He's Coming Soon!

Hello, my name is Mark, I'm from Alberta, Canada. I just wanted to ask for your home address or a box number where I can send the money you freely asked me for. Can I ask one thing, What are you going to do when the anti-christ arrives on the seen and the false prophet says to the world to make an image of the beast and worship it, and the image could kill those who do not worship it. I really believe you know all what the bible has to say so you must know the endtimes stuff. You consider yourselves to be an athiest and athiests don't believe in any god, so you will never worship the beast then, right? So if the beast says for example 'worship me and live, or die for the name, and word of Jesus" (Revelation 20:4). What will an athiest do at that time (there is only two choices). He will save his butt because he "received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:" 2 Thess.2:10,11. That's the only way an athiest could go in that situation unless they repent now before the end, and do receive the love of the truth, because as soon as the end is come they can be sured that they will believe "a lie" because they "DID NOT RECIEVE THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH". I have an older brother who doesn't like to talk about the whole issue (God, Jesus, Christianity). I feel the same way towards you as I feel towards my brother, I just don't want any body to go to hell. I ask God sometimes if He could leave me behind so I could help my brother through the end times and show him everything that's happening and will happen. One day I believe my prayer will be answered and I will look for you too. I love you and all who just can't begin to believe who God really is. I really hope to hear from you. Goodnite and may you look towards God again. Your friend Mark.

hescomingsoon@praize.com

I love jesus

I can't believe that there are people out there who would set up a page such as this... and it surprises me that the individuals who write here can say what they do. The one thing that surprises me is that you all knew God at a personal level at one point and know what he can do for you, and yet you can send in emails that hit him in the face and talk about him in such a manner... as if he doesn't mean anything. Shame on all of you for what you are doing to God. You all know that what you are doing is a sin... I'm sorry I won't be seeing you in Heaven.

yours truly ,
Catherine

God bless you all ...and please think about what you are doing to yourself.

Between the lines

I had never been a faithful churchgoer or a really religious person, but I had never seriously doubted the existence of God until I was tasked to write a paper on the history of the Church.

I was flabbergasted by what I found.

A few of the more troubling revelations are listed below:

Before the council of Nicae in the fourth century Christ was deemed a great man and an important prophet, but a man nonetheless. At the council of Nicae It was voted on(!) that the church should decry Jesus as the son of god to cement the church's position and to make the leader of the church unchallengeable. The church then proceded to destroy any religious opposition it could get its grimy little hands on. The lesson here is that the church was created by mere men with a political agenda. These men usurped the power of "god" for their own gain.

At the same council of Nicae the books of the bible were collected and assembled. Only a few dozen of the hundreds of gospels made it into the tome that we all know and laugh at. Roman Emperor Constantine,the leader of the council, and his cronies had to rewrite history to fit their political agenda. Therefore,The church preaches only fables they they made up themselves. And they tell us what is right and wrong.

I could spend the term of my natural life documenting and catologing the evils and lies spread by the church, and maybe I will. However, I will move on after listing some of the more obvious ones. Hopefully this might spawn some independent research.

The Inquisition
The Crusades
The sale of Ireland
The sex scandal

I move on to say that religion is the most destructive and divisive force known to the history of man. Without even looking into a history book, any one can see that 99% of today's violence is directly caused by religion. On the news I see Muslims killing Jews who int turn blow up muslims who incinerate christians. Buddhist monks light themselves on fire...

Wouldn't we be better off without religion?

a friend

I do believe in God

Hi, Was perusing your website, and for some reason, felt compelled to write you.

As a professional with a post-graduate education, I can appreciate your admittedly intelligent discussions in many of the "controversial" areas that so often become arguments about religion.

You seem to have a reasonable understanding of logic and the correct use of the word "fallacy". I too believe it is important to not throw our brains out the window. Scientific method is not "evil". My entire career is based on evidence and science, because I make diagnoses under the microscope every day.

In all my training and understanding of the human body, cancer, and science in general, though- I have personally come to the conclusion that there is much that we do not understand, and will never understand.

I do believe in God.

Bear with me... I understand the "burden of proof" game. I certainly cannot prove my beliefs to you, or anyone. However, the arguments your website relies upon so heavily-"supposed Christians do/have done bad things", "Christians are hypocritical", "the Bible contradicts itself" are certainly not reasons that God and Christ don't exist.

