Can we just have a thread where we can all pray together?

Originally posted by JohnnyCanuck
reply to post by Blarneystoner

 

I'd say our conversation is about through. God Bless...

Johnny.... I'll tell you why I'm giving you so much flak. Your first response to this thread was something about drinking the koolaid which implied to me that you consider us all suicidal cultists. I know you said that the expression is now part of the zeitgeist and you provided your definition but the fact remains, I'm old enough to remember Jim Jones and I find it extremely distasteful for anyone to use that expression flippantly.

If you had said something like; "what's the point?" or "what good will it do?" or "can anyone provide any evidence that prayer actually works?" I wouldn't have had a problem with it. But you didn't ask a question or provide any constructive criticism. You pulled a drive-by trolling and thought that that was the end of it... eh? Well, you got called out and now you want to end the conversation and dismiss me and my opposition to your childish ways. Another typical troll tactic; turn and run.

People here might have a little more respect for you if you would simply admit that your first reponse here was tasteless, un-called for and trollish. I get impression that you won't though. I've read your responses to others on ATS and your MO is pretty much the same; useless putrid garbage spewing forth from your keyboard....

Have a nice day....

Originally posted by Blarneystoner

Originally posted by JohnnyCanuck
reply to post by Blarneystoner

 

I'd say our conversation is about through. God Bless...

Johnny.... I'll tell you why I'm giving you so much flak. Your first response to this thread was something about drinking the koolaid which implied to me that you consider us all suicidal cultists. I know you said that the expression is now part of the zeitgeist and you provided your definition but the fact remains, I'm old enough to remember Jim Jones and I find it extremely distasteful for anyone to use that expression flippantly.

If you had said something like; "what's the point?" or "what good will it do?" or "can anyone provide any evidence that prayer actually works?" I wouldn't have had a problem with it. But you didn't ask a question or provide any constructive criticism. You pulled a drive-by trolling and thought that that was the end of it... eh? Well, you got called out and now you want to end the conversation and dismiss me and my opposition to your childish ways. Another typical troll tactic; turn and run.

People here might have a little more respect for you if you would simply admit that your first reponse here was tasteless, un-called for and trollish. I get impression that you won't though. I've read your responses to others on ATS and your MO is pretty much the same; useless putrid garbage spewing forth from your keyboard....

Have a nice day....

OK, since you insist upon pressing your issue, here's my final word on the subject.

"Drinking the koolade" certainly has an unfortunate connotation, but it has entered the vernacular as summing up the adoption of an tenet without substantiation. I did not honestly mean to refer to spirituality in general as a suicidal/murderous cult. But...

I find the assumption that I share one's faith and its expressions truly annoying. It is presumptuous to issue a general call to prayer on a forum such as this, exceedingly so if one then pounces upon any challenge. Go to any religious site and I'm sure you will have a more homogeneous response, if that is what you require. Unless, of course, one expresses one's religion differently. History has shown us that quite neatly.

What's the difference between Christianity and a 'cult', per se, anyway? Not much...it's all a matter of scale.

What you call turning and running might also be regarded as a disinclination to pursue a debate that has no apparent resolution. Some call it 'manners'.

You are welcome to your polemic...just leave me out.

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Originally posted by JibbyJedi

It must be a real strain keeping Jesus on that cross..

Originally posted by User8911
reply to post by theRhenn

 

Hey, I know exactly how you feel.Seriously, it all comes down to the good fight.
Do you believe you are a good person?
Do you believe that your values are good and live by them?
Do you sway away the best you can from temptations?

I have been really tough times, many times I could have just gave up.
And I know I will fall again, who doesn't. We get back up, fight the good fight till then end...and you win!

Thanks for the motivation, my friend. Unfortunatly, it's not always so easy to get up from some of those knockdowns. Sometimes, one just doesnt want to even bother for the reality of some peoples lives are that which a person simply does not want to pick themselves up from. Ever been so tired that it hurt? Kinda like that.

I believe I'm a very loving and caring person. I have friends in abundance. I have a family that thinks much higher of me than I give myself credit. I live by what I feel are sound moral values. I generaly shy away from temptation for the most part. And yeah, I feel that there are other far more worse off than I.

Sometimes, you can take a person who's on top of the world, and rip away their one true love, and sometimes you'll end up with a person that doesnt care to breathe any longer.

So, just with the examples I have given, maybe you see more where I'm comming from. Sometimes we endure. Sometimes we become stronger by what we've been through. Sometimes we just deal with it so much, it's not even worth the fight anymore. I'm at the point where I would really love to stop running this endless mile, and close my eyes for a long, undisturbed rest, but there still seems to be alot of distance left.


Thanks for the reply though. It's just difficult for some, wether they believe or not. It's worse when one believes with all their heart and find that what they belived so truely in, doesnt seem to return the love when that person is at their lowest. This is what bothers me. So much faith, yet when in desperate need, faith is all we seem to have, with no remedy. Just faith. It's seems harsh by our human standards to turn away from those that need you, why does it seem to be that way in faith/spiritualism as well? These are answers no one can answer for me. Yet, I still ask, in hopes of one. That also, is a form of faith.

I just get the feeling that something is not right, something is missing. Perhaps that one we pray to? I'd hate to sound so sacrelige, but one cant help but doubt in times like these than to have faith. Faith seems to be only for the afterlife, were as, we deal in suffering here daily.

Live a life of hell just so you can live an afterlife of heaven.... why do we even need to stop here? Why not just heaven? Must there be a learning experiance? After all, we dont seem to do to well in that dept.

reply to post by Doomsday 2029


I can agree. But after that, loosing everything, especially your marriage, how, why do you hold on? What do you know or feel will happen? Is it absolutley all for the afterlife? If you knew you had to spend 20 more years in total agony, misery, and still know no diffrent than what you know in your beliefs today, would you be ok with it? Even if you didnt know for sure you would go one place or the other in the end?

I understand, there isnt much we can do about the problems that plague us. Sometimes it would feel great knowing there was a heavenly God above us looking out for us. After so many years of believing and hoping and praying.. all I hear is silence. I think that's more painful than the problems life has thrown at me combined. The ill set feeling that you're alone and there is no one waiting for you in the end, and this life is all we had and I spent much of it doing moral things, making sure that others smiled, even if it took away my pleasures, and I have... I have given up so many pleasures for the sake of others, and wanting them to enjoy those pleasures over myself, and yet... Ironicly, as life can be... The things you love the most are usually the first to be taken away from you, no matter how much of your life your lived for others. To be honest, the only ones that seem to be happy in all this are the gold/diamond rig handed, tux spiffied, limo driving preachers.

Originally posted by theRhenn
reply to post by Doomsday 2029

 

why do you hold on? What do you know or feel will happen?

that's powerful.... that's how I hold on.

reply to post by Doomsday 2029


Well said!

Thank you for the insight.