[-] Lovstuhagen@hilariouschaos.com 1 points 2 weeks ago

Almost all of the Christian folklore surrounding Jesus can be directly tied to other myths that were common knowledge to Mediterranean people at the time.

Yeah I got the Mithra chainmail in my AOL account back in 1998 - I know the arguments.

But Christianity presents us with something very wild - it takes the Messianic tradition of Jews which was hitherto interpreted as being about creating an earthly Kingdom that conquers the world and incorporates the gentiles into Israel (or makes the gentiles servants of Israel, who all become noblemen living in a heaven on earth, some interpretations)... and Christ says

"Yeah, but no - the Kingdom is purely spiritual. It's not temporal. The gentiles join us by worshiping God with us and living these truths - look, this Roman occupier has more faith than all Israel, because you guys are just terrible. You bicker over the law, and miss the total point of the law..."

And the Messiah is now about conquering the world through spreading the Gospel of loving God, and loving your neighbor as yourself, giving up your possessions and conquering greed, freeing yourself from hypocrisy; living in simplicity and supreme virtue, at peace with those around you, practicing non-violence, and now we don't even need any kind of ceremonial laws at all because we are living the virtues. And that's how the world becomes part of Israel - by adopting the great things abotu our religion - and that's also how you get to heaven, which is only achievable after death when I come again...

This is a very unique interpretation of the Judaism of the time - absolutely revolutionary.

Even if you want to say that all the miracles and 'signs' are a myth, I think that the "Mithra" angle is actually bad beacuse you could just say they came up with those signs and added them so as to be able to claim they are fulfilling the Old Testament, which was infinitely more relevant to the Jews who were the community that gave birth to the religion.

Keep the faith, by all means. But part of believing is accepting that you don’t get to have proof.

Yeah I agree - there is no proof, and if there was proof, it would ruin it, because we'd no longer be doing good and loving God and our neighbor because it is right, but we would be doing it with the expectation of receiving heaven...

We would no longer be living a spiritual life for the good of oruselves and others - in hope & faith - but we would be Capitalists engaging in transactions that we deemed profitable.

[-] Lovstuhagen@hilariouschaos.com 10 points 2 weeks ago

No, and that is to even be expected.

He was a prophet whose movement had around 120 or so core disciples along with his apostles, plus thousands who followed him about and considered him a healer and revolutionary teacher.

There are people who have done similar things that are completely lost to history other than small records that vaguely outline the controversy surrounding them... We shouldn't really expect more in terms of proof...

But what is unique is the fact that we have an extremely well preserved corpus of text surrounding him. We also have some good idea that a lot of his followers were prosecuted and killed, and never recanted in the process, which might incline you to believe in the radical truth that they lived by.

Of course I am biased - I am a Christian - but it really does just seem pointlessly antagonistic to dismiss His Existence at all.

[-] Lovstuhagen@hilariouschaos.com 1 points 1 month ago

I actually think there's an argument to be made that a lot of top tier athletes are never doing things like their taxes prior to a big match. It's just really anticlimactic to say "My spouse/manager/dad does all my paperwork and handles my finances before a fight" than to say "I isolate myslf from my spouse and don't have any orgasms before a fight."

I also think that they would make the argument that they have plenty of impulse control and focus, it's just a matter of the extent to which one has it.

It's one thing to be a man who does not look at p0rn or masturb8 and only sleeps with his wife and another thing to be a monk.

[-] Lovstuhagen@hilariouschaos.com 2 points 1 month ago

That is amazing - really good stuff. I will add that to my anecdotes on this topic.

[-] Lovstuhagen@hilariouschaos.com 2 points 1 month ago

Nah man freedom of speech includes hate speech.

If "hate speech" must be banned, why even have a democracy..?

You have to have faith in the ability of people to discern right from wrong, and the very first test of that is whether people are going to be mentally hijacked by some guy saying the N word.

If you believe people can't do that... Why vote? You just support soft totalitarianism.

[-] Lovstuhagen@hilariouschaos.com 2 points 1 month ago

But to be entirely fair to the guy's point:

Lots of top athletes have superstitions about abstaining from intercourse prior to events - some are very extreme, with fighters isolating themselves from their spouses and training for months without any release before their MMA fight/boxing match. Some say they do it for, say, just a week ahead of time, etc.

