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| A Note From Bline - |  Well people, AOL has finally done it! They even ran off one of the finest examples of a "true christian" individual that I believe i've ever met.
To me, I would think this should throw up a flag that there is something SERIOUSLY wrong with this so called "New Improved AOL"..........
Below is the email I received from Bline about AOL. Hopefully he will still stay in touch, because I for one will greatly miss his articles and his stance on religion as a whole!
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From: MRBline:
Just wanted to drop a short note letting you guys know I will be changing my email address and no longer be a member of AOL on or before of June 22. I am not sure if we will be canceling our account itself, because Nasty and I have not finished discussing all our options, but I know for me it is time to move on.
Over the past couple years I have come to see an increasing trend in AOL's management of its service which favors a select social-religious perspective, empowers them to discriminate against all who do not agree. In direct violation of its own membership agreement, AOL allows harassment, intimidation, and degradation of many fine people based on their religion, sexual orientation, and sometimes race . . . a practice I find appalling not to mention unconstitutional. The CAT team at AOL has now become involved, enabling the group to suspend and/or terminate accounts while it remains unscathed for far worse behavior. AOL promises a service where issues can be freely discussed; they can no longer be freely discussed. AOL promises a service free from harassment due to cloning, personal attacks, posting of hate speech in chats, profiles, emails, and IM's; only a specific group enjoys full protection, while all others are punished at the slightest hint of possible offense.
To continue to use AOL says I support the practice.
I do not.
While I will miss certain aspects of my time at AOL, I have to stand by what is right, and this is definitely not right. I also plan on pursuing my options with the ACLU against AOL, but also realize it will be a tough sell (mention chat room in the real world and 99 times out of 100 you get looked at as if you are a nut). Hopefully I can find the right combination of words to make a good case. If something comes of it I'll let you guys know.
Love to you all.
M.R.B.
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| Beneath the Fig Leaf (January 23, 2005) |
"Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought {them} to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.
(Genesis 2: 18-20)
Thus from the same dust God made Steve. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and declared, "This is good."
But Adam stopped naming the animals, and Steve learned the secret of barley and hops. They fashioned an altar with two stools, a television, and a remote, while they dressed the animals in clashing colors and taught them to compete. They belched, they broke wind, they staggered and slurred their primal screams of inebriated bliss, and lo from the heavens God declared:
"This is not so good!"
He came upon Adam and Steve and said, "look what you have done to my beautiful garden!"
Adam grunted,"Can it wait until half time?"
Steve laughed, fell off the stool, then offered God a drink.
"No!" God’s voice became like thunder, "Enough is enough! For your transgressions, Steve, in the closet you go! You will learn good taste and fashion sense. You will learn to appreciate the finer things in life. I will put enmity between you and your drinking buddy, for I will make you want more . . . yes, I will make you want."
He turned to Adam, who tried to focus through bloodshot eyes: "You need someone to keep you in line young man, give you some ambition, make you want . . . yes, want!"
Thus, God decided to make Eve.
(Genesis 2: 20.01-20.99)
(Okay. Its not really in there, but I’m a heretic. I get to do stuff like this.)
Note: Another fine work from the mind of MRBline! |
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| The Armchair Moralist: by Bline |
As a diehard football fan, I enjoy a love-hate relationship with the players, coaches, referees, owners and virtually everyone associated with the sport. For seventeen sundays (we won’t even bother discussing preseason and playoffs) from noon to three, anyone knows where to find me, but those that know me won’t bother. The house conveniently empties, purposely left messy enough for me to have something to help me avoid watching my team choke . . . which in at least one game they inevitably do.
The Armchair Moralist
(December 24, 2004)
"What were you thinking, you lousy (insert expletive of your choice)?" I scream at my television, "The guy was wide open!" I storm off to clean the kitchen.
"What kind of call is that, you lousy (insert another)!" I glare at the screen, a pan and a towel in my hand, "Who paid you off anyway?" I change the channel and storm out of the room.
