Understanding each other.

Great Debates
1

First, let me say this is NOT a debate…yet. I’m new here as most of you know, so I thought that I’d introduce myself.

I came here from the Left Behind Message Board because of a link posted by Nyc Native(Satan) and Drainy-I’m not sure if she’s registered here or not. Coming from such a fundamentally Christian site my views will be based on the Bible. However, don’t expect me to debate the Bible because as most devout Baptists do, I don’t believe the Bible needs to be defended. I might also suggest that my threads will be about “religious stuff” and occasionally I might witness…just a fair warning.

But enough about me, who are you? What do you believe? I must confess I don’t get out much…are there any Moslims out there? I’ve never had a chance to meet one. Nice to meet any of you who respond. And for those of you who were expecting a debate, I won’t dissapoint you. I’m right; you’re wrong! :wink:

ETERNITY: SMOKING OR NON SMOKING?

Itchy the flea-filled beagle hound.

2

Interesting. I’m Presbyterian and am in a contemporary worship rock group. For real.

More for Gore or the son
of a drug lord/none of
the above/f*** it cut the
cord-
Lights out/Guerilla
Radio

3

No offense, but this isn’t a great debate, it’s about you and thereby can be classified as an MPSIMS topic.
DavidB? Gaudere? Do you concure?

As for Drain, yeah, she’s a regular here… and you will find that we have more to offer than just debates, so kick back, relax and enjoy the smorgasborg we have here in the SD.

4

jenkinsfan:

I am an Unbeliever. In your other thread you exspressed surprise in an athiest’s interest in the bible. I find the bible facinating.

In addition to 2 bible translations (if you consider the KJV a translation), I have the following bible related books:

A Translation of the Qumran scrolls
Don’t Know Much About the Bible, by Kenneth C. Davis
The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics, by Jean Doresse
The Hidden Book in the Bible, by Richard Elliot Friedman
Bloodline of the Holy Grail, by Laurence Gardner
The Bible as History, by Werner Keller
The Battles of the Bible, by Chaim Herzog and Mordecai Gichon
Jesus the Man, by Dr. Barbara Thiering
The Bible Code, (just kidding)

I would be happy to discuss any of these with you.
Have you heard of any of them?

If you go to page 2 of the Great Debates, you can find a thread devoted to Dr. Thiering’s book. No one seems to have heard of it.

Welcome aboard.

5

Orthodox Jewish. Pleased to meet you.

As for what I believe: I believe in Judaism and it’s teachings. Obviously I don’t believe in Jesus.

I do a great deal more lurking than posting (I generally only speak when I feel I have something positive to contribute). You can probably tell that from the low post count despite being around for a while.

Zev Steinhardt

6
  1. I’m a Christian.
  2. I applaud your noble attempts to witness in your other threads.
  3. However, I would like to point out that one doesn’t usually bring someone to Jesus at long distance, and anonymously. A person accepts Jesus Christ as his personal savior because of the personal face to face testimony of a Christian, someone he knows, combined with the moving of the Holy Spirit within his heart. You can’t bring the Gospel to people as “Jenkinsfan” on a message board. You can preach AT them, but you can’t pray WITH them.

Also, you can’t argue someone into believing. “Argue” is a polite way of saying “debate”. Here you are, in the Great Debates forum, “debating” whether God exists with atheists. Personally, I think you are wasting your time and energy, time and energy that might be better spent in your own community, witnessing to people you know personally.

All I’m saying is, don’t get your hopes up, ‘kay? Because better debaters than you have tried and have gotten burned out and have gone away mighty discouraged, and I don’t like to see it happen again. You sound like one of the few truly nice people to come over here from the LBMB, not quite such a brimstone-spoutin’, Bible-poundin’, hellfire and damnation monomaniac.

Stay as sweet as you are.

:slight_smile:
P.S. I never saw the point of leaving tracts in the restrooms at the mall, either. “Planting a seed”? Perhaps, but more likely just thrown away by the janitor. You gotta have that one-on-one relationship, if the seed of your evangelism is going to take root and grow.

FWIW, I also strongly disagreed with the Billy Graham Crusade approach, because I saw a lot of people who went forward, got saved, and then came home, and once the emotional high was gone, they had nothin’, and they backslid and ended up worse off than before.

