maadmax

Utter nonsense. Try as they might, believers in religion cannot carve out a special category of fantasy that is privileged to be insulated from logic by defining it "not disprovable". God will never be reduced to results of a science experiment. God is a Spirit and can only be known by the spirit. To deny the spiritual part of our nature is short sighted at best. For those who have grasped the extent of their spiritual needs and then have seen the daily dilervances of God, have all the proof they will every need. To those who have no spirit or spiritual needs as some have claimed, God bless you, for you are truly blessed indeed. You should give thanks for being exempt form the struggle the rest of us find ourselves apart of.

Who knows, if they study the Book their are receiving just one tenth as much as the ones they are giving away in exchange, it might turn out to be a good thing. God works in mysterious ways. ...

I actually don't begrudge anybody's religious faith at all. If it works for you, great. It doesn't work for me, and I don't appreciate people like max telling me that I'm selfish, evil, stupid, etc. I just wanted him to realize how insulting his attack was by replying in kind. No wonder we see the world in such drastically different ways. My post wasn't an attack, it was a statement of opinion. Believe me, I have no care or concern to attack you. Who's posts are you reading anyway? " selfish, evil, stupid, etc" WTF? Also, hate to disappoint you, but your response was not insulting. I do enjoy a genuine spirited discussion. Keep it coming, but maybe just chill a little. I would hate to get a " One Warning" from Bill Von. ...

Do you believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster? No? It takes as much faith for you no have no belief in the FSM as it takes me to have no belief in your God. Distraction and smoke screens as usual. We live in a self sustaining predeterminant universe,( possibly multiverse[url]), with perfectly established universal parameters governing the interaction of matter and energy. To believe that is just came about by chance, takes a lot of unsupportable conjecture ( ie faith in your atheist belief system). Of course this would be a logical conclusion for someone wishing to justify a self deified view point and expunge themselves from the guilt of rejecting God. ...

Land and nation building is an issue right now, it may have escaped your notice but there's a bit of a quarrel over the very land you say was allocated by god to the tribes of Judah. The problem is some of the people who are of those tribes don't think they've currently got all the land that was promised to them. The other side of course think the same land is holy to them and there plenty of Christians who are looking for a big battle so they hurry along the end times. t seems to me you can't deny that god has commanded genocide in the past yet this was ok because it was a "time of law"? That seems a bizarre defence of genocide. God commanded in the past , how arrogant is it of you to know his mind and his will and be sure he wont command it in the future? Was god displaying his " essence of Love and Truth (which)remain the same and never changes. " when he was with Joshua who massacred the people of Jericho. What would you have done if you were there, would you have killed the little children? Not of all of gods sadistic commands are about military conquest. What about Abraham, god commanded him to kill his son, if you got the same order would you do the same? You might say it would not be consistent with gods plan or his character. But who are you to question his mysterious ways? I suspect the real reason you wouldn't do it as most people you pick and chose the its of the bible you like, in which case why do we need the bible in the first place? It may or may not be a surprise to you but this aspect of the Bible is hard for me and most others of our culture to accept or understand. None the less it is there and I only have found two ways to deal with it. One way is to decommission God, tell Him He doesn't exist ,and furthermore never has existed because you just don't approve of His methods. The other choice is to let God work out His purpose as He deems fit. Realizing it is not our place to judge God. I trust in the attributes of God I understand, and believe once all is known, His methods will become clear. In the meantime, there is plenty about God I do understand and benefit from. I will add that it has taken alot of study and prayer for me to accept and understand this issue. ...

