How old are you?

Old enough to know better, according to my parents.

Glad to hear it. (No, really.) Join the debate any time you like. Only - if you do, please make sure you've read enough of the forum to avoid the posting of any tired, refuted-a-hundred-times arguments. And if you post a new topic do try and limit your original post to at most one or two relevant points.I mention these things because I've seen far too many creationists launch into the debate by cutting-and-pasting this.Here's a rule of thumb - if you didn't write it yourself, we've seen it.Ok, sorry to come down like a moderator on you - I'm not - and I do welcome you to the site. Happy hunting.

Well, it was not my hope to do so - I encourage persons of all views to expound on them, in whatever mode they choose - but rather impress strongly upon a newbie that it only takes 2 seconds to search the archives to see if something has been posted already - 2 seconds that could be the difference between a great debate and more FFGfollower nonsense.Sorry if I came off as an ass, though.

I think you've misunderstood which posts I'm talking about. I have no problem with links to stuff like Answers in Genesis in the context of a raging debate, to support a point already stated by the poster.What I was hoping to prevent was a post along the lines of the link I had, where somebody posts a message that consists entirely of "This is proof against evilution: answersingenesis.org".I mean, what are we supposed to debate there? You can't debate with a website any more than you can debate with a book. Books don't talk. And when we say "Um, we'd like you to post something a little more pithy" they're all like "evolutionist bias!"Surely you've noticed this happening?

I appreciate the sentiment, though I can't possibly imagine why you would find that would be the case. Unless it's my disarming good looks...

If you say so. Quite frankly I'm a pretty hardcore evolutionist, though I'm no scientist. And it would take a literal miracle - an actual visitation from God - to make me a beliver again.I mean, I'm willing to entertain ideas, and I'll change my mind about the evolution thing when there's an explanation that works better - but I think that's largely true of everybody else here.If you have dreams about bringing my soul back into the fold, however, I'll have you know that I'm likely to be a pretty tough sell. I'm not trying to be proud, but rather, inform you that I have some pretty strict criteria for evidence.Oh, and by way of returning the compliment - thanks for not being one of those creationists who flips out and tells us we're all hell-bound when the debate doesn't go their way...[This message has been edited by crashfrog, 08-26-2003]

You know, every one of the "faithful" I talk to about my experience asks this question. "Was I really a Christian? Or was I a fake Christian?"The question I ask them in return is, "if I couldn't tell the difference then, how can you tell the difference now? How do you know that you're a real Christian?" So far I've never gotten an answer that was better than "I just know." Of course, I just knew I was a Christian back then, and guess what? I was wrong. If I was wrong, couldn't you be wrong? I believe I'm on the record as to my feelings about "prophecy" and the problems inherent in any attempt to predict the future. These were largely figured out by the Greeks, well before the Bible. I'm sure it is.