HOME | DD

Paulthored In reply to iThirst [2023-03-17 09:13:42 +0000 UTC]

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

kevron2001 In reply to G0THICF0X [2016-10-29 13:16:57 +0000 UTC]

I accept your apology, and I appreciate you taking the time to send that comment. I know how difficult it is to admit when you are wrong, and I know it isn't very fun. Forgiveness is the central theme of God's grace towards us, and admitting you're wrong is always the starting point for seeing God's full love. Have a great day!

👍: 1 ⏩: 0

Doctorwholovesthe80s In reply to oOSulimeOo [2016-10-27 16:51:27 +0000 UTC]

Nothing which was God's point. And it was more because people hated his guts because he was a tax collector for the Romans, but Jesus still gave him the time of day and was willing to be a guest at his house.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Doctorwholovesthe80s In reply to OptionalBoss [2016-10-27 16:51:42 +0000 UTC]

Amen!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

PoppyCorn99 In reply to JeffHeffley789 [2016-10-27 03:21:38 +0000 UTC]

He also had a speech impediment. He had his brother Aaron speak on his behalf a lot of times.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

PoppyCorn99 In reply to Venegalart [2016-10-27 03:23:12 +0000 UTC]

I think the point was that God could use people who were outside the norm of what a powerful, influential person was expected to be like.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

G0THICF0X In reply to Venegalart [2016-10-27 00:59:47 +0000 UTC]

there isnt anything wrong with, the bible and christians as a whole just like to demonize people and find ways to make them feel like shit

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Izagar In reply to Venegalart [2016-10-27 00:42:04 +0000 UTC]

Zaccheus was short and couldn't see above the crowd who saw Jesus. So he used his imperfect stature, jumped into a tree, and Jesus called to him and asked him for a place to stay for the night. Even someone who most people would overlook him due to his height was used for God's will.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

PoppyCorn99 In reply to G0THICF0X [2016-10-27 03:27:56 +0000 UTC]

The ones who are like that aren't truly Christian at all. The Bible says that there will be many people who lived their whole lives believing they were Christians, only to discover they had their hearts in the wrong place all along. (Matthew 7:21-23)

A true Christian treats EVERYONE with love and respect, even their enemies and persecutors (Matthew 5:44). 

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

G0THICF0X In reply to PoppyCorn99 [2016-10-27 03:29:33 +0000 UTC]

yeah not the 99.9 percent i've ever met and had the displeasure of encountering speaking with or knowing of. 

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

PoppyCorn99 In reply to G0THICF0X [2016-10-27 03:44:40 +0000 UTC]

I'm sorry you've had the displeasure of meeting these people. I assure you, they are wrong to have treated you that way, and are only Christian in name, not in their actions. They, unfortunately, are the loud minority. I've observed that some of them literally go around looking for people to berate, as if it's a sport...

One of the marks of a true, Bible-following Christian is that they follow the example of Jesus, who, by the way, did not do what they are doing. Something that really irritates me about them is that they really push against homosexuality and such, but they completely ignore things they themselves do, like lying, gossiping, and cheating. Like the Bible says, they look for the little speck in your eye, but totally ignore the log lodged in their own eyes (Matthew 7:3).

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

G0THICF0X In reply to PoppyCorn99 [2016-10-27 04:13:14 +0000 UTC]

they're unfortunately not a minority, i've met 5 maybe up to 8 people who are christian and not assholes and i've seen and heard of and interacted with literally hundreds. but i cant respect a faith or a person who thinks of me or who i love or fall in love with as 'evil' or 'sinful' 

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

PoppyCorn99 In reply to G0THICF0X [2016-10-27 05:01:38 +0000 UTC]

Well, hundreds is hardly an accurate portrayal of the world's Christians, don't you think? These types also tend to congregate in certain areas, such as the "Bible Belt", for example, and it's very possible you're caught up in one. I've literally been surrounded by Christians my whole life, and I have never witnessed any discrimination like that, even when we had a transgender woman as one of our frequent visitors. My religion professor, when he was still a pastor, had four convicted child molesters attending his church. Why? Because it was the only place they were accepted. All the other churches around were "unchristian" and rejected them. Those churches did not follow the basic standards of what Christians are supposed to be like: loving people for who they are.

