[_ Old Earth _] Fun to talk to!

[rmills]

Quath, The Barbarian,

I really have to say that you two are fun to talk to! I really dig you guys! Thanks for being civil! I have allready learned alot from both of you!

I appreciate it!

 

[Barbarian]

No problem. I"m kinda thick-skinned, but sometimes, I'm too blunt. If I get so, tell me.

 

[Quath]

I enjoy religious discussions (as long as no torches are pitchforks are handy.) I hope you haven't had such bad encounters with religious debate that I am considered a fun one. ;)

One reason I like this board is that most of the time people are very civil to each other. I think the moderators do a good job of keeping this place nice and pleasant while keeping the discussions lively.

I hope to see more of your posts, rmills.

Quath

 

[rmills]

I enjoy religious discussions (as long as no torches are pitchforks are handy.) I hope you haven't had such bad encounters with religious debate that I am considered a fun one. ;)

One reason I like this board is that most of the time people are very civil to each other. I think the moderators do a good job of keeping this place nice and pleasant while keeping the discussions lively.

I hope to see more of your posts, rmills.

Quath

I have had almost violent encounters with TE vs. C debates in Christian formats which really bums me out. I do not expect much from people who dont believe in Jesus, and if they attack me, I typically pay it little mind. But when Christians that claim Jesus as their true love become outright slanderous because of what I believe or say, I dont really feel bad for me but I feel very bad for Jesus. I read the four gospels, I do not see slanderous Christians representing Jesus in light of how he taught us to be. Thinking about it gets that little lump in my throat going. I hope I am never caught representing Jesus the way I have seen some other Christians represent Jesus. It just makes me sad. :

 

[rmills]

Oh, and I will love to post more with good folks like you around, regardless of what you believe.

 

[Barbarian]

You should know that our moderators do a fine job of keeping things civil here, ruling with a light, but effective hand.

It's why I came here.

 

[SyntaxVorlon]

I'll try and critique you more often if you want mills.

 

[rmills]

I'll try and critique you more often if you want mills.

Sure! I have taken the liberty of reading 20 or so recent posts of yours and think you have a fair level of scientific knowledge. That allways helps, but you also have a large ammount of biased knowledge. I hope that you can learn from the right field creationists as well as you can the left field evolutionists. A ballanced understanding of both sides of the coin helps you understand your belief better. 8-)

 

[SyntaxVorlon]

I'll try and critique you more often if you want mills.

Sure! I have taken the liberty of reading 20 or so recent posts of yours and think you have a fair level of scientific knowledge. That allways helps, but you also have a large ammount of biased knowledge. I hope that you can learn from the right field creationists as well as you can the left field evolutionists. A ballanced understanding of both sides of the coin helps you understand your belief better. 8-)

I'm afraid I've already got my beliefs pegged and as a budding cosmologist, it's best to have at least fair scientific knowledge.

 

[bob]

I do not expect much from people who dont believe in Jesus, and if they attack me, I typically pay it little mind.

Just when I was starting to like you rmills, you had to go and insult me. What's odd is that I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, thinking you were different. Then, in a sentence, you reveal that you are pretty much the same as so many believers who consider those of us with no faith to be....some what lower on the evolutionary scale?
Thanks for jarring me back into reality.

 

[Guest]

I do not expect much from people who dont believe in Jesus, and if they attack me, I typically pay it little mind.

Just when I was starting to like you rmills, you had to go and insult me. What's odd is that I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, thinking you were different. Then, in a sentence, you reveal that you are pretty much the same as so many believers who consider those of us with no faith to be....some what lower on the evolutionary scale?
Thanks for jarring me back into reality.

:B-fly: bob,at first I did not understand your message. I thought you were a fellow christian at first. I mis-read what you wrote.
I thought that those rmills was talking too were not christians .
Are they?
maybe rmills didn't mean it the way it sounded?