There are a few who have the opposite philosophy and claim to actually do it more in the week leading up to the fight.

It's really a massive point of contention because some people claim it is a mere superstition while others absolutely will not break their routine.

There is also the famous incident where Bobby Fisher says that he performed poorly at a tournament because he had sex after the first night and the experience totally removed him from his focus...

This might be why it impacts fighters and certain people whose lifting styles are really about maximized performance and not a routine... If concentration is interrupted, it can result in very poor output. Like I can see how someone who is very intense about what they are doing and requires total focus would be interrupted by any form of sexual distraction. This is probably very, very relevant to guys who are fighters...

This might also have to do with perspectives on sexuality - people who ascribe a lot of meaning to it versus those who do not...

Lots of stuff to consider, I think.

1

Police in Los Angeles seized more than 2,800 boxes of stolen LEGO sets from a 71-year-old man's home Wednesday, authorities said.

Officers arrested 71-year-old Richard Siegel and his alleged accomplice, 39-year-old Blanca Gudino, after raiding the elderly man's Long Beach home, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

The individual boxes have a retail value ranging from $20 to well over $1,000, police said.

Detectives started investigating the case after a retailer in San Pedro identified Gudino as the suspect who had allegedly robbed them several times last December.

1

Very sad story.

Here is the video of the shooting via Twitter. Yes, it is kind of disturbing - not gore, but disturbing.

1
Thick and Thin Cultures (lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com)
1

NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio (WJW) – A woman suspected of stabbing and killing a 3-year-old boy outside a local grocery store is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon.

The child and his mother were attacked and stabbed outside a Giant Eagle in North Olmsted, Ohio.

Officials say around 3 p.m. Monday, June 3, a mother and her son had just finished grocery shopping and appeared to be headed back to their vehicle when a woman wearing all black charged at them with a kitchen knife, stabbing both of them.

Multiple shoppers called 911. Responding officers came to give first aid and quickly arrested Bionca Ellis, 32, of Cleveland, who was found walking toward Dover Center Road, reportedly still holding the weapon.

Ellis was scheduled to be arraigned via video from jail Tuesday afternoon. She has been charged with aggravated murder, according to police.

The victims were rushed to St. John Medical Center in Westlake.

Tuesday morning the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner confirmed that 3-year-old Julian Wood of North Olmsted died at the hospital. The child’s 38-year-old mother, Margot Wood, “was treated for non-life threatening injuries and is expected to make a full recovery,” police said.

1

The cleric had brainwashed the victim’s brother into believing that she was possessed by evil spirits and that she needed to be dealt with sexually. He also got him to sexually assault the victim in the name of curing her.

Chitradurga (Karnataka): Karnataka Police arrested a cleric in Chitradurga on Monday, on charges of repeatedly raping a minor girl on the pretext of getting her rid of being possessed by evil spirits. The priest also got the victim's brother to sexually assault her as a cure.

#Statement Of The Police Regarding The Incident

The incident is reported from Chitradurga Women’s Police Station limits and the police have slapped a POCSO case against the accused. According to police, the minor victim went to a masjid to read the Quran for three years. The accused had informed her parents that she was possessed by evil spirits and that a special ritual needed to be conducted at her house.

He visited the house of the girl for six to seven months once a week. Every time he visited, he took the victim and her brother into a room and asked the parents to stay out of the room.

The cleric had brainwashed the victim’s brother into believing that she was possessed by evil spirits and that she needed to be dealt with sexually. He also got him to sexually assault the victim in the name of curing her. The accused even recorded the act and he too raped her. As per the police, this went on for six months.

1
[-] Lovstuhagen@hilariouschaos.com 2 points 1 month ago

Wonderful observation.

It's really our duty to be familiar with both sides and be ready to debate.

Of course, exception guy will be in the thread pointing out extreme edge cases in which we all agree that there is no alternative to the accepted opinion ("R*pe is bad, mmkay?")... But this is besides the point.

1

The French authorities have been accused of a cover up by the brother of a British tourist who was brutally shot dead in the Alps alongside his wife and mother-in-law in 2012, in a mystery that remains unsolved to this day.

Saad al-Hilli was gunned down alongside his wife, Iqbal Al-Hilli, 47, and her mother, Suhaila al-Allaf, 74 in September 2012.

The al-Hilli's two daughters - seven and four - miraculously survived.

