FredClaus

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  1. "If I follow the philosophy of atheism, stoicism, and skepticism blended(and I do, by the way), then am I not entitled to enjoy the exercise of statement of that belief?" I have not read the threads on this board you described and I have not read all the replies to this one, however I would answer YES. I may not agree with you on some topics, but that's what's great about this country. We are all free to have our own beliefs and we are free to express those beliefs. If someone is being respectful of others who may not think the way they do, I think we are all entitled to our beliefs. If you are expressing your beliefs so that we may learn and understand how you feel, and what you believe I am completely on board. What I don't think anyone has the right to do is disrespect anyone because of their beliefs. That is not in line with any of the religions we associate with here. I also don't think that any one religion should be forcing it's views on others, or preventing them from worshiping and celebrating as they wish because they don't agree. If you don't agree, step out while the others do their thing. It's call respect, and being a good human being. I don't care what religion you are, if you are a nice person I will respect you. By the way, I don't know if it's right to say Atheism is a "religion" I just used that word because I don't know enough about Atheism to call it anything else. Keep sharing your beliefs here. Those who can't respect that are not worth your time.
  2. I started reading your comment and thought to myself, I know Christians like that as well. I'm glad you added that to your statement. Yes people are complicated and weird. Well said my friend.
  3. I don't understand how all this bickering came out of a wonderfully worded sermon from Dave. This is Dave's opinion and I respect him for that. Personally I also agree with him on the original post. Even if I didn't agree however, it's his opinion. When people start bickering back and forth because you don't agree, it takes away from the meaning of the original post. Can we just agree to disagree and move on? At least Dave put his feeling out there. So some people don't agree. How about those people write a sermon and post it here to express their feelings? That's what this is for. I say, keep at it Dave.
  4. St. Jude is not Catholic, nor are the affiliated with any organized religion. Danny Thomas who founded St. Jude, was a Catholic however. St. Jude was his personal saint so he named his hospital after him. I do believe the same. I don't care what religion you are, if you are a good person you get my respect. My church hosts Lenten Lunches every year and all the churches in our town take a turn providing the meal and the talk. We always start out with the Catholic church first then figure everyone else out later. Each week no matter what church is providing the meal, it's always attended by all the churches. Its the one time a year when no matter what faith you are, we can all sit down together and God's children.
  5. It's been a long time since I've been here. I was thinking about taking the Doctor of Christian Ethics course at the seminary. Has anyone taken that one yet? What did you think?
  6. I haven't read everyone's replies on this topic, but I want to say my two cents on the original post. I am not a Catholic, but I am Christian. In my case the Holy Bible is my book in question, and yes I have read it. Having read the book, it makes me question some of the things that I was taught in Sunday School. In my case the book is full of inconsistencies and can never be taken literally. You have to understand what it mean to the people it was written for and question is this "Timeless" or "Timely"? Was it meant for them at that moment or can it be true today. I think that's why over time the books of the bible contradict themselves in what they say. because the were written for a different group of people at a different time. Also, I like to point out that the bible was put together by man. It may have been God inspired but man put it together. It was a council of men who said we should include these books and not these others. On who's authority did they do that? Why did they not include those other books, and how different would our understanding be if they did? I think you need to read your respective book and then do your own research. The founder of my religion was famous for having what they call the Wesley Quadrilateral. Scripture, Experience, Reason, and Tradition. Yes, Scripture is important, but it's not the end all be all. You need to form your views and your opinions on all four of these things in order to understand. After all, if Christianity was the ONLY way, why would God permit there to be a Muslim, Jewish, or other religions. If you think about it, the man we base the Christian faith on, was a Jew. I think we can all have our own opinion on earth, but it isn't until our earthly life is over that we will fullly understand. No one here can tell me I'm wrong, and I can't tell you your views are wrong. Because we just don't know.
  7. I always love learning new things. Is there some place we can read more about this?
  8. Thanks Rev Calli. I got the feeling with this book that it was very fundamental. I’m more open minded and it didn’t really sit well with me. I think I will look up CS Lewis. I read Mere Christianity but haven’t read the Screwtape Letters.
  9. Has anyone ever looked into Apologetics a child at my son’s youth group gave me a book called Tactics by Lee Strobel. Has anyone read it? What are your thoughts?
  10. Did you ever do this? You will have to tell me where you are. I will definitely stop by and see you when I come down.
  11. I teach safe sanctuary at my church and one of the things we do is talk about the kids behavior. If they are acting out of the norm for them or coming in dirty and unkept that’s another reason to call CPS. In my area of NYS you don’t need proof. You can ask them to do a welfare check on the kids.
  12. Way to go. I wish I had done my brothers wedding now.
  13. OK here’s my confusion. If you look at the ULC‘s websites on the page that talks about marriage is based on the states, it says nothing about New York except for if you were doing a marriage in the city of New York. I was talking to my pastor today and I asked him because he moved clear across state to become the pastor of our church so I asked him, when he moved across state did he have to register with this county in order to do marriages here. He advised me that in New York State pastors don’t register anywhere. So am I correct in assuming that there is no place that I need to register in order to perform a marriage in New York state?
  14. As a Technical consultant I wondered the same thing. I’ve always used an iPhone but recently got an Android. Here are my personal thoughts. Androids can be cheaper than iPhones (good ones like Samsung though are about the same) some androids can use SD cards to add memory. iPhones can’t. Android phones you can save ringtones directly instead of the syncing needed on iPhones. some apps on Android are free where they are not in iPhone. Android is an open operating system (but that also opens you up to more malware than iPhone as well) ive listed. Few of the things I’ve learned from testing out Androids. These things were not enough to make me switch. I find it easier to use an iPhone since I’ve always used one. Neither is better in general, you really need to compare specific phones. I recently saw a report comparing the Samsung Galaxy S3 (old phone) to the iPhone 5 (old phone). At the time they were the top phones. The iPhone won every test except one.
  15. Glad to see other Methodists here. I agree. Ministry is a Verb.