Well, I’m an atheist and I think believing that Jesus currently walks the earth is more absurd that believing in an ancient, unseen , & ultimatly inconsequential myth. The latter is daydreaming, the former hallucinating. YMM(I suppose)V
I fail to see the difference in absurdity.
I thought you might
And here we are playing another game of “Spot the Raging Asshole in the Thread!” Here’s a TINY HINT for this round, ladies and gentlemen: his name starts with a “B” and ends with an “adchad”! Hope that doesn’t give it away!
I’m not convinced that this wealthy scion is the Messiah, but could it be that badchad is the reincarnation of Jack “There’s Something Wrong With Your Penis” Dean Tyler?
[note to mods]I obviously intend that in a jocular way, not an “accusations of trolling” way.[/note to mods]
Getting back to the subject at hand, I agree with DtC and erislover. It’s extremely hypocritical for those among you who are religious to call Poly insane or cultish when the vast majority of religions consist mostly of scientifically unsupported or unverifiable propositions. The fact that some of these assertions are quite popular does NOT make them any more likely to be true than Poly’s conjecture. And frankly, if religion is to be taken on faith alone, that’s the way things should be.
I continue to find Poly an engaging and enlightening poster, despite his somewhat quirky “hunch,” as if I were to challenge that, I would have to equally challenge almost all world religions, and I’m not up for that task. Plus, a board consisting solely of weak atheists and agnostics would be rather bland.
And of course, it sure as hell shouldn’t.
Anyway I’m going to bed. Hopefully I’ll wake to shiny new thread where Poly explains further. I’ve had it with the waffle brigade.
Inconsequential? Explain that to
a) all those who died in the Crusades
b) those killed by the Spanish Inquisition
c) the slaves freed after the American Civil War, due to a great extent to the spread of abolitionism with a strong Christian basis
d) the blacks in America that gained equality largely because of the efforts of Martin Luther King Jr., a man inspired deeply by his Christian faith
e) (your choice here of any other of countless examples, both positive and negative)
Poly’s “hunch” does none of the above, as far as I know. How is it of greater consequence?
I concur; however, that was addressed to the religious Dopers, many or most of whom believe that religion is to be taken on faith. My point remains the same: why single out Poly for a unique religious belief when many others’ religious beliefs are equally strange? As long as they’re not causing harm due to such beliefs (I would most certainly see the situation differently if Poly were to, say, start mowing people down because of this kid), it’s a waste of time and effort to try to dissuade them.
Diogenes the Cynic:
He attacks fundamentalists in case you hadn’t noticed. He even has his own pet name for them, “neopharisees” I think it is. And while were on the topic I don’t recall John Edward attacking other’s beliefs but you didn’t have any compunction about giving your two cents with regards to him:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=71678&highlight=john+edward
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=146796&highlight=john+edward
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=146136&highlight=john+edward
Yeah, lets. And while were at it lets have Polycarps kooky beliefs stand on their own instead of trying to clear them up as we go along by making obviously false statements like:
That’s bullshit. This is the SDMB, purpose to fight ignorance. Poly has quite a following and with regards to popularity is certainly no underdog. If you claim to defend underdogs, where were you when His4ever needed you? Oh yeah, piled up with the rest of the dogs.
And that matters how?
Well if they started arguing the case on Great Debates…
I would explain that shit would have all happened for slightly different cosmetic reasons.
I’m not going to address Polycarp’s hunch further until his next post.
Already in Use:
You’re late for that game. BTW, I’ll catogorize you in the “can’t attack the content better attack the poster.” Step to the left with Homebrew and Jayjay.
Aw, man, couldn’t you have left them in a corner by themselves? I was going to ahem sneak in between then during my brief break from writing 80 bazillion pages of journal entries for my english class.
My only quibble with you, Already in Use, is that you are far too restrictive with your target for asshole spotting. Take the last few words off.
[sub]There. Does that get me in a corner with two gay men for the rest of the night?:D[/sub]
Some of you might like me, others of you might hate me, most of you probably don’t have the foggiest fucking idea who I am. I’m just your average guy around here but I’ve put in my time. It’s clear to me that if just about anyone other that Ploycarp, a stand up guy by any definition, had posted what he did in this thread there would be mockery the likes of which this board had never seen.
badchad is here calling a spade a spade, in the Pit, to the person Pitted, in a thread he started. He’s being far more polite, actually, than most OPs are in a Pit thread and I don’t think he’s deserving of a pile on. Let’s just face facts, Polycarp’s hunch is kind of looney. It was actually brave of him to post it here knowing what the response might be and as a man who is unfailingly respectful, he does deserve respect. That doesn’t take away from the fact that he thinks the the grandson of a discount store chain founder could be God’s next prophet/messenger and that is way the hell out in left field, particularly when the all of the evidence is based on a long gone web page.
We fight ignorance here. We demand proof. We shoot down the proof if we think it is lacking. Why treat this with kid gloves? Polycarp is a big boy. He can handle himself just fine.
