Back on topic, I was part of an ACLU lawsuit to remove a 65 foot cross from a marine base overlooking Honolulu. The case was reported in the New York Times.
In the Times article, my name was misspelled. The cross was removed as a violation of the 1st amendment. Part of the reason was that it made non Christians feel like outsiders in their own city. It was like 6 grade school prayer.

http://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/30/us...rine-base.html

Again, martyr complex. Poor Splendour being called out on your raging hypocrisy, how hard life is for you.

Ho hum...another atheist acting like he's a qualified psychiatrist on here.

If you knew what a martyr complex was you'd think twice before demonstrating your ignorance on here.

You have issues.

Ho hum, another Christian deflecting when called on his hypocrisy and martyr complex. If only you could see how obvious the tactic is, you'd be too embarassed to try it.

Don't take anything he says seriously.

They are posting in a forum called "Religion, God, and Theology." Fervent, militant atheists. That. Is all that really needs to be said.

They are providing a valuable service--they are freeing minds. It's a wonderful experience, I suggest you try it once.

Try this. Watch THIS DEBATE between two great apologists for their cause. One atheistic and one Christian.

Yeah, making sure the 1st amendment is enforced, what a shame....

Turning the other cheek once again. It's the Christian thing to do.

I still can't believe it's 2012 and people still believe in religion.

It'd be like someone having a beeper. Come on brother get with the program.

It's easy to be full of yourself, and your own ways, when you have elevated yourself and your god-of-human-reason to idol status. It's easy when you are young, and time is like an over-large, warm blanket that it seems will always be there to protect you and comfort you.

When a man is full of himself, and worships his own form, there is no room for others inside of him. In the end, he only has himself.

You can kneel to knowledge and worship information, but in the end, you have to make room for wisdom. A man without wisdom is like a ship without a rudder. When the storm comes, he can only grind his teeth and hope for the best. That is not the kind of freedom I want. I want to have room within myself for wisdom, and not be a slave to my own ways.

it's a deepity!

you can eat hamburgers and french fries, but in the end, you have to make room for milkshakes.

projection to the fullest.

You are one of the only militants i see here on either side (being that I still mostly think FZ is a joke account)

You have shown yourself to have a rabid dislike for atheists and just people who don't think the same way you do in general, and in between your condescension and condemnation you occasionally manage to spew out a few words about Jesus and compassion.

you're a joke.

Really this. so many Christians just act in direct opposition to what that Jesus guy said. The people who actually do act in such a way don't even get talked about, not really. I mean seriously, there's a reason some christians don't consider people like Thomas Merton 'real' Christians. After all he was ready to give those who thought differently than him the benefit of the doubt. Shocking, I know:

[F]aith comes by hearing, says St. Paul: but by hearing what? The cries of snake-handlers? The soothing platitudes of the religious operator? One must first be able to listen to the inscrutable ground of his own being, and who am I to say that your [the Unbeliever's] reservations about religious commitment do not protect, in you, this kind of listening?”

At least I have compassionate moments, dude.

Well, this may well be true, though, you've shown no evidence of that here. Talking about the compassion of Jesus is not the same as acting compassionately. Just FYI. That may be where the confusion is coming in, I think

Listen, I am not Jesus, and this is not Jesus speaking, but I feel like your whole post about me projecting is really you projecting.

I've been making content-rich posts all day and you launch this weird personal assault out of nowhere, which you do a lot.

Diversion. Projection. Here. Let me quote a little something:

It's very much not out of nowhere. But go ahead and think that if it helps you. I'm just fed up with your nonsense, that's all.Calling posters personal stories BS, saying that atheists are immoral, saying that other posters don't deserve to be listened to. It's enough. Really.

also, ill have to check, but im pretty sure a lot of people would disagree with with you that simply quoting the bible qualifies as a "content rich post"

also, why have you been here all day?

I am not sure that I lost my religion, because I am not sure that I ever had it.
When I was a kid I took it , I guess , for granted that there was god, because I was told so.