 

[bob]

I do not expect much from people who dont believe in Jesus, and if they attack me, I typically pay it little mind.

Just when I was starting to like you rmills, you had to go and insult me. What's odd is that I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, thinking you were different. Then, in a sentence, you reveal that you are pretty much the same as so many believers who consider those of us with no faith to be....some what lower on the evolutionary scale?
Thanks for jarring me back into reality.

:B-fly: bob,at first I did not understand your message. I thought you were a fellow christian at first. I mis-read what you wrote.
I thought that those rmills was talking too were not christians .
Are they?
maybe rmills didn't mean it the way it sounded?

I am not a christian. I was a believer in the god of the bible for 25 years. Now I do not believe in any gods. I guess you could call me an atheist, if you want to.
I may have been wrong about what rmills said. Perhaps I took his statement out of context. He hasn't responded so I don't know.

ps - I do not believe Quath is a christian.

 

[Guest]

I do not expect much from people who dont believe in Jesus, and if they attack me, I typically pay it little mind.

Just when I was starting to like you rmills, you had to go and insult me. What's odd is that I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, thinking you were different. Then, in a sentence, you reveal that you are pretty much the same as so many believers who consider those of us with no faith to be....some what lower on the evolutionary scale?
Thanks for jarring me back into reality.

:B-fly: bob,at first I did not understand your message. I thought you were a fellow christian at first. I mis-read what you wrote.
I thought that those rmills was talking too were not christians .
Are they?
maybe rmills didn't mean it the way it sounded?

I am not a christian. I was a believer in the god of the bible for 25 years. Now I do not believe in any gods. I guess you could call me an atheist, if you want to.
I may have been wrong about what rmills said. Perhaps I took his statement out of context. He hasn't responded so I don't know.

ps - I do not believe Quath is a christian.

:Fade-color My mistake,I forgot that Quath was not christian. I can't believe I did that,but maybe it's because quath has some good points at times?
I think rmills was trying to say he likes people who are kind to him,even if they are not christians.
I could be wrong,but it seems like that.

 

[rmills]

I do not expect much from people who dont believe in Jesus, and if they attack me, I typically pay it little mind.

Just when I was starting to like you rmills, you had to go and insult me. What's odd is that I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, thinking you were different. Then, in a sentence, you reveal that you are pretty much the same as so many believers who consider those of us with no faith to be....some what lower on the evolutionary scale?
Thanks for jarring me back into reality.

Hello bob,

I have a higher expectation from Christians because they believe in and claim to hold to standards that quite often they fail to represent. If a non-believer slanders me for something I say, I do not hold them to the same standard that I would a Christian. It really is that simple. If you have been a believer, you know that God charges us to conduct our conversation in a manner that is representative of directives given in God’s word. Due to the fact that you do not regard those standards given in God’s word as your own, I do not hold you to that standard.

I hope that makes sense. I intended no attack on the non-believer. I do however expect more from the believer. That’s that.

 

[Quath]

My mistake,I forgot that Quath was not christian. I can't believe I did that,but maybe it's because quath has some good points at times?

Thanks. Sometimes it seems like I am the anti-christ on here and some times like "one of the guys."

Quath

 

[bob]

I do not expect much from people who dont believe in Jesus, and if they attack me, I typically pay it little mind.

Just when I was starting to like you rmills, you had to go and insult me. What's odd is that I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, thinking you were different. Then, in a sentence, you reveal that you are pretty much the same as so many believers who consider those of us with no faith to be....some what lower on the evolutionary scale?
Thanks for jarring me back into reality.

Hello bob,

I have a higher expectation from Christians because they believe in and claim to hold to standards that quite often they fail to represent. If a non-believer slanders me for something I say, I do not hold them to the same standard that I would a Christian. It really is that simple. If you have been a believer, you know that God charges us to conduct our conversation in a manner that is representative of directives given in God’s word. Due to the fact that you do not regard those standards given in God’s word as your own, I do not hold you to that standard.

