do the job. I also assume that the 'cry for help' suicide is more likely among the young.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

most atheists would hopefully point out that's not a good way to die.

@SleepingSilence

We are all going to be dead soon anyway, what is the rush? That being said if you are terminally ill and are looking at a slow painful death I dont think its wrong for you to consider your options.

The Book Club

Donald Kagan's The Peloponnesian War is a good place to start. If you are able to get a hold of it I cant recommend Kenneth Harl's Teaching Company course on the Pelopennesian War highly enough. Particularly for background and his analysis of the work of Kagan and Geoffrey de Ste. Croix who are two of the leading scholars of the field

Finally always remember that friends don't let friends read Victor Davis Hansen.

@POOHEAD189

The Sorceress and the Slave

@POOHEAD189