By Laura Koran, CNN
Here's the Belief Blog’s morning rundown of the top faith-angle stories from around the United States and around the world. Click the headlines for the full stories.
From the Blog:
The American Catholic bishops.
CNN: After contraception controversy, Catholic Church announces religious freedom campaign
The Roman Catholic Church announced a major campaign Thursday aimed at bringing attention to what it said were growing threats to religious liberty in the United States, including the pending White House rule requiring health insurance companies to provide free contraceptive coverage to employees of Catholic organizations.
CNN: Writer: Mel Gibson spewed anti-Semitism, talked of killing ex
Mel Gibson frequently spews "looney, rancid" anti-Semitism, has talked about killing his former girlfriend, and is prone to hate-filled diatribes slamming everyone from John Lennon to Walter Cronkite, according to a screenwriter who has been working with him.
CNN: Two leading social conservative groups back Romney
Two leading national anti-abortion organizations Thursday endorsed Republican Mitt Romney for president. The moves may be the first indications of social conservatives coalescing around Romney after their first choice, Rick Santorum, dropped out of the race.
Tweet of the Day:
From @askmormongirl: For many Mormon women, being a SAHM is a religious choice. Liberal folks should tread lightly.
Belief on TV:
Enlightening Reads:
Religion News Service: Religious questions for Pa. voter ID law draw fire
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation offers ID cards for those with religious objections to being photographed, including the Amish and certain Mennonite groups. But in order to get a nonphoto ID for religious reasons, applicants must answer a series of 18 questions that delve deeply into their faiths and other personal information.
The Guardian: University where 20% of students are Muslim considers alcohol-free zones
A London university is considering establishing alcohol-free zones on its campuses because so many of its students consider drinking to be immoral. Professor Malcolm Gillies, vice-chancellor of London Metropolitan University, said the selling of alcohol was an issue of "cultural sensitivity" at his institution where a fifth of students are Muslim.
Religion News Service: Man behind ‘near-death experience’ ponders the afterlife
Raymond Moody has spent nearly 40 years looking forward, trying to understand what happens when people die. That pursuit led to the publication of "Life After Life" in 1975, a seminal collection that actually coined the term "near-death experience." But in his new memoir, "Paranormal: My Life in Pursuit of the Afterlife," the 67-year-old Moody instead looks back, reflecting on his fascination with death, the effect of his life's work, and trying to figure out what it's all meant.
Quote of the Day:
The point is government isn't the enemy, and government isn't the answer. But government is the potential partner that we look for, that we might need.
Dr. Joel C. Hunter, the senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed, and a spiritual adviser to President Barack Obama, said this in his remarks at the Q Conference in Washington, DC. His presentation, entitled “Government is Not the Enemy,” considered the role that government can play in helping religious institutions serve the needs of their communities. From The Christian Post.
Join the conversation…
CNN: Evangelical leader: Mormonism will become a bigger issue for Romney
A top evangelical leader who is close to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign says the candidate’s Mormon faith will be even more of an issue in the general election than it has been in the primary, predicting that the focus on Romney’s faith will present a challenge to Romney.
This is the reason why we worship and praise our good christian president Obama and that Obama will be Lord of the world on October 21st of this year. We need to use Obama to restore the traditional dictates of our good Word Of God or the Bible. The Obama Administration will help us christians restore the good morals of christianity which is good. We need to learn the gospels of Obama and Christ to restore the good morals of the world.
Prayer changes things,
*~Prayer doesn’t not; you are such a LIAR. You have NO proof it changes anything! A great example of prayer proven not to work is the Christians in jail because prayer didn't work and their children died. For example: Susan Grady, who relied on prayer to heal her son. Nine-year-old Aaron Grady died and Susan Grady was arrested.
An article in the Journal of Pediatrics examined the deaths of 172 children from families who relied upon faith healing from 1975 to 1995. They concluded that four out of five ill children, who died under the care of faith healers or being left to prayer only, would most likely have survived if they had received medical care.
