And thus we reach a perfect balance

We are all going to put our opinions in here. It is a waste of time to try and stop people from doing so. You are just going to frustrate yourself.

You might as well face the fact that not everyone looks on your religion as good, or nice, or helpful, or even non-threatening.


Peace in Truth

As soon as Christians stop proselytizing so will I.

If you go to a country were people are so poor they cannot afford paper. Then you go there and give them a Bible. Do you think this is a type of coercion. All that poor child knows now is that Christians are very rich and that is reason enough to become a Christian. The Christ will make you wealthy enough to travle the world and give gifts away like they mean nothing.

Why not go there and give them paper for their class room and never mention your faith. If your faith is the "one true faith" then surely it doesn't need this type of coercion.

Kevin Smith

I have taken this path and I can say I am virtually no diffrent in how I live my day to day life. I am just a little more happy inside not carrying the sin of the fruit eater any more.


In addition I have always been a big advocate of death with dignity. When I was a Christian I was ok with ending my life just before it gets painful because I knew there was a heaven. Now that I doubt that there is a heaven I still feel the same. I was not here before I was born and I will stop being here after I die. It is better to not exist at all then to live a painful and slow death.

Im the religion of love and happiness.

treat your brother as you want to be treated

don't kill or start wars.


Oh wait a second......

I don't need a religion to do those things! Its just who I am.


Peace

Christianity= Man created God, God created the universe.

does outrageous love mean like whips and chains?

....When the smoker finishes the cigarette and flicks the butt away, the butt actually contains a significant amount of nicotine trapped in the fibers of the filter -- perhaps 20 milligrams. That is enough, it turns out, to kill your child. If 20 milligrams of nicotine is ingested by a small child, the nicotine will cause respiratory failure and paralysis....


http://marshallbrain.com/cp/cigarette-butts.htm

hey DKW long time no see

I see people who use this same logic in the real world. They go out and do something they think is sinful so that they can go back and "tell the story" of how they were on the "wrong path" and now they are saved (what a miracle).

Just like their idea of God, they know they are going to do evil, they then go ahead and do it, then they save themselves from what they did to themselves.

They are truly good students.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON0Q_F6_mQA

Amen Kevorkian

I have always liked the story of the tower of babel. I think it is partly due to the fact that when I was growing up my brother had this poster of what the tower of babel would have looked like. Strong and perfect most of the way up and then all different at the higher part were God changed all the languages. It also had people all over it working on it that could not communicate.

I know what the story is supposed to mean. For me though it is about being brave enough to step up and test the status quo. Be so brave that you can say God does not exist even when everyone tells you there will be a great and painful penalty for saying such things. It also shows that progress dosn't go in a straight line. We try to always move higher and higher but sometime we fail and actually move backwards. That dosn't mean you don't try what your parents failed at. Go ahead and start building again until you shoot God out of the sky.


Sorry I got side tracked . I was just going to say seems like a modern day Babel.

When I was a kid in church my brother got up from kneeling and did exactly what you describe. However since we do not believe in this type of thing we gave it a medical reason.

I really want to make clear that I point these out to add to the overall conversation of the thread and make clear that I think that this is just a physical phenomenon that people want to attach God too. I am not attacking anyones personal experience. If it helps you personally I am happy for you. In the big picture of things I agree with the lonely walker that people use this to create a following and increase a bank account.

(Mat 12:38-40 KJV) Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. {39} But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it

from the net...

What causes fainting?

Fainting, which is also called syncope, can be caused by many different things. Sometimes a specific cause for fainting cannot be found.

Fainting happens when your brain does not get enough oxygen. You lose consciousness, or "pass out," for a brief time (usually just a few seconds or minutes).

A sudden drop in your blood pressure can also cause you to faint. Sometimes your heart rate and blood vessels can't react fast enough when your body's need for oxygen changes. This is very common among older people and in people who have certain health conditions, such as diabetes. Fainting can happen when:

* You stand up too fast.
* You work or play hard, especially if it's very hot.
* You begin to breathe too fast (called hyperventilating).
* You get very upset. Being upset can affect the nerves that control your blood pressure.
* You're taking medicine for high blood pressure.

Coughing, urinating and stretching can also get in the way of the flow of oxygen to the brain and may cause you to faint. If you faint once during one of these activities, it's probably not something to worry about......

Robert A Heinlein's

Stranger in a Strange Land

Very nice

plus lots of Rabbit pics