 I see your point and sympathize with you. However, it's not exactly fair to write off the Christian faith as bad because of people who have inaccurately used it, stretching its words and rephrasing things to fit their ideologies. Unfortunately these people have taken the Bible and distorted it. It has been abused and misinterpreted to suit their own beliefs and goals.

Suppose I took the Declaration of Independence and rephrased everything, perverting it to suit my own racist, homophobic, psychopathic ideologies, and taught it to schools. If you were to take my crazy interpretation of the Declaration of Independence as as accurate portrayal of the real document, you would live your whole life believing it's an evil piece of garbage that shouldn't exist. However, my evil, distorted view of it wasn't truthful to begin with. The Declaration of Independence wasn't bad at all, it was my personal version of it that was bad. If we treat the Bible as evil because of bad Christians that twisted its words around, we will live our lives believing something that isn't true as well.

The Bible is very clear. God loves YOU, despite any mistakes you've made in your life, and what you'll do in the future. Anyone who says otherwise is from the devil himself, and is to be ignored, simple as that.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

G0THICF0X In reply to PoppyCorn99 [2016-10-27 05:13:32 +0000 UTC]

i'm not from the bible belt but some of the worst christians i have heard of are from there. I write it off as a bad religion, as with islam and judaism, because there are blatant hateful violent and intolerant views expressed in the books the people who practice it worship, kind of hard to misinterpret something when it flat out says you can kill opposers of god, allah whatever, or that your women and children can be sold into slavery or that women are impure and weak compared to men, and  i can find passages in these 'holy books' that prove this. 'old testament' or not. 

and my point exactly, why is me being attracted to the same sex or being a gender other than what i was born as 'a mistake' , i'm not hurting anyone, i'm not hurting myself, so why is something as simple and natural as that considered by an 'all loving, all knowing, all powerful' deity considered sick and wrong? and why should i even give a shred of respect to something so evil and ill thinking of myself? especially when his followers more often than not are nothing more than savage hate and fear mongering bullies that he refuses to stop or properly educate if he so exists? 

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

PoppyCorn99 In reply to G0THICF0X [2016-10-27 06:15:02 +0000 UTC]

Damon, the Old Testament of the Bible contains some very graphic things, you are right. However, these "stone the adulterers" type things had their place in that time period, and were abolished later on. The Israelites had been freed from Egypt, after 400 years of being fully integrated into perverted, pagan cultures. It was so bad they literally needed to be told to stop having sex with animals (Exodus 22:19) and to not have human sacrifices (Deuteronomy 18:10). These people had been very harshly treated by the Egyptians and were used to bad circumstances. Frankly, they were so desensitized that the only way to get their attention to listen to anything would be to incorporate a harsh consequence. (You could compare it to telling a serial killer to sit in the corner on a 10 minute timeout). There was an unfortunate necessity for these things at the time.

Hebrew slaves were set free after 7 years of service (Exodus 21:2), and actually, they had a whole procedure on what to do if the slave wanted to stay a servant permanently, which tells you they obviously weren't that miserable with their masters (verse 5-6). Like it or not, women are different from men, biologically speaking, including in muscle tone, and because of this women slaves were spared from the hard work in the fields (verse 7). Women had to be considered "impure" during their menstrual cycles for obvious hygienic reasons, not because of anything discriminatory. Even animals had their rights (Deuteronomy 25:4; Proverbs 27:23).

There are many cases in the Bible where Israelites were in wars with other cities and completely obliterated them, that is true. But if you look at history, these cultures hated the Israelites and wanted to completely annihilate them. It was literally a kill or be killed situation.

It is true that the Bible does not agree with homosexuality, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It also speaks against idolatry, lying, murder, adultery, and even petty things like holding a grudge. But the beauty of the gospel is that even if Osama Bin Laden or Kim Jong-un themselves would come to God with a sincere heart, God would forgive them for all the terrible crimes they committed. The beauty is that God doesn't ask us to change anything about ourselves, born with it or not. All God asks is for us to come with a sincere heart. Anyone and everyone who comes forward to God is on 100% equal footing; there is no "holier than thou" special treatment from God towards pastors, or 5th generation Christians. God doesn't care how pure or evil you are, He loves you just the same. It doesn't matter what Christian imposters think, all that matters is what GOD thinks, the One who cares about you so much He keeps track of all the times you cry in His book, counting your tears in a bottle (Psalm 56:8). He doesn't care about anything "right" or "wrong" about you. You're not a mistake, He's the one that created you. He knows the struggles you've been through, your strengths and weaknesses. All He wants is to have you as His child (Ephesians 2:19; 1 John 3:1).

