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Well, as a registered Minister at UM, I can massmail all other UM Ministers through the UM Yahoo Group. This is my first post there.

Let me start off by saying I'm not Christian. I don't believe the
blood of Jesus will wash my sins clean, or that I can eat him every
Sunday (sounds kind silly when it's put that way, doesn't it? Well,
every religious practice looks silly from the outside ... yet I
digress, and I haven't even really gotten started yet). I don't even
know for sure if he really existed, or if he was just another
amagamation of oral legend. BUT, and this is a very important but,
BUT, he (or they) had some very brilliant ideas.

Forgive people's mistakes.
Don't judge someone by their past.
Offer strangers help but don't force it on them.

But it seems that Christians (here I speak of the majority, not any
one person in particular) lost that message somewhere around 275 CE.
That's when a group of rich priests got together and said "Lets get
our story strait and force it down the throat of every single person
in the world". As a result, many brilliant ideals were crushed out of
the historical records, and a Dark Age decended over Europe. This
might have been a bad thing. On the other hand, if this Dark Age had
not fallen, the European Caste system might not have crumbled, then
where would we be?

The problem I see with modern Christianity is that it is still based
in the needs and ideals of an Old European Caste System, which, as
previously stated, has collapsed. The reason, Ladys and Gentlemen,
that so many people are leaving Christianity is not that they are
being seduced by dark forces, but that Christianity DOES NOT WORK FOR
THEM! If annother choice wasn't there, they simply become Atheist, or
simply Anti-Christian.

If the six hour sermons and socializing does not bring a person
closer to God, WHY DO IT? Is not the importance of religion growing
closer to God? If it is easier to do so in a forrest than in a 500
year old building, why try to take that away? Remember: There are
many paths up the mountain, but there is only one peak.

Offer the Bible.
But don't think that it holds all the answers.
Only God herself can do that.

S M Fabal,
High Pope of the Church of Cabal Kallisti,
Keeper of the Sacred Chao,
Patron Saint of Perversion,
Fithy Pagan and Godless Heathen

rI've listened to Roger, Trollax and even Tyler, and I'v ecome to oner conclusion: Everyone is right.

We are all part of the machine. We can't escape. the world ended two months ago. Everyone is wrong. Everyone is right. It doesn't matter that Joseph Smith read the book of Mormon off non-existant golden tablets hidden in a hat; he's right to. My Baptist grandmother who thinks I'm going to burn in hell is right. And I'm right too.

Because truth is beyond anything any human can know. Science, politics, religion, philosphy; they're all maps. Guides that take us through life, that make us each the person we are. It doesn't matter what map we follow. What matters is that the map we follow will get us someplace we want to be. If you want to life a comfortable life, with a bigt house, expensivve car, all those material things, you probaly should listen to me. Or Trollax. Especially not Roger. Because those maps will not get you there.

The most important thing in the world is knowing what you want. I want a life with minimal stress. To that end, I work an easy, low-level, minimal responsibilty job, and have alot of hobbies that I work on when I feel like it. I have fun here, and I play the silly games that Roger's always putting down, and I do it because its fun.

SO here's my homework for you this week: take a look at yourself, and the path you see yourself following. Are you happy with what you see? If the answer is "no", you should probably start looking at why. But, if the answer is "yes", don't let anyone tell you you're wasting your life. Your map matches your goals. And that is the only true path to happiness.

~Your local pervert, half asleep SMFabal

Just signed up for this myself, and though some folks over here might be interested:

National Novel Writers Month!
http://www.nanowrimo.org

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.

Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from your novel at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: Writing begins November 1, 2003. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

I've seen alot of people talking about how our (the USA) government has been acting lately. I just thought I'd bring out some of Robert Heinlein's thoughts on how Government works; I use for the most part Heinlein's definitive work, Stranger in a Strange Land

A government is a living organism. Like every living thing, its prime characteristic is the instinct to survive. You hit it, it fights back.

He did not expect reasonable conduct from human beings; most people were candidates for protective restraint.

Man, a social animal, could not avoid government, any more than an individual could escape bondage to his bowels

Democracy is a poor system; the only thing that can be said for it is that it's eight times as good as any other method. Its worst fault is that its leaders reflect their constituents - a low level, but what do you expect?

I used to think I served humanity ... and I pleasured in the thought. Then I discovered that humanity does not want to be served; on the contrary, it resents any attempt to serve it. Now I do what pleases [myself].

I see he beauty of Mike's attempt to devise an ideal ethic and applaud his recognition that such must start by junking the present sexual code and starting fresh. Most philosophers haven't the courage for this; they swallow the basics of the present code - monogamy, family pattern, continence, body taboos, conventional restrictions on intercourse, and so forth - then fiddle with details ... even such piffle as discussing whether the female breast is an obscene sight!
But mostly they debate how we can be made to obey this code - ignoring the evidence that most tragedies the see around them are rooted in the code itself rather than in failure to abide by it.

Before anyone says so, I know I have no original thoughts in my head; I also know I am acting as a slave to the system (so there, Rev. Roger!  :P )

It was discovered that 99% of people would choose to be slaves, even if the choice was only given subconciously