pop morality

[Drich]

-and without realizing it, you validate my every opinion of you.  I've known competent preists, competent evangelicals, you're neither.  What you are is an egomaniacal loon who thinks he's on a mission from god to share his gift.

If you truly knew 'competent priests and or evangelicals' then you also knew Priests and evangelicals who were on the same exact mission. If they are who you claim them to be, all you need do to verify is ask them, for we share the same "great commission." (mission from God)

What may separate us is our approach. They both may think the best way to God is their given doctrine and a large measure of blind faith. Mine is the opposite. I am a man of little faith and have a great need to 'see proof.' I am, and always will be, a doubting thomas. As such people like me/Thomas are not shunned from God. They Like Thomas are given what they need to establish and maintain belief. (They may only have a mustard seed of faith, so they are given much attention to establish and maintain their belief.) However apart of that deal is that they are faithful to what they have been given. In that they must readily share what God has done and extend the offer to other who may need or seek the same 'proof' they themselves have been given. Putting the focus on God's gift, and not because they earned or deserved what they got.

That is what I have done here. I have freely and openly shared aspects of my life business, wife's problems, (cancer scare a couple of years ago) when my wife and you people, were the only other people besides my doctor that knew. This went on for almost a year before i told friends and family. Why? because whatever happened i thought it important to show be example how God works in a believers life day by day.

 Your brothers in christ -declined- your services and so we here at AF now get to suffer them.

IDK what you are talking about.. i came here because the Christian forum that I was apart of for 5+ years at the time just eliminated their Atheist Questions sub forum because too many of you 'good people' were causing problems. At the time i was really doing very well with this one guy, and it all went away. So I went out to the various atheist forums looking for him, but found you all instead.

I am still a very welcome member at CF.com and am asked back from time to time or asked for input on questions every once in a while.

As far as my actual church life i was asked to help 'preach' at a satellite church, but declined the offer to work one on one with a friend who is having a tough go. So again, maybe the mythos you all work up for me far exceeds what I am actually all about.

Look, I don't care to dispute that with you...assuming you were on such a mission...possessed of such a gift, do you not see how badly you're failing at that mission, and why is this gift so ineffective?

IDK you seem pretty engauged. When someone is failing truly failing and you don't have any stake in them personally or better yet you want them to fail, you don't try and discourage what they are doing. Rather if they are truly failing you encourage the failing behavior! Only those who tell you your failing bad when it is in their interest for you to fail, only tell you your failing when you are actually effective. Otherwise why waist the sales pitch? why waist the time if your goal is to get me to stop? Would all out failure do that for you? if all out failure in on the horizon then why warn me of it so I can change direction? Sorry sport, i have been doing this almost 9 years now. It's going to take a little more than "you suck" to get me to move on.

 You, yourself, might have something to do with that....-particularly- if your little fairy tale is true....which I honestly couldn't care less for regardless.  If you think that we need god, perhaps you should get yourself out of the way?

Think about that for a moment. If all that I have ever shared is indeed true... then wouldn't someone who has walked the path you are currently facing be an asset? It's not all roses and gumdrops.. In order for God to save you from something like 'cancer' first you must have it... If God is to 'set you up in business' you can't have another Job.. If God is to save your marriage or child first you must be indanger of loosing them. That is the "wind and rain" of the parable of the wise and foolish builders. Those trials of life are what test your faith/what you have built. Would it not be smart to at least ask to see how someone who has weathered a storm or two have built their 'house?' After all it has been my experience that 'those trials' are the very reason most of you are here as Atheists.

God let the wind and rains hit your house/faith, and it all came down around you. So rather than assume you 'got it so wrong God could not support you' you wrongfully assumed that He does not exist. thinking your inital try was the only 'right way' to God. Not understanding that inorder to receive 'proof' of God one must first and foremost be humble. Nothing humbles a man like having his whole world crash down around him. If and when you had rebuilt, you would have experienced 'help' beyond your means or scope/ability to help yourself.

And so on it generally goes. God gives you a little to work with, and if your faithful he will give you more...