Well somebody did appoint me God’s mouthpiece. That would be God. Rather than simply studying a book, I opened my heart to God. His message can be summed up thusly-
"Party on, dudes!"
The world is a marvellous place filled with puppies, soap bubbles, holograms and many other things. Take the time to appreciate and enjoy them.
"Be excellent to eachother!"
Treat others with loving kindness. That which is hateful unto you, do not do unto your neighbor.
Polycarp has said the same thing-‘I don’t believe in the Bible. I believe in God.’
I find it both sad and frightening that you cite scripture as your only source on God’s will. It’s as though you’re so focused on the Bible, you’ve never looked up from your reading and seen God.
NOTE- I’m not claiming to be special or chosen or any such thing. Any theist can hear God. Nor do I claim to have any proof that God speaks to me. The Simpsons is on and I’m tired so I’ll hit the submit button now.
So if I stay away from the Great Debates section most of the time, a simple “this is my opinion or interpretation” is good enough? I don’t undetstand much here, that’s for sure. I don’t understand why I’m expected to give up beliefs because someone says that I’m a liar and they have all the facts. Anyway, thanks for the info. Oh, and what if no once accepts your back up, then what? Are you obligated to change your opinion or just go elsewhere or what? No being sacrcastic or anything, just curious.
Once again, no one has asked you to change any of your beliefs.
No one has asked you to forsake your God.
We have asked you to consider the facts, to offer us facts in counter if you have them, and not to rely simply on opinion and belief for topics for which there are facts available.
I think you need to learn the difference between being asked to “back up” your beliefs – i.e., explain them and defend them – and being asked to “give up” your beliefs – which no one has asked you to do. But – for the 1000th time – “for the Bible tells me so” is not really a great explanation around here. It almost always leads to further questions: “So do you follow all the Bible? Why or why not? Are you aware that Passage X conflicts (or appears to conflict) with Passage Y? Isn’t there a split of opinion of how to translate Word Z in this passage from the original Greek? How do you reconcile this verse with that verse?” Etc., etc.
If you don’t want to answer those kinds of questions, because you don’t have the time or don’t feel equipped to, then stay away from threads in which religion is being discussed. There’s a bunch of other subjects being discussed in other fora – from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the best way to make knishes to how to get out of jury duty to great books to the general cuteness of a given poster’s cat. I realize you feel you have an obligation to witness, but surely that is not all you do. And I respectfully suggest that you may be a better witness for Christianity by being calm and respectful and turning the other cheek – which I think you’ve shown you’re pretty good at – rather than attempting to argue doctrine – which, to be very frank, you’re not at all good at, as I think you know.
And be advised that the legitimately-held opinion of many posters around here is that Jack Chick is a liar, a fraud, and a hate-monger, about whom the best thing that can be said is that he’s sometimes unintentionally humorous. If in fact you do admire his work and what it stands for, I’d soft-pedal that if I were you. If you don’t feel you can soft-pedal it, then, yeah, maybe you should consider leaving, not because you can’t hack it but because you’re likely to find youself in the center of another shit-storm every time you bring it up.
The fact that Jack T. Chick is a liar is not an opinion. He has been shown to repeatedly make up history, misrepresent fact and outright lie about Catholicism, Buddhism, Dungeons & Dragons, Judaism, history and a plethora of other subjects.
You cannot have opinions about facts. Something is true or it is false. Jack T. fails the true/false test almost every time he wastes a forest by printing hiss little hate comics.
No one expects you to give up your Christianity. However, if the discussion is on subject X, and you make an assertion then you should be expected to back it up with evidence.
The other forums such as MPSIMS, IMHO or Cafe Society require less in the way of cites, but it could happen that someone will ask for a cite. Bear in mind that witnessing is reserved for GD.
As Jodi just said, if you don’t want to get into what your beliefs are and whether they are right or wrong, don’t jump into a religious discussion. Those discussions can get very heated and few statements are going to go unanalysed. A great many people have differing opinions on what the Bible says and what it means, therefore a statement on that subject will be challenged.
I give up on you. As long as you’ve locked yourself in a prison of absolute moral and intellectual certitude, you will forever fail to perceive the world in anything resembling a realistic fashion, and anyone who tries to disabuse you of your outright and absolutely false convictions is wasting his or her time.
Have a nice time inside the box you’ve made for yourself. The rest of us will be out here, y’know, enjoying life.
H4E: You just now told me a flat out bald faced lie. You did not stipulate a thing about in your opinion in regard to what I asked you about being God’s mouthpiece. You specifically said that you were answering for the Lord. Had this conversation ensued orally, then I would have no problem with saying, “Gee, I must’ve misheard you or you must’ve mispoke or maybe even both.” But since this is a net message board, I can easily refer you back to your own typed words and say, “You now lie.”
