I am leading you to a realization. If that is mis-leading perhaps it's because you don't want to go there.

EDIT: And that is the point of this whole discourse. Our belief systems are like boxes that hinder us from seeing anything outside of that box. They control us like a disease.

There is belief and there is knowing. We can Know the truth and the truth shall make us free. Or we can believe something and not be able to see anything outside of our beliefs.

Here's a website which says he's a dill.

Hey this internet "research" is easy!


EDIT: Note that I dont disagree that the internet has contributed to an increase in atheism (and also an increase in overt sexuality, for that matter). I dispute whether anyone is in the position to declare it 'the main' contributing factor. I definitely dispute the claim that, because of the internet, the US is soon going to be a majority atheist society.

Never ceases to amaze me how you will just continue to invent facts in order to bolster your side. You're as bad as we're all fishes.

I know people who have given up addictions without God. The plural of anecdote is not data.

Atheism doesn't teach anything. It is not a belief system. We don't have a book we all read or a structured study guide to tell us what to believe. We derive our inspiration from other sources, not atheism itself.

Pure, unadulterated, unsupported bs. Do you really not see that you shatter any credibility you might otherwise have when you invent facts? You do a severe disservice to theism when you argue this way.

I quite like this comment and will proceed to repeat it and claim it as my own.

However, I'm not 100% convinced it's true. Isnt data just many anecdotal reports?

Yeah, sort of. It's a common expression that's supposed to mean extrapolating a single instance to a conclusion about a population is incorrect, which you clearly gathered. However, I suppose a comprehensive study could be considered to be a collection of anecdotes. People also have a tendency to rely on anecdotes as some kind of proof when they contradict actual scientific findings. Sort of knee-jerk incredulity thing.

No you're not leading me to a realization.

Galatians 6

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

Galatians 6
Help Each Other
1My friends, you are spiritual. So if someone is trapped in sin, you should gently lead that person back to the right path. But watch out, and don't be tempted yourself. 2You obey the law of Christ when you offer each other a helping hand.

3If you think you are better than others, when you really aren't, you are wrong. 4Do your own work well, and then you will have something to be proud of. But don't compare yourself with others. 5We each must carry our own load.

6Share every good thing you have with anyone who teaches you what God has said.

7You cannot fool God, so don't make a fool of yourself! You will harvest what you plant. 8If you follow your selfish desires, you will harvest destruction, but if you follow the Spirit, you will harvest eternal life. 9Don't get tired of helping others. You will be rewarded when the time is right, if you don't give up. 10We should help people whenever we can, especially if they are followers of the Lord.

I would read up on the Great Faith of God's People. Faith is the only thing that pleases God.

Hebrews Chapter 11
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...11&version=CEV

And you might want to think about 1 Corinthians, chapter 2 especially verses 10 through 15.

1 Corinthians 2:15 (Contemporary English Version)

15People who are guided by the Spirit can make all kinds of judgments, but they cannot be judged by others.

As usual, you have totally missed what ajmargarine was pointing to.

It's disappointing that it's common. I wont be able to seem witty and wise.
I can't see any reason not to - even if the collection of anecdotes was self-selecting (like "Have you ever been abducted by aliens?") it would still be data, just biased data in my view.
I've often wondered at the source of this bias. The obvious conclusion, as you say, is that they incorrectly extrapolate from their own experience to the broader population - overemphasising the relevance of the data they are most familiar with. I wonder though whether there's also an element of mistrusting data from an unfamiliar source.

My astrology friends (long time ago) used to decry studies disproving astrology. One of their (stronger, in my view) arguments was that skeptics were less likely to reliably report accurate astrological correlations to reality.

No I'm not missing anything. He's not my leader.

Jesus Christ said that he wasn't bringing peace to this world but trouble.

There's stuff in the bible that has to be grappled with not dismissed and glossed over so you can feel pretty about yourself.

John 16:33 (New International Version)

33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Your answer to everything is "I refuse to consider any other sides or arguments or acknowledge that anyone has even made them, you just have to believe because...you just have to. Abandon rationality, science, intelligence, human rights, philosophy and just be a spiritual thinker just because."

If you feel called by the Great Commission you are failing here and only serving to make Christianity look bad in the eyes of nonbelievers. Not a good way to bring people to Christ.

Yes. So let's not dismiss or gloss over what I was speaking on so that we can feel pretty about ourselves.

Mat 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Mat 7:2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.

When we make a judgment of another, we shall be judged. How so? Well, it's immediate. Because that judgment we uttered is actually more a statement about ourselves than about the person we judged. This is a universal spiritual principle. And it is greatly to our benefit, because once we Know it and comprehend it, we can use the words that we utter against another to examine our own selves, to know our selves.

For example, if one were to say to another, "you've let your unbelief control you like a disease for years" we could turn that upon ourselves and perhaps learn that we have let our belief control us like a disease for years.

