Psychology of the Internet Troll

35 thoughts on “Psychology of the Internet Troll”

1. Maybe if more people read the Bible the world would a better place for all of us. Michael I don’t know what to think about where we all started. I admit its hard to ignore the science behind evolution. One thing I do know is all of this isn’t an accident. Everything in this world has an underlying purpose. (Except for ticks. I’m not sure what that’s all about.) Just looking at our own anatomy amazes me. I have had some unfortunate health problems lately that will most likely lead to my untimely exit from this world. But going through all those medical tests has given me an appreciation for complexity of our bodies. I think how we got to be who we are reamains a mystery. But I do believe we were designed. Everything about us seems to be logically put in place. The way one bodily system works the others is amazing. So yes I believe Gof had a hand in who we are today. Hunting and religion was something I struggled with for a time. Anytime I harvested a deer, I felt a certian amount of guilt. I never knew what to make of that. Then over time after some debate I came to a conclusion. While I justified in hunting, your supposed to have remorse when you take a life. So when I do harvest and animal I say small prayer and thank the animal for feeding my family. I never take more than I need from the woods and do my best to give back. The animals I have harvested have not only feed my family but also feed other families. We have a program locally where hunters can donate wild game to the food banks. So yes Michael I am a God fearing Christain and would never apologize for that.
   Please purchase and read.
   THE BIBLE.
   Sorry if this was in coherent at times. It’s hard to write anything more than a couple sentences on my phone.

2. You know I respect your views. My views on the Bible come from Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason written over 200 years ago. A great book and Ludovic Kennedy’s All In The Mind. It is just a personal view. I am able to criticise the Bible but still respect people who believe in it. It their right.

   I cannot respect people who sport hunt and justify it by quoting the Old Testament as Ben did.

   Thanks for taking the time to write such a full and useful comment.

3. Michael, I do feel compelled to point out that the New Testament was written in large part by those who actually knew Christ (Peter) or interviewed eye witnesses of Christ (Luke) and of course Saul’s sudden reversal to become St. Paul would have been impossible had he not met Christ on the road to Damascus.

   Yes, the Old Testament is brutal. Just as human rebellion and sin is a brutal, horrible thing. The Bible is not a book of heroes to emulate. It recounts one big screw up after another by God’s “holy” people.

   But Christ says the Old Testament is about Him. That is the way it must be read, the only way it makes any sense. If Christ is the living God from eternity, what does it matter how old His book is?

   Human sin is the problem, not religion. If there were no human sin there would be no need for religion. But as I see the world become less and less religious I see more and more evil. Religion can at least put a brake on evil, by reminding people that they are accountable to their creator.

   But only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can change hearts and do any good, and even then, most of that change happens after we are dead.

   Christianity almost does not exist today, because how many churches even teach about sin or the fallen nature of all creation? They turn Jesus into a “warm fuzzy” and make God into nothing but a big Santa Claus in the sky. No one looks to Christ on the cross anymore.

   I initially turned down the job I have now playing organ because the pastor is opposed to a crucifix being in the sanctuary– an empty cross is ok, but no corpus on it. I took the job a year later but put a crucifix up on the organ. If he says anything about it he’ll be looking for a new organist.

   I know Christ crucified is incomprehensible to someone who does not believe, but that’s where it’s at for us, Christ suffering the wrath of a just God for all that we have done. If the Bible is false then we must all suffer that wrath, whether by accountability to whoever made everything that we so wantonly destroy, or through natural processes that cannot and will not tolerate humanity to continue to exist. Left to ourselves we would destroy ourselves so that not one would remain alive. The Bible agrees with that, but also says those days will be cut short and Christ will return. I look for that return because I see no hope in any other and I cannot live without hope.

4. Michael and I agree that man does not have dominion over animals, for different reasons, of course. I think we both believe man sinned, which I do find strange because without a belief in God I don’t know where a moral code would come from. Yet I have known atheists with a stricter moral code for their own lives than I have. Strictly from an evolutionary sense there is no right and wrong only survival of the fittest.

   As concerns our relationship to animals most Christians are wrong. Only Jesus Christ has dominion anymore. If a tiger will eat you, you don’t have dominion. Yet Christ could tell hundreds of fish to swim into a net and they did it without question. He is the same God who had dominion over the lions which would surely have destroyed Daniel.

