Rhea

You say this as if it's a fact.

As if it's two facts, actually.
FACT 1: You know what God can and cannot do.
FACT 2: You know the role of choice in God's capabilities.

Sorry, this is so thoroughly an indoctrinated christian viewpoint that between this and your previous posts it's impossible to believe you are anything but a hook-line-and-sinker christian. Which is how I think of you now unless you perhaps show us some of your buddist beliefs. You ought to be able to rattle them off in an instant if you're a buddist, no?

Stating the above as a FACT is quite simply unsupportable.

You don't know ANYTHING about God. You guess. You interpret. You may even parrot. But you don't KNOW anything. Do you. When it comes right down to it.

At any rate, the whole choice thing is completely incoherent to me. Why on earth would someone desire blind belief over a personal relationship? Unbelievable. It's exactly what I would say if I was a human trying to control other humans, though. Think about that.

Seems that Richard is a good person in spite of his religion, not because of it. Because in order to be a TRULY GOOD PERSON, you have to ignore good bits of the bible, don't you?

Whispers

That was and is completely uncalled for. I am not lying about anything I have said on this forum.

I am a 8 year practicing Buddhist and am exploring the Christian tradition. I am on this forum to get the other side of the story to counter-balance the traditional Christian views.

Whispers

It is just the way I sometimes post that is confusing you. I stated a Christian viewpoint which is given as a fact, to see what you guys would come up with to debunk it. That is not necessarily my own viewpoint, I am just trying to learn from you guys to better understand both sides of the coin.

I feel a little silly having to prove myself as a buddhist. I am and that is a fact. What do you wanna know?

Echo

You are interested in Christianity, so you come to an atheist message board? Why do you think that we of all people have something to offer in instructing you about Christianity? Would it not be better to take your concerns and questions to a Christian board?

Or have you already decided to embrace Christianity and are simply hoping that by passing yourself off as a Buddhist, you can avoid any questions or criticisms of Christianity? Most of us did not fall off the tater wagon yesterday. We recognize that your comments and questions are heavily tinged with Christian terminology and motifs, and they suggest a familiarity with Christianity that is stronger than what you are attempting to lead this group to believe.

Whispers

I am a Buddhist, Echo, as my friends and family all know. I am quite happy to meet on a chat site and be asked question in real time to prove this. I simply am here because I enjoy the high minded discussion/debates and because where else could I find the other side of the coin to the claims of Christianity?

BioBeing

Whispers - I will ask you again. Are you a bad person? Is it because of your Buddhism? Is this Richard the only possible role model for you right now - do you know of any other good people? Do you know bad Christians? Most people on this site will tell you that goodness comes from within. We take inspiration where we find it. My father-in-law is one of my role models, and he is a devout Church of Christ* christian. But, that doesn't make me feel that the only way to be good is through Christ. I might ask "What would Bennie do?", but I do not ask "what would Jesus do?".


*Edit for the UK - CoC is a fairly conservative type of church

AquaVita

Starboy...your post that I edited was a direct violation of the forum rules. Namely:

Please refrain from this type of behaviour in the future, or further action will be taken.


Aqua-GRD moderator.

Rhea

Whispers, I apologize for mischaracterizing you, then. It's just that you write these answers AS AN ANSWER, not as a question that you are trying to GET answered.

You've done it so many times that it's the feeling I get - that you believe it fully. I'm sorry if that perception is offensive to you, truly. I just get that impression VERY STRONGLY that you are answering pooints, not passing along someone else's answer that you question.

If that's just a style thing, then take this as a helpful hint that you are confusing your purpose by sounding EXACTLY LIKE a christian.

....

back on topic, then.

...

I don't see how one can honestly conclude that ONE FAMILY acts wonderfully and therefore a religion that CLEARLY does not do the same thing for all families is somehow validated.

It just doesn't make sense.

How can you say that person A's good behavior proves a religion true while person B's bad behavior under the SAME religion doesn't prove it false?


My conclusion would be, "some people are good, some bad. Religion doesn't seem to have an impact on the numbers."

Can you address this and similar questions on this line, then?

Starboy

Whispers, your story doesn't add up. You come to an atheist web site and state in so many words ‘lookie here, I found a Christian that has such a wonderful life because he is a Christian that I am thinking about becoming one’. Then everyone points out to you that 1) you can’t logically draw conclusions from one data point and that 2) the same thing you say for your friend can be said for adherents of any other religion. Then you start spouting Christian apologetics but claim you are a Buddhist. Sorry, it all just doesn’t add up. I’m calling this thread on Thursday May, 15’th 2003 at 11:02AM EST, and I say you are a liar for Jesus.

Starboy

Whispers

I like to think that I am a reasonably good person actually. As it happens, Richard is one of the only people in my life that I can talk to about spiritual/philosophical matters etc. He therefore has influenced me and that obviously shows.

I need to spread my wings and talk more with buddhist people and people such as yourselves.