So basically what you're saying is that you'll continue yammering trying to stuff your superstitions down my throat, until I blow my top and knock you on the head?
Ever heard of letting others believe in their own traditions and beliefs? It's called RESPECT, something you christians show an utter disregard of towards others.
He's sure taking his time then. You're really filling the stereotype that religion rots the mind mate.
Basically you're statiing, yes we were wrong for a thousand times, but that doesn't mean we will be wrong for the thousandth and one time!
I don't know if you've ever seen the comedy series Black Adder. In one episode, the British general explains his cunning plan for the Somme offensive.
He tells Captain Black Adder "We'll advance with our boys from the trenches, and then walk towards the Hun trenches"
to which Black Adder replies horrified "Sir, that is exactly the plan that has failed for the past 30 times!"
to which the General replies "That's exactly the brilliant part of the plan, after failing 30 times, the Huns won't expect us to try it out for a 31st time, and take them completely by surprise!"
I hope you will get the irony and stupidity of the General's reasoning, and then apply it to your christian logic
You must have learned your history of christianity from movies such as Ben Hur and the Robe mate! Well first of all I suggest you do study some Roman history, the EARLIEST reference that christians were 'devoured' by lions in the Colosseum (it's proper name is the Flavian Amphitheatre by the way) dates from the 6th century AD, over a FULL century after the fall of the Western Empire. It was written by, surprise surprise, a christian (so hardly unbiased) and there is NO other archelogical evidence to support that thesis.
Christians were certainly killed in the arena, but they were usually condemned as, like the intolerant fanatics they were, they kept up smashing the Pagan temples and disrupting Rome's religious functions that were part and parced of the mos maiorum.
The ONLY emperor to attack christians directly because of their religion was the Emperor Decius who ruled only from AD 249-251. Unlike know it all Texans like yourself, I've been to Rome several times and Roman history is a passion of mine, so don't think you're going to beat me there brother.
Today, more Christians are killed for the profession of their faith than any other religion. According to the World Evangelical Alliance, over 200 million Christians in at least 60 countries are denied fundamental human rights solely because of their faith. David B. Barrett, Todd M. Johnson, and Peter F. Crossing in their 2009 report in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research (Vol. 33, No. 1: 32) estimate that approximately 176,000 Christians will have been martyred from mid-2008 to mid-2009. This, according to the authors, compares to 160,000 martyrs in mid-2000 and 34,400 at the beginning of the 20th century. If current trends continue, Barrett, Johnson and Crossing estimate that by 2025, an average of 210,000 Christians will be martyred annually.
I know, I know, Christian sources. Since they are Christian, they must be lying.
As for the christians being killed because of their religion, you reap what you sow don't you? Just a question, if you go as a 'missionary' in an area of the world which is rife with civil war, has a total different culture and mindset from the christian one and is still basically a 4th world country, aren't you just asking for trouble if you go trotting through there babbling about your fantasy god, and telling the locals that they are being bad boys just armed with just a bible?
Reminds me somewhat of the latest Rambo movie, with those missionaries going to Burma.
As for the figures quoted, what proof has this evangelical alliance to substain them?
Over here when I was a kid the attitude in schools was that sports was a waste of time since you couldn't earn money from it, and you would only get into it because you weren't any good at academic subject. Go figure such an attitude from 'educators' eh?
Unfortunately the same attitude was shared by a lot of parents back in those days as well. Thankfully that seems to be changing nowadays, and the kids' class at our dojo has a very healthy attendance.
Sure sounds like a crappy reason to deny you re-starting training again.
As sebo mentioned in a post above, why don't you try a style that bases itself more with grappling and groundwork? With a power lifter's physique I guess you'd be more at home with such a style than kickboxing.
Anyway, don't let one guy's crappy attitude put you off martial arts mate.
One of Bruce Lee's big strengths was his ability to 'borrow' different techniques and adopt them into his own style, Jeet Kune Do.
This made him a much more dangerous fighter as he wouldn't fall into 'set' techniques, which does tend to happen to the most of us during sparring.
Also, Lee was the first to integrate physical fitness training combined with scientific nutrition to aid his martial arts techniques, something that was ground breaking in his time.
Tai Chi is a bit of conundrum amongst martial artists. You'll meet some who consider it a 'true' martial art, and others who view it as a more active form of meditation.
In my view (and it is purely my personal view) it is not a true fighting style, but I admire it a lot as a meditation style. Unlike 'rougher' martial arts it can also still be practiced by elderly people and helps a lot in keeping them flexible and energetic.
Strange as it may sound, Jean Claude Van Damme learnt ballet as a boy, and he always described ballet lessons as being some of the toughest exercise he's ever did.
If you look closely at most martial arts kata (katas are a form of motions done in sequence, going through the motions of a set of predefined techniques, either solo or with other opponents), they focus more on gracefulness of movement and co-ordination that outright brute strength; and in that regards ballet is very similar I guess.
