Would you be interested....?

[Tia_Thompson]

Just so that it is stated somewhere:

I have thought and said all the stuff y’all are saying and probably more. I didn’t care as much as you seem to, but I certainly said things and thought things comparable.

My happy life… The feeling I now have in chest and the peace in my mind…this is how I know that God is patient, kind, merciful, quiet, all the things listed in 1 Corinthians 13 and scores and scores more.

I didn’t have to make some gaudy show of repentance or perform any other arbitrary form of worship to know God. I just had to care enough to try to find the truth of something undefined in my heart, stated or unstated on paper and start living it…

If you have done that already and are at peace in your life, you already know God–regardless of what you think He looks like, regardless of how you think knowing Him should feel.

If you are comforted in times of distress and experience the quiet perfection of joy, without a word being said. In my opinion, you already know God.

I had read the footprints poem before, with no impact, but with this concept in mind, I wept. It didn’t have to be written by apostles, to be meaningful. Perhaps (or perhaps not) it will be meaningful for you too.

One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”

He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you

[Tia_Thompson]

@Get_off_my_lawn Duly noted. Thanks!

[Tia_Thompson]

@David_Killens

@David_Killens

I am an atheist and lack a belief in a god. I am willing to take a bullet to protect my wife, whom I love. Please explain that

According to Bible, the altruistic way you describe your love for your wife demonstrates loving God–whether you believe in Him or not. Imagine if that love was universal. Imagine if everyone felt that way about everyone.

[Whitefire13]

@Whitefire13

My question is simple.

What standard for evidence do you set for yourself to believe something?

I have understand you’re busy… so I’m going to go through recent post to OMS because you are listing some.

@Old_man_shouts_at_cl

I began to read the accounts of Socrates around the same time, or a little before I began to read the accounts of Jesus.

Fair enough. I’ve watched Lord of the Rings and read up on Alexander the Great.

So evidence is sorta a go to so I don’t start believing Lord of the Rings is a historic documentary.

Both have lessons btw. BUT I’m interested in evidence for claims. Lord of the Rings doesn’t CLAIM historic human history whereas Alexander the Great does.

@Old_man_shouts_at_cl

By that time I had learned that students often wrote biographies of their teachers and I was able to apply that to reason for the gospels and their apparent contradictions. I also learned around that time in college about memory bias and the reason for law enforcement takes several “eye witness” accounts several different times.

Statements of eye-witness accounts are just statements UNTIL evidenced for their reliability and accuracy. This is done by cross-examination and other objective evidences surrounding statements.

Insurance companies and police are examining for criminal/neglect/accident or fraud/legitimate/responsible party. The facts aren’t always supported by what people saw and people lie.

[Tia_Thompson]

@David_Killens

even if the bible is true, the love your god offers to you is conditional. If you give love, your god reciprocates. If you do not, your god definitely does not offer unconditional love but responds by torturing or killing you and your loved ones.

The torturing and killing is qualified by the men torturing and killing.

The doctrine of Jesus teaches to love is to know God. We are provided with some of qualities of love in 1 Corinthians 13.

Where this is not demonstrated (even in the differing religious scriptures) the LORD was not in it.

I think of 1 Kings 19:11, 12 often when I think of such things.

This is why clarification was necessary even when the Bible was being written.

[Whitefire13]

@Tia_Thompson

the altruistic way you describe your love for your wife demonstrates loving God–whether you believe in Him or not. Imagine if that love was universal.

It’s not altruistic.
Who’s gonna wash his clothes or cook? He also doesn’t want to feel pain if she dies. That selfish concern. SO bullshit on this demonstrates god. It demonstrates a human loving a human.

AND no I don’t imagine if that love was universal BECAUSE it’s NOT. Jesus fuckin’Christ YOUR imagination isn’t evidence of anything but your woo-woo.