What would you do, if someone did post a message in one of your threads to the effect that he wanted to accept Jesus Christ as his personal Savior? All you could do would be to recommend that he “attend the church of his choice.” Big deal, the Advertising Council says that, too. :rolleyes:

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen

7

TechChick, we could debate whether or not Jenkinsfan has a snowball’s chance in Hell of bringing DavidB to know Jesus as his personal Savior.

How about it, David? Ah ha! Now it’s too late. The words are out of my mouth. If you kick this over to MPSIMS now, people will think you’re chicken! Frightened of a Baptist!

:smiley:

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen

8

heheh good one notthemama btw, I loved that T.v show =)

Anyway, i’m an atheist. I used to attend a baptist church regularly but I simply never believed. I could never accept God on faith alone. I saw far to many mistakes in the bible. but thats more then you asked for.

Welcome aboard! i’m somewhat new myself =) but have fun.

9

Thanx for the warm welcome. BTW, who is this David you’re speaking of and why would he not want to be born again? <jenkinsfan asks with big, blue loveable eyes> :smiley:

ETERNITY: SMOKING OR NON SMOKING?

Itchy the flea-filled beagle hound.

10

DavidB One of the moderators for Great debates. He is pretty much immovable on his views concerning religion but he seems to be an open-minded(and close minded) atheist.

11

Well a little about my self. I’m an atheist and a Comuist(used ot be a republican but W changed that). My hobyes are astronomy, computers, and history.

History is on our side we will bury you -Nikita Kruschev

12

Jenkinsfan:

DavidB is a moderator who also posts regularly to threads. When he is acting in his official capacity as a moderator, to remind people about insults, or to inquire acidly whether or not this “conversation” constitutes a “debate”, because if not, it’s going straight over to MPSIMS, he puts on his moderator hat, and then takes it off again. Some people have a big problem with this concept, feeling that he shouldn’t post at all because they think it lends an exaggerated weight to his words. I don’t agree–he’s an excellent debater and never wastes anybody’s time.

But be warned–he’s also our resident Rottweiler, and his favorite target is door-to-door posters who present poorly reasoned arguments, or worse, who descend to personal insults instead of debating. He will literally “rip you a new one” if you try that.

But as long as you’re polite and not too obviously stupid, he will tolerate your presence, lying there quietly next to the door, watching you with that unnerving steady stare. Go read some of the old threads–use Search to look up “creationist” and “atheist” in Great Debates, two of his favorite subjects.

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen

13

Welcome, jenkinsfan. Gay Unitarian Universalist checking in.

Esprix

Evidently, I rock.
Ask the Gay Guy!

14

Straight Christian of the Independent sort.

Tinker

15

I’m a…well, I’m a smartass.

I believe what I see (unchemically altered) and what makes rational sense to me in a good argument. So far, wrt god and religion, I have yet to see anything from an organized religion that I thought was believable. Some valid points, maybe, but nothing to build my worldview around.

I guess you could say I’m agnostic, but, to be honest, I’m not sure I believe in agnosticism.

Only a small number of people are truly awake. These people go through life in a state of constant amazement.

16

Married White Male, here. Raised in a fairly nonreligious household by a Jewish father and Protestant mother. We celebrated Easter and Christmas, but in a mostly secular way.

Confirmed as an Episcopalian of my own accord after a year or so of churchgoing at age 15. “Born again” at age 19. Now an apostate heathen atheist.

Characterized by the arch-liberals as too conservative and by the arch-conservatives as too liberal. Guess that makes me medium rare, or something.

17

NOW THAT’S HERESY!!

Didn’t you learn anything from the great steak debates … rare is the only way to go.

[/hijack]

Tinker

18

[Moderator Hat ON]

This is pretty clearly MPSIMS, despite the fact that most religious topics end up in GD. But you’re simply “checking in” and stating facts about yourself, not debating. I’m going to kick it over to MPSIMS; do me a favor and refrain from witnessing or “God exists!” “No She doesn’t!” stuff while in that forum, or Euty will kick my ass. :wink:

[Moderator Hat OFF]

As for me: “soft atheist”, which is commonly confused with agnosticism; I do not deny the possibility of God, I simply lack belief in Him/Her/Them/It. Follower of the Invisible Pink Unicorn–may her hooves never be shod!–and sometime Prime Example of Humility of the First Church of David B (but as I am a Gaud myself now, I only worship him out of professional courtesy). :smiley: Strong empiricist and nominalist leanings.

Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorn is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that She is pink; logically, we know She is invisible because we can’t see Her.