Hehe, actually football is another passion of mine. The two aren't incompatible so long as you have the time to practice both :)
Seeing the world cup final there was at least one Dutch player who didn't have a bad flying kick at all (can't remember the name, but it was the guy who kicked the Spanish player in the chest during the final,lol)
Er, you make the Hawaii sound worse than Afghanistan there!
As for the rest of the thread, I agree with you that no matter how good you are, if confronted with a firearm and you're unarmed yourself you should only resort to fighting your assailant as a very last resort.
Still, if it boils down to self defence I'd rather know how to defend myself rather than huddling in a ball and sob.
In the dojo I attend we stress a lot on the fact to the kids who attend lessons that the skills they learn there are NOT to be used to bully classmates at school for example; and it does teach them to be more self confident & have a greater awareness of their bodies. Besides that they have fun in a healthy manner and it's a change from sitting in front of a playstation all day.
Don't worry no sane martial arts teacher will teach you to go head to head with a guy with a firearm unless you really have NO other option.
My earlier post was just a knee jerk reaction to what sadly is a typical attitude from people who have never done martial arts in their life.
I get the similar comments from people who've never practiced sports in their life, and who will just say 'why do you work out at the gym and eat healthy, you're still going to die one day you know?'
I will really never be able to understand such an attitude (nor do I really have any desire to for that matter)
I've never seen penchak silat techniques, so it would be a great experience to learn more about it :) Do you also practice with weapons? If I'm not mistaken, the kris is a weapon associated with this martial art isn't it? :)
Re-the gladiators, after being used to the katana, I found the gladius' short range a very different experience to wield, you really have to see your opponent's white of the eyes so to speak. Having a shield also makes it easier on defence, as well as it being a very good offensive weapon in itself. No wonder modern day riot police still use what is in effect a modern version of the Roman scutum
Martial arts is not just about being able to beat people up. It teaches you to have greater awareness of your body and mind; it's a good exercise to stay healthy and your body flexible even as you age; and teaches one self discipline.
Besides, how many times are you going to have to fight vs. someone with a shotgun? We're not in the Wild West you know.
As for dating outside Malta, I'm not really looking for that. I've made a lot of friends from abroad through here (usually mailing them after exchanging posts on the forum), but they're just that, friends.
Re-dating, I'd like to be able to meet in the weekends with a certain regularity instead of the odd meet here and there with months in between. Maybe I'm old fashioned in this regard, but I don't see long distance relationships working.
If you have a phobia of snakes, I can see you'd have a problem. Otherwise, so long as the snake is kept caged when you're around, where's the problem?
Personally I don't like 'exotic' animals as pets (i.e. ones that no matter how long you've owned for them/cared for them/fed them etc will have no feelings of affection for you), would rather she'd own a dog or cat!
Jokes apart, another problem I see in most profiles (at least those of women in my area) is that most will have a blank photo, and they really don't say much about themselves apart 'looking for a nice guy, contact me & we'll see from there', so unless you can read minds, there's a good chance of knowing if you do have or have not commong interests etc.
I think that everyone here does it to some extent. After all, just by reading a profile and seeing a photo of a particular person, you can't actually put all your eggs in one basket can you?
Well, since I'm not one who makes things up, here's a sample email which I usually send when some local lady takes my notice. Add a line here and there, and mentioning something from her own profile, more or less what I usually write is:
Hi,
I saw your profile here and would be curious to know more :)
Here's a bit about me for starters.
I have a wide variety of hobbies & interests, ranging from the intellectual to the more physical.
I like to read on a variety of subjects ranging from history, sports & fitness and novels. My favourite novel types are historical fiction, thrillers, sci-fi/fantasy (I'm actually a bit of a sci-fi writer myself), horror and humorous.
I'm also very much into fitness and sports. I work out at the gym regularly, practice kenjutsu (Japanese swordfighting)& jujitsu and like to play the occasional game of football. Oh by the way, I'm a Roma fan, hehe!
I'm also enjoy watching movies of various genres, just to mention 3 amongst my favourites are 'The Godfather', 'The Last Samurai' and 'The Phantom of the Opera'.
Well if you're still reading maybe I've piqued your interest and earned myself a reply ;)
Bye for now, hope to hear from you soon (well unless my profile pics scare you off,lol!)
Stephan
Do you know how many replies this type of mails earns me? 1 out of 10 attempts would be a VERY optimistic average.
I'm biased here, but I don't think I come off as a weirdo in this type of mail, show that I have a good range of interests, take care of myself, and put in a bit of humour too.
Seems that only gets silence around here (yes I know I'm whining now! :p)
wulfen Forum Posts (810)
RE: When you can’t dent the message, attack the messenger.
So basically what you're saying is that you'll continue yammering trying to stuff your superstitions down my throat, until I blow my top and knock you on the head?Ever heard of letting others believe in their own traditions and beliefs? It's called RESPECT, something you christians show an utter disregard of towards others.