Now I Know How Christians Feel

[sealybobo]

If there's one thing I can't stand is born agains. I credit them for waking me up though. I was a faithful Greek Orthodox and I ran into a born again who asked me, "are you sure you know where you are going to go when you die?" Of course setting me up for the fact that I wasn't baptized as an adult. This is their angle. They tell you how your religion has it wrong, even if it's a Christian faith. They have a hook to steal other Christians from other sects away. Brilliant really. If you didn't make the choice yourself as a child to get baptized, you have to do it again as an adult. Even if you believe as an adult after being baptized as a child, that aint good enough. You MUST be born again and that means you MUST go through the ritual of being baptized. Preferrably by one of their preachers because lets face it. If the Greek orthordox got this wrong, what else do they have wrong, right? LOL.

Quick question

If you're Orthodox doesn't that mean you follow Scripture rather literally?

Because even Jesus had to be baptized.

Are we somehow exempt while He wasn't? Wouldn't that put us above Him?

I was baptized as a child. All Greek Orthodox children are at a very young age.

Thanks


I was baptized when I was eight but I think it makes such a stronger connection when you do it again at an older age when you can more fully understand the gravity of it all

Well given the chance to do it as an adult I think is a great idea. How many people would not come back if they had to do that? I think it's a great idea to make people who were born into it reconfirm as adults. Make people say I believe Jesus is the son of God, Mary was a virgin and that they take it all literally. If you can't say it, don't call yourself a Christian. Where is the line? Are people who don't take the bible stories literally really Christians?

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead...you will be saved.
Its not done at gunpoint Sealy and no human has the power to give it to you, make you do it or... take it away from you.

And how many "Christians" don't really believe that?

Ask that question and watch 3/4th of the churches close. Talk about a recession.

 

[featherlite]

Doubting at times is normal, its how you respond to the doubt that counts.
I think when things are going horribly bad...doubt creeps in. I also think when things are going really good doubt creeps in.
One situation is how can a loving God let this happen. The other is Im so capable...who needs a God.
Right now Im watching my mom lose a lot in her life. Many people do I know, but I cant help think...why her? She has put herself last for many people and now one by one its like rugs are being pulled out from under her. Sometimes its hard to understand things like that. One time I started a prayer...and whats the point here God...its not how I finished the prayer..still I was frustrated.

Churches wont close. recession cancelled lol

 

[koshergrl]

Quick question

If you're Orthodox doesn't that mean you follow Scripture rather literally?

Because even Jesus had to be baptized.

Are we somehow exempt while He wasn't? Wouldn't that put us above Him?

I was baptized as a child. All Greek Orthodox children are at a very young age.

You are so precious. Sometimes I wonder if you know how much God loves you. You are just such a unique person, Sealy! When you read the story about John the Baptist calling the people to come and repent of their sins and be baptized do you think about how it would be impossible for a baby to repent or be baptized according to Scripture? What would be the purpose when as a baby had you died you would immediately have been with God, Sealy? God does not ask babies to repent but those of the age of reason - who know the difference between right and wrong. Does that make sense? With that said, it would be right for you to be baptized and know what you are doing when you receive forgiveness for your sins and accept Jesus as your Savior. I didn't get baptized right away - it was some months later I believe.

Us Greek Orthodox don't believe you have to go through the baptism ceremony again. To be Born Again as an adult just means the day you come to believe/accept/follow Jesus on your own. Is it really mandatory that I go through the ritual at a church or in front of another holy man? I think not.

Anyways doesn't matter because I wiped out my baptism by becoming an atheist. Last time I watched a baptism the priest said 5 times to the god father, "do you renounce satan?" and inside I was laughing because I thought, "what if that was me up there? What would I say to him? Would I say I do, or would I start an argument with him and say, "well actually I don't believe in Satan". lol

Dear sealybobo no I don't think you can wipe out what you have already received in the spirit of Christ.
Even my friend Ray Hill who is an atheist but preached as a Baptist up until the age of 19, still teaches abundance of free grace as a natural gift in life. As an Atheist who doesn't relate to a personified God or Jesus.
The process about forgiveness and grace remains true, for all people,
regardless if you or your constituents are theistic, nontheistic, or whatever you call yourself or God made you to be.

