Michael Sams coming out party

[telling tiger 156]

LONG passed the time for this to be moved to the political forums and even the OP said that was not his intent.

[Auctoritas 2,828]

/tinfoil hat

[Weegle777 78]

The thing is, we are ALL bigots in some way. It all depends on what you believe. So to call someone a bigot should cause you to look inward and understand that none of us are any more innocent than the other.

[trout54 55]

I"M A STRAIGHT, HETEROSEXUAL MALE!!!!!!!!!! Phew! Now I feel better. I just wanted to make sure I let everyone know before someone else told you Thanks for listening.

[ShocksMyBrain 9,362]

I must have stumbled onto the Westboro Baptist message board.

[AUinWV 0]

I don't understand the "I don't have to celebrate it"... who asked you to? We all have to live on this spinning rock, and we don't always have to celebrate the same thing. Do you throw a daily birthday party for everyone in the universe or do you just ignore it and go on with your life and only celebrate the birthdays that mean something to you?

Birthdays... One could also say that birthdays are not national news every day, and when they decide the first ladys or justin beibers birthday (or sexuality) is more important that the preparing to fall stocks, 8+ banker "suicides" in 2 weeks, unemployment, iran, china owning us, etc, one might think

"Who cares? Why do i need to know this? Why is this crap in the news?"

[DKW 86 7,419]

The end of the world is near when we start celebrating gay people, GOD forbids this.

Actually. this is just one of many things God forbids. He forbids Lust of the eyes. He forbids Adultery, Lying, False Testimony. Disrespecting your parents in any way. You do realize that disrespecting your parents was punishable by death in the OT? God forbids many many things. Something like 660-680 actual Laws Forbidding and Commanding what we had to do to be Righteous. So you are telling us that you are living all of them? You are living the sacrifice? Really?

If you dont live under the OT then welcome to the club, but let me enlighten you on something. All sin comes up short of the Lord. ALL SIN, there is no hierarchy of sins. ANY SIN means OOPS, YOU FAILED THE TEST. Trying to pervert scripture to make one sin greater than another is an error. All in sin fall short. ALL.

The Law was only here to show us we were too screwed up to be able to abide by it anyway. We needed another way. Grace was the answer, Amazing Grace.

[Auctoritas 2,828]

I"M A STRAIGHT, HETEROSEXUAL MALE!!!!!!!!!! Phew! Now I feel better. I just wanted to make sure I let everyone know before someone else told you Thanks for listening.

You do realize that this actually weakens your argument, right? Caucasians account for about 72% of the US population, and a little less than half of those are male. As noted earlier, around 3% of the US population is gay. If you were to simply look at the data, you are much much more likely to randomly pick a straight, white male than pretty much any other demographic aside from straight, white female.

To wit: Assuming even distribution within categories, If the US population is 315 million, 226,800,000(72%) are white. 111,132,000 (49%) are male. Now, using an epidemiological techniques we can manipulate that data.

P₁: 3% x 111,132,000 = 3333960. 3333960/315000000 =.010584

P₂: 97%x111,132,000 = 107798040 107,798040/315000000 = .342216

P₂ / P₁= .342216/0.10594 = 32.3

The interpretation: You are 32.3 times as likely to be a straight white male than a gay white male.

If we want to use Mr Sam as an example (a gay, black male) and compare him to the same chance of being a straight, white male:

P₁: 315,000,000 x 12.1% = 38,115,000 x 49% = 18676350 x 3% = 560291/315000000 = .001779

P₂: 97%x111,132,000 = 107798040 107,798040/315000000 = .342216

.342216/.001779= 192.634

Interpret: You are 192.634 times more likely to be a White, straight male than a Black, gay male in the US.

Or, inverted, .001779//34216 = .00519, or, you are .00519 times as likely to be a black gay male than a white straight male, 99.4% less likely.

So...It may not be a moonshot, but there's a reason that these things become news and, in lack of those stories, we assume that you are in the vast majority - Especially when you narrow down the sample size and population to a list of "famous" people.

TL;DR - Math, yo

[berrytgr 0]

What is TL;DR ?

[Auctoritas 2,828]

What is TL;DR ?

