unformed

My apologies. I didn't go back to check the exact words. Regardless, that I would agree with, with God representing purity. The only difference is that, to me, that purity comes from within, whereas (I believe, and I may be mistaken) to you, as well as other Christians (and some religions) that purity comes from an external source. That's fine. Whatever works. It's when someone says the only way to work towards that purity is through one and only one road, and all other roads are lost, I take everything else that person says with a bushel of salt. This ad space for sale.

I know a lot of Christians that just read The New Testament. A majority of The New Testament contains the parables of Jesus, Jesus' quotes and teachings. The New Testament also contains passages about Love, Forgiveness, Compassion, Understanding, Fellowship, and Brotherhood. Those moral codes 2,000 years ago is still considered to be existent today with a lot of people. I don't think that could ever get old. Just because one thing in a book is correct doesn't make the rest of the book correct as well. Basic moral codes are stated in every religion and every guiding system. Just because the Bible states these moral codes that every sane man and woman in the world can agree with doesn't mean that everything else the book states is also true. Specifically, yes, the Bible's teachings on love, forgivness, compassion, understand, fellowship, and brotherhood should be followed. Yes, Jesus' parables and teachings should be followed. But, No, you're not going to suffer in eternal Hell for rejecting Jesus (unless you follow Steveorino's interpretation that Hell is symbolism for internal guilt, which I would agree with.) .... but from my readings, I am under the assumption that you think there is actually a physical Hell we will go to when we die. Sorry, but ... No there's not. This ad space for sale.

AIDS and the wrath of God are not comparable. 1) AIDS affects us during our lives, not after we're dead. 2) AIDS is scientifically visible and provable. The wrath of God is not, unless, of course, you subscribe to the belief that a book written by man (even it is "inspired") is proof. 2a) Regarding "inspiration", interview any true writer. He will state that he does not write, the thoughts come to him, and he simply transcribes what he is told to write. Specifically, regarding Stephen King's epic masterpiece The Dark Tower, he has stated that the characters played themselves out. He never had any idea what they were going to do. They simply acted, and he transcribed. He has also described it as if he, too, was "inspired". Why are the writers of the Bible any different? I have no doubt they, too, were inspired. I have no doubt that the Book is a set of moral guidelines. I have no doubt that Jesus actually lived. That does not change the fact, however, that the book, regardless of how well it is written, is still fiction, just as much as the Gita is fiction and the Koran is fiction. If a man was to come back and claim he was the second coming of Christ, odds are most people (Christians as well as unbelievers) would claim he was crazy, and they would be correct. However, if he was an especially charismatic person, I have no doubt he would be able to get a set of followers. If someone wrote a book about him and his life, he could become a legend, and in the future known as the second coming of Christ. This ad space for sale.

Your prayers have been answered: from http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9910d&L=ads-l&P=263 No, I am not God, but I do accept donations. This ad space for sale.

The point of your post is that because every heathen in the deepest jungle hasn't heard the message, then you are going to reject the message because it just seems unfair. Once again, if I hear that I am in a dangerous situation, but refuse to extricate myself from it simply because other people haven't heard about, I deserve my fate, especially if I think that the message is BS. Okay. So let's suppose you're merrily walking down the street. A man comes up to you and tells you that there's a hungry tiger five feet in front of you and you better turn around right now or it's going to pounce on you. You look ahead but see absolutely nothing resembling a tiger. What do you do? This ad space for sale.

Yeah, but why bother being poor if we're going to commit a number of unforgivable sins anyways? With those that truly believe that they are forever condemned, and that the only way to redemption is through Jesus, what's the problem with committing a few more sins, adding them to the confessions, and living large right now? I'm sorry, God, I'm only human, and I really want to own this nice boat. I know I don't need it, God, but I'm a dirty, dirty sinner, and I can't help my desires. So, God, I'm going to buy this boat, and beg for forgiveness every day. This ad space for sale.

You know what's nice? Lines between paragraphs. You know what else is nice? When you don't crosspost. This ad space for sale.

That's someone who understands the difference between science and spirituality, understands that they focus on completely different aspects of life, and is therefore undoubtedly going to Hell. Instead of wasting his time trying to be a good person, he should just join the Satanic Church and start sacrificing baby rabbits. This ad space for sale.

I just went through the whole thing. The point is, that is not humanly possible to go through life without ever breaking one of the Ten Commandments. Number 7 states even looking at another individually lustfully is grounds for condemnation. What person in the world has never looked at another lustfully? Number 9 is about lying. Who has gone through an entire life without making even the smallest lie? According to this site, every human is condemned, and on his own can not ever be allowed to enter heaven. However, 2000 years ago, God came to earth in the form of Jesus who paid the price for our sins, and since then the only the only way for man to enter heaven is through him. The thing is, the whole premise lies on whether whoever came up with this interpretation is right, on which I will bet my afterlife that it's not. The other part that I find genius about this as well is that those who do not try to help their brothers and sisters into learning about the Glory of God also go to Hell. So, essentially, in order to make it into Heaven, you have to first, repent your entire life and spend it feeling guilty about everything (because we as humans are fundamentally flawed - human nature and all) and second, spending the rest of the time shoving this belief down everybody else's throat so that when they (the unbelievers) finally get fed up with it and tell (the believer) to STFU, the believers can shout "persecution". And if the unbelievers become born-again and believe, the virus spreads as they go shoving it down everybody else's throats. This ad space for sale.

