There seems to be a lot of ignorance about Christians out there like they’re some weird, exotic new thing. Like take this super ignorant article at Time where someone who didn’t take the Bible very seriously telling Christians they’re following Jesus wrong by giving some wacky interpretations of some quotes from the Bible she half read. Wouldn’t even a half-way decent editor tell her, “Hey, you know Christians have been studying this Bible thing for thousands of years, so maybe you should run your brand new ideas about it by one of them since pretty much everything notion about that book has been asked and answered. We should be able to find at least one Christian to ask; there has to be at least a couple dozen of them in this country.” But know, instead we get another, “Jesus loves socialism because Bible quote!” that just makes everyone dumber.
Anywho, the point is that over at PJ Media I wrote a Christian FAQ to explain these brand new things called “Christians” that everyone like Time magazine and others seem to confounded by. Enjoy.
What is it with the commenters over there? If none of them understand politics or humor, why do they keep coming back to the site?
The vast majority of the commenters are trying to debate the meaning of “Christian” or have a debate about atheism vs. Christianity. What kind of brain dead imbecile thinks that the comments section of a blog is a good forum to have an intelligent debate about religion and will likely result in converting opponents to your opinion?
And the worst part is, their comments are completely irrelevant to Frank’s article! It’s like they didn’t bother reading the article but just saw the word “Christian” and decided to spend their time in the comments showing their own personal moral superiority.
The self-awareness of these people is astonishingly low.
Btw, I thought the FAQ was funny, Frank. But then again, I’m one of those bitter clinger types who clings to their religion and guns, so my opinion is clearly invalid.
Ernie Loco:
I read it, I giggled a bit, and then I pointed out that the plural of platypus is platypodes.
But the topic, no matter what form it is in, is always militant atheist-bait. They can’t help it. And there’s plenty o’ Christians that can’t help but be baited into arguments with atheists.
Kind of like on the football forums years back, whenever Tebow was mentioned, the conversation would eventually devolve into atheist vs Christian arguing.
It’s silly, but sometimes it is entertaining. If you are really bored.
The bounty of comments is part of the enjoyment. But seriously Frank, when the comments keep coming and the tank isn’t filling up, try jiggling the handle.
Frank J., this is your best, ever. Inspired, without a doubt. High Praise with bacon clusters.
I’ll try to see to it that the members of my church receive it.
Excellent artiicle Frank. Almost am I persuaded to click the like button during work.
Back in the 60’s Time ran a cover saying “Is God Dead?” or some such drivel. Maybe this gal’s mom wrote that one.
I read the Time article he referenced. I still cannot believe the idiocy of people who can’t distinguish between “we have a moral obligation to help the poor” and “the government has a right to all of your money.” Jesus did say if you have two cloaks, share one. He did not say, if you have two cloaks, give one to the Romans to be divided among the bureaucrats and eventually a poor person you’ve never heard of may get a scrap.
Anyone here ever played Ultima V (or the remake Lazarus) by the way? I bring it up because, besides being an amazingly well-done game, it’s an interesting discussion of the difference between personal virtue and government-enforced law. The guards in one city would literally make you hand over half of your money for “charity”. I think you can guess where that money went.
Keln : the plural of platypus is platypodes.
I did not know that. Do you know what the collective is for them? (I do not)
Zaklog and BACON!
Thank you for saying that.
Keln, wouldn’t the plural of platypus be platypi?
tomg51, Ogrrre:
Well darn, you guys made me go look it up again. The name “platypus” is derived from Greek, and so the plural for a greek word like that is to switch the “us” to “ode”. But apparently “platypuses” is considered correct too (sorry Frank), as is simply “platypus” as plural or collective.
Basically, their name is about as mysterious and confusing as they are. The only thing that is relatively certain is that “platypi” is not correct, just as “octopi” isn’t either.
But both are in Webster’s.
hmm…
I give up!
So, the plural of sarcophagus is sarcophagode? Not sarcophagi?
e.g.: “the pharaohs were buried in sarcophagodes.”
Or the plural of rhombus would be rhombodes?
Platypodes? Aaah! He’s right! The more you know, the scarier they are.
As are most of the commenters, now that you mention it. Man, does that crew have some issues! I tried reading through it all, but felt my brain trying to escape out one ear just to get away. I’ll resist the temptation to return later for another ladle-full of crazy.
Bunkerhillbilly:
This is a funny conversation. The plural is indeed sarcophagi, because the word sarcophagus came from Latin, even though the original Latin word was based on a very similar Greek word…so you would use the Latin pluralization. And also in Greek, the gender of the word matters.
Confused yet? I know I am.
Keep in mind, I’m not an expert on languages, or even remotely able to speak Greek…I just have a black belt in Google-fu.
Keln, just to muddy the waters even further, dictionary.com returns no result for “platypodes”, but says the plural of platypus is either platypuses or platypi. The etymology given is ” from neo-latin from greek” click on the question “what is the plural of platypus” and it takes you to a page that says the plural is either platypus or platypuses, and that the plural is not platypi. Of course, that particular bit of info is from Wiki dot answers dot com. Again, platypodes is not listed. Arrrrgh!
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