   I also believe humans will do anything to be god, which is why we spout off about “dominion” but never look to the example of the One who has dominion, the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for His sheep.

   We are the lost sheep, the only thing in all of creation giving the God any trouble right now. So yes, He has left the other 99 (the rest of creation itself, the animals) to seek and save what was lost. He has allowed all creation to be frustrated, subjected to sin and death to save us.
   In the beginning no animals ate other animals. After the flood that changed for our benefit. Not so we could eat something tasty, but to point us to the Lamb of God who would be sacrificed for us, the One who as Luther says, “Is our meat and drink indeed.” Each innocent animal killed symbolizes Christ. We never were meant to eat meat every day. We never were meant to eat meat killed by someone else, an animal we did not lovingly raise. We are too divorced from it now, so we learn nothing, get coronary artery disease and cause animals to suffer in deplorable conditions in huge corporate farms. I actually support hunting, because you do have to see the actual death of the animal and a Christian will then reflect upon the One who died giving us His Body and Blood. An animal killed through hunting lived a normal life for an animal until the end. An animal in many farms today suffers horrendously.

   If Christians lived as they believe we would draw more to Christ, but we argue that sinful man has dominion (impossible) and we use that argument to justify cruelty to animals (horrible conditions in farms or causing suffering through trapping animals) because it is “just” an animal.

   Why aren’t evolutionists arguing “it’s just an animal” since “we are the higher species?” How could Christians make such an argument when we know that God loves His whole creation and knows when even a sparrow falls?
   It was Christians who started the idea that animals have no souls when that isn’t in the Bible anywhere. (I found the contrary position stated by Solomon.) When humans really want to hurt other human beings they start off denying that man has an immortal soul. Somehow that opens the door to all kinds of atrocities. Christians opened that door as to animals. As soon as we said they have no souls we doomed them to all kinds of abuse. Yet they were created from the dust of the earth and given the breath of life, just like Adam. The only difference is their souls are innocent.

   I think Michael and I can talk easily because I see the ways that most Christians are just off in what they believe, so that they aren’t representing the Christian religion, but just quoting scripture to justify them doing whatever they want. Michael thinks religion is the problem, but I think we both know human beings are the real problem. He believes there is hope that through evolution we might get better or perhaps simply be wiped from the planet as an evolutionary side track gone horribly wrong. We both agree there is something horribly wrong in the human condition.

   I believe there is hope because God is good and present in all things, even when this fallen creation seems to tell us He is absent or hates us.

5. I have an enormous amount of respect for Ruth (Monty’s Mom). I have different beliefs on religion, however. We should all respect each other if we don’t hurt people or animals. I always respect everyone’s beliefs and views that is one reason why you are allowed to comment here. However, when those views are known to have caused so many problems and when they are used to justify hunting I too have a right to be respected in stating my dislike of those views. Ben, you are a self confessed shooter. You like to kill wild animals and want to shoot at feral cats. That is totally against the ethos of the Christian religion in my opinion. You are quoting the Old Testament. Ancient barbaric stuff. Are you a creationist? I think you need to wake up and stop being so self-indulgent.

   Please purchase and read: All in the Mind: A Farewell to God by Ludovic Kennedy (ISBN 0340680644)

   Also read: The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine – you can buy it on Amazon (ISBN-13: 978-1603863414).

   https://pictures-of-cats.org/are-christians-more-likely-to-declaw-cats.html

6. Ruth, I don’t think Michael cares about them take a dig at you about your beliefs. I can only assume this is true based on the following quote:

   Michael on June 14, 2013 at 12:53 pm said:
   Oh my God, You are not one those are you? Please don’t quote text that was written 1200- 1500 years ago. This is the modern world not the world from which you have quoted. Please, Ben, live in today’s world. The Bible was written hundreds of years after the death of Jesus. It is 90% fiction for heaven’s sakes. Christianity is one of the world’s biggest poisons. All religions are dangerous and create problems. They are truly the opium of the masses and the are the cause of so much ridiculous conflict. Sorry if that is hard to digest but sadly it is true. Just look at history.