I’ve been learning Leper Messiah by Metallica on the guitar. Today I decided to get the song on iTunes (yes I pay for my music) because so far I have been learning only from tablature and what I remember of it in my head. I get online and download the song and as I’m listening to it I remember that I wanted to change my PokerStars image back to Charles Manson. Charley has been my image for so long but two weeks ago I decided to change him to a hot chick. But ever since I did I’ve been kind of disappointed because I miss Charley even though I think he messes with my mind sometimes.

So as I’m looking at the pic trying to decide whether I should do it or not the end of Leper Messiah comes and the words are:

Time for lust,
time for lie,
time to kiss your life goodbye.

Send me money, send me green.
Heaven you will meet.
Make a contribution and you’ll get a better seat.

Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, LIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was the pic I was looking at:



God? Coincidence? Satan?

I mean, as I'm sitting there contemplating and looking at the pic I hear the words lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, (screamed) LIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So instantly I'm like OK we have a verdict. A change back it is.

Personally I say no effin way that's a coincidence.

Satan? Nahh he knows I believe in God so by making that big of a "coincidence" it only leads me closer to seeing the Supernatural.

God it is? God allowed for my mind to recognize a sign that would influence a decision..?

well i wasn't that far off when i thought this was going to be something like the time god helped you locate one of you kids toys. please stop being so self-centered that you think god gives a **** about your pokerstars picture. or satan, for that matter.

Do you think he doesn't care about what my interests are?

Probably off topic, but why would any mature adult want their avatar to be someone evil like Charles Manson? Is that any different than having Hitler as an a avatar? How about the head of the Ku Klux Klan as an avatar? (If you're not a mature adult, then my questions are irrelevant, and I apologize for wasting your time.)

Why would he?

Just off the top of my head..

because he made me to have them?

Charley is deemed an insane mastermind. Why is that NOT the perfect image to have as a poker player? And a PLO one at that.

God made you to be interested in poker and Metallica? You really believe that?

Yes.

Who do you think created poker and Metallica?

That's a good point. I would sure be intimidated playing against Manson. But your poker playing is for good, not for evil (I suppose).

OMG i was listening to metallica when i clicked on this thread. it's a sign. praise jebus.

Human beings.

Erf, you're leveling here right? You think the idolization of Charles Manson is the mark of an all-loving God?

Have you read Helter Skelter?

Not impossible.

See this book: https://www.discountbooksale.com/p90...evotional.html

Or this one:
https://www.discountbooksale.com/p55...s-of-Life.html

Stirring up the Holy Spirit: http://www.stevesampson.com/stirringup.html

You said I idolize him, I didn't.



Yes, I own the book.

Is that your hand?

So, I had a hard time taking this seriously, but ill try anyway.
First an attempt to discredit the idea of signs.
Would it have been a sign if you had heard stuff about killing and murder aswell? If you happened to listen to gangster rap? If you happened to come by an advert for/episode of dexter when you flipped the tv on?
Does it matter what happens next? Do you expect a result? How have other signs that you percieved to be from god worked out for you? (do attempt to remove biased recollection before replying)

Second, taking this as a sign.
1. Devil, you seem to have this covered slightly, but lets take a different approach. Suppose the religion we have now is heavily influenced by the devil and feeds his apparent hunger for souls (meaning that you are not saved by it, au contraire), your argument against the possibility of his intervention is meaningless. You do not have any way to check that you have not been decieved within your framework, therefore you may be following the devil and not God.
2. So...are you one of the theists that believes in free will?
3. How did you come to interpret this sign as saying that you needed to use that avatar exactly?

I don’t understand Manson’s priorities; he was the guru of all these hippie chicks, I mean he could get blown five times a day by a different runaway each time.
What does he do? He gets himself thrown in jail.
That is pretty much the perfect example, that people never appreciated what they have.

Maybe glorify is a better word? In using his photo as a pokerstars avatar you are implying that you like and admire the man (the thought that someone might be intimidated playing against you because you have a picture of manson is laughable.) At the very least it shows that you want to be associated with him.

I'm actually pretty surprised that a supposedly pious christian such as yourself would be associating yourself with such a vile man, especially given that you have read the book.

I found the book a facinating read. But you won't see me walking around with a manson t-shirt.

I see you don't play much online poker. An avatar pic is not necessarily an endorsement or sign of liking a person.

Poker is a game of images. Some people like to appear crazy to threaten the timid or to excite action. Some people try to appear aggressive that are super tight.