We are still under the same natural and spiritual laws that apply to all people
regardless what tribe or culture or language we relate to.

As for believing in Satan, it depends how you define what is Satan or what is God.
Everyone has seen selfishness and ego destroy people and relationships.
(And literally, the satanic cults and practices have gotten people killed, abusing FEAR and ill will to attack.)
You don't have to call that Satan for the spirit of selfish competition and division to befall humanity.
Whatever you call these forces of self-destruction, it's referring to the same process.

We don't have to agree yet where these forces come from, and yet we can still agree
that "unforgiveness" and fear add pressure that can make the problems worse, while forgiveness compassion
and charity towards others help empower people to overcome negative influences and ill will.
The point is to keep faith and find ways for the good to overcome the bad.
This way, we act and speak truth with love, to uplift unite and strengthen each other,
and not out of fear which can distract and divide and make things worse.

This week when encountering blacks and Muslims I extended a smile or an opening of a door as a gesture of kindness. Then some black guy was nice to me the next day. Made me realize a gay black Hispanic Muslim woman is just like me. They just want to be happy.

How bout the lady who won't give gays marriage licences? See how religion makes people crazy?

While I've no doubt a mentally ill gay black Hispanic Muslim is just like you, it isn't in the way you think. You don't have happiness in common. You have mental illness and hatred in common.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

Are you sure that isn't the city council voting to allow zoning for a mosque? They have to do that here for all buildings.....religious or otherwise, usually due to access, parking, traffic, etc.

Noomi stated;


{In my city, the council passed a motion to build a mosque, which will accommodate the Muslims in the city, who currently have to cram into a tiny little room that the university has kindly allowed them use of when they wish to pray.}

She directly stated that the city will build a mosque.

See, you leftists have no desire for a wall of separation between religion and state, you are at war against Christians. Islam you love and are happy to have government support.

Islam is clearly at war against Christianity. The number of Muslims being saved now in the middle east is truly remarkable. How is this happening? God loves the Muslim people and desires for them to receive Jesus Christ and be pardoned for their sins so that they may be forgiven and enter the kingdom of heaven.

While some Muslims may be at war against Christians, Christians cannot be at war against Muslims because we need to win them to Christ. We can do one or the other. I'd rather see their souls saved.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

Doubting at times is normal, its how you respond to the doubt that counts.
I think when things are going horribly bad...doubt creeps in. I also think when things are going really good doubt creeps in.
One situation is how can a loving God let this happen. The other is Im so capable...who needs a God.
Right now Im watching my mom lose a lot in her life. Many people do I know, but I cant help think...why her? She has put herself last for many people and now one by one its like rugs are being pulled out from under her. Sometimes its hard to understand things like that. One time I started a prayer...and whats the point here God...its not how I finished the prayer..still I was frustrated.

Churches wont close. recession cancelled lol

It could be that God is actually drawing your mother into a deeper relationship with Him through her trials. I remember meeting a woman who I shared Christ with (her entire life she rejected Christ but she did eventually accept Him as Her Savior and Lord) and she shared her mother's journal with me. Her mother was dying and had written some of the most beautiful prayers to the LORD and it was very clear that this came out of her suffering. Suffering draws us deeper into God. This is not something the wide road church would want to preach on because their hearts are fixed on the things of this world rather than on Christ. They don't want to suffer and if they do they believe something is wrong. That is not always the case. You see, many want to share in the resurrection of Christ but few are willing to share in the fellowship of his sufferings. You cannot have one without the other. The godly suffer persecutions. Usually from within the church (carnal Christians) and from within their own families. Along with the added persecution from the world which the enemy is behind

 

[Uncensored2008]

Islam is clearly at war against Christianity. The number of Muslims being saved now in the middle east is truly remarkable. How is this happening? God loves the Muslim people and desires for them to receive Jesus Christ and be pardoned for their sins so that they may be forgiven and enter the kingdom of heaven.

While some Muslims may be at war against Christians, Christians cannot be at war against Muslims because we need to win them to Christ. We can do one or the other. I'd rather see their souls saved.

Christianity and Islam are competing faiths. Both cannot be right (though both can be wrong.) Islam is brutish in structure so it is of little surprise that violence is the method it uses to compete.

