You have no evidence to support your position; therefore, your position does not exist. I am not surprised you resorted to name calling; maybe your God of Science will forgive you.
You have no evidence to support your position; therefore, your position does not exist. I am not surprised you resorted to name calling; maybe your God of Science will forgive you.
In which parts of the USA would it be most dumb - or offensive - to admit to being an atheist?
And has anyone in the Senate or Congress come "out" as an atheist?
Most of my visits have been to the coasts, where nobody apart from the politicians appears to show much sign of "faith", and there are plenty of people from India, Japan, Korea and so on who nobody would just assume are Christians. Kind of like 90% of Europe.
But in some bits in the middle, I get the distinct feeling that if you admit to not being religious, you're either in for a lecture or a determined attempt to save your soul from eternal flames....
Southeast.
thejeff wrote:
Sloetry in Motion wrote:Perfect example. If I was to point out all the stupidity in thejeff's post, first, it would take me a long time. But second, he would probably accuse me of being angry when in reality it's just me trying to help him sound less idiotic.
You have no evidence to support your position; therefore, your position does not exist. I am not surprised you resorted to name calling; maybe your God of Science will forgive you.
You were doing OK for a while and then you just kind of trailed off like the edge of the universe.
1. Salvation is exactly what these different denominations agree on. We are saved by Grace through Faith in Christ alone. That is what is of primary importance. All the other stuff is window dressing. Everyone has their own convictions, but anyone who is being honest will tell you that only God knows who is saved. Only God knows hearts.
2. Very true, although Jonathan Edwards probably didn't have that on his radar at the time :-) Remember, church is a hospital for sinners, not a country club for saints. Most anything churches can do to get sinners into their doors, I am for.
:-)
I am trying a new approach. Calmly speaking my position didn't seem to be doing much good, lol. I have a hard time staying even-keeled when someone tells me what my own beliefs are...
...but I am ok, now ;-)
1. Actually no. The version of salvation you describe is an evangelical view. Catholics, Episcopalians, Greek Orthodox, etc. certainly view salvation differently.
thejeff wrote:
:-)
I am trying a new approach. Calmly speaking my position didn't seem to be doing much good, lol. I have a hard time staying even-keeled when someone tells me what my own beliefs are...
...but I am ok, now ;-)
And yet you claim to understand others....
If Jesus was to be the be all and end all, he should have showed up earlier. Ironically.
This is a perfect example of why debating with theists feels like beating your against the wall. You are either being intellctually dishonest or
just really don't understand what an atheist is. God of Science? What an absolute load of bullsh*t. Relying on empirical data and then using deductive logic to arrive at conclusions is the opposite of believing that the dictates of a paradoxical being define reality.
We aren't misrepresenting your beliefs; don't misrepresent ours. Lack of belief in a God is not a belief. You seem to think we *do* believe but are in denial. We're not. C'mon, man. You've made better arguments than this.
The black hole in jeff's head wrote:
thejeff wrote::-)
I am trying a new approach. Calmly speaking my position didn't seem to be doing much good, lol. I have a hard time staying even-keeled when someone tells me what my own beliefs are...
...but I am ok, now ;-)
And yet you claim to understand others....
If Jesus was to be the be all and end all, he should have showed up earlier. Ironically.
I claim to understand others? I don't even understand my wife, and I have known her for the better part of 2 decades, lol
Stagger Lee wrote:
thejeff wrote:1. Salvation is exactly what these different denominations agree on. We are saved by Grace through Faith in Christ alone. That is what is of primary importance. All the other stuff is window dressing. Everyone has their own convictions, but anyone who is being honest will tell you that only God knows who is saved. Only God knows hearts.
2. Very true, although Jonathan Edwards probably didn't have that on his radar at the time :-) Remember, church is a hospital for sinners, not a country club for saints. Most anything churches can do to get sinners into their doors, I am for.
1. Actually no. The version of salvation you describe is an evangelical view. Catholics, Episcopalians, Greek Orthodox, etc. certainly view salvation differently.
I am very familiar with the differences among different branches of Christianity. They may worship differently (works vs icons vs faith, etc) but they have the same view of salvation. Jesus is the Way the Truth, and the Life, and nobody gets to the Father except through the Son :-)
And yet, you are telling me how Christians view salvation. You don't like it when someone else tries to tell you what you and your ilk believe, do you? Thank you for helping me make my point :-)
thejeff wrote:
... Everyone has their own convictions, but anyone who is being honest will tell you that only God knows who is saved. Only God knows hearts...
