JensenZ

If it was, they wouldn't be allowing filming or official reporting of the event. Maybe this is an attempt to keep their jobs and look like they are doing something useful. They had a long period during covid when they had nothing to do.

It's different in the Philippines. Over there the police are looking for foreigners to extort. They look or invent a reason to lock them up and ask for large payments for release. They really focus on Koreans.

556 units = total bill 2970 (average after tax = 5.34 per unit). Type: 1124 The 2 AC units that are running much of the time are new Daikin inverter units, but held at 28C for one of them, and the other between 26 to 27C. I image guests at a hotel would run AC at much lower settings.

I never got around to doing any of that, but the drinking habit is normally a result of peer pressure in your impressionable years. I've always been a loner - an outisider, who made my own decisions. I'm sure there are plenty like me out there, but because we keep to ourselves, we don't often meet - except on forums like this.

The churches never liked me as I would be asking too many tough questions to which they had no answers.

You can leave me out of that group LOL

I'm not personally discontented with any churches as I don't go to any, but I did in my younger years. There's a freedom about not being affiliated to a church.

People are not all the same. Some enjoy superficial converations with strangers, others don't.... but either way, most of the world has changed to online communication, at least in developed countries. Take a look around in a restaurant next time you're there. The majority of diners are on their mobile phones while sitting with friends and partners. Even dating is mostly conducted online these days - the world has changed a lot since most of us older folk were young. We didn't have mobile phones or internet. We had to go home to use the phone, or find a phone booth. Back those days person to person contact was all there was unless you joined a dating agency and wrote letters.

When discussing religion, church has little meaning for Eastern Religions and even for Christian religions as there are hundreds of churches within the Christian religion... all studying the same book, but deriving different interpretations thereof. Everyday there's probably someone opening a new church.

I've been married to a young lady for many years. You'll never get the truth from a partner. I'm cutting her loose as I now feel sorry for her being with a 60+, 28 years her senior. She needs someone younger with more energy to do the stuff that the OP is suggesting.

You enjoy being at home, and that's all that counts. I'm the same. Some people are suggesting it's punishment to be at home, but for me it's pleasure. I have my own gym, exercise a lot, and go out to shop - that's it. The idea of hanging out with bar girls who are pretending they are interested in old men is absurd.

True. My wife feels cold at anything lower than 26C LOL... but most of the world would consider 26C to be a very warm summer night.

Assuming full cruising altitude @ about 900km/h *4 hours, within a 3600 km diameter circle from Brisbane airport: 1. New Zealand 2. Papua New Guinea. 3. Indonesia 4. Fiji 5. Solomon Islands 6. Vanuatu 7. Nauru 8. Tuvalu 9. Timor-Leste 10. New Caledonia 11. Tonga 12. Tasmania From Darwin: 1. New Zealand. 2. Papua New Guinea 3. Indonesia 4. Malaysia 5. Vietnam 6. Philippines 7. Brunei 8. Guam 9. Palau 10. Singapore 11. Timor-Leste 12. Tasmania

You won't find the truth anywhere on a computer or in any pocket. There are millions of slants on the "truth" and no one has it solved. The main reason is that God is beyond the physical world and can't be examined by science. It's a matter of faith. Even though you may have escaped the shackles of the Catholic Church, that doesn't mean you've found the truth. You're guessing like everybody else. I myself "deshackled" from the SDA Church, but I'm no closer to understanding God. Also you need to consider that many intelligent people (far beyond our intelligence) are religious people and Catholic. Even people with computers in their pockets. Your post comes across that people who are Catholic are uneducated and ignorant.

And your attempt at moderating this thread is also not appreciated. Leave that to the moderators. Suggesting that I might not be spiritually inclined with an open mind is very "passive aggressive". If you find my post objectionable in any way, hit the report button and let a real moderator decide.

When has it ever got "cold" in Pattaya? I can remember some nights when the temperature reached 18C, but on rare occaions and only the odd year. Nearly always the temperature is over 25C and it's never cold, ever. The last time I wore long pants was on a motorcycle at night in November back in about 2007.

Seriously? You really think your last reply was common sense? You're dreaming if that's what you think, but it's ok, I will ignore you going forward in this thread, and hope that you will do the same.

I have absolutely no idea of what you're talking about. I need good luck with what? Perhaps you're being disingenious and need more good luck with something.

This is an incredibly absurd comment. We're talking about institutional religion, from 500 years ago, instilled on an uneducated population. 94.5 percent of the population is Catholic. It's in their DNA. Perhaps you could suggest that over 100 million Catholics must give up their religion.

There's no need for you to repeat anything. If you're interested in mentioning your theories, just link the appropriate post, which would take less time than typing out your reply.

