Ironhorse?

[TheRedneckProfessor]

Has anybody heard from Ironhorse lately?  He hasn't been around for a while; and that ain't like him.  It worries me.  I've even consulted with the Cheerwine gods; they haven't seen hide nor hair of him.  I hope he's all right, bless his heart.  

[florduh]

I heard he has pneumonia. 

[Blood]

Maybe YHWH came down in his chariot and carried him off to heaven, like Enoch. 

[florduh]

Maybe he gave everything to the poor and now has no computer.

 

Seriously, I do hope IH hasn't had some tragedy befall him. His belief system is tragedy enough for anyone, as I'm sure many of you can attest to.

 

All the best, IH!!!

[sdelsolray]

He's posting his "Sunday Dispatch" on the following forum:

 

http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f199/sunday-dispatch-220212.html

[duderonomy]

I do wonder where Ironhorse has been. I also wonder what happened to MyMistake.  I hope they are both well.

[Thought2Much]

Perhaps he's working furiously on writing down the sources he used for his "skeptical appraisal" of Christianity.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

Perhaps he's working furiously on writing down the sources he used for his "skeptical appraisal" of Christianity.

1. Bono

2. Bob Dylan

3. ...?

[Fweethawt]

 

Perhaps he's working furiously on writing down the sources he used for his "skeptical appraisal" of Christianity.

1. Bono

2. Bob Dylan

3. ...?

4. Bob Dylan's bono

[rjn]

I do wonder where Ironhorse has been. I also wonder what happened to MyMistake.  I hope they are both well.

 

I wonder whatever happened to Mythra. Seriously, what did happen to him? Haven't seen him since last years holiday season.

[Fweethawt]

Mythra is an old-school member. He was a huge contributor to this place back in the day.

 

His time here has come and gone. He may drop by again. But don't hold your breath.

[Bhim]

Has anybody heard from Ironhorse lately?  He hasn't been around for a while; and that ain't like him.  It worries me.  I've even consulted with the Cheerwine gods; they haven't seen hide nor hair of him.  I hope he's all right, bless his heart.  

 

Heh, obviously I hope no ill has befallen him (including pneumonia). But honestly I lost interest in him the moment I found out he believes in annihilationism. I've no interest in taking a stab at each variant of heretical Christianity. No, I prefer to stick to the vanilla, evangelical Christians who believe in eternal conscious torment for Hindus.

[rjn]

He's posting his "Sunday Dispatch" on the following forum:

 

http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f199/sunday-dispatch-220212.html

 

I found this one particularly interesting:

 

 

 

“Initially, the God of the Old Testament might seem overwhelming and domineering to you, or tyrannical, or perhaps even evil, which is good. It is the first telling that God is indeed God, by sheer definition, and not some ear-tickling fairy by which one in his depravity is guaranteed to find another form of stale romanticism or love at first sight. For such a first impression as the latter would be problematic to the essence of Christianity. Therefore the Christians are right in saying that the nature of imperfect men cannot ultimately co-exist with the nature of a perfect God; and that the hope of each man is now desperately found in God's sending of Christ.”

 

Yet another apologetic using the "God is so mysterious and awesome, even the bad shit he does isn't really bad, 'cuz, y'know, he's God"-argument. How can they fall for this shit?

 

IH, if you're reading this, please share your views with us.

[Guest Furball]

 

He's posting his "Sunday Dispatch" on the following forum:

 

http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f199/sunday-dispatch-220212.html

 

I found this one particularly interesting:

 

 

 

“Initially, the God of the Old Testament might seem overwhelming and domineering to you, or tyrannical, or perhaps even evil, which is good. It is the first telling that God is indeed God, by sheer definition, and not some ear-tickling fairy by which one in his depravity is guaranteed to find another form of stale romanticism or love at first sight. For such a first impression as the latter would be problematic to the essence of Christianity. Therefore the Christians are right in saying that the nature of imperfect men cannot ultimately co-exist with the nature of a perfect God; and that the hope of each man is now desperately found in God's sending of Christ.”

 

Yet another apologetic using the "God is so mysterious and awesome, even the bad shit he does isn't really bad, 'cuz, y'know, he's God"-argument. How can they fall for this shit?

 

IH, if you're reading this, please share your views with us.

 

You beat me to it. I was going to quote that with a response as well. I think he got tired of being proven wrong at every post. I mean, how much evidence against his religion can he take before he becomes so convicted that he leaves? Boy, he sure loves u2 doesn't he? He better watch out though, because yahweh doesn't like competition and IH has a real hard on for bono. Did you notice that he calls himself THE iron horse on that site? Talk about being cocky...sheesh! 

[dangitbobby83]

IH believes in annihilation? I thought he was Southern Baptist (or some vein of Baptist)...They *certainly* do not believe in annihilation. 

 

But whatever you have to do to avoid the infinite torture of hell in your doctrine. If you can't answer the objections to one of your faith's core belief, just scratch out the belief. 

 

What is interesting, however, that annihilation is no different than what atheists believe. You die, you're gone. So really...if annihilation is true, then fuck following this jesus idiot. I'll enjoy my life and do what I want. And to quote Mark Twain:

 

“I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”

[Bhim]

IH believes in annihilation? I thought he was Southern Baptist (or some vein of Baptist)...They *certainly* do not believe in annihilation. 

