And if so, please let me know, so I won’t feel so alone!
And also, what do you think accounts for the lack of believers on this board that seems to comprise people in mid-life, and very intelligent?
Believers of what?
Jesus Christ, who died on a cross for our sins, to bring us everlasting life. (please, no non-believers in here, if I may ask that)
I don’t think that board rules let you dictate who participate in your threads.
There are some Christians here. I believe we’re a minority, but not a tiny minority. However, there is also a not-tiny minority of aggressive atheists who make discussions of faith unpleasant to say the least. In my own case I tend to avoid such discussions, but that doesn’t make me any less a believer.
I’m a believer, too. As Ulfreida says, it’s a matter of picking those threads in which to participate. There is a Bible-as-Literature thread I participate in heavily, but any other thread quickly becomes a matter of Christian apologetics, which, simply, is not my field.
Oh, and there is no way to keep non-believers out. Standard policy on the SDMB keeps all threads open to all people.
Well there are believers and then there are believers.
Are you asking for literal believers or more your John Shelby Spong types?
You’re ahead of the curve in one respect: you used the word “comprise” properly.
Disappointment haunted all my dreams. Then I saw her face.
Which sect do you belong to, and which Bible do you use as a guide?
Now I’m a believer.
But yes, really I am, but as I’m mostly a deist agnostic of the tea pot variety I do not think the OP would like the definition I have of god.
I think it’s to do w/ being a board based on the idea that there’s a single correct, source-based, quantifiable answer to most questions people consider at some point in their lives. Religious faith doesn’t hold up well under that scrutiny.
Do you see how your question implies believers to be ‘very intelligent’ and how that could be insulting to non-believers?
Rest easy; as a Jew I believe in God, and…
Oh. Well, shucks.
I have a friend who describes herself almost the exact same way. So I’d like to hear your definition of God, if you’re interested.
Before I mention it, here is a disclaimer that I think Jesus forgot to mention:
*
If you ever hunt someone that does not agree with the definition of god that I offer, you are not my disciples, you are just one that is evil.*
I agree most with what Jefferson thought about god, as the context of his writing shows he did not think that it was the god of the bible.
- recommendation to his nephew Peter Carr in 1787
I do think that for the purposes of this space time and current location that one can act as if there is no god, not likely that he/she/it is involved in this universe and looking at where we are, we may be just an afterthought.
So I speculate what to do if the teapot around mars exists:
Elsewhere the universe is so vast and energetic that there could be something that we could call god(s), but would they be benevolent to us or Eldridge abominations?
I think humanity will be prepared for that encounter someday, with our future electronic or bio enhanced descendants that will wonder what in the past centuries we were smoking that made us think that we were the kings of creation.
You can ask, but us non-believers tend to ignore that particular request.
I assume everyone that comes here and claims to be a believer is at default a born-again christian. You all tend not to believe in any other believers and believe it is ok to just ask if we believe.
It’s a fair question asked above, what Sect are you associated with?
See, maybe it’s just the cynic in me, but the bolded part comes off as some passive aggressive BS to me.
The inference I take away from it is: How is it an intelligent, middle aged, person doesn’t believe in God? (As if the default position of any intelligent person is God exist. And only people of lesser intelligence would believe otherwise) It feels patronizing and stings with irony.
I’d like to know how any semi-intelligent, middle-aged person could ever believe in a god. Yet I am constantly surrounded by a vast majority of people who do. Meh. Live and let live, I say. As long as your belief in your god isn’t infringing on my right and my life in any way, more power to you. If you believe that gay people are sinners who shouldn’t be able to marry or adopt children, then you can just go suck a lemon. (I bring up the gay thing as one of many issues that have soured me on most religious “believers”)
I’m part of the SDMB’s Christian minority. Baptist and attend church regularly.
Religious threads here generally don’t end well and I typically avoid them.