From what I have read of Jesus, I would take comfort in the fact that Jesus would have been hanging out with us heathens and atheists and nonjudgmental Christians over those that thought they knew it all.

Let's pretend...

I am the lord your God, and I am disappointed in the fact that you heard not a word I said when I commanded you not to judge. They are still my creation and you have so disobeyed my commandments to love each other as I have loved you. Who is it that assumed my words and distorted my message.

Be not surprised if what you expect of me is not granted you, and the heathen you have treated so despicably is granted mercy and welcome.

I have made you as I have made them, how is it you question my motives and the complexity of my creation by words I did not pen.

Snip............................

Just thought I would pretend to be a compassionate God for a second. Funny though, if God did come down and said that right this minute? Guess what would happen. It's the Christian right that would be screaming impostor, and the heathens and atheists would once again be dining with the Lord. I assume anyway considering his message would likely not change in that basic manner unless he was full of it to begin with...

Wow the possibilities are endless.

Ok ok I am sleepy to night, maybe I am just delusional, but I would rather be delusional than mean spirited and unwilling to expand my mind.

The way you say it is how I understood Christianity was supposed to be. I left that part of my life behind, realizing that it is not so for many that call themselves Christians. The real Christians are far and wide between.

"I get angry when religious believers insist that their interpretation of their religion and religious text is the right one, and that fellow believers with an opposite interpretation clearly have it wrong. I get angry when believers insist that the parts about Jesus's prompt return and all prayers being answered are obviously not meant literally... but the parts about hell and damnation and gay sex being an abomination, that's real. And I get angry when believers insist that the parts about hell and damnation and gay sex being an abomination aren't meant literally, but the parts about caring for the poor are really what God meant. How the hell do they know which parts of the Bible/ Torah/ Koran/ Bhagavad-Gita/ whatever God really meant, and which parts he didn't? And if they don't know, if they're just basing it on their own moral instincts and their own perceptions of the world, then on what basis are they thinking that God and their sacred texts have anything to do with it at all? What right do they have to act as if their opinion is the same as God's and he's totally backing them up on it?"

excerpt from "angry atheist" thingy

"I get angry when believers respond to some or all of these offenses by saying, "Well, that's not the true faith. Hating queers/ rejecting science/ stifling questions and dissent... that's not the true faith. People who do that aren't real (Christians/ Jews/ Muslims/ Hindus/ etc.)." As if they had a ****ing pipeline to God. As if they had any reason at all to think that they know for sure what God wants, and that the billions of others who disagree with them just obviously have it wrong."

and another one...

anyhoo, i'm off to bed, catch you guys laterz.

Christianity isn't about appeasing God anymore. Christianity is all about appeasing Christians.

I have never felt at odds with God.

But it seems that I'm always at odds with Christians. Although according to true Protestantism I'm a Saint.

When the Protestants protested against the Catholic Church they pronounced that no man speaks for Jesus or the Bible. It is the tenet of Protestantism that only the Holy Spirit can speak for God and the Holy Spirit speaks to the individual who reads the Bible.

Fine.

So I choose to be a Protestant.

I read the Bible.

It is my understanding when I read the Bible that it is clearly 99%demagoguery written by men who had personal agendas and/or vendettas. Maybe 1% of it feels like truth.

That 1% truth came from Jesus when he denounced the other 99% as demagoguery.

That's what the Holy Spirit is telling me when I read the Bible.

Therefore as a Protestant I see the Bible as being 99% manmade demagoguery because this is what the Holy Spirit as conveyed to me as I read the Bible.

But no. Protestants won't accept my interpretation of the Bible. They reject my right to be personally guided by the Holy Spirit. They reject the very tenet of Protestantism.

They demand to be POPES and tell me that I can't be guided by the Holy Spirit and the I must be guided by THEM and their interpretations of the Bible!

Yeah, right.

They would have been better off sticking with the original Pope.

Protestantism is a joke.

Instead of sticking to their tenets and trusting in the Holy Spirit to communicate to people directly, they have decided to pass judgment on everyone themselves.

They have all become self-proclaimed popes.

(To Smiless: I hope this doesn't come over as being negative, it's just the gospel truth as I see it. )

There are many many many real christians, Invisible.

Including the ones on this site .

ALL REAL !!!

(but just none of us are "Growed up" yet.....that's all !!)

Myself Included.


Christians are Just Saved.

Not Perfect.

However.....

I DO Believe God is Seriously

Trying to Get Our Attention .....

And is Saying,

"TIME..TO..GROW..THE..HECK..UP!!!"

You will excuse me, but I beg to differ.

I can not, and will not, see people as Christians who treat others that don't believe as they do as lower class people.

All this name calling from them, is that really what Jesus taught? I think not.

