Yes.

I know I'm either going to heaven for following the teachings of Christ and being a generally good person or I'm gonna be worm food.

_________________

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

But that doesn't mean you should believe Buddha is the equal of Christ.

Look, if your brother or best friend was sick and refused to see a doctor, I'm sure you would do your best to exhort him to take the steps to get healthy. Because you have real faith in Western medicine. If your faith in Christ is actually equal to your faith in medicine, how could you allow a loved one to go down a path you know is wrong? Evangelism is an important component of Christianity. It is the duty of a Christian to spread the Good Word.

I maintain that most people who identify as Christians aren't really Christians at all. If most people I know truly believed, they'd live their lives differently. For example, is amassing consumer goods "following the teachings of Christ?"

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I tried to take a vow of poverty. I got married.

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JORR, you need to stick a sock in it. We're not Jesus, we're just trying to be more like it. We're all full of sin, but we have hopes to be better people. You, on the otherhand, are hopeless.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I know that.

My point is that apparently the Christians of the CSFMB value diversity more than they value their immortal souls.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

JORR, you dont consider yourself Christian, then?

Incredibly well said.

Actions have consequences.

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No. I am an atheist. Of course, culturally I will always be a Catholic. And all that indoctrination is difficult to shed. I have never faced what I would call real adversity. When the time comes that I do, I can't say for sure that I won't be praying my ass off. And if I do, it will be Jesus that I am praying to. I like to think I will keep my logical mind in the face of such adversity, but I can't know for sure until it actually occurs.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Christians have been true martyrs since their founder. But if you really feel threatened, I sugget that you don't look at the the birth rates of Muslims compared to Europeans and Americans.

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Historically the more affluent always have less children. Many third world- or do we say "emerging"- nations are largely Muslim. It stands to reason that they would have higher birth rates. Also, the poor have more reason for true belief. It's a lot easier to believe in God and follow his laws when you aren't sitting in a Barcalounger drinking a craft beer and eating Real Urban Barbecue while watching the Bears game on a 100 inch high def television.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

The logical (scientific) mind tends to take over when the adversity is your own...at least that is what happened to me.

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@audioidkid

Faith and reason are not adversaries. Nor are they mutually exclusive of each other.

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That's interesting. But you're an engineer. Engineers by necessity are required to view the world as a set of problems and solutions.

I had a related conversation with my girlfriend recently with regard to my mother who has some serious health issues. I expressed the idea that doctors are engineers of sorts, and as such are trained to come up with solutions to problems. But a consequence of such a mindset can often be that it is easy to lose sight of the fact that a patient is a human being with emotions and feelings and fears and not just a structural problem to be tackled with tools.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

True. But I see the logic in Keeping Score's viewpoint that considers why one God may or may not be better than another. Why did you select one other than the fact that you were raised to do so? What forms the basis of one's beliefs? That said, I am highly offended by the concept of the "Flying Spaghetti Monster" that is designed by and for liberal secularists for no other reason but to mock those of faith.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

God =/= Religion.

Many fail to see this distinction.

_________________
1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

I wasn't an Engineer when it happened. Heightened communication skills and/or other medical professionals can assuage the fears associated with serious health issues. I suppose praying could as well. But, prayer has never cured Cancer...at least I'm not aware of it doing so. If it does, then people should be made aware of that so as not to ingest the poison that is chemotherapy.

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@audioidkid

c'mon kid, suck it up, you're gonna die. might as well get on with it.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

There is only one God. And folks can claim or believe whatever they choose to about that. The God of Abraham is by extension the God of Muslims and Christians also.

I think it's healthy to ask quesions about your faith and to God directly if need be. Adversity lead me to doing that. I was raised Catholic with a miserable approach to my faith and to who God actually is. Over a number of years and some tough stuff to deal with, I began looking at other religions and at how and why I arrived at certian beliefs.

I think my upbringing to some extent formed some of the basis for my beliefs. Life experiences have changed that basis thankfully.

I am offended but also saddened by the Flying Spaghetti monster stuff. And I am much more on the saddened side. I had lunch Friday with a kid I coached years ago that just graduated from U of I. He is now an atheist, after being brought up a part time Catholic. He never really knew much about his faith and is now unwilling to even look at it any further. The close minded approach of many, (not all) atheists does them a disservice I think.

We are all searching for something. The Catholic Church has a catechism with an answer to almost any question that we can come up with. Other religions have books also.

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John 16:33.

Ezekiel 25:17

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

That sounds like syncretism, and if it is, you can keep it.

If not, then I guess I might follow your point, but I'd rather you explain it than answer to my attempt at rendering your explanation.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

You do of course realize that that is not Ezekiel 25:17, right?

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Yes. It's the quote from Pulp Fiction.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

[/

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

The God of Abraham is the same God to his son Isaac, as he was and is to his other son Hagar. Allah is the Arabic word for what we say as God in English.

I think we agree that the God of Abraham is also the God of the Christians.

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_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Yes, of course. But that has nothing to do with the Muslim faith.

_________________
Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

How many people read this in the Samuel L Jackson voice?

I did.

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When the pope steps down does he become mr ratslinger again or stay benedict?

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."