A cyclist, Sylvain Mollier, 45, was also killed in the massacre in the isolated layby close to Lake Annecy, in eastern France.

Now, Mr al-Hilli's brother Zaid al-Hilli has slammed the French investigation and claimed they went 'the wrong way' in their search for the killer, pointing fingers at him instead of local suspects.

He called the original investigation a 'deception - an attempt to deceive us'.

The three fatal casualties were brutally shot three times each with at least one shot to the head and the case has remained a mystery for 12 years.

During the bloodbath, the al-Hilli's seven-year-old daughter, Zainab Al-Hilli, was left for dead after being shot in the shoulder and beaten around the head.

Her sister, Zeena Al-Halli, four, escaped by hiding underneath her mother's legs and remaining motionless for eight hours in the back of the family's BMW.

Police found her alive.

Now Mr al-Hilli has called for investigators to search for more local suspects after he was wrongly arrested in 2013 in a bid to finally close the case which has puzzled police for more than a decade - while accusing French officials of a cover up.

'The original investigation was a deception, to attempt to deceive us,' he said, according to The Times. 'It was a local crime and has been covered up.

'They made allegations against me without any evidence. There was no attempt to look at a local motive right from the start.'

And progress could now be made after French police revealed earlier this week that DNA testing might be able to solve the baffling cold case.

Investigators from France's elite cold case unit in the Paris suburb of Nanterre have ordered the 'unsealing of the fragments'.

The clothes Sylvian Mollier and Zainab Al-Hilli were wearing on the fateful day are also going to be reexamined, along with some 10 cigarette butts found around the area.

More than two dozen spent bullet casings were found near their British-registered BMW estate car.

'It is hoped that new examinations will uncover DNA traces,' said an investigating source. 'If yes, then they will be sent for comparison with a national genetic fingerprint file which lists more than four million fingerprints, to see if there is a match.'

1

One guy appears to be very seriously hurt because, after the dust has settled and he is laying on the ground, he gets a wind up soccer kick to the head (viewable at a few different points in the videoi - around like 1:15 and 1:40, for starters).

I think... it has to be understood that maybe some guys deserve to get smacked about a bit but... any moment you wind up and soccer kick a downed opponent in the head, you need to be in a jail cell for crying out loud.

1

One of the men charged following a fatal shooting at Mall of America in late 2022 will spend multiple decades in prison.

Thursday morning, Hennepin County Judge Paul Scoggin sentenced 19-year-old TaeShawn Adams-Wright to more than 30 years (367 months) in prison for his role in the killing of 19-year-old Johntae Raymon Hudson on Dec. 23, 2022.

Police say it all started as a fight at Nordstrom before escalating to gunshots. Court documents note that surveillance video showed Adams-Wright and Lavon Semaj Longstreet brandishing handguns before Hudson was chased and shot 11 times. The video then showed the two standing over Hudson at different points, with the video capturing muzzle flashes.

In addition to Hudson, a woman at the store was also grazed by a bullet but survived.

1

A Texas educator landed in hot water after she was accused of filming pornographic videos on campus.

According to FOX 26, the alleged material was shot at Adriane Mathews Gray Elementary School in Richmond, Texas, a small city located about 45 minutes south of Houston. Officials with the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District said they learned about the matter after receiving two videos that showed a former teacher performing sexually explicit acts on school property. One of the clips was shot inside a classroom and the other in a school restroom.

“It was horrible. It was unbelievable,” community activist Quanell X said about the incident.** “When I saw the first video, I was shocked and appalled and just horrified. And you look at the video, she pulls down her top, picks out these big, big, huge breasts — crazy as hell — shakes them, and then she turns around and pulls down her pants and then pulls her panties down, spreads her cheeks and cellulite and pubic hair was everywhere. This is sickening. This is going on at a school now.”**

1

A man stabbed his pregnant girlfriend 37 times after she discovered his affair with a British woman before stuffing her body in his car and going for lunch with his mum, a court heard.

Barman Alessandro Impagnetiello, 31, admitted to brutally killing his seven-month pregnant girlfriend Giulia Tramontano after she met his British lover. But after brutally killing her, Impagnetiello calmly watched a football match on his phone and then went for a meal with his mum.

He told the Court of Milan, in northern Italy, on May 27: "I was having lunch at my mother's with the body in the car." Later, local media reported he attempted to burn and hide her body before taking her passport, bag and cash to make it look like she left him.

