[OFF TOPIC] General Chat

[Griff88 1,950]

8 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

Yes/no, it depends. One sect of American Lutherans is, the other (which my dad’s family is) isn’t. Methodists are highly evangelical, but many have more moderate and even progressive views (at least in California). We don’t really have any Calvinists in California. Baptists and Adventists are the other major Protestant sects I can think of in the U.S. Mormons label themselves as Christians, but every other Christian church does not. 
 

I’ve found Lutherans to be closest to the actual teachings of Jesus. 
 

The only other religions where I see people live up to good morals teachings is Judaism (non-Haredi), Hinduism (most are peaceful), and Buddhism (the religion I’d be most open to trying). I will say that we have some awesome Muslim communities in the U.S. too, but they also have bad sects like Christians.

If I may,

 

"Would you like to talk about our Lord and Saviour, the Pineapple God on Italian Dough Throne?"

[hckošice 14,790]

3 minutes ago, Vojthas said:

Have you seen "Indiana Jones - The Temple of Doom"?

 

I was like 7-8 years old when I watched this film for the first time in my life, I remember my mom almost vomit after this scene

 

 

and then came this scene and it happened

 

 

still one of my fav movies

[heywoodu 14,942]

1 hour ago, thiago_simoes said:

Good for you. Most of my family are evangelical Christians, and I have nothing but terrible experiences when I'm around them. I get into verbal conflict even my mom, who also practices this religion, more often than not, for some very questionable beliefs and behaviors (I mean borderline hate speech here, or blatant hate speech from some of my family members, while I firmly oppose to any form of hate towards people's freedom).

I've been to two or three services in big churches, because my mom tried to convince me that her religion is good, and all I could see was:

1) Ministers want money, lots of money, all the money you can give them, and then some more.
2) If something is wrong with your life, it's because the devil is causing it. One's bad choices, lack of commitment to work or study, laziness, nothing counts. Bad government? Nope. Corrupt politicians? Nope. It's the devil.
3) However, if you go to church every day, pay whatever the hell they want you to pay, pray, pay some more and things are still bad, then it's because God is testing you. Once again, it's not like you can do anything to change it other than pay and pray. Alternatively, if you are truly a pristine person, then the problem is that someone around you is causing the anger of God, and the problem is this person's lifestyle and behavior. Usually someone who smokes, drinks, has sex outside of marriage, dresses "provocatively", is gay or lesbian, or practices a different religion.

4) Anyone who practices African-derived religions is seen as a summoner of demons. Evangelical Christians pray that they are punished, and their temples close. And that they convert to Christianism, of course.
5) The more extreme branches will go as far as advise people to not even consider family bonds anymore if one is not evangelical Christian, or if one does something terribly wrong (like being gay). Former thieves and killers are immediately forgiven once they become evangelical Christians, but gays and lesbians are usually seen as the worst offenders, unless they get "cured". 

Oh, and most evangelical Christians support Bolsonaro. In fact, there's a strong theory he was mainly elected because of them.

Another crazy fact: all around Brazil, especially in Rio, there are several evangelical Christian drug dealers. They can go as far as invading temples of African-derived religions and destroying sacred sculptures and offerings, usually with a machine gun on their hands. Also, priests of African-derived religions are often expelled from the community once their temples are destroyed, and dealers invade their homes and take everything from them. They have to leave only with the clothes they are wearing at the moment and nothing else, and they lose their property and belongings forever. Of course these are extreme cases, but I've read about it at least two or three times.

 

Yeah, I'm very glad the Christian people I know are pretty much the opposite of all of this - and are definitely not 'Bolsominions'. The service I went to wasn't in a big church by the way, there may have been not more than 100 people. I do hope to go back to Brazil in the future of course, and when I do, I hope I can go there again - I'd be interested in talking with the guy who was leading the service, just to get a better impression of him.

 

About point 2), I'm hopeful about the people in the service I went to, since the gist of the guy's story was basically "you get back what you put into something", which - unlike "the devil causes it!" - is something I can pretty much agree with. It doesn't always work of course, lazy and shitty people do get good things sometimes and amazing, wonderful and hard-working people sadly sometimes get shitty stuff, but in general I think it's a good idea to live by.

 

Anyhow, your entire story reminded me of a few words I heard a while back: "You choose your friends, but you don't choose your family." That's about right, I hope you've also got some people around you who don't give two shits about whether you fall for men, women or both, as long as you're happy.

 

As for the Netherlands: we don't have that many people so strongly like this here (they exist, of course, but not in such huge numbers), when it comes to religion the bigger problem in terms of accepting things like people who don't believe or people who happen to be guy comes from the Muslim community. Quite a large number* seem to think it's perfectly fine to yell at you or knock you out if you're gay or not a Muslim or - if you're a girl - just an overall whore. You know, because they can see your arm skin or something.

 

*obviously not all, and it's sensitive to even mention it, which is why I'm stressing the 'obviously not all' part

[bestmen 2,807]

The God punishment for India contnues, after the typhon ,flood ,here is the grasshopper invasion 

 

 

[thiago_simoes 1,423]

4 hours ago, heywoodu said:

 

Anyhow, your entire story reminded me of a few words I heard a while back: "You choose your friends, but you don't choose your family." That's about right, I hope you've also got some people around you who don't give two shits about whether you fall for men, women or both, as long as you're happy.

