Jim Alfredson

The hampster tried to call in sick. When I checked on him in his cage he was smokin' weed and watching Dawson's Creek. Little bastard.

Yes but Windows XP has a similair feature built into the OS now. Roxio is a resource and memory hog. Nero is much more streamlined.

Why Brown wanted AI on the team is beyond me.

Three votes for Wes? SHAME!

Big Al, we're cool. I hope jazzypaul and I are cool, too. I do not agree with Alexander that people who are Christian (or any other religion for that matter) are stupid. I just don't see the Bible as being anything more than a collection of stories, some with good points on living life, some that are pretty much worthless. But that's just me. It doesn't mean I don't believe in a higher power of some sort. It doesn't mean that I think I'm right. It's just how I see it at this point in time. Like Sangry, I might go back later in my life and find something in the Bible I'd never seen before. Who knows?

Sounds like a porno flick.

No way, dude. Organissimo goes to 11 1/2! Chuck, why not do both?

No, issimo means "very". So pianissimo is very soft. Fortissimo is very loud. Organissimo is very organ!

So are you saying that the Bible was written by man and is not the word of God? Again, doesn't this throw the whole thing out the window? Like I said, the Bible has some nifty stuff in it, some good lessons. But no more than an Aesop's fable, no more than reading The Illiad, no more than reading some old fairy tales. So why then it is considered the word of God and put on a pedastle above all others? Because it says it's the word of God? I just don't buy it.

BeBop, check out our actual homepage: Organissimo Organ Trio The name "organissimo" is the name of our organ trio (organ, guitar, drums) and a play on the word "pianissimo".

Whoa. Don't show Joe G. He'll run off to the woman of his dreams and never return!!

Now I'm totally confused. So if I am a professional thief and make my living stealing from other people, as long as I go to church every Sunday and repent my other sins (sorry about that guy I had to kill to get his Rolex, God... but it's a nice watch!) then I'm cool? What about a Christian hitman? Like I said, it's great that the church is open to homosexuals but it seems like a total contradiction. And as for the whole "specific geo-cultural-historical lens" Word of God stuff, why doesn't God have someone write a New New Testament for our day and age?

Gonna add a return link soon. Sunday is my webpage updating day.

See, but I don't view homosexuality as a sin, like stealing. Once you accept Jesus Christ you're supposed to do your best not to sin, right? Wouldn't that mean ending a homosexual relationship and trying to become straight? I guess Jim's answer makes more sense... that these things were part of a tribal law that are no longer valid for our modern society. But then that whole "picking and choosing" thing comes into play and kind of messes the Bible up for me. Is it the Word of God or no?

I agree with Moose. How sad that he was dead for two years and no one noticed.

My wife picked up a carton of Edy's low-sugar ice cream. Praeline pecan I believe. Wow. Good stuff. Still like Breyer's better. Back in the ol' days, when I was a youngin', there was an ice cream manufacturer out of a small town called Eaton Rapids to the south of Lansing. Millers, I believe the name was. That stuff was GOOD! Long gone, unfortunately.

That's great, but is it not considered a sin in the Bible? Leviticus 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Leviticus 20:13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind (Bible speak for homos) So it's great that these churches are welcoming them, but isn't that hypocritical? Or is this another instance of "picking and choosing"?

I will be updating the website soon. I'll post here as soon as I do. So far there are two: September 5th at the Albion Jazz Festival and September 16th at Bell's Brewery in Kalamazoo.

I don't know why they didn't send the entire Detroit Pistons roster over there. Afterall, they call the NBA Championship and world championship. Prove it. I bet you my boyz would've made us proud. But they chickened out, too. No B. Wallace, no Rip, no Chauncey. They should've been there. The USA team got what it deserves. I hope they don't even win the bronze.