"Too Long; Didn't Read"

I hate it, but sometimes forum people use it as a response to a long post to somehow denigrate the content of it, as if they only can handle little tiny bites of information. I was getting out in front of it as a sarcastic joke.

[berrytgr 0]

What is TL;DR ?

"Too Long; Didn't Read"

I hate it, but sometimes forum people use it as a response to a long post to somehow denigrate the content of it, as if they only can handle little tiny bites of information. I was getting out in front of it as a sarcastic joke.

Thanks. I had seen that acronym quite a bit lately and now it makes sense. The average american does want all their info presented as briefly as possible now whether in print or video.

[Auctoritas 2,828]

What is TL;DR ?

"Too Long; Didn't Read"

I hate it, but sometimes forum people use it as a response to a long post to somehow denigrate the content of it, as if they only can handle little tiny bites of information. I was getting out in front of it as a sarcastic joke.

Thanks. I had seen that acronym quite a bit lately and now it makes sense. The average american does want all their info presented as briefly as possible now whether in print or video.

It's true, and much to our detriment. :/ I mean, having a broad base of exposure and understanding is a fine thing to have, but a full picture of the entire story can rarely be told in so little time. The biggest issue of it comes down to what gets edited - and who, with what agenda, does the editing?

Dig deeper, always dig deeper.

[Weegle777 78]

DKW gets it!

[Auctoritas 2,828]

The Law was only here to show us we were too screwed up to be able to abide by it anyway. We needed another way. Grace was the answer, Amazing Grace.

You know, this is a really interesting thing to me, because of where the logic leads. (Hijack alert!) (Hypothetical philosophical discussion alert!)

When I read that, there are several possible conclusions that jump out, but two have interesting questions attached. First, did God design the old Law? If he did, then he either made an error and made a law that was impossible for us to follow, or, he did that on purpose, setting us up to fail it. By your wording, it seems you are implying the latter.

Those answers seem to go against the concept of either an Omniscient God or an Omnibenevolent God.

Yes, I know, free will, etc. It just jumped out that that was a strange phrasing of a concept I've heard used before.

(Unhijack)

Edited to add: I just wanted to mention, in case it wasn't clear before now that I, along with most other nonbelievers, were in fact believers at one point, and we generally have thought about these kinds of things as a matter of course, and continue to do so.

[AUDub 11,143]

Edited to add: I just wanted to mention, in case it wasn't clear before now that I, along with most other nonbelievers, were in fact believers at one point, and we generally have thought about these kinds of things as a matter of course, and continue to do so.

Yes, you're correct insofar as it applies to America. Most atheists over here are rationalists, and it's generally an informed decision as opposed to a knee jerk reaction. I hear it's different in secularized countries in Europe. You're more likely to meet some clueless atheists across the pond.

[Weegle777 78]

God didn't give the law until the Israelites demanded it at Mt. Sinai. Until that point, they were under the Abrahamic Covenant of grace. Throughout their journey through the desert, they lived under grace. The Israelites demands that they be given a set of rules to live by is the reason that God gave them what they demanded. And God, knowing that we could never fulfill the law, sent Jesus to fulfill it. God's law is perfectly just, and he never intended us to be bound by strict rules and a sacrificial system. He intended us to live in absolute perfect freedom walking with Him without fear of judgment.

[Auctoritas 2,828]

Edited to add: I just wanted to mention, in case it wasn't clear before now that I, along with most other nonbelievers, were in fact believers at one point, and we generally have thought about these kinds of things as a matter of course, and continue to do so.

Yes, you're correct insofar as it applies to America. Most atheists over here are rationalists, and it's generally an informed decision as opposed to a knee jerk reaction. I hear it's different in secularized countries in Europe. You're more likely to meet some clueless atheists across the pond.

And, interestingly enough, most of the European countries have an established religion. There's some pretty strong correlation with all that.

[trout54 55]

not quite sure what argument I was supposed to be making. I just can't believe how long this thread has gone on. live and let live. the good Lord will determine his place not me. I have my beliefs, but don't believe in pushing them on others. no arguments.

[Auctoritas 2,828]

not quite sure what argument I was supposed to be making. I just can't believe how long this thread has gone on. live and let live. the good Lord will determine his place not me. I have my beliefs, but don't believe in pushing them on others. no arguments.