The statistical studies from the nineteenth century and the three CCU studies on prayer are quite consistent with the fact that humanity is wasting a huge amount of time on a procedure that simply doesn’t work. Nonetheless, faith in prayer is so pervasive and deeply rooted, you can be sure believers will continue to devise future studies in a desperate effort to confirm their beliefs!
DO NOT FEED THIS SIMPLETON REPETÏTIVE TROLL!
Preayer really changes things, .
Prayer doesn’t not; you are such a LIAR. You have NO proof it changes anything! A great example of prayer proven not to work is the Christians in jail because prayer didn't work and their children died. For example: Susan Grady, who relied on prayer to heal her son. Nine-year-old Aaron Grady died and Susan Grady was arrested.
An article in the Journal of Pediatrics examined the deaths of 172 children from families who relied upon faith healing from 1975 to 1995. They concluded that four out of five ill children, who died under the care of faith healers or being left to prayer only, would most likely have survived if they had received medical care.
The statistical studies from the nineteenth century and the three CCU studies on prayer are quite consistent with the fact that humanity is wasting a huge amount of time on a procedure that simply doesn’t work. Nonetheless, faith in prayer is so pervasive and deeply rooted, you can be sure believers will continue to devise future studies in a desperate effort to confirm their beliefs!!!!!! .
First a Premise:
My following comment is somewhat anti-Catholic, but this refers merely to the Catholic doctrine. The Catholic believers are human beings like me, which I love, despite their questionable belief. It is the same with the Muslims, Mormons, etc.. If I ever write a critical comment, which refers to these beliefs, I never want to express hate against the ordinary believers, but solely against the wrong doctrine. I hate wrong doctrines, and nobody can blame me for that. There is one and only one good doctrine, which was accepted by the civilized world around 300 AD and that is the Christian doctrine of the Early Church (Church of the Roman Empire and Byzantine Church).
Comment:
We should wonder sometimes, why at all the Reformation took place in Europe. The Reformation was an epochal event, which changed Europe completely up to now.
One of the reasons, why Prof. Dr. Martin Luther (University of Wittenberg/Germany) started the Reformation, was the wicked papacy.
According to the Bible actually Jesus Christ himself shall be the invisible head of the Church. This office the pope has stolen. One could remark, let the pope just be the highest human secretary of the Church and Christ still may be the invisible head. Papacy could be endured, if the pope would really be merely the highest human administrator of the Church organisation.
Yet in fact the pope is the spiritual head of the Roman Catholic Church and this cannot be tolerated.
What is the problem about that?
The first Christian Church was the Church of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Church). It was a really good and Christian Church, where people could find health for soul and body. This Church consisted mainly ot the Churches of Italy, Egypt, Greece, Palestine and Syria. Clerics of these Churches met sometimes on free international (ecu-menical) Councils, where they freely discussed complicated matters of the doctrine. The ecu-menical Councils were not predetermined by a lousy pope, but let by the Holy Spirit. The outcome of such Councils was indeed the divine decision and these decisions are still valid today after so many centuries.
Nothing is more blasphemous than a predetermined council, because it is pure hypocrisy. Imagine Obama would predetermine all decisions of the Congress and the Senate. It would be ridiculous, if they would still meet. Predetermined councils are a lie in itself, because they conceal the absolut power of the "pope-rat(z)". All Catholics are ruled by one ridiculous individual from Bavaria, which doesn't understand the Bible.
At a predetermined council the bishops only gather to let sth. through on the nod. How shall the Holy Spirit influence such a council of hypocrisy? It is impossible. The Spirit is completely extinguished on such a council.
The real Church is a spiritual body in a real sense. No human being is able to lead this spiritual organism, but merely Christ or the Spirit, which are powerful, divine persons.