Haj
Something about this thread has disturbed me all day.
I finally figured out what, and I really don’t like it.
In a purely non-theological, practical, pragmatic, real-world, no-religion sense, Polycarp is being an asshole.
What the hell are you thinking, Poly? You’re dropping hints to some poor kid’s identity where thousands can see them, and implying that he might be some sort of saviour? Have you considered, even for a moment, what kind of harm you might do to the kid? Have you tried weighing that against the fact that having these sort of suppositions hanging about can do him no good whatsoever?
Seriously, have you considered what it would be like to be nineteen and find out that dozens of people are arguing about your theological qualifications? Have you wondered what it would be like if this kid found out he had been denounced as an anti-Christ, without even having put himself up for the position of Christ in the first place?
This is obviously a touchy subject; if someone really strongly believed your hunch, one way or another, the kid’s life could be in danger. I’m not sure many people would be able to deal with being the center of this particular argument.
Whether he’s some sort of divine being or not, you’re way out of line taking it upon yourself to drag him out of the theological closet. It’s like a scene from Life of Brian, but not funny.
Stop dropping hints, shut up on the subject, and let the kid lead his life however the hell he wants to, without the added burden of being the Godhead if that’s not his to bear. And if it happens to be his, then trust that he’ll reveal himself when he’s damned good and ready.
Meanwhile, you may very well be fucking up his life. Quit it.
Poly doesn’t attack fundies for their beliefs per se he attacks them for judging others.
See, here’s the thing. Why do you care if Poly has kooky beliefs as long as he isn’t trying to impose them on YOU?
Ignorance can only be fought as it pertains to factual information and assertions. A “hunch” is not something that can be classified as factually “true or false” hence “fighting ignorance” does not come into play.
As to H4E, if she had only been posting unpopular beliefs without attacking or lying about others, I would have defended her.
It matters because he was simply expressing a personal feeling and was not trying to assert it as fact or insist that anyone else agree with it.
Poly didn’t “argue” his idea in GD either. He expressed an opinion. He didn’t try to convince anyone to agree with him.
As we can see from earlier in this thread, attempts by others to defend and twist Poly’s statement were ill-fated when Poly showed up to refute them. I suggest people save themselves the embarrassment and wait for Poly himself to address comments.
OK now I’m going to bed.
You may be overstating it a bit but I think your essential point is well taken (it’s a point that occurred to me too) and I think this kid may, at the very least, find it exceedingly odd that this conversation is taking place about him. I think the chances that anybody would read this thread, decide that Poly is right and then try to take this kid out are remote to non-existent but he would probably find it rather bizarre and uncomfortable that such a hypothesis about him was being discussed on a message board.
Maybe Poly should have kept this hunch to himself but I don’t think he meant any harm and there are people more worthy of being pitted around here.
If one is not trying to convince others of the truth of one’s beliefs, why post them on a message board?
Poly, nice guy though he may be, has posted his ludicrous notion on a public message board that proclaims that it’s dedicated to fighting ignorance. He must have some reason for doing so. If not to persuade the rest of us that his “strong hunch” is the truth, then why?
If I precede every one of my posts on the SDMB with the phrase, “it’s just a really, really strong hunch, but…,” do I get a “pass?” Will no one assert that I’m blowing smoke up their asses?
Sorry, DtC, but Poly has demonstrated that he’s capable of believing some utterly silly nonsense. To me, at least, this comes as no surprise, and it really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone else, either.
I don’t want to burden the hamsters with a search right now, but most if not all of what I’ve seen posted by badchad on this board is his anti-Polycarp stuff. It seems to me that, in an attempt to make a name for himself, our friend has made it his goal to perpetually attack one of the more popular posters on the board. He’s a leech. (Which is not to say that I’m not interested in the purpose behind this thread, but badchad could be a lot more respectful than this “did you forget to take you[r] pills”/“you have guilt issues” nonsense.)
I think badchad has chosen Polycarp as his personal target precisely because Poly is “one of the more popular posters on the board.” Because he writes well, and seems to be a genuinely nice person, his faulty reasoning often manages to slide past without any serious challenge.
In the fight against ignorance, badchad is performing a valuable service. He’s pointing out that nonsense, when delivered by someone we all like, is still nonsense. More shame on those of us who have failed to recognize Polycarp’s rationalizations for what they are.
I also think that the person in question would be pretty put out to find intensely personal details of his history being bandied about in conjunction with the claim that he may be the Second Coming. The website in question was probably taken down for a very good reason.
I understand that the possibility of a wacko getting ahold of this information and going after the kid is slim; nevertheless, the idea of a gay religious leader is so abhorrent to some people that the appointment of a gay bishop is tearing apart a church. Being announced as a gay neo-Christ puts one on the religious wackjob firing line for certain. And I think that it’s the kid’s decision to take on that role or not, and certainly not Polycarp’s.