Many Christians will bristle if told they believe in the supernatural. "No, no God is natural. the supernatural is the Devil's tools". This conditioning to believe in the supernatural but not believe is how they are led around by their superstitions. They are so unable to tell the fictions apart that they question the reality they see with their own eyes. They have to rely on sources outside of their own brain to tell them what is real, superstition or God's work. The Republican party has capitalized on this by converting the masses from those who love Jesus to those who think Jesus is a weak communist.
I imagine there were few Catholics that got this 'quiz' 100 percent correct. Not that they would be able to tell, the answers to this true/false quiz are not true/false answers.
I keep seeing this post on my “make fun of religious folks” Facebook groups where this one woman writes this long dissertation about how she was a New Age, crystal gazing, worshipping the universe, hippy chick who was put off by her friend who just found Jesus, but now she’s all cleaned up because her friend was right after all. And it was essentially this quiz in a testimonial. It’s all nonsense. It’s all crazy. It’s all useless. But now she’s part of the right crazy useless nonsense so she’s cool.
Seriously, the quiz article could have been much shorter.
If the church says it’s real it’s real, if it comes from any other source it’s superstition and evil.
It’s all nonsense and the nonsense backed by the church tends to have a long history of violence and cruelty, which makes it far more dangerous than throwing change in a wishing well.
The person who reported those names had a dream in which they saw God riding a purple cow through a field of Jello daisies. God called out to her and told her the exact names of the 3 Wise Men. So we know those are the true names because God doesn't lie.
Shorter version: Our version of magical thinking and special pleading are all absolutely true because the Pope said so. You're bound for hell if you question any of it. End of discussion. Now, go say a rosary and beg God's forgiveness, or he will torture you for all eternity because he loves you so much.
One year I found a box of Christmas cards that I immediately bought. On the cover was Jesus standing in an open doorway beckoning you inside with a warm smile on a cold, snowy night. On the inside was his mother yelling at him, “Jesus Christ! Shut the door! Were you born in a barn?”
I still have nightmares of my devoutly catholic mom herding her 6 kids into a prayer circle on our knees to pray the rosary - over and over. Loved my mom dearly, but she never really understood why I turned to atheism.
Oh my goodness! My mom did the same to us 6 kids (my older brother, blind and developmentally disabled was exempt). Kneeling on a hardwood floor, very upright (no sitting back on your heels), every single night. Took about 1/2 hour each time. No wonder I've got bad knees to this day!
My father was half again as Catholic as the Pope, but other than having a vague notion there were once married priests, knew absolutely nothing about the history of the church. For him, it was just going by the rules and never questioning anything.
Firstly, let's once again acknowledge that the word "supernatural" is just a euphemism for the word "magic," which is a much more honest term. Religious folks don't like using the word "magic," because it sounds AS CHILDISH AS IT IS.
So to state the overall assertion of this "test," if it's about magical beings, magical powers, magical objects, magical words, and magical phenomena FROM THE CATHOLIC INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE then it's religion, and okay.
But if it's similar or even exactly the same magical beings, powers, objects, words, and phenomena but NOT from the Catholic interpretation of the Bible, then it's superstition and not okay.
So remember, children, Catholic bullshit is good religion, and non-Catholic bullshit is bad superstition.
I'm not sure I buy MAGIC C. On a comment card at a preview of one of Billy Wilder's comedies, some guy wrote "I laughed so hard I peed in my girlfriend's hand." Doesn't sound all that magical to me (though I guess it depends on what the girlfriend was into).
Witches and wizards are real. I read an entire 7 book documentary series about the Boy Who Lived. Granted it was written by a TERF asshole, but it was totally factual.
I remember Aron Ra debating someone trying to get them to explain the difference between prayer and magic. Aron gave his definition of what he thought a magic spell was, and the guy said "no prayer is completely different! It's..." and proceeded to essentially repeat what Aron had just said.
Good grief, Agnes! This from the church that asserts the existence of an unseen and undetectable god (which they all do, admittedly), multiple types and ranks of unobserved angels, multiple levels of a hell which cannot be found, supposedly vets "miracles" to sanctify saints (who apparently can also be prayed to), priests who can absolve wrongdoing (a.k.a. "sin") with a wave of their hands and a few prescribed prayers, and more assorted unsubstantiated tripe than I could hope to document here.
When it comes to superstition, the Catholic Church leaves everyone else in the dust!