And then , I don't remember when or why exactly I decided to give it some serious though.
I approached it with an open mind, not "wanting" to prove one stand point or the other.
If anything I hoped that god is for real. There is some comfort in faith , but comfort was not what I was looking for.


After lots of investigation and thinking about it I came to conclusion that god simply does not exist, at lest not in a form that christianity (or islam) suggests.

I really lost my faith as a kid. I read a lot of history/my parents were missionaries. Seeing and reading about some really bad **** made me realize that if god was real, he was responsible.

In my mind any god that was responsible for the horrors taking place at that very moment was certainly not benevolent and couldn't possibly be the god of the bible.

At this point I'm basically agnostic. I find people who are 'sure' of anything to be fairly annoying and this includes atheists. I'll happily blow holes in basically anything that people are willing to put forward as 'the truth' simply because claiming to know the truth about the unknowable is dumb.

I do clearly remember thinking to myself " Right now there are two people praying. One is a middle class ******* who drinks too much, cheats on his wife, and occasionally molests his kids. He's praying for a raise. The second person is a 9 year old african child who has just seen her mother raped and tortured to death in front of her. She's surrounded by people who have just doused her in gasoline. She's terrified and praying. Guess who's prayer is going to be answered?" Yeah that line of thought pretty much ruined 'god will answer your prayers' for me.

EDIT: I guess it could be the god of the old testament, but definitely nothing to do with the new testament.

Most atheists are agnostic and would agree with you on all of this.

I'm aware of that. The ones who wouldn't agree with me are super annoying though

My awesome story:

I wanted to be a Christian. Honestly. I read the bible, and I thought it important to have a good academic grounding in Christianity, so I took religion courses in college, read the notable apologists, etc. There was a very charismatic and eloquent preacher on campus that really influenced me. Sometimes I went to him when I struggled with certain things.

Long story short, I just never felt anything. I never "felt" the holy spirit (or however you want to put it). Didn't feel any inner calm, like I was being watched over, or any of the various signs that god is in your life. Went on like that for years. I tried and tried, praying nightly, but it always seemed like I was praying to nothing. I waffled between blaming myself and recognizing the creeping thoughts that maybe there's just nothing out there.

I still remember the night I decided not to be a Christian. I "apologized" to god and said I'd always be there and keep an open mind. Like, even when I made the decision I couldn't fully make the leap.

I've shared that story with a bunch of Christians. I've heard multiple explanations, but nothing persuasive enough to convince me I wrongly decided. I've gotten needlessly hostile crap like, "You turned your back on God," and "You weren't a true Christian to begin with if you're so full of yourself that you actually expected to feel something personal, that's not how it works." I've heard ad hoc stuff like "God is testing you." I've even heard "Well, you gave yourself over to Christ, so you're already saved."

I've obviously yet to meet a Christian willing to accept my story at face value--I tried, hard and sincerely, to be a Christian, and it just didn't work out. I wasn't hostile about "rejecting" Christ. I'm a good person. I'm a good husband. I'm going to be a good father to the child on the way. I'm nice to strangers, and I help the poor when I can. My biggest vice is probably my love for cats. (I'm nearing weird-cat-person territory.) I'm the same person I was--I just don't spend my time trying to be a Christian.

If I were you I'd study the Word the first thing every morning. We're weak in the flesh and I think everyone suffers from communication and connectivity problems when it comes to God. Sometimes we even block the connection with sin.

Harden Not Your Heart
by George Kirkpatrick
http://www.newfoundationspubl.org/hardnot.htm

I appreciate the response. I don't think I fit in with the picture painted by that link. I didn't "refuse to hear" or harden my heart. I was waiting to hear. For years. I couldn't even stop being a Christian without being sad about it. It was something I wanted. I was and am a good person, not perfect, but it's not like I felt giving up religion would be a better fit for my sinning ways.

I understand being a Christian is supposed to be a constant struggle. But I wasn't struggling with adhering to the bible or with temptation. There is no one that will devote their entire life to a religion if they don't get some type of sign, reinforcement, feeling, whatever, that what they are doing and believing is the right thing.