Is this a true Christian?

[Aardverk]

"I admire anyone with the courage of their convictions."

You can take that rot and keep it. It is silly.

You have been absolutely consistent in your avoidance of truth. Well done.

Try reading my actual words and explaining how many imaginative leaps you have to make to get to your twisted version of them. See my response to padraic above.


If I were to say, 'I admire anyone with ...... convictions', that would be pretty silly as there is nothing about convictions to admire. Convictions are whatever they are and there is nothing we can do about them (at some point they may change). Some people have very strange convictions for a variety of reasons but most convictions are innate. If you have a conviction that there are dangerous aliens amongst us, that can not admirable or anything else, it is simply a conviction (until it changes).

If I were to say, 'I admire anyone with courage......', you would understand that I was admiring their courage, whether you agreed with me would be irrelevant.

Now, if we string the two together, 'I admire anyone with the courage of their convictions', why do you suddenly think I am admiring them or their convictions? Having a conviction takes no courage at all but sometimes acting upon your convictions (like the oaf) does take courage. Why do you suddenly think that I am admiring them and not just their courage or achievements bearing in mind that is exactly what I said I was admiring and that I also called them 'evil, fool, oaf, idiot, madman, the most evil, etc'? I am genuinely interested to see how your mind works.

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I have a deep, profound respect for people like James the pleasant preacher, although not for the views they hold which are frankly disgusting. However they at least make a serious effort to do this biblical command as much as humanly possible.

Given the ongoing argument here I'm not sure if this is a genuine declaration or sarcasm intended to provoke a reaction.

Regardless of your intention, I think it is only fair to respect people even if you do not agree with them. How else are they going to respect you? If they also put themselves in danger (real or imagined) because of their convictions I can also admire their bravery even if they are doing a stupid or foolish thing. I stop short of your 'deep and profound' but otherwise I agree with you.