I hope that makes sense. I intended no attack on the non-believer. I do however expect more from the believer. That’s that.

Thank you for the clairification. That makes perfect sense. I like you again
One question though. Why would you expect such behavior from professed christians, only to be let down time and time again? Perhaps you could do a study to see how often professed christians fall short of your expectations and how often non believers fall short of behaving with common human decency toward you. As I am fond of pointing out, I learn more about how not to behave, while observing the behavior of christians, than I learn about how to behave.

 

[Guest]

My mistake,I forgot that Quath was not christian. I can't believe I did that,but maybe it's because quath has some good points at times?

Thanks. Sometimes it seems like I am the anti-christ on here and some times like "one of the guys."

Quath

:Fade-color No,you are not the AC. We are just different in our views.
You do have good traits that show up now and again.

 

[rmills]

Why would you expect such behavior from professed christians, only to be let down time and time again? Perhaps you could do a study to see how often professed christians fall short of your expectations and how often non believers fall short of behaving with common human decency toward you. As I am fond of pointing out, I learn more about how not to behave, while observing the behavior of christians, than I learn about how to behave.

bob,

it really is not me that suffers but Jesus. Humanity will fail at righteousness time and time again, in fact God’s word tells us that. I will fail as well, I am sure I already have countless times. Christianity needs to hold itself accountable to the teachings of Jesus or they will not accomplish effective representation of who they claim to believe in.

I understand your position. It is always the car with the fishy on the bumper that cuts you off on the highway, always the Christians that bomb the abortion clinics, always the Christians that scream with seething hatred at the gay rallies. The thing I have to remember is that I hold myself accountable to God’s word regardless of what mainstream Christianity is doing around me. My relationship with Jesus is not founded on my fellow man, but rather Jesus himself. There is a dramatic difference.

 

[bob]

it really is not me that suffers but Jesus. Humanity will fail at righteousness time and time again, in fact God’s word tells us that. I will fail as well, I am sure I already have countless times. Christianity needs to hold itself accountable to the teachings of Jesus or they will not accomplish effective representation of who they claim to believe in.

I understand your position. It is always the car with the fishy on the bumper that cuts you off on the highway, always the Christians that bomb the abortion clinics, always the Christians that scream with seething hatred at the gay rallies. The thing I have to remember is that I hold myself accountable to God’s word regardless of what mainstream Christianity is doing around me. My relationship with Jesus is not founded on my fellow man, but rather Jesus himself. There is a dramatic difference.

If you understand my position rmills, then you can probably see quite clearly why I consider christianity to be based largely on myths. From my vantage point, I do not see christians as having anything I want or need. They do not display any character or personality traits that I desire. Collectively, they show the same propensity toward self preservation as I do. They do not seem to be any more compassionate toward their family, friends, and fellow human beings than I am. It seems to me that the only difference between believers and non believers is the claim. The claim that there is a god. But if there is a god, the god of the bible, it appears that he has failed miserably at helping his followers behave differently than those who do not follow him.
I am pretty sure you will not use the old retort, "Most who claim to be christians are not true christians", because then you limit "true christians" to being only the ones who behave in the manner you approve of.
So anyway, I guess my question remains, what do you as a believer, posses that I, a non believer, needs? And of course, the claims of the bible (eternity with bible god in heaven - vs - eternity in hell with Satan) are irrelevant unless they are true. But since they have not been proven to be true, all you (and christianity as a whole) have is your life as a testimony to the benefits of your faith (to yourself, and to humanity). Just a few of my observations.

