Back in 2001 I was willing to go around the world in 80 days visiting lovely ladies I'd 'met' via the internet............ trouble is after doing the trip I'd have to start again and somehow I don't think it would have worked!
Anyway, as it was, I went to visit somebody in the states full of romantic intentions, visited a friend first - then married the friend three years later!
I just looked up the meaning of 'Deist', and then a list of famous deists: Cool! I only copied and pasted a few of the partial list, but some interesting guys amongst them (including that US President George W - not George W Bush.... that other George!).
"This is a partial list of people who have been categorized as deists, the belief in a God based on natural religion only, or belief in religious truths discovered by people through a process of reasoning, independent of any revelation through scripture or prophets. They have been selected for their influence on Deism, or for their fame in other areas.
Adam Smith (1723 – 1790), Scottish Philosopher and economist, considered the father of modern economics David Hume (1711 – 1776), Scottish philosopher, one of the principal early philosophers of empiricism Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955), German physicist and Nobel Prize recipient, famous for the equation E = mc² Alexander Pope (1688 – 1744), generally regarded as the greatest English poet of the eighteenth century Antony Flew (1923 – ), British philosopher and prominent former atheist Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790), American polymath, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America Cicero (106 BCE – 43 BCE), Roman statesman, lawyer, political theorist, philosopher, and Roman constitutionalist Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury (1583 – 1648), British soldier, diplomat, historian, poet and religious philosopher Elihu Palmer (1764 – 1806), American author and advocate of deism Frederick the Great (1712 – 1786), Prussian King from the Hohenzollern dynasty Ethan Allen (1738 – 1789), early American revolutionary and guerrilla leader Rusty_knight (1955- ) well known explorer of exotic locations and women George Washington (1732 – 1799), the first President of the United States of America"
Of course....... but He only answers if you grow a long white beard and meditate in a cave for 30 years!
I've never actually met anybody who claims that God talks to him/her as an individual directly............ instead I am told God acts in far more difuse ways - mainly through prayer.
Prayer has to be said out loud within earshot of lots of people - then God can answer because your prayers sometimes get answered because lots of nice people want to please God, and, hey presto, God has spoken!
'When two or more are gathere in prayer..........' - common sense, isn't it?
Those who produce great wealth and those who consume great wealth are often two totally separate groups of people (and often in different countries)...... as long as we realise that consuming the wealth others have produced will have to be paid for at some point in time in some way we can maybe act in a sensible fashion.
Those who choose not to consume the wealth they have produced, on the other hand, have made a sacrifice in the present for some future benefit - if they later feel cheated out of the expected benefits from living frugally now for a later pay-off they'll feel resentful and angry and want perceived justice; if that is not forthcoming, then the outcome is grim.
I think that the UNITED States of America is a good example.
Different states in the USA have different state law but you also have federal law. You also have a common currency. You have wide differences in living conditions in different states. You have trading surpluses and deficiencies between states of the USA - you also have differing rates of pay and migration between states.
The analogy with the world as a whole could be a good one.
Supply and demand effects ALL factors of production but wages are particularly 'sticky' - a company can't just reduce wages from say $38 per hour in the automobile industry to $0.01 overnight to bring all the other factors into a nice profitable equation!
Same with countries - eventually, if you have a trade defecit with another country THEIR wages will go up and eventually they'll buy your now cheapo goods produced by poorly paid American sweat labour.
Trade is a great incentive to peace, but when too many individuals suffer indirectly they can revolt against their conditions and need a scapegoat - that is where the responsibility of WORLD leaders comes in............. to smooth transitions over time so that nobody starts a world war because they see no hope for the future other than to fight to regain what they believe is rightfully theirs (however wrong they may be).
I could write a book about 'The Yellow Peril' - then the purchaser could buy the original best-selling book's manuscript for $100,000 and get the car for free!
A Ford Super Anglia (but red, this one was a pukey insipid green colour until converted to Daytona Yellow in 1970) featured in one of those Harry Potter movies!
It's kinda unique with its personal history maybe worth more than the car (like it has journeyed to the Congo and then fled back to Europe on a cargo boat with my parents and dog in tow, for example).
It's a working car (use almost every single day until I had it 'de-registered' at the end of 2008. I've had some welding done and was about to have all the minor bodywork bumps seen to plus a complete repaint job (not just a superficial respray) but is it worth it - it'll cost me another say $1,000 to do that and will that be recouped in its selling price?
It is NOT a showroom car........... my dad tried two years ago to have it registered as a 'classic' (lower car tax!) but it doesn't qualify as it nolonger has the original engine (if only the original hadn't been scrapped when changed 20 or 30 years ago...).
It is now on its third or fourth engine - for the last few years its even been on unleaded petrol!
I've never sold anything on Ebay - the idea of auctioning it sounds 'cool' to me! That's where I need some help - how to do it 'right'!
This is why it is impossible to legislate totally to separate state from religion - how can a man or woman ignore their own fundamental beliefs if they believe that their religion is the most important thing in their lives?............ how can a Christian politician not feel it is his duty to uphold the basic teachings of his faith, or a devout Muslim enter politics and not wish to do the same?
All major religions, I believe, encourage if not actually instruct their followers to promote their religion........ so a politician is obliged to promote his faith if he/she is indeed a follower of a particular faith - and what more powerful way of promoting a faith than deciding on a career in politics?
If you want a true division of state and religion you'd have to have politicans all swear that they were devout atheists before taking up any form of political office - naturally, if they were found out to be closet Christians or muslims or hindus they would have to be smacked on their bottoms publicly before being reprogrammed to only worship the state as their sole and only master/mistress!
Very sadly, under the present financial turmoil, I have decided that I have to sell my parents Sept 1963 Ford Super Anglia (only one owner in over 45 years!)........ about 15 years ago it had already clocked up over 750,000 miles and was featured in a UK national newspaper. We have lost track of the mileage since the engine was last replaced a few years back.... the mileage clock only goes up to 99,000 miles and not sure if it's now done 900,000 miles plus or over a million miles!
I want it to go to a good home - I don't want it to 'die'.
I'd keep it for my son to inherit one day, but it seems he is not interested........... I only need one car and I have my own - it doesn't make sense to tax and insure two cars when my mother (it's registered in her name) is paralysed and my dad has recently died.
My neice, who works for the auction house Christies in Paris, suggested I flog it on something called 'Ebay' - I've heard about Ebay but have no idea how it works!
Can somebody help me please with some good advice - the car is not worth a lot of money but I'd like to get for my mother what it's worth and not just 'give it away' or sell it for peanuts...... I'd like it to go to somebody prepared to spend a little money restoring it to something like its former glory so it can carry on for at least another 45 years!
The human brain works in a peculiar way with memory..............it actually changes memory over time!
To survive we tend to remember the good things and not how you thought you were going to die as a kid when you scratched your knee or pooped your pants in class in kindergarten and felt so humiliated.
Today is St David's Day - the patron saint of Wales and those who like to think about giving up smoking on a Sunday afternoon but can't quite get round to it!
rusty_knight Forum Posts (6,840)
Which state?
Why not Pennslyvania? (or Transyvania? - ok, not in the USA but that's where Uncle Conrad comes from!)