Hence, it is clear that the Roman Catholic Church had to corrupt totally in the course of history, because a human dwarf (the pope) tried to lead her and failed totally lacking any divine abilities to lead Christ's body. The RCC has become a pi-sspot of heresies.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit we condemn the Roman Catholic Church. There, you can find no health, but merely damnation. She has become the cursed harlot of the Revelation, which will finally get destroyed by the Most High.
Dear Catholic, Muslim, Mormon, Rebaptizer, etc. forsake your false cult, church or religion and join the loveable, meek and humble Jesus from Nazareth, become a Protestant Christian.
Here is my love in Christ: In contrast to the pope Luther teached the true gospel. What is that?
Luther once was a Roman Catholic Abbot (even a supervisor of several monasteries). As a child Luther got baptized in the Roman Catholic Church. He never got baptized again.
The Roman Catholic Church had added on someting to the baptism: Righteousness by good works. This was totally wrong and Luther rejected that doctrine. Luther started to reform the RCC. The congregations of the RCC, which accepted Luther's reform, became the Evangelical Church of Germany. Luther teached that a believer shall always live a life of righteousness by the power of his first baptism (mostly infant baptism) and if he has sinned again the believer shall exercise privat confession and return to his first baptism, but not try to get righteousness by good works (to say a rosary, to do a pilgrimage, buy indulgence and the like).
What happens at baptism?
God, the Father, delivered God, the Son, for our sins and raised him from the dead for our justification. We get metaphysically connected with Christ's death and resurrection by baptism (look Romans 6). In a narrower sense we can only believe in Christ in connection with the sacramental baptism. At baptism we die and resurrect with Jesus. Our sins get atoned by his death and we get a new life of righteousness by his resurrection. This is the true and powerful faith, which restores sinners. After baptism we are dead for the sin and in Christ. We have died and resurrected together with him. Day by day we overcome our sinful body by the power of baptism. We daily invite Jesus to be our meek and humble ruler.
This is the doctrine on baptism by Luther, St. Paul, Bonhoeffer and the Early Church.
Prayer really changes things
Prayer doesn’t not; you are such a LIAR. You have NO proof it changes anything! A great example of prayer proven not to work is the Christians in jail because prayer didn't work and their children died. For example: Susan Grady, who relied on prayer to heal her son. Nine-year-old Aaron Grady died and Susan Grady was arrested.
An article in the Journal of Pediatrics examined the deaths of 172 children from families who relied upon faith healing from 1975 to 1995. They concluded that four out of five ill children, who died under the care of faith healers or being left to prayer only, would most likely have survived if they had received medical care.
The statistical studies from the nineteenth century and the three CCU studies on prayer are quite consistent with the fact that humanity is wasting a huge amount of time on a procedure that simply doesn’t work. Nonetheless, faith in prayer is so pervasive and deeply rooted, you can be sure believers will continue to devise future studies in a desperate effort to confirm their beliefs!!!!!! . .. .
DO NOT FEED THIS SIMPLETON REPETÏTIVE TROLL!!!!!
I like chololate cake
@HeavenSent –
If you're still hearing voices you should try another med.
William Demuth and atheism is not healthy are both very similar people. They havee different beliefs but ither than that theyre both complete f-uckin m0rons.
Excellent!
Here I thought the whole day would pass without my having annoyed a simpleton.
Your hostility is an endless source of joy for me!
William, you just proved that you enjoy yourself over someone else's pain.
Another point against atheism, that is self centered, self absorbed, totally out for themselves at the expense of anyone/everyone... Yet, you continue on with your audacity to bash Jesus' truth.
Of course I do.
Funny thou that your religion hangs a symbolic tourture device around your neck as a symbol of piety to your sky friend?
You see I like HUMAN justice, and I think you and yours are do a little pay back.
This pedophille church in particular needs to be destroyed. It's victims are going to do to it, what it has done to so many in the past.
Shall we stone them drown them or burn them to death?
Don't feed the Jesustani troll.
