Putting the pieces together

I'm convinced that dj2becker is one of those quiffy blokes that sets himself up on a dais with those pink backgrounds in a crowded place chanting:

"yay-ahh and the low-ard...yayahh hee say-edd to mee...to me he say-edd...you hayav see-yenned...but you WEE-YALL be sae-yevved...YAY-AHH!!! the LOW-ARD!!!...AH hay-arr him nay-oww.....Whore LOW-ARD, please sae-yevv me NAY-OWW

Originally posted by Agerg
I'm convinced that dj2becker is one of those quiffy blokes on those evangelical tv shows with the dodgy pink background and a gold cross somewhere chanting:

"yayahh and the low-ard...yayahh hee sayed to mee...to me he sayedd...you hayav see-yenned...but you WEE-YALL be sae-yevved...YAY-AHH!!! the LOW-ARD!!!...AH hay-arr him nay-oww.....Whore LOW-ARD, please sae-yevv me NAY-OWW

Unfortunately he's from South Africa, so the accent's off. Actually, I rather think he's quite a quiet person in real life, he doesn't strike me as the evangelical type.

Originally posted by dj2becker
So if you stand before God one day you will use the names of these two men as an excuse?

I am afraid your blood will be on their hands.

Why would you think I need an "excuse"? I've made my decisions on my own. Why do you feel the need to proselytize through fear? Here I thought your type preached that God is unconditional love. Guess there are some conditions attached after all.

Originally posted by FreakyKBH
He tried something akin to religion, not Christianity. Keep trying.

Me. But of course you'll say I didn't really try Christianity, because you have already made up your mind that it's impossible to try Christianity and find it wanting. It's like when someone claims that some disease is incurable, and when presented with cases of people who were cured, xe will claim that those people must have been misdiagnosed because otherwise they couldn't have been cured.

Originally posted by Starrman
Unfortunately he's from South Africa, so the accent's off. Actually, I rather think he's quite a quiet person in real life, he doesn't strike me as the evangelical type.

He's a ticking time-bomb.

Originally posted by dj2becker
Realizing your own sinfulness is hardly self flagellation.

No, but constantly harping on about it, obsessing about it, bringing up your kids obsessed about it, warping your and your kids sense of decency and propriety - that is ...

So let me get this straight. Dj2becker is saying:
1. In order to understand Christianity you must try it.
2. You cant just try what the first person claiming to be Christian tells you but only his particular version.
3. If you don't try it (and be saved) you will be punished.
4. God is just.

Now I am faced with a number of different people with different beliefs but all claiming the above. So even if I try them one after the other it is just a matter of chance that I will get to the right one within my lifetime (and this is assuming I don't get deceived by the devil along the way).
This means that no. 4. is false.

Originally posted by bbarr
He's a ticking time-bomb.

I think he'll retire to the desert to do missionary work with the nomads or something. Even if he does assplode, he'll do little damage.

Originally posted by dj2becker
I don't work crossword puzzles regularly, but I love trying to solve them
on airplanes. On a recent lengthy flight, my enjoyment of the puzzle I
was working waned swiftly as I realized there was no way I was going to be able to complete it. Though I had filled in about ninety percent of the boxes, the remaining ten percent had stumped me, and there was ...[text shortened]... ate writer at Ravi Zacharias International
Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sorry, i have come into this thread a bit late, but i'll throw my two cents worth in anyway.

I believe the idea that "Everything" can be solved in some way is an illusion.

Consider a fractal.

When observed at any point, the fractal contains ALL the information required to recreate the whole.

I believe the nature of the Universe is the same. If you look at an atom, it displays the same properties as the Universe, just much much smaller in size. Size is an illusion, as it is only reletive from the point of observation. Therefore, trying to come to the correct conclusion based on observation is doomed to fail, as the act of observing distorts the data.

Piecing together ideas, or matching truths together into a patchwork of ideas with the intention of somehow solving the mysteries of the Universe cannot work. The only thing that is constant is change.

Hell, i am a man, but the bits that make me up have been many things before! Ultimately, i am not an individual, but a collective. My DNA instructs my atoms to take a particular shape, and for a time, they do. My DNA is fractal in nature also. One strand holds enough information to recreate my whole body.

To understand the Universe, we need to realise that we are not seperate from it, but are a part of it. By existing, we make it different. With every new life, with every new Star, it is growing...Evolving. It is like a crossword that grows more and more complex with every passing second.

The way i see it, there is only one thing to understand; There is no constant! There is no ultimate truth other than change.

Originally posted by Marinkatomb
There is no constant! There is no ultimate truth other than change.

And what will you do when that ultimate truth changes?

Most of your post seems to be claiming that we cannot know anything by giving examples of how to know everything.

Originally posted by twhitehead
And what will you do when that ultimate truth changes?

Most of your post seems to be claiming that we cannot know anything by giving examples of how to know everything.

I was addressing the original post. If life was a crossword puzzle, how would we solve it? Well, it's not a crossword puzzle! It's like asking what shape water takes when it is falling.

Most of your post seems to be claiming that we cannot know anything by giving examples of how to know everything.

I didn't give any examples of how to know anything, i simply tried to give my understanding of why we don't know the answer to 'everything'.

Originally posted by Nordlys
Me. But of course you'll say I didn't really try Christianity, because you have already made up your mind that it's impossible to try Christianity and find it wanting. It's like when someone claims that some disease is incurable, and when presented with cases of people who were cured, xe will claim that those people must have been misdiagnosed because otherwise they couldn't have been cured.

And of course, you will claim that you tried the real deal, regardless of every evidence to the contrary. Seems we're in a quandry. I tried religion and found it a cesspool of bile putridness, prompting anyone with a thought in their head to hate the object of supposed veneration. I thought that I had been trying Christianity, but I had been trying religion masquerading as Christianity. Once I got past the religion and heard the truth, I realized that the reality of Christianity had nothing to do with the crap that was force-fed to the masses.

I am not speaking of 'secret knowledge,' I am speaking of the truth lying in plain sight. Reality, not religion.

Originally posted by FreakyKBH
And of course, you will claim that you tried the real deal, regardless of every evidence to the contrary. Seems we're in a quandry. I tried religion and found it a cesspool of bile putridness, prompting anyone with a thought in their head to hate the object of supposed veneration. I thought that I had been trying Christianity, but I had been trying reli ...[text shortened]... 'secret knowledge,' I am speaking of the truth lying in plain sight. Reality, not religion.

So what is this truth?

What keeps one from seeing it?

Does Christianity have a monopoly on it?

Originally posted by FreakyKBH
And of course, you will claim that you tried the real deal, regardless of every evidence to the contrary. Seems we're in a quandry. I tried religion and found it a cesspool of bile putridness, prompting anyone with a thought in their head to hate the object of supposed veneration. I thought that I had been trying Christianity, but I had been trying reli ...[text shortened]... 'secret knowledge,' I am speaking of the truth lying in plain sight. Reality, not religion.

It's ever so fashionable these days for christians to claim they've moved beyond religion, isn't it? Sorry, as much as you'd like to be free of the r-word, it still fits you like a glove.

Originally posted by twhitehead
So let me get this straight. Dj2becker is saying:
1. In order to understand Christianity you must try it.
2. You cant just try what the first person claiming to be Christian tells you but only his particular version.
3. If you don't try it (and be saved) you will be punished.
4. God is just.

Now I am faced with a number of different people with dif ...[text shortened]... s assuming I don't get deceived by the devil along the way).
This means that no. 4. is false.

We should call this Master Yoda christianity. "Do, or do not. There is no try."