jk
Novice
Posts: 84
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Post by jk on Mar 21, 2004 2:55:18 GMT -5
One would live for the ride, like a rollercoaster to travel the ups and downs. Who cares if you will end up where you started at or if you're traveling in circles because no matter how many times you ride that same rollercoaster your heart is racing when you get to the top of the first hill and the car leans forward and you can see the downward drop and its thrilling. You could say that i live for the thrill, to see " Whats around the river bend" What will come next. What will life/ living throw at you. Someone/something new. A new challenge, a new puzzle to be solved, a new picture show to be enjoyed. At the bottom of it all i think were all hedonists, its just a matter of what your pleasure is derived from. Some find the most pleasure in serving God and by serving they acheive their happiness. I find pleasure in the small things, the simple things; the intricate patterns swirled inside a soap buble, a lone strand of tinsel clinging desprately to the friend it found in a discarded christmas tree, the purr of a cat on a cold winter day as you snuggle in a cozy blanket. Happiness is happy moments (snapshots of laughter) strung together on a thread of time. Our conscience comes from what we see in the world around us, and gut insticts. I walked out on Texas Chainsaw Massacre. My mind revolted saying that watching this human suffering/torture (even if it wasnt real, if it was just an act) is not entertainment. I developed a moral that it is rude to watch people work, i dont know where i got this notion from, but i am unable to watch people work without offering to help out. What do you mean by saying we arent acountable for what we do. We are. We influence others with our actions. I work with small children at summer camps and they mimic things that their councelors do. We set examples and lead others. but all of this is irrelevent. a while ago my bio teacher told her class that almost everyone is replacable. As much as we dont want to accept this it is true. We are taught that we can make a difference. But if it wasnt you making that difference someone else would be. Perhaps if you werent leading three of your followers would be leaders themselves. There is aways someone to take a job that you vacate. There would be someone else for the love of your life if you werent around. Not quite sure where i was going with that anymore other than the fact that you have to live for the moment because good moments are too fleeting.
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Post by Scot on Mar 23, 2004 0:03:29 GMT -5
Just another question, if for some reason you found out there was a God and he did send his son to die on the cross for your sins, would you repent and start living for God? Honestly, I don't know. I'd like to say that I would say that there wasn't enough reasonable evidence for me to believe that he existed, but with him revealing himself, I don't know what I would do. [qoute]Do you want eternal life or would you rather just cease to exist. [/quote] It doesn't matter what I, or you, or anyone WANTS; it's just a matter of what actually happens. If you think going to church and telling yourself there is a God is going to give you an afterlife, be my guest. I believe dying is just ceasing to exist. Doesn't matter if I want this at all. I would *like* to say that there wasn't enough evidence for me to follow him, not enough reasons. I would explain that I felt existence was all simply a big game to him. Pretty much, I would tell him: You shouldn't, according to your rules. That pretty much sums up what I think.
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Post by FollowTheReaper on Mar 23, 2004 12:06:24 GMT -5
well put scott... if there were a god that I had to face up to after death, i would most certainly have to say he did a really crappy job of proving himself to us because in general, the earth is in complete chaos and disorder. Rather than this god asking me questions, I think I would have a few of my own for him. Like, why is the world is a constant state of suffering when you are supposedly so almighty and care for all your people? And other questions such as that. I would make him feel like a useless god who does not do his job and he would probably get pissed at me and smite me or use whatever powers this god may have against me.
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Post by H-Zence on Mar 23, 2004 18:41:12 GMT -5
Why would I have to say anything? He's God - he'd already know why. In fact, he'd probably know better than me.
Furthermore, I probably wouldn't be able to say anything. I'd be too dumbfounded (no, not because I was "wrong". I feel the need to mention that I still consider the possibility that God make exist) by all of his "glory" and "perfection".
But if God revealed himself, I'd just hate all of the arrogance that would go around. So many people would be like "ha, told ya so" or something. One quality I despise in people.
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Post by Lynnet on Mar 23, 2004 21:08:02 GMT -5
Do you want eternal life or would you rather just cease to exist. I ask myself this all the time...Personally, I think eternal life would get a bit boring after a while and there are plenty of times when I'd be happy just ceasing to exist...but that's just emotion... I don't really think that anything can cease to exist, technically...it is just changed into another form...conservation of matter and energy laws. So I am partial to a sort of reincarnation theory...in a different incarnation. More that there is a finite amount of life energy in existance, and it is just recycled as people are born and die...you can't really think "Oh, in my one past life I was..." because really *you* weren't that...your energy was all or a part of whatever "past life" you're coming up with...it has nothing to do with you at all...or it could... I think I watch too much X-Files and other SciFi I don't really subscribe to my theories and stick to them, so if I forget about this or contradict it at another time, it's because what may come forth as my "beliefs" are, unless explicitly stated, just postulations...w00... But back to the *real* world now...
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pwrtrip9000
New Member
Yeah, Just little old me.
Posts: 13
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Post by pwrtrip9000 on Apr 2, 2004 18:18:36 GMT -5
I love a good argument so please feel free to tear my opinion apart. I believe that what this kind of forum is for so i wont think any less of you (any less than i already do anyway) if you oppose me. Just be prepared to get into a heated debate on which i have a lot of practice and will probably be able to make you look like a fool. oh... and have a good day See, this is what separates people like Joel and I from the rest of you. My goal when I debate is not to tear you down, or even to cause myself to appear more intelligent or better than you. My intent is solely to express my viewpoint, and, if necessary, punch holes in your aurgument where applicable.
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Post by joelhaldeman on Apr 2, 2004 20:14:46 GMT -5
so the bible teaches that Jesus will return near the end of the world and take all the christians with him. As to when this happens in the line of end time events, its debatable. The most popular view is the rapture(all the christians will vanish) near a peace treaty that is signed with Israel.