I have a question for my fellow believers. Why do you believe in Christianity and not something else? Do you think that if you knew everything about every religion that you would still believe the same? Do you think there is anything that would make you change your mind?
You believe because you were forced to as a child.
It's called indoctrination.
If you were in a Muslim country, you would be worshiping Mohammed.
Most are weak, and do as they are told. If you are told to believe as a child, it's difficult to stop as an adult, regardless of whatever evidence you are shown
J.W
That is the hot fiery arrow non believers shot at Christians all day long.
-So many different beliefs means God is incompetent at getting his message out. It is man that continues to add his personal twists onto what God has said. If there is a God then in the beginning God created…..
No, not the Hebrew God but God who we cannot comprehend. The Hebrew God is the most recognized revelation of God. God has revealed to us those things we need to know and that which we can understand. Over time we have become more civilized and advanced so the revelations become deeper. From the God who had to kill off all the Amalekites because they would not stop their brutality to Jesus who said love your enemy.
-If there is a God then God would know where your soul needed to be in order that you could reflect all that it was designed for. Where you were placed is the testing ground or a garden where your free choice would reveal that true heart of all that you are. Good, bad or indifferent.
-It was God who told Abraham that he would bless both Isaac and Ishmael and make them a great people. God also said Ishmael would show his heal to his brother Isaac. Since that time we have the two lines of Jews and Arabs that have yet to stop the squabble over the temple land. The Muslims have twisted much of Scripture as have say the Mormons (it is what man does with religion) and some twist Scripture so much the truth is hard to find. There are blessed souls in both camps that reflect the glory of God and will not be denied the Kingdom.
-In short God is bigger than we give credit for so we are all on a life journey that will leave no doubt where our eternal soul would find rest.
Yeah maybe. I would think that eventually if you had all of the information available to you that eventually the idea may cross your mind though. It would be difficult to change, but especially for people who believe in hell, I would think you would want to study as much as you could and make sure you were right about what you believe.
I agree fred that the message can become twisted. I always feel that it feels like the message of Jesus of peace and love has been generally forgotten in today's church. We do need to make sure we know where the twisting begins though, and to make sure we are not the ones doing the twisting.
I grew up in an atheist/agnostic family, in the least "religious" portion of the USA.
What convinced me was the facts surrounding the historicity of the Jewish people, the authenticity of the bible, Jesus and the resurrection.
Those are all falsifiable things, rooted in historical claims. The claims of buddhism, Islam, hinduism, taoism, etc, etc.. are not falsifiable, one either chooses to believe them or not..
Hello J.W.
I am a believer and a Christian for different reasons. Focusing on Christianity, I would say that I was convinced that I am capable of radical evil by intent if not by actions. Christ offers a way for someone such as myself to approach God and to be approached by God.
I know a lot about a lot of religions... I am certainly not a orthodoxy type person. But as an American I can not accept the government assault on faith without getting mad as fire.
Personally, it was my pursuit of knowledge of my own religion that eventually led me down the path towards atheism. I had grown up all my life with my parents extolling the virtues of judaism and what judaism meant to them. However, it wasn't until my freshman year in college that I started getting blowback from jewish kids calling my own judaism into doubt because I didn't practice like they did. I wanted to do research in order to show them that I was as jewish as they were but it ended up showing me some of the most ridiculous things that I, nor anyone else I knew, actually practiced. I realized that judaism, when practiced correctly according to the torah, is pretty fu.cked. That's when I wondered what was going on in the other religions around the world as well. Pretty much, every religion boiled down to technical truths and rituals are pretty ridiculous. I would wager that almost every believer practices his/her religion their own way to make it more palatable, but in my opinion I feel most people can take those truths they've learned (like say, love thy neighbor, or education and philanthropy are virtues, etc...) and not have to attach religious significance to do any of those things.
Johnny in NC
Johnny. You live in North Carolina, the American equivalent of Kabul.
We are not surprised. I guess its that whole losing the Civil War thing? Clutching bibles because bullets didn't work?