"No! No! No! No! No!" I hang my head two minutes later, having switched the vacuum with the remote, "You (think of every expletive you know, then make up a few more)!" I collapse on the couch and grimace as the clock seals their fate.
The game ends I change the channel, but now the real action begins. I spend the rest of my football week silently rehashing all of the mistakes, speculating the future of my beloved team. What does the game do to their chances? I pour over the standings. Will they be born again in playoff glory? I bury myself within the statistics. Can their season find salvation? I study all of the expert analysis. Will they ever finally win it all? I close my eyes and pray. While I know this is probably the most inane request anyone could drop on the Almighty, I never seem to remember it until all is said and done. (Could this be why my team never won the big one? Nah . . . God doesn’t fix football games as punishment for my sins.) I am the typical armchair quarterback, the know it all who would necessarily guide my team to Super Bowl victory, if only I were at the helm . . . if only I had the talent to play the game.
It is a game . . . only a game. It exists to entertain, and its participants pretty much expect and encourage my zeal(within reason, of course). It comes with the territory, and those that do not know it usually don’t last long. They get to do what they do best and get paid really well. I escape from my daily routines and become football fanatic, vicariously living the thrill, their worse critic when it all goes wrong. Ideally, it is a simple transaction, no more no less, with no real consequence or harm. There is always another game, season, or team, if I so choose. It is a diversion, and life goes on.
Life is different.
People go to work, pay their bills, make real decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. Sometimes we succeed. Sometimes we fail. Most of the time we just get by. As we try to cope with what we have, some of us do well, but far more of us feel like we don’t. Our mistakes, inadequacies, and differences leer at us, a finger in the mirror holding us back, but we manage to suck it up and cope. Life is no game, but all we can do is live in hope there is always tomorrow, a chance, a better day to come. The last thing any of us wants to endure is an armchair moralist, second guessing our every move, but lately it seems wherever you turn, there they are.
(continued)
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| Graven Images - by Bline | NEW! By popular demand, Mrbline now has his OWN topic section on DragonzLeyr!
Graven Images - By Mrbline
(April 24,2004)
Ok.
I admit it.
I am guilty as charged.
I like the Easter Bunny. I like Santa Clause. I like “trick or treat.”
I like coloring eggs, setting out baskets for my kids. I like saying hello to the kid sweating in the fuzzy outfit completed by a blue satin vest and oversized feet, when we go to brunch. Even though he (or it could be a she . . . I never bothered asking) probably makes minimum wage, feels a bit awkward, and occasionally gets mauled by an overexcited child, I always manage to get a wave back. I never bothered to ask what the remembering of the resurrection of the Christ had to do with eggs or bunnies. It was never important to me . . . still isn’t. I have a little bit of fun, spend some time with my family, laugh, have a good meal, and enjoy the day.
I am not practicing some pagan ritual. I don’t have a clue what god I am supposedly worshiping, nor do I care to find out.
I also like carving a pumpkin and setting it in my window lit up for all to see. I like transforming my front yard into a cemetery. Handmade tombstones dot my lawn, completed by an open coffin and a plastic caldron suspended over yellow lights awaiting the witch (who has just smashed into my tree). On Halloween night I bring out the fire pit and a couple of lawn chairs, and we watch the neighborhood fill with ghosts and goblins, masking the gleeful shouts of children as they race from door to door. When they come to our home, we act scared and pass out some candy, but their joy and hastened thanks are my real treats.
They are not minions of The Dark Lord. They are just kids. We are not paying homage to anything. We are just having fun.
Click "read more" below for the full text.
Note: Mrbline has been sending me his articles on religious views for some time now, and as always, I find them to be a most refreshing change from the condemning examples I have seen from most of the so called "believers". To express my appreciation and friendship, as well as respect, I have set up a section specifically for his articles. Enjoy the reading! |
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| The Passion Of Christ- Or Is That Perversion? | By now everyone has heard of the film "Passion Of Christ" by Mel Gibson... NOW you get to read a review by a "true christian". A review by someone who actually puts Christ above all else in his life, and lives to be christian by example, not by stereotype.
