(March 19, 2012 at 1:08 am)Drich Wrote: Again what if the offer is genuine?

It's still arrogant, and I doubt seriously you'll get any takers.

(March 18, 2012 at 8:05 pm)Rev. Rye Wrote: Are you here to debate or do you expect to convert us, working on the assumption that the moment we hear about Christianity?

Neither. You all seem to unite under the banner of truth and knowledge. i simply represent an opportunity to have a free and clear understanding of the system of faith that seems to be misunderstood, at least from what little i have read thus far.

Quote:The vast majority of us are very knowledgeable about Christianity. Hell, many of us were Christians until we just stopped believing.

Indeed. i found people in that situation stopped believing in a toxic faith passing itself as Christianity, and for good reason. Know Christ does not represent the toxic faiths you may have left. I CAN help you to understand Christ and help you further yourself from toxic christianity. (More Jesus, less Religion) to borrow a phrase.

Quote:Here's the Apostle's Creed as I learned it:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian (or Catholic) church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Anything else you think you need to tell us about Christianity?

You tell me, It's you life, your understanding. What do you want to know?

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(March 18, 2012 at 8:56 pm)aleialoura Wrote:

(March 18, 2012 at 6:35 pm)Drich Wrote: I came here looking to bring clarity and understanding to those interested in Christianity. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

I am interested in Christianity, but it's from a psychological standpoint. Mass madness is an interesting subject, indeed. I will be observing you like a lab rat, maybe sometimes I will even strategically provoke you to test your behavior. In doing this I might grasp a clearer understanding of your particular brand of madness. I hope you don't mind.

Let me know how i can help.

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(March 19, 2012 at 12:01 am)Napoleon Wrote:

(March 18, 2012 at 7:56 pm)padraic Wrote:

(March 18, 2012 at 6:37 pm)Napoleon Wrote: You don't know whether he's the nutjob type or the reasonable type yet.

Yeah,I think we do;the arrogance of the introduction is a pretty strong hint.

I already went through this Pad. I responded that way because the original post he made was rather different. If I'm not mistaken it was several lines longer than what his OP is now and not as patronising. But he must of edited it just after read it and then other's were responding to a different introduction than I was :/

Again to my knoweledge i have not changed anything.

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(March 19, 2012 at 12:51 am)aleialoura Wrote: I'm a good person without buying into all that bible bully bull.

By who standard? your own? The Soceity in which you live? What if you lived in 1930's Germany? Would your standards be the same as they are now or would they match your peers?
"Good" without a standard is a subjective term.

Quote:So isn't it safe to say that I don't need god?

It depends on whether or not you will have to Give an account to God, and if that same God set an absolute standard for you to live by.

Quote:I don't want to go to heaven if all who're there are obedient drones who believed shit without evidence.

If we were all if Heaven then what would we be believing in with out evidence?

Quote: So even if I continue to be good, and Jesus overlooks my whole life of skeptical blasphemy, do you think I can opt for hell, or some alternative realm of eternity? What says your bible about that?

There is the millennial reign in revelations. Where all who have not been out and out condemned to Hell get to live on a "New earth" or a Remade Earth for 1000 Years In the presents of Christ then the tempter will be loosed from His bonds to help separate the wheat from the chaff one last time.

So those who as you say do not want to be with the mindless losers will have one last opportunity to be separated from God.

The bible does not mention a 3rd option. either you are apart of God and creation or your eternally separated from Him.

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(March 19, 2012 at 12:58 am)whateverist Wrote:

Quote:If that is so then what's up with the whole new testament? Is that optional or is it more of what God/Jesus/spirit-thingy want you to do? If God really wanted you to exercise free will to choose Him, you'd think He'd have you think for your self more than the books of the bible allow.

You misunderstand. The majority of the NT or more so the works of Paul frees the thinking and religious expression of believers more than anything/one else. Even those deciples/Apstoles of Christ were somewhat bogging down gentile believers with the idea of one first converting to Judism before Christianity. Pauls efforts enforced the Freedom to we have to worship God with all of our Heart, minds, Spirits and strength. No matter what that looked like. There were a few conditions like having Jesus Christ The God of the Bible at the core of your beliefs, and He also reinforced the Idea that if you love the God of the Bible you will keep His commands. Not as a way to earn righteousness but as a way to show this all encompassing Love you have for him.

Quote:It seems that your God only wants you to think good and hard about whether to choose Him or not and then stop thinking. Once you're on board with the program it seems like he just wants your praise and obedience, don't you think?

To a degree yes. But honestly when you commit, you also genuinely want the same things for yourself. So what does it matter what you do so long as you want what He has promised to give you?

Quote:In fact, if you accept the idea of eternal life, then how can you put much value into this life?

This is true. I do not want to die but at the same time, if i go then i go. The only thing that keeps me wanting to be here longer is providing for my family. That and i want to bring as many of you guys with me as I can.

Quote: I mean as your after-life approaches infinity, the portion of your total life which you spent in your current body shrinks to insignificance approaching zero. Isn't that how you Christian's actually regard the importance of this life? Just get your ticket punched for heaven and then .. doesn't matter. Of course, you have to run through the tape so to speak to make sure you've passed all God's tests but really, screw this life, right?

I put it this way. We have been given this life to choose where we wish to spend eternity. once we make that choice it is our obligation to help other make that choice. Either by living out or finishing the race as best as we can or activly answering questions.

Quote:By the way, it was damned generous of you to put your shingle out to answer our questions about Christianity. But why would anyone look for that here? I mean if I wanted to hear from Christians why wouldn't I just go on one of your forums so I can get a broader cross section of answers?

