Many of the response to this thread were just...WOW!
George, RWE, Werner, Eyeball, JGRaider...
Just...WOW!
They are the ones who others referenced as Christians who drive others away.
You misjudge RWE, by a long shot.
Nope. Not 'judging' him. Just his Bullschit posts made here on this thread. Perhaps he didn't express himself or his thoughts accurately?
I suspect that is the case. It's possible he has not thought some of his positions all the way through, and if he had, he would be able to express himself is a more positive light.
I choose not to express myself in what you think is positive light.
Half the questions you ask me are along the whole "Are you still beating your wife?" line of thought.
Originally Posted by antelope_sniper
So let me ask you, do you think this is an "honest position":
I am going to tell you why someone happens the way it does. Now I have no evidence for this, and the evidence that does exist indicates I am wrong, but I'm going to choose to believe this anyway because, (I was indoctrinated to believe this as a kid, because it makes me feel good, because my preacher says so, because some bronze age goat herders say so, etc.....)
If that really an honest position?
So you are saying that a person only has faith if they were brainwashed, looking for a "feel good", taking the words of another person without thinking about it, or hinging it on the Bible without thinking. And those are your words, paraphrased, but that's what you meant.
I am not compelled to play your game, and my payment for this is you saying I have not thought about my position or am not casting myself in a positive light.
You toss it around like you got a logic filled superior upper hand, and there is no way I am going to convince you otherwise.
I know this.
For the record, none of those 4 apply to me. The only one that could come close is the "feel good", but to be honest, I'd feel a lot better, even aside from the whole forgiveness issue, if I knew things would just be dead when they are dead. I've been an instrument of evil far too many times, but that's the way it is.
And for all intensive purposes to folks who don't believe, life sucks, by any definition man uses to gauge happiness. Frankly, I think it sucks quite often, but I'm uplifted enough from different things to know what I know to be Truth is right.
It's not my world, and it certainly isn't the "Jesus Lite" world of flowers and butterflies that all the atheist cite that the lack thereof is proof it isn't true to begin with.
As far as the Bible goes, I have to reconcile that with my faith. See, I didn't really read it before I got on board the train. And I didn't have a pastor, or anyone aside from a few experiences when I was a kid to even address it.
In fact, most of my exposure to Christianity was hanging around with all the other atheists for most of my life.. And I was the prime proponent of the "suffering disproves God" argument.
You could reference my conversion to my wife, of course, but then again, I never attended church with her for the first 6+ years we were married, choosing to stay home and watch TV and such.
She had little to do with my change, but was happy to see it, I bet.
And you guys can cite my general snarky disposition as an indicator of my "bad Christian example" but you certainly have read the Bible, probably more analytical than me, tell me Jesus wasn't sarcastic.
I'm not saying I'm as good as that, but I'm trying.
I will not be the one to convince you folks one way or the other, and if I do, it will be an accident (deus ex machina), so don't feel like you will gain much by arguing with me, unless you need to convince yourselves more.
In the grand scheme of things spreading the Gospel means telling folks about Jesus. You, AS, and probably Mojo already have that info, so technically, there's not much need to discuss it further on my end.
Especially if the premise is to deduce if Christians are less honest than Athiests, or whether or not they still beat their wives...
BTW, can I get the "wonky" statement on a T-shirt? Round these parts, most folks use the term to describe oral hygiene. I think its good to see it used proper-like.
