What Do You Think Happens ...

[Alice]

I guess I'm probably just niave or something - but when someone leaves like that, you know with a nasty 'you lot are all boring and I hand you over to satan, I've done my duty now you are on your own', kind of post - I can't get my head around it, it actually upsets me - that people claiming to be in a relationship with a God of love can be that dismissive of others.

 

I remember one of the things that turned me off my last church was this idea that if someone was proving too hard to evangelise you should move on and focus your efforts elsewhere. For me this was always a non christian way to behave, if faithfulness is a fruit of the spirit, then I was always going to stay faithful to my friends, whatever their beliefs, if patience is a fruit of the spirit then I was always going to walk alongside them - how ever long it took.

 

I don't know - one minute I was laughing at the knots he was tying himself up in and in some of the responses but then suddenly I just felt sad that anyone could be that blinkered.

 

I know I was blinkered - but I hope I was a kind hearted about it. (But maybe that wasn't always the case - when I'd been really challenged)

[Grandpa Harley]

Howling gale, cold, darkness, misery, and a small child cowering crying for a parent that isn't there. He makes up stories to prove to himself he is loved when he can't even love himself.

 

If it stops him raping or killing someone, then I'm happy he has his delusion... but he has no right to try and spread it...

[Vigile]

Wanderer is a mess of contradictions. I'm not sure he/she has a grasp of what goes on in their own mind.

 

It does surprise me though that so many of these guys are so mean spirited. I don't want to pat myself on the back or anything, but like you, I don't think I was so unkind when I was a xian. I could never leave by coldly dusting off my feet. I would have been a puddle of tears worrying about the souls of those who were blinded to the truth. That's probably why I'm so flippant with guys like him now. It's not their beliefs that are so bad, it's their disgusting attitudes. Think about it, he thinks we are going to burn forever in hell, and he approached us with a confident I'm right, you're wrong attitude, so there! I don't see that as the type of person that I can respect.

[gusdafa]

I feel bad too Alice. I have had many arguments with my christian friends and it always leaves a sour taste in my mouth when I leave them speechless.. I don't gloat over a fitting remark or a well dressed point when I see that they looked annoyed with me. I can't tell if I got through to them or that they think me a smug bastard for attacking their faith.

[Alice]

I'm glad I'm not alone in this. One of the things that I often come up against with friends who are still christians is their belief that atheists are all harsh and unloving! When I point out that I am one in some ways, they think I'm different because I've been to some extent 'shaped by christ' but the real world just doesn't back up this evidence at all!

 

I think some of this mis information keeps some people in christianity - I was a bit worried that my attitude would become harsher when I left christianity, but if anything I think I feel more love for mankind than before - but I do feel a bit hopeless for mankind now, I miss my belief in something to make us all better magically and I have moments of despair that we'll ever really mature as a people.

 

His/her attitude to the moondust thing was also such that I think I never had, when faced with evidence that showed I'd believed something that simply wasn't true, then I gave up the falsely held belief, even if I struggled with some dissonance/embarrassment or whatever - I find it hard to understand the mindset of someone with so little integrity

[R. S. Martin]

Alice, I think that sums it up: He has so little integrity. And it seems he doesn't even care. Alice, you're not alone in this. I came to the scene belatedly and he was already gone by the time I found the thread. I posted my impressions there and won't repeat them here. Just know that I think you gave him honest, sincere, and kind responses and he (maybe she) just trampled them in the dust. That was one of my impressions. I don't think at all that it's you or your fault. My ideas about what goes on his such a mind is summed up by other on this thread. What really hit me hard in his parting post was the statement about having done his duty by god. So EMPTY.

[StewartP]

Alice - first off, kudos to you for spotting his intentions with his handle "wanderer" He got real cagey when you asked him about it and, sure enough, he wandered off, and couldn't you just feel the pride and smugness as he made mention of his handle in his final posts.

 

The guy was all over the place. he claimed to have read the entire bible "and not found a single mistake"

His list of proofs that he kept repeating - moondust, hobbit skeleton, human footprints next to dinosaur tracks and crazy San Francisco prophets were so, so lame that 5 minutes browsing thru Snopes would debunk them.

 

I don't think there is a single ex-christian poster here who hasn't arrived at their deconversion without some deep thinking and reflection. We've gone through the cold logic in our minds over and over. This is serious business this god stuff. We don't take it likely. Wanderer was completely unprepared for the levels of debate required.

 

I know that lack of skill in logical debate does not prove his position wrong, but anyone who can cherish beliefs in the moondust/hobbit skeleton/footprint level of proof for their faith is not big on critical thinking.

 

We can hope that, for all his bravado, his short time here may make him think, but I strongly suspect he is sitting tight and smug in the knowledge that he has done his duty, he has witnessed to the unbeliever. he is "In the world, but not of the world" I can almost hear the "amen"s and "hallelujah"s hes' getting as he tells his prayer group colleagues of his persecution and trials amongst the heathen.

[Grandpa Harley]

Twat.

[♦ nivek ♦]

Wanderer will be back.. Kinda like looking at a disaster scene filled with broken bloody bits and parts spread hell to breakfast, he can't help but come back and look-see.

 

His kind of turd always rises to the top of the bowl, fighting being sucked down into the system and recycled..

 

Alice, you can't help this kid with anything he'll recognise as helpful, his mind is owned by the preachers and bishops of what he considers *right*.

 

Fun while it lasts. Wander-bot will eventually have something said here click with something else, and then the pieces of his worry and wonder will grow into "rationality".

 

Best we can do is shoot some info his way and let the seed sprout, and hopefully not be covered with religious dogmatic bullshit and smothered..

 

kFL

[quicksand]

I don't feel bad one bit. Turn into the fight, always. I read his first post and I didn't even bother with the other 7 pages before I knew his ilk and made my reply. (Which nailed him dead-nuts, btw)

 

If these christians don't have the courage of their convictions, then f 'em. His vitriol is empty as his witnessing.

 

I've been on this board for about 3 years now (in its various incarnations) and I've got a pretty thick skin to these types of shennigans.

[ML13]

Hoe

[Grandpa Harley]

Pardon?