They are bible thumpers at best, clinging to the laws of the old testament and holding on to them for dear life, while Jesus clearly taught something different.

Abra I don't see your logic in saying that the bible,Jesus,and everything bible related is made up and then you make the argument that "Jesus said that and Jesus did that".You are trying to back up facts in a book you don't believe and a man that never existed.What are you getting out of this?Why do you keep debating things you say are false and made up.I know I certainly wouldn't waste so much as a minute debating fairies,tarot cards,talking trees,orbs,or other nonsense I know isn't real.

Even if for some reason you are right why would anyone want to from being a Christian to a Atheist?

I was referring to

Real Christians here

(all at different levels of maturity),

not just people caught up in

Religion.

But you can also have real

baby christians

acting "religious" ....

simply because they are still

babes....

but that doesn't make them any less Christian.

Eventually they grow up.

We all do.

I was by no means talking about you, please, don't get me wrong.

I'm a Christian and those things bother me too.

I guess they bother all righteous thinking people.

You might want to check out the talking goat story in the Bible. Or the one about a guy three days dead in the hot sun coming back to life.





It's like the difference betweem being the pilot of plane that's in the process of crashing as opposed to being one of the passengers strapped to their seats cowed into catatonia. Frequently, the cockpit voice recorders on doomed flights record the last words of the pilot as being something like an annoyed "Awwww crap!"

-Kerry O.

Neither one of those posts gave me any insight what so ever.

Well I wouldn't argue with you in a heartbeat

I respect my elderly friends

Besides you have 30 years on Christian studies. I have at tops one weeks worth

Somehow I managed to live a life without being religious and truly am happy without a doubt.

I do good things to people all the time, have promoted peace, was a humanatarian for 15 years, respected everyone, stayed out of trouble, and have helped many regain their lives to continue peacefully and successfully.

What bothers me is that despite of me being a good human being on this planet doing selfless acts for many years a Christian will tell me that I won't make it to heaven if I don't accept Christ as my savior.

I have nothing against Jesus. I am sure he was a swell human or for others a walking God, yet I will never go to heaven if all my fellow friends can't go with me.

Therefore as the Captain of the ship. I will sink with it if have to for even a man who did a mistake in his life should be forgiven. It surely looks like if you do one mistake in your life you are punished eternally.

I know a man who defended himself from a another and killed him. He spent 7 years in jail although he only defended himself. I am sure he didn't mean to kill him for when you are in such a frenzy you are doing whatever it takes to protect yourself. It just happened. He turned himself in and explained the situation. They still gave him 7 years regardless. When he got out he often asked me what will happen to him when he dies. Will he go to a heaven?

I told him that he will go to a nicer place, because I believe everyone will. He smiled and said you are a true friend. I told him, I don't know the truth, but I rather listen to something that sounds positive.

It made me understand we are human and we do mistakes, but that doesn't make us sinners. It is just a natural process in life depending on how we grew up. I believe in second chances James and I think everyone should get them, but I also believe in punishment.

My view of punishment is that it should be such a punishment that the person who did the crime is doing the punishment in a learning process to actually understand what he did is wrong. Under the system we have now, I don't think many who come out of jail are better off. I believe there should be a different way to punish that helps the individual understand that what he did is wrong and gets a second chance to make things right regardless of what the crime was. I know, I know many will disagree and you are entitled to it. Perhaps I just have a bigger heart then you folks have

There is a difference of what punishment is in my opinion. The punishment that I am against is cruelty punishment. That kind of punishment to where the one who punishes has joy hurting the person because of his mistake and not teaching him or her what he did wrong so he can be a better person later on. Like what the soldiers did to the Iraqis in Abu-Graib. What lesson will that Iraqi soldier learn from being humilated. Jesus was humiliated and I don't think in all honesty he wanted to carry such a heavy cross, be thrown stones on when he carried it, or be nailed on it and also stabbed with a spear to later on. I shed a tear for this cruelty. It actually never stopped after that. People still today enjoy watching a man be hanged, or shot on the spot. They gather around to watch it children and adults. It is sad and unneccessary in my opinion.

Okay I need to stop here and let you reply or let another reply or slam me for my beliefs

Who you callin elderly? Keep it up and I won't let you walk next to me on the way to hell...

Would you like to use my cane?

you would be angry to if you actually believed that this is all there is

I read it again. I find it a tad silly to blame all of these issues on Christians. Christians aren't all the same.
It's like me saying that all Black people are the same and all white people are the same and all Democrats are the same and all Republicans are the same.

Regarding the extra security at conventions - There is extra security everywhere. I've had to explain to my child why somebody is looking in Mommy's purse numerous times. And the child isn't allowed to go into my purse. It bothered me to burden a child with the reason that these people looked into my purse.

Also, Galileo? How long ago was that? How educated were they back then? It was about the fear of the unknown.