--Your "loving god" has a plan for you! In his little creation book he plans to turn the sun into a red giant and vaporize planet earth! --Now there's a great idea! I agree, it will make way for the new heavens and earth He has in store for us. Rev 21:1-5 P.S. No more tears or suffering because the old things will have passed away. ... --but in the mean time he just enjoys watching us suffer and die from earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, cancer, starvation, lifetime depression, suicides, murdering one’s whole family, burning alive, suffocation, throat cancer, liver transplant rejections, child rape….did I miss anything? just a brilliant, well thought out, intelligent design! i don't see any room for improvements! If I was going to create a universe those would be at the top of my list…NOT. Why would anyone worship or preach to a creator of such a horrible non-loving design? i'd be the last one to admit my "god" was responable for creating all this pain and suffering! Ever stop long enough to wonder, just for a millisecond, that you might be missing the big picture? ...

Ethics is a by product. Ok so if god commanded you to commit genocide would you put your ethical by product a side and do it ? or would you refuse his command and separate yourself from god? Not to deflect your question, but in the evolution of spiritual consciousness, protocols that enabled mans relaltionship with God have changed over time. God's essence of Love and Truth remain the same and never changes. Dispensations is how it is depicted theologicaly. Whole sale military conquest was in play during the age of the Law when the tribes of Judah were taking the land allocated to them by God. In this current age of Grace, land and nation building is not an issue. The Kingdom of Heaven ,described by Christ, is not of this earth. Therefore any such command would not be from God. So no, I would not comply or ever condone genocide. We are all sinners and on equal footing before God. Our only hope is to find salvation through the Grace of Jesus Christ. ...

Every person I know that has successfully went thru treatment to stop drinking belives strongly in God. Not surprising, when you have looked your inner demons in the eye, it is not so hard to reach out and accept the help God is waiting to give. ...

apparently, there's a couple christians out there who don't either. including bimbo's on tv talking about gays needing to be put to death. you guys talk about this enlightenment that you've had as if it's the new law of christianity, and are astounded that the atheists (or non believes) in this forum don't share your excitement. the fact is that those of you who feel this enlightenment are sadly a tiny minority. most of the religious are still operating in the dark ages. its sad and frustrating. look around. we're not just looking at you. we don't block it out when it doesn't fit into our paradigm. you don't need to convince us. you need to go out and convince the people who's beliefs are mostly like yours. if you don't think the draconian laws of the OT are in effect anymore, i think that would make a lot of atheists pretty happy. stop wasting your time with us. go clean up your own house. or is it too difficult to stand up to the hordes of religious who would cast you out with your new ideas, so you preach to us in an online forum? edited to add: i'm a little disheartened today, reading that someone is advocating the killing of gay people. honestly i applaud the revelation you've had. i wish it was a bit more widespread. i almost deleted my entire post, but i'll leave it and you can shred it if you like. No argument here, but sad to say they are just like anyone else. They can either accept the reality God has created for us or they can set Him aside and create one for themselves. ...

So given that, this "crime" is the one unforgivable sin in the NT. Murder is forgivable, torture is forgivable, slavery is not even a sin. and this is supposed to a be decent system of ethics? Ethics is a by-product. The purpose of the Good News is to provide a path for regeneration and reconciliation with God.

there isnt any anger in my post, a little mockery, but its what you believe, in a simplified form. Funny man, the finished product of anger is contempt. Yes, there is no anger in your post, but it is full of contempt. And sorry to say , no, you haven't got the slightest clue what the Good News of Christ is about. ...

Big time naysayer here, and I very strongly acknowledge love. On what basis do you think love requires faith? Love is an emotion, and from the standpoint of understanding human behavior, is very similar to other emotions - such as fear, anger, joy, etc. It is internally created by the lower parts of the brain; remnants of and deeply rooted in our past. It is not the result of higher thinking, complex decision-making, belief in dieties, etc. It is a limbic reaction to external stimulii. ... the lust for power can be completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude So how do you convince people to love their servitude? Obviously you must create a belief based on faith that being subservient will give them the security and prosperity they desire. Aldous Huxley obviously didn't have any trouble understanding the relationship between faith and love. ...

