"Stephen M.H. Lawrence" wrote:

Wow. Nice people. Honest musing he I wonder how many of them
have crappy lives, and blame God for everything? I admire anyone,
Christian or not, who has wrestled and wrangled with questions of being,
faith, the world, and the meaning of life (for lack of a less-hackneyed
phrase),
but can't bear the in-your-face stridency that I see from those who blame
Christians for everything -- Just about as much as it sickens me to see
the weak sister pseudoChristians in the world. (I'll bet money you know
a few of 'em - I certainly do).

It was the actions of a number of so called Christians that kept me
out of church for 35 years. What they did and said, and the way they
treated people made me sick. I had faith, but I couldn't share it with
them because their thoughts were on money, new cars, fancy clothes and
who had the biggest church in the county. Another church contacted me
about a new sound system, then told me I could have the job if I joined
their church. The "Pastor" claimed it was a joke but I only took the
job because I needed the money. I was in dozens of churches around my
home town doing repairs and I didn't feel anything but pushy people
making outrageous demands.

I've had a number of things happen in my life that a lot of people
don't believe. When I moved to Florida I had a choice of two vehicles.
An Olds Starfire which was so small there wasn't enough room for half of
my clothes, and a 73 Chevy stepvan that had sat in my drive for four
years. A drunk driver hit my other car and rammed it into the truck,
totaling both cars. The engine was seized, someone took the front
grill, the back bumper was missing and there was a lot of rust. I told
my friends I was going to resurrect the truck and use it. A friend used
a logging chain and his souped up four wheel drive off road truck to
pull me out of my driveway and got the truck up to 25 miles an hour. I
popped the clutch and killed his engine. He started it and pulled me
around the block to leave the truck in front of my house. He shook his
head ands said, That engine will never run without a complete overhaul.
I used Break Free penetrating oil in the cylinders, prayed about it and
a half hour later the engine turned over when I tried it. I had the
truck running for $8 and spent $52 on a used gas tank. I drove the
truck a little over 5000 miles and didn't even pull the valve cover. I
made one round trip from Ohio, and a second run to Florida in a truck
people didn't believe would make the city limits.


After a little rest to recover for all the driving I started looking
for work. I walked into the business office of a local Christian TV
station and was told they had no openings, and no budget to hire anyone
at that time but let me fill out an application for broadcast engineer.
They told me several times there was no job, but they had to take the
application and keep it on file for the FCC. I got a phone call the
next afternoon from their engineer asking me if I could stop by the
studio in Orlando to talk to him. I was to be there the next day anyway
so I set an appointment. We met and talked, and i was reminded that
there was no money, but I was told they wanted to hire another engineer
in about six months and would see if I was still looking. They called
the next morning and asked if I could start the next day, that some
money had turned up. There are a lot of other things like this that
have happened, including walking way from a totaled seven month old '83
Toyota pickup when a woman hit me head on in my lane on the highway and
the cop's amazed expression when I told him I was the driver, and Yes, I
wasn't dead.

--
Former professional electron wrangler.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"Stephen M.H. Lawrence" wrote:

Wow. Nice people. Honest musing he I wonder how many of them
have crappy lives, and blame God for everything? I admire anyone,
Christian or not, who has wrestled and wrangled with questions of being,
faith, the world, and the meaning of life (for lack of a less-hackneyed
phrase),
but can't bear the in-your-face stridency that I see from those who blame
Christians for everything -- Just about as much as it sickens me to see
the weak sister pseudoChristians in the world. (I'll bet money you know
a few of 'em - I certainly do).

Yes, there are a number of atheists who are angry at God for whatever
reason (strange, since God doesn't exist) and bash everybody of faith
relentlessly. This particular atheist believes that there are good
people of every faith, and that faith per se is not bad. But when
believers want to point a gun at my head and tell me what to believe, or
want to overthrow the US Constitution and replace it with a Christian
version of Iran, I'm gonna get mad. I'm a tolerant guy, but don't touch
my rights under the First Amendment or attempt to overthrow the
Constitution.

It was the actions of a number of so called Christians that kept me
out of church for 35 years. What they did and said, and the way they
treated people made me sick. I had faith, but I couldn't share it with
them because their thoughts were on money, new cars, fancy clothes and
who had the biggest church in the county. Another church contacted me
about a new sound system, then told me I could have the job if I joined
their church. The "Pastor" claimed it was a joke but I only took the
job because I needed the money. I was in dozens of churches around my
home town doing repairs and I didn't feel anything but pushy people
making outrageous demands.

I grew up in Mormonism. Mormons are VERY obsessed with the idea that
Jesus blesses the rich, when in fact Jesus said that a rich man shall
never get into heaven. I am high functioning autistic (Asperger
Syndrome) and my social faux pas'es were ruthlessly mocked by the other
kids and even by some adults. All they wanted was oneupmanship on each
other. I quit at the age of 12 and went in search of a church, then a
religion, that lived up to its ideals. I came up empty-just endless
preaching of intolerance and dumbed down sheep robotically repeating the
hate that spewed forth from the leaders. Then I became an atheist, and
suddenly I became a prime target for every half wit conversion attempt
in existence. I've heard it all, from instant faith healing of my
problems to the ignorant blather of missionaries trying to sound loving
while thinking "raw meat" in the backs of their minds. At least the
Mormons send their missionaries out at age 19 so they don't have a
chance to get jaded-those freshly scrubbed potato brains from Idaho
really DO believe, they really ARE sincere, and they try their
damnedest. Each missionary converts, on average, one person every six
months out of a total two year assignment.


