[raulduke]

Originally Posted by Kelphi

God chastises those he loves. This is how we know we are a child of God.

Really? I'm pretty confused by that I gotta say.

Originally Posted by Kelphi

If your mommy and daddy never spanked you then they never really loved you.

My parents never spanked me and I can assure you that they love me. I see where you are coming from though in that many parents I see, want to smooth out any bumps that may occur in their children's lives. Some bumps are good learning experiences.
But I certainly don't condone physical repremand. My parents sat me down and made sure that I understood why whatever i might have done that waranted repremand (coulda been anything trust me), was wrong. I respect them so much more for that now. I can only imagine what resentment I might have had if they had hit me.

Originally Posted by Kelphi

Suffering in this world is a result of sin in this world. It will always be apart of us. God does everything to the betterment of those that love him.

That is what I have been told before, but again it baffles me. If God is all powerful then why is there innocent suffering? I mean the good innocent people who have awful things forced upon them. I went into this in depth in my last post.
Why can an all powerful God not intervene in this sort of suffering? What are we to learn from this?
If God does everything to the betterment of those who love him, where the **** is he for these people? Or is it that they just don't love him enough? (no antagonism really just curious)

Originally Posted by Scooby

I don't have to change a thing about my approach because it invokes so much emotion in the ME ME's, even to the Point of being and reacting as vitriol as any unsavory type, they claim religious folk, or worse to be.

Aren't you trying to convert these "ME ME's"? I'm just saying that the approach you took originally was calm enough, and I realise there was some provocation there, but wouldn't it be in the best interest of your cause, to not deride and label (as whatever) those who disagree?
My approach would be very humble if I was trying to convert anyone I think.

Case and point.

Originally Posted by Scooby

If you are not willing to give up yourself to God and Die to your flesh and its desires than you can never become the Immortal Spirit you were meant to be.

People are perhaps put off by statements like this because regardless of what divine entity the message originated from, it is now being relayed by another human, who is just as fallable as we are, and as such the adamant statements of what happens to our eternal souls can seem pretentious regardless of the human relaying the message. This is not your fault though of course. If you truly do know this than I'm happy for you, but it's not enough for me. I need to hear the message on my own, and the more I hear this type of stuff, the more I'm put off.

I think of this Oliver Cromwell quote in situations where people claim to be absolutely certain:

"I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken."

I've always considered my views on this subject to be ideas rather than beliefs. Ideas can be changed and improved upon. Beliefs seem much more set in stone.

No one here has the full story (regarding what the unearthly result of our earthly actions are), and I will always be skeptical of anyone who claims they do.