This post is a response to John, who has been commenting on the previous post. My response was so long, that it could not be posted there as a reply due to character limitations. Here is a link to that post so you can read the whole conversation.
http://rungavagairun.blogspot.com/2019/01/a-good-thing-happened-in-my-life.html?showComment=1551592883336#c3502731257264570357
John,
>>all caps is not always yelling. I was taught that all caps are an emphasis, and nothing more.
Lol. When you end your all caps sentence with three exclamation points, that's yelling in text. You're not being honest here.
>>Second, Jehovah and Allah are one and the same...
I don't really care. The theology is very different, but the silliness and falseness of those religions is equal to that of Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, paganism, new age, etc etc etc. These are all based on superstitions.
>>About religion...
You did everything but provide a definition. Here is a standard definition.
-the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.
Do you have a belief in a superhuman controlling and personal deity? I believe the answer to that question is yes. If so, you are an adherent to and participant in religion. You may have a different definition for the word, but all you are doing in that case is defining your religion differently in order to separate your superstitious beliefs from those of other religions. You are only fooling yourself.
>>I have not dodged you face to face.
I have no idea what you are talking about with regard to this comment. When I say you have dodged things, I'm talking about the questions I have asked you and/or the issues and objections I have raised. I go through your comments point by point in order to address what you have said. You don't respond directly to what I have said, and you often ignore the questions I have asked. You make grand proclamations about things without any supporting evidence and you essentially tell me to stop what I'm doing because you don't like it. That's dodging.
>>However, you have dodged me here. What I want is to hear/see the reason why you say what you do. I can't call you an Apostate because I believe in the Eternal Security of the Believer. Because of that, my interpretation is that one that claims to have once been a "Christian" and now isn't, well, they truly never were.
Baloney. I have answered every question and point and I have done so multiple times. The problem here is that you don't like my answers. Here is the answer I gave you to this same question in my previous response, copied and pasted.
>>>I have answered the question about why I write these posts with each post I craft. The reasons are two fold. First, I believe these things are not true. Second, I believe these beliefs are based on wrong thinking and often lead to bad outcomes and wrong thinking in other facets of our lives. Millions of people have been killed and tortured and lived miserable lives because of religions, Christianity included.
You can deny that I was a Christian all you like. It matters not to me what you think about it. I believed that Jesus was god, just as you do now. I believed with every fiber of my being that Jesus' death and resurrection was for my salvation. I believed I had a personal relationship with Jesus. I believed that the Bible was his perfect inspired word to mankind. I read and studied the Bible. I prayed. I went to church. I paid tithes to the church. I was baptized. I helped in the church. I witnessed to friends, coworkers, classmates, and strangers. I had some small doubts from time to time, but I persisted in my faith. Those doubts grew as I got older and had more experience and education. Finally, the doubts came to a head and there were more doubts than belief.
Call it whatever you want, but that was my experience. I now feel more at peace than I did as a believer. I feel more comfortable in my own skin. The world makes sense to me now.
Why do you continue to come back to my blog? Why do these posts fester in your mind? This is not a high traffic site on the internet. There are many other sources that say similar things that get thousands and thousands of hits each day; The Atheist Experience show, Thinking Atheist podcast, Reasonable Doubts podcast, Dogma Debate, and so on.
Have you ever heard of The Clergy Project? Look it up. There are a growing number of ministers who, like me, believed at one time, but whose doubts have overtaken their faith and who no longer believe. Some of them are secretly still serving as pastors, because this was their only vocational training and they fear being outed. The world is becoming more secular. The youth at the mosque I recently visited sat and looked at their phones rather than praying after the call to prayers. One of the men I spoke with there told me that with the internet, he didn't think religion would have much influence on their culture in the future. Why do we need religion? We are better off without it.
Cheers,
Gavagai
http://rungavagairun.blogspot.com/2019/01/a-good-thing-happened-in-my-life.html?showComment=1551592883336#c3502731257264570357
John,
>>all caps is not always yelling. I was taught that all caps are an emphasis, and nothing more.
Lol. When you end your all caps sentence with three exclamation points, that's yelling in text. You're not being honest here.
>>Second, Jehovah and Allah are one and the same...
I don't really care. The theology is very different, but the silliness and falseness of those religions is equal to that of Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, paganism, new age, etc etc etc. These are all based on superstitions.
>>About religion...
You did everything but provide a definition. Here is a standard definition.
-the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.
Do you have a belief in a superhuman controlling and personal deity? I believe the answer to that question is yes. If so, you are an adherent to and participant in religion. You may have a different definition for the word, but all you are doing in that case is defining your religion differently in order to separate your superstitious beliefs from those of other religions. You are only fooling yourself.
>>I have not dodged you face to face.
I have no idea what you are talking about with regard to this comment. When I say you have dodged things, I'm talking about the questions I have asked you and/or the issues and objections I have raised. I go through your comments point by point in order to address what you have said. You don't respond directly to what I have said, and you often ignore the questions I have asked. You make grand proclamations about things without any supporting evidence and you essentially tell me to stop what I'm doing because you don't like it. That's dodging.
