You know I honestly feel sorry for some of these guys, because they really do not understand anything. They just think that they have the things they have in abundance because they simply exist. They have no idea that the only reason they have freedom and prosperity available to them is because of God.

Of well, you can't teach a unwilling learner anything, especially ones who already have things all figured out by themselves.

Pletho

This is wrong obv. You know nothing about American history and I'm not going to give you a crash course at 2 am, but regardless, this isn't even CLOSE to the contradiction that you said was made. This isn't even a contradiction.

I said I would've give you any American history, but obviously it wasn't UNTHINKABLE to challenge Christianity, since several of the most important Founders did so all the time.

This is right up there with the "a beetle is an insect, not an animal." in the Noah's ark thread.

Quoted once more before I go to bed.

Yes attitude is everything.

I think I'm done on RGT.

I don't know how you could ever understand God without reverence.

Atheists usually translate fear as fear. Sometimes its God's power the bible is talking about and that is to be feared but I find its mostly about reverence. (Because God always exercises power justly.)

Most atheist questions leave me agape. The delicacy of reverence is totally lacking.

How do people simply refuse to understand God's holiness simply is not within human reach? Guess they haven't read the book of Isaiah chapter 6.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...206&version=31

The mind of an atheist: unfathomable, mystifying....

The same way you simply refuse to understand Allah's holiness. Guess you've never read the Quran.

The mind of the a-allahist...unfathomable, mystifying....

I fully appreciate the Muslims reverence I just have a different set of beliefs.

Christian religions allow us a lot more freedom from rituals than the typical Muslim has and so sometimes Christians weaken in reverence. Our weaknesses and our strengths go hand and hand sometimes.

Oh, well if the Christian religion allows you more freedom that must make it more likely to be true.

(Grunching from post #80something -- where the tl;dr stuff starts)

Why is it whenever the word "God" is mentioned, everyone gets to claim it to mean THEIR OWN god??

CUZ ALL THAT MATTERS IS THAT I GET WHAT I WANT LDO

Several of the founding fathers were not Christian. Thomas Jefferson re-wrote the New Testament to edit out all the supernatural events and miracles, which he considered to be false. I'm not sure how much more directly you can challenge Christianity.

pletho is a disgrace and a joke to christianity, and its shocking and sad that other christians on this board refuse to stand up against him. do they not realize that he is a bigger detriment to christianity than atheists are?

i mean seriously splendour, do you actually agree with him? you know, its ok to admonish your brother, you dont have to agree with things that are blatantly wrong just because you are afraid to admit that a fellow "christian" could actually be wrong! gasp!

you really believe this too?

He's a homophobic racist who believes that Jesus Christ was the son of god. What reason could Splendour possibly have to admonish him for? She's found her soul-mate!

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me 26 times...

I asked for one in ATF, but nobody has stepped forward to do it yet.

This post is an example of why many of us think Religion is gross and cheer the spread of atheism.

On the other hand, I laughed and kind of hoped this was just a troll trying to make Christians look like tools.

she doesn't read the posts she makes... you expect her to read the posts others are making?

OK PEOPLE NEED TO STOP BRINGING UP AUSTRALIA RANDOMLY IN THIS FORUM

POASTERS THAT ARE ALLOWED TO BRING UP AUSTRALIA:

MYSELF
CHRISV

POASTERS THAT ARE NOT:

EVERYONE ELSE

Why?

Was Australia criticized in any way?

Pretty obvious that as time goes on, more will become atheist.

Generally, the more intelligent a person, the higher the chance that they will not be religious. As time goes by, humans get more intelligent. Simple.

I don't think its intelligence alone. I think its the phony values that come from being spoiled by too much prosperity. Too much prosperity tends to foster a "me for myself" attitude. That's why they called the 80's the "Me Generation". Gordon Gecko with his "greed is good" mentality personified it.

Too much prosperity goes hand and hand with the pursuit of pleasure. Then pleasure becomes your idol or the thing you pursue relentlessly. Once you get jaded by the pleasures thats when you look around and realize that while prosperity is a blessing it also can be a curse. Thats what Ecclesiastes is all about. Its a book attributed to Solomon and he had more intelligence, material wealth and women than possibly anyone in recorded history.

That's when the decadence from all the profligate soft life comes home to roost. Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is fashioned on this concept. See Gibbon's Theory:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline...e_Roman_Empire

It's also why the bible has that famous saying "Its harder for a rich man to get into heaven than a camel to pass through the eye of a needle".

Me neither. But I'm not going to waste my time trying to explain how intelligence is a HUGE factor in whether or not someone will be religious. Its just so obvious that the average atheist is more intelligent than the average theist, and I don't think its a coincidence. There's obviously some connection between intelligence and atheism. I cannot take someone seriously who denies this.

I suspect your view of intelligence and the purpose of it is much narrower than mine.

But no I don't concede the IQ match to atheists because EQ is also a component. Even professional headhunters will sometimes pass up IQ for a better IQ/EQ combination with all other skills being roughly equal.

I do apologise, I was actually being sarcastic and rude. However, that explanation makes no sense to me because I thought that Jesus Christ was part of the holy trinity. I don't care, however, but I did have other points in my original reply that were the portion of my post I intended for you to comment on.