The Mods on those sites are a tad bit more sensitive to the types of question that some of you are inclined to ask. I was the type of person who needed to challenge and understand a belief before i accepted it. I understand the basic need to challenge the authority and the "peity" that comes with the sterotype of this or any religion. I cut my teeth there so i can bring you the message here.

Quote:Don't you guys all think that your interpretation is the only correct one?

Most do yes. However the command is to love our Lord God with all of our Being. (Heart, Mind, Spirit and Strenth) This means because we are all different our understanding of God will be different from person to person culture to culture. The same attoneing forgiveness we find when we willfully sin will be there for us when we make doctrinal mistakes in our worship. Jesus says it like this "What we bind here on Earth will be bound In Heaven what we loose here on earth will be loosed in Heaven. The Apstole Paul expounds on this point in greater detail, but the gist is that we have been freed from the Law as a way to obtain righteousness (this means there is not one single Jesus Christ centered denomination that one must follow to be a member of the Chruch)

Quote: How can you possibly speak for the rest of them?

20 years of close scrutiny and observation.

Quote:For example, are you for or against getting baptized post mortem into the Mormon faith just in case?

It funny you asked this right off. I spent about a month talking to someone else who asked this question. If you want to go into greater detail I can post a link to all of our back and fourth, but the short version is that Mormonism and Biblical Christianity are two different religions. They believe in a different God than the God of the bible. I can only side with the God of the bible.
Our God Is The only God He is Was and ever will Be God. There God was born a man awarded his godhood and got to populate this planet with his "essence" and those who follow his perscribed path get to be gods themselves of planets and the cycle continues.. The problem with that whole bit is; that we are told that was the exact sin or sinful desire Satan had that got him cast out of Heaven. So why would the God of the bible offer to us something He bannished 2/3 of the population of Heaven for wanting for themselves??? If they are not worship the God of the bible what god(s) would promise this?

Quote:Have you and yours ever considered baptizing some Mormons over into regular Catholicism or Fundymentalism as pay-back just to see how they like it? Maybe it's time for a little pre-emptive doing-unto-them before they ship you off to Kolob.

I don't think I have ever nor will ever baptize someone who was not fully willing and ready to do so.

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[quote='frankiej' pid='257055' dateline='1332133896']
So you are here to test us... what do we get if we pass?

did you see the walking dead finally? Pass you get to set the barn ablaze, fail you get to be in the barn

Quote:Humility and I are old friends.

THAT comment shows you have no idea of the meaning of the word.

The right word to describe your attitude is 'hubris'

I think that'll do it,can't be bothered with you.


==========================================

Quote:Hubris ( /ˈhjuːbrɪs/), also hybris, means extreme haughtiness, pride or arrogance. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power.

That describes you pretty well so far. The difference here is that unlike your normal turf,here you have neither gravitas nor authoritas; we just think you're a bit of a dill.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubris

(March 19, 2012 at 12:34 am)Drich Wrote: "Who made god?"


another Good question!

Gosh darn, you really think so?

(March 19, 2012 at 12:34 am)Drich Wrote: Being "made" or born denotes one's confinement to linear time. God is infinite this is one of His key attributes. The basic concept of infinity spans the boundaries of linear time.

In linear time everything has a beginning and an end. God does not because He is not bound to our understanding of time. This is what is meant by his proclamation of being the Alpha and the Omega. This literally means He started time and He will bring it to a close. If God was before there was time then God was the beginning of the beginning. There was nothing before except God.

It's really that simple? So if I made the pronouncement that I was the "alpha and the omega" and wrote it down in a book like the bible, then I too could be outside of time and eternal? Apparently that is all it takes for your God to convince you that it's so. How do you know it's true? He or his designated scribes say so. Well okey dokey then. Oh, wait a minute. I don't happen to believe everything in the bible is true, inspired, infallible or much of anything else. So I guess I'll need more evidence. What reason do you have to think there is any creature whatsoever outside of time? Real evidence?

(March 19, 2012 at 1:18 am)Drich Wrote:

(March 18, 2012 at 8:56 pm)aleialoura Wrote: I am interested in Christianity, but it's from a psychological standpoint. Mass madness is an interesting subject, indeed. I will be observing you like a lab rat, maybe sometimes I will even strategically provoke you to test your behavior. In doing this I might grasp a clearer understanding of your particular brand of madness. I hope you don't mind.

Let me know how i can help.

Just keep talking. You're doing a marvelous job so far.

Drich Wrote:Let me know how i can help.

(March 18, 2012 at 6:35 pm)Drich Wrote: I came here looking to bring clarity and understanding to those interested in Christianity. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Question: How do you expect to bring clarity and understanding about Christianity when not a single one of you have a clear understanding about what 'god' even is?

(March 19, 2012 at 1:18 am)Drich Wrote: Again to my knoweledge i have not changed anything.

Your original post was substantially larger than what your post is now. You must of deleted a large chunk of it shortly after posting it.

Unless I'm seeing things. Which let me tell ya, I ain't prone to doing.

(March 18, 2012 at 6:44 pm)Norfolk And Chance Wrote: He gave me good reason with post 1.

At best it was patronising, at worst deliberate trolling.

Why would I have any interest in christianity? Why would he think anyone on here would - this is an atheist forum.

This forum was set up so that people could talk about religion, both atheist and theist alike. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: we are an "atheist" forum in name only. This is why I defend religious users against personal attacks and why I always push for fair representation on the staff (and when we need a new staff member, I will do my best to ensure we have a Christian, or at least several Christian candidates).

We do have a Religion forum you know, and a specific forum for Christianity. He wasn't being patronising, and he wasn't addressing you specifically. Sure, you might not have an interest in Christianity, but I do, and so do a heck of a lot of other members on the site. If you have a problem with that, this clearly isn't the site for you. Now quit complaining and enjoy the discussion. (Hint: if you don't have an interest in a thread, don't respond to it...)