The Atheist Experience

I didn't want to take that ridiculous test when you posted it the first time and I still don't. It seems to be a bunch of opinions specifically collected from people chosen to have IQs below 80. Here's statement #1: Both parts of that statement give me a sort of nausea. WHAT "established authorities?" It depends on what office they're in, and their political views among other things, and some of them with views I might otherwise agree with are complete idiots. Some protestors are protesting the right things for the right reasons, some are protesting for the wrong reasons, some are getting paid to disrupt town hall meetings and the Kavanaugh hearings. What does "usually" mean?

It's specifically Christian, and NO it does NOT happen in any other context, NO. And how could YOU possibly know "it's not God?" I don't know about Thugs but my supernatural experiences occurred after I'd learned a lot, but it was a lot of stuff I had not known at all before I learned it during my study of religion.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Thugsy is doing it to clear the channels to hear from God. I bet your fasting doesn't do that.And some medical people DO make a big deal out of it for some reason.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Yes I'm quite serious, conversion experiences are a specifically Christian thing. Sure you can change from one belief system to another in any religious or philosophical context, but that's not a "conversion experience."

The less "fleshly" activity the better, that's all, including digestion. But you can fast from all kinds of things and get some of the same benefits, from sleep, from spending money. Depriving the flesh seems to open up the spirit. Partial fasts from food go a long way too, especially luxury type foods. Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Sleep deprivation past a certain point can be a problem, but not other kinds of deprivation. But also you need to be focused on the right things or none of it accomplishes anything anyway. Fasting without true prayer may help your health but not your spirit.

I'm sure you'd agree there are False versions of all these things which does imply there is a True version:False Prayer would be prayer to Elvis PresleyFalse Conversion would be changing your mind about the existence of God without any clear direction for your choiceA False Christian rejects what Christianity teachesA False Scientist would be perhaps an astrologer or a homeopath?

Hardly nonsensical. True Prayer is to God according to biblical directives, such as "in the Name of Jesus." True Christianity is a specific body of truths such as if they are rejected makes a person not a true Christian. True conversion is an actual change in the person toward Jesus Christ, a real spiritual change, which is what the word "conversion" means, not merely a change in opinion. I'm sure people here could define "true Scientist" better than I could.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Can't help it if Jesus really is God incarnate, no latecomer but the fulfillment of millennia of prophecies. True Prayer has to be in the Name of the true God. No other prayer is acceptable to God after Jesus came, it's a matter of fact, not arrogance, though I know you'd rather call me names. Jews may get their prayers answered still, but other religions are praying to demons and not to God.Of course it's "exclusive." God came down in the midst of a world ruled by demonic forces and gave us a way out of it. ONE salvation. You can't be saved by any other "god" or religion.And true Christians don't commit violence but obey Jesus who told us to die to ourselves.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

How did you come up with THAT weird name?The arrogance is yours, in spades. You call me names about things you decide without knowledge. I know what I'm talking about, you just believe what you want to believe.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

I get my beliefs from centuries of theology based on the Bible, all objective sources. You, on the other hand, just believe what you want to believe, and unfortunately it makes you hate me.

You will have to keep reminding me I guess because it is hard to process the idea that "affection and insults" can coexist as you say. If to you i'm an arrogant believer in the exclusivity of nothing but my own preferred belief system it's hard to think such a view could inspire anything but hate.So here, hate me some more:Most of western civilization once believed in the truths of the Christian religion. Even if they weren't "born again" believers, they believed in the basic revelation as truth. Since it's revealed truth and not scientifically established, you have to trust those who have passed it down, you have to trust the original revelation and the documents that provide the evidence for it. Yes, they do provide evidence but if you are of a mind to doubt the integrity of the reporters you can give yourself an excuse to throw it all away.The only hope of eternal life anyone has, you all throw it all away. You don't mind being a glorified ape, you don't mind the idea that your magnificent human mind is nothing but an "epiphenomenon" that somehow improbably managed to blossom on top of mindless matter and is only going to be snuffed out like a candle when the matter breaks down.I think we're all brave enough to accept it if true. I accepted it as true for decades. I don't need my fears allayed by a lie. The idea is repugnant.Most religions teach some version of moral offense committed by all of us that will earn us an unhappy afterlife to whatever degree we've transgressed. Karma is one name for it. The Bible documents what is presented as God's own revelation about the truth of this moral law and why we transgress it and what the consequences will inevitably be for that since we have no power to stop doing it. In this it simply reflects and refines what the human race has intuited and recorded in other systems of thought. But all those other systems of thought have a distorted view of all these things, of the moral law, of its consequences, and above all of the God who made us. The Bible explains why: we ARE sinners and when we became sinners through the seduction of the Evil One that Evil One earned the right to rule us. His devil followers became the "gods" of the many religions. The true God was dimly remembered and the memory distorted, and in some cases His existence was denied altogether. That is why He inspired the revelation recorded in the Bible. He loves us and wants to save us from ourselves. His own revelation HAS to be exclusive. It's the truth, the others are distortions helped by fallen memory and demonic influence.But Christianity is unique in that it offers us a solution to this universal problem, a salvation from it, the restoration of our original human life before sin entered. You are asked only to embrace it and make an effort to live to the standards of the Savior.All one can do with this kind of truth is proclaim it. It can't be proved. So go ahead, be offended, be angry, seal your own sad fate. Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

It costs nothing, why do you keep using the word "sell?" You have no reason to call it a scam. Where do such silly ideas come from? And again, scam implies it costs something. The whole point is it really IS free. Get out of jail free if you have to put it in such denigrating language. Free, got it? Free.

Your "marketing" theme is disgusting and offensive and yes John did describe many miracles for the express purpose of convincing people of the truth of Jesus' identity as God and mission of salvation. John was also given the privilege of writing the book of Revelation, and was described as being particularly close to Jesus. And this is another big hoax against the truth, part of the whole attempt to substitute fake heretical New Testament manuscripts in the place of the Textus Receptus, touted as the "oldest" manuscripts and therefore the most authentic. Big deception, too bad the Church is so gullible. Clues that they are phony include the fact that the most famous ones are complete and intact, which shows that they were hardly ever used, a clear sign that they were recognized as fakes by the mainstream churches and rejected. The remains of the true manuscripts only go back as far as the tenth century and they exist in about five thousand portions and fragments. The originals are long since gone as they should be since they would have been copied over and over and used over and over and disintegrated from all that handling.The idea that some of the most famous (and most supernastural) passages of the Bible were added later is the big fat lie. The fact is that they were there in the originals and REMOVED by heretics who share your prejudice against their supernatural content. EVIDENCE that the passage in Mark was removed is that there is a blank space of exactly that length in one of the phony corrupted manuscripts now substituted for the true ones. The manuscript called Sinaiticus has a big gap there. Obviously the passage was originally there and REMOVED from it.Dean John William Burgon wrote a whole book about this fraud on the Church of the removal of the passage in Mark, and three major articles on the whole hoax itself of substituting corrupted maniscripts for the Textus Receptus, titled "The Revision Revised." Both these works are online Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

You obviously didn't read what I wrote: the originals would have disintegrated from use, as would most of the ancient copies. What remains goes back to the tenth century. You need to study the work of the textual critics who have reconstructed the originals from the existing fragments by painstaking comparisons among them all.Here's a discussion of textual criticism: Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.