Jodi: H4E did not start out being civil, nor even polite. The words “cult” and “cultists” are insults. She arrived here armed with insults and should not be surprised that her insults generated insults in return.
Here’s something interesting for you, Guin. I shared with a Buddhist friend what I believe are the three most important concepts in LDS scripture for living:
[ol][li]Man is that he might have joy.[/li][li]Wickedness never was happiness.[/li][li]Of you it is required to forgive all.[/ol][/li]
Her response: “That’s a very Buddhist outlook.”
{Note to H4E: notice the well-placed use of the word opinion}
In my opinion, Paul just came up with those rules off the top of his head {yeah, I know, but I couldn’t resist a pun} just to have his group be different from the rest of Judaism. I think it was because of the little fight he was having with the Christian leaders who wanted converts to be Jews first. Quick rule of thumb (apparently in Paul’s mind): Jewish men pray with hats on, Christian men shouldn’t & vice versa for the women.
Listen girl, no one has asked you to give up any of your beliefs. All they are asking is for you to explain a little. You have to realize that everyone here is real people and all they want is for you to explain yourself and not ignore their questions.
It’s a message board in which we are all having these little conversations and when someone says something that makes no sense, they’re gonna ask why. If there is any purpose for you to be here, wouldn’t it be so that you could be a part of the conversation? Not just saying you don’t know the answer so you’re sorry? Does that make sense?
If someone came in here and said THERE IS NO GOD AND THE BIBLE IS NOT TRUE AND ALL WHO BELIEVE ARE PART OF A CULT, would you not ask that person why? And how they came to that conclusion? And if they said they just believe that and they are sorry because they can’t explain why, would that not upset you just a little?
I know you said you don’t understand it here and I know where you’re coming from. The thing is that this message board is full of opinionated, intelligent and curious people and you’re never going to get away from their questions with threads like this one.
So take that break like you said you were going too. Lurk for awhile and pray. Pray that God will help you understand why you came to this message board and what it has for you.
There are tons of wonderful people here to converse with. Give yourself a chance to find out who they are.
May God bless you with his love, compassion and a heart for the people of the world.
His4Ever, I hope you do stick around. There’s no shame in not posting in GD a lot. I know I’m not generally up to debating and just pop in now and then to make random comments. And those, I try very hard to keep non-controversial, and I don’t make all that many. Mostly, I read.
I hope you do stick around, as I was saying, because if you read GD threads you’re going to have your mind broadened re: Catholics, whether you want it to be or not! You are going to be amazed at some of the Catholic posters here - I think it will be impossible not to come to a deeper understanding of Catholicism if you witness their Christianity in action. (Same goes for lots of Protestants and others too, of course.)
His4Ever, I sincerely hope you’ll stick around. Unlike a lot of posters (who are whacko and get themselves banned) you have been polite, have not been snotty and have not lost your temper. You are among a very intelligent, lively, and diverse group here and I really think that, at heart, you have something to offer; I also think that you will find that the other posters have something to offer to you.
Listen to what dreamer said above. And Libertarian. And Guinistasia. A lot of people here have a lot of interesting things to say.
As an example: I’ve got to admit, when I saw the first few posts from WV_Woman I was wary. But she has gone on to offer some very nice insights here, and has contributed to the lovely, intelligent diversity of views and experience here. She is most definitely not a knee-jerk reactionary (even though some might, uh, disagree). And she does a nice job of holding her own amidst some degree dissension.
My point is, His4, is that there’s a room for a lot of people on this board.
I will repeat, though: While some of the rigorous standards of debate here seem harsh, no one has asked you to give up or renounce your beliefs. Many people are challenging the factual things you have to say about other religions and Biblical scholarship though. And isn’t it wonderful? You’ve got to admit, I’ll bet you’re learning a thing or two.
Take it from me (even though I’m an idol-worshipping* Catholic); a lot of my own ignorance has been fought here over the years; it is a blast being a part of it.
Okay then, you’re an" idol-venerating" Catholic?
Just kidding, but in light of previous postings on the subject of worship/veneration of the saints, we wouldn’t want His4ever to concur that instead of worshiping idols you venerate idols.
His4Ever, if we ask questions, it’s because we genuinely want answers. There are some things in the Bible which trouble me, and you believe some of them. That’s why I ask you. The motto of this board is “Fighting ignorance since 1973.” For this poster, that includes my own.
Religion is a particularly rancourous subject on this board because people of all belief systems, including atheists, are passionate about their beliefs. Most of us have also given them a fair amount of thought, and at least some of us, including me, are aware of the possibility that we could be horribly wrong. Nevertheless, we are willing to learn.
