The Gospel

[kurious_kathy]

He didn't give it to me, and I begged.

Why not?

I don't know, I still believe He can if you could just try to believe in Him again. I was in a really desperate state when He turned me around. I never thought all the pain I went through would be a blessing in disquise, but it was.
Life isn't always easy and none of us is perfect, but I do know God truely loves us and does not want any of us to perish. We just need to be in agreement with Him. I fought doing it His way for a long time. Now I found freedom because I repented and said I'm done with sin. It was a very painful turn around, but thank God I'm living in the light now. I know if He gave this to me, you can have it too! Why not try again?

 

[Pauliesonne]

While I have a chance, let me say this;

I would rather screw a nail into my head with a Black and Decker screwdriver than convert to your crazy religon and your charlie mansonesque God!!!!

 

[bluess]

I don't know, I still believe He can if you could just try to believe in Him again. I was in a really desperate state when He turned me around. I never thought all the pain I went through would be a blessing in disquise, but it was.
Life isn't always easy and none of us is perfect, but I do know God truely loves us and does not want any of us to perish. We just need to be in agreement with Him. I fought doing it His way for a long time. Now I found freedom because I repented and said I'm done with sin. It was a very painful turn around, but thank God I'm living in the light now. I know if He gave this to me, you can have it too! Why not try again?

How was the pain a blessing in disguise? You sound like that kid's joke:

Q: Why do you keep poking yourself in the eye?
A: Cause it feels so good when I stop!

If I were a Christian, I would be offended by your belief that the loving God would DELIBERATELY torture his loved creations so they would know what heaven is.

You know that earlier comment about people wanting to throw you to the lions? They would want to do so based not on your faith, but your insensitive, clod-like mental processes.

 

[kmortis]

Who are you to judge me? I believe everything I share here whether you like it or not. I would appreciate it if you would quit pointing fingers at me RT, you are the one who is playing judge and I don't like it.

Aww...poor little Kathy's getting a taste of her own medicine and it's bitter. Aww poor, poor widdle KK. Who's RT to judge you? A guy who's managed to turn his life around. He's done so on his own, and continues to fall, admit mistakes, and (and here's an important part) take credit for his triumphs.

I believe we need to compare ourselve to God's Laws and realize we need a Savior to redeem us.Let's recap shall we....

Except I don't need a savior to redeem me. I'm able to redeem my own self, thankyouverymuch.

1. Love God Most Of All

Screw that. Why would I love a fictional being over any person?

2. Worship Only God

Again, why should I worship a fiction?

3. Respect God's Name

I respect that name as much as any other fictional name.

4. Takes One Day A Week To Rest And Worship God

Ok...I choose wednesdays. Except for that worship god thingy.

5. Respect Mom And Dad

On the whole, I have no issues about this, but I have a decent set of parents. What about those people who got the short stick and got abusive parents?

6. Don't Kill

So, if some jackass is attacking me or my family, I can't defend myself?

7. Be Faithful To Your Spouse

I don't need a fictional being to get me to keep my word. Why do you need one to do that?

8. Don't Steal

Try not to. Been successful so far, but again, I didn't need a fictional character to get me not to steal. I respect other's porperty.

9. Always Tell The Truth

Actually, that isn't what this one means. It says to not bear false witness. general lieing ("No, honey, that dress doesn't make you look fat.") isn't covered. This has more to do with keeping your word, than it does in telling falsehoods. It seems like a nitpick, but it's important for a society that testimony is honest, and it's not all that important that every utterance be truthful.

On an intersting side note, you know where the word "testify" comes from?

10. Be Content With What You Have

Why should I be content? Can't I better myself? What's wrong with a little self-interest? Or does your sky-daddy what a compliant, unmotivated, timid...oh, OH! I see your point now. Carry on.

Don't you believe in the 10 Commandments? I do and it is quite difficult to remember my past and know God is the only one that can forgive us for breaking those commandments. I myself know I need Jesus. I don't deserve Him, but I need Him. This is my belief.

Of the 10, 4 require the belief in a fiction; 3 are important for society to be lubricated propery; one is conditionally acceptable; another is a good suggestion and the last is at best questionable, and at worst counter productive to human advancement. So, do I believe in the 10 Commandments? Not just no, but Hel No! I don't need the six of questionable utility to justify the four that are worth a crap.

 

[Trantor]

kathy,

We haven't really seen people put to death in the US for their faith yet. I just hope we never do! Although I do worry that some people here would feed me to the lions if they were given the chance.

I got to tell you Kathy, I would take the lions any day over some of the methods employed by the Christians in the past. At least the lions do their work quickly. They don't demand comfessions and they don't require that the victim name other people involved in the heresy.

