<EOM>

Who is Steve?

Captain Ewok. Ahem, I mean the founder of VJ.

Ahhh gotcha. All I could think of was Steve Irwin!

I have always been curious about Captain Ewok. Who is he? Has he gone throught the Immigration process- or his spouse?

One of the more interesting polls I've seen. I've heard of a lot of these "rumours". But there were a few I have never heard of....like the Fidel Castro one. (is that in terms of his most recent ailments....or something that happened a long time ago?) Also, the Saddam one and Oklahoma.....never heard of that one before.

I have always, from what I have read and heard...agreed with the FDR one. Too many "coincidences" to not think there was more than met the eye there. I don't agree with the 9/11 one though....or the Neil Armstrong one.

But, very interesting poll ............

I heard the Fidel one at work. Referring to his current poor health.

As for Saddam and Oklahoma, that one has been flying around the conservative discussion forums for years.

By the way...I forgot to add that the JFK theory, is a load of #%$@.........

I can't imagine anyone buying that "magic bullet" nonsense........

It's too bad we'll probably never know the true story behind it.....

If you don't believe any of the ones in the first choice, you can't vote! Except I believe that the parties are controlled by the same people, although I didn't see it at the time I voted.

True. I'm sorry.

You mean you DON'T believe that aliens walk amongst us? Shocking!

I chose I believe: God exists, Satan exists and Steve is still around...in some capacity. Not saying hes the great furry one or whatever...I have no idea, but I think he's still here in some capacity. M.

God and Satan both exist.

Shrillary bumped-off Foster to cover HER adultery with him (Bubba bumped-off Brown, but that was out of this poll's glister).

And USCIS employees ARE lazy!

I find it funny that 16 believe that God exists, but only 9 for Satan

Billy Graham had, in one of his books, written that a man had once told him that his church "had voted the devil out" (of existence). At least partly reflected here (a really good question would be to find individuals who DIDN't mark "God exists", but DID mark "Satan exists").

I can't vote either, for the same reasons as Alex, well except I don't believe in the two party same people thingy.

damn u!


(i can't vote either)

From "The Usual Suspects"

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled is convincing the world that he does not exist"

I don't believe in either personally, but I like the quote.

Xianity doesn't have a patent on the word "God". Ergo, it's very likely that more people would believe in God than in Satan. "God" is a generic. If the poll had asked "Do You believe in YHVH/Yahweh", then it might close the gap a bit. "God" can be YHVH, Allah, Thor, Odin, Cernunnos, The Flying Spaghetti Monster, or whichever god one worships.

He touched me with his noodley appendage....

thou art *touched* then

Neat poll, Gupt. Deep.

Right. I voted that God exists, but that Satan does not. I believe in the possibility of some sort of higher power, yet do not believe in the bible, Adam and Eve, the devil, etc.

Too right he was. Took me ages to pick all the bits of noodle out...

Never claimed any one religion had a patent on the word 'God' nor did I say that 'God' was in reference to a particular faith. Obviously that means different things to different people.

My point was that if one believes in the existance of God...or whatever they want to call HIM...how can one get to that belief of an omnipotent being, yet deny there's a possibility of an evil prescence as well. I see it as confusing, for if one has the faith to believe in God....which requires a faith beyond what can be seen...how does one then dismiss the idea of Satan?

And I mean Satan as not referring to any particular religion either.

Does God need Satan to be God?

Could be a whole other thread.

For now, suffice it to say that I am sure there are belief systems out there that allow for the existence of a creator ("God") but either do not allow for the existence of an Evil figure or simply do not address it.

Maybe I misunderstood the meaning of the questions, but I personally think of God as being just the generic term for a higher power, while I see Satan as being specifically associated with the Abrahamic faiths.

See, that's a very valid explanation. Thanks for explaining your perspective to me.

________________________

I'm not trying to begrudge people's right to an opinion or get into a theological explanation of 'right/wrong'...I just found it curious and was looking for more information.