 

Yeah, it's a strange contradiction isn't it? I don't recall if he's Southern Baptist, but he styles himself as a freethinking Christian, i.e. one who did not assume Christianity to be true, and came to the conclusion that it is. I suppose he doesn't feel the sting of heresy on account of this. After I learned this I quickly stopped paying attention to the small fraction of his posts that didn't include lyrics by Bob Dylan or other musicians that I don't care about. As I described to him, I didn't want to play whack-a-mole with Christian heretics. If I convince him that his particular brand of heresy is false, he'll just jump to the next one. Best, I think, to stick to debating people who are invested in orthodoxy.

[disillusioned]

Man. Without IH present things have really died down in the den!

[ironhorse]

I’m back.

 

To make a long story a little shorter, several weeks ago my old wood burning laptop developed some kind of error that would not allow me to post on several forums I frequent. I could login and view threads but could not reply. I would get a “This Page Can’t Be Displayed” error.

 

I fumbled around trying different settings and changes to try to fix it and I don’t know if it was me or if it corrected itself but it’s working now.

 

Also during my absence I took my first breathing test in two years and chest X-rays. My X-rays were good and my breathing test results were the same as two years ago. Bronchiectasis is a progressive chronic disease that eventually destroys the airways, so it was really good news that my lungs are still functioning basically at the same level as two years ago.

 

A BIG THANK YOU to TheRedneckProfessor and all of you who expressed concern over my absence. I really appreciate your thoughts and comments.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

Good to have you back.

[midniterider]

Welcome back IH.

[Bhim]

Glad to hear that you are OK Ironhorse, and I hope that your bronchitis doesn't progress any further. While I continue to lack interest in debating Christianity with you, I'm relieved to hear that you're OK.

 

By the way: last week Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. I still don't care about Bob Dylan. I don't know enough about him to know if he is a wise or thoughtful individual whose lyrics contain deep metaphysical insights, and I don't want to invest the time to find out. If you are trying to make a rational appeal to me on a topic of interest, I would kindly ask that you please not quote any Bob Dylan lyrics anymore.

 

If you want to quote Plato, Homer, Thomas Jefferson, Swami Vivekananda, or Adi Shankara, then I might care. But please, no more Bob Dylan. Before you, I didn't even know who this person was, because I am not a pop culture person. But your irrelevant Bob Dylan quotes have made abject hatred the only feeling I have towards a person about whom I would otherwise feel only apathy. Please, please, for the love of the god you believe in, don't ever quote Bob Dylan again.

[rjn]

Glad to hear that you are OK Ironhorse, and I hope that your bronchitis doesn't progress any further. While I continue to lack interest in debating Christianity with you, I'm relieved to hear that you're OK.

 

By the way: last week Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. I still don't care about Bob Dylan. I don't know enough about him to know if he is a wise or thoughtful individual whose lyrics contain deep metaphysical insights, and I don't want to invest the time to find out. If you are trying to make a rational appeal to me on a topic of interest, I would kindly ask that you please not quote any Bob Dylan lyrics anymore.

 

If you want to quote Plato, Homer, Thomas Jefferson, Swami Vivekananda, or Adi Shankara, then I might care. But please, no more Bob Dylan. Before you, I didn't even know who this person was, because I am not a pop culture person. But your irrelevant Bob Dylan quotes have made abject hatred the only feeling I have towards a person about whom I would otherwise feel only apathy. Please, please, for the love of the god you believe in, don't ever quote Bob Dylan again.

 

Well, "abject hatred" seems like a bit harsh, don't you think? Some of Dylan's music is actually quite good, though I wonder what the hell the Swedish Academy was smoking when they decided that he ought to be given a Nobel Prize.

[Bhim]

Well, "abject hatred" seems like a bit harsh, don't you think? Some of Dylan's music is actually quite good, though I wonder what the hell the Swedish Academy was smoking when they decided that he ought to be given a Nobel Prize.

Well I'm sure if I knew more about Bob Dylan, my negative feelings toward him would abate. However, right now pretty much the only thing I know about Bob Dylan is that he is some guy whose musical lyrics Ironhorse quotes as an irrelevant response to legitimate questions about Christianity. I absolutely detest humor as a form of argumentative rhetoric, and I suppose some of those negative feelings have been transferred to Bob Dylan. In the broader scope my feelings may be unjustified. But again, my time is valuable and I'm not going to waste it reading about someone about whom I don't care. Also, I figured it would be ironic if I used my most hated mode of argumentative rhetoric when discussing this with Ironhorse.

 

But as to the Nobel Prize, I have mixed feelings. I'm usually interested to know who won the prizes in physics, chemistry and medicine/physiology. Not so interested in the peace prize, since it was once given to Yassar Arafat. Even the science categories sometimes have disagreeable selections though. The physics prize in particular is usually given for work in condensed matter physics, which I think often insufficiently fundamental to warrant this sort of recognition. I also don't appreciate that the restriction to three recipients basically rules out prizes being given to experimentalists who work on large, collaborative project (my bias shows here since my doctoral research was done in exactly this environment). Though a couple of theorists postulated the existence of the Higgs' Boson, thousands of experimentalists worked tirelessly and meticulously to make the measurements that lead to its detection. Where is their recognition for their efforts? It certainly won't come from the Nobel committee!