TBH there is few churches as old as what would become the catholic church who survived until today and they were not patronised by the Roman Empire do they don't have the same reach.
I went over to the original article just to see if I could make a comment. But then I saw the rules regarding comment. And this was the first thing that they said. You cannot:
"troll;
attack the divine element of the Church or her doctrines, even tacitly"
I thought I would write the following, but then I realized that poe's law is an operation here. There is nothing I could write that would be anything but trolling or attacking the divine elements of the church. So here's what I didn't say:
"I have been forbidden to say that belief in any kind of magic is just silly, whether it's tossing pennies into a well or asking an exorcist for advice, so I won't."
I refuse to comment on any of these religious places where they ask for your email address. Who knows what black magic they can get up to once they have that.
“Chalking the door” sounds like when I caught my evangelical Xtian mother anointing the doorways in my home with oil crosses during a particularly difficult period in my life. I could hear her chanting “praise god, in jezuz’ name” like a mantra.
That was the moment I realized how deeply deluded she was. Needless to say, her ridiculous chanting/anointing was just wasted cooking oil.
Clearly things haven't changed much since my years as a catholic. I took the quiz with a former catholic grade school frame of mind and got "correct" answers across the board. Great reinforcement of my skepticism that started around that time.
It took them about 700 years to understand god didn't want them to marry. Maybe they will have another epiphany about celibadiocy in another 500 years.
What we have here is a misleading title for the original article over at the National Catholic Register. The title should have been something like "Do you know your Catholic practices as well as you think you do?" but that wouldn't be the same click bait, now would it? The point here is to show how superstition is just fine, provided it's Vatican-approved Catholic practice superstition.
The RCC is well known for its pageantry, and the reason for said pageantry is maintaining the superstitious status quo. The whole point is an end-run around rational thinking, because if worshipers start thinking for themselves, the leadership loses control over them. Watch the show and do as we say, be sure not to stray, and maybe there will be a reward for everything after you die. It's a con job from start to finish. A checklist article is virtually required to keep 'em in line properly, have to keep folks focused on something unimportant so they don't worry about what really matters. That may well be part of the reason for the misleading title, come to think of it.
I first encountered the chalking of doors when I lived in a German village for a few years. A group of people from the church would go house to house in the neighbourhood and offer to chalk the lintel above the front door for a small 'consideration' for the church. Very similar to going carolling to raise money. It generally happened in the week between Christmas and New Year's day so you'd be "protected" during the next year. I wonder if anyone keeps stats on how many "blessed" houses get burgled or burn down every year. 😈😆
It turns into a horror movie when you realize this is a call-back to the Pharaoh story where they mark the doors with lamb’s blood so that God’s Child Trafficking Ring knows which house to skip when abducting all the first-borns in Egypt.
They use chalk now because the authorities tend to frown on unknown blood on doors, but that will all change when they finally establish their theocracy and install Real True Christian’s in all positions of power!
I had some guys come round and want to "bless my house". Absolutely no idea what religion they were, but probably Mormons or JW's perhaps? They were quite insistent after I told them I didn't need the house blessing thank you. So I then got less polite and sent them away. I was quite taken aback actually, because I know most of these guys hate having to go house to house. Maybe they have a blessing quota system though. 😁
I read this piece with the voices of my brother and me loud in my head. Most sentences was followed with one of us shouting "What the a.f.? Does anyone sane actually believe this shit?" Only in Norwegian, not English.
Fortunately, although most of my extended family are Catholics, I was spared that poisonous upbringing and had no clue what the quiz was babbling on about.
Many Christians will bristle if told they believe in the supernatural. "No, no God is natural. the supernatural is the Devil's tools". This conditioning to believe in the supernatural but not believe is how they are led around by their superstitions. They are so unable to tell the fictions apart that they question the reality they see with their own eyes. They have to rely on sources outside of their own brain to tell them what is real, superstition or God's work. The Republican party has capitalized on this by converting the masses from those who love Jesus to those who think Jesus is a weak communist.
I imagine there were few Catholics that got this 'quiz' 100 percent correct. Not that they would be able to tell, the answers to this true/false quiz are not true/false answers.
This is the same saw that Aron Ra points out frequently: Magic and miracles ARE EFFECTIVELY THE SAME THING!
Which is why Harry Potter and D&D causes them to have the vapors, they really do think magic is real.
