Does This Ability Require Normal or Above Average Intelligence?

[manker]

Disagreed. I respect the Church, I just don't agree with what it stands for.

I volunteer at the Church regularly, because I see it as a communal socializing hall for the neighborhood. I help people with fundraisers, cook food for giveaways and help advertise the daycare. To me the Church is like a library without the books. People still go there asking for help with filing taxes, help with getting on the internets, help with driver's education etc. I help the community through the Church.

What. Help filing taxes! I'm glad that the churches around me don't get up to such shenanigans.

That you see the church as facebook for old people is great. It is completely dissimilar over here, however. Which may explain why it's fast fading here but appears to be stronger than ever over there.

There are church run youth-clubs in the evenings but I'm fairly sure that the majority of Welsh churches cater socially only for the people who go to bi-weekly sermons.
These people are old and are dying out quickly with no-one to replace them. I don't know a single person my age or younger who goes to church for anything other than funerals and the like.

That's because we're not backwards fucks. Organised religion evolved to form a system of governance at a time when the majority of the population couldn't read and were even more prone to acts of random barbarism and sociopathy than today. As soon as societies became educated enough they formed alternatives to religion that didn't rely on fear and rote learning to control the population.
An advanced civilisation will find ways to be socially helpful and aware that don't have anything to do with churches. If you're an atheist or even agnostic, and you have anything to do with organised religion you're just prolonging its agony and validating it, and you don't have the balls to stand up and be counted.

I do agree with the first paragraph. However, I think the church as an altruistic organisation could have a place in an advanced society such as ours. It's quite a fanciful notion, though, as its administrators will usually find a way to reward themselves disproportionately.

I take no issue at all with the majority of the teachings of the new testament. As a mission statement for a charitable organisation, it's as decent as any you might find elsewhere and remarkable for its far reaching objectives. Likewise I actually think that Mary1 and Mary2 helping their community out by donating their time, money or expertise to their local church is a particularly good thing in and of itself. As you point out though, they are helping indirectly to sustain organised religion - which is something that keeps me from doing the same thing.

It's only a personal point of view though. I think more of them now that I know they do it, even if I prefer to help my own community in a different way.

[manker]

sup, snee

I'd just like to go on record and say that I'm shite at multi-tasking. I have to focus completely on what I'm doing or I end up being unhappy with the results.
It's one of the reasons I don't use instant messaging now because I'm fucked if I can concentrate on two conversations and be engaging/funny/interested in both. Likewise if someone talks to me when I'm reading or watching a moviefilm, I have a small mental seizure and resort to a semi-feral state for a few seconds before re-reading/watching the bit they made me miss.

I often find myself in thrall when teh missus is cooking and talking on the phone at the same time. It's like magic.


I've never tried to hone this absent skill, preferring instead to work under the pretext that the results from my endeavours will be all the better for its continued neglect.

I don't know how anybody can do any of the following at the same time: talk/listen/read. My inability to do this was a constant source of irritation to my ex. He could play computer games and have a fully functional conversation with me, but if I was on the internet talking to you guys or reading something I wouldn't hear anything he said to me. I tried to explain that if he wanted a conversation with me he should say my name firmly and audibly and that would cause me to take note, extract my attention from what I was doing and turn it to him. He never got it though. I would suddenly become aware of a babbling noise and then realise he was in the middle of a conversation with me

fuck you and your taurean ways, piscean

Does this thing ever happen to you?
If I'm preoccupied and try to read, often my mind will wander to the thing I'm preoccupied about and even though I'm looking at the words and turning the pages, I'll suddenly snap out of it and realise that I haven't got a clue what I've been reading and have to go back and find where my mind spazzed out. Upon re-reading, I'll never feel any familiarity with the words on the page.

[manker]

I can sort of understand, how dave nevar got it.

To me not being able do two things at once seems nigh on impossible, even tho I understand it intellectually.

She didn't mean Dave. You may be pre-aware of this
Btw, I find myself a complete authority on miss smack-tits' life and loves for the last 6 years.

