Thanks for your reply, but you didn't answer my question. Yes, I think God is an evil being judging by almost everything he does in the OT.

Would you call a human doing all those things evil or not?

(May 15, 2015 at 6:46 pm)Randy Carson Wrote:

(May 15, 2015 at 5:37 pm)Alex K Wrote: Why would anyone want to be catholic?

Because it is true. 

How did you come to this conclusion?

(May 15, 2015 at 7:24 pm)Randy Carson Wrote: They are completely incompatible.

For example, I often believe that I am the center of the universe, that my life and problems are the most important, and that everyone else exists to serve me.

Then, I consider the reality that I may be in heaven one day and that I'll be there for the rest of eternity.

Thinking about that helps me to see the foolishness of my selfish beliefs in a clearer light...even if it's only for a few minutes.

Oh, ow, ouch.

Kindly reconsider not being a dick and answer the question, or change the title of the thread to 'watch my ego inflate'.

(May 15, 2015 at 8:19 pm)Chuck Wrote:

(May 15, 2015 at 5:11 pm)Randy Carson Wrote: I'm a Catholic. You have questions. Let's get started.

Where did you go wrong?

Technically, it was my grandmother.

She WAS a Catholic and left the Church, so my dad was raised as an Episcopalian. 

I found my way back to the true Church while I was in college.

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(May 15, 2015 at 8:26 pm)Iroscato Wrote:

Quote:How do you feel knowing that your own life here on earth - all that you love, all that you dream, all that you have accomplished - will eventually fade into nothingness?

Where will you spend eternity?

Shame, I was hoping you would at least make an attempt at answering it. But I'll play along in the hopes you directly address it somewhere down the line.
I draw strength from it. I know that I'm a very small link in a chain that has existed long before I was born, and will continue for a long time after I die, and my legacy - no matter how small, or how forgotten - will have at least made its own contribution in shaping the world. I realise that this is the only experience of life I will ever have, and that rarity makes it all the more precious to me. So I have worked (with stops and starts, mind you, it hasn't exactly been a smooth road) to be the best man that I can, and help others who need it, and love those close to me. This cosmos is vast, and old, and to know that I and everyone I know play out their lives in a very small corner of space and time is both liberating and refreshing. Empires have risen and fallen, cities have crumbled, civilisations have been lost, confident religions created and destroyed, continents shifted and mountains eroded, planets coalesced and shattered, stars shone and then died. Against this vast canvas, we have evolved and tried to make sense of this incredible natural machine that gave rise to us.
The human experience is a gift, borne from a chain of events set in motion billions of years ago by natural forces that were able to shape and guide molecules in exactly the right way so that we could be here, in our ordinariness, to ponder those events. I have used that gift as best as I know how so far, and once my time on this planet is done, then I will cease to exist as a conscious entity.
As for where I will spend eternity - the same place I spent the 13.7 billion years before I was born...non-existence.

Now, would you kindly address my question?

There's not much I can say. You're cynical, fatalistic, and sound like you're only a one bad day at work away from becoming the next Robin Williams.

Take your meds...you'll feel better.

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(May 15, 2015 at 8:49 pm)Cephus Wrote:

(May 15, 2015 at 5:11 pm)Randy Carson Wrote: I'm a Catholic. You have questions. Let's get started.

We're sorry, are we supposed to pity you?

1 Corinthians 15:19-20

19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.

So you've been wrong basically the same way, with insignificant variations, for three generations. Must be bad genes. Consider marrying outside the blood line.

(May 15, 2015 at 9:17 pm)rexbeccarox Wrote:

(May 15, 2015 at 7:24 pm)Randy Carson Wrote: I'm the new guy here, but you've been a member of this forum for what? Four months? And you have the audacity to say "we" as if you are a forum elder.

Dude, in MY home forum, I have 10 years of membership and thousands of posts. Talk to me when you've paid some dues.

Please? 

