Why are you (still) a Christian?

[Data]

Thanks for telling us your Bible god is nothing better than Kim Jong-Un. 

The only criteria for being a god is veneration. Period. You're trying to limit the definition to fit your idiotic ideology. Your quasi-religious traditional indoctrination. Pretty fucking stupid for an idiot atheist, don't you think? You think a god has to be supernatural? You're wrong. immortal? Wrong. Creator? Wrong. Real? Wrong. Existing? Wrong. Literal? Wrong. Believed or trusted? Wrong. Only believed to be good by believers? Wrong. Venerated? Right.

[Data]

The consideration is not theism.

The title of this sub forum is Christian. Atheism is the exploration (supposedly, though not a very good one) of the nonexistence of God/gods.

Theism is the BELIEF in theism.

I think theism is a joke, am I a theist? I certainly don't believe in theism. Wasn't it Dawkins that said "What if you're wrong?" when asked the same? And that an atheist believes in one less god than a theist?

Seriously, not to be facetious or return insult for insult, but you really need to reevaluate your intelligence and ability to comprehend, to think for yourself if you're going to strut around like a rooster who thinks the sun shines out your ass. You could be a good representation of the atheistic if you would do that and keep an eye on your appeal to authority. Your education, if you actually have one, is wasted on your presentation.

Just a personal aside.

You made up that definition.

No shit. It was my own personal definition. And you deny the Oxford definition because of your silly ideology.

Is Vladimir Putin a god?

Anything or anyone who is venerated.

You believe in him?

Define believe in. Trust? Believe to exist?

You believe in the god in Greek mythology, Koalemos (Ancient Greek: Κοάλεμος) was the god of stupidity, mentioned once by Aristophanes, and being found also in Parallel Lives by Plutarch. Coalemus is the Latin spelling of the name.

See? Excellent. What a waste.

[Bucky Ball]

Thanks for telling us your Bible god is nothing better than Kim Jong-Un. 

The only criteria for being a god is veneration. Period. You're trying to limit the definition to fit your idiotic ideology. Your quasi-religious traditional indoctrination. Pretty fucking stupid for an idiot atheist, don't you think? You think a god has to be supernatural? You're wrong. immortal? Wrong. Creator? Wrong. Real? Wrong. Existing? Wrong. Literal? Wrong. Believed or trusted? Wrong. Only believed to be good by believers? Wrong. Venerated? Right.

Unfortunately for you, your definition is accepted by no one else. 
You seem to miss "context". You're beyond help.

But again thanks for telling us YOUR god of the Bible is the same thing as Putin and Thor.
The thing is, idiot, anyone can be "venerated" by anyone.
That doesn't mean , IN CONTEXT, they are thought to be a "god".
Normal people, which you clearly ae not, IN CONTEXT of religions and faith do not share your deviant definition.
You're making a fool of yourself. You really should stop.

There are all kinds of words in the dictionary that have various definitions. Anyone with half a brain gets that their meanings are dependent on the context in which they are used.
I get you jave no education, buy that simple concept escapes you.

I venerate my dog and my kitty-cat. They're just divine.

What an idiot.
As Dawkins once said to Cardinal Pell, "However you're using that word, it's not the way it's normally used in the English language".

Atheism
"The theory or belief that God does not exist. The word comes (in the late 16th century, via French) from Greek atheos, from a- 'without' + theos 'god'. From: atheism in The Oxford Dictionary"

What the fuck is your POINT ?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Nobody is.

Eric Clapton, Pharaohs, Frodo, Kim Jong-Un, Roman Rulers (Zeus), Moses, Jesus, judges of Israel, Amaterasu et cetera et cetera et cetera

Run out of sensible replies? (A dozen pages back.)

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Eric Clapton, Pharaohs, Frodo, Kim Jong-Un, Roman Rulers (Zeus), Moses, Jesus, judges of Israel, Amaterasu et cetera et cetera et cetera

Run out of sensible replies? (A dozen pages back.)

It’s hard to be sensible when your entire modus operandi is redefining words to suit your purpose.

Boru

[tackattack]

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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?

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Sure. There are lots of smaller ones, there are a few big ones, here's a few:

1. On a Sunday, while deployed, after a particularly evening full of booze and porn, I woke up to the usual hangover and depression. I walked to the Commissary (base grocery store) with a hangover. After getting my booze and food, I walked back stopping at the bowling alley with a headache. Sat there trying to clear my head looking around at the situation I was in and the environment, I heard someone calling "you don't need that" as they approached. My particularly irreligious friend swears he didn't say that, as we sit and chat about nothing in particular. He asked if I wanted to go to chapel and check it out with him. I obliged, left my bags there, my head cleared and that was part of my call back to God, from walking away as a teen. I haven't got drunk or needed to look at porn since. Soon as I got back to the states, we started going to church.

2. I was feeling unhealthy and needed a chiropractic adjustment. Went to a new doc, he took xrays and said I needed to go to the ER for a pulmonary embolism he noticed on the Xray. He showed me, I still didn't believe, he reimaged and it was still there. Went to the ER they looked at the xrays and ran some tests and verified I should keep a close watch and verified I new the signs of a stroke and heart attack, they released me for a follow up. Go to my PCM next day (who is also a church member), he ordered xrays and said we should wait to hear back, but he prayed with me. I sent to go get the Xrays and it was gone. Went back to the chiropractor to the very same Xray machine it had shown up on twice and it was gone.