I guess burning down most of your state back in the day really left you guys behind the modernity curve ball.
Just in case you are unaware, this is the 21st century, and the confederacy lost.
@Chuckles "...I started getting blowback from jewish kids calling my own judaism into doubt because I didn't practice like they did. I wanted to do research in order to show them that I was as jewish as they were but it ended up showing me some of the most ridiculous things that I, nor anyone else I knew, actually practiced. I realized that judaism, when practiced correctly according to the torah, is pretty [messed up] ..."
@Chad "I think that without a context, the "Law" does look like a crazy set of rules to follow in order to "please God".
Wash your hands, cut a bird in two, wave a sheaf of wheat in the air, pour wine on the ground, dietary restrictions, Sabbath restrictions, seems crazy, what's the point?
If you could step back for a minute and see the sweep of humanities historical interaction with God, you would see the "method to the madness" so to speak.. Namely that God was instructing the Israelites that there was a good, there was a bad, that there was accountability, and that we all are in big trouble in our current estranged situation.
The entire point of the Law was to set the stage for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.
Chad
No, that may be how christians reconcile the old testament with the new and how they get away with not having to follow the law anymore, but for jews the main reason we're supposed to follow the law is mostly to separate ourselves from everyone else. A lot of the law is to make sure jews stand out among the gentiles, this includes dietary restrictions, pais, the kippah (outside the synagogue), the type of clothing, etc.... It's not just the law and dietary restrictions that made me realize that rituals in Judaism were purposefully divisive.
I wouldn't expect you to be able to understand judaism from an outsiders point of view, the same way I will never understand christianity for the same reason, just know Chad that trying to explain my own religion to me through the lens of yours doesn't really make sense and just seems foolish.
@Chuckles ".. for jews the main reason we're supposed to follow the law is mostly to separate ourselves from everyone else..."
@Chad "That is certainly A reason, but not THE reason..
The Mosaic covenant:
"Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”" Exodus
The purpose was clearly to lay out a set of rules which if adhered to would result in blessing, and if broken would result in curse.:
If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. 13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—...... Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors. 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
6 Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills..... You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. 19 If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God. " Deuteronomy
Keep the law-blessing
Break the law-curse
That was the entire point.
Well at least you stuck with the torah, and yes you are right, on a purely religious view back when the temple still stood, you are right. On a cultural and historical level, there's more than meets the eye. I mean, think about it for a second. God makes animals like pigs, and shrimp and what not. They are edible (and extremely delicious might I add) and yet god forbids us to eat them. Don't you think it would have been easier for god to make those animals poisonous so we wouldn't eat them for fear of dying? Of course, but god makes them edible so he can make a rule for us not to eat them so we'll follow rules for rules sake.
Thats besides the point though, keeping kosher is just one of the many different reasons that I decided to stop practicing judaism.
@Chuckles "... Of course, but god makes them edible so he can make a rule for us not to eat them so we'll follow rules for rules sake...."
@Chad "seems crazy right? But here is the reason:
"....‘Every creature that moves along the ground is to be regarded as unclean; it is not to be eaten. 42 You are not to eat any creature that moves along the ground, whether it moves on its belly or walks on all fours or on many feet; it is unclean. 43 Do not defile yourselves by any of these creatures. Do not make yourselves unclean by means of them or be made unclean by them. 44 I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. 45 I am the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. 46 “‘These are the regulations concerning animals, birds, every living thing that moves about in the water and every creature that moves along the ground. 47 You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.’”
the rule was there so that you would distinguish the clean from the unclean.
It was a lesson in precisely that, differentiation, clean/unclean, right/wrong, holy/unholy, righteous/unrighteous.
It's only when somethings are prohibited, that "breaking a law" becomes possible.
Without rules, there is no law to break.
God set up the entire system of defining right and wrong for a reason, it isnt until you get to the NT that the reason is uncovered.. but just looking at the OT you see overwhelmingly that God is setting up do's and don'ts.
without rules, there is no rule to break. If there is one thing that the OT teaches us, it is precisely that.
