sprawled out

pretty early on in my way daze, i bought a rapidograph with the smallest available point (today, it's like .13 mm--don't know what mine was). but eventually, i switched to pencil--if you kept the point sharp you could write real small. it also meant you could erase--which, in my later years (up til '86 or '87) came in handy.

says who, jonny? why would you automatically equate "humanist" with "hedonist?" do you really believe (and i say "believe" rather than "think," because i can't imagine this premise is the product of thinking) that if someone doesn't believe in God they must be immoral?

ok, then, so what would YOU call it? i don't? i do? oh, i see. because i didn't just accept your response as the truth, i don't want to know. can you say "inscrutable?" no wonder you're OK with God talking in riddles!

thanks, all. the main problem i have with God's speaking figuratively is the same one i have with the bible as a whole. people are only too happy to try to interpret language that's up for interpretation. so you have thousands of religions, and all the strife and uncertainty--and worse--that come along with them. if God meant for us--all of us--to know his will, it makes no sense to me that he would express it in ways that are not only easy to misunderstand, but actually lend themselves to misunderstanding. i understand why symbolic language is attractive to some. how beautiful poetry expresses things beyond words. but i'd rather the "instruction manual for life" was written in a more straightforward way.

i guess your accuracy doesn't extend to things like punctuation and proofreading, huh, izzy?

you know it, dooj!

it took a little while, but i did make it back to new york--after 3 years in washington state and 18 months in massachusetts.

how do you know the date?? i have no memory of our graduation. i remember the photo. i do, however, have a very vivid memory of getting my graduation assignment. perhaps because it was like a f!cking nightmare, complete with a grinning lcm right at my shoulder saying, "you know where that is? it's ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY!" (3000 miles from where i'd been "promised.") if i hadn't been standing on stage in front of the whole 11th, i'd have puked right then and there.

i'm not saying i agree, but it's not like there's no biblical precedent. the first thing i thought of (and i've forgotten more about the bible than i ever knew) was Philippians 3: 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing , forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. isn't that saying "don't dwell on the past?"

this may be the best thread i ever read on GSC. so much here is so hard and heavy, it's a joy to see so many pitch in with a bunch of goofy, silly, clever nonsense. pogo would be proud. and speaking of pogo, isn't (wasn't?) he a possum? and isn't possum extra-good when it's swimming in gravy? i love it when a thread comes together.

boy, oh, boy, larry, you got me good with that one! add a couple of "nyah, nyah, nyah"s and i'd probably take my ball and go home. ::sniff:: :P

wouldn't a simple "yes" or "no" wasted less of your time? but then i wouldn't really know. and now i do.

socks--what do you do for a living? whatever you do, if it doesn't involve writing, it's a damn shame.

this really isn't that difficult. a dictionary will answer it, if you really want an answer, not an argument: An atheist is one who denies the existence of a deity or of divine beings. An agnostic is one who believes it impossible to know anything about God or about the creation of the universe and refrains from commitment to any religious doctrine. you know, larry, i have to wonder. are you as big a jerk as you seem, or am i just being influenced by your stupid avatar?

Reading Dot Matrix's prophecy thread made me think (again) about why God seemingly is so fond of speaking figuratively. When i hear stuff like that, i can't help but think, "Why doesn't He just say it? Why does it always have to be figurative, metaphorical, open-to-a-million-interpretations language?" It's always bothered me, even back in the way day. and it's made me skeptical (well, MORE than just skeptical) about things like personal prophecy. can't God Almighty just come out and say what he means? instead of "i am opening a new door for you," isn't it just as easy FOR HIM to say "there's a great new job waiting for you at 622 Main Street?" i'm curious what people here think about it--from all sides.

Happy Birthday, 11th corps brother! Hold on tight, because now's when things start to fall!

gee, oldies, don't you know what happens when you assume? i can't ssume to speak for anyone else, but I hung around because i thought if i just tried a little harder, i'd get it right. and THEN the windows of heaven would open and life would get good. i didn't hang around because life was good. for the most part, it was pretty sucky.

well, i know plenty of folks who smoke fairly regularly and lead productive lives. jobs, families, investment portfolios, etc., etc. so i have trouble blaming the pot for some people's inability to get a life. i was gonna say some other stuff, but i forget what it was.

geez, jonny, were you always such a redneck? from my point of view, it's folks who make huge, unsubstantiated generalizations who have the biggest "L" on their foreheads.

the GOOD news is, i had absolutely no idea what was taught in session 7! back in the day, i probably could've written a detailed outline, at the very least. thank god, it's pretty much all forgotten now.

88%. just like in high school, the trick for me was to go as fast as i could.

don't quit! (even you, dmiller!) i found the zone and hit 60 seconds! haven't been able to repeat it, but...

oldies, poison is the stuff that kills you. what dr. juedes appears to be desiring is to give folks an ANTIDOTE to twi poison.

http://www.mivzakon.co.il/games/Html/redsquare.html?id=742

sometimes, a single sentence is all i need to tell me where a poster is coming from. a snap judgment? i think not.