Bday Prang

4 hours ago, fredwiggy said:

What is irrational to you makes perfect sense to us. Thinking the universe just came to be from no creation makes no sense. It still  shows in our thinking of the miracles that we see everyday here, which to us come from a creator. Our "proof" makes more sense than yours and others that think as you do. Buddhists don't believe in God, or actually most don't, so that keeps them away from Gods paradise. No false gods is one of the commandments which makes sense also.

"Us" being who?  other brainwashed people that's who.  Your "proof"??  You have absolutely no proof of anything , nothing at all whatsoever. All you have is a flawed belief in what warped adults told you as a kid. You have literally had the fear of god put into you.   I won't be wasting my time trying to cure you,  That is the domain of professional psychotherapists

       Not quite sure why you are so quick to condemn all the worlds Buddhists to hell fir and damnation, but you seem to be convinced that you know something that they all don't ,  So more than a little arrogance there on your behalf in my opinion

        I don't know where you live but you should take a trip one day to where I live in darkest Surin on the border with Cambodia. the rubbish they believe in here is no more ridiculous than what you believe,  But believe  in it they do , and just as strongly as you if not more so.  Who is to say that your belief is more valid than theirs ?   

4 hours ago, fredwiggy said:

No false gods is one of the commandments which makes sense also.

So that's millions upon millions of hindus lined up for hell fire and damnation too then.  Have you thought of warning them?

4 hours ago, blazes said:

One religion is much the same as any other....it always involves believing that some other schmuck's religion should be swept from the face of the earth.

and all of them offer nothing now, just false promises, which will conveniently only allegedly be fulfilled after death. |Religions were not created by divine mystical deities they were created by humans More specifically by men. Why for example do no religions accept women as equal to men often portraying them as inferior and in some cases even unclean ?

         I am not going to waste my time arguing this with nutters who believe this fairytale anymore than i would waste time arguing with a flat earther or a vegan. I have seen or heard of nothing during my life which gives me any reason to believe the existence of a "god"  and neither has anybody else

1 hour ago, fredwiggy said:

I was raised in a Catholic family

That explains it, no further details are necessary

49 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

If there is an entity that can make a universe from his mind, I'm sure he's capable of most anything. Some don't realize just what goes into the creation of just the human brain, let alone how all life has what it needs here, as far as air, water and food, all the different species that exist here, how the earth is just the right distance from the sun to sustain life, how the moon works for the earth, and many other things that are miracles themselves. They believe all this happened by chance, a universe created when nothing existed, meaning any type of matter. That's plain ridiculous and impossible, but they have people they follow they trust, which sways them from the real story of God.

So what is the "real story of god"  that you refer to presumably that written by the primitive clerics a mere 2000 years ago and distorted over the years by a combination of translation to other languages and the human propensity for indulging in chinese whispers and of course jumped on by those of dubious intent who were quick to exploit human's fundamental fear of the unknown to enable them to control the masses as they felt fit

Your vision of an afterlife in eternal paradise is some what different to the Buddhist theories of reincarnation   What make you so sure your version is correct.  oh yes I forgot , your "faith"

You are of course free to believe whatever you want no matter how irrational, as indeed are the rest of us who generally feel no need to impose our views on the rest of society 

42 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

The reason children are "brainwashed" at an early age to believe in God, which is actually the most important thing they can learn, is because children are at an age where they will believe what their caretakers say, because they are feeding, holding, hugging and helping them. 0-5 are the most important years of a person's life, and those years afterward enforce whet they have learned before. This is also the reason so many turn away from God. It's also learned at a very young age, by parents who were abusive, spoliers and neglective. This force feeding by parents who were not acting like parents, and who their children trusted, made anything about God bad.

 

If a child is never taught about God, in a loving setting, they will have to learn from the world,which is filled with disturbed people who are taught hate and if the child's peers are someone they trust, learning happens.The same with children turning to drugs and alcohol. If they see their parents abuse it, it's normal to them. If their parents are authoritarian or absent, they learn what to do from their peers, and again, those peers might have issues.

 

Normal people don't grow out of honor to God, they engulf it, because in a world that's usually sad, where most of the time there are problems, all you have left is hope for a forever when you die, with God. Without this, you live and die with nothing to look forward to. If you don't believe in God, that's your deal. Just don't try and sway others to turn away because you might have had a bad experience growing up, with no parents to teach you the right way.

 

Believers usually will always believe, because we know life is hard, and is supposed to be, so as not to get complacent with the nice things life offers you that never last.

The most important thing kids can be taught at an early age is to keep well away from  the kiddie fiddling members of the clergy

Their are millions of people of different religious backgrounds who have no concept of the fictional character to which you refer

There are also millions who have killed or been killed as a result of their beliefs and or the beliefs of others

Life can be incredibly hard or relatively easy its what you make it.  The belief that death results in some sort of beautiful future in an eternal paradise sat on the knee of some imaginary entity is pure and unadulterated fantasy with no basis in fact what so ever. Nothing more than a fairytale 

 I had a thoroughly enjoyable and normal childhood, raised by decent parents who managed to teach me right from wrong without having to resort to lying to me about fictional deities or imaginary bogeymen .