I'm sorry, trout, I should have been more clear. I've seen the argument advanced that "I don't make announcements regarding my sexuality, so he shouldn't feel like he has to either." I thought that's what you were intimating. If you were just being lighthearted, I apologize for the assumption.

Still, math, yo!

[AUinWV 0]

Edited to add: I just wanted to mention, in case it wasn't clear before now that I, along with most other nonbelievers, were in fact believers at one point, and we generally have thought about these kinds of things as a matter of course, and continue to do so.

Yes, you're correct insofar as it applies to America. Most atheists over here are rationalists, and it's generally an informed decision as opposed to a knee jerk reaction. I hear it's different in secularized countries in Europe. You're more likely to meet some clueless atheists across the pond.

I was agnostic for the vast majority of my life, and only came to Christianity through a deeper understanding of several sciences such as the complexity of dna, information not coming from randomness, hundreds of "goldilocks zones" in physics that would not allow life if the values were slightly different, codes and patterns in the Bible indicating it was written outside of the time domain, string theory and quantum mechanics, and many others leading to an issue of probability.

Its all just how you look at it, and of course how deeply you look at what you look at.

[Auctoritas 2,828]

Edited to add: I just wanted to mention, in case it wasn't clear before now that I, along with most other nonbelievers, were in fact believers at one point, and we generally have thought about these kinds of things as a matter of course, and continue to do so.

Yes, you're correct insofar as it applies to America. Most atheists over here are rationalists, and it's generally an informed decision as opposed to a knee jerk reaction. I hear it's different in secularized countries in Europe. You're more likely to meet some clueless atheists across the pond.

I was agnostic for the vast majority of my life, and only came to Christianity through a deeper understanding of several sciences such as the complexity of dna, information not coming from randomness, hundreds of "goldilocks zones" in physics that would not allow life if the values were slightly different, codes and patterns in the Bible indicating it was written outside of the time domain, string theory and quantum mechanics, and many others leading to an issue of probability.

Its all just how you look at it, and of course how deeply you look at what you look at.

And it's so strange how we can see the same things but understand them so differently! The beauty of the mind, it is.

[AUDub 11,143]

I was agnostic for the vast majority of my life, and only came to Christianity through a deeper understanding of several sciences such as the complexity of dna, information not coming from randomness, hundreds of "goldilocks zones" in physics that would not allow life if the values were slightly different, codes and patterns in the Bible indicating it was written outside of the time domain, string theory and quantum mechanics, and many others leading to an issue of probability.

Its all just how you look at it, and of course how deeply you look at what you look at.

There's a lot of unique perspective here. I was raised Methodist, identified as a strong atheist for a decade or so, fell in love with a Jehovah's Witness (strange bunch, those Witnesses), married her, found my way back to The Lord and we will soon be practicing Catholics. I'm a rationalist at heart, but I'm able to reconcile that with my faith. I may disagree with my atheist friends, but understand the logic behind their conclusions.

[AUFAN78 3,894]

I took a nap, awoke...or so i thought.......am I on Pluto?

[Auctoritas 2,828]

Nope, you're in America, love it or leave it.

[Auctoritas 2,828]

I was agnostic for the vast majority of my life, and only came to Christianity through a deeper understanding of several sciences such as the complexity of dna, information not coming from randomness, hundreds of "goldilocks zones" in physics that would not allow life if the values were slightly different, codes and patterns in the Bible indicating it was written outside of the time domain, string theory and quantum mechanics, and many others leading to an issue of probability.

Its all just how you look at it, and of course how deeply you look at what you look at.

There's a lot of unique perspective here. I was raised Methodist, identified as a strong atheist for a decade or so, fell in love with a Jehovah's Witness (strange bunch, those Witnesses), married her, found my way back to The Lord and we will soon be practicing Catholics. I'm a rationalist at heart, but I'm able to reconcile that with my faith. I may disagree with my atheist friends, but understand the logic behind their conclusions.

Of all that story, the part I am most curious about is you going from Methodist and her from JW to Catholics. I will admit: I don't believe any of it, but there is something very special about Mass, especially in an old old church. Roman Catholics have cornered the market on gravitas.

I also adore Russian choral church music, Renaissance choral music from Italy, Spain, and England, and candlelit Christmas Eve services for the same reason.