Hi, I'm Mars Horizon, or, A Proper Introduction

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Since this will be my 100th post, I’d like to take a minute to introduce myself. I’m Mars Horizon, and I began lurking early last year. I registered in June, and I usually post in Great Debates or here in MPSIMS, although since it took ~10 months to reach 100 posts, perhaps you could say I still am a lurker! :slight_smile: The religion threads are the ones that interest me most, for reasons which will become apparent.

I’m a network systems admin for a major financial services company, and have been a computer geek most of my life… yes, I had a “Trash 80” when I was a kid. And a Vic-20, and a Commodore 64. As for my UserName…I’m a huge Rush fan (it’s true! ;)), in fact I’ve got all their albums, and have seen them in concert nine times. I even have their (unofficial) biography and I know their birth dates. :rolleyes: Never has the root word for fan been more appropriate…

[aside] Some years ago when Mr. Limbaugh got popular, I started seeing bumper stickers on cars with the logo of the local talk radio station and slogans like “Rush is right!” or “I listen to Rush!” Of course, I had no idea that it was some talk show host they were referring to… I just couldn’t understand why my favorite band was being played on an AM station, and was suddenly attracting so many listeners! (duh!) [/aside]

I’m also an unabashed science fiction fan. My favorite sci-fi show is Babylon 5 (I had my picture taken with Mira Furlan! who hoo!), though I’ve been a Trekkie since I was in the third grade and used to come home every day to watch reruns at 4:00! ST:ToS was clearly the best of the bunch, though in its later years ST:TNG began to rival its predecessor. DS9 and V’ger are merely shadows of the former greatness…IMHO, of course.

On a more personal note, I was raised in a God-Fearing Bible-Believing Home by Godly Parents. Oh yes, I was a regular Sunday (ahem, AM and PM) church attendee, with Wednesdays thrown in to boot. In fact, I have said more than once that I was in church nine months before I was born… and for the majority of my life I did not question anything I had been told. However, like so many others, I was raised (thanks mom & dad!) with a respect for science and logic. This was to be very important, as I began to get very interested in “apologetics” about two years ago. I began to read all I could on the subject, figuring that if all I had believed was, in fact true, then it would be confirmed by a thorough investigation. I reasoned that the more advanced we get, the more we know, the more people should logically believe, because God doesn’t lie! And somewhere along the way, I discovered the SDMB… a bunch of (for the most part) smart, well informed people who don’t take the claims of faith at face value. And require proof. So I began a long study of some familiar sites, The Secular Web, Talkorigins, etc. And I suffered a crisis of faith as a result. This brings me to where I am now. An atheist? That’s the position that seems to make the most sense. Not sure if I’m comfortable with that label yet though. I’ll keep you posted. For now, I think I am what John Shelby Spong calls “a believer in exile”. Perhaps we’ll talk about it sometime in GD?

So, thanks to everyone (well, most everyone) for making this an interesting place to pass the time as well as learn a thing or two.

Cheers!

MH

2

Let’s see… you talked about System Admin and God. Hmmm… :wink:

Just kidding. Though I’m sure I’m not the first nor last to do so, “Welcome to the SDMB”. :slight_smile:

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Well, I feel funny saying welcome to a guy that registered 4 months before I did, but welcome anyhow.

Being here since June of last year, you have to have heard of Coldfire’s legendary Rush fixation. You’ll have to see who can out-Rush each other.

MH, welcome aboard.

4

I believe I welcomed you during a Rush-thread in the past, but I’ll do it again.

Attention all planets of the Solar Federation!!! MarsHorizon is a Doper!!!

5

Thanks Montfort!!! And congratulations on your engagement! Yes, you did welcome me once before, I remember it.

Thanks also to Tommy and Simetra. :slight_smile:

Since (after I registered) I just began posting and never introduced myself, I thought this would be a good time to do so. This thread also signals a desire on my part to become a more frequent contributor to this board.

6

Since Mars Horizon has been kind enough to offer a formal introduction, I think I’ll take this opportunity to do the same.

My username is frobozz (obviously), let’s see if anyone knows where it’s from. I am a civil engineer in central New Jersey. I am engaged to the cutest girl in the world (you can read all about her socks in the “your SO’s irrisistible quirks” thread) and we’re getting married next summer. I have been lurking since October of last year, although I found the Straight Dope Home Page around July or August. I have only recently registered, and have posted about 10 times (again, obviously). That probably won’t change too quickly as I do all my Doping at work, and don’t have time to check in frequently. Also, you people intimidate me. :slight_smile:

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I’ve had the honor of doing a brief e-mail correspondence with Mars Horizon, who is one of the finest gentlemen I’ve had opportunity to come in contact with online, and briefly to discuss enlightened Christianity and Bp. Spong with him.

