" I was saying I quite liked watching the highlights of American football, and you talked at huge length about how crap it was"

True. You did say something nice about American football - highlights, anyway, as background noise or something. All other American sports are crap in toto, however, correct.

I have said rather rude things about baseball, basketball (not recently though) and ice hockey, it's true. But I have also been quite complimentary about American soccer on several occasions.

Admit it, Putin, you have a far bigger reputation for being anti-American than I have. I have always been one of America's biggest supporters from the European portion of this site.

...not that that takes much doing, I admit.

Octavius, 99% of groups that call themselves Christian agree on the canon of scripture--The Bible. The Old Testament also aligns with the Jewish scriptures, including the Books of Moses, historical, poetic, and prophetical books. Sure, throughout history there have been outliers who tried to "reform" the canon. These reformers include Martin Luther, who had a hard time reconciling message in the book of James to the free grace of the gospels, but I think he came around in the end. They also include Hitler's Nazis, who didn't like the Jewish-sounding books like Ezequiel, Daniel, Hosea, Jeremiah, Isaiah, but they also lost that particular battle.

However, in Africa or wherever, the Bible is translated with the goal of conveying the original scriptures to all different nations and tribes in the entire world, and the message is not changed to suit a particular culture. Of course, the message often has to be interpreted in a culturally-appropriate way when an apparent problems arises, such as the New Guinea tribes' glorification of betrayal--because to them, Judas was the hero for gaining Jesus' confidence and then betraying him, with a kiss no less. An analogy was found though, and the message got through.

@ Mujus

Protestants and Catholics disagree on what books should be included. I think there are half a dozen or so books in the Cathlolic Bibles that have been entirely left out of Protestant ones. That's quite a significant difference to your average Bible reader.

For the entire story, I recommend Don Richardson's book Peace Child. Background: When a tribal member was killed by someone from another tribe, the offended tribe would seek to kill a member of the aggressor's tribe to balance the books, and then that tribe would try to revenge that death, and so on. The only way the cycle of death could be broken was if one tribe gave up a living member of the tribe to the other as a "Peace Child," whom it was taboo to kill. When the missionaries learned this, they were able to point out that Jesus was the peace child between Man and God, and suddenly the story became clear.

Octavious, all three main branches of Christianity--Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestants, have the same New Testament. The books bound in the Old Testament are all the same too, except for 15 books that were in the Greek Septaguint version (in Greek), but not in the Hebrew scriptures. All three groups agreed that these books were not in the first rung of Holy Scripture, but still useful to read--but Orthodox and Catholics bind them into the middle of the Bible while Protestants originally set them aside in a separate section, and usually don't include them at all since the 1800s.

@ Mujus

I don't think we're in disagreement, are we? We seem to be saying essentially the same thing with the only difference being the areas of emphasis.

"Admit it, Putin, you have a far bigger reputation for being anti-American than I have. "

Reputations often have little to do with reality.

That's often true enough. You anti-Americanism comes from a deep desire to change America into some ghastly nightmare you believe to be better rather than any hatred of the place, but my pro-Americanism is quite genuine.

There is a qualitative difference between cultural animus and having different politics than the mainstream of the country you live in.

At any rate if you want to paint me as a revolutionist I'm a poor one, considering I vote party-line Democrat and generally support the electoral process.

But let's agree to disagree, and watch this:

http://stcommunities.straitstimes.com/music/2013/11/09/watch-russian-ministry-internal-affairs-choir-sings-daft-punks-get-lucky

Oh good lord....cry me a river, Putin, you Anti-American piece of shit. ON any given day, you accuse the US for every evil in the world...and when called out on your bullshit, so start whining like a pussy.

Man up and take a stance, bitch.

You don't even like the city you claim to live in, Krellbells.

Putin, you moronic shit sucking fucktard, you don't even know what city I live in, ass clown. I don't live in Detroit, if that is what you are referring to...but that being said, for the items that I have discussed regarding Detrot in the past, I am more concerned with the utter hyporicsy of morons like you who cry-me-a-river every time there is a highly publicized shooting, and yet don't give a shit about the day-to-day killing in our major cities, like Detroit.

As a matter of fact, my wife and I go to Detroit 1 or 2 times a month on a date, we take our kids down to the museums and restaurants there, or even just to walk around the Fox Town area during a ball game when that are of the city is alive.

So..again, you have *no* fucking idea what you are talking about.

As for my home town, I certainly love it - quiet, safe, great schools, good people....and haven't met a single anti-American piece of shit like you anywhere around me....so yeah, pretty happy with my city, ass clown.

