Atheism is basically an absence of faith.
Atheism is as much a faith and belief system as Christianity. You cannot physically prove there is no God anymore than I can prove there is one.
However as a Christian Pastor once pointed out "Death at it's worst is nothing less than perfect rest" and everyone enjoys a good long night of uninterrupted sleep so why worry.
This is what hurts the most. Watching you and others be deceived by those who want people to just feel good and sleep at night. No Christian pastor who follows Jesus would ever say what that pastor said to you.....ever.
No way! I don't think or feel that. I am talking how I perceive your behaviour through your writing on this discussion board. I wouldn't wish you harmed or even unhappy. Fact is I perceive you are a very unhappy person.
I will admit I'm not the most happy person....not to say though that I'm never happy...but I'm totally ok with that. I have no problem admitting that as a Christian. In fact, Jesus and the Apostles all taught that true followers of Christ would face having a good part of their lives filled with hatred, ridicule, and mockery from others (including family), persecution, and suffering. That there teaches that true followers of Jesus won't be happy much of the time. What I do experience is a constant true joy that can only be found in being member of God's family. It transcends any feelings of unhappiness that I may have. It's an unexplainable joy that most people will never get to experience. As for you Ralph, when you see and talk with 'confessed Christians' who seem very happy and content with their lives...those who love their lives just the way they are....at best they are 'worldly Christians'...at worst they are not Christians at all. Jesus and the Apostles taught that regularly.
You seem so angry all the time.
At best I'd like to see you lighten up and perhaps be a little more humble.
You wouldn't recognize what it looks like to humble yourself before God anyway (that's not meant to be a jab btw). As for being angry, I'm not really an angry person, but some anger that is in me can be explained in what I have typed out next.
I started fishing the Fraser systems long before I became a devout Christian (early 80s)….and the fishing and opportunities were so good and so plentiful, I mistakenly built part of my identity on it. I skipped church and school even to go fishing. It was such a part of my life, that it even became an idol. The local Fraser salmon/steelhead/trout fishing part of my life in fact became my life. I loved it. I was good at it. I always caught fish. I was quite often the envy of other fishermen around me as when fishing was slower I'd still get my limit. Not trying to sound conceited, but I did well at it and it suited me. I had secret spots that still rarely see a person or 2.
Then all of a sudden fish stocks started to slowly get lower numbers and Natives were fighting to keep their quotas, etc, etc....and us sports fishermen were seeing our opportunities dwindle. It got worse and worse as time went on and here we are today and we are basically at rock bottom for opportunities on the Fraser. Hunting (which I also enjoy) is going down the same road and we are going to lose that too sooner than later.
So what that means is that these types of message boards are a constant reminder of what is lost to me. I could just leave and never check the forum again, but I can't do that. There is part of me that will never let go of what once was...or at least until I know for 100% that the body (opportunities to fish the Fraser) is so dead that it's cold and rotting. Reading Rod and others post about meetings and things like that are the worst for me because deep down I want Rod to succeed in what he and others are doing, but the fact that I was part of those meetings and such long before Rod's time (also when the salmon were much more plentiful), I also know deep down that he and others are pissing in the wind....but even with all that said...still I want him to succeed. Its a nasty emotional battle for me that I'd rather see either regain its former glory or just die once and for all...its like teasing a little kid with candy....always teasing them with the possibility of getting candy....but even the kid knows the guy with the candy will probably never share....so yeah, I have to admit that it doesn't bring out the best in me and I have to learn to control my emotions better on certain topics here, but that doesn't confirm me as an angry person, and more importantly it quite often shows the worst side of me. I have a couple of other hobbies that also have message boards that I frequent, and I'm much more relaxed at those, and open to discussion on them because they aren't being threatened to be removed from my life, or like here where this hobby (huge part of my life actually) has been basically taken away from me.
I hope you can appreciate where I'm coming from.
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Topic: Will COVID-19 Shut Down Fishing Opportunities (Read 269040 times)