I don't get predestination.
I don't think anyone (except Calvin, maybe) ever got it. Which is why no one believes it any more. I think it's initial popularity was, as Matt pointed out, it enabled its believers to feel superior to everyone else.
Don't kill anyone if you don't have to. We're here to make a deal.
Mal ,'Serenity'
Natter 73: Chuck Norris only wishes he could Natter
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Tom Scola - May 12, 2015 7:53:29 am PDT #26203 of 30000
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
Connie Neil - May 12, 2015 7:54:34 am PDT #26204 of 30000
brillig
Who is it that believes only 166,000 people will get into heaven? Seventh Day Adventists or Jehovah's Witnesses or who?
tommyrot - May 12, 2015 7:58:17 am PDT #26205 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Who is it that believes only 166,000 people will get into heaven? Seventh Day Adventists or Jehovah's Witnesses or who?
I think Jehovah's Witnesses.
Just before I became an atheist, I was hanging out with some Jehovah's Witnesses out of curiosity. They were trying to convert me by reading scripture about the 166,000 thing, but my takeaway was, "Wow, you really can support anything with bible quotes." (I no longer believe that, btw.) So I have them to thank for helping make me an atheist.
Tom Scola - May 12, 2015 8:02:23 am PDT #26206 of 30000
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
The Jehovah's Witnesses are in the process of divesting their property in Dumbo, Brooklyn, which was once a shitty industrial area, and now is some of the most valuable real estate in the world. It's interesting how a religion that believes in the imminent end of the world made such a smart, long-term real estate investment.
shrift - May 12, 2015 8:29:14 am PDT #26207 of 30000
"You can't put a price on the joy of not giving a shit." -Zenkitty
I am on Zyrtec, Benadryl, Mucinex, and ibuprofen. I hate tree sex. I hate everything.
Hil R. - May 12, 2015 8:32:57 am PDT #26208 of 30000
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
I am on Zyrtec, Benadryl, Mucinex, and ibuprofen. I hate tree sex. I hate everything.
I'm on all that plus Sudafed and Singulair.
shrift - May 12, 2015 8:42:55 am PDT #26209 of 30000
"You can't put a price on the joy of not giving a shit." -Zenkitty
Oh, I forgot Nasacort.
And yet I still have a headache, my brain is blurry, I can feel my lungs, and all I want to do is sleep.
-t - May 12, 2015 8:42:59 am PDT #26210 of 30000
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
For anyone keeping track: clusterfuck status = ongoing.
Steph L. - May 12, 2015 8:51:19 am PDT #26211 of 30000
I look more rad than Lutheranism
I am on Zyrtec, Benadryl, Mucinex, and ibuprofen. I hate tree sex. I hate everything.
I'm on all that plus Sudafed and Singulair.
I'm on Benadryl, Claritin, and Flonase every damn day of my life because I live with cats. Tree sex season *still* manages to mock my attempts at allergy prevention, so I tend to add Sudafed and an extra Claritin. (Protip: you can take the "once-daily" antihistamines, like Claritin, Zyrtec, or Allegra, twice a day if your allergies are really bad. Don't do it forever, but a couple of weeks of twice-daily Claritin is fine.)
Ginger - May 12, 2015 8:56:36 am PDT #26212 of 30000
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
As others have said, Calvinists believe that if god is infinite and all knowing, he knows who will be saved (the Elect) from the beginning of the world. The Puritans who made Massachusetts such a nasty theocracy were Calvinists. The main remaining Calvinist sect is Presbyterianism. (I was raised Presbyterian.) Theoretically, you can recognize the Elect by their upright behavior and devotion to god, but no one can know if he is among the Elect. In practice, many Calvinists believe they're among the Elect, which makes them insufferable.
Methodists and most fundamentalist sects believe in salvation by faith alone. Baptists believe in salvation by faith and good works.