Which is why nobody can honestly say that anyone else is or is not a Christian. Indeed, no honest person should even call themselves Christian. Only God knows (if you believe in that sort of thing).
Pointing Out the Obvious wrote:
thejeff wrote:... Everyone has their own convictions, but anyone who is being honest will tell you that only God knows who is saved. Only God knows hearts...
Which is why nobody can honestly say that anyone else is or is not a Christian. Indeed, no honest person should even call themselves Christian. Only God knows (if you believe in that sort of thing).
Although I don't know what YOU are thinking, I am pretty sure I know what I am thinking... interesting post, tho :-)
If you don't want to believe in God or a Creator Of All That Is Known, that's fine. You can believe what you think is "fairy tales" as unprovable untruths based upon a faith you have in your own belief system. That's fine, I'll not try converting you.
But when you say, "Lack of belief in a God is not a belief", that sounds like a contradiction. When you say you don't believe in God, it sounds like an admission that you believe God doesn't exists. So by extension that sounds like a belief to me. ie., I believe. God doesn't exist.
And out of curiosity why did you spell God with a capital G? Non believers usually don't extent that respect.
thejeff wrote:
Pointing Out the Obvious wrote:Which is why nobody can honestly say that anyone else is or is not a Christian. Indeed, no honest person should even call themselves Christian. Only God knows (if you believe in that sort of thing).
Although I don't know what YOU are thinking, I am pretty sure I know what I am thinking... interesting post, tho :-)
It isn't a matter of what YOU are thinking. It is a matter of the choice that God/Jesus will make.
When you die will Jesus claim you as one of His? If you claim to know the answer to this question then you are arrogant beyond my ability to even imagine. If you do not know the answer to this question then you do not know, and can never know, if you are truly a Christian.
Pointing Out the Obvious wrote:
thejeff wrote:Although I don't know what YOU are thinking, I am pretty sure I know what I am thinking... interesting post, tho :-)
It isn't a matter of what YOU are thinking. It is a matter of the choice that God/Jesus will make.
When you die will Jesus claim you as one of His? If you claim to know the answer to this question then you are arrogant beyond my ability to even imagine. If you do not know the answer to this question then you do not know, and can never know, if you are truly a Christian.
Here is a quick Bible study for you. It will answer your (very good) question much better than I can :-)
http://www.ccwg.org/userdocs/images/files/new_belivers_outlines/single_workbooks/LESSONS-ON-ASSURANCE.pdfthejeff wrote:
Pointing Out the Obvious wrote:It isn't a matter of what YOU are thinking. It is a matter of the choice that God/Jesus will make.
When you die will Jesus claim you as one of His? If you claim to know the answer to this question then you are arrogant beyond my ability to even imagine. If you do not know the answer to this question then you do not know, and can never know, if you are truly a Christian.
Here is a quick Bible study for you. It will answer your (very good) question much better than I can :-)
http://www.ccwg.org/userdocs/images/files/new_belivers_outlines/single_workbooks/LESSONS-ON-ASSURANCE.pdf
Thanks dude. I know you are sincere (well, at least I think you are). And I appreciate that.
thejeff wrote:
The black hole in jeff's head wrote:And yet you claim to understand others....
If Jesus was to be the be all and end all, he should have showed up earlier. Ironically.
I claim to understand others? I don't even understand my wife, and I have known her for the better part of 2 decades, lol
You said ;: "Me: Of course you do. So does every atheist in the world. To say anything else is to twist what I, the anti-atheist, already know about your Religion of Science. Therefore, I am right and you are a childish simpleton for clinging to your atheist views.
thejeff wrote:
And yet, you are telling me how Christians view salvation. You don't like it when someone else tries to tell you what you and your ilk believe, do you? Thank you for helping me make my point :-)
Xian scripture, along with all the countless texts writing about it, is readable by all kinds of people, jeff. When I was in high school, the top student in our grade, every year, for religious studies was a buddhist; even though we were studying the bible. How "xians view salvation" isn't some kind of secret.
Megan Keith (14:43) DESTROYS Parker Valby's 5000 PB in Shanghai
Molly Seidel Fails To Debut As An Ultra Runner After Running A Road Marathon The Week Before
Colin Sahlman runs 1:45 and Nico Young runs 1:47 in the 800m tonight at the Desert Heat Classic
2024 Boston marathon - The first non-carbon assisted finisher ran..... 2:34
Hallowed sub-16 barrier finally falls - 3 teams led by Villanova's 15:51.91 do it at Penn Relays!!!