My new avatar, and why you shouldn't be quite as offended as you think May 22, 2008 PST 1:04

Almost immediately after I posted this avatar, which is a band whose symbol means "no greed and evil disguised as organized religion" much more so than anything akin to "anti-Christ" (which we'll get to in a second), resident religious zealot Freshco11 gave me this (his original comments on bottom, my rebuttal on top)

Now for those of you unwilling to read that lengthy diatribe, essentially Freshco brought to my attention 3 superficial things about me: the avatar (obviously), my user name which is Online Rapists Scare me and not Online Rapists Scream as I only recently discovered he mistook it for, and my blasphemous sophomoric humor seen in my greeting.

For those of you that think I seriously advocate the devil based on these items, here's some splainin':

1) The avatar is used by this band:

which is headed by PhD and former UCLA life sciences teacher Greg Graffin. Notice how the song sounds almost like Christian rock in its overall tone, and how the longings for peace and an end to sorrow actually parallel Jesus' teachings.

So why does a band so down with Jesus' teachings (while admittedly a bit taken aback that any God would allow such suffering) promote symbology ousting his own iconoclastic imagery. Because it's not Jesus that they or I frankly feel motivates the modern Christian who is so quick to remind us all of the pain of hellfire and their superiority through knowing God. The voice of God today is not Jesus, The Voice of God is Government and thus the symbol for this band represents a denial of what has become a governmental tool, not Jesus Christ.

2) My screen name Onlinerapists Scareme was quickly thought of when I wanted to secure my privacy more after having my first name available as my screen name. I thought one of the reasons I was changing it was well, exactly what my username says.

I sure as hell do not advocate rape as Freshco acuses me of doing.

3) My greeting joke is meant as an attack on commercialization OF Jesus Christ, not an attack on Jesus Christ himself.

I'm not a prick that feels high and mighty for knowing what I'm all about more than other people do and I can understand how all of this can be misinterpreted the way it was, but for what it's worth I'm telling you the actual thought process behind these aspects of my account and you should know that I'm not as unnecessarily abrasive a personality as my account might seem to suggest.

I am an Agnostic Christian which means in short, I do not give a damn about the supernatural and have the balls to deal with the reality in front of me regardless of what I can't see and because of that I'm all the more ready to accept that Jesus was truly the greatest man or at least ideal earth has ever been given.

Peace and Love to you all and peace and love NOW and before I die so help me my own love and conviction.

EDIT: This is even more perfect for what I'm talking about: