Dan52

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Everything posted by Dan52

  1. God does not condemn people 'despite' their love, but in the absence of their love. If you do not love the biblical God, then you love a god of your own imagination, or another book. jmo "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him" (John 14:7) Mirrors don't count
  2. Once we say that God has little if anything to do with the Bible -- We are left with an unknown God.
  3. Absolutely, there are many who read the bible and conclude that God is not fair. Everyone has their own idea of what's fair, but since all righteousness resides in God, his judgements surpass our standards. I personally don't understand some of Gods decisions, but its safe to say that God does not evaluate everything the same way we do; "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9). So even when we can see no rhyme or reason for what God determines; "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28). And I agree that the fairness of God can be misconstrued by any individual who wrongly interprets what's written.
  4. I'm a fundamentalist, but I believe your childhood church was incorrect. There is nothing in the bible that literally suggest that the lake of fire is a place where one would burn forever in constant agony. Rather, it is a place of spiritual death, meaning its eternal only in the sense that there's no coming back, its a permanent second death where you cease to exist for evermore. Also, God does not sentence people for trivial sins, Jesus covered our sins. God judges those who reject Christ and refuse to repent of their sins. All will be given an equal opportunity, God is fair.
  5. Its true, the bible clearly teaches that the unsaved will all perish. You may not like the message, you may question the message, or you might disregard the message, but it is biblical. "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). How loving or responsible would it be not to tell someone about the possibility of spiritual death? I do agree that you shouldn't traumatize a child, but rather teach them that Christ is not a burden, but everlasting life. But as adults, a little fear never hurts, in fact it can be just the motivational factor needed to keep us out of trouble. Behaving morally is no guarantee of any reward.... If it is, I'm in some serious trouble.
  6. I suspect most nonbelievers don't even believe that hell exist, so the lake of fire can't be a scare tactic to them anymore than heaven can be an incentive. The threat of hell doesn't frighten nonbelievers, and its not applicable to believers. Its like telling a child that if they're not good Santa won't bring them any presents. That threat is moot if the child doesn't believe in Santa.
  7. If in fact, hell is a true concept, its no more abusive to advise a child of hell than it is to warn a child not to play in traffic. jmo
  8. Fred Phelps, the founder and leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, died today. I suspect he was a serious minister that no one took seriously, including God.
  9. A man says to his psychiatrist, "Doc I have a problem. From the time I get up in the morning, my seven kids drive me nuts, we all share one bathroom, so I don't even get to shave alone. Then I car-pool to work where I'm surrounded by dozens of co-workers who drive me crazy all day. When I get home, between my wife and kids, I have no private time at all. Even on my days off, my wife insist on inviting friends and family over every weekend. I never have a minute of free time for myself or a moment of solitude. Can you help me? The psychiatrist says, "So what exactly is your problem?" Man says, "Haven't you been listening doc? I'M SO FREAKING LONELY" Loneliness can be an empty soul void of purpose. "He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). In that sense, I've never been alone.
  10. http://www.cheryl-morgan.com/?page_id=810
  11. Well, I didn't get the sense that Robertson was forcing his views on anyone. It was the GQ writer Drew Magary who brought the subject up and asked, "What, in your mind is sinful?". That's when Robertson paraphrased those verses which list various sins; drunkenness, adultery, greed, idolatry, homosexuality, slanderers, swindlers, thieves, etc. So imo, he wasn't force feeding his beliefs down the throats of others, he was just answering a simple question. While I agree that there are radical Christian groups like Westboro who cross the line, the majority of Christians don't. But when asked a direct question like Robertson was, most in the faith would feel obligated to give an honest answer, because Jesus said; "whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 10:33).
  12. I don't get this? Last week, reality was a polar vortex. Despite my best efforts to create my own reality of 80 degrees, it remained -10 below..... That's reality, and I didn't create it.
  13. My point was that Robertson was asked a question and he responded by paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10. His answer was what he believed to be true. He did not personally condemn anyone. Imo, the bigots are those who insist on Robertson accepting what they believe, its that old adage; "adopt our standards and abandon yours", otherwise you'll suffer the repercussions and we'll stick the bigot label on you. Having a fear or contempt for gays is the definition of homophobic, and Robertson expressed neither. He simply stated his belief that it was wrong, and that's no different than those who believe its right. Neither belief/opinion is stupid or ignorant.
  14. That seems like a polite way of saying Christians are ignorant.
  15. After reading your initial post, I just prayed that if it be the Fathers will, that she might continue living. I had a very sick aunt who was suffering with cancer a while back, and when I went to see her, I told her that I had prayed for her to live. She said, "Well damn it, stop that!" Anyway, glad your Mom is hanging tough and is back home.
  16. Maybe that's the problem? If a person isn't hooking any fish, maybe its time to change the bait. I found a lovely girlfriend by simply making a few personal adjustments, everything was going great until the wife found out
  17. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all do the right thing without any guidance? Warn your friend and give your bro a lecture JMO My mother is also in bad shape... I was going to pray for God to let her live a lot longer, but then left it to God to take her or heal her. If I ever get to a point where my health is gone, I'm depressed and suffering, I hope no one ask God to make me live a long time like that. I'm sure everyone here would comply with my request, even if I'm healthy and happy
  18. Its good to hear that you feel that way.... Can we send the bill to you? Nothings free, even freedom.
  19. When I was a boy, my mother would have slapped me upside the head if I walked around with my butt cheeks outside my pants. What bothers me is that we need signs to uphold a degree of public decency. It seems pretty presumptuous for a guy to think that everyone else enjoys looking at his butt hanging out of his pants. On the other hand, I've never had a problem with a foxy chick's butt hanging out of short shorts
  20. I believe the bible, so I discuss it with the presumption of it being true. When I state things like "we know that Israel and David did sin", I am referencing what's known from what's written. Of course, from the perspective of a nonbeliever such as yourself, nothing can be known because there's no evidence to substantiate it. But just to clarify, I was speaking in the context of what we know 2 Samuel 24 says, and not contending that any belief is factually known. By the way, you wrote; "I see no compelling evidence that King David was anything more than a myth. So "we" know no such thing". What compelling evidence do you have that King David was a myth?
  21. Or perhaps, the ability to maintain a specific belief constitutes a satisfied mind
  22. Happy 2013 Here's 13 dancing banana's for good luck in the New Year.
  23. I actually think this is a very tame forum, to the point of being boring sometimes. Considering that everyone believes something different, its amazing how civilized the bulk of the members are. Compared to some of the Yahoo discussion groups where rules are essentially nonexistent, ULC is a pretty friendly place. I belong to a Christianity Board, and it gets more heated than anything I've seen here, despite everyone having a common denominator that should unite all the members. So its unavoidable that others will take some offense when you disagree with them, the super-sensitive will resent your opinion, feel offended, and get defensive. Members can only try to state their opinions diplomatically, and moderators can only try to keep the conversations non-abusive and semi-civilized; no personal attacks, name calling, etc. Politics and religion have always been contentious subjects, so to expect sunshine and roses while discussing these topics is an unrealistic expectation, a degree of conflict is inevitable...If only everyone had my carefree disposition
  24. Well, I guess we can't control where we're born or the dominant influences around us, but you seem to have access to more information than what's in your immediate surroundings now, and that presents choices. Your correct from a Christian perspective, God denies no one eternal life if they believe and accept him (John 3:16), and you don't even need to live a sinless life. I didn't even know that was possible? Well, being a monotheist Christian, I believe Christ is the only Truth (John 14:6). I also believe the Holy Spirit was sent by Christ, he described it as the 'Comforter', the Spirit of truth (John 15:26). You are correct though, there are many other spirits that others prefer, but being a one-dimensional thinking fundamentalist, I believe there's only one Holy Spirit.
  25. People are saved by hearing the gospel and believing in Christ, that's the Christian faith. Without quoting the bible, everyone will have an opportunity to accept Christ. Those who don't have an opportunity to hear or learn of Him while in the flesh, will have an opportunity to accept Christ in the millennium (Revelation 20), which is a thousand year period set-aside for that purpose. After Christ was crucified, he went and preached to all the people who had previously died in sin (1 Peter 3:19), so everyone from the beginning had the same opportunity to accept his saving grace as we do today. God is fair, He excludes no one. God doesn't hate you, He simply loves those who love him and denies those who deny him. The golden rule is biblical, but Christians don't believe that good conduct alone can save a person, we all fall short of the glory of God and need to accept atonement for our sins, which is Christ. I don't believe God created anyone a Hindu, Muslim, or Christian, but that we are all free to think, choose, and accept what we decide is true. That's just my opinion and the basic fundamentalist pov. Boy, I'm sure not holding to my "post less often" plan