However, you need to check your premise because there are Christians, particularly in central Africa, who are very much at war with Islam. Given the atrocities that Muslims commit against - well everyone, it is little surprise. Some Christians have been nearly as brutal as the Muzzie Beasts in their response to the encroachment of Islam.

 

[sealybobo]

Doubting at times is normal, its how you respond to the doubt that counts.
I think when things are going horribly bad...doubt creeps in. I also think when things are going really good doubt creeps in.
One situation is how can a loving God let this happen. The other is Im so capable...who needs a God.
Right now Im watching my mom lose a lot in her life. Many people do I know, but I cant help think...why her? She has put herself last for many people and now one by one its like rugs are being pulled out from under her. Sometimes its hard to understand things like that. One time I started a prayer...and whats the point here God...its not how I finished the prayer..still I was frustrated.

Churches wont close. recession cancelled lol

With the story you guys are telling, doubting is absolutely normal, even though it isn't done enough. Most Christians have either accepted the stories and never questioned or they are victims of cognitive dissonance.

How do you think I responded when I became an atheist? What do you mean by that? How I responded to the doubt is that I realized I don't believe. Nothing personal.

What helped confirm my disbelief was watching the Cosmos. The truth is so much better than the myth.

My mom is dying of Alzheimer's and my dad is suffering and killing himself trying to take care of her. I didn't ask why when it started. I said, "for 40 years my life was perfect. For her life 65 years were perfect. Never once did either of us ask why when things were going good, so why ask why now?".

 

[sealybobo]

“The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all species are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.” – Richard Dawkins

 

[sealybobo]

“Imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, ‘This is an interesting world I find myself in, an interesting hole I find myself in, fits me rather neatly, doesn’t it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!’ This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the sky and the air heats up and the puddle gets smaller and smaller, it’s still frantically hanging on to the notion that everything’s going to be all right, because this world was meant to have him in it, was built to have him in it; so the moment he disappears catches him rather by surprise.”– Douglas Adams

 

[sealybobo]

“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.” — Anonymous

“We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes.” – Gene Roddenberry

 

[sealybobo]

“I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking. The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there’s little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.” – Carl Sagan

“I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.” – Mark Twain

 

[sealybobo]

“Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements – the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life – weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be today.” – Lawrence Krauss

 

[sealybobo]

“The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is determined only by our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life’s meaning. We long for a Parent to care for us, to forgive us our errors, to save us from our childish mistakes. But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable. If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal.” – Carl Sagan

 

[sealybobo]

When I became convinced that the universe was natural, that all the ghosts and gods were myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell. The dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles turned to dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world, not even in infinite space.

I was free to think. Free to express my thoughts, free to live in my own ideal. Free to live for myself and those I loved. Free to use all my faculties, all my senses. Free to spread imagination’s wings, free to investigate, to guess, and dream and hope. Free to judge and determine for myself. Free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the inspired books that savages have produced, and the barbarous legends of the past. Free from sanctified mistakes and “holy” lies. Free from the fear of eternal pain, free from the winged monsters of the night. Free from devils, ghosts and gods. For the first time I was free.

There were no prohibited places in all of the realm of thought. No error, no space where fancy could not spread her painted wings. No chains for my limbs. No lashes for my back. No flames for my flesh. No Master’s frown or threat, no following in another’s steps. No need to bow or cringe or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free; I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously faced all worlds.

My heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heros, the thinkers who gave their lives for liberty of hand and brain, for the freedom of labor and thought to those who fell on the fierce fields of war. To those who died in dungeons, bound in chains, to those by fire consumed, to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of men. And then, I vowed to grasp the torch that they held, and hold it high, That light might conquer darkness still.

-Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899)

 

[sealybobo]

I was baptized as a child. All Greek Orthodox children are at a very young age.

You are so precious. Sometimes I wonder if you know how much God loves you. You are just such a unique person, Sealy! When you read the story about John the Baptist calling the people to come and repent of their sins and be baptized do you think about how it would be impossible for a baby to repent or be baptized according to Scripture? What would be the purpose when as a baby had you died you would immediately have been with God, Sealy? God does not ask babies to repent but those of the age of reason - who know the difference between right and wrong. Does that make sense? With that said, it would be right for you to be baptized and know what you are doing when you receive forgiveness for your sins and accept Jesus as your Savior. I didn't get baptized right away - it was some months later I believe.

