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POPSHow to Write Aphorisms Delacroix, Eugene (France, 1798-1863) To be a poet at twenty is to be twenty; to be a poet at forty is to be a poet. According to James Geary, editor of the compendium Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists , a truely memorable, quotable aphorism satisfies five laws: It must be brief. It must be definitive. It must be personal — that's the difference between an aphorism and a proverb. It must be philosophical — that's the difference between an aphorism and a platitude, which is not philosophical.... And the fifth law is it must have a twist. And that can be either a linguistic twist or a psychological twist or even a twist in logic that somehow flips the reader into a totally unexpected place. Now you know, so get to work! :)
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POPSThe Golden Rule I'm clipping this as I believe it is a thought piece to go along with the heated discussions taking place on the "This should be on every bible". clip. I especially like the Judaism version of the "Golden Rule" Ya see folks, its about some wise people in different parts of this disparate world long ago trying to formulate how societies could work together without tearing tearing each other to shreds. In other words its about EMPATHY. All the rest is merely rhetoric.
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POPSSecret Quest: The Path of the Christian Gnostics Discover the secret quest of the Christian Gnostics, who have emerged in different forms throughout history, walking the hidden path towards spiritual transformation. Part 1 examines the question, "What is a Gnostic?". Starting with the early years of Christianity, this video explores the Gnostic origins of Jesus and his disciples and the secret aspects of his teachings. Discover how the theology of Paul of Tarsus diverged from the Gnostic teachings of Jesus and came to compete with the Church of Jerusalem, which was led by Jesus' disciples. With the fall of the Church of Jerusalem, Pauline Christianity became dominant. Those who knew and practiced the secret heart of Jesus' teachings went underground — hidden from view but continuing their quest for spiritual enlightenment.
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POPS15 Quotes by Famous Atheists Bertrand Russell: “You find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of the colored races, or every mitigation of slavery, every moral progress that there has been in the world, has been consistently opposed by the organized churches of the world. I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world.”
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POPSPope correcting Jesus I don't care what the pope says, I much prefer Jesus Christ's definition of a church, which I included in my cartoon today, says Bob Englehart, who created this cartoon, in his blog .
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POPSDiabetic girl dies as parents pray "She said her family believed in the Bible and that healing came from God. But she insisted that they were not "crazy religious people" "Even after her death, her parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann, who did not belong to any organised faith, prayed over her body in the hope that she might be resurrected."
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POPSThe 10 Most Puzzling Ancient Artifacts What are we to make of these finds? There are several possibilities: * Intelligent humans date back much, much further than we realize. * Other intelligent beings and civilizations existed on earth far beyond our recorded history. * Our dating methods are completely inaccurate, and that stone, coal and fossils form much more rapidly than we now estimate. In any case, these examples - and there are many more - should prompt any curious and open-minded scientist to reexamine and rethink the true history of life on earth.
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POPSNo Moses, no Joshua, no (so-called) monotheism "In the text you have the story of the Israelites coming from outside, and then besieging the Canaanite cities, destroying them and then becoming a nation in the land of Canaan. Whereas archaeology tells us something which is the opposite. According to archaeology, the rise of early Israel is an outcome of the collapse of Canaanite society, not the reason for that collapse." * The principle of monotheism (the worship of a single deity), established first by the Jews and later to form the foundation for both Christianity and Islam, took much longer to take root than most people assume. In fact, the archaeological discovery of troves of household idols in ancient Canaanite towns and cities proves that the Israelites practiced polytheism long after they had been thought to have discarded the practice.
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POPSDozens Report Mile-Wide UFO Over Texas Just imagine if aliens exist!! Abductions, secret flights, missing time, men in black, being probed and tortured and terrorised by alien foreign invaders!! Hmm.... I don't think we should fear UFO's. If aliens exist, I'm pretty sure they're just trying to liberate us and bring us some freedom and democracy. Optical Illusion?
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POPSA world springs to life on an urban wall While the onslaught of figures, episodes and colors is at first overwhelming, a casual left-to-right reading suggests some narrative possibilities. Basically what we have here is a tale of escape and growth that begins in darkness and — after taking a few tips from the Bible, Hieronymus Bosch and M. C. Escher — ends in a stunning vortex of brilliant color.
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POPSHoly Warriers Set Sights on Iran Check out some of our fellow clipper's comments: "Willhelm, there is no stopping this war. The players are all falling into place. At least we know how it will end." "i agree this could be the final piece to the beginning of armagaddon" "but in the book of revelation and some other books in the new and old testament percieve the bear of the North or the great bear as Russia! Russia is in no way to be taken lightly."
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POPSThe Rapture Can't Happen Soon Enough The Lord told me to clip this. :) The Rapture Index (omens portending the Rapture) stands at 163, the highest it's been since September 11, 2001 when it peaked at its all-time high of 182. I don't know what the numbers mean either. But I'm not making this up. Anyway, I'm not worried about 'the Rapture' one little bit... Jesus , he knows me. ;)
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POPSCarrie Prejean - XXX Fraud Another classic example of a conservative hypocrite making judgments on others based on beliefs which they themselves privately trample.
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POPS10 Fascinating Facts About Slavery According to studies done by anti-slavery groups, there are currently more slaves today than at any time in history! Three quarters are female and over half are children. It is believed that there are around 27 million people in slavery right now. Furthermore, this number does not include people who are not technically slaves but are in a form of servitude tantamount to slavery. This is sometimes called “unfree labor”. The average slave today costs around $90 - whereas in the past they cost upwards of $40,000 (in today’s money). A study done at Berkeley University estimates that there are around 10,000 slaves in the United States at the moment.