I keep seeing this post on my “make fun of religious folks” Facebook groups where this one woman writes this long dissertation about how she was a New Age, crystal gazing, worshipping the universe, hippy chick who was put off by her friend who just found Jesus, but now she’s all cleaned up because her friend was right after all. And it was essentially this quiz in a testimonial. It’s all nonsense. It’s all crazy. It’s all useless. But now she’s part of the right crazy useless nonsense so she’s cool.
Jesus's "meek" can now be officially replaced by "MAGA Republican." It's being voted upon at the 2024 RNC as part of their 37 word platform.
I thought it was three words: Whatever Dotard Says.
I often see a different version. God is supernatural but religious faith/rituals/prayer is not superstition.
Seriously, the quiz article could have been much shorter.
If the church says it’s real it’s real, if it comes from any other source it’s superstition and evil.
It’s all nonsense and the nonsense backed by the church tends to have a long history of violence and cruelty, which makes it far more dangerous than throwing change in a wishing well.
You nailed it.
Do something tangentially related to the supernatural? Evil
Do the exact same thing and substitute god? Perfect!
Cherry picking superstitious nonsense after cherry picking the bible? That tracks.
Cherries are always in season in Christendom.
It's christianity, not life, that's just a bowl of cherries.
Re Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar: the (unnumbered) wise men are not named in the NT. The names probably arose centuries later. Don't they know that?
You're right. it is a silly question.
The person who reported those names had a dream in which they saw God riding a purple cow through a field of Jello daisies. God called out to her and told her the exact names of the 3 Wise Men. So we know those are the true names because God doesn't lie.
Larry, Moe, Curly?
Those are the 3 Wise Guys.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473103/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
Perfect summary. Again: Where is the laughing emoji? I need that for this post.
😅😁😂😆🤣
I've found that emojis I make on a library computer show up on that library computer don't show up on my laptop. Or they show up altered.
I can't even make emojis on my laptop. I have to use emoticons then.
https://www.symbols-n-emoticons.com/p/facebook-emoticons-list.html
Shorter version: Our version of magical thinking and special pleading are all absolutely true because the Pope said so. You're bound for hell if you question any of it. End of discussion. Now, go say a rosary and beg God's forgiveness, or he will torture you for all eternity because he loves you so much.
A meme I saw on Twitter:
Jesus (knocking on door): Let me in!
Voice from behind door: Why?
Jesus: So I can save you!
Voice: From what?
Jesus: From what I'm going to do to you if you don't let me in!
I love that one.
One year I found a box of Christmas cards that I immediately bought. On the cover was Jesus standing in an open doorway beckoning you inside with a warm smile on a cold, snowy night. On the inside was his mother yelling at him, “Jesus Christ! Shut the door! Were you born in a barn?”
Sounds like my dad! :D
𝔄𝔰𝔨 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔶𝔢 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔯𝔢𝔠𝔢𝔦𝔳𝔢.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d9e2aab88c0ad37dcfc82b090885588c46efb575a2733e9456a3ada77e1d57bd.jpg
I still have nightmares of my devoutly catholic mom herding her 6 kids into a prayer circle on our knees to pray the rosary - over and over. Loved my mom dearly, but she never really understood why I turned to atheism.
Oh my goodness! My mom did the same to us 6 kids (my older brother, blind and developmentally disabled was exempt). Kneeling on a hardwood floor, very upright (no sitting back on your heels), every single night. Took about 1/2 hour each time. No wonder I've got bad knees to this day!
My father was half again as Catholic as the Pope, but other than having a vague notion there were once married priests, knew absolutely nothing about the history of the church. For him, it was just going by the rules and never questioning anything.
Just what I was going to write, but you probably buried a joseph or sumpin' and stole my answer through the CBM.
Gosh darn you to heck.*
*second commandment.
And 23 Hail Marys.
Or, more likely, God loves him some torture.
The medieval church certainly thought so, and did all they could to please god with torture.
Firstly, let's once again acknowledge that the word "supernatural" is just a euphemism for the word "magic," which is a much more honest term. Religious folks don't like using the word "magic," because it sounds AS CHILDISH AS IT IS.
So to state the overall assertion of this "test," if it's about magical beings, magical powers, magical objects, magical words, and magical phenomena FROM THE CATHOLIC INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE then it's religion, and okay.
