Anti-Semitism In France!

[green 6]

What amazes me is someone who professes to be a "Christian" could listen to the taunts and insulting remarkes about the faith and not be offended. You say I get mad?? When someone mocks Jesus, the Bible and my faith, you bet I get mad. The question is, why you don't! You should think about that.

The athiests here have gone to great lengths to try of pit Christians against each other, and apparently you are buying into it totally blinded to what is going on here. Shame on you!

Dude, are you blind? or are you simply being disingenuous? Have you not been investigating this website? In fact there are many, many Christians who post here. They include the information concerning their belief in their information blocks and these individuals are, moreover, comfortable in referring to their belief in God in their posts. They will say such things as "I am praying for you" in their posts to other members of this site. These fine and kindly individuals are never, ever attacked.

Now, the R&R zone is, as you must already know, the area of the LBT site that is open to a free for all debate. All ideas will be challenged here, even those which are politickally correct. This is the value of this site and it is, I believe, a fine thing that we have R&R available as a resource.

As for you returning to this business of the evil atheists.....I continue to believe that this is a cop out on your part. Though the early part of this thread was dominated by a debate between you and those who find it impossible to believe in a god, and certainly not yer Biblical version of God, the atheists have been sitting out for a long time now.

Your debate over the past number of pages now has been with other Christians, fine folk who do believe but who are uncomfortable with you, Cusano, and with your message. (Those devil atheists are long gone.) These are believers who see you as presenting yourself and the God which you claim to represent as being harsh, joyless, anti-intellectual, lacking in emotional generosity and, indeed, curiosity, and as being unforgiving and, well, kind of unpleasant.

I believe that these folks are kinda riled up by you because they actually are Christians and they see those of us who are not becoming further entrenched in our position for you have done nothing to attract any of us who are not believers on either an intellectual or an emotional level by your shenanigans, you know.

[BJean 16]

We probably all have a pretty good idea what the definition of mockery is.

I was referring to what exactly mocking God means to you. Anything that isn't within the realm of your definition of Praise to God?

If that's the way you see it, that's fine. It fits within the whole dialogue here that has now become outrageous in its' accusations toward Christians. Christians who are being spoken down to I guess because their way of Praising God and proving their faith are different from yours. Now you're not just fighting non-believers, you're fighting everybody. What the heck is wrong with you people?

[BJean 16]

Shame On You!!!

[green 6]

Believe me, I like jokes as much as the next person -- probably more. I spend a lot of my day laughing. And I understand satire. My mind is not messed up, thankyouverymuch.

Main Entry: mock·ery

Pronunciation: 'mä-k(&-)rE, 'mo-

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural -er·ies

1 : insulting or contemptuous action or speech : DERISION

2 : a subject of laughter, derision, or sport

3 a : a counterfeit appearance : IMITATION b : an insincere, contemptible, or impertinent imitation <makes a mockery of justice>

4 : something ridiculously or impudently unsuitable

Yup, I think the shoe pretty much fits.

:hungry: Grrlfriend, are you referring to Pasta land/starch city/noodlesville?

[gadgetlady 4]

Every day, about 27,000 kids are dying due to starvation. Your god hasn't gotten around to solving THAT little problem but has fixed your back pain and is working on your overeating issues.

What a guy.

Would this constitute mockery?

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.

He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.

When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.

When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"

"This is Heaven, sir," the man answered.

"Wow! Would you happen to have some Water? " the man asked.

"Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up."

The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

"Can my friend," gesturing toward his dog, "come in, too?" the traveler asked.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.

After another long walk, and at! the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence.

As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.

"Excuse me!" he called to the man. "Do you have any water?"

"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in."

"How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to the dog.

"There should be a bowl by the pump."

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.

The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.

When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.

"What do you call this place?" the traveler asked.

"This is Heaven," he answered.

"Well, that's confusing," the traveler said. "The man down the road said that was Heaven, too."

"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell."

[lisah25 3]

I love that TOM!

[green 6]

You speak out of both sides of your mouth. The only discord between Christians is what you people have tried so hard to create. It isn't going to work. You are hypocrites and don't have the conviction to admit it. You expect someting of me that you do not expect from yourselves. You don't like hearing the truth, so you attack Christianity. It is so pathetic!

