No, it isn't!

Any man who watches soap operas is WAY too feminine for my taste!

I shop for vintage dishes.

What if kicking dogs makes me happy?

You seem to assume that possessions ruin everyone's lives. I have possessions, but my life is not ruled or ruined by them. If you don't want possessions, that's great--why worry if others have them?

There was a popular song out years ago that said anyone who says possessions aren't good never had a welfare Christmas.



I did read your post and you are advocating anarchy! When a person becomes "free" to choose which rules by which he/she lives, then doesn't everyone else have the same right? That's anarchy!





And what I do makes me happy--so why try to change my mind or advocate your way of life? Shouldn't you be happy to just live that life?




Then why start a thread urging others to live as you do?

Actually, I am thinking about starting my own religion. I already have plans for a pagan nunnery.

The best way to know if you are getting hit upon is to grow a head. Otherwise, your sense are blunted or nonexistent.

With all due respect, this is a logical fallacy: connecting and drawing parallels between two unconnected occurrences. IF you had dreamed of Muslim extremists hijacking planes and running them into the Twin Towers, that would be something--but you didn't.

Nostradamus is a crock. His followers bend the quatrains to fit what they want them to fit.

Yes, I got off topic a bit. (Grin.)

Protestantism is no longer about rebellion--protestant sects quash "heresy" every bit as much as the Catholics did (and still do, though without burnings, etc.). Protestantism was about not needing a go-between between humans and gods, but the very existence of preachers belies this.

Groups splinter, such as the Mormons, but I don't think there will ever be a "greater" Protestant church on the level of the Catholic church.




I agree. Jesus has lost his Jewishness and has been turned into a "Jesus" that the original--if he existed--wouldn't recognize himself.

Humans make gods in our image; therefore, Jesus has evolved to fit the needs of modern societies.

I don't "need" my boyfriend, but I want him. When we (men and women) place ourselves in "need," then we place ourselves in situations of dependency.

Being a strong woman or not "needing" men does not equate with being hard, insensitive, or uncompromising. As far as being bold and tough, I see no negatives with those. Life is hard, and people who are not bold and tough get beaten down.

No one on this forum has yet defined "feminine," but I am feminine--yet I am also bold and tough. I am also sensitive and tender. People are multifaceted; those who choose to be simplistic are boring.

My boyfriend just went back to Chicago. I am used to spending my weekends alone and it doesn't bother me, but I wish he were here.

Contentment breeds stagnation and the acceptance of the mediocre; I am never content but I am happy.

Let me make a prediction--which none of us on this site will live to see come to fruition.

I predict that most of Christendom will finally proclaim that Jesus is a symbol and his death/resurrection an allegory for a spiritual renewal. They will admit that Jesus as portrayed in the Christian Scriptures really did not exist.

If our present rate of technology/science continues, even the Pope and Catholicism will change.

If we have a major worldly cataclysm--economic meltdown, hit by a meteor, or something else to cause a stop to the present climb of cultural and scientific advances--people won't be worried about the present state of the Christian religion. But in this case, it might get stricter or even disappear.

Of course, Islam could conquer the world, as well. But even over centuries, it will change and evolve.

I predict this based on the changes in Christianity in the last 2,000 years. In my 58 years, I have seen shifts, including attitudes by my and younger generations about sex outside of marriage.

There will be no rapture and Jesus isn't coming back. In time, Jesus will take his place among the myths of other dying/resurrected gods. I am not saying the religious faith will disappear, but Christianity will not survive the ages.

Do you include the Pseudographia and the Apocrypha in this group?

The Nag Hammadi Library and the Dead Sea Scrolls have historical validity, but many other "lost" books of the Bible simply do not. For example, one of the two texts about which I asked have a letter from Pontius Pilate explaining what happened to him after he sentenced Jesus--actually written hundreds of years after PP died.

We now know these texts are forgeries, but they continue to influence the "understanding" of Biblical aspects in the modern world. The long held idea that Joseph was much older than Mary is one of these beliefs started in these books.