>>However, you have dodged me here. What I want is to hear/see the reason why you say what you do. I can't call you an Apostate because I believe in the Eternal Security of the Believer. Because of that, my interpretation is that one that claims to have once been a "Christian" and now isn't, well, they truly never were.
Baloney. I have answered every question and point and I have done so multiple times. The problem here is that you don't like my answers. Here is the answer I gave you to this same question in my previous response, copied and pasted.
>>>I have answered the question about why I write these posts with each post I craft. The reasons are two fold. First, I believe these things are not true. Second, I believe these beliefs are based on wrong thinking and often lead to bad outcomes and wrong thinking in other facets of our lives. Millions of people have been killed and tortured and lived miserable lives because of religions, Christianity included.
You can deny that I was a Christian all you like. It matters not to me what you think about it. I believed that Jesus was god, just as you do now. I believed with every fiber of my being that Jesus' death and resurrection was for my salvation. I believed I had a personal relationship with Jesus. I believed that the Bible was his perfect inspired word to mankind. I read and studied the Bible. I prayed. I went to church. I paid tithes to the church. I was baptized. I helped in the church. I witnessed to friends, coworkers, classmates, and strangers. I had some small doubts from time to time, but I persisted in my faith. Those doubts grew as I got older and had more experience and education. Finally, the doubts came to a head and there were more doubts than belief.
Call it whatever you want, but that was my experience. I now feel more at peace than I did as a believer. I feel more comfortable in my own skin. The world makes sense to me now.
Why do you continue to come back to my blog? Why do these posts fester in your mind? This is not a high traffic site on the internet. There are many other sources that say similar things that get thousands and thousands of hits each day; The Atheist Experience show, Thinking Atheist podcast, Reasonable Doubts podcast, Dogma Debate, and so on.
Have you ever heard of The Clergy Project? Look it up. There are a growing number of ministers who, like me, believed at one time, but whose doubts have overtaken their faith and who no longer believe. Some of them are secretly still serving as pastors, because this was their only vocational training and they fear being outed. The world is becoming more secular. The youth at the mosque I recently visited sat and looked at their phones rather than praying after the call to prayers. One of the men I spoke with there told me that with the internet, he didn't think religion would have much influence on their culture in the future. Why do we need religion? We are better off without it.
Cheers,
Gavagai
David,
ReplyDeletewhen you say "Jesus is god" be cautious of that statement. Be specific of which Jesus/Joshua in the Scriptures you are referring to. I know who you say that you are referring to, but others may not. Jesus who is the Christ is God (Joshua who is the Messiah), along with YHWH and the Ruach ha-Kodesh. These three are the Triune God of the Holy Scriptures.
Jesus is the Greek translation, and Joshua is the Hebrew translation for Yeshua.
Barabbas, his name was also Jesus/Joshua. Joshua led the children of Jacob back to their homeland from Egypt after 400 years. So, it is best to be specific.
you ask why do I believe in YHWH, well, all that I have to do is look outside and see that He does exist. I continue to have child-like faith in Him. I do not need to be analytical and try to explain His existence, because were are not meant to know everything. He has never given me any reason to doubt Him, nor has He anyone else. Lucifer is the cause of doubts and confusion.
you ask why I return to your blog. Well, it is because I pray for you and others that I have asked to do as well. I believe that down deep you truly do believe the things you once held dear or you wouldn't say some of the things that you do against Christianity and the religions of this world. I also believe that you began searching, down deep, for something stronger with God, but when certain life situations hit, Lucifer caused you to doubt and to become analytical and scientific about proof of God.
David, I will continue praying for you. I believe that you truly do believe in God down deep. Were you a Christian? Yes, in practice you were. If you were truly Regenerated/Born Again have you lost your salvation? Absolutely not.
J
John,
ReplyDelete>>when you say "Jesus is god" be cautious of that statement. Be specific of which Jesus/Joshua in the Scriptures you are referring to. I know who you say that you are referring to, but others may not. Jesus who is the Christ is God (Joshua who is the Messiah), along with YHWH and the Ruach ha-Kodesh. These three are the Triune God of the Holy Scriptures.
Really? Were you really confused about my meaning, or are you just being pedantic in an effort to make yourself look smart? No one talks about Jesus in Christianity meaning some other Jesus from the Bible. Stop playing games.
>>I believe that down deep you truly do believe the things you once held dear or you wouldn't say some of the things that you do against Christianity and the religions of this world.
What's wrong with you, John? In one moment you say I never was a believer and in the next you say I'm still a secret believer. Which is it?
>>I also believe that you began searching, down deep, for something stronger with God, but when certain life situations hit, Lucifer caused you to doubt and to become analytical and scientific about proof of God.
I believe that deep down you don't really believe the absurd things you say you believe. A magic wizard has tricked you into believing that Yahweh is real and the Bible is true. Anyone can make up explanations for things evoking invisible supernatural entities. The question is whether or not there is any good reason to think those claims are true.
>>I will continue praying for you.
Knock yourself out.
Rather than doing all of this speculation and praying, how about actually answering the questions and challenges I have leveled here? That would be a more productive use of your time.
Cheers,
Gavagai