3. I got pretty frustrated with God at one point and didn't understand why I had to go through pain. Made a list of eevery single horrible thing I did, and was done to me, and everything I deemed bad in no particular order, just as I remembered them. I threatened God to prove this was His will and why. Over the next 3 weeks, every single one of the things I wrote down were used as a testimony, or conversation starter, or affected someone else close to me in the written order. When my list was crossed off, I never doubt His will in my life circumstances after that, good or bad.

4. Many times when teaching or speaking, I lose conscious control of what I'm saying. Kind of like you stop listening in a conversation and drift off into inattention. It apparently comes out coherently and passionately. Every time I've had someone come up after and say this and this was exactly what they were praying on needing an answer for.

5. Money just getting sent to us where the amount matches an unexpected bill no one outside of my wife and I knew about. Sometimes gifts from friends, sometimes ird tax refunds or refunds from overpaying medical bills or something.

there's a lot, but it's a start.

[Data]

Eric Clapton, Pharaohs, Frodo, Kim Jong-Un, Roman Rulers (Zeus), Moses, Jesus, judges of Israel, Amaterasu et cetera et cetera et cetera

Run out of sensible replies? (A dozen pages back.)

Those are all examples of gods. Argument?

[FrustratedFool]

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

---

Sure. There are lots of smaller ones, there are a few big ones, here's a few:

1. On a Sunday, while deployed, after a particularly evening full of booze and porn, I woke up to the usual hangover and depression. I walked to the Commissary (base grocery store) with a hangover. After getting my booze and food, I walked back stopping at the bowling alley with a headache. Sat there trying to clear my head looking around at the situation I was in and the environment, I heard someone calling "you don't need that" as they approached. My particularly irreligious friend swears he didn't say that, as we sit and chat about nothing in particular. He asked if I wanted to go to chapel and check it out with him. I obliged, left my bags there, my head cleared and that was part of my call back to God, from walking away as a teen. I haven't got drunk or needed to look at porn since. Soon as I got back to the states, we started going to church.

2. I was feeling unhealthy and needed a chiropractic adjustment. Went to a new doc, he took xrays and said I needed to go to the ER for a pulmonary embolism he noticed on the Xray. He showed me, I still didn't believe, he reimaged and it was still there. Went to the ER they looked at the xrays and ran some tests and verified I should keep a close watch and verified I new the signs of a stroke and heart attack, they released me for a follow up. Go to my PCM next day (who is also a church member), he ordered xrays and said we should wait to hear back, but he prayed with me. I sent to go get the Xrays and it was gone. Went back to the chiropractor to the very same Xray machine it had shown up on twice and it was gone.

3. I got pretty frustrated with God at one point and didn't understand why I had to go through pain. Made a list of eevery single horrible thing I did, and was done to me, and everything I deemed bad in no particular order, just as I remembered them. I threatened God to prove this was His will and why. Over the next 3 weeks, every single one of the things I wrote down were used as a testimony, or conversation starter, or affected someone else close to me in the written order. When my list was crossed off, I never doubt His will in my life circumstances after that, good or bad.

4. Many times when teaching or speaking, I lose conscious control of what I'm saying. Kind of like you stop listening in a conversation and drift off into inattention. It apparently comes out coherently and passionately. Every time I've had someone come up after and say this and this was exactly what they were praying on needing an answer for.

5. Money just getting sent to us where the amount matches an unexpected bill no one outside of my wife and I knew about. Sometimes gifts from friends, sometimes ird tax refunds or refunds from overpaying medical bills or something.

there's a lot, but it's a start.

Thank you for those.

All bar 2 sound very much like they could easily be psychological or coincidence.

I'd be interested to hear more about experiences like 2 if you could share more cases of God seemingly affecting the material world in response to prayer.

[Data]

It’s hard to be sensible when your entire modus operandi is redefining words to suit your purpose.

Exactly. Which is why I posted the dictionary definition in support of my claim. But also the etymology of the word god in every language currently known to exist or have existed in recorded history, Wikipedia, etc. agrees.

[Fake Messiah]

After getting my booze and food, I walked back stopping at the bowling alley with a headache. Sat there trying to clear my head looking around at the situation I was in and the environment, I heard someone calling "you don't need that" as they approached.

So you were drunk and heard a voice. That's not a miracle. What about all the Christians who are drunks and never get that voice? I guess you were special.

Also, your friend was irreligious but called you to go to church.

Went back to the chiropractor to the very same Xray machine it had shown up on twice and it was gone.

Since when do chiropractors have X-ray machines? Needless to say, they are not real doctors. They are quacks who use pseudoscience.

Sometimes gifts from friends, sometimes ird tax refunds or refunds from overpaying medical bills or something.

That is the god of the Bible, alright. Thousands of people die of starvation every day, but he sends some well-fed guy tax returns and pays his food bills.