I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day

[The Irish Ram]

I've managed to keep my ass out of jail and on speaking terms with my family since I stopped believing that Jesus of Nazareth was my ticket to the presence of God....

Is that 'Good', or just 'Average', for an average American Joe?

Could you keep your ass out of well meaning threads in the religious forum?
Not every thread needs to be a battle ground.

 

[AVG-JOE]

You guys are seriously ignorant of the scriptures. No one is good. We have all been corrupted by the Fall and we cannot overcome that flaw without the atonement.

As I said, define "good".

I may not be up to another mans standards or the standards of various ancient stories, but about that I give not one flying fuck. Not one.



Besides... I can prove I'm good:

As long as I remain outside the confines of whatever criminal justice system I find myself behaving in, the rest of you fuckers are OBLIGATED to leave me in peace.

And personally, I find myself totally good with that. ​

 

[The Irish Ram]

Joe, what Caesar defines as good and what God defines as good are usually two different things. It's why He came here in the flesh. To cover the times you weren't always so good, by His standards. It was His gift to you. No one says you have to accept the gift, but is it to much to ask that you stop confronting those who do by trashing benign threads?

 

[Hollie]

Joe, what Caesar defines as good and what God defines as good are usually two different things. It's why He came here in the flesh. To cover the times you weren't always so good, by His standards. It was His gift to you. No one says you have to accept the gift, but is it to much to ask that you stop confronting those who do by trashing benign threads?

So, by "His" standards, we can define good by acts of cruelty and serial mass murder?

 

[AVG-JOE]

That's kind of the point...

Until God Himself starts enforcing one set of rules over the others, Monkeys are pretty much on their own with regards to establishing the definitions of 'good', 'righteous' and 'moral'.

If the ancient stories could keep us from killing each other, they'd have by done so by now, eh?

 

[The Irish Ram]

Joe I'm sorry that God didn't present Himself in your generation, but He did present Himself. Not only so you would know who He is, but to remove any obstacle that would keep you from Him. Let's look at what we did to Emanuel the last time He showed up:
Three Roman soldiers blindfolded Him and would take turns hitting Him and knocking him to the ground. If He could guess which one it was, they'd stop. They took handfuls of His beard and ripped big chunks of His skin off of His face. They turned His face into muscle on bone.
Since 40 lashes at the hand of a skilled soldier meant death, they shredded the flesh on His body into strips, but stopped just in time to keep Him alive. They took thorns that were as sharp as needles and crammed them down between His skull and His flesh. Then they drove nails through Him and hung Him up to suffocate.

Death by crucifixion could take days. Christ lasted 6 hours. Not only was He not recognizable as Christ, He wasn't recognizable as human. And he forgave everyone of them. And when He returned to those that lived with Him He was so scarred, that they only recognized Him by His voice.

He will remain in that body for eternity. When we meet Him, that is what we will see.
The Jews will be filled with sorrow when they see Him. And every knee shall bow when He returns to earth again. I don't believe that will be out of submission, but grief. We took the most gentle creation this earth has ever seen and turned Him into pulp.

I'm not surprised He isn't in a hurry to get back here to prove Himself to you and I. The only man made thing in Heaven are scars. And yet, He still loves us enough to come back to us again. You may have missed Him the first time, but He's going to play a very big part in your future. He'll even let you touch the holes in His hands so you'll have no doubt about one of those old stories. Then you can tell Him yourself to leave you alone, that you have no need of Him.

 

[AVG-JOE]

While that particular ancient story is both compelling and intriguing Miss Ram, the operative word there is story.

The Story of Jesus is one that I both know and understand, I just don't believe it.

That's o.k., eh?​

 

[Hollie]

While that particular ancient story is both compelling and intriguing Miss Ram, the operative word there is story.

The Story of Jesus is one that I both know and understand, I just don't believe it.

That's o.k., eh?​

BURN in Hell for eternity for not believing, sinner.

But remember, gawd loves you.

 

[Abishai100]

Christmas in July: Chivalry Crop

There is nothing as charming and conveniently sweet as Christmas in July.

Why wait until December to remind yourself of the simple joys of the quintessential holiday celebrating gift-giving and tinsel? Enjoy a honeyed ham or cinnamon potato salad.

Plus, it's a nice way to peacefully compete with Kwanzaa.





Christmas in July

Christmas in July (1940 Film)

 

[amrchaos]

You can't prove if you are good or evil or even in between.

Are we know, one of you christians could be a serial murderer that plays "Good Christian" on the internet.

On the other hand, one of these atheists may be an actual priest that is trying to teach people to think about the messages in Christianity.

There is no real way to tell. There is no way to prove any ones identity. You could guess from what they say, but that too could be apart of the disguise.