Is this film the "true" story of Christ, or simply a perverted version created by Hollywood and Mel to line their pockets at the expense of gullible people? Are we supposed to "love" this film just to be a part of the HERD MENTALITY that we so often find accustomed to the Christian faith? In the following, one man steps forward to remind you that Christianity is about life, love, and example.
He reminds you that just because you are "told" this is the way, or shown on-screen, that you are NOT damned for eternity if you do not accept their views as "gospel". Be yourself, think, question, practice, and LEARN!
Lose the herd, people!
Perhaps THEN your credibility will improve when you "claim" to be Christian.
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The Emperor’s New Clothes
Christianity, Hollywood, and The Passion of the Christ
“You haven’t seen it yet?”
Many had asked expecting my wife and I to be first in line for the latest installment of Jesus’ last hours on earth as told by none other than Mel Gibson, hunk, heart-throb and icon of the silver screen. The hype surrounding it has been incredible, impressive, a spiritual barometer deciding where each of us stands on the single, most pivotal, event in human history.
From Christian Fundamentalism’s uncontrolled weeping to Judaism’s fears of a new holocaust, everybody has an opinion, and each impression we received told us more about their beliefs than the “awesome, frightening experience” they urged us to see.
The other night, we bowed to the pressure.
I had many doubts and concerns over “The Passion of the Christ” before we ever purchased our tickets. I already knew the story in print and from the many previous versions I had seen. Ever since I could remember I have been drawn to the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and I seldom let a new installment slip past me unnoticed. I am also well read on the horrors of crucifixion, the knowledge from written words alone making me queasy, asking how humanity could be so inhumane. I did not want to see “the Passion,” to have images, already burned into a very private part of my faith, brought to the surface, igniting my abhorrence to a religion’s glorifying a vicious, gruesome crime, the pinnacle of how badly one man can treat another. I had already silently felt every lash, the nails invading already mutilated flesh, the torment that could even make “the Son of God” wail in uncontrollable agony, the indignant way a human being becomes reduced to a billboard warning all passers by what happens when you don’t “just say no.”
Mel Gibson told me he brought this to the screen. He told me he held nothing back. He told me his story was accurate, Biblical, true to life, as if I would be seeing it for real. He told me this was his faith.
I expected a statement of faith. I expected it to line up with everything I had read and understood. I expected an experience that would bring to the surface my deepest, most hidden, feelings about the torture and death of one I call teacher, guide, inspiration . . . Christ!
I expected to become angry, feel helpless and sick . . . to close my eyes and weep.
I saw a movie, and felt nothing.
Note: The above review and commentary posted courtesy of Mrbline. You can read more of his opinions and rewiews on his website, (http://hometown.aol.com/mrbline5784) and by purchasing the book "The Highway, Reflections Of A 21st Century Heretic". |
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| All or Nothing - Commentary by Mrbline |
(August 26,2003)
The Ten Commandments.
The Constitution of the United States of America.
This is what it is all about. This is why a middle class carpenter from Illinois has written a book, established two web sites. Two all or nothing ideologies are at odds with each other once again, the latest battleground, a courthouse square in Montgomery Alabama.
Two years ago, Alabama State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore installed a 5,300 pound monument of the Ten Commandments to be viewed by all who enter, a "mission" to remind all that our founding fathers and the core of our entire legal system has its roots in a single religion, Christianity. Any who enter are witness to a specific expression of a higher power’s influence on our nation, bought and paid for by a staunch believer in a triune God who sent his only begotten Son to save us from our sins. But the people who enter there are not seeking salvation, only justice promised them by another doctrine, The Constitution of the United States of America.