 

[Guest]

:B-fly: It's not the christian who is perfect and without sin,it's the person
they know. Jesus Christ is our perfection. We strive to be like him,but the
change in us is not all of a sudden or as fast as some people think it should be. We mess up.
We are the ones who must humble ourselves and repent for it when no one else is around,and we are the ones who struggle to resist our flesh.
The bible helps our spirit become stronger so that we struggle less and sin
cannot over power us as much,but it is a process.
We can be saved rather fast,but the new creation we are becoming takes
time. God cleans up the inside first. while that is happening,it can be hard
to tell that the person is saved. You don't love God over night either,you may love what he's done for you ect....,but it takes time to love God more
strongly.
what makes a christian so different from the non-christian,is that,when we
fall,we can get back up.
We have hope in Jesus Christ,and without him,there is no hope.
Yes,it is true that there has been a great falling away of the faith,and many who say they are christians really are not christians,but the Bible
tells us about this. They are the wolves who are dressing up in sheeps
clothing who have crept into the churches,and the people were unaware of it.
There is coming a time when people will turn away from the truth about
God and listen to fables instead,and only hearing what their ears want to
hear.
As a child of God,I can face tomorrow a whole lot better than I could before I was saved. I suffered years of depression and didn't know why,but after I was saved it began to disappear gradually until it all was gone. If you ever suffered a panic attack,you can understand.
I know God took that away.
I used to drink,and at times pretty heavy. I didn't go to even one AA meeting in my life,God took all desire for alcohol away from me,and I have not looked back!
Both my grand fathers were alcoholics,and died from it. an aunt died from it when she was only 30 something. a cousin when she was in her 40's,and at least two uncles died from it.
I got saved first while I was still drinking. Finally I couldn't deal with it anymore and I begged the Lord to take it away from me. At that point in my life,I wasn't strong enough to stop by myself,and I knew it,oh' how well I knew that. God had mercy on me,and in a few days,all desires for alcohol were gone. God must have done it,and my whole family was in shock,some didn't believe I had really stoped,yet they later saw that I really was set free of it. It is amazing what God can do.
I was a saved drunk who was set free from alcohol!
I was saved before I was free of alcohol. I know God will meet you right
where you are. He made the mind and he knows how it works,so he is
aware that your problem may take some time to deliver you from,but only
he is big enough to do it. We cannot carry our burdens alone. God can carry them,he's big enough for them.
We cannot say we must clean ourselves up first before we can be saved,it
doesn't work that way. God here in the flesh to save the sick,and the lost. Only he can take your problems away,all you really must do is ask him to do it,and truly desire his help. He will clean up the mind and heal it
from the mental thoughts that got you into bondage in the first place first,and then you will be stronger and he will take away all desire to do those things you once did. We should replace those old desires with the desire to walk in love.
I use to think I couldn't cope each day without a drink,but God made me well. God did it for me,so I know he can do it for others.
We grow stronger as times goes on. We do become a new creation.
When God cleans up your mind,your body will become clean too,but the mind has all sorts of things stored in it,and it may take some time to break old habits. The changes will come,don't give up.
I have been free of the bondage of alcohol for years now. God deserves all the glory,amen.

When you are washed in the blood of the lamb,you'll become clean,and you'll really become a new creation. You may not feel the changes very much at first aside from your new found faith,but those changes are happening,and when 6 months passes,you'll be able to look back and see
that God was working in you all along. After a year passes,you'll see even more,and as the years roll by,even more growth you will have noticed.
For those who have ever suffered from alcohol,I know your struggle,I have felt you pain,all of it,and I have compassion for you. I know the great pain that alcoholics go through,and the pain of their loved ones.
For all who have ever suffered deep depression,I know the torment. For all of you who may have had an eating disorder where you don't eat often,I was there too.
For those who have just wanted to give up,and throw in the towel,and die,hang onto life with all your might,I have been there,and I know how hopeless it feels. God cured me,and he can cure anyone.
This is not all he's done for me,but if you ever suffered from any of these
things,you know we don't have the power to be set free all by ourselves.
God is the only power you need,and he won't ever leave you.
Hold onto him,and take it one day at a time. when you are saved,you have come home to your Father,(your Daddy),and the one who loves you
best of all.
Give God your life,and he will make it better. (so much better)
The child of God has hope.