William, the only fools that got conditioned by the ways of the world is the last few generations. You are so clueless it's beyond imagination.
Chuckles, you just described all the scavengers that eat the poisons (aka garbage) that is created ... to ensure the world is cleaned.
Chad
Did you really need the bible to teach that if there were no rules then there would no rules to be broken? Really? Did you get inspiration from the bible when you learned that if there were no colors there would be no green?
Listen, I understand that from a believer, it's easy to do the mental gymnastics for god to say "we follow the rules because he made them and we follow him because he made us" so you don't have to try and explain the WHY of it, only that he said so and thats good enough, but I could never understand why I would follow a rule if I didn't see any reason.
@Chuckles "Did you really need the bible to teach that if there were no rules then there would no rules to be broken?"
@Chad "the principle being created is one of accountability.. The rules define the standard for that accountability"
==================
@Chuckles "Listen, I understand that from a believer, it's easy to do the mental gymnastics for god to say "we follow the rules because he made them and we follow him because he made us" so you don't have to try and explain the WHY of it, only that he said so and thats good enough, but I could never understand why I would follow a rule if I didn't see any reason"
@Chad "Here is the reason:
And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being Genesis 9
The reason is, He is going to judge us, and not a single one of us gets to opt out. There is no escape, there is no court of appeals, there is no-way-out.
Chad
Your points all hinge on Judaism and then later Christianity being right. That's fine for you to believe and if you really think that the god of the bible exists and created solely to spend our lifetimes making sure we don't step on his toes too much, go for it. For me though, instead of trying to practice judaism and act like that's the only religion that's right, I'll use this time enjoy myself because lifes too short
@Chuckles "Your points all hinge on Judaism and then later Christianity being right"
@Chad "100% true.
As Malachi said:
“You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’” Malachi 3
Or as Paul put it:
"if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.... If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”[d]" 1 Corinthians 15
People have asked the exact same question you are asking for 3500 years; is the God of Abraham real?
yes
See.... People have been asking that question for thousands of years and yet a simple "yes" doesn't really answer it, again, you can go on and keep on believing, I on the other hand have not found sufficient reason for me to believe in judaism.
I'll make a deal with you, you can suggest any book you like and I'll read it and come back with a book report.
You read the book I suggest and come back with a book report.
deal?
Possibly, I have a pretty long reading list though so, no offense, but your book wouldn't take priority nor do I see what this would necessarily accomplish.
Well, my motivation is to get people to investigate the historicity of the nation of Israel and Jesus of Nazareth, and by so doing see how God has guided the whole thing and is very real.
Granted, I get defensive and sarcastic as much as anyone in many of my posts (for which I sincerely apologize), but my real goal is to find folks that might be interested in exploring the possibility and get them info.
If you were going to pick a book for me, what would it be?
As weird as it may seem, one of the biggest influences on me has nothing to do with religion at all. It's a book called the Worthing Saga by Orson Scott Card. Very science-fictiony and a pretty enjoyable read. The implications the book points to, though a bit heavy handed interested me in a way that stuffy religious books never really did.
And what book would you recommend?
what's your #1 objection to the authenticity of the biblical narrative?
Ummm..... It assumes the existence of a superntural being for which there is not a shred of objective, verifiable, independent or factual evidence?
Chuckles,
Have you moved out to the S.F. Bay area yet?
(I have never played matchmaker in my whole life, but I do have a little 'idear' now, pending a bit more info, of course)
Cap'n Sayin Atheism Isn't an Angry Pervert Sue Neuman like redundancy.
He likes repeating the same thing over and over
Repeti.tion is fun for him.
Pleonasms give him org/asms.
I see the flame war continues!
Has anyone found the root of the Canadian hatred thing yet?
