Moonbeam said:

I'm not linking spiritual beliefs with intelligence, but I do have to question the logic and rationality of someone who thinks some big scary monster with horns is responsibile for the bad in the world.

meow85 said:

In my original post, I said I didn't understand why belief in the Devil was equivalent to being dumb. You then asked why it would be equated with anything else. How is that not linking spiritual beliefs with intelligence? I don't mind if people disagree with that belief (or even chuckle about it), but I do believe that insulting someone's intelligence based on his/her spiritual beliefs is lower than low...

Moonbeam said:

But it's blaming the world's evil on some spooky monster. One might as well say war is caused by Dracula, or poverty by Frankenstein. What about your spiritual belief depends on scapegoating a fictional thing?

meow85 said:

I don't believe that the devil is fictional, for one. And secondly, I don't think that all of the world's problems are because of the devil, either.

NoodleSoup said:

ok that was fucking funny

i dont understand self pity and i dont want to understand delusional mf'ers

Moonbeam said:

Why would the devil be real? Why would there be this spooky thing created by God as antithesis to God? It doesn't make sense.

The devil, IMO, is an excuse. It's a way to pretend that we're not responsible for what we've done in the world. "The devil made me do it" removes all blame. Think of the Family Circus cartoon's "Not Me" figure -that's the devil. So I say it's dumb to blame or believe in the devil. It's profoundly dumb because it allows us to turn a blind eye to our own behaviour.

And if not all of the world's evil is cause by the devil, then how do you draw the line? How do you decide what we can accept responsibility for and what we get to shift blame onto the boogeyman for?
[Edited 9/19/08 1:54am]

meow85 said:

who's this god mf'er i keep hearing about, i don't understand..

..
[Edited 9/19/08 2:28am]

meow85 said:

Nobody said that the existence of the devil extinguishes all accountability. What in the hell (pardon the pun) made you think that? In fact, I think it's "profoundly dumb" to draw that conclusion.

JerseyKRS said:

Thats not so hard, first think about how the first three are dimensions, question what a dimension is then apply time to your answer. It actually makes more sense than space.

I would say that I understand most things but have a lot of trouble coprehending them.

I cannot understand how to make fucking MIDI work for me, or the VST instruments thing. I know it's not rocket science, but I want some RESULTS, dammit!

I'm thinking of going on Craigslist: come over and show me how to MIDI for $40 - easy money!

ZombieKitten said:

me too! i had the same kind of experience at seaworld. thank god i cancelled the reservation for the dolphin interaction propgram. maybe out at sea that would be fun though.

i only hope those animals get to take a day off, the dolphins, whales, orcas, and all.

Byron said:

I interpreted that as meaning many people think evil acts are a joint effort. It's still amazing that so many adults believe a character called Satan has a hand in doing bad deeds.

Moonbeam said:

Then you are smarter than 43% of the people that answered this poll: http://www.usatoday.com/n...dies_N.htm

I realizing more and more each day that I don't think I truely understand anything

Women in certain cultures...

They complain when they get mistreated by an ex, and pray and whine that they can't find "a good man". And when they do find one they say "I like bad boys"...dumb tramps.

actionthisday said:

Moonbeam said:

Then what, or who, is the devil, and why is it there? Why believe in it?
[Edited 9/19/08 11:59am]

I don't understand people who are deliberately cruel. Everyone is guilty of some accidential thoughtlessness from time to time, but to do it on purpose?

I don't understand why my crippled foot fits comfortably into high heeled shoes, but my normal foot does not.

meow85 said:

I dunno why but some do.. its way fucked up..

I don't understand why Gamespy, such a vital part to a lot of online games, does not have a redundant backup master server and why the hell it's taking them four days or longer to get their shit together and get these games working in online multiplayer again.

Yes, I'm still a bit pissed off about it all.

TMPletz said:

Gamespy fucking sucks. Always has, always will.

i don't understand my damn self most of the time.

I don't understand the General Discussion area and most of it's threads and the posts that follow.

I don't understand the number of really stupid people, is it 80% or 95%?

I don't understand how people can have a job repeating what the read on the internet on television.

I don't understand the need to treat animals like human beings, I love animals, I just know they aren't human.

I don't understand the need to buy things that one doesn't need to live.

This list could go on forever...

I don't understand women, the dow jones industrial, craps in vegas, politics, flies, cockroaches, or the movie Burn After Reading.

sextonseven said:

Again, I don't think believing that "most of the evil in the world is caused by the devil" is something that should indicate a lack of intelligence. Spiritual beliefs are spiritual beliefs. Also, it says that 89% say that "most of the evil in the world is caused by mankind". This overlap indicates that many of those included in the ridiculed 43% also believe that most of the evil in the world is caused by mankind, which apparently is the more intelligent response.

I shouldn't get so worked up over this, but again, I think it's very low to insult someone's intelligence based on spiritual beliefs.

meow85 said:

I believe that the Devil is Lucifer, the fallen angel. I believe he is there for the sole purpose of depressing mankind and interfering with our relationship to God. Do I believe he runs around with a red trident poking people in the ass and disappearing in a rather comical way? No! I think he is much more subtle and deceptive than that. I'd be lying if I told you that I know anything about it. But therein lies the very premise of faith- it is a matter of belief as opposed to one of concrete, scientific evidence.

As for why to believe in it, in response I'd ask why believe in anything? Why believe in God? Why believe in karma, a spiritual nugget that is seemingly easier to swallow for so many? Why believe in science? Why believe in some combination thereof? I don't want to get into personal details of why I believe in the devil, among other things, because clearly such statements would only be met with derision. All in all, each of us has to decide what to believe in and how to make sense of the world. If you think belief in the devil (or God) is as ludicrous as belief in the Tooth Fairy or Easter Bunny, feel free! But I'll be damned if I'll sit idly by and let you assert some asinine claim that something as multi-dimensional as intelligence can be determined on the basis of one issue.

Moonbeam said:

I just can't fathom shoving even partial responsibility for crimes or bad deeds in general onto a spiritual being instead of 100% on the people that committed the acts.