Anyone who says otherwise, who bullies and spreads fear, is NOT a follower of God, but of Satan, and doesn't deserve to carry the name of Christ in their title.

👍: 0 ⏩: 2

JohnZ117 In reply to PoppyCorn99 [2016-10-27 09:49:53 +0000 UTC]

PoppyCorn99, according to the bible you have just sinned by teaching,
1 Timothy 2:11-15New International Version (NIV)

11 A woman[a ] should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man;[b ] she must be quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But women[c ] will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

PoppyCorn99 In reply to JohnZ117 [2016-10-27 14:47:00 +0000 UTC]

You have to understand that people living in the 21st century we are well detached from the historical context of these things, and we have to dig deeper in order to understand them.

Actually, the verses you mentioned also have an explanation. This was the time of the early church, which still mostly had some Jewish traditions. This was a certain part of the world in which there were many travelers, such as merchants, and at times their wives traveled with them. Men sat on one side of the church, women on another side. Men were educated, women were not. Men spoke other languages, women did not. That's just the culture. This was an effort to maintain order in the church, because what do you think the uneducated, confused women would do? They would try to communicate with their husbands that could actually understand the sermons. Chaos ensued, and this completely disrupted the service. Asking the women to keep quiet and ask her husband her questions after church was an effective way to prevent confusion and disorder in church. 

Paul is known for getting his mind across in ways that only seem to complicate thing for everyone else. Even Peter, one of Jesus' apostles, acknowledged that. "as also in all his epistles [Paul's letters], speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures." (2 Peter 3:16). 

"A woman", in the original Greek writings, is most likely actually alluding to Eve, who indeed was the one who tempted Adam, and the first to sin. If I explain the whole thing I'll end up having a mountain of words here, but basically you can tell from examining this passage in the original Greek that Paul was trying to reestablish the Christian/Jewish values of women  during a time in which crazy ideas were coming around within the church, and people with pagan influence were leaking traditions into Christianity. There were false teachers in that time going around, apparently admonishing marriage and procreation, and Paul was opposing them by writing, trying to nip it in the bud before it became a real issue.

www.adventistbiblicalresearch.…

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

JohnZ117 In reply to PoppyCorn99 [2016-10-29 09:31:13 +0000 UTC]

So, women were dumb and needed to stay that way to not interfere with the spiritual well-being of their hubbies?  Or maybe "Paul" (or the leaders of the church at the time of writing, or both) feared what may happen if they had to share power with educated women?  Keeping women dumb and full of (un-warranted) guilt was an excellent way to ensure power stayed where they wanted it.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

PoppyCorn99 In reply to JohnZ117 [2016-10-29 20:08:44 +0000 UTC]

No, it's not that at all. Because of the fact that women were uneducated in those times (it being a very male-dominated society), they didn't learn any languages other than their own, or they very rarely did. It's just the way society operated. They were saying that instead of having the confusion and distractions during a worship service, to save their questions for afterwards when they could take all the time in the world to speak to their husbands, who did have the education and spoke the native languages, living in a male-dominated society. It's just the way society was, and since chaos never leads to anything productive, it was decided this would be the better action to take. Ever watched a news conference where they say, "Please leave all your questions for the end"? It was like that, only it's not like the women could just go see the speaker afterwards, since they didn't know the language (just a fact of history). Their only option would then be to ask the questions to her husband, who knew what the speaker said and spoke her language. 

Actually, it's very possible that this passage you mentioned was actually only meant to address a very specific problem that occurred in this specific church. Remember, this "book" of the Bible was actually originally a letter (epistle), written to that specific church.

Paul had nothing against women. Women filled key roles in the New Testament: they were prophetesses (Acts 21:9), and they were leaders/patronesses of home churches (Mary in Acts 12:12, Phoebe in Romans 16:1-2, and Priscilla with her husband Aquila in 1 Corinthians 16:19). Paul also had several female coworkers in ministry (Romans 16:1-16 & Philippians 4:2-3), and he himself said that in Christ "there is neither male nor female" (Galatians 3:28).

Paul's church actually took in female students as well, not just male. That alone was already a progressive move in those days.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

JohnZ117 In reply to PoppyCorn99 [2016-10-29 20:55:02 +0000 UTC]

Ephesians 5:22-24New International Version (NIV)

22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Among all those people, how many tried to get education for women, as in languages, reading, mathematics?  How many of those men, as well, would have objected to the harsh treatment of Hypatia, in your opinion?

They control the church, the church controls the men, the men control their wives and daughters.  And, in that control, they also control the means of (re)production.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

PoppyCorn99 In reply to JohnZ117 [2016-10-30 01:46:56 +0000 UTC]

Ephesians 5:25 and 28, New King James Version (NKJV)

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her...So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself."

Proverbs 11:16

"A gracious woman retains honor, but ruthless men retain riches."

Proverbs 12:4

"An excellent wife is the crown of her husband..."

Proverbs 31:10-11, 28-31

"Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far more than rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her;
so he will have no lack of gain....Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: 'Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.' Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised."


I think anyone who is knowledgeable of how society evolves throughout history knows that it's not that simple to just suddenly treat both genders equally; that doesn't even happen in 2016. I wasn't just talking about ancient Jews and early Christians, but the entire world, all the cultures (There have been almost no matriarchal societies in existence). The fact is that women did not have a level playing field, and even today women are still highly abused and objectified in many parts of the world. Hypatia was indeed a powerful woman in history, but early Christians did not hesitate to go up against rulers, to stand for their beliefs, even to the point of death, which was often very brutal. 

Yes, I'm pretty sure that if women didn't exist, men wouldn't either.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

JohnZ117 In reply to PoppyCorn99 [2016-10-30 02:12:42 +0000 UTC]

One can only suffer apologetics for so long until...boredom.  Whatever you need to believe, the Bible is still crap (to put it mildly) as a moral guideline.  And, this is over.  Don't reply.  Ta ta.  

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

PoppyCorn99 In reply to JohnZ117 [2016-10-30 03:06:22 +0000 UTC]

As you wish

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

G0THICF0X In reply to PoppyCorn99 [2016-10-27 06:32:44 +0000 UTC]

Understandable but why did it say even in the old testament then that people could have as many slaves as they wanted or that if a woman speaks in church she has committed a crime. there are literally dozens of passages that are in favor of acts like murder and rape, like when god told a band of his followers that they may take the women and children of their enemies and do what them as they please, or the fact he praised some very unsavory characters that otherwise were harmful or just not good people. that doesn't make sense to me, and again why should i be so fond of a being if they exist that thinks i'm disgusting or 'an abomination' for again doing nothing wrong. and if he allegedly knows all the pain people go through isn't it rather cruel of him to just sit back while he allegedly has all the power to stop it and just let other people treat people like garbage or hurt them, especially in his name? that also doesn't make sense to me, free will or not- it would be more decent, kind and righteous to prevent and stop these things from happening rather than just "oop, there's a woman getting raped in an ally right now? well let's just let that happen because i told these morons they can do whatever they want to each other" or "oh, someone is telling a homosexual that their perverted sinful and evil in my name, well actually i agree with them because i wrote a book on it and in the book i say right the fuck there that it's basically demonic so whatever,": 

👍: 0 ⏩: 2

PoppyCorn99 In reply to G0THICF0X [2016-10-27 16:06:09 +0000 UTC]

"Slave" is a dirty word today, and frankly it didn't quite mean the same thing back then. First real mention of slavery was when the Israelite themselves were taken as slaves, and they were treated very badly. When they were freed, they also were allowed to have slaves, not because it's a good thing, but because of the hardness of their own hearts. Like I mentioned, Hebrew slaves were set free after 7 years, female slaves were spared from hard manual labor, and not just that, but slaves were immediately set free if an eye was injured or tooth was lost by the hands of the master. Even if they weren't Hebrew, they could participate in all the Jewish festivals and religious events, and they were on equal footing in the synagogues. If a woman slave married her master, or son of her master, she instantly moved up from slave to family member. 