In the early days of Christianity, there were several sects with varying beliefs; the Catholic Church stamped them all out.

What about women? Do they fall into the same categories?

1. It is impossible to ALWAYS buck the status quo.

2. You may choose to not live by "rules" that make no sense to you, but you will still do it--even if you do not realize that you do so. We are written, we do not write, and even in your rebelliousness, you are following a pattern set by those rebels who preceded you.

Ultimately, you will live by those rules because you will desire a goal that can only be achieved by doing so.

3. To choose to rebel against everyone and everything that gets in your way is a selfish path. Without empathy and understanding for others, we are no more than animals who strike out blindly at perceived enemies. To be empathetic is truly to be human.

4. You advocate that everyone forge his/her own path and ignore the rules that make so sense--why follow any rules? Let the mass murderer have free rein; let pedophiles have their way.

People who promote anarchy don't really want anarchy; they want the way of the world to be their way. You advocate anarchy. You would not like the results of your advocacy.

5. If in forging your path it crosses mine and I don't like your path--I should follow your suggestions and rebel against you. This could mean removing you from the face of the earth, eh? How long would any society last if we all decided to do this?

6. Empathy fuels the humane side of humans, but to say that seeking material possessions isn't what being human is all about, you are incorrect. Humans evolved by seeking possessions, seeking comfort, and seeking to be better than others. It is how we survived.

7. As I wrote, rebels conform to those who precede them. I have never met a "rebel" who was truly creative and innovative in his/her rebelliousness. Not only that, but successful rebels lose their edge when their goals are achieved--read about Lenin, Mao, Castro, and other rebels who sought to better the condition of their countries; they became caricatures of themselves.

I have become a chameleon.

I wasn't even alive when Jesus was crucified. I refuse to assume guilt where there is none.

So, who killed all those people in the flood?

If the Biblical stories are true, I was created by god to sin. That's a pretty nasty trick--a set-up or sting, even.

Why use labels or worry about what other people think?

I do what I do.

I am more feminine now than I was in my 20s.

However, I think some men--and some women--define "feminine" in a very narrow scope.

Does femininity have to do with the way we dress and fix our hair? Our ability to bear children? Showing obeisance to men? Staying in the kitchen baking pies?

Or is femininity reveling in being a woman?

As to having problems attracting men as one ages--I do not find that my ability to attract men of all ages has diminished since I began dating over five years ago.

It is in the presentation.

Yes, it is interesting.

The myth of the dying and resurrecting deity is one of the most prevalent; it exists in most mythoi--with the notable exceptions of Judaism and Islam.

Jesus is but the best known of dying and resurrected deities, and there is nothing new about his life, his death, or his resurrection.

Sounds like my ex-husband! Except he didn't get mad when I fixed something--he was rather relieved.

I finally figure out that when he said, "I'll do it tomorrow," it was a case of tomorrow never coming. It was also a case that if he procrastinated too long, I would do it.

I don't like shopping with girls, either, and I don't particularly like to shop with other women. I only shop with another woman when my sister comes to visit. I am not a herd animal.

But I love to shop because I love clothes and shoes.

If a man doesn't care about how he looks, and that means his clothes as well as his grooming, why should a woman care to be seen with him? A lot (even most) men want to be seen with a woman who is well dressed and looks good, right? Why shouldn't a woman want the same?

I want to look good, and that means the right clothes, and the right clothes means shopping--it is a simple equation.

I buy just about everything on sale. Today, I bought two pairs of high boots and a dress for about $100. The boots were 70% off and the dress was 50% off.

In fact, finding things on sale is a part of the hunt that I enjoy.

And I have bought underwear for men; if you can find "undies" for $5, even at Walmart, I bow to you.

A large part of the dating game revolves around looks, but it also depends upon the type of woman a man seeks: if he likes stretch pants, over-sized tee-shirt and flip-flops on a woman, then he wouldn't worry about his clothes!