Another One !!!
Thanks Hugh, I'm taking that as a compliment.
Another One !!!
Johnny G -
You come across as a religious nutter.
The sort that might walk round streets with a placard.
But perhaps you are just ill, in which case you have our sympathy. And if you are, you probably won't know it.
Give your ten per cent to the poor and the needy and not to a church.
The lost Johnney G
SG: "So are you perfect? Do you, or have you, done all the above things in order to be perfect? Have you even made the attempt?"
JG: "I doubt you understood it when you asked the question but that is heart of the matter. Pun intended".
SG: Of course I don't understand JG, it's only you "Chiristians" who truly understand, right?
JG: "Yes my atheistic friend the bottom line is that God looks upon the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It is not really about whether we succeeded or failed, but did we sincerely make the effort".
SG: But you don't make the effort! None of you do! You all talk about BEING Christian, but you don't even make the attempt to DO what JESUS said to DO. What's that saying Christians love to use? WWJD? What Would Jesus Do? DO, DO, DO, not SAY, SAY, SAY! ACTIONS determine WHO we are, not merely words or intentions.
JG: "And I see you're still with the whole Christians should be taking the vow of poverty thing. If all the believers lived in poverty we would be severely limited in our impact upon this world'.
SG: Really? That's funny because one of the VERY REASONS Jesus made the impact he did was because he PRACTICED WHAT HE PREACHED. He was no a hypocrite, people saw he was no hypocrite, and he fought against hypocrisy until it killed him.
JG: "Everything from going into the world and preaching the gospel to feeding the hungry cost money. Lot's of money".
SG: Then you must not even have the faith of a mustard seed.
As to the rest of you're rationalizations, nonsense! I'm not talking about what other people in the Bible taught, I'm talking about what JESUS taught. And you, Johnney G, are simply another of the millions who talk the talk, but don't walk the walk.
JG: "In closing Mr. Applebee, your response was amusingly predictable. And since we last met I see that you've gone from an agnostic to an atheist? Wow! Does that mean you've gone from bitter to bitterer"?
SG: Nope, I've been an atheist my entire life. And as to me being "bitter", wrong again. I'm mad, yes, but bitter? No. And I'm mad at THE EXACT SAME THING JESUS WAS ALWAYS MAD AT--Hypocrisy, and Hipocrites. Perhaps you should think about that?
JG: "Until you know who Jesus is, you will never know who you are".
SG: I already know who Jesus WAS, not IS; and I know myself better than any person I have ever personally met knows themselves. This is one of the reasons why I'm not afraid of your made-up God. If God really does exist, he would have-to be a God of Justice; and your made-up God is certainly NOT a God of Justice.
Johnny G the judge
Ahh Mr. Applebee, so we meet again.
You asked me the question, "So are you perfect? Do you, or have you, done all the above things in order to be perfect? Have you even made the attempt?"
Am I perfect? No not by a long long shot!
"Have you even made the attempt?
I doubt you understood it when you asked the question but that is heart of the matter. Pun intended.
Yes my atheistic friend the bottom line is that God looks upon the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It is not really about whether we succeeded or failed, but did we sincerely make the effort. Selah....think on that for a while my friend and perhaps you'll catch it.
And I see you're still with the whole Christians should be taking the vow of poverty thing. If all the believers lived in poverty we would be severely limited in our impact upon this world. Everything from going into the world and preaching the gospel to feeding the hungry cost money. Lot's of money.
If God wanted his people to be poor why would he have said, "The LORD will open to you His good treasure, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them." deut 28:12 & 13
As I have told you on many other occasions, money just as everything else in the Kingdom of God is about the state of one's heart. You can have money or money can have you.
Money is an excellent servant, but it is a pathetic god.
I do believe in giving the FIRST 10% of my income to God as well as offerings above and beyond my tithe.
In closing Mr. Applebee, your response was amusingly predictable. And since we last met I see that you've gone from an agnostic to an atheist? Wow! Does that mean you've gone from bitter to bitterer?
Steven, the Master is waiting to turn your mourning into dancing. There is peace like a river and joy unspeakable waiting for you.
Until you know who Jesus is, you will never know who you are. Shalom
Hootie
The problem is hootie, everything you posted is nothing more than mere beliefs. And since they cannot be proven, there is simply no way to tell if they're true.
For example, you said: "AppleMan given the reality of standing before God if it were to happen what might you do? Here you are told indeed Jesus was real, and indeed he is the path to eternity, and God extends his hand what will you do? Will you slap his hand away?".
But that's what ALL religions say. Of course I'm told BY CHRISTIANS that Jesus is the "path to eternity", but that's not what believers from other religions tell me. And, in a nut shell, that's the problem with Religion. There is simply NO WAY to KNOW which religion is true because God (if he exists) won't let it be known. If "God" ever did extend his hand to me, of course I would grasp it--who wouldn't?
Thomas Merton
The most dangerous man in the world is the contemplative who is guided by nobody. He trusts his own visions. He obeys the attractions of an interior voice but will not listen to other men. He identifies the will of God with anything that makes him feel, within his own heart, a big,
warm, sweet interior glow. The sweeter and the warmer the feeling is, the more he is convinced of his owinfallibility.