[David_Killens]

@Tia_Thompson

@David_Killens

I am an atheist and lack a belief in a god. I am willing to take a bullet to protect my wife, whom I love. Please explain that

According to Bible, the altruistic way you describe your love for your wife demonstrates loving God–whether you believe in Him or not. Imagine if that love was universal. Imagine if everyone felt that way about everyone.

No, I love my wife. You are attempting to insert a fictional character into my life.

@Tia_Thompson

Imagine if everyone felt that way about everyone.

I do not love Ted Bundy. I hate and despise what he was.

Sincerely Tia,deep down inside your emotions, do you love Ted Bundy as much as you love your children? Please do not respond with “jesus tells us to love everyone”, but I really want to know if you truly and sincerely love Bundy.

[Tia_Thompson]

@Whitefire13

@Whitefire13

Who’s gonna wash his clothes or cook? He also doesn’t want to feel pain if she dies. That selfish concern. SO bullshit on this demonstrates god. It demonstrates a human loving a human.

36Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)

You appear to have more qualifiers necessary for love than the Bible the lists for it.

[Whitefire13]

@Old_man_shouts_at_cl

I also learned around that time in college about memory bias

For fuck’s sake - all your ramblings and feelings are brain BIAS so YOU can feel good.

Your brain is like, fuck reality!!! I don’t like the way it makes me feel it’s not a “happy, LaLa-woowoo place…”

You’re high on hopeium, fantasy and your own imagination.

Evidence. Standard FOR evidence???

[Tia_Thompson]

@David_Killens I sincerely believe that Ted Bundy would have been someone else entirely if he had received the qualities of love that appear in the Bible.

[Whitefire13]

Not with me. YOU can’t fucking quote shit from a book written by someone (they don’t even know the fucking author) AND claim it has any authority or reason to “back” your claim. I don’t give a fuck about your book of choice.

Fuck slavery!!! I’m not some imaginary friends fucking slave and I sure in fuck don’t start questions with “Master”…

[Tia_Thompson]

@Whitefire13 I already know that you love the way that I experience it and maybe more so. Something you said about sacrificing sleep for your children not being a sacrifice at all, but a choice because you love them has stuck with me for over a year.

Believe it or not, your perspective on love helped me understand what Jesus’ love was supposed to represent. It helped clarify an unrecognized and preconceived notion. Not a sacrifice, but a choice because you love them.

[Whitefire13]

Yah, so???

That doesn’t fucking proves it evidenced an imaginary god… it demonstrates me.

[Tia_Thompson]

@Whitefire13 Master was a terminology akin to teacher. I’m almost certain that you know this.

[Tia_Thompson]

I have to work, y’all. I’ll be back. Thanks for the conversation and the consideration.

[Whitefire13]

Yah… BUT the bible DOES support slavery and so did ever-lovin’ Jesus. AND he ain’t my teacher.

I don’t care about unevidenced conversations in story books. Especially when authoritarianism “commands” are involved.

[David_Killens]

@Tia_Thompson

@David_Killens I sincerely believe that Ted Bundy would have been someone else entirely if he had received the qualities of love that appear in the Bible.

That is not the question I asked. It was …

@David_Killens

Sincerely Tia,deep down inside your emotions, do you love Ted Bundy as much as you love your children? Please do not respond with “jesus tells us to love everyone”, but I really want to know if you truly and sincerely love Bundy.

Please stop evading, the question is very simple and I expect a very simple response.

Do you love Ted Bundy as much as you love your children?

[David_Killens]

@Tia_Thompson

You appear to have more qualifiers necessary for love than the Bible the lists for it.

Yet you add qualifiers for a very simple scenario, that I love my wife.

[Tia_Thompson]

@David_Killens I will try harder to be more clear. Give me a little time.

[David_Killens]

@Tia_Thompson

Master was a terminology akin to teacher. I’m almost certain that you know this.

From MASTER Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com

The popular definitions of “master” and “teacher” have no connection, neither references the other.

You are attempting to redefine words and make connections where there is not.