Guilty as charged. :blush: I mean, I knew we had rep parties once in a while, but I certainly didn't want to miss out on a rep convention!!!!

How exciting!! Let us know how it goes!

Religion requires belief in a deity.

Also, in contrast to the writing about Jesus, the historical accounts of Lincoln do not describe events that no longer occur or are otherwise considered to be miracles. Is it not more logical to believe in believable events than it is to believe in unbelievable events?

Christianity holds similarities to Mithraism, the cult of Dionysis, the Imperial cult, and probably many more. Are you implying that you've studied every single pagan religion that was around at that time?

Because "outside authority" does not equate to "divine authority". Outside authority can be tested and proven. Divine authority can not. You're trying to redefine the word religious. Don't be surprised when the rest of the thinking world doesn't buy it.

Why wouldn't it grow, with all its similarities to the many pagan religions of the time?

Well, I'm not here to convince you of anything, Laney. :) However, I can't help but feel that the "field day" that's going on is because there is so much fodder out there. I'm not saying there is truth to all the rumors. It just seems that Palin is disproportionately surrounded by controversy for as short a time as she's been in politics. The media may be exploiting the stories, but the stories were there to be exploited. And that's what they get paid to do.

Timing is so very important. The fact that it spread as it did was due to rulers proclaiming it to be the official religion, not because people willingly chose to believe it.

I think it's more probable that religions pulled their laws from the ones that seemed to work the best in their cultural setting.

That wouldn't be a proper comparison, now, would it? We would have to live in a world exactly like the one out of which Christianity grew.

Where did I say that it was? Fear is a wonderful motivator. Nor does it make it divinely inspired.

Uh, I certainly hope no one would take something a stranger says on the internet as a source of authority and agree. I'm simply stating my opinion based on my anthropological and philosophical studies and ponderings. Humans desire to live successfully because life is what we have. What is success in this context? Propagation of the species and the society. Again, existence is valued because it's what we have. Again, you don't have to agree with me on anything. You seem to be trying to get me to say that my opinions came from a particular source or authority. Maybe that's how you operate. Personally, I collect vast amounts of information over years of reading and draw my own conclusions based on what I find to be the most logical reasoning.

So I take it we are then to believe that Elvis is still alive, too? If I formed a religion around Elvis, then you would have to believe it since he's been seen by thousands of people since his death?

I think of it more as a social construct. For humans to live successfully in any type of social environment, there must be certain understood rules. Otherwise, the society would not continue to exist. As social groups grew larger and larger and harder to govern, these rules were ascribed to a powerful deity. Control by fear.

No, the thread had taken a side-road when I made that comment. :)

My daughter has experienced this on several occasions.

Really? She was asked that question, worded that way?

Well, to be fair, I would think that has a lot to do with the fact that her political career is pretty short.

But what would be the point in that? Matt 6:5-6 5 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

Is there any type of check to make sure they really are Christians? I often wonder if some people just slap a fish on their yellow pages ad, knowing someone might buy tires from them specifically because of it. But I tend towards the cynical side of life. :D

I leaked for days before delivering, but I don't remember a particular odor. I was even unsure if it wasn't just incontinence. They checked me on the day I was due, but said there was no amniotic fluid. But when I went into labor four days later and it wasn't progressing, they decided to break my water. Ironically, there was none left. So I was right that I had been leaking all along, even though the test didn't show it. (It was just a test paper that you, uh, moisten with the leakage. :blushing: But if you hadn't recently leaked, it wouldn't necessarily show.) So if they do have you do that and it doesn't show up as amniotic fluid, see if you can take one with you to use when you notice the leaking. But I'd definitely call and get yourself checked out, especially since you're so early.

I was reading up a little more on him and found this: So greed is definitely NOT his motivation! :)

Believe me, I've done maybe a bit too much of that, and that's why I'm reacting as I am to it. I'm putting myself in the shoes of Bristol AND Sarah, and no matter how I try to see things, I can not bring myself to believe that accepting the VP candidacy was a good choice on Sarah's part, for her family and potentially for the Republican party. I would NEVER want my daughter to be discussed like this. So I would NEVER have accepted the candidacy.