Us Greek Orthodox don't believe you have to go through the baptism ceremony again. To be Born Again as an adult just means the day you come to believe/accept/follow Jesus on your own. Is it really mandatory that I go through the ritual at a church or in front of another holy man? I think not.

Anyways doesn't matter because I wiped out my baptism by becoming an atheist. Last time I watched a baptism the priest said 5 times to the god father, "do you renounce satan?" and inside I was laughing because I thought, "what if that was me up there? What would I say to him? Would I say I do, or would I start an argument with him and say, "well actually I don't believe in Satan". lol

Dear sealybobo no I don't think you can wipe out what you have already received in the spirit of Christ.
Even my friend Ray Hill who is an atheist but preached as a Baptist up until the age of 19, still teaches abundance of free grace as a natural gift in life. As an Atheist who doesn't relate to a personified God or Jesus.
The process about forgiveness and grace remains true, for all people,
regardless if you or your constituents are theistic, nontheistic, or whatever you call yourself or God made you to be.

We are still under the same natural and spiritual laws that apply to all people
regardless what tribe or culture or language we relate to.

As for believing in Satan, it depends how you define what is Satan or what is God.
Everyone has seen selfishness and ego destroy people and relationships.
(And literally, the satanic cults and practices have gotten people killed, abusing FEAR and ill will to attack.)
You don't have to call that Satan for the spirit of selfish competition and division to befall humanity.
Whatever you call these forces of self-destruction, it's referring to the same process.

We don't have to agree yet where these forces come from, and yet we can still agree
that "unforgiveness" and fear add pressure that can make the problems worse, while forgiveness compassion
and charity towards others help empower people to overcome negative influences and ill will.
The point is to keep faith and find ways for the good to overcome the bad.
This way, we act and speak truth with love, to uplift unite and strengthen each other,
and not out of fear which can distract and divide and make things worse.

This week when encountering blacks and Muslims I extended a smile or an opening of a door as a gesture of kindness. Then some black guy was nice to me the next day. Made me realize a gay black Hispanic Muslim woman is just like me. They just want to be happy.

How bout the lady who won't give gays marriage licences? See how religion makes people crazy?

While I've no doubt a mentally ill gay black Hispanic Muslim is just like you, it isn't in the way you think. You don't have happiness in common. You have mental illness and hatred in common.

You do. Don't you see that? Don't you see that woman denying gays marriage licences is the evil sick one? Not the gays. You are sick. And people like you aren't happy in life so you need a heaven. I don't. I'm grateful I got the 45 years I have lived so far. If I die tonight I will have considered myself lucky. A lot luckier than the fetus that lived for a month and got murdered. Or the turtle who hatched out of his egg but got eaten by a seagull before he made it to the ocean. His sister made it and she will live to be 100 years old. Sucks to be that one turtle but I promise you there is no heaven for it or you.

And god didn't help the turtle that made it and lived to be 100. Just dumb luck. God also didn't kill all the kids in the hospital that have cancer. He also didn't perform a miracle when 1 out of 1000 lives.

 

[sealybobo]

Miracles have not been demonstrated to occur. The existence of a miracle would pose logical problems for belief in a god which can supposedly see the future and began the universe with a set of predefined laws. Even if a ‘miracle’ could be demonstrated it would not immediately imply the existence of a god, much less any particular one, as unknown natural processes or agents could still be at work.

Most alleged miracles can be explained as statistically unlikely occurrences. For example, one child surviving a plane crash that kills two hundred others is not a miracle, just as one person winning the lottery is not. In the absence of any empirical evidence, all other claims can be dismissed as the result of magical thinking, misattribution, credulity, hearsay and anecdote. Eye-witness testimony and anecdotal accounts are, by themselves, not reliable or definitive forms of proof for such extraordinary claims.

Divine intervention claims most often concern systems and events for which we have poor predictive capabilities, for example, weather, sports, health and social/economic interactions. Such claims are rarely made in relation to those things we can accurately predict and test e.g. the motion of celestial bodies, boiling point of water and pull of gravity. If a god is constantly intervening in the universe it supposedly created, then it is with such ambiguity as to appear completely indistinguishable from normal background chance.