There's the story of Jacob: He fell in love with a man's daughter, Rachel. What did he do? He served as the father's slave for 7 years for her hand in marriage. Once his seven years were up, the father ripped him off and married him to the wrong girl! But Jacob was so adamant that he worked another 7 years as a slave for Rachel's hand. So you see, slavery in those days was often a financial/strategic move on the slave's side, not forced labor. 

In regards to rape, I believe you're thinking of Judges 19:24,

"Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. Violate them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man do not do this outrageous thing.”

The book of Judges exists because it shows us the evil monsters God's own people devolved into. It's an honest book, and this quotation is from one of God's own Levite priests. The Bible doesn't approve of it in any way, it's just showing us the facts of what happened. Fun fact, the same guy, a few verses later, took his now dead concubine, chopped her to 12 pieces, and scattered her body across the city. There are other cases in which men took women from cities and raped them/stole them to be their wives, however once again, the Bible does not approve, it merely documents what took place.

Like I mentioned, there are instances of war in the Old Testament in which they were commanded to wipe out entire cities. That's brutal, I agree, but remember that the Israelites were taken captive, and the Promised Land, given by God, was taken away from them by pagan cities. Finally free, they had to take their property back. Israelites were absolutely detested in the world and if they didn't clear the way, they would be brutally murdered themselves.

____________

God sees everything that's happening, and it's eating Him up inside, "not willing that any should perish" (2 Peter 3:9). It's not that He can't stop it, He can, and He does. However the only way to stop the suffering and have it never come up again is to let it fully manifest first. The Bible explains this by using the example of the wheat and the tares (weeds) in Matthew 13: 24-30.

A man planted good wheat seeds in his field, but overnight an enemy came and mixed weeds into the good seeds. The master's servants asked if they should go out and pull out all the weeds (tares actually look very similar to wheat), but the master said no, because the good crop can be hurt in the process (verse 29). So both wheat and tares grow together until the time of harvest (the Second Coming of Jesus), then the wheat and tares will be separated from each other. This is essentially what God is doing. If he stops it all right now, people who are currently lost but still have a chance to give their lives to God will lose their chance. God is giving everyone a fair chance, according to the individual's limits. The Bible says that God doesn't let anyone endure ANYTHING that s/he as an individual can't handle (1 Corinthians 10:13), and He pays the most attention to those that are brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18). We often are just too hardheaded to notice. We see the splinter in our finger and cry, but ignore the entire tree God stopped from falling on our head.

If you're interested later, you can send me a note and we can discuss exactly why there's all this pain and suffering in the first place, including the story of the one that actually started it.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

G0THICF0X In reply to PoppyCorn99 [2016-10-27 16:20:07 +0000 UTC]

You cant honestly expect me to believe that every slave esoecially those taken by force or corced to live that way from birth was happy or using such an unfortunate status to gain something. And hebrews werent the only slaves, looking at the entirity of the world slavery was everywhere and when word of the bible spread the message didnt specify "only hebrew slaves" so everyone did it and a lot of people suffered. And you still havent found an answer or a legitimate reason why i should worship or love a being if they exist that thinks so ill of what i am or who i love.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

PoppyCorn99 In reply to G0THICF0X [2016-10-29 03:42:38 +0000 UTC]

Sorry I wrote so much, I just had a lot I needed to say:

Damon, I know you have a lot of hatred towards the Bible, as every time I explain something you look for more to throw at me. You've had terrible experiences, I believe it, and those that hurt you were wrong and will have their just reward when the Lord returns. Some questions we all have about the Bible we'll never know the answer to until we can ask God ourselves. As for me, I'm trying to make sure I'll be ready when God returns so I'll be able to have all my questions answered, because I have a lot of them! Christians don't have all the answers, although sometimes we like to think we do. There is a lot in the Bible that we will never fully understand until we can ask God Himself, the important part is to have faith and make it to heaven so we can ask them to Him.

