The Rev. Pat Robertson

[Talk Talk]

My misses can't sleep with the wardrobe doors open

Perhaps it is what you keep in the wardrobe that she finds disconcerting. Do you have any Hawaiian shirts or denim jackets?

[leefer]

Religion is for people who cannot use their own mind or form their own opinion.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

There are millions...maybe billions of people who use religion in a respectfull way...to many people it gives them hope in a mad bad world...as usual our attention is drawn to a few crackpots...not the many who use religion in a good way.

[BANGKOK RED]

Perhaps it is what you keep in the wardrobe that she finds disconcerting. Do you have any Hawaiian shirts or denim jackets?

You have a brilliant yet evil mind.

[BANGKOK RED]

Some people have died after receiving a call from 0833366567.
Apparently, 3 people have died in Doi Tao (city 1 hour from CM),
and several in Chiang Mai. It has also been on the news.

When you receive the call, apparently the number shows up in RED,
and no one talks on the other side.

My wife and her friends have all received the email, my wife's mum
also call her today said several people have died yesterday and today
and they have this number in their incoming call list.

Anyone heard of this? heres the thai email....

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Call-Mobile-Number-Results-Death-t331592.html

The above thread is doing the rounds here in Thailand, it was even on the news.

[BANGKOK RED]

And leefer, you are right.

For the most part religion is harmless, it is just those who take it too far who fuck it up for everybody else.

[leefer]

Yep...on a slightly different topic regarding Haiti fair play to Bill Clinton for all the hours and work hes putting in over there...not a great fan and i suppose you could be cynicle and say its good PR...but the fact is hes getting on abit and is doing good work in my opinion...

[Arriba]

religion is purely there because of the fear of death.

[Don Rogers Shop]

Religion is for people who cannot use their own mind or form their own opinion.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Thats bollocks.I'm fairly religious yet don't go on about it.The problem is too many people are too quick to use religion as a easy cop out when doing something wrong and wont take no responsibility and the people who actually believe these terrorists believe they are doing for religion are just as stupid.

They do it because they are fucked up in the head and this bloke does it for a reaction.There are people who are genuinly religous who don't shove it in peoples faces and they genuinly just live a happy life because of it,what is wrong with that?

When i went through some real shit times i starting going to church a bit more i used my own mind to make that choice and it worked out so i would like to think i used my own mind Alan

[reeves4england]

religion is purely there because of the fear of death.

Ah, thanks for clearing that one up arriba.

A quick search on google came up with two interesting articles on the subject...

Wink and Scott (2005) found no linear relations between religiousness and fear of death. Individuals who were "moderately religious" feared death more than individuals who scored high or low on religiousness. Fear of death also characterized participants who lacked congruence between belief in an afterlife and religious practices. In other words, the ones who were nominally religious were the ones who adopted religion as a buffer against the fear of death, and I think it's people like that who lead you (and many others) to draw the conclusion you have made. The article did find that the most religious people (whatever that actually means) had little fear of death, but that doesn't necessarily indicate that the fear was a cause of their faith.
http://psychsoc.gerontologyjournals.org/cgi/content/full/60/4/P207

Dr Steven Reiss's "sensitivity theory" is that sixteen basic human needs actually motivate people toward religious consideration. Some of the other motivations include power, family, status, romance, and tranquility, to name a few. Dr. Reiss says that these are “needs embraced by every person but to a different extent”.
www.acperesearch.net/OK_News4.pdf

I also found a site talking about terror management theory. Terror management theory suggests that almost everything we know of as “culture”--religion, patriotism, politics, sexual mores, economic values—arises out of our subconscious understanding of, and terror at, the fact that we are all going to expire one day.

I find it quite an interesting subject. Unfortunately, far too many people make their own minds up without looking for any evidence or giving any justification.

[china red]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Call-Mobile-Number-Results-Death-t331592.html

The above thread is doing the rounds here in Thailand, it was even on the news.

Doesn't surprise me at all.  I had a Thai friend who became a monk and changed his name because a ghost was haunting his ancestors.  And apparently this is quite common.

[jonny72]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Call-Mobile-Number-Results-Death-t331592.html

This post made me laugh....

My sister in law called to tell my wife about this tonight - apparently it's something to do with black magic. Someone from Bangkok had phoned a relative in our village, with tales of if you answer this call, you start bleeding from the nose and mouth and then you die.

Any advice on how to re-direct these calls, to my ex-wife, and her mother, back in the UK would be appreciated. 

Have to go, the phones ringing......

[Highland Robin]

I find it quite an interesting subject. Unfortunately, far too many people make their own minds up without looking for any evidence or giving any justification.

Very interesting (and unexpected) thread!  Having 'Rev' before my name may undermine my credibility for many posters, but it seems there are two threads in  one here.
1)  Are there lunatics who get submerged in evil in this world - yes, without doubt, and sadly some of those use some weird sort of religious belief to justify their words and actions, but usually without any thing but a superficial connection to the belief system they claim to be rooted in.
2)  Is religious belief superstitious, dangerous rubbish, and all adherents inherently bad.  Well, I reckon we could come up with a lot more examples of 'religious' people who have made a positive contribution to the world than have done irreparable damage, though I would be the last one to pretend that 'The Church' (or any other religious institution has anything but a very tarnished history.

For what it's worth, I think Arriba is not far wrong - I would just widen it out a bit and say that religious belief (which is very ancient, and does persist even in this highly rationalist, technological world) is intimately related to humanity's determination to understand and explain life....and death (and most of the inexplicable things that happen in between!)  Whether the basic assumption of some sort of objective, creative, sustaining force exists, well no-one knows, either way; but the belief has produced both great good and great bad.

[LucienSanchez]

Your regular, non-preachy religious type is fine, and I believe some people gain sanctuary, peace and confidence in having their faith, and this shouldn't be seen as weakness or a bad thing.

I want to get into Buddhism, seems like a nice way to live, but I couldn't give up meat or beers.

[BANGKOK RED]

One thing that I absolutely do not believe in is any form of organised religion in any of the scriptures, such as the bible or the Koran, that can be found today. I believe these books to be fiction or at best cast exaggerations which have been adopted and utilised for the politicians and priests at the time to exert their power over the population. It is all lies.

Whether or not there really is some kind of supreme being, or some kind of existence after death though is another matter entirely. It is possible that such things do exist but within the realms of science and not something that is more mystical.

[Dozno9]

Religion teaches you to live your life in serinity, honesty, kindness, thoughfullness. There is nothing wrong with those. What is wrong is people taking those views to extreme and not respecting others opinions as much as our own which is what the Bible teaches.