How much is too much?

[afghooey]

"And God blessed (the humans); and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the seas, and over birds of the heavens, and over all beasts creeping on the earth." Genesis 1:28

28 verses in, and our purpose in god's plan, according to the bible, is laid bare. To dominate the planet and conquer it. To fill the earth and take what is needed.

But how much is too much?

When the Polynesians arrived on Easter Island, they seemed to have had the same attitude: the island was theirs to do with what they wished. In a few hundred years, the population swelled to thousands. They ripped down every tree for the construction of the moai, nearly a thousand giant stone statues placed around the island. Within another century or two the erosion caused by deforestation totally stripped the island of any cultivatable land. The civilization collapsed into civil war and the majority of the population starved, resorting to cannibalism.

Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface. Today they cover 6%. According to estimates projected by the Food and Agriculture Organization found at NASA's EO Library, "an area of tropical forest large enough to cover North Carolina is deforested each year." At this rate, the world's rainforests will be gone within our lifetime. Can we say Easter Island on a global scale? With no trees, the already unnaturally high CO2 levels will skyrocket, and so will global warming. Erosion aside, our climate will go totally berserk. It doesn't take a scientist to predict what effects that will have on our civilization.

ABC news reports that 83% of Americans identify themselves as Christians (33% of the world's population are Christians, according to adherents.com). Is it a coincidence that America, constituting only five measly percent of the world's population, uses 26% of its energy resources, far surpassing the energy use of any other countries?

Is anyone else seeing a connection here? Am I the only one who thinks that maybe, just maybe, the attitude conveyed by the Christian Bible is a huge reason that this world is so fucked up? :confused:

[Euphoric]

wow that is a thought provoking question. i'd have to say yes, theres got to be a direct connection between theologies that encourage exploitation of natural resources and the real life effect we see in the form of animal cruelty, pollution and deforestation. "theyre only here for us to consume or use however we like, it says it in the bible"

and yea the christian US seems to be successful in manipulating the whole world (for example their drug policies..christian based)

[Captain Hanks]

wow that is a thought provoking question. i'd have to say yes, theres got to be a direct connection between theologies that encourage exploitation of natural resources and the real life effect we see in the form of animal cruelty, pollution and deforestation. "theyre only here for us to consume or use however we like, it says it in the bible"

and yea the christian US seems to be successful in manipulating the whole world (for example their drug policies..christian based)

americas' drug policies are not christian based, that just goes to show me how ignorant you are on the topic of christianity...

there are plenty references in the bible to the strong wine of the old testament portraying it in a good manner! there are a few that encourage you not to become drunks and let it fill your lives, but those verses are just for your won good!

even the herb that has broughten us all together is mentioned in the bible and god calls it holy! if you read exodus you will see that god commands moses to make a "holy" annointing oil made with cassia, myrh, cinnamin, cannabis (9 pounds of the flowering tops!), and olive oil a hin...

he tells moses to annoint all the kings and qeens and priests with it along with arron and his sons, he said that it is for the generations to come, in fact it is well documented that the use of the holy annointing oil had a large up rising during the time christ walked the earth...

there are other references of cannabis (known as kaneh, kannebos, or kaneh-bosm in the original hebrew texts) where god was furious when no "kaneh" was brought to his temple and then he filled the tents with smoke!

rastafarianism is based off of christianity and they smoke ganja 24/7:rasta:

[afghooey]

"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer." (Romans 13:1-4)

So actually, doing anything illegal is going against what the bible says, including smoking marijuana. Sorry, Capin'. :P

[Green Love]

You Can Never Get Enough Love From The Ladies

[afghooey]

You Can Never Get Enough Love From The Ladies

Yo, I think you might've misread... this isn't the sex forum though. XD

[Captain Hanks]

"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer." (Romans 13:1-4)

So actually, doing anything illegal is going against what the bible says, including smoking marijuana. Sorry, Capin'. :P

i've been hit with this one numerous times, but the problem is, what if the "authorites" god places over us decide on banning christianity alltogether?
do we then turn away from god? of course not, just like daniel in the lions den, he didn't turn but did it in SECRET... he was saved by gods' grace...

the thing is that you have to look at the situation and understand the reason for the law, law with no reason is no law at all, things override in the bible majorily (there was a thread on this)

"for i have given you every HERB bearing seed and every green tree, for you it shall be for meat" -God

"in latter times some will speak lies and hypocrisy telling you to obstain from the meats in wich i have given you" -god

funny how in the first verse god refers to herbs and green trees as meat, and in the second he tells us people will speak lies and hypocrisy about meat(meaning herb) (sounds like the government)

he prophesised this

and technically our constitution gives us the freedom to "practice our religions" and in mine smoking of the herb is more than a practice or tradition but a part of christianity itself...

christ means the "annointed one", annointed with what? the holy annointing oil of course and as christians we are to be the annointed ones!:rasta:

[afghooey]

Seems a bit contradictory to me, but oh well. :confused: We're kind of drifting off topic now.