Well from looking at the site, the questions it asks, I don't think there is anybody in the world who can honestly answer "Yes" to all of them. The first question asks, and I quote, "Have you -always- put God first in your life? Jesus said to love God with all you heart, mind, soul, and strength - so much that your love for your parents, brothers, sisters, friends, and even your own life is like hatred compared to your love and devotion for God. Have you -ever- failed to put him first in your life?" By this logic, there is not a soul in the world who is good enough to get into heaven (without being a horrible parent and spouse) and therefore the only way is through lifelong repentance. This ad space for sale.

It's no more fair than if you have a pantry full of food and know that the person down the street is hungry, but you never reach out to help, or, if you know that your neighbor needs a ride to work, and it's right on your way, but you just don't want to be bothered. If I see some children who I don't know, playing with matches around an old gas can, am I responsible if I ignore them, and the thing explodes and burn them badly. You're not the man on the island. You have heard the message. Except that regardless of how much you try to tell yourself, not being Christian does not equate to being hungry or playing with matches. A better analogy would be the old man who lives behind the dumpster who took a few too many hits of acid in his day and thinks that our alien overlords are going to destroy the world unless everybody sacrifices a baby rabbit for breakfast. He truly believes that this is the Truth™ and screams at you every day to sacrifice a baby rabbit or you're going to be the cause of the world's doom. Are you going to start sacrificing baby rabbits if he screams at you enough? I didn't think so. Why not? He is inspired, in his own way, too. This ad space for sale.

I can tell you've thought on this long and hard and put in some detailed research into the subject. Well, I do use sources besides just the Bible. I find that more contemporary sources generally have a better idea of what they're talking about, given all of the new technology and knowledge and what not. And if I want classical sources, there's a ton of stuff older than the Bible. This ad space for sale.

Why? Because you have an expert opinion and you've said it is so? Pardon me for questioning. You kill me Kallend. There is just as much evidence proving that Kirk Cameron is a USDA Grade-A certified whack job as there is evidence proving that my heathen Jesus-rejecting self is going to hell and as there is evidence that a magic omnipotent man in the sky created this world and will send me to Super Happy Fun Land if I accept that this other human is the son of the magic omnipotent man. This ad space for sale.

This is exactly what is wrong with the world today. It is the attitude that "Well I tried, so it's good enough." I would rather live my life true and to love those near me and be the best that I can be than succumb to a God who wants me to believe in him for his own vanity. Just the same, I would rather marry a woman who would not cheat on me because she truly loved me and didn't want to hurt rather than one who wouldn't because she was scared of breaking a commandment. I would rather trust everything I owned to someone who wouldn't take it because he truly valued honesty rather than someone who didn't want to go to hell. I would rather have children who respected me as a father and who obeyed me because he realized the wisdom of my age, not one who was scared of a vengeful God. This ad space for sale.

Okay, instead of using my own explanation, let me use his words. This is from [url http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/xity.htm[/url] When asked, "What do you think of Christianity ? Did you consider becoming a Christian?", he replied, Personally, that does not come off as self-righteous in any way. Regardless, according to what you and a few others have said in this (and other) threads, he would be going to hell. However, I do realize that nobody in his right mind is actually going to admit that, instead simply using the cop-out, "It is not my position to judge", and yet judging anyways when the character in question is someone far more flawed, like your average human. This ad space for sale.

From http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/christian.htm Gandhi explicitly refused to follow Jesus' example as he believed he was already living a good life. So, in your opinion, would he go to hell? This ad space for sale.

Okay. So can you confirm this: - Gandhi will go to hell because he is a Hindu. - George Bush will go to heaven because he truly believe Jesus is his Savior. Am I correct in this assumption? This ad space for sale.

From what I can see, even the smallest sin is unjustifiable compared to God's perfection. Therefore, the only way to not go to hell is to accept Jesus Christ s your Savior. How you actually live your life has nothing to do with it, as long as you beg for forgiveness throughout your entire life. So, even if you're Mother Teresa, unless you accept Jesus, you're going to Hell. (To be fair, it is only the fundamentalists that are claiming this.) This ad space for sale.

Okay, so I've asked this before and got no response. I'll ask it again. What makes Jesus correct and the Hindu gods wrong? This ad space for sale.

I had my parents and my little brother show up at my aunt, uncle, cousin's place on Christmas Eve 1000 miles away after telling them for months there's no way my parents could get time off for work to come up. Their reaction when they opened the door to see us standing there was priceless. This ad space for sale.

Coming through Midway with a cast on my leg and carrying my gear bag through security. They pull me aside for the random check. The girls open up the gear bag, and asks "Do you have another backpack in here." I respond, "No that a parachute." She pulls it out halfway, looks at it, looks at my leg, looks back at it. "So, is that due to this?" "More or less...." She gave me a funny look and waved me through.... This ad space for sale.

as someone who as raised vegetarian and didn't eat any meat (or seafood) for 24 whole years, and then started eating raw steak ... yeah i'll eat whatever ..... This ad space for sale.

And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if your in a situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into the shrink wherever you are ,just walk in say "Shrink, You can get anything you want, at Alice's restaurant.". And walk out. You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them. And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement. This ad space for sale.

I'm going to survive to make a resolution next year. This ad space for sale.

Go on cragslist. I'm sure you can get some trannie to dress like Julia Roberts. This ad space for sale.