That's just the thing about love, you can't force it. I can't make you love God, or even myself. Not even God can make you love Him, because love is something that comes from your own heart, given voluntarily. Your heart may not be ready to love God, and you have a lot of pain and hatred, I see that. However despite anything you say or do, as I've said more than once in our conversation, God does not see you the way the phony Christians you're so familiar with see you. "...for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7).

God knows exactly what's going on in your heart and empathizes with you, because He experienced it all Himself when He came down to earth as a human. He's been tempted in every way and knows every struggle under the sun. He knows where you're coming from. (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus Christ is basically acting as our lawyer AND our judge right now (aka High Priest in the previous passage). Because he's been through it all, but made it out without sinning, He stands as YOUR representative, making your case in the Heavenly Sanctuary. Really, the only thing that stops you from being saved is yourself, if you choose to reject the gospel.

As sinners, we are all lost. We are ALL lost. No one is "more lost" than the other, regardless of religious beliefs. We've all screwed up and deserve death. We ALL are worthless specks in this universe. But this is the beauty of the gospel: God was so heartbroken that He lost us, He came down to save us by taking the consequence of our sins from us (eternal death) by dying on the cross. What an act of love, that He would take our punishment for us, even though we didn't even want it! Even if we did want His help, we have nothing to offer Him. God did everything to save us for free. Because He did this, victory is guaranteed; when the correct time comes (only God knows), He will return and stop ALL the pain and suffering. 

You are God's treasure (Deuteronomy 7:6 & Ephesians 2:10). You're His child, and regardless of how good or bad your parents were in this life, your Heavenly Father is everything you ever wanted as a parent and even more. The LAST thing He would think of you is that you're gross and need to burn in hell (by the way, that's not even a bible-based doctrine, but that's a discussion for another day). That is all Satan's lie, who is doing everything in his power until the very last day to keep you away from figuring all this out in your heart. God wants you in His life, broken or not (we all are).

Ultimately, no one can force you to love God, or to accept His love. Not even God can force you, because then it wouldn't be love anymore. There is nothing you can say or do to make Him love you less (you could be Hitler and God would still love you), however you obviously can't receive His love if you don't allow Him to give it to you. I could never love a God that forced Himself into my life without me wanting Him, however that's not the case. He only goes as far as you allow Him. That's free will.

So there's a God out there, all-powerful, all-knowing. He created me and has a bright future planned for me. I spat in His face and ran away repeatedly in my sins, but He just keeps coming over to rescue me from my own mess anyway. He bears no grudges against me and knows how many hairs I have on my head. I could repeat the exact same sin 10,000 times and He would forgive me 10,001 times. I am responsible for His death, but He would do it all over again just for me. It would be not only illogical, but absurd if I didn't love Him back.

And the exact same scenario applies to you. The God that keeps track of how many times you cry and counts your tears in a bottle is right there, just waiting to send His love to you. You just have to let Him.
____________

It's been a pleasure speaking with you, Damon, but this is all I have left to say to you regarding the topic. If you are interested in discussing the gospel message some more, you are more than welcome to send me a note and we can continue. But until then you will be in my prayers, in hope that maybe one day you will finally heal from the pain caused by others, and maybe your heart will even soften towards God.

Peace and love~

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

G0THICF0X In reply to PoppyCorn99 [2016-10-29 05:49:24 +0000 UTC]

thank you for taking so much time out to explain these things to me...I've never really had any of it explained to me in the fashion you have, nor with as much patience and kindness, and over the past couple days i've had time to reflect and think about what you've shown me in regards to the questions and fears i've had about the religion and god in general...and I want to give god another chance and see him for what he really is and not what everyone has scared me and bullied me into thinking and feeling about him...I'd like to add you to my watch as I'm sure i'll have questions and want to discuss my learnings with someone as I continue my journey from this point on...would that be ok? if I added you on my new account though? 

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

PoppyCorn99 In reply to G0THICF0X [2016-10-29 20:15:04 +0000 UTC]

Of course you can! You're more than welcome to ask questions whenever you have them

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

G0THICF0X In reply to PoppyCorn99 [2016-10-30 20:21:06 +0000 UTC]

thank you, and I added you  

👍: 0 ⏩: 1