Big Al, thanks. It was actually a very hard thing to do, to give up my faith since both my father and my mother especially are devout Christians. My mother read her Bible everyday and was a good person. But she fell into the same traps that many do. In fact, I asked her a couple months before she died when she was talking about people not being saved and going to hell whether she honestly thought that all the Hindus and Buddhists and other religions that don't believe in Jesus, whether all those billions of people are going to hell? Does that sound right to you, if they had led good lives and lived honestly and cared for their families and were truly good people? She admitted it didn't make much sense. Another instance that made me lose my religion was someone very close to me coming out of the closet. Whether we like it or not, the Bible does condemn homosexuality. Once I got out of my small world and met homosexuals and became friends with them, as well as had that close person come out, I realized that such discrimination is worthless and evil. Homosexuals are good people who only want love and happiness, just like everybody else. That's why the whole argument against gay marraige irks me so... it is all based on religion. There is not one non-religious argument why we shouldn't allow homosexual marraige. And societies overall bigotry towards homosexuals stems from religion and fear. Fear of the unknown. And the whole basis of Christianity to me seems to be fear. Fear of going to hell. Fear of God's wrath. Fear of not knowing what happens when you die (Oh, you go to heaven... how comforting!). I will not base the foundation of my life on such shaky ground as fear.

Jim, the thing that keeps me connected to an underlying "spirituality" in the world is music, the love I have for my wife and family, and the face of my 4 month old daughter. I hear what you're saying and I'm there with you. For me, personally, the Bible has run it's course and I don't find much in it to satisfy me anymore... probably because it has been so tainted in my mind from people who have used it to discriminate. My problem for sure, but luckily there are a lot of other viewpoints out there for me to investigate. I got a book on Hinduism in college. Man, that's some wacky shit!

BTW, my favorite Simpsons quote of all time: Rev. Lovejoy: "Marge, have you actually read this thing? Technically we're not supposed to go to the bathroom."

Couldn't have said it better myself, Chaney. This thread is closed.

See, this is the thing that irks me and ultimately turned me away from Christianity as an organized faith. You start with the premise that the Bible is the Word of God. The Great Holy Book. Written by the man himself. Ok, so I read this book, I learn the truths about life, and then I pray and be good and everything is cool. Oh hey, what about this part all these cats having multiple wives? Oh no, you can't do that. Unless you're Mormon, but those guys are not real Christians. What about that part in Timothy talking about slaves having respect for their masters so as to not defile God's name and not to run away, even if given the chance? (Tim 6:1) Oh don't mind that. Slavery is wrong. We're all equal. That was different times. Ok. What about that part about adultery. The Bible says adultery is punishable by death. That's the Old Testament. The New Testament replaces that. We don't do that anymore. Ok, what about the Ten Commandments. Those are out the window? No, you have to follow those or you're going to hell. What about Lot's daughters sleeping with him in order to give him a son? Umm.... just disregard that. I could go on and on. I read the entire Bible, after studying mythology at MSU, and suddenly it just seemed like one big Aesop fable. Yes, there are some good ideas in there... some very wise words to live by. But there is also a lot of bullshit, a lot of stuff to imprison people with. A lot of stuff people use to control others with. The whole "original sin" thing for instance. I'd rather not form my view of this world and reality from a negative starting point, thank you. That doesn't seem very healthy to me. Anyway, I could no longer accept the Bible as "The Word of God" or Christianity as the one true religion, or Christ as the way. I mean, if you just pick and choose what parts of the Bible are relevant and which aren't, doesn't that poke holes in the whole concept? It became obvious (to me) that it's just a collection of stories. I fought with this for sometime. In fact, if you were able to go back to the old BNBB, you'd find me saying the exact same things to Alexander as jazzypaul is saying now. The idea of creationism and evolution going hand in hand (how long is a day to God?), looking at nature and thinking how someone must've designed this, it's so perfect... etc. Do I think this world is the end-all be-all of existence? No. Do I think we can scientifically quantize everything and that which we can't does not exist? No. Do I think there is no such thing as God? No. But I also can't accept the idea of a vengeful God (as a "him", a purely physical definition of something that probably isn't physical in our sense of the word at all) sitting on his throne up in the sky, pissed off because I don't bow down and worship him every day. Angry because I don't fear him. Casting people into Hell that worship other deities. Give me a break. An omnipotent being who created the entire universe would not be so petty, so human. But hey, that's just me.

It degrades women because it places them in service of men. I don't see any other way to interpret it. Or am I missing something? And my purpose here is not to humiliate anyone.... but a lot of times when you bring up these things to people they say, "Oh yeah, where in the Bible does it say that?" and then you show them. It seems a lot of people don't actually read the damn thing, they just accept what their church says. Not that I'm saying jazzypaul does that. But he asked. I gotta go to a gig. I'll look up the references to slavery, racism, etc later. They are very easy to find.