Hello, I am a Christian

[DeistPaladin]

I am nicht a christian

I'm trying to remember my German from high school. As I remember, the "not" often goes at the end of a sentence.

It's a rule that caught on in America during the 90s. "Oh, that sounds like a great idea NOT".

[Mister Agenda]

Howdy. I was raised UPC myself. Being a Christian doesn't make you stupid and being an atheist doesn't make you smart (it's not proper to capitalize atheist or theist, btw, because they aren't proper nouns, but it's a common mistake). However, it is fair to judge someone by their posts and many of the people who come here just to challenge us aren't very prepared...but some of them are. One of our moderators is a theist and well-respected.

For a postive experience here, treating us as you'd like to be treated is good advice. It would be nice if every theist visitor got a clean slate, but you've been preceded by many trolls who have left many of us with suspicious leanings toward theist newbies. Displaying integrity, honesty, and patience...and maybe even a little humility...tends to earn our respect.

[Whateverist]

No one here can speak for everyone here, nor give assurances of everyone else's good behavior. (Expect the worse.) I for one agree it is a false dilemma.

I'm not which user you thought was being bashed, the agnostic or the believer. The agnostic seemed like a poe feigning moral ambiguity about child abuse in order to imply some things about homosexuality. The believer seemed upfront convinced there is something wrong with homosexuality. I only read several posts but didn't find anything very bash-full. Did you think that first post was the abusive one?

The "bashing" posts were further down. The point I would like to make is that being a Christian or an Atheist does not directly make one more smart or stupid. I want to get that out of the way before I engage in the deeper things.

It seems you've done that. I and probably most people here agree. Heck keep your whole involvement here in your intro thread if you like. Obviously it isn't a very effective force field anyway.

Curious what more you have to say. Frankly the whole speaking in tongues thing seems pretty deserving of becoming the butt of so many jokes. If you're here to evangelize you won't receive sympathy from anyone.

[max-greece]

Also, if you don't believe in the Trinity (i.e. you don't believe that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are God), what exactly is it that you believe about Jesus and the Holy Spirit? Is there some sort of polytheism at work?

The Trinity is a man-made doctrine that can be traced back to Tertullian almost two centuries after the New Testament was written. The "Catholics" (they weren't called that at the time) canonized this doctrine at the Council of Nicaea.

I will summarize what we believe about Jesus and the Holy Spirit without quoting Scriptures, but I can show you the specific ones if you would like to know where we get this from. The Jews were commanded to say, repeat often, and teach their children the "Shema," which stated that the Lord God is one Lord. Throughout the Bible the Lord has indicated that He is alone, and there is no one beside Him. In the New Testament God created a body for Himself, and inhabited it fully. That body was called by His revealed name (His name was kept secret from man up until that point), which was Jesus. The man Jesus followed the will of God of His own volition, and sacrificed Himself for the sins of all mankind. In doing so He received the title of Lord, and was even granted the power to sit on the throne of God itself. Throughout the entire Bible there is no indication of three Gods, or three separate entities within God, there is simply God and the body He inhabits, which we call Jesus. The Holy Spirit is simply another title for God. He is Holy and He is a Spirit, therefore He is called the Holy Spirit.

Does that make sense?

Just a quick note. Shema means "hear" in hebrew. It is called the shema as it is the only prayer that starts this was. It was also quoted by Jesus when asked - which is the most important commandment?

"Hear Oh Israel, the lord our God, the lord is one, you should love the lord your god...."

Now one might ask why Jesus chose that particular Jewish prayer as the most important one. Important or otherwise it is the most exclusive one. It is the only prayer that not only identifies the object - God, but the subject - The Children of Israel.

In other words Jesus has been asked which is the most important prayer and he has chosen the only one that is specific for the Jews, and only for them.

As he follows it up with "And the second most important commandment is to love your neighbour as yourself," that must therefore again only apply to Jews.

How Christians miss this is astonishing to me.

[Whateverist]

Mhm ... climate change is crazy talk, atheists taking over "institutes of Science" and quantum physics doesn't conflict with the bible... right. Great start, it'll be difficult not to take you seriously now. Welcome.

I wasn't going to be taken serious anyway because I have the C word next to my Religious Affiliation. I might as well introduce myself with a Big Bang right? Atheist humor, get it? Well, Evolutionist humor, but most Atheists are Evolutionist. Unless you believe in Panspermia? O_o

Let the record show that the touchy new guy did here engage with the godless in a mirthful manner. Of course by now he has burnt so many bridges I just don't see how this can end well.

Shadowy guy I'm sorry you've been given so much to work through in your indoctrination. We all have issues but your plate was truly stacked high. I wish you well with that and thank you for your service (in the military).

[Minimalist]

I will summarize what we believe about Jesus and the Holy Spirit without quoting Scriptures

I really don't care what you believe. Until you can produce evidence that any of this stuff ever happened it is all just nonsense invented by men for an agenda which was important to them at the time.

BTW, there is an important distinction between "stupid" and "ignorant."

Stupid
Adjective
Lacking intelligence or common sense.

Ignorant
Adjective
Lacking knowledge or awareness in general; uneducated or unsophisticated.

[Bad Writer]

I will summarize what we believe about Jesus and the Holy Spirit without quoting Scriptures

I really don't care what you believe. Until you can produce evidence that any of this stuff ever happened it is all just nonsense invented by men for an agenda which was important to them at the time.

BTW, there is an important distinction between "stupid" and "ignorant."

Stupid
Adjective
Lacking intelligence or common sense.

Ignorant
Adjective
Lacking knowledge or awareness in general; uneducated or unsophisticated.

Excellent distinction! I'll jump on board with that one.

[Whateverist]

I will summarize what we believe about Jesus and the Holy Spirit without quoting Scriptures

I really don't care what you believe. Until you can produce evidence that any of this stuff ever happened it is all just nonsense invented by men for an agenda which was important to them at the time.

BTW, there is an important distinction between "stupid" and "ignorant."

Stupid
Adjective
Lacking intelligence or common sense.

Ignorant
Adjective
Lacking knowledge or awareness in general; uneducated or unsophisticated.

And the good news is, while you can't fix stupid, ignorance is easy to cure.

[Faith No More]

Welcome, new guy.

Based on this thread, I am very skeptical of your intentions and motivations for being here...

[Bad Writer]

Welcome, new guy.

Based on this thread, I am very skeptical of your intentions and motivations for being here...

So far, I'm getting the "I'm going to convert all these Atheists" vibe. But who are we to really say anything? Right? Right?