@waxeagle: Christianity.SE has been very useful (and quite enlightening). Unfortunately, I find it too addictive. :-) [In fact, I'm not just leaving Christianity.SE, I'm also throwing my Stackoverflow [rep 1.5k] and Mathematica [rep 700+] account]. It's kind of unfortunate that I'll be reading a book, think "ha!, that'd be a great question; ... and have it interrupt my reading process."
Anyway, thanks to everyone for all the spiritual insights. Perhaps I'll return again when I have more discipline to avoid treating StackExchange as twitter for questions.
@user1311390 I'm glad to hear you are leaving for that reason and not for some other. I understand that anything addicting and distracting may need to be dealt with using drastic measures and I respect you for doing that. Know that we were glad to have you around and would be happy to see you back too.
This is just a heads up post that I did a little bit of house cleaning today. A few people might notice as it will mean a pretty big hit to their rep. The most affected people are going to be Affable Geek and yours truly, loosing a couple hundred each, with a few other people taking smaller hits....
I'm gonna try to get my CCD class to sign up here when class starts again in a month. I'll give 'em a nickel every time they answer a question. Be prepared for a lot of "because God is love and stuff" — Peter Turner17 hours ago
BTW, I'd like to thank the ecumenical movement / Holy Spirit for making this 10K possible. It is entirely likely that 95% of my +1's came from Protestants and Atheists and 50% of my -1's came from fellow Catholics. The other 5% and 50% probably came from pity, but I'm not complaining! I think I'll affix a gold cross bottony to my gravatar
The chutzpah with with conservative Christians lie is almost impressive. I strongly supect there's something very interesting culturally going on there. The leaders are largely self-appointed, but their authority is absolute. Anyone with the right "stance" cannot be questioned. And as long as your "stance" on the Big Four is right, anything else is unimportant.
@TRiG I've become pretty well disenchanted with the Christian right. i'd still identify conservative, but people like Michele Bachman are not people I want to be associated with (at all)
@JonEricson As I believe I many have mentioned before, one of the reasons I spend time at Slacktivist is in a conscious effort to remind myself that Christians are not necessarily my enemy (though Christians in the news usually are). Basically, any Conservative Christian talking politics is assumed to be lying until proven otherwise.
@TRiG yeah varying values of tradition. I should also mention that the folks who get elected often take advantage of the whatever the current political meme is (although "cutting the fat from Washington" is always a popular meme).
Last thing on politics. We've had for probably 20 years, single issue conservative politics. If you want to outlaw abortion you have the conservative vote and whatever else you think hardly matters
@waxeagle Which is probably one reason why conservatives in Washington never actually do anything about banning abortion. That keeps it alive as an issue.
just chiming in here ... the real problem is the inordinate amount of faith/responsibility placed in government to carry out our morality and ethical framework, be it liberal or conservative (and all shades and variations between). the fine line between desiring that the government espouse those morals/ethics and demanding that it enforces them is a razor's edge from which it is far too easy to slip.
As a preface, I've stopped using Stack Overflow after participating in the beta and using the system for a while. I'm not trying to stir up controversy or ruffle feathers, though that seems likely to happen. Rather this is a postmortem of one user's experience with Stack Overflow.
I've always ...
also - i find myself filtering answers by any number of things. 1) the quantity/quality of extant answers, 2) the OP, 3) the crowd that the question has drawn
sure. i wouldnt want to answer every question. but i still filter the ones in which i have some sort of core competency based on who has already commented/answered.
In the sidebar of the meta site, I'm seeing a chat room that I don't have access to. Wouldn't the simplest thing be to hide it so I don't see it at all?
We've got a slight issue that will take some dev involvement, a hack, or just us settling for a significantly less than optimal solution.
The problem: A user posted a bounty on this question with pretty clear intentions as to how it should be awarded. He then requested his account be deleted whi...
@PeterTurner Congrats on the 10K!! Woot, I think we're up to 7 full-up members. We get out of beta yet!
@Trig As someone who actually agrees with 3 of the "Big 4" (Climate Science is in fact science, and a real Christian would understand the need for stewardship!), I have to disagree that its only those in rural areas who hold to tradition.
I'd like to think I'm not a mindless Christian, but I can't escape what Scripture says. Ultimately, I really see Scripture as pretty clearly hewing to those positions. I can either choose to subordinate Scripture to my politics, or my politics to Scripture.
As one who grew up Republican, I used to assume that Jesus was in favor of lower taxes. I can't say that any more - I've read too much of the Bible. I had to choose between my politics and my God. But that works in both directions
Frankly, it would be a heck of a lot easier to say "Oh, God supports any decision I make." God does not support every decision I make. I'd like to say that getting rid of unwanted children is Ok. I can't. I'd like to say that sex should be with whomever you wayou want is Ok. I can't.nt.
I just would ask you to consider the possibility that thoughtful people actually can value things differently, and as such come to different conclusions.
I thought it was somehwere near the Michelle Bachman thing.
Oh well, I've been wrong before :)
FWIW, I don't care about the tradition - I really care about trying to be honest with the extant Scriptures. I agree, all Scriptural readings have "a tradition," but I try to be really serious in understanding how they apply
As a preface, I've stopped using Stack Overflow after participating in the beta and using the system for a while. I'm not trying to stir up controversy or ruffle feathers, though that seems likely to happen. Rather this is a postmortem of one user's experience with Stack Overflow.
I've always ...
In the sidebar of the meta site, I'm seeing a chat room that I don't have access to. Wouldn't the simplest thing be to hide it so I don't see it at all?
The Upper Room
The Upper Room