 

[LordoftheLeftHand]

I don't know, I still believe He can if you could just try to believe in Him again.

Same old stuff I've heard a thousand times. Must read the bible to get faith vs. must have faith to read the bible "correctly".

It is the same old blame the victim game that religion loves so much.

LLH

 

[wolfgirl]

I don't know, I still believe He can if you could just try to believe in Him again. I was in a really desperate state when He turned me around. I never thought all the pain I went through would be a blessing in disquise, but it was.
Life isn't always easy and none of us is perfect, but I do know God truely loves us and does not want any of us to perish. We just need to be in agreement with Him. I fought doing it His way for a long time. Now I found freedom because I repented and said I'm done with sin. It was a very painful turn around, but thank God I'm living in the light now. I know if He gave this to me, you can have it too! Why not try again?

Not wanting to speak for sling here, but I think she turned her OWN life around. (Something many of us here claim to have done, by the way, myself included.) The fact that you needed to believe in an imaginary friend to turn your life around for you only speaks to your weakness, not hers.

 

[bluess]

Not wanting to speak for sling here, but I think she turned her OWN life around. (Something many of us here claim to have done, by the way, myself included.) The fact that you needed to believe in an imaginary friend to turn your life around for you only speaks to your weakness, not hers.

Bravo, Wolfgirl.

 

[slingblade]

Thanks, Wolfgirl!

What Kathy simply cannot get is that I asked more than once.
I asked for years. Let's see, subtract my infancy, toddlerhood....okay, about 5 years old, maybe. That's a guess. And this went on until somewhere around 31, at which point it began to fade, until by the time I was 40, I was totally done, not even a vestige left.

Nah. He had enough chances for an almighty, immortal, all-knowing being. How many did he need? How many of my tears did he want? How much heartbreak makes a God full? (And does he eat it with a fork or a spoon, to get every last savory drop?)

I was just talking to air, I figure. There's no one up there to blame.
But there are several down here.

Oh, and Kathy?

Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice...how big a fool do you take me for?

 

[Roadtoad]

I don't know, I still believe He can if you could just try to believe in Him again. I was in a really desperate state when He turned me around. I never thought all the pain I went through would be a blessing in disquise, but it was.

Let's see. Let's take a nail and pound it hard into my forehead. Is the pain a blessing? Or is it telling me to QUIT POUNDING F***ING NAILS INTO PLACES WHERE THEY DON'T BELONG?

Pain is not a good thing. It tells us we're doing something harmful. We're doing damage to ourselves. Pain tells us to stop doing what we're doing.

Life isn't always easy and none of us is perfect, but I do know God truely loves us and does not want any of us to perish. We just need to be in agreement with Him. I fought doing it His way for a long time. Now I found freedom because I repented and said I'm done with sin. It was a very painful turn around, but thank God I'm living in the light now. I know if He gave this to me, you can have it too! Why not try again?

Because Sling and so many others have done it again and again and again. And every time, the result has been the same: More pain, more misery, more ignorance, more sorrow, more poverty, more destruction. The only difference is that it now bears God's thumbprint, indicating that, yup, this pain serves an eternal and benign purpose. It's a good thing for a wife to beaten senseless, have the church board ignore it and say nothing, (not even bother to report it to the frigging police -- don't EVEN tell me that's Christian!), because she can die a miserable and painful death, leave her children behind to be raised by the State, and spend eternity in Heaven, a martyr for a divine God who grooves on seeing his people suffer.

Give me a break.

 

[Pauliesonne]

I wonder how long it takes Kathy to come back with a response full of verbal excrement, like every other damn thing she posts!!!!!

 

[Roadtoad]

Just long enough to get back with her Pastor, and get the latest line.

 

[SuperCoolGuy]

Call it a revelation if you want, but Jesus has revealed Himself to me.

Revelation? Like in the Bible? In modern times? Cool.

I was in the pit of despair and Jesus pulled me out of it. I guess it's because I believed in Him.

Wow, Jesus saved you because you could keep the faith. Cool.

He was there to show me the way back into the light. He's alive and true to His word. I believe because He made me believe!

Oh, He made you believe so that He would show himself to you. You must be special in God's eyes. My grandmother wasn't. Oh well.

I think that's why His word tells us He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Boy am I humble.

Ya sure are humble! Look how humble you are! Awesome.

I don't ever want to live in the darkness again. I never realized how blinding sin was til I repented and decided to follow Him.

You are so smart to decide to follow Him. Even though He singled you out when dispensing grace and decision's got little to do it with it. But whatever. It's awesome.