But if it's similar or even exactly the same magical beings, powers, objects, words, and phenomena but NOT from the Catholic interpretation of the Bible, then it's superstition and not okay.
So remember, children, Catholic bullshit is good religion, and non-Catholic bullshit is bad superstition.
Now go outside and play.
It's too hot to go outside.
Time to break out the Monopoly board.
On-line poker (not for money).
Too tiring.
Boredwalk.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ba433fe0ffdc0d7a16288919434b2bd270fb37dcaa31dfec2ab255ad5749ac34.jpg
It's too cold to go outside – but I'm probably going to have to. 😁
Good excuse not to.
MAGIC A: Witches and wizards. Not real.
MAGIC B: Illusion/trickery. See Penn & Teller. Still not real.
MAGIC C: Emotional response to a record, a book, a movie, a stage play, etc. Real magic.
I'm not sure I buy MAGIC C. On a comment card at a preview of one of Billy Wilder's comedies, some guy wrote "I laughed so hard I peed in my girlfriend's hand." Doesn't sound all that magical to me (though I guess it depends on what the girlfriend was into).
Peeing all over Donald Trump would be magical for me. But that's just me, I think. 😉
I hear tell he likes that. Why would you want to do him the favor?
I'm not a Russian hooker. He'd hate it.
I have a Russian first name. I can lend it to you.
There are a number of graves I'd be happy to pee on. His being one of course but Thatcher is another, and "Bishop" Tamaki.
I would go on my father's but I don't even bothered to memorize in which cemetery he was buried (there is 2 or 3 cemeteries in C).
Witches and wizards are real. I read an entire 7 book documentary series about the Boy Who Lived. Granted it was written by a TERF asshole, but it was totally factual.
She followed it up with a 3-film (so far) documentary about some Magic Zookeeper. I haven't seen the last one yet.
Newt Scamander?
There's supposed to be 5 films total, but the series isn't doing well.
Gee, I wonder why…
The killer? It's Rowling who's writing the screenplays.
Magic M ?
Which iiiiiiiis... 🙂
Enjoy
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BeJDfImpXwc
They only needed a couple of white guys. They couldn't find ones who *can* dance?
White guys can dance...as long as their names are Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. Unfortunately, their feet were stilled long ago.
Been awhile since I heard Magic Marmalade. I was into that sort of techno pop for awhile.
In the 90's I was more into 2 unlimited, Dr Alban and Ace of Base, when I didn't listen to medieval music.
I remember Aron Ra debating someone trying to get them to explain the difference between prayer and magic. Aron gave his definition of what he thought a magic spell was, and the guy said "no prayer is completely different! It's..." and proceeded to essentially repeat what Aron had just said.
Exactly the case
I think this is why it seems to anger Christians more when I say I am, "just not superstitious" than self identifying as a atheist.
Ooh, I’m going to do that!
Good grief, Agnes! This from the church that asserts the existence of an unseen and undetectable god (which they all do, admittedly), multiple types and ranks of unobserved angels, multiple levels of a hell which cannot be found, supposedly vets "miracles" to sanctify saints (who apparently can also be prayed to), priests who can absolve wrongdoing (a.k.a. "sin") with a wave of their hands and a few prescribed prayers, and more assorted unsubstantiated tripe than I could hope to document here.
When it comes to superstition, the Catholic Church leaves everyone else in the dust!
The only saint I believe in is St. Vidicon of the Cathode. :)
Who has been superseded by St. 𝗟ux of the 𝗖ompact 𝗗isplay!
I'll stick with Vidicon. His miracles have some weight to them.
Lux's all seem to fall flat.
TBH there is few churches as old as what would become the catholic church who survived until today and they were not patronised by the Roman Empire do they don't have the same reach.
I went over to the original article just to see if I could make a comment. But then I saw the rules regarding comment. And this was the first thing that they said. You cannot:
"troll;
attack the divine element of the Church or her doctrines, even tacitly"
I thought I would write the following, but then I realized that poe's law is an operation here. There is nothing I could write that would be anything but trolling or attacking the divine elements of the church. So here's what I didn't say:
"I have been forbidden to say that belief in any kind of magic is just silly, whether it's tossing pennies into a well or asking an exorcist for advice, so I won't."
I refuse to comment on any of these religious places where they ask for your email address. Who knows what black magic they can get up to once they have that.