Ask me anything.

[Squeamous]

I do agree with the first paragraph. However, I think the church as an altruistic organisation could have a place in an advanced society such as ours. It's quite a fanciful notion, though, as its administrators will usually find a way to reward themselves disproportionately.

I take no issue at all with the majority of the teachings of the new testament. As a mission statement for a charitable organisation, it's as decent as any you might find elsewhere and remarkable for its far reaching objectives. Likewise I actually think that Mary1 and Mary2 helping their community out by donating their time, money or expertise to their local church is a particularly good thing in and of itself. As you point out though, they are helping indirectly to sustain organised religion - which is something that keeps me from doing the same thing.

It's only a personal point of view though. I think more of them now that I know they do it, even if I prefer to help my own community in a different way.

I don't know how organised religion could ever have a place in an advanced society. I'd be interested to hear your reasons why you think it could.

I agree with you about the New Testament - but it falls into line with what I was saying about religion being instigated as a system of governance. You want your population to stop eating measly pork and being generally unpleasant, but the problem is how are you going to tell them (they can't read), and how will you coerce them? Answer is shout it at them every Sunday/whatever heathen day it is for your chosen religion, and fabricate the concepts of heaven and hell. It's fantastic in its simplicity and effect. I don't know about you but I pretty much live by the ten commandments by choice now, not through fear of a pit full of fire, pointy sticks and Melanie Phillips raping me up the bum with a strap-on made of pure hatred. My dad said to me when I was little 'you don't have to believe Jesus was the son of God but if you follow his teachings you'll be alright', and I've tried to aim for that in as secular a way as I can.

As for Mary and Darth of Integrity, there's a reason they help the church. They want to be charitable but in a way that fits in with the people around them. It's just a basic lack of character or imagination. And they probably haven't thought about it like this, but they're sort of masquerading as sheep when they're really wolves, which isn't really fair to the real sheep.

fuck you and your taurean ways, piscean

Does this thing ever happen to you?
If I'm preoccupied and try to read, often my mind will wander to the thing I'm preoccupied about and even though I'm looking at the words and turning the pages, I'll suddenly snap out of it and realise that I haven't got a clue what I've been reading and have to go back and find where my mind spazzed out. Upon re-reading, I'll never feel any familiarity with the words on the page.

Yeah, I get distracted hella easy just like that. But then I blame it on what I'm reading for not being interesting enough and everything is right with the world once again

She didn't mean Dave. You may be pre-aware of this
Btw, I find myself a complete authority on miss smack-tits' life and loves for the last 6 years.

Ask me anything.

I have a question! How can I be 32 with so little to show for it? #existentialangst

[chicagorox]

I always say that anything can be learned by anyone given the amount of effort and time put in. I wouldn't say that the girl has extraordinary talent, I would just say that she has enough time on her hands and interest in nerdy things. I love all of your existentialist points here though. Kudos

[megabyteme]

I have a question! How can I be 32 with so little to show for it? #existentialangst

It just occurred to me that the only time men talk to 32 year-old women is online. Strange place this internets.

[Squeamous]

I have a question! How can I be 32 with so little to show for it? #existentialangst

It just occurred to me that the only time men talk to 32 year-old women is online. Strange place this internets.

That's not true. I talk to men irl.

[megabyteme]

It just occurred to me that the only time men talk to 32 year-old women is online. Strange place this internets.

That's not true. I talk to men irl.

They are just being polite. Or want to buy smack.

[Squeamous]

That's not true. I talk to men irl.

They are just being polite. Or want to buy smack.

Megabyteme told a funny!!

[mjmacky]

As for Mary and Darth of Integrity, there's a reason they help the church. They want to be charitable but in a way that fits in with the people around them.

Eww gross what a perversion of the details. I don't help the church, I used to help the homeless en masse but it's been years since I've done that. You must have been talking to someone else or fingerbanging yourself when you were reading my post.