As for you specifically -- I see you are too much of a FUCKING COWARD to address my specific criticism of you, as I have addressed your attempted criticism of me. We call this tactic of yours "deflection"....instead of confessing your hatred for the US (which we all see *frequently*), you instead have tried to shift the conversation, to "deflect" it...thereby all but accepting your guilt on the matter.


Ass clown.

Fine, you don't even like the center of the metropolitan area that provides the economic anchorpoint of the suburban Stripmallville you call home. You do little here but bash Detroit when you talk about it. You do very little but complain, period. Spare me the lectures.

Your criticism is inaccurate, Krellbells, as is everything you say, so what is there to say in response? Whatever I say will inevitably be responded with a deluge of epithets and crudities, and a caricature of what I actually think.

Are you illiterate, ass clown? The "center of the metropolitan area" is Detroit....which I *just told you* I visit frequently, you stupid fucktard. I like Detroit just fine...what's not to like? Every sporting event you could ask for, concerts, great restaurants, museums, casinos, a river front, etc etc etc. Detroit is a great city with a bad national reputation.

I dislike the murder rate in Detroit...are you a fan of murder, that you criticize my disgust with murder, ass clown?

I also like Chicago - great town - but I will also speak out against the near mass-murder taking place in parts of Chicago.

But here is the truth in Putin's words, my frined: If you criticize something, in Putin's mind you hate it. Putin, my good friends, criticizes the US fairly constantly....and therefore, by his own standard, Putin hates the United States.

By the way, he has also openly confessed his hatred for the very children he teaches, as he criticizes them as being the source of all problems in the school systems.

....tsk tsk tsk, Putin. Be careful what you say, ass clown.

Now, let me tell you something about *decent* human beings, like myself and most people around here. MOST people have the ability to criticize something WITHOUT hating it. I am criticial of my children when they do something stupid, when they fight, when they knowingly do wrong...and I criticize them so they can learn and improve themselves and become better human beings. I criticize them because I love them. But I'm certain this is a very foreign concept to you, as you have demonstrated yourself to be one of ** the most damaged** human beings around here....and it's quite an insult to humanity to even consider you a member of our group.

Fuck off, ass clown.

@Putin .... as for your two replies again....I see you have AGAIN deflected and refused to address the direct concerns regarding your CONSTANT CRITICISM AND HATED of America.

For you to accuse someone of complaining too much...when all you do is tell people how awful the US is, and how the US is the source of all evil in the world, is laughable.

Ass clown.

Thanks for buttressing my point. You cannot make a single post without cusswords, insults and crude language. It's beyond your physical capabilities. You have to be nasty at all times.

You're only saying nice things about Detroit now because it's expedient to do so, Krellbells. You've never said a positive word about it before.

Oh, I can post without cuss words....when it comes to you, I choose not to -- I see how much it pisses you off, and how easy it is to manipulate you, so I do it with great fervor.

As for what I do/don't/have in the past say about Detroit...I was unaware that you worship me such that you have read every single post and conversation I have had. I knew you had a (tiny little) hard on for me.

You, of course, know where I live *because* I speak of my metropolitan area, *because* I care about it. Nobody knows where you come from...most likely because you spend most of your time hiding in your closet with your captives. We actually never hear anything about your life Putin, other than when you professed your hated for students. Other than that, the only thing you speak of is your hatred for the US, and your love of Dictators who's claim to fame is mass murder.

SO I guess we know where your heart lies.

So try again, Putin the Rapist.

(Rapist!! RAPIST!! Yes....do recall, as you have once declared in these very forums, that is one person of a group says or does one thing, that whole group is guilty. You, I believe, are a self-confessed educator...amongst which there are rapists...and places like California where the teachers fight to keep the sex offenders on staff with their prey....and yet you have STAYED an educator. Clearly you love the idea of raping your student like your fellow teachers....Right? I am correct in that assumption, right? Because I *AM* applying your logic as you apply it to such groups as Christian.....Right, Putin the Rapist? Putin Hater of Children?)

<....damn...it's like taking candy from a baby.....or in Putin's case, dangling candy in front of the toddlers to lure them in to his closet...>

<poke....poke....poke....Come on Putin the Rapist....I'm sure you have a snarky reply or two....come on, boy....>

<....whacka whacka whacka....> <Yes...that the sound of Putin off in his closet....once I started mentioning the kiddies he couldn't control himself and fled to his closet to abuse himself....so we'll have to wait untli later for his witty replies...>

"Oh, I can post without cuss words....when it comes to you, I choose not to -"

Or anybody else for that matters.

*matter

You must be the one liking all of Krellbellz rants.

Lol funny part is its not me LOL

Anyways, u mad putin33?