Thomas Merton
http://www.merton.org/
Website
Thomas Merton was a Roman Catholic Mystic who grew up in France and attended both Cambridge and Columbia.
mirabelle
I don't have much time today, so I'll have to make this short (it's my last day of vacation : ( ) Sorry : (
Ah yes, the ole Blue Sky. I don't think that one's around anymore, is it? The US 23 is okay, but of course it's worn-down as well. It's funny though because if you have the guts to buy a hot dog or something, you walk inside and it still has the old video games working from the early 1980's. Asteroids, Centipede, pac man...etc. That's seems right though because that's when drive in's started going down. And I agree with you about Big Boy as well : (, however, I saw an interview with the new CEO and he says they're going to really start putting effort into making better food...but you know me, I'l believe it when I see it.
As to Dr. Midgley, I haven't read her. Would you happen to know if her stuff has been put on CD yet? I would love to listen to it : )
S.G.: Challenging Christian beliefs is verboten
Sharon,
Since Drew id the biter I will let him select. Or are you trying to get me in hot water :) with Johnny G? Or are you offering?
Corpses !!!
C S -
Quite right.
Your Christian Faith IS challenged!!
Very profound.
And optimism has NOTHING to do with it.
Your ideas should not be centred on hopes, but facts that can be checked.
When they dug up Padre Pio the other day they hoped for a miracle - but they had to put a fake, life-like, mask on the bones of his face, before putting the remains in the glass case.
Locoism #6
I apologize for the length and complexity of this example, but it's a whopper.
I transcribed the following from a presentation of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship. Heard Sunday, January 9, 2000 on WYUR 1310 AM (Ed.)
"In the latter half of the 19th century, James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) discovered the field equations for electricity and magnetism which led to our utilization of electricity in the modern world.
"At the same time an even more significant scientific discovery was being made. Mary Baker Eddy discovered reality is perfect and you can perceive that by developing your spiritual sense and that perception through her discovery that if you investigate this science of spiritual perception with integrity that you can work it exactly and so she dug in for three years into the Bible and the result was the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. She was the discoverer of Christian Science." (Italic mine.)
Dr. Laurance Doyle..Planetary Astrophysicist for NASA's SETI project.
His job: to define the best points for SETI scientists to aim their telescopes.
For more about him, see Google results at end.
Editor's comments: Who was James Maxwell?
According to Einstein, "The formulation of (Maxwell's) equations (is) the most important event since Newton's time, not only because of their wealth of content, but also because they form a pattern for a new type of law (and appear) in all other equations of modern physics." These equations would become too, a basis for Einstein's own theory of relativity. (Italic mine)
Daniel Boostin in "The Discoverers," Random House, 1983; p. 681
How is it that a person as intelligent as Laurance Doyle could believe for a nanosecond that Mary B. Eddy, schooled at home by her brother, home from Dartmouth College, would make a contribution to science that eclipsed James Maxwell, as Doyle and the Christian Science Church would have us believe?
Something has affected Doyle's mental capabilities and I think it's a strong dose of religion that, in some but not all people, has such undesirable side effects.
From Google, more about Laurance Doyle: Long before the discovery of the first planet beyond our solar system, astronomer Laurance Doyle began theorizing about the habitability of planets around other stars, clarifying the conditions needed for a planet to bear life. Relying on his expertise in signal processing, he now looks for patterns in astronomical data, searching for extrasolar planets.
Recently, he has begun using these same statistical tools to look for patterns in animal communication.
Challenging faith
Our Christian faith is challenged continuously by the frailty of human existence. No one lives his or her life on Earth without suffering.
I do believe that it is natural to seek others who share similar beliefs. The optimism of the promise of life everlasting is more pleasing to ponder than a worm-riddled corpse.
S.G.: Challenging Christian beliefs is verboten
Hootie: Where?
S.G.: Challenging Christian beliefs is verboten
Drew,
Bite me will ya?
S.G.: Challenging Christian beliefs is verboten
"Conclusion: They simply don't want their beliefs challenged."
-- The REAL S.G. Applebee --
Amen, brother Applebee!
(Although I'd be willing to consider Lynn's suggestion about Episcopalians. After all, they's among the few mainstream Christian sects that ordains women, aren't they?)
perspective
"Stalkers who are also psychopaths, Meloy says, experience only low levels of empathy or an absence of it altogether. Their relationships tend to be sadistic, based in power over others. He said he believes that this is associated with a lack of early attachment to others in the family. Meloy claims that psychopaths are biologically predisposed to antisocial activity because they have a hyper-reactive autonomic nervous system. Crime or exploiting others excites them. That means they're motivated to do things that heighten their nervous system and have no real conscience about hurting others."
Dr. J. Reid Meloy
"Stalkers have narcissistic traits. Many of them suffer from personality disorders. The vindictive stalker is usually a psychopath (has Antisocial Personality Disorder). They all conform to the classic definition of a bully.
Devoid of empathy. Is unable or unwilling to identify with, acknowledge, or accept the feelings, needs, preferences, priorities, and choices of others;
Constantly envious of others and seeks to hurt or destroy the objects of his or her frustration. Suffers from persecutory (paranoid) delusions as he or she believes that they feel the same about him or her and are likely to act similarly;
Behaves arrogantly and haughtily. Feels superior, omnipotent, omniscient, invincible, immune, "above the law", and omnipresent (magical thinking). Rages when frustrated, contradicted, or confronted by people he or she considers inferior to him or her and unworthy."
Dr. Samuel Vaknin
Unfortunately, the only one on here with a psychological problem is rather obvious. The above descriptions fit you to a 't'. A criminal psychologist would have a field day utilizing you as a textbook case. One day, despite the fact you won't believe this, you will screw up enough to find yourself in jail. At that time, you will be diagnosed as a true psychopath.
In the meantime, despite whatever nonsense you post, you deserve only to be ignored as Steve indicated. I just wanted to demonstrate that we've got your number, dude.
