You obviously feel very strongly that your conclusion is correct but you don’t offer much in terms of argument. Nothing you’ve said requires slavery be involved to explain the relative success of African-Americans in today’s sports. The fundamental question there is, are African-Americans significantly different from native Africans (from regions unaffected by slavery)? I don’t personally know the answer to that. I can imagine someone stupidly saying, “Well, you only have to look at African marathon runners and African-American NFL running backs to see there are differences!” but that’s just silly since excelling in those sports require completely different training, caloric intake, etc. But how can one then compare? Perhaps there could be some suggestive data teased out of statistics from sports more common to both North America blacks and native Africans, e.g., soccer, but even then I think you’ll end up with other social factors (differing income levels, differing opportunities, etc.) ruining any analysis.

I don’t feel like getting into it, but seriously, I think it’s pretty obvious that the artificial selection of African American’s back 200+ years ago clearly has something to do with why they only dominate sports in this country. I mean they are all pretty gigantic, there is no doubt about it.

I think you’re being ignorant ignoring the fact that it really is true. I love African Americans as much as the next guy, everyone is equal. I strongly believe in the rights of man, and I absolutely respect every culture as they are, but clearly that is what happened pertaining to slavery and athleticism.

Thanks

Thanks for the thoughtful response.

Well, that’s where I get confused regarding new law versus old law. The New Testament, and Jesus, seem very, very adamant that Jesus is fulfilling the Old Testament, not countermanding it in any way. Growing up as a Christian the message I always picked up from church and school was just as you say, that Jesus’ coming had replaced the rigid, cruel, stifling laws of the Old Testament with the new loving, compassionate laws of the New. But I see no scriptural basis at all for that, only statements that express anger that the old laws were being ignored and messages re-affirming that they still applied even with Jesus’ new teachings.

Here are a few examples of those scriptures:

“For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:18-19 RSV)
“It is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away than for the smallest part of the letter of the law to become invalid.” (Luke 16:17 NAB)
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest part or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.” (Matthew 5:17 NAB)
“Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.” (2 Peter 20-21 NAB)
“Whoever curses father or mother shall die” (Mark 7:10 NAB) [A reference supporting Old Testament laws.]
Peter says that all slaves should “be subject to [their] masters with all fear,” to the bad and cruel as well as the “good and gentle.” This is merely an echo of the same slavery commands in the Old Testament. 1 Peter 2:18
“Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law” (John7:19) and “For the law was given by Moses,…” (John 1:17).
“…the scripture cannot be broken.” –Jesus Christ, John 10:35

(This list copied from http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100306062514AAZd8lk)

I obviously do not want to kill my children if they disobey me, or kill my neighbor (or myself) for working on the Sabbath, or enslave anyone, or any of the other things that the Old Testament demands (or recommends in the case of enslaving) and that the New Testament reminds us is required.

I therefore find it hard, being a person of good conscience, to be a Christian. It would seem to require selectively reading a text which insists it should not be read that way, or require me to ignore what I feel I cannot honestly ignore, or… I’m not even sure just now how to characterize the mental gymnastics I would have to engage in so that I could be a believer given the text of the Old and New Testaments.

But, let me make clear, as I’ve tried to elsewhere. Some of the best people I’ve known are people of faith. I envy them their faith and the glory their service to the Lord (of whatever religion(s)) brings to their life. My inability to be like them, to share their points of view, to share their beliefs, most likely represents a flaw in me, not in them. I am comfortable with that flaw in as much as I must be honest with myself and if it is to be “remedied” I believe the solution will come through being open, thoughtful, curious, loving, kind, etc.

Q

Now, let me preface anything i say with the fact that i am indeed a human being. I do not purport to have fully read anything in its original greek, arabic or hebrew origins. In some things, i have just believed.

From what i know, the old testament is the “law” for those living before Jesus came to life on earth. And the new testament was the new “law” which is still new today. Simply context.

There is no doubt with anything, be it even statistics, that we live in an age of ignoring context and presenting our ideas/thoughts as absolute and correct. Again, human presentation.

But if we are to take anything from the Bible, how do you pick? Who says this verse or that verse is the only thing we need to live by. From what i’ve read about Jesus in the the 4 gospels (matthew, mark, luke and john), you have 1 one 3 choices. You can believe
1) Jesus was insane and that only a crazy person would say and believe all those things
2) Jesus was really just a liar and simply leading people on (to what, i don’t know, seems like no benefit to him)
OR 3) what Jesus says/teaches/preaches as 100% truth.

I have no dillusions that these words change your mind and heart. As they cannot. If you have read the Bible, then you know that only God will bring you to himself. We are just witnesses to his grace.

I suppose grace is subjective if you believe you’ve done nothing wrong. And really, who’s not been a perfect example of humanity their entire lives?

I think there might be a little misunderstanding. The tablet device I use daily is a Nook with CyanogenMod on it. I like it for exactly the reasons you indicate, that I’m free to do with it as I will. I have no plans to buy a Kindle Fire, but if the hardware, cost, and custom ROM options were right I’d buy one. I do own an e-ink based Kindle I bought early last year and one of the first gen ones that came out in 2008. I rarely use the recent Kindle any more, but I did love it, and still have a fondness for it; my gf was trying to use it recently for a textbook.

What I loved about the Kindle was:
a) they were pretty cheap (the last one was $130),
b) the e-ink screen is an absolute joy to read (I don’t enjoy reading on an LCD screen),
c) I can easily read any txt/html/pdf/doc/etc. on it,
d) the battery lasts me a month or more, and
e) I can read anything I buy through Amazon on any platform (iPhone, Android, PC, Mac, etc.).

You’re right that Amazon is proprietary, but my experience of that proprietaryness is so much more pleasant. Using my MP3s collection on iPhone/iPad was always miserable, having to import through iTunes, it not understanding my folder-based layout and missing ID3 tags, having codec issues, etc. I never had such problems with any other MP3 player, PocketPC, WinCE, Android, etc. device; and yes, I know there are some ways around with jailbreaking/thirdparty players/etc. and I did that ultimately, but I resented the whole experience. So I do feel like Amazon plays nicer with others than Apple products do, and where it falls down in that area doesn’t really matter much to me. I should mention that I’ve owned Kindles since 2008 and in all that time I’ve bought maybe 8 or 9 books, most of them being huge programming refer books which are perfect for the format, since I can read them away from the computer on a Kindle or phone or whatever or refer to them as I program in the desktop app, searching and copying/pasting as I need. Everything else I’ve read on it has been free material downloaded from the web, and in that sense it has been a very pleasant experience wherein I did not feel restricted.

I also didn’t place Steve Jobs on a pedestal, but for a different reason than yours. Apple’s products are useful and easy (and fun, in a sort of way) but they didn’t change the world in a way that the light bulb did. I could live without a mp3 player and a tablet, and I don’t have to use an iphone.