All kinds of reasons for picking an avatar. Its much safer to assume an avatar is a "decoy" than to draw conclusions from it. Conclusions distract from the actual actions of your opponent and incite mistakes. Also some people like to appear stupider than they are or to be fish when they are not. Also some people think they are sharks which is a self delusion only they don't know they are delusional. Also some people just get a cheap thrill from their avatars or are making a social statement. It all depends on if you're picking the avatar for game purposes or for social ones or both....

I would say signs are signs when they're recognized as signs. If I'm doing something trying to achieve a result (in this case I was contemplating whether or not to switch the pic back) and some outside influence is recognized by me in a way that helps this decision, then I consider it a sign.

Not sure I understand what you're trying to get at here.

I've learned to not expect anything. I have an overall goal that I think is Gods will for me but I also allow for this to manifest in whatever way(s) it does.

Other signs that I believed were from God are what has helped open my mind to the unlimited possibilities that IS God. There's a whole other fascinating and creative side to life if you just listen to what it's trying to tell you.

I am only following the devil if I am following the devil, which I'm not. And FWIW I'm not sure that I'm convinced Satan is anything other than a forming device used by God.

Do I believe that I walk around with sole ownership over the decisions I make? No. If my will was completely free then I wouldn't have "received a sign" as I did. You might say that even after I perceived this sign I still had a choice, but I ask what kind of a choice is it when you're influenced by something that makes your decision no longer a decision?
It came to be interpreted that way because that's the way I interpreted it. That's the best answer I can give. I don't know why I took it the way I did instead of another way. I mentioned above about listening to what life is trying to tell you and this is a perfect example.

Thanks for the response. Am I oversimplifying if I say that you think something is a sign because it feels right and interpretit it in a similar fashion?
Now, Im not trying to put you down or be negative here, there is nothing wrong with that. But do you understand that it is not going to help anyone else who doesnt feel that way?

As for your satan counter, I dont see how that says anything to the argument I made, or how it says anything at all really.
Let me try again. There is this boy Dave in this alternate universe. There the creator-meddler God (lets call him Haweh) has decreed inquisitiveness, logic and clearmindedness to be the be all end all for people he wants to hang with after they die in the physical realm. All the other folks are left to his meddling biggest most powerfull creation, lets call him Hucifer. Dave believes in a revealed religion (its just that Hucifer did the revealing, oh sad day), lets call it Histianity, and is headed for Hucifer. Atheist Simon tries to figure things out as best he can and Haweh likes that, he's gonna be spending eternity with him. Dave does not know this and cannot find out due to the way he goes about his thinking.
How do you know you're not infact Dave? I say that you cannot know.
If you're going with because it feels right again (its really not a horrible answer, but it assumes a God that speaks through your feeling, which has other implications), Ill ask you about a bunch of sins that feel so very right, but apparently arent, if you believe some of the mainstream religions. How come the difference?

Free will: have you ever NOT followed a sign? Would you consider this a sin?

last bit: You mean what God (not life) is trying to tell you I assume.

This can't be a coincidence. And it's not god, it's Satan. Obviously, you have been turned over to the prince of darkness for your interest in Manson. You are in Satan's hands now. He will unite you and Charles around a pit of fire in the after world. Good luck!

Wow coincidences never happen to you? You actually have to make a thread about such a SMALL coincidence? I've had a million bigger coincidences in the last 5 years and I still know it's coincidences. Besides, yours isn't even a coincidence.

You have probably listened to the song already, so you know what the lyrics are. So once you turn the tune up, you are reminded to the lyrics (that are yet to come) "lie lie lie lie". Your mind picks up a connection to your avatar that has lie on it. So you think about it. DUH omg you are stupid!!!!!

You want a bigger coincidence? When brasil scored their first goal against holland, I told my brother that the dutch will score at the 52th minute. I didn't pick a bunch of other times, just the 52h minute. I even counted down "5 minutes to go, 3 minutes to go, 1 minute to go", and then they scored at like 52:30. So the 52th minute. My brother was next to me so he knows this **** happened. I don't even watch soccer (this was the 1st match I ever watched in full). So I didn't have a strategy to predict it either. But you, you disgust me... lyrics?

I'm sorry, but if they scored at 52:30, then they scored in the 53rd reason. Or are we in the 20th century? IDK.

If you're looking for signs, you're probably going to find them pretty easily, even if they're not there.