Some of these people pray to Jesus; some meditate with Buddha; some offer worship to Vishnu; some simply don’t pray at all. All of them have one thing in common as they enter the building: they seek a fair and impartial Chief Justice, one who will hold the laws of their country above all else. They want to feel assured that their prayer will not be examined along with their case. They want to feel confident that the same decision will be offered them as the next guy. After all, a document guarantees them this right with NO exceptions.
But as they enter the State Supreme Court in Alabama, they are confronted with Chief Justice Roy Moore’s "higher law."
Note: My thanks to Mrbline for submitting this article! Click "Read More" below for the full text. |
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| Heterodox Christianity - Commentary Of A Christian! | Occasionally, in the course of our lives, we may have the pleasure of meeting someone who actually represents the true ideology behind their beliefs. They strive to uphold the REAL meaning of their faith and belief, and maintain their ability to hold fast and true to those beliefs in spite of the pressures and condemnation of those others who claim to support the same philosophical beliefs as the individual they so ruthlessly attack. The following article is written by just such a person. A man who has earned my respect and friendship by his actions and examples. He is condemned and threatened by his fellow believers, simply because he chooses to actually live his life in a "Christlike" manner, and upholds to the intent and meaning that Christ has led him to believe and follow, and NOT the twisted, condemning alteration that we so abundantly see in those claiming to be the "modern day Christian". After many long visits with this man, and SEEING his actions and examples, I have asked him to submit HIS feelings and beliefs on Christianity, with the understanding that I WOULD post it right here on the front page headline for all to see! If EVERY Christian was as compassionate and true to his faith as this man, perhaps we would NOT have the harsh impression of Christianity as it is portrayed today
To the rest of you so called Christians, you could truly LEARN from this man's example!
And to you, Bline, you have my respect! Admin...... DragonzLeyr.
Now, here's the article i've been rambling about, from this man's own hand and heart!
Heterodox Christianity - Rediscovering the “Christian” Spirit.
What exactly does it mean to be a Christian? As we begin the third millennium roughly one person in three identifies with a religion that we are told is based on an appearance of God on earth 2000 years ago, who “saves us from our sin and gives us eternal life.” A triune God became man through a miraculous virgin birth, performed many signs and wonders, suffered, died and was buried, only to snatch victory from defeat by resurrecting “on the third day.”
We are told that there is but one way to God and salvation through worship of “His” only incarnation, service to the organization “He” founded, adherence to the book “He” wrote (yet we are unqualified to read.) And the other two people God gladly shows the eternal door.
“Only Jesus Saves”
“Only Jesus is God”
But it gets worse.
The one in three people belong to roughly 38,000 different brands of worshiping ”the way the truth and the light.” This in itself should not be a problem, unless of course we consider that each denomination tells the other 37,999 that they too will be shown the cosmic door of damnation. They are the pseudo-Christians, the Lukewarm, the followers of a cult, not the true defenders of the faith. They may have been “called” but definitely were not “chosen".
We are told, “only a true Christian is saved.” We are told, ”you know of Jesus but you do not know Jesus.” The list of insults mount as Christianity expresses the worst in us and the worship becomes petty, vulgar, heartless and cruel.
This is Christianity in the twenty first century, complete with bumper stickers, plastic fish and a bobble head Jesus for the dashboard. This is what we are told is orthodoxy, the only proper doctrine. This is the religion that supposedly holds a monopoly on spirituality, an organization that represents the worst that we can be.
This is not what Jesus taught.
I am a Christian . . . have been one as long as I can remember. Frankly, I neither have all the answers, nor do I carry the delusion that I am somehow chosen above the rest. I am a simple, flawed human being no better than the next guy, with room to always improve on myself. My faith is not a badge or an excuse to point a finger at another; I have enough troubles living up to what I expect of myself. My faith is not wrapped up an image of a God/man that “washed all my sins away,” a strange twist on the expression, blood bath. My faith does not wrap itself within the pages of a book that has been dissected to the point of absurdity but never truly read. What I believe, how I approach what I understand as the big picture is mine alone.
Note: See this article in it's entirety by selecting the "read more" link below. |
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