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It’s Friday. I’m tired. Real tired. Anyone else tired? You guys are insane. This site is soooo hard to keep up with! I’m gonna have to hire a staff! Any volunteers? lol
In attempt to allow myself stress-free weekends, I think I’m gonna keep Friday’s posts light. Thank you guys for another awesome week. I absolutely love doing this with you. This site is awesome!!
Below is a list of random crap. Enjoy!
- I’m wearing pink today. Yes, pink. It takes a real man. Check out this shirt. Hilarious. What a cop out, though!
- Many of the toughest, scariest, smartest, most intimidating people on this site aren’t as big and bad as they seem. You know who you guys are…I have the emails to prove it!!! MUAH HA HA!!!
- FriendlyChristian.com is now HTML and CSS compliant! Oh yeah, we’re big timers now.
- I feel like I’m living out Ephesians 3:20. I’m soooo taken back by this site. If you guys only knew what an insignificant peon I really am maybe you’d find the humor in the growth of FriendlyChristian.
- If anybody knows any Christian MEN that might want to participate in our discussion, point them over here. I feel like there’s a serious shortage!
- Tiffany and I had king crab legs earlier this week. The store had a sale - buy two pounds get two pounds free. Yep, we feasted. Yes, my stomach hurt afterwards. Yes, it was painful. Yes, I spent some quality time in the bathroom (I know, gross, right?). Yes, I’d do it all over again.
- This week was tough for me. I mean tough…(see below)
Here’s the deal, gang. This is the point where I lose a good percentage of my audience:
This week I’ve challenged myself like crazy. On top of that, you guys have worn me out (and I’m thankful for that). Though my journey is still young. My faith has been strengthen a great deal throughout this week. I love the fact that my beliefs are being held to the fire. No matter where I end up, I’m thankful that I’ve allowed myself to see what I’m made of. I continue to feel like I can’t take it any more. I continue to ask God for strength. He always comes through for me. This is the life!! I wouldn’t want it any other way! Continue to test me, God. Continue to challenge me. Break me down. Build me up. Use me. I am yours.
I gotta say it again - I love being a part of this site with you guys! Have a great weekend.
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Sometimes, I think I’d rather face someone in an actual fight than a debate where I know I don’t have answers. It’s funny how mere words and ideas can seem harder than stone and heavier, too. You could just as easily close your ears (eyes) and keep goin’ without letting any contrary ideas interfere with your equanimity. %-(
What makes (some) people seek the Truth? You’ve got to either be very comfortable with yourself or very determined to find Truth in spite of the fact that it may make you(anyone, including me) out to be a fool for dis-believing or believing.
Here’s a random comment:
Last weekend, I was in Palm Springs where the temp. got up to 110 F. I told my wife that I kind of like the extreme heat when it’s dry. She said…
“Well that’s good considering where you’re going…”
“Well,” I said, “if the Muslims are right, you’ll be right there with me!” >:)
Bill, I am glad to see you have the courage to wear what you like and not concern yourself with what the “fashion mavens” might think. As long the people you are with today don’t start asking you to put on a coat your safe.
I am reminded of one of the first times I went to New York City by myself. I was 18. I saw what I thought was a very “cool” shirt. It was silk and had this floral design on it.
Unfortunately it didn’t make the “fashion statement” I had intended.
Men kept coming up to me and asking me if I wanted to join them for a drink.:)
WOW Polly…geez…is your wife a believer? And I’ve been called harsh…lol
Ed, funny stuff!! I bought my husband a shirt (It was salmon, not pink
;)) when we first started dating years ago….I think the moths are still having a party with it somewhere in the back of the closet…..
My son is 11. He has 3 pink shirts. He wore one today in fact. His thoughts on the color - “It takes a real man mom, like me, to wear pink and not be afraid.” Yes it does son…yes it does…
And Bill, my daughter could out eat you in a crab feast any day! The girl is insane about her crab legs!
I hope you have a great weekend! I am praying for Bill…
I never wear pink. It clashes with my eyes.
Anyway as you’re being random I read this yesterday and though of all of you who contribute on this site:
I tried to find Him on the Christian cross, but He was not there; I went to the temple of the Hindus and to the old pagodas, but I could not find a trace of Him anywhere. I searched on the mountains and in the valleys, but neither in the heights nor in the depths was I able to find Him. I went to the Kaaba in Mecca, but He was not there either. I questioned the scholars and philosophers, but He was beyond their understanding. I then looked into my heart, and it was there where He dwelled that I saw Him; He was nowhere else to be found. -Jalaluddin Rumi, poet and mystic (1207-1273)
I would call this a humanist attitude which is perfectly compatible with my Atheism. Have a good weekend and don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do.
I don’t like debates at all. I prefer discussions. It’s not about winning. It’s about understanding. At least that’s what I am interested in.
If there isn’t a winner then how do you know which person you are supposed to believe :-??
have a good weekend all
Well, there you have it. Either God’s Gal thinks she somehow knows us better than we know ourselves, or she thinks we’re liars. Harumph.
OH BROTHER! 8-|
I have always and will continue to answer questions that are asked of me from the way I believe……they are not meant for any one person, including the person asking, it is what I believe. The fact that our views are different and we are able to discuss them here is what makes this site so fun and interesting. Thanks Bill and have an awesome time on your trip!!!!
I’m confused
Did I miss something?
GG is talking about shirts and writerdd is upset at what???