Disingenious? How did you arrive at that conclusion. Let's check the meaning of it: Disingenious: Oxford: "not candid or sincere, typically by pretending that one knows less about something than one really does. I'm certainly not pretending I know less than I know about the situation among the poor of the Philippines. I specifically used the Philippines as an example because I know too much about what goes on there and have spent years living in poor communities there. What I experienced there had a life changing affect on me. Yes, I'm blaming religion and specifically the Catholic Church for the over 27% of about 114 million people living below the poverty line. I believe the real number is far higher. When the Spanish colonized the Philippines in the 1500s, they forced this religion on the people. In Thailand it's under 10% of about 71 million people living below the poverty line. In 1970, they were twins, with the same population of 36 million. Look at the difference now: In 1970, the economies of the Philippines and Thailand seemed like identical twins. Almost five decades later, it’s worth recounting just how much that has changed. https://www.nationthailand.com/perspective/30325556 In Thailand, unbound by Catholicism, they introduced a successful family planning program. In the Philippines, the Catholic priest still lectures couples before they marry that contraceptives are evil. In fact, this lecture is mandatory to be married in a church. The result is that Thailand has a fertility rate of 1.54, and Philippines is nearly double, at 2.77. What is the process of church wedding in the Philippines? You and your partner need to attend a canonical interview at least a month prior to your wedding. This is typically conducted by either the parish priest or an assistant. Once you have submitted your application and pay the reservation fee, you will be scheduled for an interview. Anyway, getting back to your original comment: "The real tragedy is the suffering of living, and the purpose of religion is, well, it should be, to alleviate that suffering." Religion does not alleviate the suffering of the poor. You need to feed them first.

Which leads us directly to the "problem of evil" and Theodicy (defending God in an evil world). 1. Theodicy: An attempt to justify or defend God in the face of evil by answering the following problem, which in its most basic form involves these assumptions: God is all good and all powerful (and, therefore, all knowing). The universe/creation was made by God and/or exists in a contingent relationship to God. Evil exists in the world. Why? 2. The Logical Problem of Evil: The logical problem of evil is a deductive one. Namely, given the above problem (God is loving, all powerful and all knowing, yet evil exists), is it rational to believe in the existence of God? 1. God exists, is all good, all knowing, and all powerful. 2. Such a being has no limits to its ability. 3. A good being will always eliminate all the evil that it can. 4. Evil exists, so God must not. https://www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/theodicy_brief_overview.htm May I remind people of the biggest genocide in world history. The Flood. It's impossible to know how many people were killed by God in The Flood, but in the 1656 years after Creation, until The Flood, there were probably upwards of 4 billion people living at the time. 8 were saved. This is just one example of God directly involved with the mass killing of people throughout Biblical history. If I intentionally kill a single person, I'm either going to spend my life in prison, or be executed (after many years on death row), depending on where I reside.

Wrong. You cannot separate most religions and God, and especially not the Catholic Church. Let's take a quick look at the meaning of the word "religion": Oxford: "the belief in and worship of a superhuman power or powers, especially a God or gods" Basically religion is worship of a god. It's certainly what I'm talking about here and the theme behind this thread: "Do you believe in God and why". It doesn't define any particular god.

Further to what I posted here a few days ago, I thought it was interesting to look at daily historical temperature records in various cities around Thailand. The global warming brigade are quick to jump on recent highs to suit their narrative, but in actual fact, most places in Thailand are at or lower than records which were set many years ago. OK, so one place in Thailand set an all time high, exceeding a 2016 high by about 0.8C. This is evidence of nothing. Upon searching the Windows Weather App, which gives the historical 30-year highs on any day of the year, I note that the record highs were set as follows for 24 April: Bangkok: 2009: 39C Pattaya: 2009: 35C Phuket: 1998: 35C Chiang Mai: 1995: 40C Phetchabun: 2007: 40C Udon Thani: 2007: 42C Granted, the current temperatures in some places are equal to or near the record 30-year highs, but the point is these high temperatures are nothing new. People quickly forget other heat waves. I don't appreciate the way they twist statistics to try to prove a theory. I'm not saying there isn't global warming, but one heat wave doesn't prove it. Due to limited records, it is still a theory.

How does religion alleviate the suffering of billions of impoverished people who chose the wrong parents (read: unlucky to be born into extreme poverty)? Does it feed and house them? Most people suffering in this world need a square meal (and clean water) and a roof over their heads. Religion is of no use whatsoever other than offering some hope that better will come after they have died. In the Philippines the Catholic priests preach about the sin of using contraception, but don't do a thing to feed the poor families produced as a result of excessive procreation...