Open discussion of the Christian Why We're Here thread

[Edwardo Piet]

I actually have great respect for what A Theist is saying here. Looking at this from the Christian POV I can appreciate the insightfulness within what A Theist said here:

Jesus Himself was falsely accused, tried and beaten, and then crucified. Stephen was stoned to death for his preaching of Jesus. The Apostle Paul, according to accounts, was beheaded. Peter, according to accounts, was crucified upside down, not to mention how he and Paul and other disciples were imprisoned and persecuted throughout the Book Of Acts. Jesus said to rejoice and be exceeding glad for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you. So why are we complaining about the name calling here on the forum? How is that anything to compare with the real persecutions that Christians before us had to endure? If Christians today can't take a little name calling how will they stand when the real trials come? In another place God said to be strong and to be of good courage, have I not commanded you?

If we start from the presupposition that the Bible is true then it makes perfect sense to see name calling as nothing but a mere scratch considering in the time of the Bible Christians would have been thrown to the lions or crucified and yet Jesus still, supposedly, urged Christians to rejoice and have faith in the face of it. If Jesus wants you to turn the other cheek about far more serious harms directed towards you and you can't even turn the other cheek in regards to name-calling on an internet forum without wanting to quit it... then surely Jesus would be rather disappointed in your lack of courage to say the least. Although he would, presumably, forgive you.

So yeah, what A Theist and CL say actually make sense from a Christian perspective--forgiveness being what I always thought was a large party of Christianity--whereas Neo just comes across as a condescending asshole who is only interested in re-bolstering what he already believes including his own prejudice towards his own cartoonized misconception of atheism. And if Neo thinks he can use the 'I used to be an atheist' excuse to avoid the fact that he's clearly ignorant as hell about atheism he can think-a-fuckin'-gen.

Perhaps the tests are real, o' brother *


*just kidding. Non-required

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Neo, I remember you telling me once about a particular poster here you really respected and enjoyed debating with, and I remember shortly thereafter seeing that same person just spewing some horrible, vile things to you. She seemed like she really hated you. I remember feeling bad because she was someone you genuinely liked. So I know exactly what you are talking about, because I've seen it.

I do wonder if some of our resident theists are oblivious as to certain ways in which they can offend people. No idea who CL is referring to here but I have been personally and deeply offended by some of Neo's threads.  Maybe the poster Neo is referring to has also been offended. I can say for myself that I know that certain things I have said and threads that I have started have offended people in the past. It would be interesting to see if they have considered certain attitudes they have as being offensive.

[my bold]I have no idea either. I'm curious now.