Cusano, the above statement is both self-serving and a cop out. You are saying that I am right because I am right. You are not prepared to admit that other folks are as equally convinced of the value of their stance as you are of yours. By denying your fellow human beings (and possible converts) this respect you do nothing more than drive a greater wedge between yourself and your beliefs and them. This only leads to more anger and a further break down in communications.

I have always felt that it is crucial to understand and respect the other side in order to have a chance to convert the individual to seeing things my way. Sometimes this is viewed as kindness, sometimes as psych 101, and sometimes as diplomacy. In any event, the exercise of this skill is always valuable for all participants.

[BJean 16]

Amen Brother!

[TruBlueSue 0]

Truth hurts doesn't it! I notice that no one is denying it

WOWOWOW - Okay, I don't deny, I don't have some universal truth, but I do have a problem with your absolutist attitude. I have no fear of saying that to you or anyone else here,there., in person, in Iraq, and anywhere else crap is spewn in the name of someone's 'truth'.

[Ron Cusano 0]

Let me see if I grasp you logic here!! You feel justified in tearing apart Christianity because you can't accept that I believe in it's absolute truth, and am vocal in saying so.

But, it's a horrible thing if I quote a Bible verse that infers that people who don't believe in God are fools??

Is that what you are saying??

WOWOWOW - Okay, I don't deny, I don't have some universal truth, but I do have a problem with your absolutist attitude. I have no fear of saying that to you or anyone else here,there., in person, in Iraq, and anywhere else crap is spewn in the name of someone's 'truth'.

[green 6]

Would this constitute mockery?

This is not mockery but this is a question that encapsulates the annoyance that the skeptical minority feel when confronted by the pressure to believe, a pressure that is present in most of America. Indeed, it is my understanding that it is only folks who live in large cities who are free of neighbourly scrutiny of their religious practices and that, furthermore, this business becomes a whole lot more freighted for those individuals who live in the south or the interior. It seems that you have got to believe or to pretend to believe in some form of Christianity when you chose to live in the heartland of America.

Indeed, it would appear that this question of religious freedom hinges upon where you happen to live in the United States. I am connected to a number of atheists who live and work down in the Bible Belt. These are well-educated professional white folks; I mention these facts because I wish to emphasize that these are the sort of individuals who are the most acceptable to all of us. These are people who have told me that if they went public about their disbelief in their local communities they would expect to see their houses torched and their businesses destroyed. As you can see, these are not people who feel that they have freedom of speech or of (dis)belief.

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

Ron, maybe you come off to some as an Elmer Gantry, Jim Bakker type.

Sometimes one can make a point without bashing heads.

[green 6]

Let me see if I grasp you logic here!! You feel justified in tearing apart Christianity because you can't accept that I believe in it's absolute truth, and am vocal in saying so.

But, it's a horrible thing if I quote a Bible verse that infers that people who don't believe in God are fools??

Is that what you are saying??

Cusano, what is your Quest? To prove that you are right? Or to bring more souls to Christ?

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

This is not mockery but this is a question that encapsulates the annoyance that the skeptical minority feel when confronted by the pressure to believe, a pressure that is present in most of America. Indeed, it is my understanding that it is only folks who live in large cities who are free of neighbourly scrutiny of their religious practices and that, furthermore, this business becomes a whole lot more freighted for those individuals who live in the south or the interior. It seems that you have got to believe or to pretend to believe in some form of Christianity when you chose to live in the heartland of America.

Indeed, it would appear that this question of religious freedom hinges upon where you happen to live in the United States. I am connected to a number of atheists who live and work down in the Bible Belt. These are well-educated professional white folks; I mention these facts because I wish to emphasize that these are the sort of individuals who are the most acceptable to all of us. These are people who have told me that if they went public about their disbelief in their local communities they would expect to see their houses torched and their businesses destroyed. As you can see, these are not people who feel that they have freedom of speech or of (dis)belief.

I feel for any LBT Christian who feels ganged up on in this or other threads. Let us hope that those Christians gain a little empathy for the non-Christians, non-Whites, non-English speaking, non-straight people who are constantly being subject to the abuse that many Christians deal out to them in the real world in the name of majority rules.