You are correct in identifying these two constructions as ambiguous. "Did you go to the market yesterday?" is clear. The 'rhetorical' purpose of the f...
No. Religion and patriotism had gotten into bed together long before the 1950s. The Civil War broke several denominations apart, as churches in a give...
Harpsichords were in use for quite a stretch. Johann Sebastian Bach would probably object strenuously to "tinny noise". But baroque composers didn't h...
Yes. It does seem like a stretch that an immortal, invisible, God only wise; most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days; Almighty, victorious; U...
Quite so. And if religion is a need (I don't think it is) it's an itch that can be scratched in various ways. Well, cradle atheists and ardent believe...
The sceptered isle of Britain won't sink into the sea on the basis of Brexit. But the United Kingdom could come apart and not be the UK anymore. Scotl...
I make statements all the time based on years of reading; I often do not know exactly where something came from. The accumulation of ideas you will pi...
Some rhetoric teachers recommend NOT appealing to common sense. For one, common sense is perhaps a good deal less common than we hope, and for two, it...
I've never been able to get petty cash to balance, so even thinking about balancing the cosmos is well above my competence level. On this I agree whol...
Yes. People get along with each other most of the time because people are social animals, life is difficult and requires cooperation, and social coope...
Have you had your vision checked recently? (jokey quip) You might be right. I feel neutral toward Biden, positive toward Warren. Warren is loaded with...
Our timeline on American politics is too short, here. If you look at politics in America since 1960, you can chart a steady trend away from substantiv...
During the 1960s and into the 1970s, "Love It or Leave It" was a common taunt. It meant that you should love the country the same way the taunter did:...
Memo to everyone who feels a bit schitzoidal: Some of us are not good diagnosticians. Please be as blatant as possible. Mention your medications. Tell...
I couldn't get him in focus on my radar. It didn't occur to me that something might be seriously wrong with him. So much for my diagnostic skills! :do...
In as much as candidates have to be marketed to potential buyers (voters) this 'law' or effect will probably come into play. I doesn't help us determi...
You two are complaining about the TRVL Channel and the History Channel, no doubt right on target. I'd add that National Public Radio and Public Televi...
Chatterbears: Do you believe the Bible (OT or NT or Koran) is inerrant? Do you believe that everything in the Bible or the Koran must be applied as li...
I'm willing to say some religions are just plain bad. Westboro Baptist Church Christians are bad. The Aztec religion was bad. Heretic burning Christia...
There are several theories about dreaming: Freuds, of course: dreams are the work of the subconscious expressing its hot mess in a way that the consci...
My up-bringing was quite conventional and I was raised as a Methodist, which is mainline Protestant. I have an abiding interest in Christianity, but I...
I'm not convinced that meat was a common source of food for most people (not rich ones) in the ancient world. Only if you owned many livestock could y...
Yes. IF the kingdom was at hand, then it was irrelevant because distant future generations wouldn't be happening, presumably. But it soon was apparent...
In the days of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (give or take a millennium) a meaty diet was a rich man's diet. Most people would have been de facto vegetarian...
Very true. Jesus is presented by the Gospels and Paul as an indisputable fact, very much like Caesar Augustus or any other famous person. The problem ...
Pronouncing Dylan Nobel worthy was, as you said, a bunch of bullshit, but in that case I don't really believe my own bullshit. I have no desire to lis...
And this is EXACTLY what people should and must do. Unless you think the Bible is inerrant, there are passages (like the levitical rule about not mixi...
You're thinking of statements by the Apostles Paul and Peter. Slavery was not just in the Bible; it was the modus operandi of the Roman Empire which r...
He probably thinks there are no real fish, as well. It's like all the "How do I know I am not a brain in a vat... I am not in the Matrix... I am the o...
Thank god I majored in English! No, it was William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850). My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my l...
This is true. The universe happens, we exist. And we are real. The universe is real, right? Things that happen in the universe are real, right? One of...
To paraphrase Richard Feynman, the now deceased bongo-playing nuclear physicist (1945), "Nothing is simply". (He said "nothing is 'mere'".) Another th...
The pig would know because they are not up to their ham hocks in pig shit. What do you mean, "not cute"? Have you held a recently new born piglet? War...
Hint, hint: they did -- all of it. Presumably. Unless YHWH was actually dictating the text. That would be fine by me if they made it up (which is what...
"Society" doesn't make people into thieves -- or saints, either. Unless, of course, you believe in absolute determinism. But, as it happens, you don't...
I think starting a new thread on global warming or climate change or some similar term would be interesting. It's one of my favorite axes to grind. Of...
I started with the Sunday school ditty, "Jesus loves the little children..." and tried to subvert the loving message. "All the children of the world. ...
I don't know what God's expectations are, actually. I know the prophets who spoke on behalf of God had very high standards. But every now and then, so...
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