They stick pins in Gmail to curse you with a iCloud. I just read it on the Internet.
https://authoradamgainer.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/do-not-believe-abraham-lincoln.jpg
He was trying to keep his work as a vampire hunter under wraps.
I read the book, but haven't seen the movie.
You can get temporary email addresses from DuckDuckGo.
Now that is information worth having. 😁
I believe your comment has been removed. Did you throw salt over your shoulder when you made it?
Edit: My bad, I didn't see the "So here's what I didn't say:".
So they didn't remove what he didn't say, then?
Preemptively removed.
Double secret probation.
They burned it.
I didn't make the comment because it would have been removed.
Their all-powerful god is utterly powerless when in the presence of a non-zero number of unbelievers.
“Chalking the door” sounds like when I caught my evangelical Xtian mother anointing the doorways in my home with oil crosses during a particularly difficult period in my life. I could hear her chanting “praise god, in jezuz’ name” like a mantra.
That was the moment I realized how deeply deluded she was. Needless to say, her ridiculous chanting/anointing was just wasted cooking oil.
Clearly things haven't changed much since my years as a catholic. I took the quiz with a former catholic grade school frame of mind and got "correct" answers across the board. Great reinforcement of my skepticism that started around that time.
"Clearly things haven't changed much since my years as a catholic."
Their wheels grind slowly. It took the RCC 359 years to finally admit that Galileo was right and that they had been wrong.
It took them about 700 years to understand god didn't want them to marry. Maybe they will have another epiphany about celibadiocy in another 500 years.
It will take another 100 years to finally enter the 20th century.
And at least another 200 years after that to finally enter the 21st century.
What we have here is a misleading title for the original article over at the National Catholic Register. The title should have been something like "Do you know your Catholic practices as well as you think you do?" but that wouldn't be the same click bait, now would it? The point here is to show how superstition is just fine, provided it's Vatican-approved Catholic practice superstition.
The RCC is well known for its pageantry, and the reason for said pageantry is maintaining the superstitious status quo. The whole point is an end-run around rational thinking, because if worshipers start thinking for themselves, the leadership loses control over them. Watch the show and do as we say, be sure not to stray, and maybe there will be a reward for everything after you die. It's a con job from start to finish. A checklist article is virtually required to keep 'em in line properly, have to keep folks focused on something unimportant so they don't worry about what really matters. That may well be part of the reason for the misleading title, come to think of it.
I first encountered the chalking of doors when I lived in a German village for a few years. A group of people from the church would go house to house in the neighbourhood and offer to chalk the lintel above the front door for a small 'consideration' for the church. Very similar to going carolling to raise money. It generally happened in the week between Christmas and New Year's day so you'd be "protected" during the next year. I wonder if anyone keeps stats on how many "blessed" houses get burgled or burn down every year. 😈😆
It turns into a horror movie when you realize this is a call-back to the Pharaoh story where they mark the doors with lamb’s blood so that God’s Child Trafficking Ring knows which house to skip when abducting all the first-borns in Egypt.
They use chalk now because the authorities tend to frown on unknown blood on doors, but that will all change when they finally establish their theocracy and install Real True Christian’s in all positions of power!
Be a shame if something happened to your house.
In my mind I'm hearing that with a nasal New Joizy accent. 😆
Or the cockney accented Piranha Brothers from Monty Python. 😊
It was sarcasm. He knew all the tricks, dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and satire.
I had some guys come round and want to "bless my house". Absolutely no idea what religion they were, but probably Mormons or JW's perhaps? They were quite insistent after I told them I didn't need the house blessing thank you. So I then got less polite and sent them away. I was quite taken aback actually, because I know most of these guys hate having to go house to house. Maybe they have a blessing quota system though. 😁
Couldn’t they bless your house from the sidewalk without bothering to ask you?
Maybe an Area of Effect spell with a short range?
Why ask me – I'm an atheist. 😁
Well…..that’s a good point. My apologies!
Since the entire purpose of the catholic church involves mandatory belief in superstitious nonsense, this is exquisitely funny to me.
I read this piece with the voices of my brother and me loud in my head. Most sentences was followed with one of us shouting "What the a.f.? Does anyone sane actually believe this shit?" Only in Norwegian, not English.
Fortunately, although most of my extended family are Catholics, I was spared that poisonous upbringing and had no clue what the quiz was babbling on about.
The bottom line seems to be that everything not officially Catholic is evil, Evil, EVIL! Booga-booga!