Decrees and recommendations made by certain religious denominations' leaders in the name of religion are just that-- a human's take on the way things should be done. You may or may not agree with them, and I may not either-- heck- even God may not agree--but that also does not make the concept of God and his son less valid.

I am really curious- you said you were a devout Christian for many years--most people question life and God at some point or another- why did you reject him so vehemently, and with such venom that you have put so much time and energy into this website?

Feel free to email me; I am open to civil conversation.

Brooks B. NHfan@aol.com

Illegal Christians

Are there any good cities in the USA to live in where either churches are illegal or where people have common sense?

Please tell me I'm desparate. I feel like the guy who killed a number of people in a Ft. Worth baptist church on a shooting spree where he walked in one Sunday morning running through the church shooting and saying, "how can any of you believe this crap!"

I really need to get out of here because at least 90% of the people vote Republican and there are churches almost everywhere. I feel like the spaces are closing in on me. Help me please!

angeliccrusader1@yahoo.com



SIMONE- pop culture commentary, or Religious Allegory?

sent in by Deamond

I rented the Movie "Simone", partly because of my personal interest in CGI (I have Poser 4, 5, 3D Studio Max 5, and some Freeware called Anim8or, but that's a whole other story.)

The movie is about a director who, frustrated with an ultra-demanding lead actress (Winona Reider) begins to use some CGI software called "Simulation One" to create an artificial actress named "Simone".

Reider is replaced in the movie entirely because of a disagreement about a trailer. She wanted the biggest trailer on the lot, and he got a trailer so long they don't even make 'em that long anymore, but the trailer right next to hers happened to be TALLER. He desperately tried to claim the tires were over inflated, but she stormed out anyway, and her lawyer informed him that if even a single frame of Reider's footage is used, she'll sue.

I won't bother explaining how he got the software, but he used it to finish the movie, as well as replace Reider with "Simone".

To his own surprise, the movie is a hit, and everyone is in love with Simone, who everyone believes to be a real person. She's the perfect director's actress; she's pretty, she's obedient to the point of not blinking until she's told, she's completely undemanding, she's got no problem with nudity, she'll do her own stunts, HE'S her make-up artist, and best of all, people believe in her. They admire her, they're obsessed with her, etc. So basically he's go a million dollar actress who doesn't cost a cent!

(Of course, in real life, for CGI characters, like Gollum, you'd still need an Animator, a voice actor, a stand-in for lighting, motion references, etc. So you still wouldn't be saving too much money. But hey! It's a movie.)

on the surface, it's a movie about pop culture, technology, and fame, and all that stuff. But I think there's a more interesting way to look at it;

Towards the end of the movie, the director tried more than once to destroy Simone's image. At one point, making a whole movie called "I Am Pig" (even crediting it as being directed by Simone) in which Simone, wearing a wedding dress, spends the whole movie crawling in mud and eating from a pig though, surrounded by real pigs. Then he pretended she died, but he himself became a suspect for murder.

After the Director's ex-wife and Daughter begin investigating themselves, the ex-wife points out that there's no proof that she doesn't exist, and his daughter points out that she's no proof that she does.

I trust you've spotted the Christian allegory there.

The Director goes to great lengths to explain away the lack of proof that she exists, or create proof that she does. A lot of it contradicts itself (But then, he doesn't necessarily tell the same person more than one excuse.)

At one point, he claims that she's acrophobic, and fears contact with people, At another point, when his ex wife asks why Simone wasn't at a party which she attended, he claimed that Simone WAS there, and shows her an altered photograph taken at the party, with Simone standing behind her.

He also goes to a hotel, planting evidence that a woman was staying there (Which is odd, because in any other country in the world, investigation of such evidence would be illegal. We're talking invasion of privacy, as well as burglary.) A tabloid investigator pays someone to let him in(!!) and then takes (!!) items from the room for further investigation, including lipstick smeared glasses and lingerie. Result; some of the director's fingerprints, A lot of the investigators fingerprints (Lets just say, he enjoyed his visit) but none of Simone's fingerprints.

In spite of this evidence, no one comes to the conclusion that the lingerie in question was never touched by a woman, or that the woman in question does not exist.

