froggy

Only renounced? I got kicked out two days ago from the Islamic discussion forum, but many muslims like me I think.

You can't get away from us.

THX1138

I'm a bit late coming here, but I wanted to add my $0.02. I was raised a "nominal Catholic" & got involved with the very fundamentalist Church of Christ in my early 20's. Later I read Wittgenstein & was introduced to philosophical Taoism (by a friend of mine, a retired "unorthodox" Greek Orthodox priest!). Around that time I was more or less an agnostic on many issues, though I considered myself in many respects to be some sort of "liberal Christian."

I've come to terms with a lot of my doubts & consider myself to be an atheist, but more importantly, I consider myself to be a "post-Christian humanist," simply meaning that I am a humanist who acknowledges the religious as well as secular contributions made to humanism in history, so I feel equally at home with Thomas Merton as well as Albert Camus. Unfortunately, too many people are interested in polarization than dialogue, & I still get the accusatory "Whose side are you on anyway?" from both so-called believers as well as so-called unbelievers. Oh well.

I am currently attending a tiny Quaker group in a nearby town (surprised there are ANY in my area at all!) where toeing any particular theology takes a back seat to the simple belief that there is something or inherent worth in each & every human being (traditionally this would be because everyone partakes of divinity since all was created by God-- I can accept this as a helpful myth, but not as literal fact-- but then again, Quakers generally aren't literalistic about the Bible). But this belief in the inherent worth of a human being is important enough for me & I take it as an article of faith for myself. I don't have much patience for metaphysics anymore, & think it irrelevant (whatever gets you thru the night, you know). Anyway, that is my own personal "point of contact" with Christianity. Quakerism is pretty consistent with this basic humanistic ideal & appeals to me as a "middle way" between secular as well as religious humanism.

It may not be very coherent, but it makes enough sense for me.

J

IamMoose

Yeah but fundies on this forum don't tend to last very long.

IamMoose

Yeah I know that polarity thing .. it sucks. I don't see why any of us have to take 'sides' if we don't want to.

i've heard some good things about Quakerism before actually. Mainly, that one or two fundies of my acquaintance don't like them :Cheeky:

IamMoose

There is sometimes something disingenuous about such claims, to be sure, given that there are people out there who will raise their kids as very militant atheists ... I consider that to be just as much a form of conditioning. Personally, i am in favour of raising children to see all sides of an argument, as the best way of getting a reasonably objective adult (of course, there's no such thing as totally objective).

It's not that far, ya know

I dunno I am not all that convinced by any of those .. also I wonder what translation you're using? SOme of them I have never seen before, at least with that type of wording.

Just to be contrary .. no I don't

He doesn't say it's HIM though..




No, that was real sarcasm. :-P

In all seriousness, Buffman, I'm curious about your faith. I'm not saying your environment is dictating your beliefs, but it does seem that you have a lot of resources (many of which you've already linked to) that you trust, and at least reinforce what you already believed prior to reading them. How do you know that these sources are legit, and not just FUD-factories?[/QUOTE]

Buffman

:huh:

IamMoose

Just like to point out that it wasn't me who psoted that .. I think it was llamaluvr

h2o4life_200

Hey sorry about the delay in getting back. Thats what school and work does.

I agree with this. If I am a believer and someone else is not, I still value what they have to say simply on the basis that I don't believe that they would have said it if they didn't believe it as well. Not to mention the fact that I am probably one of only a few professing Christians on this site. I don't come here looking for a fight but more to hear what people think.

Of course not. He would not say something that directly contradicts himself. Think of it synonymously. If a country lets say china sends a diplomat, that person is not china, but simply the physical manifestation of china. So, since God cannot be seen by his nature as an immaterial abstract invaraible entity(which is the most precise way of putting it LOL) he must come to earth in forms that are representative of himself. The burning bush, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit which fills all space and time. The existence of God as an immaterial being precludes him from being restricted to the time and space continuum of our reality because he exists outside of it and is the creator of it. He does provide evidences of it in the Bible, which have been put here on this thread. Although they will be worthless unless people think of them in the context in which they would be taken as true instead of excluding them from the outset and reading them antagonestically.

This kind of bothers me a bit too. I don't think that at any time I missed the announcement at service that dealt with wednesday night mind control lessons against unbelievers. This to me is a pretty cheap stab at Christianity and only represents irrational thinking on the part of those who would say it. I chose to follow God under my own free will(I was not brainwashed by anyone) and continue to follow God and believe in him with rational and measured thinking. Frankly, it is just a choice that people have to make eventually. I am not saying that we have to pick sides but only that it is individual and nobody has to justify his or her faith or lack thereof to anyone, and I appreciate everyone on this site who has.

IamMoose

Oh I don't know there seem to be quite a lot of theists here. They do all seem to be of the more tolerant end of the spectrum though.

Buffman

I understood that. I was just attempting to determine why it was included as the last item on YOUR post without an explanation that would penetrate the organic PC between my ears.