Why are you (still) a Christian?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

When the DSM* was first published the intent was to add "belief in any god or gods". You can imagine the hysteria.



*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.

[Data]

I can't provide you with what you want.

Seems to me that you only want argument (debate) over the religious abstract/metaphysical. Based on your attempts to do this on an atheist forum I can only conclude that you're actually not that secure about your beliefs and their truth.

You would. I want to argue/debate stupidity of a theistic nature. Atheism is a theism. This is the perfect place to do that. And if I'm wrong, I win.

[Anomalocaris]

Wow.. 15 pages I don't think I'm going to bother catching up on. Again @FrustratedFool, please quote me in the reply or mention if you'd like a quicker response, typically I just look at today's posts when I log unless someone specified my username.


No, I don't think I would consider myself a Christian without religious experience and an understanding of the Bible. Mainly because of the definition of Christian (follower of Christ) which necessitates both an "knowledge of" and a "relationship with". The relationship really is the crux of the definition of being a Christian for me. If the knowledge base I grew up in was Hindu instead of Christianity, I might very well have attributed it to Shiva, Vishnu or  Kalki (sp?).

Given its vital importance, could you describe the religious experience you have had without which you would not be a Christian?

it seems the singularly decisive religious experience is nothing more than his by sheer chance being born into a milieu where christianity happen to be the loudest component of the ambient cacophony

[brewer]

Seems to me that you only want argument (debate) over the religious abstract/metaphysical. Based on your attempts to do this on an atheist forum I can only conclude that you're actually not that secure about your beliefs and their truth.

You would. I want to argue/debate stupidity of a theistic nature. Atheism is a theism. This is the perfect place to do that. And if I'm wrong, I win.

Atheism is an 'ism' just as theism is an 'ism'. I do think that you're smart enough to know the difference between atheist and theist. But we'll see.

I don't need to know a damn thing about theist beliefs to be an atheist.

Tell us why you need 'validation' from an atheist forum?

[arewethereyet]

Introduction (atheistforums.org)

Position On Religion


I've labeled myself as atheist but I'm not sure if that is entirely accurate and complete. I'm irreligious, agnostic and atheist I suppose, but don't like being labeled as a part of any group. Prior to getting online I had very little if any interest in religion. I was mostly interested in music, reading and sports as hobbies. I've always been fascinated by what people think and how the way they behave compares to what they think and allegedly believe. Since getting online that has taken me down some interesting corridors, metaphorically speaking. Recently those sorts of corridors seem, if not completely closed off then certainly less explored. Which, of course, makes them all the more compelling to me. I will probably have to censor myself in that regard. 

Data - AKA Dragonset - 

You want to update this?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Or keeping pooping on it?

[h4ym4n]

Whoda thunk Dragonset would just be a typical lying believer.


Filthy sinner

[Data]

Introduction (atheistforums.org)

Position On Religion


I've labeled myself as atheist but I'm not sure if that is entirely accurate and complete. I'm irreligious, agnostic and atheist I suppose, but don't like being labeled as a part of any group. Prior to getting online I had very little if any interest in religion. I was mostly interested in music, reading and sports as hobbies. I've always been fascinated by what people think and how the way they behave compares to what they think and allegedly believe. Since getting online that has taken me down some interesting corridors, metaphorically speaking. Recently those sorts of corridors seem, if not completely closed off then certainly less explored. Which, of course, makes them all the more compelling to me. I will probably have to censor myself in that regard. 

Data - AKA Dragonset - 

You want to update this?

I don't think so, why? 

I think all of those labels are nonsense and unnecessary. As I've said here repeatedly, I'm not Christian. I don't identify as such, for good reason. I wouldn't wipe my ass with the Nicene creed, it's politically motivated pagan nonsense. Christ didn't teach what Christians teach. I've never been baptized. Who would I entrust to do that? The JWs are the closest but they are false prophets and harbor pedophiles from the law. 

Am I a theist? I believe in, that is trust, some gods, not all of them. That's even more complicated than my response to Christianity above. In general I would identify as a form of theism called henotheism but like any other that is undoubtedly corrupt and confused. 

Am I atheist? Not really, but like I said, some gods I believe in others I don't, but my identifying as atheist above, as I said, wasn't accurate or complete. It was, more than anything, just an irritant. Did I continue on as an atheist in pretense? No. But I just said it knowing you would see through it and it would piss you off because you are ideologues. IMO. 

Am I irreligious? Most definitely, but only with organized religion. Not to the origins of religion, and I think that individual religious belief should be respected. Not organized religion, though. Then you have to take into account that definitions of religion vary. To me everyone, including myself, is religious. It just means an (allegedly) strict adherence to a specific set of principles or belief. As Oxford's dictionary says: "a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance." Science and atheism certainly falls into that category. "But, waaa! Science and atheism aren't a religion!" Yes. They are.

[Data]

Whoda thunk Dragonset would just be a typical lying believer.


Filthy sinner

Did Peter lie when denying Jesus 3 times? As House says, everybody lies. Did Rehab lie to protect the Israelites and then later be specifically identified by Paul as righteous for doing so? Yes. 

And yes, I'm a filthy sinner. If I wasn't I wouldn't have need for Christ. 

You can entertain the idea that to be a Christian involves being placed upon some pretentious moral pedestal all you like but stop and think about whether or not you're the one putting them there. 

Do I seem like the type to be clambering for a space on that pedestal? I don't care what you think about me. You're not God.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You're not God.

Nobody is.