Why should I not be able to publicly dismiss the ridiculous concept of god , when there are plenty of nutters trying to force it down the throats of others. They pick their targets quite selectively, specifically vulnerable young children, and life's losers    exactly the same way that unscrupulous drug dealers operate.  However unlike drug dealers who can at least  offer something albeit far from ideal  here and now., the god botherers can offer absolutely nothing of any substance , merely a sense of false hope, that even they can never ever be sure of 

3 minutes ago, SportRider said:

 

Question, since you're reading this... Can you remember - 

 

There used to be a kids TV adventure show set in Arabia, dubbed I think, but they were always riding about the desert on horses and fighting in old-style forts.  

 

What was it called?

 Was it   The Arabian knights ?   

 Talking of TV shows anybody remember    Casey Jones,  

                                                                         Belle Sabastian and the horses

                                                                         The singing ringing tree

                                                                          Pogles Wood

                                                                          Champion the wonder horse

                                                                          Vision On

 And one more that's not been mentioned but surely not forgotten  the obviously psychedelically influenced and more than a little weird 5 minute production that delighted kids every night at around 5.45pm   I am of course referring to    "The Magic Roundabout"    Starring as far as I can remember ,amongst others  "Florence, Brian ( the snail)  Dylan ( a  spaced out  rabbit) Mr McEnery ( a hyperactive guy on a tricycle) and of course Zebedee ( a bizarre spring thing )

   I think it was a french production overdubbed into english

There were these things advertised for sale in the Marvel comics called "sea monkeys"   my parents wouldn't let me order any , I always wondered what they were, and never did find out. I'd forgotten all about them until now.   Can anybody enlighten me ?

8 hours ago, AreYouGerman said:

 

Whites got indoctrinated to hate themselves. The only group that does that.

 

But I thought that only applied to the 20 - 30 year old woke generation. I didn't realise that people who should be old enough to know better had also been infected

7 hours ago, billythehat said:

aye, that was it, dosed by the teaspoon to naughty kids!

I think it was supposed to be added to a cup of warm water not drunk neat from the bottle, even by the teaspoon full 

9 hours ago, JGV said:

When did Brighton become a beach where nudity is OK

Why thinking of paying a visit, boner boy ?   Don't forget your shorts eh? you'd be buggered if you did?  

5 hours ago, riclag said:

Cheeky wacky weed experience!

Me thinks

Brits have been getting pissed and stripping off since long before cannabis was discovered,   You need to think less its dangerous for some

3 hours ago, Jiggo said:

Remember years ago, my so called English girlfriend got her tits out on the beach, no end of Thais came over and took a photo.

No social media then.

They are a funny breed when it comes to nudity, Cut a long story short, about 20 years ago me and a mate took about 4  of our employees to Pattaya and as expected they were keen to experience a go go bar  They were all eyes when the girls were dancing in their knickers but once they got naked and the pussy licking show started they actually covered their eyes and looked away !    Weird

9 hours ago, JGV said:

They should have made it 20,000 Baht - He wouldn't do this on a beach in UK - I am embarressed to admit that I am British - very disrespectful behaviour and I am not a prude - there is a time and a place - St Tropez probably - I was there in the mid 70s and camped on a nudist beach but kept my shorts on

Boner   but there is no need to be "embarressed"  

7 hours ago, JayLeno said:

Let's avoid making negative generalizations about nationalities. There are wonderful people everywhere, and there are those who could be kinder in every country.

On Aseannow, I've noticed some racist comments directed at different nationalities. Let's remember to be respectful of everyone.

I am not Brit.

Obviously not, but I am, and, as history has shown time and again , we are more than capable of looking after ourselves  There is no need for the likes of you to interfere, so do one!  where ever you come from. Even better tell me where you are from, and I might reveal whether or not we consider your breed worthy of an  offensive derogatory nickname. or not

3 hours ago, Mitkof Island said:

Thai Immigration is #1 responsible for allowing all the trash in more focused on $$$ when they themselves any time can deny anyone from entering.

I doubt he was naked when he arrived

8 hours ago, wensiensheng said:

Not a prude but you camped on St Tropez nudist beach in the 70’s and kept your shorts on.

 

Hmm……..

Because he had an erection

7 hours ago, proton said:

brylcreame

Fraudulently marketed with promises of the fictional brylcreem "bounce".  But once that slime was plastered onto your hair there was no chance of it bouncing anywhere,  Normally found on the shelf in barbers shops between the condoms and those styptic pencils for shaving cuts

4 hours ago, StayinThailand2much said:

 

Invest in infrastructure and transportation (not just in Bangkok), get rid of overcharging, scams, and taxi mafias. Train personnel in foreign languages and customer service, etc, etc. - Why should one travel to 'second-tier cities' if quality of basically everything away from Bangkok and the few costal spots is 'poor' and inadequate for foreign tourists? Not to mention 30- and 90-day reports one has to worry about when travelling to other places...

Tourists staying in resorts like the one mentioned do not use taxis. and  do not do 90 day or 30 day reports  I doubt many would stay in a resort like the one mentioned for more than a couple of weeks, and when they return home they will have seen nothing of "the real" Thailand

1 hour ago, Purdey said:

No real definition of what "high quality" tourism means. Is it about wealth or politeness or what?

I'm pretty sure in the context of the hospitality industry they are referring to gullible people who have more money than sense.  The sort of people who will pay 200 baht for a bottle of chang and 300 baht for a bowl of pad thai without complaining.  "quality" people who would not dare venture out on their own and as such have no idea how much things really cost.  Many of these overpriced resorts actively discourage their guests from venturing out alone, often using scare tactics,like threats of being mugged or ironically being "ripped off"by local traders

The mention of "quality" generates a feeling of smugness in their patrons and pretty much ensures compliance with their extortion rackets, meanwhile they pay their staff minimum wage

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

"...difficult to imagine some of the yobbos on here bending down reverently before sidling into the pew...." I agree, because I am not a believer, and never will be.

 

You might like to note there's been several reports recently that there is no evidence whatever that Jesus or God ever existed.

 

My main experience with christianity was when I was conscripted for national service, about 1 month before the end of boot camp (3 months total) we were told that the next day we would going to the camp chapel to meet / listen to the camp chaplain (Church of England guy) for an hour. Up to that point nobody knew there was a chapel / chaplain in the camp, and a couple of soldiers were strongly upset because if they had known they would have tried to attend a service or gone to the chapel alone to pray.

 

We marched in and were told to stand to attention in front of one of the chairs all lined in rows.  The chaplain came in in his robes and told us to sit down. Two NCO trainers sat at the side along with our platoon officer, a young officer who had recently returned after his service in Vietnam was completed.

 

The chaplain walked back and forth repeating continuously 'I am your friend', and 'Jesus, god and myself promise you that you will not get injured when you are in Sth Vietnam'. Plus more and more 'I am your friend'.

 

Then he said I invite you to ask me any questions / any questions at all, and I will answer your questions.

 

A few guys asked questions and the chaplain answered. Then I asked 'sir I have never understood where the bible came from?'  The chaplain then 'turned' and got extremely angry and accused me of being insulting to the bible, god, jesus and to him.  He then instructed 2 soldiers to march me to the camp commanders office and to tell the camp commander that I had been insulting.

 

A few minutes later, no opportunity to confirm or deny the chaplains claim and i was ordered to do extra cleaning duties every morning from 3:00 am to until about 6. 30am for the rest of my time at the boot camp.

 

A couple of days later a few of the new conscripts and myself were talking to the platoon officer.  He mentioned 'there is severe danger in the operational areas in Sth. Vietnam, soldiers get killed, lose limbs and more and the chaplain should not have told you he can totally protect you, and he looked at me and said 'I'm sorry the chaplain got so angry with you and that you are doing kitchen duties for no valid reason'.

 

The platoon officer then said;

- Make sure you listen very carefully to your orders at all times

- Never take any action that was not instructed by your senior leader except of course to try to shoot the enemy.

 

So much for Christianity. 

Nicely summed up

They are all cults, and  "normal" people do not believe in this rubbish. The only people who do, are those who have been brainwashed to the necessary degree, this normally takes place in their formative years.   Due to the "influence and power" of "the church" which is a relic from medieval times, this brainwashing is sanctioned by governments, and  it invariably takes place from the minute children start schooling, as young minds are very impressionable to suggestion, but just like the tooth fairy and father christmas, normal people grow out of it

         I wonder what the success rate would be if it was not allowed to be forced on people until they reached adulthood ?

         Why do they feel the need to indulge this fantasy en masse in the company of like minded others? Bearing in mind their allegedly strong faith,  Is it not possible for them to communicate with their imaginary friend in the privacy of their own bedrooms?  It's high time any public mention of religion was made illegal.

         What sort of people revere religions,  especially given the number of pedophiles that have held positions of power in them  and been protected from the consequences of their sickening behaviour?

          And as for finding other "followers" who do not pass judgement, good luck with that , it is one of the core reasons d'etre of all religions, and  more pertinently what has the OP got to hide from others that he does not want to be judged

9 minutes ago, Purdey said:

I don't think the index actually measures general criminality, but as it says in the title, organized crime, such as gangs and mafia-style syndicates. That explains why the amount of daily crime faced by expats is not inordinately high.

But they would have us believe that the amount of daily crime committed by expats is of epidemic proportions, and it  is that which is the sole reason for the change in rating .