The dude needs to be on a watch list in Ottowa
There is no hate Canada thing. What is objectionable is butt in canadian atheist types who contribute nothing to either country but especially America. We do not need them or their BS opinions here, we don't even need our homegrown ones. We are one nation under God. Doc V with its multiple persons theory can go screw itself all doc v is thought of here is summed up in one simple phrase...ass hole. There's your sign
Then whats with the "Sign" thing
You remind me of Hal Lindsey?
Prophecy signs?
agency id .There's your sign
captain america
Communication can work if you try?
Agency ID? Black Helicopters?
If I told you i'd have to... There's your sign
Okay, I admit it. I am a gay Canadian. I have a lot of self-loathing. But my church loves me: because I mumbled endlessly about prayer changing diapers and there's you sign, they gave me a graduation certificate that said "Restraining Order" and told me I had graduated and that I did not need to ever come back, that the Lord wanted me to go far away and spread the word somewhere else, very far away.
People love me, I convert millions every day, and God exists!
I'm very very stupid. There's your sign . . .
A phony atheist always overplays its hand. There's your sign
Cap, they do make heavier thicknesses of aluminum foil if you need to keep all of the government/alien/atheist mind controlling waves out of your skull...
I'm just wondering if we were Canadian Christian if CA would shut up!!!
Amen!
Prayer changes things
From one Christian to another, please stop. You really bring nothing to the conversation, sorry to say but it's true. Posting this over and over every day gets really old and quite frankly, anyone who isn't a Christian or who is on the verge of deciding, they're going to see this post and assume all Christians are as ignorant as this post. If you want to post your feelings on prayer or any other subject please feel free, I just feel that posting this trite redundant phrase every single day does much more harm than good.
Cheers and God bless.
Prayer changes things.
The cheers gives you away. Phony. God bless
Prayer doesn’t not; you are so full of crap and lies. You have NO proof it changes anything! A great example of prayer proven not to work is the Christians in jail because prayer didn't work and their children died. For example: Susan Grady, who relied on prayer to heal her son. Nine-year-old Aaron Grady died and Susan Grady was arrested.
An article in the Journal of Pediatrics examined the deaths of 172 children from families who relied upon faith healing from 1975 to 1995. They concluded that four out of five ill children, who died under the care of faith healers or being left to prayer only, would most likely have survived if they had received medical care.
The statistical studies from the nineteenth century and the three CCU studies on prayer are quite consistent with the fact that humanity is wasting a huge amount of time on a procedure that simply doesn’t work. Nonetheless, faith in prayer is so pervasive and deeply rooted, you can be sure believers will continue to devise future studies in a desperate effort to confirm their beliefs!
The stupidity gives me away. There's your . . . ooops, thats another of my phony handles, not this one. I'm really a taco short of a six-pack in the chandelier.
Fraud posting above, several frauds actually. God bless
Trolling, it is a kind of power rush or ego trip to be a troll. Being online is a place that is largely free of perceived consequences... an insecure person can get a sense of power online, without ever having to face someone directly. With the Internet being a world of imagination and fantasy for some, cowardly users can forge an alter ego for themselves, and act out their feelings of anger and inadequacy. It's sad and unfortunate that our advanced communications also brings out the darker side of many people.
Robert Brown
We actually agree on this one.
It's CNN's fault. This interface is years old, and dosen't require even basic info registration, so actual accountability is tough.
With the name hijacking it isn't even possible to be sure who is posting what, so the dialouge can go down hill fast.
I'm a Christian and know first hand that prayer changes things.
Amen.
I hear God's voice.
Amen.
@HeavenSent – "I hear God's voice."
There are medications for that.
True story. I am elderly and wear depends. One day I ate too much fiber and it was golphering. I was driving across country and miles and miles from the nearest town. I prayed to God to give me strength and to help me with the golphering. It worked...it went righ back up in me until I got to the next town. I am a Christian and know prayer works.
Amen.
My medication is the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
@HeavenSent –
If you're still hearing voices you should try another med.
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