I am not sure of the exact exegetical or hermeneutical description you desire. But the koine greek "blapten" means to injure and "pheme" means reputation. This basically signifies, etymologically, gross irreverence and contempt toward the work of the Holy Spirit. Hopefully that answer is closer to what you were wanting. ...

Nope, just read a little farther in Matthew (Matt 17:2-6) Peter, James, and John got a preview of coming attractions when they saw Jesus' transfiguration, as He will be in His kingdom. His kingdom here on earth started a short time after His death and resurrection, at the Feast of Pentecost. It is now available spiritually, for those who chose to enter through the power of the Holy Spirit. In the future it will be both a physical and spiritual reality. ...

Smoking Pot can increase the risks of developing psychosis. http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20100228/hl_hsn/marijuanausecanuppsychosisrisk

blasphemy: profane or mocking speech, writing or action concerning God or anything related to God, contempt of God. blasphemy of the Holy Spirit : contempt (rejection) of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Ministry of the Holy Spirit - Reveals the work and person of Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:13) Rejection of the work and person of Christ is the only unforgivable sin.

OK, how can you truly love another person without an unshakable belief, based on faith, in that person and the relalionship you are building. Agreed, most often it is a blind destructive faith. But sometimes it is what we are all desperate to find, the real thing.

Well, that's because there isn't any not a single part of an ounce/gram - that's why it's called faith... You seem to have it, I don't - Who's right and who's wrong? Hard to say, I'm O.K with that, are you? Faith is not some mythical conjured mental exercise, it is an obligate prerequisite for love. Without faith in another person or God love is impossible. Once faith, then love, is established it either grows and blooms into a wonderful experience or it consumes the deceived. Faith without the production of good works is dead and hollow.

He has every idea about what he's talking about. He just has no idea what you're talking about. Yes, I know. That is a shame

Anything that makes a person believe in invisible omnipotent omniscient omnipresent beings for which there is no evidence of existence should be considered a defect, IMHO. I have 18 years of living for myself and 36 years living with a personal intimate God. There is no way in hell I would loose what I have found. Some of these post are funny, you can speculate, analyze and ridicule all you want but you obviously have no idea what you are talking about.

Concerning the original post, Jesus appeared to care little about changing the corrupt Roman government of His time. He made it very clear that His Kingdom was not of this world. I for one, definitely want to keep the government out of my faith. The value of Christianity lies in its power to regenerate and restore the soul to God, not in running some political system.

Hopefully the organizers will have a warm spot in their hearts, and allow some us original Georgia POPs Big Way pioneers to jump in this next upcoming attempt. ...

Wow, Amazing video! She is very talented.

it felt good. like being a part of a community. like the way i feel when i am at DZ with the people i love and trust. But something was missing. I started discovering gaps in the information being presented to me as a christian. I was 6 when I started to understand what was going on as a "believer". ... When I left the faith I felt amazing. Highly educated and ready to share my new knowledge with the world. Sadly the people who dont know or understand the advances in science, mathematics, astronomy, history, anthropology and archaeology are the lower class or people who are "too" comfortable in their faith. Claiming faith as there reason for not wanting to learn. But faith is the boast of a man who is too lazy too investigate. Interesting evolution of thought. I also love all of the insights scientific discovery has given us. But in my studies I couldn't help notice that for a lot of what we need as humans, science doesn't have an answer. Such as the need to love and be loved unconditionally. And a way out of our myoptic sinful pattern of life that prevent us form experiencing this type of love. I agree, there is no religion that will ever deliver that. But I did find it in a personal relationship with Jesus and the Word of God He embodied. ...

--But no religion could ever disprove science. I find no contradiction between science and spiritual Truth. They compliment each other since they are both from God. --Did Jesus die for the sins of aliens too? Non human intelligent beings (maybe not even carbon based creatures) millions of light years away should consider one of our Earthly God or religion? If one day our technology will allow us to visit them should we go there with a cross or the Holy Koran? Don't know, the Bible does talk about a conflict between beings in another place / dimension / universe. ...