Simone did a live TV interview, supposedly from the set of her next movie, a place in the desert.

The investigator recognized the spot, and the tree in the background, and immediately drove out to the spot.

He's not surpised that she'd gone, but what does surprised him is that, in the screenshot from the interview, there was no hotel in front of the mountain in the background, but there is one when he got there. He correctly concluded that he actually used an old library photo and used a computer to place her there, but still didn't figure out that she doesn't exist.

The investigator actually ended up with his own explanation; the Director's keeping Simone locked in a cage as a personal sex slave. Close, but no cigar.

In a deleted scene on the DVD, the investigator brought the director to a woman who he claims is the mother of Simone. She's shown a picture of Simone, and immediately says, "My Baby! My Baby!" He then tests a theory, and indeed, she also said "my Baby" when he showed her his own driver's license. How did the Investigators react to this? He tried to shoo his hand away.

People in the Movie are often claiming to know Simone's will; an actor who was Simone's co-star (but who actually worked with Reider) wanted to work with Simone in her second movie, and claimed she herself told him it'd be a good idea.

Another actor, at a red carpet thing, claimed to be dating Simone, but immediately went into the "why won't you people leave us alone?' act, even punching a paparatzi.

No one has ever seen a god, no one has any proof of the existence of gods, there's no bones, footprints, fingerprints, photographs, recordings, indeed, nothing whatsoever that proves any god exists. And what "Evidence" is there?

Well, there's an old storybook written by humans, there's pieces of moldy bread that almost look like a guy with a beard, there the "feeling" religious fanatics get when they go into epileptic fits and start speaking in gibberish, there's "Faith", here's shapes in clouds,etc.

I once saw, on TV, a glass church (probably actually made of plastic) which had a couple of bens in some of the windows which "The Faithful" were claiming was a image of the Virgin Mary. I thought it looked more like Buddha, although it looked even more like two potatoes. Surely, even the stupidest Christians must have heard of worship tests.

In the crusades, when the Muslims first invaded Bethlehem, the Pope, who had never actually seen Jehovah, GUESSED that God wouldn't be happy, GUESSED that he'd want him to do something about it, and TOLD everyone what he GUESSED God wanted, and they EXCEPTED it as TRUTH! People were fighting and dying because of what some guy probably thought a fictional character may or may not have wanted.

There are girls apparently who admire Mary, and with to be a virgin like her. This is very similar to the scene where Winina comes crawling back to the director with a whole new attitude, slicked-back hair (to make her hair look more artificial, like Simones) and tries to impress him with a more Simone-like acting style. He is impressed, but makes the mistake of mentioning a little dimple in her face that he'd like to incorporate into Simone, which she finds creepy, because she thought he was talking about plastic surgery.

Some scholars believe that 'Virgin Birth" is simply a metaphor used at the time, simply meaning Jesus was born closer to the marriage than he was supposed to be, suggesting he was conceived at a time at which she was SUPPOSED to still be a virgin. Plus, as we all know, Joseph himself doubted her fidelity.

When he's arrested for murder, and claims Simone's a CGI figure,the Authorities string up hundreds of photos, magazine covers etc, as "Evidence" that she existed. I myself have often altered images, and I can usually tell when an image has been altered at first glance. These detectives are not like me.

Ten questions presented to Christians

I recently read the Ten questions presented to Christians. I thought I'd give a shot at answering them if you're actually interested in hearing. I warn that it will be a long explanation, however, you did ask the questions.

