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Author Topic:   What led you to God?
coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 506 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 3 of 300 (267454)
12-10-2005 4:08 AM
Reply to: Message 2 by Phat
12-10-2005 3:46 AM


Re: How can anyone avoid finding God?
Phat writes:
Many people honestly say that they have had no such experience or that they tried and failed to connect to God. I respect their feelings yet I cannot understand how they feel!
Good call. I absolutely have never had such a feeling before. I don't necessarily respect that you believe you've had that feeling, but at least I let you have it.
Peace!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 2 by Phat, posted 12-10-2005 3:46 AM Phat has not replied

coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 506 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 17 of 300 (267813)
12-11-2005 3:56 PM
Reply to: Message 9 by joshua221
12-10-2005 4:53 PM


angry teen writes:
I can see that these lives were not in vain, and they will find paradise.
Speaking someone that has lived through a period of extreme poverty, you can trust me when I say those people don't give a rat's ass that they will find paradise in the afterlife. Hunger and the humiliation of powerlessness are very powerful things.
Here is what I suggest you do. Don't eat anything except for a small bowl of white rice and salt (to give it a little flavor) per day for a year or two. If you still feel hungry, go to sleep. It helps with the hunger. When you see more priviledged people dropping food on the ground, pick it up and eat it.
Then, come back and tell us if you still think those people are all jolly and happy about finding paradise in the afterlife.
Hang on a second, according to your holy book, some of those people that live in extreme poverty are going to hell anyway, since they never "knew" christ. Huh, hell during life and hell in the afterlife. Go figure.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 9 by joshua221, posted 12-10-2005 4:53 PM joshua221 has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 21 by riVeRraT, posted 12-11-2005 7:48 PM coffee_addict has not replied

coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 506 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 26 of 300 (268020)
12-12-2005 1:40 AM
Reply to: Message 24 by Phat
12-12-2005 12:13 AM


Re: Adopt a younger brother in Christ
That's not fair. How come no atheist ever offered to help me when I was going through a period of confusion?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 24 by Phat, posted 12-12-2005 12:13 AM Phat has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 77 by Theodoric, posted 12-14-2005 4:22 AM coffee_addict has replied

coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 506 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 67 of 300 (268893)
12-13-2005 4:42 PM
Reply to: Message 66 by crashfrog
12-13-2005 4:19 PM


Re: Ask your preacher where these guys are now, pt.2
My high school English teacher once told me that she thought one of the nazis' most unrecognized crimes was to ruin the image of symbol.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 66 by crashfrog, posted 12-13-2005 4:19 PM crashfrog has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 68 by crashfrog, posted 12-13-2005 4:46 PM coffee_addict has replied

coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 506 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 69 of 300 (268901)
12-13-2005 4:51 PM
Reply to: Message 68 by crashfrog
12-13-2005 4:46 PM


Re: Ask your preacher where these guys are now, pt.2
I said "unrecognized" crime. Since when were the crimes you spoke of unrecognized?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 68 by crashfrog, posted 12-13-2005 4:46 PM crashfrog has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 70 by crashfrog, posted 12-13-2005 5:01 PM coffee_addict has not replied

coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 506 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 79 of 300 (269224)
12-14-2005 11:56 AM
Reply to: Message 77 by Theodoric
12-14-2005 4:22 AM


Re: Athiests
Sure, I do.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 77 by Theodoric, posted 12-14-2005 4:22 AM Theodoric has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 80 by Theodoric, posted 12-14-2005 12:28 PM coffee_addict has replied

coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 506 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 81 of 300 (269262)
12-14-2005 2:02 PM
Reply to: Message 80 by Theodoric
12-14-2005 12:28 PM


Re: Athiests
Uh... what are you talking about? I have no idea I was insinuating anything.
Oh, and by the way, I'm an atheist myself.
Peace!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 80 by Theodoric, posted 12-14-2005 12:28 PM Theodoric has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 84 by Theodoric, posted 12-14-2005 7:51 PM coffee_addict has not replied

coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 506 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 85 of 300 (269411)
12-14-2005 8:09 PM
Reply to: Message 83 by joshua221
12-14-2005 7:28 PM