Oh wow.  You want to talk about audacity?  You've been here, preaching at the forum for, what, an entire day?  And you've already started two threads to preach at us?

Talk to me when you've paid some effing dues, you sanctimonious...

I have a better idea:

Mod hat on.


Preaching is considered spamming on this forum.  If you don't stop, you will be booted.  Thank you.


Hat off.

As you may have noticed, I've turned the other cheek on more than one occasion. When I run out of cheeks, I snark back.

As for "preaching" being considered spamming...I'm surprised at that. Given the confidence that most express in their atheism, why would anything I say be a problem? No one is REQUIRED to participate in my threads, so presumably, they WANT to participate in the discussions and mock me.

What's the harm in their having a little fun at my expense? 

Your should have snarled at priests instead of turning over cheek after cheek.

(May 15, 2015 at 11:02 pm)Nope Wrote: I know many Protestants who don't consider Catholics to be 'real' Christians.

Sad but true.

Quote:Have you had any Protestants try to reconvert you to their faith?

Not really. Perhaps a bit in college, but nothing since.

Quote:Do you believe that someone can  be both a Protestant and a Christian?

Yes. From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Quote:838 "The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter." Those "who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church." With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound "that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord's Eucharist."

Quote:How would you react if one of your children abandoned Catholicism?

I would have to see some evidence of their acceptance of Christianity first. Thus far, I don't.

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(May 15, 2015 at 11:48 pm)robvalue Wrote: Thanks for your reply, but you didn't answer my question. Yes, I think God is an evil being judging by almost everything he does in the OT.

Would you call a human doing all those things evil or not?

If we are talking about the entirety of the Bible - from Genesis to Maps - I don't think that I would.

Perhaps you have some OT passages in mind, however.

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(May 16, 2015 at 3:35 am)Alex K Wrote:

(May 15, 2015 at 6:46 pm)Randy Carson Wrote: Because it is true. 

How did you come to this conclusion?

Grace and reason.

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(May 16, 2015 at 3:47 am)Neimenovic Wrote:

(May 15, 2015 at 7:24 pm)Randy Carson Wrote: They are completely incompatible.

For example, I often believe that I am the center of the universe, that my life and problems are the most important, and that everyone else exists to serve me.

Then, I consider the reality that I may be in heaven one day and that I'll be there for the rest of eternity.

Thinking about that helps me to see the foolishness of my selfish beliefs in a clearer light...even if it's only for a few minutes.

Oh, ow, ouch.

Kindly reconsider not being a dick and answer the question, or change the title of the thread to 'watch my ego inflate'.

Ah...so, you can ask clever questions designed to trip me up, but I cannot respond in kind.

I see how it is. 

(May 16, 2015 at 10:06 am)Randy Carson Wrote: Ah...so, you can ask clever questions designed to trip me up, but I cannot respond in kind.

I see how it is. 

Trip you up? I was serious, I'm asking out of curiosity mostly. I was hinting at our conversation in the thread about transubstantiation. Let me rephrase: how do you keep believing in miracles despite the evidence against them?

you started off nice enough, but now you're just dodging questions and responding with condescending remarks to people who have been polite to you. Idk what it was in Iro's answer you thought was cynical or fatalistic, much less suicidal. must've been when he said life was precious or that he worked to be the best man he can, right?

Quote:There's not much I can say. You're cynical, fatalistic, and sound like you're only a one bad day at work away from becoming the next Robin Williams.

Take your meds...you'll feel better.

Amd you are the worst psychoanalyst in the world
Cynical? Wrong. I believe most people do good things for good reasons, and capable of great acts of courage and compassion.
Fatalistic? Nope. I don't believe in fate, nor in any form of intelligence controlling events. When I said natural laws 'guided' events, I probably misspoke.
And I've had plenty of bad days both at work and home, boy. I made it through, and never needed medication.
You come across as an insensitive, smug little twerp with sociopathic tendencies, in all honestly. I'd say you're giving Catholicism a bad name, but it's already doing a damn fine job of that on its own.