Note: Theists often fail to adequately apportion blame when claims of their particular god’s ‘infinite mercy’ or ‘omnibenevolence’ involve sparing a few lives in a disaster, or recovery from a debilitating disease – all of which their god would ultimately be responsible for inflicting if it existed. See also: Euthyphro dilemma, Confirmation bias,Cherry Picking.

See also: Argument from Miracles, Why won’t god heal amputees? Spontaneous Remission of Disease, The problem with anecdotes (a must watch).

“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” – Carl Sagan

“Elite athletes make first place, strange shapes appear on toast and some people narrowly escape death, but amputated limbs never regrow, mountains never move and food never spontaneously appears in front of the hundreds of children that starve to death each hour.” – Anonymous

 

[sealybobo]

I was baptized as a child. All Greek Orthodox children are at a very young age.

You are so precious. Sometimes I wonder if you know how much God loves you. You are just such a unique person, Sealy! When you read the story about John the Baptist calling the people to come and repent of their sins and be baptized do you think about how it would be impossible for a baby to repent or be baptized according to Scripture? What would be the purpose when as a baby had you died you would immediately have been with God, Sealy? God does not ask babies to repent but those of the age of reason - who know the difference between right and wrong. Does that make sense? With that said, it would be right for you to be baptized and know what you are doing when you receive forgiveness for your sins and accept Jesus as your Savior. I didn't get baptized right away - it was some months later I believe.

Us Greek Orthodox don't believe you have to go through the baptism ceremony again. To be Born Again as an adult just means the day you come to believe/accept/follow Jesus on your own. Is it really mandatory that I go through the ritual at a church or in front of another holy man? I think not.

Anyways doesn't matter because I wiped out my baptism by becoming an atheist. Last time I watched a baptism the priest said 5 times to the god father, "do you renounce satan?" and inside I was laughing because I thought, "what if that was me up there? What would I say to him? Would I say I do, or would I start an argument with him and say, "well actually I don't believe in Satan". lol

Dear sealybobo no I don't think you can wipe out what you have already received in the spirit of Christ.
Even my friend Ray Hill who is an atheist but preached as a Baptist up until the age of 19, still teaches abundance of free grace as a natural gift in life. As an Atheist who doesn't relate to a personified God or Jesus.
The process about forgiveness and grace remains true, for all people,
regardless if you or your constituents are theistic, nontheistic, or whatever you call yourself or God made you to be.

We are still under the same natural and spiritual laws that apply to all people
regardless what tribe or culture or language we relate to.

As for believing in Satan, it depends how you define what is Satan or what is God.
Everyone has seen selfishness and ego destroy people and relationships.
(And literally, the satanic cults and practices have gotten people killed, abusing FEAR and ill will to attack.)
You don't have to call that Satan for the spirit of selfish competition and division to befall humanity.
Whatever you call these forces of self-destruction, it's referring to the same process.

We don't have to agree yet where these forces come from, and yet we can still agree
that "unforgiveness" and fear add pressure that can make the problems worse, while forgiveness compassion
and charity towards others help empower people to overcome negative influences and ill will.
The point is to keep faith and find ways for the good to overcome the bad.
This way, we act and speak truth with love, to uplift unite and strengthen each other,
and not out of fear which can distract and divide and make things worse.

This week when encountering blacks and Muslims I extended a smile or an opening of a door as a gesture of kindness. Then some black guy was nice to me the next day. Made me realize a gay black Hispanic Muslim woman is just like me. They just want to be happy.

How bout the lady who won't give gays marriage licences? See how religion makes people crazy?

While I've no doubt a mentally ill gay black Hispanic Muslim is just like you, it isn't in the way you think. You don't have happiness in common. You have mental illness and hatred in common.

Who's happy me or the gay black Hispanic Muslim female?

 

[emilynghiem]

When they are mocked for their religious beliefs.

Most of you know that I am a Muslim. I am a non practicing Muslim, and am not majorly devout, however, I have held my faith for a good 6 years now.

In my city, the council passed a motion to build a mosque, which will accommodate the Muslims in the city, who currently have to cram into a tiny little room that the university has kindly allowed them use of when they wish to pray.