It's more than a feeling, it's a certain knowing that He gives us when we ask!

God will give you what you want? Whatever you want? You are so powerful to have God on your side! Coooool!

More than a feeling, huh?

Wait. I think God is sending me a message.
It . . . sounds . . . like

Boston?

 

[Roadtoad]

Couldn't we dispense with the Boston references? Damn, that was a great song...

 

[Kopji]

Here's a ringtone you can download.
ringtone linky

Oh btw, turn your speakers down.

 

[YouBelieveWHAT?]

Right KK,

I'm beginning to see the message:

God loves everybody.
He chose to intervene and save you, but not Slingblade.
He chose to intervene and save you, but not the millions who died in the Holocaust.
He chose to intervene and save you, but not my mother, who died recently after eight years of Alzheimer's, and was a good Christian - though unlikely to be able to pray meaningfully in her later years.

Obviously, I could go on, but I think I've made the point!

To me it seems that you're a very impressionable woman who has had a bad life - and you have my deep sympathy about that - but is unable, or unwilling to think for yourself.

YBW

 

[SuperCoolGuy]

Oh btw, turn your speakers down.

You ruined my religious experience!

Maybe Windows Media Player can be my own personal Jesus?

You know, someone to hear your prayers. Someone who cares . . . crap, I did it again.

 

[kurious_kathy]

Right KK,

I'm beginning to see the message:

God loves everybody.
He chose to intervene and save you, but not Slingblade.
He chose to intervene and save you, but not the millions who died in the Holocaust.
He chose to intervene and save you, but not my mother, who died recently after eight years of Alzheimer's, and was a good Christian - though unlikely to be able to pray meaningfully in her later years.

Obviously, I could go on, but I think I've made the point!

To me it seems that you're a very impressionable woman who has had a bad life - and you have my deep sympathy about that - but is unable, or unwilling to think for yourself.

YBW

Well I do have a mind and quite often think about many things. I just realize many of my thoughts and feelings need to be in check so to speak. I try to share from my heart with others and seem to get invalidated for that here. God knows each one of us and every thought we've ever had so why not be honest. Honesty and integrety is something I think we all must strive for. And just because many of you don't agree with Christian thinking doesn't make it wrong. It just means to me that many of you haven't come to terms with sin being real yet. I pray that God will show you sin is real so that perhaps someday you may choose to be more open to what the Bible has to tell us.

And when it comes to being saved, if your mom was a Christian and received Christ as her personal Lord and Savior then she's already in heaven. This is what the expression being saved represents. It does not speak in the physical sense as we are all going to have to die a physical death because of sin someday, that's just the reality of this world.

Have you ever read the book of Romans? This was the book my husband read when his spiritual eyes were opened and he came to know and receive Christ.
Romans 6:23...For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

[HerNibs]

Kathy,

I tried to avoid reading this thread because you have become boring. The responses to you are interesting.

You state that you have a mind. So use it. Think. Don’t just babble on about your religion and god. If you haven’t noticed, many people here aren’t buying the “trust in him” tripe. They are asking you valid questions that deserve answers, not just you repeating “but look at what he did for me” nonsense. You did it for yourself. Deal with it.

Personally, I don’t think you are as secure in your faith as you say. I think that if you actually had to dig down and think about some of the questions and points brought out by people here, it would rock your world. You seem to come here to reinforce your superiority over the “misguided”.

The JREF board has some exceptional members. Believers, skeptics, comedians, teachers, smarta$$es and many others. No one better or worse. TALK to them, learn, discuss. It can be scary to examine and justify your innermost feelings and beliefs but remember you started it. You came to us.

A discussion about religion can be exciting, thought provoking, heated and educational. Yes, a discussion can make you stop and reconsider your position. It’s healthy. It is one way to learn.

WordReference.com English Dictionary

Discussion - an exchange of views on some topic; "we had a good discussion"; "we had a word or two about it"

You seldom answer questions. Instead you preach or plagiarize. You gush about god saving you and helping you as if this is some type of proof of god. You “testify”. You judge. You offend. Then you feign innocence, poor communication or you attempt to re-write or reinterpret your own words.

Is saying “I don’t know” a sin?

 

[slingblade]

It just means to me that many of you haven't come to terms with sin being real yet. I pray that God will show you sin is real so that perhaps someday you may choose to be more open to what the Bible has to tell us.

Kathy, don't even try to go there.

Just don't.

If you do, I will tell you in all the glorious detail only a writer can master about the sexual abuse I endured as a little girl. I will not leave out one event, one word, one smell, one sensation, one tear, or one prayer.

Then you can tell me again how I don't know what's real.

Don't.