NP

George W Bush is a Dork!

'nuff said.

It appears (maybe wrongly) that for good to exist, evil must also.

However, that is like saying that for heat to exist, COLD must also--which is NOT true, as cold is the ABSENCE (or non-presence) of heat.

So, evil can be said as the absence (non-presence) of good.

(note: this does not change the fact of Old Nick's existence)

I didn't really say that just cos God exists to someone that an anti-God had to exist as well. Just wondering the motivation for having the faith that God does exist, yet not having the same faith that Satan did.

a few notes
i didnt vote for god exists because the higher power i believe in is not called or ever referred to as "God" but rather "the great spirit" or "the creator"

"The official story of the JFK assassination is a lie." does not mean one believes in the magic bullet theory. it means you dont believe the official story.

how in the hell do people believe that Obama is a member or supporter of al qaeda? where did that come from?

satan was created by the early church to scare people into religion

Quite a lot of people think that there is a God, but that Satan isn't a person, just personified evil.

More specifically Satan (as the popularly conceived half-man/half-best creation) was created by the early church to monopolise religion and demonise followers of older pantheistic 'pagan' religions. It is no coincidence that Satan is almost identical to Pan, the Greek God of nature (incidentally the British museum has a whole cache of hidden art works and statues that are rarely, if ever, shown to the public - because they are deemed too offensive for general exhibition). Depictions of Pan in classical art almost always show him with an erect penis (as a symbol of fertility). This (as well as another Greek God - Priapus, hence priapism and the Roman God Bacchus) had elaborate rituals of worship that usually involved group sex. As the church subsequently condemned that sort of sexual activity - demonising the older religions through scripture (along with various bloody inquisitions) was a way for the clergy to gain ideological control and stamp out paganism. Clearly they did a pretty good job...

Ehhhhhh. The concept of Satan is a *lot* older than the association with Pan. Christianity picked up the imagery from the Greeks, but the idea that God has an adversary is at least as old as the book of Job.

Well, the good news is that 35 out of 52 VJ respondents believe in God.

The bad news is we have a lone Holocaust denier in our midst LOL.

Interesting results.

along with 8 people thinking that fdr knew pearl harbor was gonna get bombed..........
conspiracy theories are still in fashion i see.

"Satan" is a christian concept. Pan is much older than christianity.

I just saw a new Geico caveman commercial. They showed two in a row! I love those! Too bad you didn't have a poll question about them.

Satan predates Christianity. He is first referred to in the Bible by that name (actually a title, "The Accuser") in the book of Job, which likely is older than the Torah, so a minimum of 1500 B.C.

You're right, I didn't think of that. However the age of the book can be debated.

"Satan" is an Abrahamic concept. It may or may not be older than Pan, which is fortunately not my point, hence why I didn't say that Pan was younger than Christianity, because the *association* of Satan with Pan is a Christian phenomenon, but the idea of Satan, as Scott says, as an adversary of God, is much older. Christianity didn't invent the concept of Satan, just gave it a face with pointy horns.

Same here. I do not own a tin foil hat.

"Both mainstream US political parties are controlled by the same people."

no.. but

Both mainstream US political parties are two sides of the same coin.

Check out the mythology of the Parsis (aka Zoroastrians) wo are not strictly Abrahamic(the quotes below, from Wiki).



Basically, Parsis have a single ultimate God, Ahura Mazda (shortened oft to "Ormazd" or variations) and a chief of anti-God Angra Mainyu aka "Ahriman". As in the Abrahamic religions, Ahriman is under a sentence of impending doom and knows it (did you see the similarity with the Biblical Satan here?)

That's what I mean't - the popular imagery associated with it is taken directly from older religions with the sole purpose of demonising them and promoting monotheism. The concept of course, is older.

I am glad to see that I am no longer the only one who thinks that aliens walk amongst us. It's the ONLY explanation for my previous next-door neighbour...