Prayers for the families, loved ones and friends of those who burned to death in the Oakland Warehouse fire.

Sal wrote:One must really not have anything better to do if reduced to debating ethics and morality with the likes of Markle and Joanie.

Somewhere grass is growing and paint is drying with no audience.

Feel better?

Joanimaroni wrote:

Sal wrote:One must really not have anything better to do if reduced to debating ethics and morality with the likes of Markle and Joanie.

Somewhere grass is growing and paint is drying with no audience.

Feel better?

Ditto

Sal wrote:One must really not have anything better to do if reduced to debating ethics and morality with the likes of Markle and Joanie.

Somewhere grass is growing and paint is drying with no audience.

Thanks for nothing, Sal ol' pal. "One" can pick her discussions; you can pick yours.

For now, though, you should probably go watch the grass grow, because I'm done -- and it appears Joani and Markle have nothing more of substance to contribute. Have a good day.

RealLindaL wrote:

Sal wrote:One must really not have anything better to do if reduced to debating ethics and morality with the likes of Markle and Joanie.

Somewhere grass is growing and paint is drying with no audience.

Thanks for nothing, Sal ol' pal.   "One" can pick her discussions; you can pick yours.

For now, though, you should probably go watch the grass grow, because I'm done -- and it appears Joani and Markle have nothing more of substance to contribute.   Have a good day.

Wow....thanks RL. 

I did not debate the issue. I stated my opinion. 

For the record, I have my faith and I believe in the power of prayer. As far as debating the issue, what purpose would it serve? You will not change my faith and beliefs and if you don't have faith, what could possibly be said that would change you? 

An exercise of words....and a waste of time.

Joanimaroni wrote:

RealLindaL wrote:

Sal wrote:One must really not have anything better to do if reduced to debating ethics and morality with the likes of Markle and Joanie.

Somewhere grass is growing and paint is drying with no audience.

Thanks for nothing, Sal ol' pal.   "One" can pick her discussions; you can pick yours.

For now, though, you should probably go watch the grass grow, because I'm done -- and it appears Joani and Markle have nothing more of substance to contribute.   Have a good day.

Wow....thanks RL. 

I did not debate the issue. I stated my opinion. 

For the record, I have my faith and I believe in the power of prayer. As far as debating the issue, what purpose would it serve? You will not change my faith and beliefs and if you don't have faith, what could possibly be said that would change you? 

An exercise of words....and a waste of time.

"Thanks RL" meaning what, exactly?   Your last post was a simple two word response to Sal, not a response to me nor to anything that I'd tried to explain or opine upon.   It was thus naturally lacking in any substance as to the issue at hand, and nothing followed it from either you or Markle.   Simple fact.  I therefore presumed the discussion was dead and basically said so.

If you wish to consider that a discussion between people who see the world differently is "an exercise of words...and a waste of time," that's your privilege, of course.  Personally, I think it's too bad that you can find the time to criticize and call me pitiful, but consider open and honest discussion of differing viewpoints a waste.  

I don't expect to change your faith and in fact wouldn't want to even if I could.  I have been a believer in the past and know only too well how sad the loss of faith can be.  I do think that people can understand each other better when they talk about what separates them and why.  Sorry you don't agree.  Carry on, and I'll see you elsewhere on the forum.

My post to Sal was not my only post.

My faith and why I believe is not something that I can explain in a post. Experiences I have had and my family has had are very detailed. I have talked about it several times but it gets lost in a post.

My post to Sal was not my only post.

Obviously I know that, Joani.  But I believe I had responded to all your prior posts.  This was your last one and nothing followed it.  

My faith and why I believe is not something that I can explain in a post. Experiences I have had and my family has had are very detailed. I have talked about it several times but it gets lost in a post.

OK, thanks and goodnight.

Joanimaroni wrote:My post to Sal was not my only post.

My faith and why I believe is not something that I can explain in a post. Experiences I have had and my family has had are very detailed. I have talked about it several times but it gets lost in a post.

Ditto...again.

Markle wrote:

Joanimaroni wrote:My post to Sal was not my only post.

