jkf727

...other believers here, or would I be only one among just a few? I want to get the general makeup of the forum.

Having said that, I am happy to post here...

Gooch's dad

welcome, jkf727, I'm the one who invited you to post here. Can you tell us a bit more about yourself and your background?

There are a great many theists who post here, and I'd guess that the majority of them are Christians. Take a look at some of the active threads in the Existence of God forum, or the Philosophy forum, or General Religious Discussions. The Christians run the gamut from biblical literalist, young-earth creationists, like I gather you are, to liberal Christians who don't believe in a literal hell, for example.

Again, welcome!

Kelly

Mageth

Welcome!

There are many other believers here, though I'm not sure of the percentage of total posters that are believers. If I was guessing, I'd say 10-20%.

But note that "believers" is a broad category; we have believers with a wide variety of beliefs: Liberal Christians, Conservative Protestants, Catholics, Pagans, a few Moslems, Buddhists, etc. You name it, we've probably seen it. So don't be surprised if your beliefs don't always sync those of some of the other believers around here.

jkf727

I think you will find that everyone is going to be arguing with me, without doubt. If you have athiests all the way to every doctrinal aspect under the umbrella of "Christianity", then I would likely be able to quit my dayjob and all other things I do, and exclusively post here.

Of course that won't happen.

Because, you see, I know that the Bible is the literal Word of God, infallible, from beginning to end. That fact is written in the testimony of everyone's hearts.

Jesus was often perceived as confrontational to many, because He didn't beat around the bush and He didn't pull any punches, yet all He said was flavored with grace. So what we will find, is that most people are debating politics, rather than Christianity, when they debate Christianity (i.e., gay is wrong, abortion is wrong, Bush vs. Kerry, what have you...).

In reality, it's all based on relationship. A personal relationship with a Man-God named Jesus, which is the source of our eternal salvation. And when that is established, all those other "issues" disappear.

But when people refuse to see Christianity as nothing more than what I just said, and they want to add to it, politics, then it is a debate.

But if it is presented simply as a saving relationship with the only true God, then there's not much else to debate.

Because, I entered into a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ, that didn't involve politics, denomination, or even ANY church.

But we'll save that for another time.

What is the limit for text on these boxes? Here's a test...

littlegirlost

During my short time at II, I've enjoyed reading posts from people who represent a variety of different beliefs. As Mageth said, there are quite a few "believers" here, but not just in the traditional Christian sense. If you're accustomed to being surrounded by people with homogenous beliefs, prepare to be stretched, it's incredibly refreshing. Welcome to the boards!

littlegirlost

You might want to direct any statement on personal religious dogma to a different forum, the Lounge is supposed to be a non-religious forum.

blt to go

You should also be aware of a large percentage of former believers. Mageth is a good example. So--fair warning that many of us will have heard the gospel preached 1000's of times.

Some know the bible better than you think. (I, for one, do not know koine greek or hebrew. some here do.)

If you are here to test your faith, you will enjoy the stay. If you are here to teach others your beliefs, prepare to be confronted. If you are here to preach, prepare to be disappointed.

As our former good friend, Dr. X would say, "Mind the hounds."

Have fun!

Mageth

Very good point. Heck, many of us, myself included, preached the Gospel ourselves on more than one occasion.

jkf727

Mageth-

So what happened?

Mageth

Atheists' "testimony" thread

I believe I have at least two posts on that thread broadly describing my deconversion.

Indeed, I do; one short one on the first page, and a longer version here:

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.p...17#post1440517