So I’m glad he’s “come out” as a card-carrying Doper, and I want to add my words of welcome to this thread. Good to see you, M.H.!!!

8

Is it polite/correct to introduce yourself to the greater SD community? How long after one starts posting is it a good idea to do this?

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Hiya Mars, I’m The Mermaid and I usually can be found wearing nothing but feathers. See sig.

Welcome to the board.

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Hello, Mars Horizon! Welcome to the SDMB, and congrats on 100 posts. From what I’ve read, I’m sure you’ll be an excellent contributor here.

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[sub]Shit, not more! But, if Poly says he’s okay then he must be.[/sub]

{phoney smile}
Welcome, one and all!
{/phoney smile}

Gila, it is NEVER appropriate to introduce yourself. Why do you think it took Mars a year to do it? :wink:

Frobozz, I haven’t a clue where your name comes from, but us technical types have to stick together.

12

I won’t presume to say welcome,seeing as you’ve been registered longer than I, but Hi there!

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Oh I see how it is. You’ve been here for months - months - and just now decide we’re worthy of your presence. So now that you’ve announced yourself, we’re all supposed to be all friendly and nice and welcome you? Well not me, boy-o! I am personally insulted by this outrageous slight on your part.

Just for that, I will hold a grudge for years to come. I will be aloof and cold towards you at parties. I will pretend to forget your name and say things such as, “Ah, yes, I remember you, BarsWhoring right? Oh, MarsHorizon, of course, part of that GD crowd who likes to argue so much. How silly of me.” At which point I will excuse myself so as not to have to speak to you. Not only that, but I will convince all my friends to do the same. You will find yourself an outcast, shunned from the “iner circle” all because you have displeased me.

Bite Me, Newbie.

(Woo-hoo! I got to do it twice in one day! Maybe I should start up The Welcome Wagon, Part Deux…

…nahhh.)

Ok, Mars, since you don’t seem to pop by MPSIMS too often, you may not realize that I treat all newbies the way I treat you. Nothing personal, no harm intended. If you want to take a look at my Welcome Wagon thread (linked in my sig) you’ll see it was all in fun. :smiley:

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** frobozz **, great name. Frobozz Electric…ah the great Zork days.

Pleasure to meet you and ** Mars Horizon **.
I suppose I could introduce myself, but it’d be tedious, and I’m really not all that interesting. It’s a sad fact that I’m boring, but I go on living with myself.

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Mars Horizon the science vs. religion issue has been with me for a very long time (may I say more than two years?) and I’ll share my take on things.

The Bible (New Testament) is a FANTASTIC collection of writings, speeches, letters, and Scripture. Without peer. It had Divine origins. It started out as the word of God. But then Man got messed up in it. Man is weak, has pride, and will manipulate powerful things for his advantage. One thousand years ago the earth had hugely corrupt “church” people who did everything they could to gain wealth and keep ignorance and fear in their subjects. After this time come the King James Version. OK, fine.

For the Old Testament and the Creation, these words were written by human hand, for human understanding, and the intellectual capability of the people who were being taught may have required allegory and euphamisms to get the point across. The Old Testament is full of geneology (with suspect dates, in some cases), Miracles, and stories. The History books are written by the Victors, and the Bible was written by those who are selling the Bible.

But what the hell do I know?

A gracious welcome to a newbie MUCH less new than I.

~UncleBill

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Very Good! I knew there were people around here who remembered Zork. And don’t feel bad about being boring. I’m boring too. Really.

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Well, I thought this thread might turn into a welcome wagon, but that hasn’t happened… sorry for the hijack, Mars Horizon.

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Thanks for the kind words everyone!

Oh, and Mermaid,
[Joey Tribbiani]
How you doin’?
[/Joey Tribbiani]
:slight_smile:

dropzone, I’m not really all that great of a guy… I just paid Poly a lot of money to say that <hee hee>.

Thanks for the Welcome Wagon, Spring Surprise, er, I mean, Crunchy Frog. I’ll try to meet your expectations :wink:

And finally a clarification… perhaps I should have retitled this thread and posted it in GD, ommitting some of the intro stuff. The real purpose of this thread was to explain that I have undergone a change in my beliefs, and to open the door to the discussion of same. For example, in this thread I gave a rather stereotypical explanation of the Trinity in response to a query by Gaudere. As andros was kind enough to point out, it didn’t quite “hold water”. I was embarassed that I couldn’t offer a more reasoned explanation, and that was one of the things that really got me looking. Anyway, enough said. I don’t want to hijack my own thread. :slight_smile:

(and frobozz… fuggedaboutit!)