Posts by THE GLADIATOR

46

I Still Can't Celebrate Xmas. Can You? Christians vs Atheists

by Malsonilla in

while in the organization we learned one bit of truth regarding christmas; that it was originally a pagan observance, the summer solstice, adopted by christians much later in church history, and has nothing to do with jesus christ whatsoever.

no biggy for most true believers who left the organization who have slipped into (or fell back into) the grind of commercialized christmas with all the trappings and traditions of ritual binge spending that takes them even farther away from jesus than christmas' pagan roots ever could.

these true believers might say something like, "i know xmas has its roots in paganism, but we celebrate anyway because of x y z", perhaps echoing or paroting the frustrating responses we use to hear from "worldly" goats/folks when we would explain to them how christmas is not a christian observance whatsoever.

THE GLADIATOR

Jehovah's Witnesses assert that Christmas is based on the pagan Roman festival of Saturnalia. This makes it ideal for non- Christians to celebrate. As most Christian symbols and festival have been absorbed from pagans and become acceptable mainstream Christian tradition, Christmas is also ideal for Christians. This is a time of the year when we can all be merry and ‘gay’ and enjoy socialising, relaxing and celebrating the achievement of surviving another year while we plan the next one. My Christmas has already started, hope you get started soon.

51

Stronger Christian presence on JWN?

by Christ Alone in

jw
friends

i've only been a member here for a short time, but it seems like there are more christians on the board lately.

for the first few months that i was on jwn, it appeared that there were very few that argued in favor of a creator and belief in the bible in particular.

there seems to be several more that have recently joined...or at least posted more regularly regarding belief.

THE GLADIATOR

rickisteel "I used to think i was agnostic , then theist but never atheist i would need more faith than a believer."

I used to be certain that I was indecisive but now I'm not so sure!

55

Let me get this straight about the FDS latest thinking

by wha happened? in

so the fds does not include the apostles.

what part of the gospels aren't food at the proper time?

or am i just mixed up on who the fds are..

THE GLADIATOR

That which is crooked cannot be made straight.

51

Stronger Christian presence on JWN?

by Christ Alone in

jw
friends

i've only been a member here for a short time, but it seems like there are more christians on the board lately.

for the first few months that i was on jwn, it appeared that there were very few that argued in favor of a creator and belief in the bible in particular.

there seems to be several more that have recently joined...or at least posted more regularly regarding belief.

THE GLADIATOR

Christ Alone Having both Christians and Atheists on the board works well. Without an equal balance of opposing opinions and challenges to our views people run the risk of becoming members of a self congratulation club.

To the death! Though for Christians death is the beginning not the end, which is an incredible feat by any standard and very confusing.

55

If all of our sins are forgiven, what is GOD going to judge us for when we die?

by jam in

jw
friends

just curious..

THE GLADIATOR

This is all very confusing to a gladiator. I understood that according to the bible the penalty for sin is death. So once someone has died they have paid for their sin. Presumable all that God creates is perfect, so I fail to see how God could then give that person life, only to judge them and kill them. Whether all this resurrecting and slaughtering happens on earth or in an invisible world seems to vary from Christian to Christian.

Nos morituri te salutamu

W e who are about to die salute you

317

Does God's foreknowledge take away from free will?

by Christ Alone in

just by knowing what will happen, that doesn't mean that we can prevent or cause something to happen.

my knowing that does not prevent them the free will of making the choice.. it's the same with god.

if god is not restricted to existence in the present, then the future is known by god because god indwells the future as well as the present and the past.

THE GLADIATOR

"What we are discussing here is really a human doctrine, ( 2 actually - Omniscience and predestination) and man's attempt to know God and put Him 'down here" with Us."

Yes I get that. The reason I no longer get into hypothetical debates is that I do not believe there is an answer to most questions. We can only speculate from our limited human standpoint. We are like ants trying to understand or comprehend an invisible elephant.

317

Does God's foreknowledge take away from free will?

by Christ Alone in

just by knowing what will happen, that doesn't mean that we can prevent or cause something to happen.

my knowing that does not prevent them the free will of making the choice.. it's the same with god.

if god is not restricted to existence in the present, then the future is known by god because god indwells the future as well as the present and the past.

THE GLADIATOR

PSacramento you come across as sincere and attempt to explain God and put him in the best possible light. Unfortunately such honesty could ultimately lead you to conclusions that you would rather not arrive at.

Keeping faith alive usually requires the ability to shut out unwelcome information and pursue a predefined goal. Anyhow I enjoy your comments and appreciate your patience and reasonableness.

28

Ransom paid. But still you gotta suffer!

by punkofnice in

with my recent rise to atheistic agnosticism(?

) i pondered this:.

if the death of jesus paid the ultimate price.....then why didn't it all end there and then and everyone got to heaven or walk into paradise with a panda?.

THE GLADIATOR

Yes - punkofnice this is something that I have tried to get my brain cell around. A ransom is paid for immediate release and removal of the threat of death. Yet here we are still dying in the human arena 2000 yeras after the ransom was paid. I am sure someone will contribute a 'spiritual' explanation to this thread but from a gladiators point of view it seems that humanity still lives 'inter spem et metum.' (between hope and fear)

45

If there is a creator, will an expanding universe ever become bigger than he?

by prologos in

the bible has expressions like: "--god walked in the garden at the breezy part of the day--" .

but more realisticly, speaking in today's lingo:.

if, as accepted by consensus, the universe was "smaller" in the past, expanding out of a zero size singularity, it was "smaller" than the "creator"* at that point in time.

THE GLADIATOR

If I 'God' exists it would be a part of everything that exists. There would be no God versus us, just a collective universal reality that is not separate from reality. How can anything happen that is not God?

Everything in the universe, whether visible to human eyes or invisible, is energy vibrating at differing speeds. Science is just beginning to comprehend how un-solid all matter is and all that exists is the same energy. What we perceive as physical is a matter of perspective relative to the speed at which the energy that we view as ‘us’ vibrates. As God has yet to talk to me or make contact, I must for now enjoy this beautiful earth and gaze out at the immediate universe of which we are a part and wait for an electronic message from God answering the opening question.

159

Believers, do you believe in evolution?

by everchangingworld in

after leaving, i still couldn't wrap my head around evolution (after the years of seing "intelligent design" in everything around me).. there's a series of videos that give a good intro to evolution and critical thinking.

they've probably been posted here before, but, for any new members, these are worth watching.. evolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdddbyilel0.

critical thinking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6olpl5p0fmg.

THE GLADIATOR

NewChapter "Glad, you don't have a soul."

I does seem to be a complicated matterm made worse by the fact that I don't really know what a soul is.

tec "I think you're covered, Glad ;)

Indeed, everyone is covered, including animals..."

Thanks for the reassurance Tammy but I think I am going to have to appeal to Caesar on this one.