Or, if one were to say to another, "There's stuff in the bible that has to be grappled with not dismissed and glossed over so you can feel pretty about yourself" we could turn that back upon ourselves and perhaps learn that we dismiss and gloss over things so that we can feel pretty about ourselves.

One wants to overcome? Well, this is one of the primary principles that will aid you. And, there's no guilt, shame or embarrassment in this for the sincere seeker. Any guilt, shame or embarrassment that arises in the reader was there in the self all along and can be released, so that that part of the self dies.

Peace.

You're not a regular in here aj to know anything about what goes on. You post very intermittently in RGT and you were never around in the old SMP days. You really don't know what you're butting into. kurto has been trolling me with personal insults for 7 years. I don't troll him so keep your inaccurate advice to yourself.

How can it be inaccurate advice? Its from the bible
"judge not lest ye be judged yourself"

A large proportion of statements that anyone makes, including you, are judgements

I'm trying to prevent a judgment.

You can die and face Jesus Christ with your unbelief intact or you can believe in Him and face him.

Does anybody know the date and time of their death? Do we have the luxury of sitting around? I don't believe we do. In fact when I answered the call to get baptized that was the motivating idea in my mind. Not hell fire. I never feared going to hell a day in my life. What was motivational is knowing that I should respond to God because I could die at almost any time. I didn't even have anyone mention death to me. I figured it out on my own.

So you hang around with these lacsidaisical people and let them persuade you that you have all the time in the world. You could walk outside tomorrow and get hit by a bus when you're not looking crossing the street.

The Gospel is an urgent message. It's not to be delivered lightly by lightweights.

thats right, play on my deepest fears of death in order to get me to do what you want.

I'm correcting your bs.

I'm judging someone, huh?

I'm trying to improve everyone's judgment chances.

I don't have to scare anyone.

Some things are obvious. Most people have a couple of close ones a week in their car just driving to the grocery store.

lol you are correcting my BS?

Yes, you are judging someone. Human beings are judgemental.

My point: I am saying that when a person utters a judgment about another person, they are actually making a true statement about themselves.

You dismiss my point because I am not an RGT regular, post intermittently, wasn't here in the old days, because kurto is trolling you and you haven't trolled him.

What does any of that have to do with whether a spiritual principle is true or not? Nothing. Are you not dismissing and glossing over my point so that you can feel better about yourself?

This is yet another false statement. You judge atheism every day.

Atheism is going to judge you in the end. Not me.

I'm not your judge.

I'm going to do a bigpooch and just say "atheism is evil."

I won't be posting here any more because I want to devote myself where people have more potential. Like Geisler and Zukeran said in their book The Apologetics of Jesus there are more productive things to do than try to convince atheists.

I only tried for years because I didn't know the obstinacy of the atheist mindset and at the outset viewed them as typical people in need of correction because I hadn't had any atheist conversations.

After experiencing 7 years of atheist trolling I can say atheists are not typical.

Christians are vessels of God's Mercy. Anyone in their right minds should respond appropriately when approaced by God's Mercy instead of ascribing the devil's characteristics to God and His people.

"Bad company destroys good character", Paul said in the NT so I'm out of here.

I like that she avoids discussing her judgemental nature by making a huge farewell post where she negatively judges millions of people.

I guess that's the Christian Humbleness she gets from trying to be more like Jesus.

I'm going to put the odds of her being "out of here" at 1%.

I'll take the under.

< forever is my only guess. Based on my beliefs of the rapture to happen in the future. Also assuming atheism includes agnostics/etc.

You are one of the most closed-minded people I've ever conversed with. You do not have active thinking. Your thinking has already been done for you in the Bible. Your moral relativism regarding the Old Testament is evidence of your inability to think critically of the book.

I don't slander God. I analyze, consider, ponder and question human interpretations of God, like Christianity. I don't believe the true God is reflected in Christianity, or any theistic religion.

Atheism can't judge anything, it's not a person.

Yet you judge atheists every day and also judge inaccurate perceptions you project onto atheists.

If you didn't misrepresent the other side, invent data and other facts, among other things, your particular perspective would be more valuable here.

It will take around 100-150 years for this country to believe in " self ", and realism .

I know between now and then, IF the planet exists in stable conditions to support life, that there will be a world changing political movement . People will stop letting religion pedos and wack jobs fleece them of their money and innocence.

There will be some big game changing moments and its not only gonna be in the US, expect major war with pakistan and iran . its totally gonna change religion, money and the absolut world.

Also banking. there will be A LOT of bloodshed here in the homeland when this goes down. our underpaid, overcharged and screwed over everyday people from sleepy wallmarttown usa worked forever now gonna retire and cant eat.

how long before religion is thrown away to ****ing eat . its coming and I hope I am here to see it all.