How the "Christian" Spell was broken

Originally posted by FMF
Your question was not out of line. I'm simply not interested, that's all.

Whether you happen to believe there has been some misrepresentation of Christianity that's gone on (and that's the issue), or whether you believe I was "shipwrecked" (and therefore I am floundering), or whether you want to demonstrate how your strain of Christian thinking is better, tr ...[text shortened]... ll be a Christian, albeit only just, and let all the ideologues of various stripes court me. 😛

It was more for my own understanding, thanks anyway.

In the past, when I’ve responded to such questions, they invariably turned out to be a kind of “bait and switch”—that is, the real intent had nothing to do with honest curiosity, but was set up to show (to other readers, if not myself) how wrong (or hypocritical and dishonest) I must be. And I, trustingly, wandered in.

I won’t do that again.

I have years of history posting on here. I have posted what I believed—and I have shared changes in those beliefs. If someone wants to try to bait me now with various claims about why I must be “afraid” (or whatever) to respond, yet again, to this kind of inquiry—enjoy your smug self-righteousness.

Originally posted by vistesd
In the past, when I’ve responded to such questions, they invariably turned out to be a kind of “bait and switch”—that is, the real intent had nothing to do with honest curiosity, but was set up to show (to other readers, if not myself) how wrong (or hypocritical and dishonest) I must be. And I, trustingly, wandered in.

I won’t do that again.

I have ye ...[text shortened]... (or whatever) to respond, yet again, to this kind of inquiry—enjoy your smug self-righteousness.

In life sir, as in chess, beware the poisoned pawns.

Originally posted by FMF
I think you are being presumptuous - and overestimating - the significance to me of what you can and cannot see in this matter.

I think you over estimate thirty years of your life as to how it was somehow "Christian".
It was just thirty years maybe, nothing more.

Were you trying to really impress us that you were a thirty year veteran of the faith of the Gospel ? An old timer at this Gospel thing ?

You could have just given people your age. That would have sufficed. The overestimating was yours I think, - false significance of three decades.

Originally posted by FMF

I gradually came to realize that the Bible did not provide me with credible evidence to support the claims that Christians make about God and about the divinity of Jesus

And these claims you believed and internalized ? And you mean you gradually un-internalized them ?

~ and the significance of his life ~ which were a set of notions and hopes that I had internalized and held to be true for many years.

Did you have a notion / hope / internalization that Jesus rose from the dead in three days ?

Can you tell us which notions and hopes you "internalized" ?

I say to all those who are still Christians and those who might become Christians (because of the efforts of people like sonship):

I'm flattered. My meager and often flawed efforts ?

if your beliefs give you comfort and purpose in your lives, and if they help you to come to terms with the inevitability of death, then good for you.

Of course I think many (perhaps most) people come to Christ without an issue of DEATH being pressing at all. The need for a Savior is immediate and current in this present life.

Do you think people who become lovers of Jesus only do so because of the issue of their looming death ?

I have no regrets. I haven't felt that I've been in any kind of "recovery". And I don't urge anyone to follow suit. I have no theories about supernatural beings or any such concepts as "life after death" to offer you with which you might want to replace your own.

Sounds tolerant.

Originally posted by sonship
I think you over estimate thirty years of your life as to how it was somehow "Christian".
It was just thirty years maybe, nothing more.

Were you trying to really impress us that you were a thirty year veteran of the faith of the Gospel ? An old timer at this Gospel thing ?

You could have just given people your age. That would have sufficed. The overestimating was yours I think, - false significance of three decades.

If you don't believe me, that's fine.

Originally posted by sonship
Do you think people who become lovers of Jesus only do so because of the issue of their looming death ?

I think all humans ponder death and that it is part and parcel of the human condition. I think the issue draws people to religions, including Christianity.

Originally posted by sonship
Sounds tolerant.

I would count myself as a strong supporter of the freedom of religion and freedom to worship.

Originally posted by vistesd
In the past, when I’ve responded to such questions, they invariably turned out to be a kind of “bait and switch”—that is, the real intent had nothing to do with honest curiosity, but was set up to show (to other readers, if not myself) how wrong (or hypocritical and dishonest) I must be. And I, trustingly, wandered in. I won’t do that again.

As can be seen from sonship's demeanour in recent days, and by things like him starting this thread, and with comments he's made elsewhere, he sees himself as being in some kind of Christian willy-waving contest.

