Atheist after 40 years a Christian Minister

Something about this story stinks.

You were never a Christian.


:blackcat: Sadly I am inclined to agree with Bugeater.

You should know darned well that we are right in the middle of the End Times when we should be out spreading the word. And what do you do? You stand on the sidelines throwing sh*t on those who are helping with the harvest. What use are you for anything. Pull yourself togeather while you are still blessed with a little time. HERE HE COMES?...

[link to www.chick.com]


All you Christards have been in the middle of the end times for 2000 years!

another lie = if I can just discipline myself I will somehow attain a state of balance. this was discussed here. for me; there is no balance. it's always up and down. some days I am so clear on who God is and what my purpose is, I see clearly. the next day I can be all where's God and why am I here? heal me or kill me! even if I do get to a point of balance there's always someone or something coming along and messing things up. and I'm learning this is an opportunity to really see God move. He is the Master of situations and circumstances -- to teach us who He is, and show His fingerprints all over everything -- we can know Him. sometimes like the wind; we can't see Him like we can't see it but we can see the EFFECTS.

I'm by no means super spiritual every day.



rb

As time progresses, a person who was born years after the the last book was created begins to read all these books, he notices that a lot of things just don't add up or downright contradicts one another. That is the truth.

think about this ....
Christianity is based on the belief that a woman who NEVER had a sexual union gave birth to a perfect child who also never experienced a sexual union. What does that tell you??? sex is bad, it's evil, it's a sin, in fact, the greatest sin one an commit according to scriptures. 'Born in sin and shapen in iniquity' is what we're told. Religion has been the crux of much evil and suffering. I gave it up a long time ago.

As time progresses, a person who was born years after the the last book was created begins to read all these books, he notices that a lot of things just don't add up or downright contradicts one another. That is the truth.


Of course, when this question of contradiction is brought up, the explanation is always the same. It's either "allegorical", or "metaphorical", which means that is not what it reads. This is why we have so many different churches disagreeing with one another. It is all in the interpretation of what is written.

There is a big difference when it comes to sex. Sex is like hunger. You just cannot have enough of it. You can have all the sex today but you will be "hungry" again. Christianity just generalize that the act of sex is bad but just cannot explain why. The desire of sex is bad, not the sex act itself and that's the difference.

You were never a Christian.

"pain, and suffering are a part of life, misery is optional"

I prefer the "suffering is optional" message!

Think we're supposed to seek the good in all things and enjoy our lives. If it's not good our job is to make it good.

There are good times and there are times dominated by Evil intentions of Evil men.

What our lives consist of actually depends a lot on what the times are like.

We live in Evil times, when totalitarianism, torture, genocide and overwhelming FORCES are buffeting the very ability of this Planet to sustain herself.

We are living in a time when we must serve as soldiers--function in hostile territory and yet keep to a sense of appropriate behavior and integrity.

Thinking THAT OUGHT TO BE EASY is deluding oneself. Spiritual warfare is never easy. It is simply, stay to what is true and what produces Good outcomes for everyone.

Simple but hard to do.

Would you like to know what "God" thinks about abortion? I suggest you not let your children read this.

Does the Bible consider the fetus a person?

1.

If men have a fight and one of them causes a pregnant woman to miscarry, the penalty was a fine; if the mother was harmed, it was "life for life" (Exod. 21:22,23). While a small number of politically correct fundamentalist Bibles try to fix this verse (NIV), all of the major scholarly translations think the best way to translate the literal “goes forth” in Ex. 21:22 is with the word “miscarriage.”
This includes:
* Revised Standard Version
* The American Standard
* New English Bible
* Today's English Version
* The Douay-Rheims Bible
* The Jerusalem Bible

2. Numbers 5:17-31

…and the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.

This passage describes a method by which the husband could induce an abortion, with the help of the priest. If a husband suspected that his wife had engaged in an adulterous relationship, then he would bring her to the tabernacle and the priest would make a magical drink consisting of holy water and sweepings from the tabernacle floor. He would then have the woman drink the water while he recited a curse on her. The curse would state that her abdomen would swell and her thigh waste away if she had committed adultery. If she were pregnant at this time, the curse would certainly induce a miscarriage. There is no concern about the fate of the fetus. There was no similar magical test that a woman could require of her husband if she suspected him of adultery.
3. Leviticus 27:6

If the person is from a month old up to five years old, your valuation shall be…

A child was only given a value after the age of one month; boys were worth five shekels; girls three. Below the age of one month they were given no monetary value.
4. Numbers 3:15

…every male from a month old and upward you shall number.

Only male babies over one month of age were counted as persons during a census. A baby under one month of age and a fetus were not counted as a person.
5. Hosea 13:16

…their little ones will be dashed to the ground; their pregnant women ripped open.

6.

Genesis 38:24
Tamar was found to be pregnant and because she was a widow, without a husband, she was assumed to be a prostitute. Her father-in-law Judah ordered that she be burned alive for her crime. If Tamar's twin fetuses had been considered to have any value whatsoever, her execution would have been delayed until after their birth. There was no condemnation on Judah for deciding to take this action. (Judah later changed his mind when he found out that HE had impregnated Tamar when she posed as a prostitute.)
7.

2 Kings 15:16
He [Menahem, king of Israel] sacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women. He apparently was angry that the people of Tiphsah refused to open the gates of the city. The king obviously gave no value to the life of a fetus.
8. Numbers 31:17-18

Now, kill all the boys. And kill every women who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

Moses, under orders from God, ordered the soldiers to kill every boy and non-virgin woman. Many of the latter would be pregnant so their fetus was killed too. Thirty two thousand female virgins were spared because they had value to the men. The fetuses were destroyed, because they were perceived to have no value.
9. Deuteronomy 2:34

And we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed every city, men, women, and children; we left none remaining;…

They exterminated all of the people, including children and the fetuses of pregnant women –- under the instruction of the God of the Bible. This is an early example of ethnic cleansing.
10. 1 Sam. 15:3; see Ezekiel 9:6

Thus says the LORD… kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

The Bible contains over 600 laws governing everything from fabrics to how to cut a beard yet contains no law prohibiting abortion. Jesus never mentioned it. As the Oxford Companion to the Bible notes:

Biblical legislation, as in Leviticus 27:3-7, indicates that the lives of children as well as women were not valued as highly as those of adult men, while no value whatsoever was given to a child under the age of one month. There is no indication that a fetus had any status. (Abortion article, page 4)

There is a big difference when it comes to sex. Sex is like hunger. You just cannot have enough of it. You can have all the sex today but you will be "hungry" again. Christianity just generalize that the act of sex is bad but just cannot explain why. The desire of sex is bad, not the sex act itself and that's the difference.


I'm not talking about uncontrolled sex. I'm pointing out that someone supposedly produced one offspring without the sexual act, and the offspring supposedly remained celebate until his death. The conclusion one can draw from this is that 'sex is bad'
It is absolutely impossible to produce a child without the male share of chromosomes to fertilize the egg: females contribute two x's the males x and y.

The scriptures imply that the sex act is immoral and sinful. Yet it contradicts its self from the very first chapter and commands the first humans to go forth and replenish the earth!
You say that the desire for sex is a bad thing. I beg to differ ... desire needs to be present before one can procede! So how is that desire a bad thing and how would you apply this to married couples?
The sexual act in its rightful place is no sin. In fact, in all of creation this act is is essential for further reproduction of species whether humans, animals, insects, trees, flowers etc, as ALL species depend on fertilization.

Religion is full of contradiction and confusion and in my view, full of untruths as well.