1. Where is the justice in punishing us for Adam's sin? If the bible itself says that children will not be punished for the parent's sins (Deut. 24:16) That particular reference in Dueteronomy was pertaining to to law codes of the ancient near east, in some cases a son was permitted to be put to death in place of his father (e.g. Code of Hammurabi, Law 230), though again, no court records indicate that this was ever enforced. MOSES forbade such practices: each is to die for his own sin... I suppose I'll start by answering another question first. It's actually the second question asked. How could Adam and Eve ever have sinned if God actually created them perfect, even if they did have free will? If God created them imperfect, how could a perfect omnipotent being create anything imperfect?
Where in the bible does it say that when God created Adam and Eve that they were perfect? It says that He created man in his image but it never says that they are perfect.The setting was perfect but not man. Most of society believes that we are born innocent in nature and are corrupted by our environments thus causing us to sin. But if we are born completley innocent and perfect then how does sin develop in the first place? Where does sin come from? It comes from an active choice going against a command, hence disobedience. As with all God's subsequent commandements, there were positive blessings and negative prohibitions. All earthly goods and pleasures were at man's disposal, except this one tree which was FORBIDDEN. The Hebrew wording in verses 16-17 of Genesis chapter 2 states the command in strong terms: man culd eat freely from the other fruit, but if he ate from the forbidden tree he would surely DIE. So obviosly they were given a pretty blunt consequence for their disobedience should they decide. They had full warning of their reprocution. Why should we be held responsible for their actions you ask? The real question is do you think you would have made a better choice? We could never have been more perfectly represented than in the Garden of Eden becuase your representative was chosen infallibly by a perfectly holy, perfectly just, omniscent God. The punishment of Adam's sin is death. And obviously theres bitterness with you on that part. The question why do I have to be punished for someone elses wrong doing, to me, eludes to the fact that you don't want to die, or maybe you fear death? Because If you have turned your back on Christ, which by what I have read you have, I would be pretty afraid of dying too. It's hard to believe so-called ex Christians who's very faith relied on believeing that through one man the world can be saved but not being able to believe through one man we could be born into sin. I understand now why your faith could never have held up.

3. Why pray? If it changes God's mind then he is not sovereign. If it does not change God's mind then it is superflous. It is a sovereign God who not only invites us but commands us to pray. Prayer is a duty, and as we perform that duty, one thing for sure is going to be changed, and that is us.To live a life of prayer is to live a life of obedience to God. There's a differnce between asking for things and expressing a gratitude towards God which is the first step to things changing. But can our requests change God's sovereign plan? Of course not. When God sovereignly declares that he is going to do something, all the prayers in the world couldn't change God's mind. But God not only ordains ends, he also ordains means to those ends, and part of the process he uses to bring his sovereign will to pass are the prayers of his people. Also if you have any type of relationship with any person, be it God or you friends, family etc. Is it not logical to have some kind of correspondance with these people? How can I have a relationship with someone without ever communicating with them? And so we are to pray.

4. Why would a loving, omnipotent, benevolent God cause people to believe falsehoods so that he can condemn them? (2 Thes 2:11-12) It's obvious in this passage that these specific people being talked about here are people that have turned their backs on God. It says " They REFUSED to love the truth and so be saved." I wouldn't call it unloving. I would call this just. Where in the bible does God not give reprocussions for sin? And this sounds odd to you.

5.Why does Jesus quote a NON-EXISTENT verse of the Old testament scripture (John 7:38)? Is it possible that he considered other non-canonical writings also to be in God's word? The passage referred to is " Whoever believes in me, as the scriptures have said, streams of living water will flow from within him." The "non-existent" verse Jesus referred to as actually does exist in Zechariah 14:6-10.

6. Which " Ten Commandments" are the Ten Commandments-the ones listed in Exodus 20 and Deutoronomy 5, or the ones listed at Exodus 34? Only the list at Exodus 34 is explicitly called the "Ten Commandments" in the biblical text. These commandents reffered to are simply known as the renewal of the covenant by God. After the Ten Commandments the Lord gave moses new stone tablets of the Decalogue. The second tablets of stone were tangible tokens of God's unique relationship with Israel along with the Ten Commandments ( thus, two separate kinds of tablets both bearing certain commandments).

7. Why does the writer of Matthew ( the writer of Matthew, by the way, is Matthew) quote a non-existent Olt Testament prohecy (Matthew 2:23)? Well, again, he doesn't. Matthew is referring to the prophesy in Judges 13:5.

8. Why does the writer of Matthew attribute a quote about the potter's field to Jeramiah, when Jeramiah has no such passage and the closest one in the Old Testament is Zechariah ( Matthew 27:9-10, Zechariah 11:12)? The quote is attributed to Jeramiah 19:1-13 as well as chapter 32:6-9. Jeramiah has a plain outline of potter's field and thats what Matthew was referring to. It was also referred to in Zechariah.

