Originally posted by lemon limeI was a sincere and committed Christian for 28 years. Your message board banter does not alter this fact. 🙂
If you are familiar with what goes into making a bag of nuts would this mean you are a nut? It doesn't necessarily mean you aren't a nut, but it wouldn't necessarily mean you are... a nut.
Originally posted by lemon limeYes, and in the post of mine you were responding to "I am familiar with Christian ideology" means that your assertions about "hell" are nothing new to me.
Being familiar with Christian ideology doesn't mean you are or were a Christian... it simply means you are familiar with Christian ideology.
Originally posted by lemon limeNo I believed that I walked with God and had Jesus in my life and did not perceive it as an "ideology" at the time, but instead I perceived it to be the "truth". Being an ex-Christian now, I see Christian beliefs as an ideology.
So in other words, by your own account you were a sincere Christian ideologist.
Originally posted by FMFYou "found" something you believed is true, spent 28 years believing it, and then decided it wasn't true. How can you find something, believe it is true, and then decide it isn't true unless you really didn't find it, but only thought you had found it?
I truly believed what I believed was true ~ 'truly' being the operative word. I am sure that you and I use the word "sincere" in pretty much the same way.
If I'm looking at something, I can't simply wish it away so that it no longer exists. Find something to look at in your room, or where ever you are, and decide it no longer exists... can you make it vanish? Can you cause it to have never existed?
I can look for something where it isn't for 28 years too, and never actually find it. Anyone can do that... but for 28 years?!
Originally posted by lemon limeYou currently believe the things you believe about Christ are true. It was like that for me in the past. I have never claimed that I can make my beliefs in the past "vanish" or that my current beliefs mean that my beliefs in the past "never existed".
If I'm looking at something, I can't simply wish it away so that it no longer exists. Find something to look at in your room, or where ever you are, and decide it no longer exists... can you make it vanish? Can you cause it to have never existed?
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Originally posted by lemon limeTwenty eight years is how long I held Christian beliefs similar to the ones you hold now.
I can look for something where it isn't for 28 years too, and never actually find it. Anyone can do that... but for 28 years?!
edit: this has recently been discussed in depth on Thread 160411
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Originally posted by FMFBut what if I was an ex-Muslim who was not familiar with Islamic ideology? Not all Muslims agree on what it means to be a Muslim. Are you aware of what has been happening recently in the Middle East?
No but if you were an ex-Muslim then I would not question it if you stated that you were familiar with Islamic ideology.
Originally posted by FMFI doubt your beliefs were anything like mine.
Twenty eight years is how long I held Christian beliefs similar to the ones you hold now.
edit: this has recently been discussed in depth on Thread 160411
Originally posted by lemon limeYes. But to return to your "point" about my familiarity with Christian ideology, it is due to the fact that I held Christian beliefs for almost three decades ~ a fact which is unaffected by your analogies about Islamists, airplanes and bags of nuts. 🙂
But what if I was an ex-Muslim who was not familiar with Islamic ideology? Not all Muslims agree on what it means to be a Muslim. Are you aware of what has been happening recently in the Middle East?
Originally posted by lemon limeThat may well be the case. But in order to be a Christian one does not necessarily have to have exactly the same beliefs as you or, indeed, to get any endorsement from Christians like you or KellyJay. The same would be true for Muslims in a context in which not all Muslims agree with each other. 🙂
I doubt your beliefs were anything like mine.