On Saturday, there was a rally against this proposed mosque, and a counter rally in support of it. I attended the counter rally, and was horrified by the hatred shown toward those who just want to allow Muslims their own special place of worship.

Back at work, I discovered that my 'friends', who were also very much opposed to the mosque, bitching and complaining that 'those people want to take over the world', and 'they messed up their own country, now they want to screw up ours', and just making jokes about how when the mosque is built, we won't be allowed to serve bacon anymore.

As well as questioning why I wanted the mosque built (none of their business), their attitude toward Muslims appalled me. They don't know that while they make fun of Muslims, they are actually making fun of me. When they say they don't want Muslims in the city, does that mean they wouldn't want me, someone who has lived here for all my 32 years?

As someone who is too scared to openly show my faith, or even learn more about it for fear my faith will be discovered by those who will mock it, I can certainly understand how Christians feel when they are jeered and mocked for their beliefs.
While most of the so called Christians who attended the rally on Saturday are certainly not Christians (Jesus would be appalled at their hatred), there are many who have shown that they are ready to welcome in people of all faiths, which is pleasing - its a lot of loud mouthed fools that just make it so hard for me to feel welcome.

Today I have never felt so rejected and unwanted. I cannot imagine what Christians have had to deal with when they cop shit from atheists.

How do you guys manage to deal with the hatred?

Mocking and laughing at christ insanity is not persecution of Christians

Dear guno
1. If it is part of healing and acceptance to take things in stride with a sense of humor,
this is helpful to accept, understand and grow, to see the extremes of anything
while also seeing the good in all things, too
2. However, if this PREVENTS people from seeing the good things in
Christianity that have saved lives and ended the cycle of abuse and suffering,
this isn't helpful but HURTFUL
3. and also, if it is "rejoicing in inequity" or celebrating evil as something to benefit from
the problems of others, that is not helping either

Which way are you proposing that this is not negative?
Or are you TRYING to spread more negativity? If so, how is that solving any problems?

I find a Sense of Humor is helpful in confronting fears and correcting problems in a creative light.

Are you using it for that?
Or are you using mockery to BULLY, divide attack and weaken relations?

If you are using it to break or weaken relations, that is not helping but hurting people.
If you are using humor to rebuild and restore relations, that would be fair and beneficial.

Which way is it, guno
Or do you even CARE to examine the consequences and impact of your thoughts and actions?

 

[Nosmo King]

As someone who is too scared to openly show my faith, or even learn more about it for fear my faith will be discovered by those who will mock it, I can certainly understand how Christians feel when they are jeered and mocked for their beliefs.
While most of the so called Christians who attended the rally on Saturday are certainly not Christians (Jesus would be appalled at their hatred), there are many who have shown that they are ready to welcome in people of all faiths, which is pleasing - its a lot of loud mouthed fools that just make it so hard for me to feel welcome.

Today I have never felt so rejected and unwanted. I cannot imagine what Christians have had to deal with when they cop shit from atheists.

How do you guys manage to deal with the hatred?

I'm willing to bet that most people who are against having a mosque built in your town are Christians. Atheists are sick and tired of being told they are wrong or that they will burn in hell. Would you not say that is also being jeered and mocked or can you only see things from one perspective. If someone tells me they are religious I will not mock them or jeer them. If someone tells me that Atheism is a religion or that evolution is not true then yes I will ridicule or mock them for being stupid. Don't forget that atheists never protest religious places of worship going up or being built. it is other religious people that do that.

Your attempt at a similiar analogy is lost. All groups including christians and atheists are mocked, jeered and ridiculed yet the only group you decided to relate to is the same one that tries to prevent you from building mosques. You may not call them christians because of their actions but they are. (Remember what Ghandi said of christians.)

The so called Christians who want to beat you with a bible are not practicing the teachings of Jesus. They use Christianity as an excuse to spread hate. I'm a Christian, but I'm not mad about it. The bible thumpers give Christianity a bad name just like the terrorists give Muslims a bad name. Possibly not as bad, but still bad enough.

Whenever Fundamentalists are involved, be they Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Taoist, Hindus or whatever, compassion, understanding, open hearts and open minds are no where to be found.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Atheist oath:

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you nothing?