MMO Christian Ministy (was forum=10) (was forum=28)Follow

This is already flames. Most of us knew it would end up like this before there was a page 2. Can it be discussed civilly? Sure. Is that very likely on a video game internet forum? No. Thats not a stigma; its a high probability!

Its not beneficial to anyone either. These people are accomplishing nothing but archery practice at each other.

On the flip side, archery practice is what we do here anyways. It's not like we flame any less when anna or reij pop on, and look at the whole sept 16 AV nerf thread. It's more of a principle though. I'm not too keen on it going OOT in here, especially with people just coming in to advertise a non- ff related site. But, if its six pages, hey.

Amazing how quick SOME are to hurl Acid Bolts at a genuinely kind offer. Despite anyone's feelings about Christianity or any other religion, if you can suffer all the other indignities of this world, then be careful not to lash a scornful tongue at an open offer to check out a weblink. The person who offered didn't come in here preaching. They just sent a party invite. If you're not interested, just make nice and say

<Thanks for the offer. But I'll have to pass.>

Thanks for sharing that. I know exactly what you mean by feeling that presence. For me, this happened when I was a freshman in college. I was coming back from a weekend at my girlfriend's college, Johns Hopkins, in Baltimore, MD about an hour drive from where I went to undergrad in Washington, D.C. I was on the BW (Baltimore-Washington) Parkway going south nearing Greenbelt, MD when I started to get really tired (ironically I had had 10 hours of sleep the night before, so I'm not sure what happened.) I was driving my father's pickup truck, and I literally fell asleep at the wheel for about 5 seconds. It was 5 seconds too much. I opened my eyes to find myself in a 360 degree spin, in perfect autumn weather. I reversed the wheel to try and correct things but just put it in an opposite spin, which fortunately for others sent the pickup spinning off the road into a 50 yard wide median lined with trees. The pickup stopped when it went backward through the bed of the truck into a tree. The bumper was split in two, the tree trunk when through the bed and cracked the rear axle. I came out unscathed. Completely. Nothing other than some very minor whiplash from the belt tightening. I attribute that to evidence of God watching over me.

You, Bsphilar, can believe whatever you want.

RAPTOR JESUS IS OUR SAVIOR



Edited, Sep 21st 2008 1:37am by Lobivopis

Wow, what an explosion of posts. May I recommend:

http://www.theologyonline.com/

To paraphrase Yahtzee:

"The problem with Christianity is that it's based on the idea of a kind and benevolent god. Which seems like an easy sell at first but when life turns completely to sh*t you have to come up with all sorts of whacked out reasons why kindly old Jehova saw fit to run over little timmy with a combine harvester and then leave him in limbless agony for 18 years"

Edited, Sep 21st 2008 2:52am by Lobivopis

It is disappointing but also not too surprising to see such close-mindedness from someone of your political views. After seeing how so many Republicans act (I'm sure you know how I mean, you criticism them so much!) and then seeing that the other side was EXACTLY LIKE THEM I mostly took a step away from politics, and probably society itself. The total hypocrisy of someone saying they should be open to ideas and everyone has a right to believe what they wish and to react in such a manner when they did nothing but even mention religion is EXACTLY why there's such a divide in this country today.

They did NOTHING to make you think they were trying to shove religion down your throat. They made a post on the 2nd page of this thread saying they did not do that, that they merely are there as a source of anyone wishes to know more. They made a completely reasonable and acceptable thread which would've had no criticisms (for the most part) on any number of other topics, made a backup post to reinforce that they are a harmless group of people and yet everyone still freaks out and goes crazy calling them religious nuts.

Just to note, I mostly quoted Catwho's post because I discuss politics with her...hell probably most of my political comments are with her (that's how far I've withdrawn from politics). My point is though that you all are showing that you're just as close-minded as the religious nuts you despise and call close-minded. If all you want to do is live in peace and harmony, why don't you jump at this effort to be a civil religious member of society and support them, hoping that more religious people could be civil when it comes to their religion and dealing with those not of their religion? If both sides of this coin are going to push their beliefs down the others throats, no one is going to get anywhere.

@Bsphil and whoever else is arguing about faith (I mostly skimmed the thread looking for OP posts)- It's mostly been my opinion that there's just as much faith no matter how you believe we all started. Religious people (generally) believe there was God and He made everything from His own existence. Non-religious people believe there was a mass of energy/matter that ended up becoming everything in existence. You ask how do you know God is there? I ask, how do you know that mass was there first? There is just as much of a chance that either one is true, if you give it a fair look. If you make that first jump of faith and believe there's a God, everything else makes perfect sense upon that belief. If you go with the mass, there's been so many random chances happen that ended up in my existence it makes me wonder if there's really any point to life aside from making babies.

Maybe I elaborated a bit too far, but the basic point is that it's just as much faith no matter which one you believe. There is no evidence of exactly how it all began so the concept of a greater being can be seen as taking the easy way out...but it should still be a valid concept.

I personally don't prescribe to all the major miracles in the Bible or any form of talking to God (I don't believe it's not possible, but I don't think it's all that common) and even though this might offend some believers I liken Jesus to being the first psychiatrist. He knew psychology 1900 years before the science ever really began and that's what I base a strong amount of my belief in. Almost everything stated in the Bible as things you should do are "safe" things for how a society can healthily live life.

Commence attacks on my arguments, I may or may not troll the forum awaiting responses...

Edit: Christianity being based on a kind and benevolent God is partially people not understanding context. Jesus and what He came to represent is kind and benevolent. God for thousands of years prior wasn't exactly kind and benevolent. As well, things turning to **** is (mostly) a byproduct of free will. It's unfortunate God gave us such things, right?

Edited, Sep 21st 2008 4:01am by SirEaglestrike

I appreciate your post SirEagleStrike, but this quote bugs me.






If you make a "first jump of faith" you can jump into believing literally anything, but if you follow science there are a very few number of conclusions you can come to. Science can predict outcomes and uncover the past with certainty, which no amount of praying will do.

If someone has cancer you could take a leap of faith and cut them in the carotid artery in an attempt to rid them of the evil spirits possessing their throat. Or you could study stem cells and cancer in a lab using the same science that says we evolved from single-celled creatures and the Universe began as a single point in space-time containing all the matter that it still does today, and them come up with a cure. Your choice.



Are you too vain to accept the possibility that your existence is utterly meaningless? What makes you feel so special about yourself that you have to believe someone designed your existence, not to mention that it would give you eternal bliss for behaving well? I'm sure it's not a stretch to believe he makes RPGs dodge your tanks either, if you've convinced yourself of all that already.

Life gets much better when you realise and accept this.

/signed

I'm really tired of seeing this thread on the front page.