I've even said to him, repeatedly, that I simply don't care if he doesn't believe what I have said about my past beliefs. And yet he keeps asking about it. Over and over again. Clearly, his real topic is promoting himself and his own beliefs, even to the point of seeking to indulge himself in a Christian willy-waving contest with a non-Christian!

Originally posted by sonship
I think you over estimate thirty years of your life as to how it was somehow "Christian".
It was just thirty years maybe, nothing more.

Were you trying to really impress us that you were a thirty year veteran of the faith of the Gospel ? An old timer at this Gospel thing ?

You could have just given people your age. That would have sufficed. The overestimating was yours I think, - false significance of three decades.

I just don't buy the testimony, how can you be thirty years a Christian and know practically nothing about the book upon which your faith rests? its incredulous.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
I just don't buy the testimony, how can you be thirty years a Christian and know practically nothing about the book upon which your faith rests? its incredulous.

I am perfectly happy for you to not believe me, robbie, and for you to say so publicly.

Originally posted by FMF
As can be seen from sonship's demeanour in recent days, and by things like him starting this thread, and with comments he's made elsewhere, he sees himself as being in some kind of Christian willy-waving contest.

I've even said to him, repeatedly, that I simply don't care if he doesn't believe what I have said about my past beliefs. And yet he keeps asking a ...[text shortened]... he point of seeking to indulge himself in a Christian willy-waving contest with a non-Christian!

Willy waving? I don't know what that is suppose to mean.

You forgot to mention to poster visted that you have never " indulged " in any kind of contest with Christians on this Forum.

I 'm surprised that you didn't mention that you have given no such impression that YOU are in a contest with Christians here , including me, at any time.

if you're going to play Mr. Innocent you might as well go all out.

Originally posted by sonship
Willy waving? I don't know what that is suppose to mean.

You forgot to mention to poster visted that you have never " indulged " in any kind of contest with Christians on this Forum.

I 'm surprised that you didn't mention that you have given no such impression that YOU are in a contest with Christians here , including me, at any time.

if you're going to play Mr. Innocent you might as well go all out.

I am not in a contest with Christians here sonship. I will leave that sort of thing to you and other Christians. I am not a Christian. You are wasting your time trying to compare your current Christian beliefs to beliefs that I happen to have held in the past.

Originally posted by sonship
I 'm surprised that you didn't mention that you have given no such impression that YOU are in a contest with Christians here , including me, at any time.

Like I said, I have no theories about supernatural beings or any notions such as "life after death" or "salvation" to offer you - or to any religionists - for people to adopt in place of their own. For you to bleat about me being in a "contest" with you makes you sound brittle.

Originally posted by FMF
I am not in a contest with Christians here sonship. I will leave that sort of thing to you and other Christians. I am not a Christian. You are wasting your time trying to compare your current Christian beliefs to beliefs that I happen to have held in the past.

I am not in a contest with Christians here sonship.

Right.
You have no particular bone to pick with Christians on this Forum,

Whatever gave me that impression?

Anyone want to bring up the name FMF and read down the list of all his posts for about 200 entries ? See if he has any debates with believers in Jesus Christ here.

I will leave that sort of thing to you and other Christians.

Oh no you won't. You'll also jump in with your two cents.

Nope, You're not a passive bystander. Your a gremlin hoping to stir up debate between people of faith, espcially those who profess the Christian faith.

A gremlin is a little bit higher than a troll.
You can mark that down next to "willy waving" in your dictionary.

I am not a Christian.

You love to write that don't you ?

You are wasting your time trying to compare your current Christian beliefs to beliefs that I happen to have held in the past.

Wrong. I do not assume your past experience is my present experience.
I assume that when you say your were three decades a Christian you really mean something like you have lived for over three decades.

I do not assume that you have my experience. I assume you come off in a sensational way claiming to know something about which you apparently know very little, being a Christian.

It is something like claiming that because you went down to the beach for many years, you once were a fish.

I assume that you were inside an edifice of some kind on occasions. Whether this was voluntary or compulsory I do not know. I think that perhaps you have sit in a pew and you think that qualifies you to say you were a Christian.

Or maybe you believed in the Golden Rule.
It doesn't matter what your concealed Christian backround is.

Robbie the JW is right. When it comes to the foundational book of the Christian faith, you're quite ignorant, at least for one claiming three decades of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Oh, that's what a Christian is, in case you were confused.