Pleasewfill me in…
Ummm - GG, have I missed something? It looks like an attack on you in comment#8 and I’m struggling to see where it fits in on this particular post. Not that it should anywhere on FRIENDLY Christian…but hey, that’s just me!
Maybe I posted this in the wrong thread. I was posting about God’s Gal saying that she is sure I was never a Christian because I don’t believe any more. How can she be sure? How the heck does she know what I felt and beleived in my own past?
Hi Tam & IWorship: She’s referring to a conversation Helen and I are having in the post below this…I agree Tam, but that only seems to be applying to the believer…….:-?
Oh OK writerdd - I know which one you’re talking about - but I didn’t catch that that conversation was involving you at any point.
Don’t you think it’s interesting though that your comment above comes across so harsh and belittling? I wonder if we could all try to be a bit more respectful of each other?
I’m not trying to be harsh, but I don’t appreciate being called a liar, which God’s Gal has done several times to me already. Before anyone says that she hasn’t called me a liar, she keeps saying that she doesn’t believe what I’ve said, which is the same thing. And yes, I have said that I used to be a Christian her so her comment about not believing that one can stop being a Christian does apply to my statements. I am probably not going to come back to this blog, even though I like Bill and find his posts very interesting. But God’s Gal reminds me too much of why I quit going to church in the first place, and since she posts about 3/4 of the comments on this blog, I just am not feeling very welcome.
Sorry you feel that way writerdd, I didn’t know disagreeing with someone meant they were a liar. I was simply asked a question and answered it……I thought it was established alread that no one was here to convert anyone else, just to answer questions and give opinions…you have a choice, same as I do to respond to a post or person, or not….but please do not blame me for not writing or sharing anymore on this post….it is your choice….
Sorry and goodbye everyone.
I’m sorry but I’m going to have to step back from reading this blog, at least for now. As an ex-fundamentalist, it’s just triggering too many bad memories for me.
Sorry if I let it make me too crabby the last couple of days. It’s like a being an ex-addict, I guess. I just can’t get too involved with anyone like the old druggie/Jesus friends any more.
I wish you all good journeys and a life filled with love and peace.
writerdd - You have every right to stay or leave, but your responses are the most aggressive I read on this site.
Whether Christian or non-Christian, we speak from what we believe. We speak from the “theology” of what we know and live. godsgal speaks from her beliefs as a Christian and you speak from yours. This does not mean that one is right or wrong except that each of us believe what we are saying is truth.
godsgal has spoken from her theology as a Christian. Many Christians believe that once you are saved, you are always saved. If one leaves the Christian faith entirely, this usually leads to Christians belief in that this person never had a spirit-filled, transformed life. Many people have ‘experiences”, but the Bible is clear that Christians will be known by the fruit of their walk with Christ. If one is not living out the Christian life, their is no reason for a Christian to believe that they had more than an “experience”. If I attend a ballet, I may be affected by it, to the point of it changing the way I feel and think. But, I am not a ballerina until I step onto the stage and live the life. Until that point, it is only an experience.
You have to see that Christians believe differently than you. No one that frequents this site has discounted who you are as a person or your beliefs, but I would hope everyone here would speak from what they know, right now, where they live. That is what godsgal is doing. that is discussion.
A liar is only a liar when what they say isn’t true. If you believe what you say is truth, than we cannot dispute the truth in your life.
@inworship
True and no one has a choice but to say what they believe lest they become liars. But, where I disagree is where you say GG is speaking from Christian belief. She is speaking from her chosen interpretation. There are many Christians who believe one can be genuinely saved and then lose that salvation by falling away, losing faith, giving in to the world, etc etc etc.
It’s only the “once saved, always saved” interpretation of certain verses that leads to the conclusion that no one who left could have ever really been “true” believers. But, there are just as many verses, when interpreted without this notion, that seem to indicate that there were those that were true believers at one point and then fell-away - simply left the faith. The Bible of course forecasts total DOOM for these people. (I’m not worried
)
This affects how a Christian interprets the reality around them. The falling-away interpretation would seem to be more in line with real life experience of ex-believers. Even theological points are subject to debate withIN Christian circles.
To that above I would add that if I was not a “true believer”, then I can easily say, no one is. If my devotion to Christ before was not the real deal, then everyone should doubt their own faith because there’s nothing they’re thinking and feeling (I gather from reading others’ posts) that I didn’t also. I did pray every night and fasted, too all so that I could get closer to God and hear His still, small voice more clearly to live out my life for his purposes. It wasn’t just words, it was devotion to Jesus, who I thought was really in my life, guiding me, helping me, and even blessing me with opportunity. And I have been pretty fortunate. But, I came to see that there really isn’y anyone there…it was me the whole time. The experience of the resurrected Christ was just my own imagination and emotion. The experiences were real, they just weren’t what I thought they were.
Polly - We don’t disagree here. If you read my post again, I had said “many Christians” believe. There are 2 interpretations to this discussion as you have said.
InWorship-Thank you so much for your post, you spoke my heart perfectly….I am only speaking from what I believe and what I have experienced, like anyone on this site…it’s not meant toward any one person,just my opinion. Your analogy was perfect! :d/
@inWorship:
Indeed you are right. I missed the “Many.” I must’ve skipped right to the ballerina analogy.
Sorry.
You’re a stronger man than I… I just finally started wearing the flowery shirts. Haven’t bumped up to pink yet.