9. Why doesn't prayer work, when the bible promises that it will? ( John 14:14, for example) Well, thats really a question to take up with God. I believe prayer does work from personal experience. It could have something to do with what you're asking for and it's intent. If it's for personal gain or for God's will. There are big differences between the two. Or if it's for healing a family member from sickness or whatever it may be it may simply not be God's will. That's more of a personal thing then a yes or no question.

10. Why aren't more Christians doing greater works than Jesus did, since he himself said they would (John 14:12)? Why aren't they raising the dead, turning water into wine, healing the sick, feeding multitudes from a very small amount of food, casting out demons, walking on water? Throughout the New Testament Jesus' deciples were able to and did perform these feats. However, Jesus meant for them to be able to reach more people than he was able to in his lifetime. He asked to spread the good news throughout the world. Spreading good news doesn't mean I have to be able to turn water into wine and walk on water. And by the way, he didn't say they would be able to do all of those things. He wanted the word to get out to the multitude.

I hope that clears some stuff up. You may not agree with anything I wrote. Either way, if you have any questions let me know. God Bless.

Erin
AlphaShmalpha12@cs.com




Hunters in the woods

Hello, my name is Colin Benson. I wrote the following story this evening after reading a slightly similar story from a joke book. I hope you like it, you may post this story on your website if you wish

Two deer hunters get lost in the woods only a mile apart during a cool autumn day. One of them is an atheist, the other is a christian. Both have some experience with the outdoors. Both have survival gear, maps, food and so forth in their packs and both live alone in cabins with no contact with the outside world, so there is little hope of and type of rescue.

The atheist says to himself "OK, I'm lost. There is no need for me to panic. I will use my map, compass and outdoor experience to find my way home again." He starts off towards the north where he thinks Red lake is located.

The Christian says to himself "OK, I'm lost. My only hope is to pray for God's help." He gets down on his knees and begins praying.

An hour later, the atheist arrives at a lake. But it is not the lake he thought he was heading towards. "This lake is larger than Red lake and there are two islands in the middle." he thinks so he skirts the shoreline for a while to get an idea of what the shape of the lake might be.

The christian however is still praying "Please God, let me get out of these woods alive, please! God allmighty!"

Another hour later the atheist hunter has dertimined the lake is in a wide oval shape. So he checks his map. "A wide oval shaped lake with two islands in the middle..." he thinks as he looks at the map. "Ah! here it is." he points at a place on the map. "I must be at bear lake. That's only a 1/3 of a mile to a railway to the west." So he starts off towards the west already feeling more at ease he begins whistiling.

The christian however has not moved and continues praying. "If you help me get out of these woods alive God, I will go to church everyday and I will help the poor!"

A short walk later the atheist hunter has arrived at the railway just as he predicted. "Excellent! I am now no longer lost. All I have to do is follow this railway south to highway 23. I shall be home in less than three hours."

The christian hunter has not moved an inch and amazingly is still praying and begining to panic. "I love you God, but I don't want to leave this Earth just yet. Please I'm begging you help me! I don't want to die just yet!"

In only 45 minutes, the atheist hunter has arrived at the highway where he hitches a ride with an old farmer back to his cabin. It begins to snow and winds begin picking up. The atheist hunter says to the farmer. "Looks like a blizzard is comming. Good thing I found my out of those woods." The farmer only replies "Yep."

That same moment, the christian hunter realizes a blizzard is comming as well and begins hysterically praying "God please, please, please I need your help!! I am going to die out here if you don't save me!!"

A short drive later the atheist hunter is at the front porch of his cabin. He thanks the farmer for the ride, enters his cabin and lights his stove. He pulls a brew out of the fridge, sips it and reclines on his favourite chair.

The christian hunter however, is not at all relaxed. His knees are beging to ache from from being on hard rock for hours. his hands and feet are getting numb from the cold and he is in a state of panic. Still he stubbronly continues to pray thinking he is simply not praying hard enough for God's help.

Two hours later the blizzard is raging full force. Snow is falling in heaps and winds are howling. The atheist hunter crawls into bed and extinuigshes the lights. "Good night." he says to himself.

The very same moment the christian hunter dies of hypothermia. Not having made even a single step ever since he realized he was lost.

Moral of the story: Prayer does not solve serious real-life problems. You can only ultimately rely on yourself. If you insist in beliving in God, don't rely on his help with everything in your life.

Colin Benson

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