My faith and why I believe is not something that I can explain in a post. Experiences I have had and my family has had are very detailed. I have talked about it several times but it gets lost in a post.

Ditto...again.

Beautiful to see the true believers filled with the spirit of Our Lord and Saviour. Those 'sick puppy' comments are so uncalled for.

Markle wrote:

boards of FL wrote:

RealLindaL wrote:My "obsession,"  to use your own insulting word, Markle, is something I've spoken of before, and has nothing to do with whether or not I feel sadness and sympathy for the victims, their friends and families, which of course I do, being just as deeply human (if not likely more so) than you.   I expressed that in my post, but I also expressed, with tears, my enduring dismay at how so many believers love to say they've been "blessed" by their god, praising him/her/it for favors granted to them ranging from the big picture -- a wonderful,  happy and healthy life, or, say,survival of cancer -- to things tiny and incidental -- the winning of a football game, for instance -- while something like this -- the horrific, suffering deaths of a group of young people -- is not allowed to be blamed on that same god for allowing it to happen, for various reasons ranging from the simple "It's His will, not for us to understand," to the more convoluted questions of free will and the existence of supernatural evil in the world, take your pick or pick another tenet.

I wonder how many times in his life Markle has turned off the news - which may have included stories like the one from the original post or worse - and before he retired for the night, knelt before his bed, "...and please, god, please let me finally sell that 3/2 ranch style on Main Street.  Please, god.  Amen."  

You're one sick puppy!  I feel so sorry for you.

I'm sure people in the heaven's gate cult felt sorry for everyone else as well. Everyone else missed the intergalactic spaceship that brought humanity to utopia!

I appreciate your sympathy, but trust me, there is no need.

Telstar wrote:Those 'sick puppy' comments are so uncalled for.

Thanks, Tel.

So, to summarize as I understand it now, these particular believers do not wish to discuss their faith or why they believe, at least not on this forum.   Certainly their privilege.  By the same token, it's my privilege to discuss -- where/when I choose -- my lack of faith and why I don't believe.   And I would expect I could do so without being termed a heathen or a sick puppy.  I'm simply a fellow human being with significantly different opinions on the huge questions facing any sentient being who ever lived on this planet.  

Anyone care to guess how many people in the world have ever held views about religion (or lack of same) that differ from Joani's and/or Markle's?  The possibilities are virtually endless.

And your reason for this post........are you suggesting God killed the non-believers--those not blessed or just a dig to people that have faith?  A little condescending, I think.




Horrific beyond words.   Guess these poor young people weren't among the "blessed."  

Joanimaroni wrote:And your reason for this post........are you suggesting God killed the non-believers--those not blessed or just a dig to people that have faith?  A little condescending, I think.




Horrific beyond words.   Guess these poor young people weren't among the "blessed."  

Joanimaroni wrote:And your reason for this post........are you suggesting God killed the non-believers--those not blessed or just a dig to people that have faith?  A little condescending, I think.




Horrific beyond words.   Guess these poor young people weren't among the "blessed."  

Well, how do you reconcile the idea of a god - such as the christian god - that is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent with events like the Oakland warehouse fire?

He works in mysterious ways? Right?

boards of FL wrote:

Joanimaroni wrote:And your reason for this post........are you suggesting God killed the non-believers--those not blessed or just a dig to people that have faith?  A little condescending, I think.




Horrific beyond words.   Guess these poor young people weren't among the "blessed."  

Well, how do you reconcile the idea of a god - such as the christian god - that is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent with events like the Oakland warehouse fire?

He works in mysterious ways?  Right?

Yeah, yeah, God is great...yeah, yeah, God is good...

Joanimaroni wrote:And your reason for this post........are you suggesting God killed the non-believers--those not blessed or just a dig to people that have faith?  A little condescending, I think.

Horrific beyond words.   Guess these poor young people weren't among the "blessed."  

Of course I'm not suggesting your god killed the non-believers, Joani -- especially since, if you're paying attention, you know I seriously doubt he/she/it even exists in the first place.  As for the second part of your question, I tried my very best to explain all that, and your post here makes me think you didn't bother to read anything I wrote.

