Erf,

I'm sorry that they locked your thread before I could post a few words of encouragement for you.

I'd meant to post that what RLK said in his first post in your farewell thread was quite right.

The most vocal posters on here are mostly Dawkinites and this forum regarding religion is mostly about Apologetics.

Apologetics while it is a defense of faith and a presentation of reasons for faith is primarily useful for refining doctrine and for publicity purposes.

But YOU actually had the best part of faith incorporated in your personal belief system. That part is the indwelling of the Spirit as evidenced by your benevolent temperament.

I admire your personal courage in standing up for your faith in a hostile environment when you sufferer from an anxiety disorder. If you ever permanently decide to leave then I'd say that's the wisdom that the Spirit gives you in making a prudent decision because you profiled this forum not only accurately but extremely early.

Since you already possess the "pearl beyond price" here's a link to help you recognize, appreciate and guard it:

http://www3.calvarychapel.com/librar...itOfGod/01.htm

Nobody says it better than Tozer.

All these essays are great but for me chapters 1, 6 and 7 stand out from the crowd.

This is also a belated Christmas gift for my fellow 2+2 theists. Hope you had a great holiday. It'll just irritate you atheists so why not skip the read?

http://www3.calvarychapel.com/librar...uitOfGod/0.htm

I know this is addressed to Erf but it's a public forum so I think I have a right to reply.

A lot of the problems theists have on this forum is a result of them bringing up their faith. I wholeheartedly believe there is no room for faith when talking specifically about science. I'm not attacking religion by saying this just saying that unless there is evidence to go along with it it shouldn't be brought up. It is this very problem that has resulted in the need for a new forum.

This forum doesn't allow religious discussion. A new forum is being created, and locks there will be a rare thing. Just hold onto your pants, folks. Or dramasplosion time, either way I guess.

Why create a new forum if its a copycat of the old one?

What we needed in SMP was impartial
moderation.

The rule always was attack the stance not the poster but that didn't occur.

Now SMP is saying we'll have the same thing all over again in a new forum.

We need moderation with backbone or a separation by group.

SMP is only partially correct if it says religious posting are driving smart posters away. It isn't that alone. Its the ugly posts attacking individual posters. Hopey called a theist an "ass" the other day. Clearly a forum rules violation. In the Lounge he'd have been banned. They banned other posters in there for saying less.

We need consistency of moderation in all forums. Religion above all shouldn't be the forum where "anything goes" is the rule as it has been in SMP until now.

PacoPaco,

Every so often, every so often, I fall upon a moment that allows me to understand (just a little bit more) why it is that I believe what I do. And this is one of those moments. The instant I opened up your link I got a smile on my face because this is just what I was needing. What a "coincidence".

I probably don't even need to say it but I will. This is, the way God works.

Thank you PacoPaco, for throwing yourself into the lions den in order to share this with me.

Sincerely,
Erf

Btw you made a wrong post a couple of weeks back.

You said I ran off when the forum split and new SMP moderator occurred.

As a matter of fact I took a break the day before it was proposed.

If you're going to narrate facts about me then double check them please and make sure they are accurate.

Splendour, have you met Erf? I think the two of you would make a great couple.

What a coincidence. I'm a Leo born of the eve of Tisha b'Av who works for the Lion of Judah. Lions' dens might be about to become my specialty....lol.

Sry, I'm taken.

Just out of curiousity madnak, does this mean that no science talk will be allowed in the new forum? So if a topic of religion arises and someone says anything about science, can I say, "no science talk in RGT"? And if they say that science can be a part of RGT, is this equal to me saying that philosophy can be part of science?

It won't be a copycat of SMP. You'll be able to proselytize all you want in the new forum. You won't need to back up your assertions with facts, and won't have to worry about whether or not your arguments are sound.

The problem is that you *think* that these "rules" have always been true for SMP. In reality, the only reason that you've been able to get away with what you've gotten away with over the last year is because the moderators had all disappeared and nobody was left to enforce the rules.

I've been warned by Zeno for being too mean to certain posters. Zeno isn't just singling out the theists. Your feelings of persecution are completely unwarranted.

I'll be pretty hands-off in terms of locking/banning.

Banning someone for calling someone else an ass is stupid.

I agree t_d but that's just one example in a pattern of abuse.

Environment is controlled by many factors. I'm amazed that atheists would be so revolted by my scripture postings to lay the defection of posters at my and/or other theist posters' doors.

Atheists themselves have made a lot of scriptural posts. madnak himself specialized in making derogatory scriptural posts and I could name several others who have done so.

Revealed theology IS possibly the very earliest philosophy and many theists would argue all GOOD philosophy is from the light of God.

http://www.iep.utm.edu/t/theo-nat.htm (see the Jewish/Christian paragraph)

Oh btw m all your scriptural arguments are invalid from my theist perspective because without an indwelling of the Spirit you can't divine scripture accurately enough to construct valid arguments.

The Spirit alone is what qualifies us for understanding it rightly.

out of curiosity why couldn't this have been done via private message?

Especially if the person being called an ass was actually being an ass.

There's less attention being drawn to oneself if one uses PMs for such communications.

I must be missing something here. I hear the name Splendour now and again..

Care to elaborate?

pacopaco=splendour=2(something)tooTroll

Splendour is a famous troll. Paco Paco is the third name she's posted under in this forum. She's famous for nearly always including links in her posts (famously, the links often have little to do with what she's talking about... this happens because she's admitted on more then one occasion that she hasn't actually read or is interested in discussing the links she provides), she has a very loud persecution complex and constantly thinks people attack her rathar then her ideas, she treats the forum like a personal blog, she has signed on with other IDs to talk with herself to make it appear that others agree with her, etc.

My former alias....lol.

At one time I actually posted more science than Hopey. Check Splendour threads for my thread on The God Gene. I also have a human genome thread about Francis Collins plus Gary Habermas' skeptic argument confirming the resurrection. I'll post the links for you.

Btw I think you'll like this one due to your recent posting experiences:http://globalrecordings.net/article/662

A classic The God Gene:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/47...d-gene-143283/

I elaborated in the thread in question, but I'll humour you by responding again.

1) You made a big heartfelt post about how this forum was causing you to lose faith and that losing faith would cause you to slide back to your "old ways".

2) The vast majority of posters in this forum -- atheists and theists alike -- responded with words of encouragement and various statements of goodwill. The overall consensus was that if your faith is what is keeping you from backsliding in life, than you should leave this forum and maintain your faith.

3) You then returned a few days later to announce your return. In your return you made a comment that amounted to a slap in the face for every atheist who responded with words of encouragement in your good-bye post. You made a comment about us showing a lack of character in your time of need, or something of that nature. You completely ignored the fact that most of us were trying to be supportive of you. Instead, you decided to take the low road by misrepresenting the nature of our replies to your good-bye post. In other words, you were being an ass.

Another classic. Very long thread. If its too long I'd settle for watching the youtube video of Habermas:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/47...meline-252402/

LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!!!