Has EvC changed your beliefs?

Folk, you are getting way off topic.This thread is for individual statements, not for arguing with one another.

Ian, I'm telling you that I hate Lex Luthor. That I know he is a vile and evil person and I thoroughly hate his guts.What is your opinion of me and my hatred of Lex?lfen

I've not been at the computer most of the day. All this discussion on moderation problems should have been taken to the moderation proceedure thread. I'll not respond to anything here which is off topic. I will submit some responses to some of this in that thread.

My opinion of you is that you are an intelligent enemy of God - as I once was (although somewhat less in the intelligence department than yourself)Your hatred for Lex? Whilst hatred for God has been expressed frequently enough, your hatred for Lex has not. I suspect this is the last I will be hearing of it too suggesting that you do not hate him in fact, for you do not believe he exists.Hatred in general is not something to be nurtured. Hatred of something that doesn't exist - well, its kind of illogical

What if I accused you of hating Lex Luthor because you think he is only a comic book character?I think it then follows that it's illogical to accuse someone of hating some one they don't believe exists. To hate Christ, or God, of Allah, Siva, etc. would entail believing that they exist. Unbelievers don't hate Christs, or [insert name of a deity here], they simply don't find the evidence offered satisfactory for their requirements of believability. A big difference from hating.lfenABE: For me religions are social institutions. They serve important social functions though they are not quite as necessary as they once were they remain important. Religions may carry some truths but they are not true as in "real" because the real lies beyond language. Religion among other things is a linguistic contrivance. Meeting our existence call it "God", call it "Self", call it "What Is" , or call it "Tao" is beyond language, concept, and social institution. Edited by lfen, : read the warning and thought I should add more on topic material

Something like that is all I can conclude too. I think really he misused the word "stereotypical" -- he really meant "most typically fundamentalist" or "most fundamentalist."SORRY, JUST SAW OFF TOPIC WARNING.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

I guess I'll correct my off-topic mistake by giving an answer to the OP, not that there's much to it: No, evc hasn't changed my beliefs. Maybe confirmed me more solidly in them.

Can you elaborate a little?

I would just like to say to the members of EvC that I truly had no specific person or subset of people on this forum in mind when I made that comment. I made that comment about my experience with many fundamentalists that I gained knowledge of by participation at this board. Some of the members of this board may consider those people to be right but not necessarily espouse the same exact characteristics that persuaded me to choose the words that I did.Rather than get mad at me for having that opinion of fundamentalism, I would have thought that a better response would have been to question why I have that opinion especially if you think it is wrong. I have not just built that impression out of my imagination. Perhaps there is a side to fundamentalism that I have not been exposed to or there really is many different types of fundamentalism and my impression that they are relativly homogenous is wrong. This is especially considering that one might expect such a behavior given some of the more noble tenents of fundamentalism.Overall so far there has been nothing to change my mind although I remain, and will so always, open to be shown wrong.

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Of course, biblical creationists are committed to belief in God's written Word, the Bible, which forbids bearing false witness; --AIG (lest they forget)

I re-read your previous post and then read this one. I appreciate the fact that you are learning. For myself I'm a Christian who started posting because of an interest in science for which I have no background. I have learned a great deal. (Thank you cavediver in particular.)As far as fundamentalism is concerned I wouldn't be as harsh as you were. I disagree with reading the Bible as a scientific text or as a newspaper but my experience in real life, (as opposed to what someone will write on an internet forum), is that fundamentalist Christians are relatively gentle and constructive members of society. They can be judgmental at times, but can't we all.Back to the OP however. I have learned about issues of science and I have been pressed to think out and articulate my faith and these things combined have both strengthened and clarified my faith.

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Everybody is entitled to my opinion.

Thanks for the reply GDR. I would certainly like to see a gentle and constructive form of fundamentalism. That would have changed my opinion greatly. So far though in real life and in this forum such a type of fundamentalism has not been demonstrated to me. Here is hoping.

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Of course, biblical creationists are committed to belief in God's written Word, the Bible, which forbids bearing false witness; --AIG (lest they forget)

My opinion, as expressed in the "Private Administration Forum", is that this much thrashed topic is a "position statement" topic and not really a place to debate those positions. I looked around for existing fundamentalism topics without find one that seem appropriate to "bump". Thus I'm suggesting that you propose a new topic to pursue the above line of debate. If you do, please link back to an appropriate place in this topic.Adminnemooseus

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Deleted 'cause I was drunk when I wrote it.But sober enough to delete it....Edited by Larni, : No reason given.

In what way? Is it xian or secular that makes you feel that way?

Phat, my respect for you grows day by day.I certainly may not agree with you but damnit you make cogent points.