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Looks to me like you are accident prone.I have been driving since 1957
and I have never been involved in any auto accidents at all.My oldest
car is a 1914 Ford T model and my newest car is a 1986 Ford car.I sure
wouldn't ever want to ride with you!!!,,, accident prone dude!
cuhulin

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
...

"People mark it when they hit, but do not mark it when they miss." Francis
Bacon

"When someone is saved from certain death by a strange concatenation of
circumstances, they say that's a miracle. But of course if someone is killed
by a freak chain of events -- the oil spilled just there, the safety fence
broke just there -- that must also be a miracle. Just because it's not nice
doesn't mean it's not miraculous." Terry Pratchett

wrote:
America does not have any official Holidays.
cuhulin

Once again, the king of morons misspeaks.

There are 10 "Official" Federal Holidays:

1. New Years Day
2. Martin Luther King Day
3. Presidents day
4. Memorial Day
5. Independence Day
6. Labor Day
7. Columbus Day
8. Veterans Day
9. Thanksgiving
10. Christmas

Seems pretty "official" to me.

Les

Buzzygirl wrote:

Heh, reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw not long ago: "I don't have a
problem with God-- it's his fan club I can't stand!"


My favorite bumper sticker I saw on a car was: "My boss is a Jewish
carpenter!"

--
Former professional electron wrangler.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

"Les" wrote in message
ups.com...

wrote:
America does not have any official Holidays.
cuhulin

Once again, the king of morons misspeaks.

There are 10 "Official" Federal Holidays:

1. New Years Day
2. Martin Luther King Day
3. Presidents day
4. Memorial Day
5. Independence Day
6. Labor Day
7. Columbus Day
8. Veterans Day
9. Thanksgiving
10. Christmas

Seems pretty "official" to me.

Quick, how many of these do you actually get off at work??

In previous jobs, I got 2 (retail job), 6 (plus a floating holiday
to compensate for both MLK and Presidents Day), and I
now get 8 off. I've discovered that with the exception of
retail jobs, the larger the company, the more your off days
correspond with the official holidays.

--Mike L.

I have an old STANDARD book here somewhere.(yes,I bought it at a
Goodwill thrift store too,years ago.That store used to sell books on
Friday's for twenty five cents,each and every book) The book dates back
to 1929.Somewhere in that book,it says America does not have any
official Holidays.So,have things changed (concerning American Holidays)
since 1929? I only quoted a sentence in the book.
cuhulin

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:

Another church contacted me
about a new sound system, then told me I could have the job if I joined
their church.

How nice. Not! I have a friend who has one of the strongest personal
faiths I've witnessed, and one of his favorite phrases goes something
like, "Forced religion is un-Christian."

I made one round trip from Ohio, and a second run to Florida in a truck
people didn't believe would make the city limits.

I resemble that remark (seriously). Had to drive from Fort Jackson, South
Carolina (Columbia, South Carolina area) all the way to Fargo, North Dakota
to help a friend many moons ago, in a clapped-out old 1979 Chevy Chevette
Scooter (Yup, AM radio, 3 speed on the floor) that had almost 300,000 miles
on it. That was a very, um, *nervous* trip.

There are a lot of other things like this that
have happened, including walking way from a totaled seven month old '83
Toyota pickup when a woman hit me head on in my lane on the highway and
the cop's amazed expression when I told him I was the driver, and Yes, I
wasn't dead.

And some people think it's all a matter of coincidence.
Not me! (read my sig line, heh).

73,

Steve

--
Steve Lawrence
Burnsville, Minnesota

Every moment of a human life is an act of worship.

Coincidence is God's way of being anonymous.

"running dogg" wrote:

Nearly everything they believe is
in direct contradiction to what Jesus taught. I wonder if they even
bother to read those Bibles they carry all the time, or if their
Christian theological knowledge is based on sermons by their local fire
breathing TV ready preacher.

I'm going to guess the latter is true. Some folks don't see the
forest for the trees. Jesus called them "Pharisees," and pointed
out that, when you really get down to it, there are only two rules,
and they both begin with the word "love."

I've collided with stridency again and again. You're certainly entitled
to deride, mock, and scorn whomever you will. I don't necessarily
think we face a danger of theocracy, but there are times when I
wonder if there are enough reasonable people with the ability to
engage in critical thinking left to preserve freedom. There is much
cheerleading, and I think we're missing the forest, so to speak.

But I doubt that stridency wins the hearts and minds of many.

73,

Steve

--
Steve Lawrence
Burnsville, Minnesota

Every moment of a human life is an act of worship.

Coincidence is God's way of being anonymous.