The court heard that Impagnetiello broke down during police questioning and led officers to where he had hidden Giulia's body. Police said he doused Giulia with rat poison for months in order to bring about a miscarriage after he learned she was pregnant.

Police said they found online searches for "ammonia foetus," "rat poison" and "how much rat poison is needed to kill a person" on the cheat's phone and other devices.

He had also bought chloroform under a fake name, and Giulia complained of feeling 'drugged' to friends and family, the court heard. Prosecutors told how Impagnetiello had hacked Giulia to death with a knife while she was taking a bath.

1

A Brit dad allegedly killed a Russian paedophile with a single punch after saying he wanted to have sex with his underage daughter.

The 34-year-old Brit dad is alleged to have fatally hit the Russian tourist, 36, after he made sexual advances towards his 15-year-old daughter at a pool party in Pattaya, Thailand, on May 27. The Russian reportedly told the girl he wanted to have sex with her, which led the Brit dad to punch him in the face.

In the scuffle, the Russian landed headfirst on the ground and he was rushed to a hospital in the city. He later died from his injuries.

Police in Pattaya launched a manhunt shortly afterward and collected video footage and witness statements in a bid to track the Brit down. Pattaya officers said they had identified the alleged attacker as a British national and issued an arrest warrant on the charges of "causing grievous bodily harm resulting in death."

[-] Lovstuhagen@hilariouschaos.com 9 points 1 month ago

Just amazing - the government literally going to bat for the sake of concert goers who demand hotel rooms.

Can't imagine working through drug addiction and getting clean enough to be given a hotel room, and then eagerly trying to find some form of employment to become stable, and then your case worker is like *What do you think about spending a few days in Aberdeen...? WIth the Taylor Swift concert and all... There's a need for this room for someone else..."

Lol what.

[-] Lovstuhagen@hilariouschaos.com 2 points 1 month ago

It's great - scratches the itch, overall. I sometimes pine for places where major debates on a specific topic constantly rage - ideally, I'd be able to discuss religion whenever I wanted, skipping threads I felt I didn't want to wade into....

But it is a good enough replacement overall and I feel like we are proceeding to having such a size. I am also open to the idea that I have not curated enough to find a place where this si consistently happening in the Fediverse yet...

I was a fairly active member at Reddit with a good social standing, I made 1 “controversial” comment and I got perma-banned… this sucks.

There have been some controversies that have led to banning and banning of entire instances. Usually, this involves Lemmy instances that were tolerating a lot of blatant transphobic memes that cut deep and were very mean...

I get why people isolated them.

I am still worried, though, that there are people who would still react this way to good faith discussion where there are disagreements. While there are some places where that is for sure OK, I think there are some instances that might react so negatively as to want to ban a specific user or their instance over it. I may be overreacting but IDK.

[-] Lovstuhagen@hilariouschaos.com 11 points 1 month ago

... As a Christian, I approve.

The idea that the government should run off of some merciless view that the principles of free market capitalism dictate who eats and who doesn't is completely bizarre.

I have nothing against capitalist Christians who think that the principles of capitalism are generally fine and that, otherwise, we have an obligation as Christians to feed the poor and it just so happens to not be the role of government, but any explicitly Christian state has to feed the poor.

[-] Lovstuhagen@hilariouschaos.com 1 points 3 months ago

It does exist here.

I opposed its legalization... but supported its existence in practice. In fact, I need its existence... Medical technology has created a lot of complicated situations because we have the ability to keep people alive to carry on in suffering even when there is no hope of recovery.

It is the unspoken duty of a modern doctor to deliver a coup de grace when this point has been reached - I think even without asking permission. The old Greek or Mexican lady with a cross around her neck and the Priest coming to visit her and deliver communion can never assent to be euthanized.... She needs her doctor to read the situation and to send her off when recovery is impossible and only suffering remains.

When we make it a process that requires her consent & signature, we deny her a peaceful death...

And, when we legalize it, we open the door to some upsetting things, like the euthanization of people for merely mental health conditions. There's something profoundly ugly & disturbing about someone in their 20s being put to death by a doctor for their mental anguish. Yes, mental suffering is very real, and it should absolutely be addressed... But, just like in the case of prostitution, it is just not something the state can set a moral precedent of approving of it when it happens.

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Lovstuhagen

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