[Captain Hanks]

Seems a bit contradictory to me, but oh well. :confused: We're kind of drifting off topic now.

your right, it is very contradictory, that is why you have to do your own research and allow god to steer you in the right path, we have to follow the one we believe in our hearts god is steering us towards...

forgive me for falling off topic in your thread, in response to it i believe we have a screwed up government, they care more about money and power then they do about this world and the people living in it, the smartest thing for us to do would be to stop cutting down the trees and start using hemp:dance:

[afghooey]

forgive me for falling off topic in your thread, in response to it i believe we have a screwed up government, they care more about money and power then they do about this world and the people living in it, the smartest thing for us to do would be to stop cutting down the trees and start using hemp:dance:

But you don't think the bible has contributed to our government being so screwed up? I mean, the whole idea of manifest destiny that this country was founded on is a highly religious ideal.

[Hamlet]

"But you don't think the bible has contributed to our government being so screwed up? I mean, the whole idea of manifest destiny that this country was founded on is a highly religious ideal."

Well, yes and no...Manifest Destiny was used as an excuse to rob and murder our way across the country. Religions and ideologies have always been used to motivate and justify the actions of the masses; whether it's Marx or Moses.

If you think about it secularity could be used the same way. "Survival of the Fittest" n' such, so why shouldn't we dominate the weak?" I suppose high ideals, by their nature, have extreme polarities for good or bad. It all depends on where we choose to take them.

So I guess corrupt and opportunistic hearts are the real reason our government is so screwed up. It doesn't matter what formats they used. They would have found a way regardless.

[afghooey]

Very good point, Hamlet.

I also think that people put all too much blame on the government for the state of the planet. Don't get me wrong, the authorities do have an absolutely huge part in it, but the masses undoubtedly have more power to make changes, even if the government would have people think otherwise.

What I'm curious is... will Christians (who by sheer population have the majority of control) put aside their beliefs that it's our god-given right to dominate the earth in order to prevent a global catastrophe?

I'm afraid many Christians have the attitude that there's no need to exercise any sort of conservation, since the second coming would undoubtedly have to occur before we would have a chance to destroy ourselves... It just seems like the old pride before a fall. God told us to do this, and he must know what he's doing, so why worry? It's this attitude that makes beliefs so utterly dangerous.

Not to go too off topic, but it's highly reminiscent to me of people who deny that we're the cause of global warming. Fine... let's assume for a moment that the theory of humans being the cause of global warming is wrong. What harm will come of trying to prevent it anyway by moving to more efficient energy sources, besides of course thinning out the thick wad of cash lining the pockets of oil barons? Now consider that maybe, just maybe, global warming is our fault. Wouldn't the consequences of ignoring such an issue far outweigh the inconvenience of taking action to prevent it?

[the joint meister]

the problem with are goverment and the people of the world alike is that we like to pick and choose which of gods words to obey like us tokers like to follow the:"for i have given you every HERB bearing seed and every green tree, for you it shall be for meat" -God

"in latter times some will speak lies and hypocrisy telling you to obstain from the meats in wich i have given you" -god,

one, but the prez might like to say well god doesint like evil and smoking weed is evil bcuz it makes you content to just be the same all the time not try to make improvements to your self and a idle mind is the devils play ground.

but if u ask me i think we both have a good point we just need to form together and become one cuz i dont think god made us so that we could rule over other humans and through them in jail for following what makes them happy he said to rule over this planet not eachother, i think we should be able to do what makes us happy in a envirment where we don't have to worry about the consiqenses of doing what makes us happy, and another thing from are earlyest ages we where always told to be are selfs and not let other people change us and by making thing as harmless as marijuana illegal and "taboo" if u will then we are just doing what we tell are youths not to do, maybe im just rambuling but i think there should be such a thing as freedom and free will not jail and mind controle which telling us things that arnt harmfull are, jus my 2 cents hope it made some kinda sence peace!

[afghooey]

the problem with are goverment and the people of the world alike is that we like to pick and choose which of gods words to obey"

Yeah, I've noticed this a lot too.. which comes up as a bit of a problem, since so much of the bible contradicts itself.

To me, it just seems like that much more evidence that the bible has been screwed with so much throughout history that its original intentions are impossible to determine with any amount of certainty. :|

I'd like to make a formal request to god to bless us with a new book, from scratch. (You're omniscient... you gotta be readin' this right now... c'mon and throw us addlepated mortals a bone here, man.)