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Pastimes : Ask God -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Berry Picker who wrote (34701)	3/27/2003 7:26:02 PM
From: Berry Picker	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 39621

Greg I just phoned a J.W. church because you sparked my curiousity concerning their belief that "Christ had already returned" Greg - you are a filthy liar They do not believe what you publicly claimed more than once that they believed. You are a shameless and filthy liar. I do not ignore men like you because I can not complete with your arguments I ignore men like you because you are Christless in practice and false witnesses. Christ did not lie to win arguments. If God is honoring you then why are you found a liar. My children know the 10 commandments off by heart - do you?

To: Berry Picker who wrote (34701)	3/28/2003 2:14:44 AM
From: Greg or e	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 39621

"So Greg - believe in hell?" Yes I do.

To: Berry Picker who wrote (34701)	3/28/2003 2:44:42 AM
From: 2MAR$	Respond to of 39621

The doctrine, of rewards and punishments has always been a powerful factor in the promulgation of the orthodox faith. The Devil has been the clergyman's best friend, and now that it is acknowledged that the belief in the existence of such a being was a delusion, and that hell was a fiction, Christianity is losing its former influence over the human mind -- the faith has to be reconstructed to suit requirements of this skeptical age. Of course those who believe "in Christ and him crucified," have only an ideal founded upon in imaginary Christ. They ignore the elementary facts of nature for in the constitution of man and of nature in general there is going on a perpetual struggle for existence, which does not harmonize with the alleged love of God for the world, It may be said that the existence of so much suffering and misery in the world is a mystery, but if this is so, it does not dispose of the fact that such drawbacks to man's happiness are here, and no God of love is apparently disposed to remove them. Besides, it is difficult to believe that "God so loved the world," that he sent his son to be tortured on the cross to achieve a purpose which God, if he were all-powerful, could have accomplished without this exhibition of cruelty and injustice. Those persons who remain Christians because of their 'desire to believe that Christ was really their crucified Savior, can never fully recognize the horrible nature of "the agony and bloody sweat," the sufferings endured by the man of sorrow and grief, and the sadness experienced by him when abandoned by his God at the hour of death. They also ignore, in the person of Christ, the scientific fact that death is the termination of life, for he is supposed to have performed more wonderful things after his death than he did before. Briefly stated, it may be said that the thoughtless multitude adhere to the profession of Christianity because they are either too indifferent to oppose it, or they cling to the belief through fear of punishment hereafter; or still further, they adhere to the old faith in consequence of their inability to understand what is to replace the orthodox belief. Among persons of intellectual ability there are two considerations that principally induce them to favor the continuation of the profession of the Christian name. They suppose that it is to their interest to be thought in accord with the fashionable belief of the day, and they are impressed with the idea that the masses are kept in check by believing that the doctrine of hell-fire is a true one. Thus the profession of Christianity is perpetuated through mental laziness, lack of intellectual capacity, consideration of self-interest, or through the notion that fear, even if based on fiction, is necessary to keep the uninformed in order and subjection. While the triumphs of political and scientific inquiry, in dismissing from men's minds despotic and erroneous views, have been numerous, theology is still making desperate struggles to cling to its old positions. It will require, probably, more than one generation of educated persons to eliminate from the human mind the ideas that cause men and women to remain professors of Christianity. Although we may believe, with Shelley, that the evil faith will not last forever, it dies hard nevertheless. In the persistent warfare with this evil, supported as it has been by so many varying interests, many brave reformers have exhausted their energies, while other toilers have had to give up the battle. The magnitude of the undertaking to reform the religious world reminds us of Butler's lines: --> Reforming schemes are none of mine, To mend the world's vast design; Like little men in a little boat, Trying to pull to them the ship afloat.