Nah, I don't think it went down in flames. I do think, however that this is a particularly sensitive issue since so many people are affected by the subject, both positively and negatively, while some others actually make millions to hundreds of millions capitalizing on god.
People like Swaggart and Bakker are a couple of example. It's not because they do what they do that pisses some of us off. It's that despite the fact that one got caught with prostitutes twice and the other got convicted of fraud they both still make millions through donations preaching how gay people are going to hell and such pisses us off.
I know of many christians that say these particular false prophets aren't representing a great number of christians. I disagree, considering the fact that these particular two are still receiving blank checks from so many people each year.
So, when a question like "how did you know god" comes up, people like me just can't help but think about all the negative things that are happening because so many people found god through criminals.
Make sense?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 83 by joshua221, posted 12-14-2005 7:28 PM joshua221 has not replied

coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 506 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 90 of 300 (269444)
12-14-2005 8:36 PM
Reply to: Message 82 by joshua221
12-14-2005 7:26 PM


Re: Insulting
porteus writes:
That's fantastic, so what happens when this life ends?
Permit me to give my answer for this question.
After we die... who knows? I certainly don't, and I don't believe it for a minute that anyone else in the world actually knows.
This reminds me of a science fiction movie I recently saw. A group of humans in a distant future are living in a compound surrounded by a very tall wall. They have been living there for so many generations that they have forgotten exactly how the human civilization was reduced to being prisoners like this. What they have are stories of how an alien race came down from the sky and wiped out most people on Earth. Then, the aliens put the survivors in isolated prisons surrounded by high walls so that they would never know what their home world looked like.
As a matter of fact, the whole movie is about how people living inside this prison imagine what is on the other side of the walls. They even have factions, each believing in a different version of what the rest of the world looked like. Some believe that there are tall creatures on the other side of the wall with great big teeth and that they were put inside the walls for their own protection. Some believe that it's a paradise out there and that was why the aliens put them there in the first place: to keep them from paradise.
Anyway, there is one person that wants to see what is on the other side and so she plots against the robots that were guarding them and finally gets the gates to open to look at what is on the other side.
Anyway, the point is until we can find out some way to see what is on the other side, your speculation is just as good as mine. If the world is as simple as wanting something to be true therefore it must be true, then I could want to have a million dollars and pops out a million dollars for me to spend.
That's sort of sad.
It is sad because you still do not have the ability to comprehend anything beyond that little world of yours (aka your mind). Given that I have trouble myself understanding what goes on in that little room of yours, and given that most people actually do have trouble understanding how other people come to believe what they believe, I can say with a sense of pride that I used to be like you, an angry teenager.
Many of us, including myself, crashfrog, etc. once believed in god just like you. I used to talk to god all the time, literally. In school, on the play ground, at home, in the car, etc. And believe it or not, I used to feel a great sense of sorrow for the evil atheists, knowing they'd go to hell. My attitude was like my friend Mike's ex girlfriend. She once told him that too bad he was going to hell.
Why did I change? I finally realized that I wasn't the center of the world. I realized that wanting something to be does not necessarily mean it has to be that way. I really really really wanted heaven to be a real place even though there has never been any evidence or indication that the place actually existed. To me, god just might as well not exist. Why should I believe in something that gives us absolutely no physical evidence of its existence?
Ok, stop right there. I don't care how you feel. I don't care about that "but I know he exists... you just gotta believe me" thing. You say that you know he is there. Fine, if you want to have an imaginary friend. However, to me that is all it is, someone's imaginary friend.
If there is any point to this post, it's that you really need to start trying to understand our side more rather than feeling sorry for us all the time.
I have perfect pitch, which means I enjoy music at a level that most people can't even comprehend. When I hear music, I not only hear the pitches and the words, I hear overtones, I see visual patterns in the music, and I can easily break down and cry because music really does affect me greatly. Should I feel sorry for my friend mike who is totaly tone deaf?
May be you have a sixth sense there where you can sense god. Too bad, because I don't have it. To me, I don't feel god at all just like my friend mike who can't tell the difference between an A major chord and an A minor chord.
Speaking of music, I feel like Rachmaninov tonight. Hm... I'm going to put in Rach piano concerto 3. That one should make me cry you a river.
This message has been edited by Lam, 12-14-2005 08:39 PM

This message is a reply to:
 Message 82 by joshua221, posted 12-14-2005 7:26 PM joshua221 has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 92 by joshua221, posted 12-14-2005 9:12 PM coffee_addict has not replied
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coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 506 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 96 of 300 (269498)
12-14-2005 10:13 PM
Reply to: Message 95 by joshua221
12-14-2005 9:56 PM


Re: Insulting
port writes:
Wrong, I think that without God we would not have significance. This means that I think that you are significant.
Stop saying something like this. Everytime you say something like this, you are forcing the other person to acknowledge that god exists.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 95 by joshua221, posted 12-14-2005 9:56 PM joshua221 has not replied

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