(June 6, 2013 at 1:07 am)ronedee Wrote: LOL! Well my friend, you make a great case for Atheism!Oh I don't know about that...and it certainly isn't my intention. I'm simply trying to express why I couldn't be a christian if it weren't a matter of belief. If your god was there before me, the bridge at my feet - all things align in the particulars that you've given. My not being a christian has more to do with things that I do think are existent...than anything that I don't.
Quote:I'm actually trying to "vicariously" put myself in your shoes. But to do so puts my spiritual evolution in diapers. And I cannot conceive being w/o faith in Jesus!Faith isn't at issue for me here.
Quote:I guess one could look at the devil and see eloquence and refinement, and God as a leader of ghouls. But what leads a person to that vision? Well...rules would!Meh, I see neither. There isn't really enough in the text to establish the devil as being eloquent or refined (this is all narrative added later...when you think of the devil you're likely thinking of some manner of slick trickster god rather than anything contained within the pages of the bible). What would rules have to do with it anyway?
Quote:The devil is freedom from rule..... and God? We don't have that option.Laying aside that I'm no more likely to put my chips in with your devil than I am with your god - I'm a big fan of rules. I like thinking about them, following them, bending them, breaking them....
Quote:But freedom is chaos w/o order. All the devil worship has always baffled me! Why would anyone take the inferior entity? LOL!~ my cash is on the BIG guy!Baffles me to (but so does the qualifier "all" before it..as if there has ever been much devil worship). I wouldn't take either entity as presented - because neither offers anything that is superior to the standard fare of our humdrum earthly life.
Quote:I've spend a lot of time trying to give an explanation of "my thoughts" and "feelings" about God. But, it seems all I've done is baffled you more than you were before. I put things in the simplest terms I could, and much to my dismay at diminishing what God has done for us, for Love. When trying to explain God in secular style...well.... it just don't feel right as a Christian!I appreciate the effort.
Quote:Sometimes I feel like I'm better off...and you/all are better served by me/us just blurting out scripture, and general bible thumping. At least, the Word gets out there, and the Holy Spirit can do His thing!It seems like that spirit has some work to do...hope he gets around to it soon, because I'd love to have a better idea of what I'll be missing out on in the sweet hereafter - and I aint getting any younger....eh? Regardless of whether my number is ever called on what must be a very long list of people who haven't yet received the necessary revelations....I don't think that blurting out scripture or thumping the bible serves anyone very well - not even your god. I'd say that you've done a much better job here than any bum standing on a soapbox with a megaphone could have done. Am I changed? Have I seen the light? No, of course not - but that's because my objection is one that cuts to a fundamental and immutable doctrine of your faith. You cannot disavow it, you cannot tell me that it's something that it's not. I'd be willing to hazard the guess that we both knew this going into it.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