The Bible says people will still be saved durring the tribulation(7 years of wrath) and after the rapture. There will still be people who will not believe in God.
What would you do if all of a sudden christians disapeard?
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Post by H-Zence on Apr 2, 2004 22:49:03 GMT -5
"Christians" wouldn't. True believers in Jesus Christ and the bible would (according to the bible).
And no, that's not what being a Christian means anymore. It's taken on entirely different meaning.
However, if thousands of people suddenly disappeared, that might be enough proof for me.
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jk
Novice
Posts: 84
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Post by jk on Apr 3, 2004 1:00:39 GMT -5
I think he meant how would you react to people disappearing. Like if you were on an air plane and your pilot and co-pilot just disappeared. How after realising that there is a god and he just called all the true christians home you'd soon die thereafter in firey death trap. ;D just a worse case senario. I think that there'd be mass confusion and rioting in the streets. Personally id retreat to the woods and try to live off of the land just to get away from panicing people.
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Post by Colliohn on Apr 3, 2004 21:34:24 GMT -5
Why retreat to the woods when you can loot the nearest arms dealer and set up fortifications around Warwick MS (I chose the middle school because it is surrounded by fields, which the HS isn't so much) and hole up in there with a few hundred of your closest friends, periodically leaving to kill people and/or get food? (not to mention posting snipers on the rooftops and battling the people who hole up in the HS for territory such as Campus drive and the rec center)
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Post by joelhaldeman on Apr 4, 2004 18:25:48 GMT -5
i think your missing the point...... im talking repentance here, would you repent or not
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jk
Novice
Posts: 84
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Post by jk on Apr 4, 2004 21:30:10 GMT -5
See your plan works until you find out that every one or next to everyone has dissappeared from the water company and sewage plants. Then you're stuck in a building with no water that that smells of human fecal matter. Water shouldnt be much of a problem because you can have members of your tribe walk to lititz spring everyday retrieving it. Of course being in such close proxcimity to the hs tribe you members will be sniped off too. However with a seven year duration of this i assume your tribes will begin to procreate which will balance out the numbers once more.(but by the time you can teach the child how to hold a gun you'll all be damned to hell forever so what would it matter anymore) Now in the retreating to the woods senario you could still hole up with a hundred of your closest friends, but you'd be able to live like robin hood and the merry men (coming out periodically to rob from the rich [or anyone in particular] and give to the poor [which would be yourselves]) You'd have more camoflage in the trees to protect you from neighboring tribes and because the pennsylvania game commision thinks that deer are overrunning the area you wont have much of a problem gathering food. Plus, living in the woods, you'd be able to have great conflagration with wild reveling, and who is opposed to that
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Post by FollowTheReaper on Apr 5, 2004 16:48:42 GMT -5
as for this whole rapture idea, i think some of you have been reading the whole "left behind" series of books a bit too much but thats just my opinion. for once, it is not my intent to be offensive but some may take offense to my following statements anyway. if all the true christians on earth were to disapear, not much would change. first off, not many people would be going anywhere. true believers are very very scarce. just because you say u believe doesnt mean u would be raptured. you have to actually follow all the words of jesus and never do anything bad. also, even if all christians were to leave the face of the earth, i would be one happy atheist. i would sit around waiting for all the people of other faiths disapeared. honestly, if all faiths were removed from this planet, there would be no more terrorism and almost all war would be eliminated. granted, our dumbass president would still blow people up over oil (but in this situation he wouldnt be president because hes religious and would be raptured anyway), but virtually all war would be stopped. for me, a world without a single person with faith would be a utopia. i almost wish that god was real just so that he would take all the faithfull away from me because all they do is cause war and innocents to die every day. i would also hope that satan takes his followers away because they are just stupid. i dont really see the point in talking about this because its obviously never going to happen but since it was brought up, i figured i would put in my two cents.
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Post by Lynnet on Apr 5, 2004 20:24:11 GMT -5
I've never read the Left Behind series, however I did see the movie back in my church days. What I got from that was that there would be pretty clear signs that the Bible was coming true...there was some priest guy that got Raptured and had left kind of instructions for those left behind...but yeah. If all the true Christians just disappeared one day, that'd be a whole lot of people, whose disappearances would get reported to the police, and then the media would get wind of it and everyone in the media-influenced world would know. This would leave all the supposed Christians wondering what they didn't do to get saved, a bunch of non-Christians realizing that those Jesus freaks were right all along, and the third group which would remain true to their beliefs, and maybe get damned to hell in the end...but then, who knows, it could all be the aliens with sufficiently advanced technology indistinguishable from magic messings with our heads, to paraphrase Arthur C. Clarke...great guy with some great stuff...Everyone read "The Star" short story by him.
But back to topic, if a whole bunch of people just up and disappeared from the face of the Earth, and all the other signs were showing up as I would compare with the Bible, and if it was definitely not a hoax, I'd sure be praying to God to get me out of there.
Faith can never truely be proven, as it is an abstract concept purely non-reliant on physical proof, but rather on human deduction and emotion. Even if the world is crashing down around you, it might not be doing so for the reasons you think.
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Post by joelhaldeman on Apr 5, 2004 20:42:05 GMT -5
reaper id like to know where you got thatfrom...
because if that were so then no one would be raptured. Everyone who is saved will be raptured and i think this will be a significant number, defenetly not the majority but it will be obviouse. and i assure you if all the christians disapear, you will not be, as you say... see after we go away God has this 7 year time of judgement and wrathe that he pours out on the earth, its a terrible terrible time. if you dont believe me read revelation 8 and 9. i suppose you can argue it is false but if all the christians disapear as the bible says then i would reconsider your view of biblical innerancy
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