Kirkland1244, you don't seem to be getting it

No, not really. I agree with every position I’ve taken, only I have taken them, clealry, to illogical extremes. I normally would not do this, and I aplogize to the board, but frankly, it pissed me off to have my name put in the title of a thread… on many boards I’ve been to, they ban people for doing that.

To sum up my actual positions, so there’s no confusion:

  1. I dislike TheRyan, and consider him an anti-gay, anti-Christian bigot.

  2. I do not consider fundamentalists Christian.

  3. I believe that anyone who does not support equal rights for gays is a bigot.

The rest was mostly hyperbole. Frankly, I didn’t intend to continue this long with it… but there was no real way to stop once it started. I kept hoping people would just stop responding. I should have taken that initiative myself.

I promise that I won’t play the hyperbole game again.

**

You have not posted before in this thread. And you canot call yourself respectful when you are spitting on me by using a female pronoun. I am in no way female.

Kirk

Actually I learned something, so no need to apologize.

And while the troll is now irrelevant, can you or some other worthy tell me if I’m correct if the troll was trying to say that Baptists aren’t Christian because performing the act of Baptism is unnecessesary? That’s not a standard belief, is it: that you’re not Christian if you do something extra?

Fenris

No, what I was saying is that the Baptist understanding of baptism does not match historical Christian belief. They do baptize. They just don’t consider baptism a sacrament of grace, as Catholics do. Nor do they believe it regenerates, which almost all Christians do, outside of some fundamentalist sects.

In Catholic theology, and AFAIK most normal Protestant bodies, the water is the conveyor of the Spirit. IE, while baptism isn’t strictly required for salvation (even in Catholicism), it is the act of baptism (which is an act of the Holy Spirit) which regenerates. You cannot separate the water and the Spirit.

Kirk

I’ll try to clarify, Fenris, although I’m not sure if I can. Please bear with me as I attempt.

First, as I mentioned, I am a Baptist. Or, to put it more accurately, I am a Christian who worships in a Baptist church.

Being Baptists, we, well, baptize people. But while doing so, we stress that it is the outward display of an inward decision. Making the decision to go ahead and submit to a public baptism is not something to be entered into lightly, as it is a public affirmation of one’s faith, and as such, carries with it some responsibilities. Ya gotta walk the walk, in other words, or you make a mockery of it. Not a good thing.

I recall it was you yourself who outlined earlier in this thread the “requirements” of being a Christian. Frankly, I had no arguments with them. Taking that list, you can see that it is not what someone does, but rather what someone believes that makes that person a Christian. By logical extension, “Christian behavior” would follow a sincere decision, not the other way around.

Doing “something extra” (which I take to mean an outward show) is the mere window dressings of faith. A person can be a Christian and still drink alcohol, or smoke, or use profanity. These things may not be very good examples of “Christian behavior”, but they don’t determine the status of one’s salvation. As I understand it, nothing that a person can do, or can avoid doing, is going to affect that. It is a matter of faith, and is left to the judgment of God.

Not a very complete or cogent explanation, but I did my best. Hope it made sense.

Spitting on you by using a female pronoun? Who is a bigot again?

Your definiton of “Christian” is just plain bizarre. A Christian believes that Jesus atoned for the sins of humanity and offers new life through His death and resurrection. The rest is just quibbling.

(sprays Troll-B-Gon, new lemon-scented!)

So someone who makes a sincere commitment to believing that Jesus died for his salvation, yet passes away without being baptized is damned?

I’m uncomfortable with that for two reasons:

  1. it doesn’t make logical sense to me
  2. it places limits on God’s (and by extension, the Holy Spirit’s) powers and abilities.

I find it interesting that our friend here asserts the ability to define for others (“no, they’re not Christian, yes, those people there are”), yet gets the proverbial panties in a twist should anyone have the audacity to refer to him in anything but the most masculine of adjectives and nouns. Perhaps I should have said “shorts in a twist” ?
:eek:

Stop me if I’m missing something. Since when is assuming the wrong gender for a poster an insult? Or did you have a “I’m a man, I’m a MAN!” thread that I didn’t get to read?

december:

Ka

Hey! As an active member of the psychiatric inmates’ liberation movement , an opponent of forced treatment and informed consent about dangerous and destructive pharmaceuticals, and as a genuine escapee from psychiatric institutional incarceration myself, I must say – I really resent the comparison here.

Anyone else comparing Kirkland to insane people will be targeted by a new pit thread for insulting schizophrenics and other self-respective lunatics.

Wow can you smell the hate from here or what. Your a sad, sad little man. Pathetic. :mad:

Your personal standard?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

Learn to read?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

Okay, I can breathe again. May I suggest that YOU read something? Read (and, pray, understand) Matthew 7:1.

Anyone else notice Kirkland completely glossed over Gaudere’s official warning?

Esprix

You’re slipping, boy – in your shoes I’d have come up with a much witter, and more apropos, response! :wink:

Seeing as I’m the guy who asked Kirk that - What would your comeback have been?

Your explaination was very clear and cogent (and matched much of what I’d understood, which was nice! :wink: ).

Now I’m just confused as to what Kirk’s problem with Baptists is. He says

So…he’s saying that you HAVE to have a physical baptism with water and he’s mad because baptists have physical baptisms?

Is he saying that baptism isn’t required for salvation and he’s mad because Baptists agree?

I’ve read all of Martin Gardner’s and Michael Shermer’s books on weird beliefs and I’ll confess: I’m stumped as to what the heck is the burr in his britches. Is it that you guys do baptize? That you don’t baptise the right way (and if that’s the problem, what’s wrong with the way you do it?). Is he saying you need a special kind of water (God-infused)? Or what?

Seriously: it’s frustrating 'cause he sounds like he’s on the verge of being coherent but I’m just not getting it, apparently.

Fenris

I am not a female. I like females. But I am not one of them. And I do not like being referred to by feminine pronouns. I consider it gay-bashing.

**

In your opinion that’s what it means to be a Christian. Not in the opinion of the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, or most Protestant bodies, who would have a far broader definition of what you must believe in order to be a Christian.

Kirk

I have a problem with Baptists because the Southern Baptist Convention is a bigotted hate cult that is organized to oppose equal rights for gays. Their screwed up, pseudo-Christian theology (when compared to the real historic Churches), has nothing to do with my opinion of them as a people.

**

No, and no.

**

Not quite. And no.

Baptist baptism is not the same as Christian (Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox… etc) baptism, because it is not considered regenerative… In a Baptist baptism all that happens is that you get wet. Historical Christians believe that the act of Baptism washes away all sins the person being baptized has committed in their lifetime.

Kirk

How so? I am no longer engaging in hyperbole simply for the sake of provoking a response.

Kirk

So, love the sinner, hate the sin, right? :rolleyes: My God, you’re a complete loon. Get over yourself and your misplaced righteous indignation, girlfriend - we have.

Let me guess - HIV doesn’t cause AIDS, either, right?

Esprix