But OK, I will add this in case I wasn't perfectly clear -- I was not issuing a "dig" to people who have faith.   I was expressing a personal irritation (and concomitant enduring question) of mine, occasioned by people going around saying how "blessed" they are, especially when the "blessings" are such relatively small things such as a football championship win or even a nice house to live in.  Saying one is "blessed" infers a deity was responsible.  So how come that deity blessed the football players or the nice house dwellers, I wonder, and apparently didn't bless the young people who had to die so horribly in Oakland??

If you can understand this, to my mind it makes those who claim to be blessed seem almost prideful for thinking they've been singled out for blessing, while soooo many others, including the dead artists in Oakland and the countless young children who are abducted, raped and murdered, are not so "blessed."

It's not condescension on my part, I don't believe,  but rather an expression of something that makes no logical sense to me and in fact seems wrong.   If you can't see that, I'm sorry.  Best I can do.

Obviously you won't agree with me, and I'm not asking you to. I'm just asking if you can understand where I'm coming from. So did this help in that regard, or not?

Curious thread.

The party of Democrats and Progressives trumpet that THEY are the party of diversity and acceptance of ALL PEOPLE.

Could there be a bigger lie? Well, aside from those told by Lame Duck President Barack Hussein Obama.

I post a sympathetic thread expressing my sorrow for all those lost in the horrendous fire and I get slammed by my faith. How is that being diverse in their thoughts and actions?

Democrats and Progressives...accepting, diverse and open minded...? Yeah, I don't think so!

Markle wrote:Curious thread.

The party of Democrats and Progressives trumpet that THEY are the party of diversity and acceptance of ALL PEOPLE.

Could there be a bigger lie?  Well, aside from those told by Lame Duck President Barack Hussein Obama.  

I post a sympathetic thread expressing my sorrow for all those lost in the horrendous fire and I get slammed by my faith.  How is that being diverse in their thoughts and actions?

Democrats and Progressives...accepting, diverse and open minded...?  Yeah, I don't think so!

Psalm 144 NIV
/ Bible Versions / New International VersionToggle Dropdown / Psalms / Psalm 144

Of David.
1 Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. 2 He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. 3 LORD, what are human beings that you care for them, mere mortals that you think of them? 4 They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow. 5 Part your heavens, LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, so that they smoke. 6 Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy; shoot your arrows and rout them. 7 Reach down your hand from on high; deliver me and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hands of foreigners 8 whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful. 9 I will sing a new song to you, my God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you, 10 to the One who gives victory to kings, who delivers his servant David. From the deadly sword 11 deliver me; rescue me from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful. 12 Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace. 13 Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision. Our sheep will increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields; 14 our oxen will draw heavy loads.There will be no breaching of walls, no going into captivity, no cry of distress in our streets. 15 Blessed is the people of whom this is true; blessed is the people whose God is the LORD.

Markle wrote:Curious thread.

The party of Democrats and Progressives trumpet that THEY are the party of diversity and acceptance of ALL PEOPLE.

Could there be a bigger lie?  Well, aside from those told by Lame Duck President Barack Hussein Obama.  

I post a sympathetic thread expressing my sorrow for all those lost in the horrendous fire and I get slammed by my faith.  How is that being diverse in their thoughts and actions?

Democrats and Progressives...accepting, diverse and open minded...?  Yeah, I don't think so!

Please explain who was "slamming" you and exactly how you were slammed.

RealLindaL wrote:

Markle wrote:Curious thread.

The party of Democrats and Progressives trumpet that THEY are the party of diversity and acceptance of ALL PEOPLE.

Could there be a bigger lie?  Well, aside from those told by Lame Duck President Barack Hussein Obama.  

I post a sympathetic thread expressing my sorrow for all those lost in the horrendous fire and I get slammed by my faith.  How is that being diverse in their thoughts and actions?

Democrats and Progressives...accepting, diverse and open minded...?  Yeah, I don't think so!

Please explain who was "slamming" you and exactly how you were slammed.  

Markle wept.