by Brad Warner
My friend John Graves sent me a photo of a billboard that’s been appearing all over Los Angeles. The one he took a picture of was right near The Grove, in one of the highest rent districts in one of the highest rent cities in the whole world. The billboard says: “The Bible Guarantees Judgment Day May 21, 2011, …Cry mightily unto God – Jonah 3:8, Mon-Fri 5:30 – 7PM, 1280 AM Radio FamilyRadio.” Next to these words is a photo of a guy who is either kneeling to pray or in the throes of a painful bout of constipation.
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by Keith Daniels
The Bible is often presented by believers as a monolithic creation, as if it descended from Heaven whole, perfect, and in King James’ English. The truth, as in so many things, is so much more complicated and interesting. The text of the Hebrew Tanakh which became what Christians dismissively call the “Old Testament” began as an oral tradition that was eventually written down in Hebrew and Aramaic by unknown scribes over hundreds of years in what’s called “abjad” script – a system of writing in which only the consonants are set down and the reader is intended to fill in the vowels. These individual writings were eventually collected into a generally accepted canon by around 400 BCE and finally codified at a later but unknown date, probably by 100 CE.
And that’s just the “Old Testament”.
Similarly, the New Testament is a disparate collection of texts from numerous and mostly unknown authors – despite traditional ascriptions – writing from between around 50 to 200 CE. None of the books of the New Testament were written during the lifetime of a historical Jesus. And according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the popular conception of one singular ancient council of the Church that decided what books were in and what were out is inaccurate:
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by Darrah de jour
32-year-old model Mia Tyler comes from rock royalty. The fashion designer, actress, author and now music manager is the daughter of Aerosmith front man (and American Idol judge) Steven Tyler and the late-Warhol muse and Bowie video chick Cyrinda Foxe (she and Tyler sustained a rocky marriage from 1978-1987). But, Mia is a rebel of her own making. She stands for living out loud – and loving your body exactly as it is! *That’s not to say she doesn’t have some amazing body mods!*
An advocate of “plus-size” modeling, she’s appeared on the runways of New York and Paris and in Vogue. As she says, “Beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, and packages. Including ME!”
I had an exclusive interview with the bold brunette – and she had some revealing insights about female friendships, forging your own path and her favorite pastime with sister, Liv.
Read (and rock) on…
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by Blogbot
A column which highlights Suicide Girls and their fave groups.
[Tarion in Decadence: Are Atheists Your Cup Of Tea?]
This week we commune with Tarion Suicide and get the gospel on her fave SG group: Atheists.
- WHY DO YOU LOVE IT?: I have no idea where people find half this stuff but it’s always good for a laugh or at very least a good vent. This group is the A-Z or atheist topics and jokes and is extremely active. It’s full of very interesting individuals and is a fantastic group if you are like-minded.
- DISCUSSION TIP: Always have your facts straight!
- BEST RANDOM QUOTE: “I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence.”
- MOST HEATED DISCUSSION THREAD: At the moment it’s “Prayer caused the Japan earthquake???“
- WHO’S WELCOME TO JOIN?: Come all ye unbelievers, freethinkers, blasphemers, doubters, heathens, heretics, infidels, scoffers, skeptics – hell even you wishy washy agnostics.
by Keith Daniels
“Slut-shaming” is exemplified by the double-standard that says that if a man has many sexual partners, he’s a hot stud, while if a woman does the same, she’s a filthy skank. It’s a heavily entrenched idea in our society, and it’s constantly and often subtly reinforced by both men and women. Even the word I just used, “stud,” demonstrates the problem. How many words can you think of that positively refer to a promiscuous man? How many, without qualifiers, can you think of for a woman? Few can say we’ve never been guilty of propagating this bias, oftentimes born out of jealousy, insecurity, and shame about our own desires.
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by SG’s Team Agony feat. Morgan and Fabrizia
Let us answer life’s questions – because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.
[Morgan in Green Like Cash]
Q:So my (ex) best friend had spent these past three years trying to get her ex-boyfriend back, and she did. I wasn’t happy about it because I had so much hate towards him because he did nothing but hurt her. Well two months ago my friend left town for a couple of days and her boyfriend started texting me, and for some (stupid) reason I texted him back. We texted all day, talked all night, and I went over to his house every so often just to talk and get to know him better. I started realizing he wasn’t an asshole like I thought.
So time passed and he told me he had started to have feelings for me. I was pretty shocked and I spent the next few days trying to convince him that he didn’t like me like that. But it didn’t work, and I realized I had feelings for him so I told him. We continued talking and I continued going to his house, but we would always end up doing more than just talking. We told no one because we feared that someone would tell his girlfriend (my now ex-friend).
We did a good job of hiding it until about two weeks ago. She was going thru his phone and saw the messages that he had sent me. He called me telling me we needed to stop because he was tired of hurting both of us. I was fuckin’ heartbroken. And it didn’t make me feel any better that she forgave him without asking for an explanation, but she was extremely pissed off at me and told me she was thru with me.
Now I realize I was stupid for ever talking to him. I know I don’t deserve her forgiveness, but I at least want her to know that I’m sorry and that even though she hates me I still care about her. I just wanna know how…Any ideas?
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by Laurelin
Relationships are funny. I remember thinking when I was dating my ex that two people couldn’t be more perfect for each other. I was so lucky to be with my best friend and I couldn’t imagine facing the world with anyone but him by my side. As time went on I think I realized that maybe that was part of our problem – maybe we were always just meant to be friends. The world started looking a little different to me when I finally pinpointed that what I had always viewed as one of our strengths was actually a fatal weakness.
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