 

As for the Netherlands: we don't have that many people so strongly like this here (they exist, of course, but not in such huge numbers), when it comes to religion the bigger problem in terms of accepting things like people who don't believe or people who happen to be guy comes from the Muslim community. Quite a large number* seem to think it's perfectly fine to yell at you or knock you out if you're gay or not a Muslim or - if you're a girl - just an overall whore. You know, because they can see your arm skin or something.

 

*obviously not all, and it's sensitive to even mention it, which is why I'm stressing the 'obviously not all' part

I keep my distance from most of my family members. The one I used to be closer was my aunt, but she has become a very strong supporter of Bolsonaro and I don't talk to her anymore. They think (and sometimes do) the most terrible things, but they act like they're humble and self-conscious, and this really pisses me off.

There are very few Muslims in Brazil. There was a family that came from Lebanon two blocks away from where I used to live and they had a small restaurant. I've seen them giving away free food for the poor over and over again. They are really nice people, and the food was superb. I miss eating there.
 

Evangelican Christians in Brazil are also divided in subgroups (Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Jehovah's witnesses, Adventists and so on) but they are very consistent when it comes to hate speech (disguised as part of their beliefs). Almost all of them are like "I don't care if you're from a different branch as long as you hate LGBT+ people and macumbeiros (people who practice African-derived religions like umbanda, candomblé, tambor de mina, quimbanda etc.)".

[Olympian1010 7,951]

10 minutes ago, thiago_simoes said:

I keep my distance from most of my family members. The one I used to be closer was my aunt, but she has become a very strong supporter of Bolsonaro and I don't talk to her anymore. They think (and sometimes do) the most terrible things, but they act like they're humble and self-conscious, and this really pisses me off.

There are very few Muslims in Brazil. There was a family that came from Lebanon two blocks away from where I used to live and they had a small restaurant. I've seen them giving away free food for the poor over and over again. They are really nice people, and the food was superb. I miss eating there.
 

Evangelican Christians in Brazil are also divided in subgroups (Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Jehovah's witnesses, Adventists and so on) but they are very consistent when it comes to hate speech (disguised as part of their beliefs). Almost all of them are like "I don't care if you're from a different branch as long as you hate LGBT+ people and macumbeiros (people who practice African-derived religions like umbanda, candomblé, tambor de mina, quimbanda etc.)".

That must have been a somewhat common immigration hub after their troubles. Gui Khury’s family is also Brazilian-Lebanese. 

[thiago_simoes 1,423]

4 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

That must have been a somewhat common immigration hub after their troubles. Gui Khury’s family is also Brazilian-Lebanese. 

Yep. There's a whole district in Rio de Janeiro, pretty much like a Chinatown, but composed of Syrian and Lebanese immigrants and their descendants. Weirdly enough, I never associated them to Muslims because I've never seen a Mosque in Rio. According to Google, there is one, but this is new information for me. It's really odd, because according to Wikipedia, there are around 2 to 10 million Brazilians whose parents/grandparents are from Syria, Lebanon or Palestine, but Google tells me that there are only 9 mosques in the whole country.

[Olympian1010 7,951]

1 hour ago, thiago_simoes said:

Yep. There's a whole district in Rio de Janeiro, pretty much like a Chinatown, but composed of Syrian and Lebanese immigrants and their descendants. Weirdly enough, I never associated them to Muslims because I've never seen a Mosque in Rio. According to Google, there is one, but this is new information for me. It's really odd, because according to Wikipedia, there are around 2 to 10 million Brazilians whose parents/grandparents are from Syria, Lebanon or Palestine, but Google tells me that there are only 9 mosques in the whole country.

Well Lebanon is nearly 50/50 Christian/Muslim. They are also Christian Palestinians, and another minority religions (same goes for Syria). 

[Dolby 731]

On 26/05/2020 at 21:42, Vojthas said:

I know a few people, even Buddhists themselves, who don't really consider Buddhism as religion, rather the life philosophy as it doesn't connect with celebration of any god.

Though Buddha’s teachings were philosophical and he reiterated multiple times that he is neither the first nor last Bodhisatva, Buddha is revered as a God in Hinduism and Buddhism. In fact, present Buddhism, is very materialistic and ritualistic compared to monastic teachings of Buddha. Tibetan, Japanese, South East Asian Buddhism have retained the traditional rituals of the regions and do celebrate Buddha and a host of other Gods. 

[thiago_simoes 1,423]

A question for our Mexican friends (@mrv86 and others): does anybody here have access to the hemeroteca of the online newspaper El Porvenir, from Monterrey? Alternatively, those who study at Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL) can also have free access to the archives. The website is located here: http://hemerotecaelporvenir.com.mx/

There are some results from the Pan American Gymnastics Championships that are only available through the archives of this newspaper. I asked UANL for a temporary pass, but they only allow access to students there. I also asked El Porvenir themselves for a free pass for 24 hours so I could just update Wikipedia, on the basis that I don't earn any money by updating Wikipedia and the hemeroteca would gain free publicity through citations there, but they ignored my e-mail. Bummer.
 

A few months ago, I would probably jump in and pay the asking price (around 47 dollars) for the 3-month access plan, but the strong devaluation of the Brazilian real is a major issue for me right now.