you give someone one of these stickers and throw in a pack of TestaMINTS and you are all set! top

I've never understood this strange need to advertise and promote religion. T-shirts, "chick tracts", bumper stickers, roadside signs, catchy phrases. Might as well be promoting Coke, cake frosting, or running for office.

Want to really play apostle / recruiter and ensure a heavenly reward? Fine, sell all your belongings, give the money to the poor, then follow Jesus; afterall, isn't that what the book said he said?

If you're not willing to "go all in", then shut the heck up, practice your faith, pray in private and not in public like a hypocrite(hmmm...someone famous once said that), and leave everyone the heck alone.

Ah...that felt better. Thanks.
DromedaryHump/ aka: Bart
http://atheistcamel.blogspot.com/ top

TestaMINTS...ummm yummy top

Well, Drome, you make some good points - advertising Christianity is hokey, hence my joke with the testaMINTS.

Christians who are religious, and by that I mean, those who are striving for God's love and approval by living by an invoked set of rules, love this type of stuff.

I know - I used to be like this and any self-promotion of believing in God seemed to be good and righteous - spreading the message in a sense, no matter how hokey it seemed.

But now, I understand God's love for me because I am His child and not because I am good enough, etc... and these attempts at spreading Christianity through advertising seem so grotesque to me.

Yes, going "all in" as described in Luke 14:33 is great and certainly giving sacrificially to feed the poor are all great commandments to be done, but leaving everyone else the heck alone is not. We are to love people and forgive people, and give grace to people.

So I can honestly say that I love you as a brother even though you overtly deny Jesus Christ. And I am not going to try and convince you to believe in Him because quite honestly mental consent and intellectual debate is not the goal. The Lord loves you and He is quite capable to communicate that to you and to cause you to believe, whether you want to or not - so I am okay with what you believe and am not going to try to sway you at all.

Just know you are loved and prayed for - and not so that you become a Christian - I pray that you experience the love of Christ because it is unmatched against anything this world has to offer.

Peace to you - and I pray that the Lord speak to you through dreams. top

Shane,
thanks so much for your prayers and kind thoughts. I can tell you are very sincere in that regard.

In exchange, I shall sacrifice on your behalf a goat to Mithra, or Baal, or Moloch, or Mars, or Odin, or... eh...I'll decide later.

Not so that you become a pagan, but in the hopes that your crops flourish, your wife bears many healthy children, that you are victorious in war, that you live a long and prosperous life, and that your eventual trip across the River Stix is a comfortable one.

I think we understand each other.
;)
Hump top

ps: sorry, i meant to add:
that I will include in my sacrifice a hope for you to understand and discount dreams as a combination of unconscious desires/fears, culturally and experientially induced imagry, and nerve synapses / electro-chemical responses.

And instead accept consciousness thought; the reality, singularity, and marvels of the physical world; and the laws of nature; and allow them to supplant culturally induced myth dream as the preferred method of determining life direction and expenditure of engergy. top

Drome+Shane=fun.

Drome,
You're nearing your Big Words limit. Your sincerity, though, is always much appreciated...

Shane,
I sit in humble adoration at your ability in Wii 110m hurdles...

-ap top

Thanks, Drome.

I receive some of what you offer as blessings! I really appreciate it! top

Andrew,

You beat me at the hurdles. But I was pretty good at the trampoline that night.

Hope you guys make it to the Wii tournament party. top

Now see ... I happen to *love* Christian kitsch, the cheesier the better. I'm a big fan of it, but as a ha-ha factor. I find it great fun!!

However, I do also own jewelry, shirts, and other things (including a cross tattooed on my arm) that I enjoy wearing and displaying. But I also own the same things in other things that I love -- the Bengals, places I've visited, my hometown, Harley Davidsons, and so on.

Over the top? Maybe. Fun? Definitely! top

Joyce...Uh... you have the bengals, vacation places, and harley davidsons tattooed on your body????

Lemme know when the circus comes to town. I wanna see this!
ys) & :D
Hump top

Bart,

The circus will be arriving at your doorstep in October. You can find out then. ;) top

i think the rules are that once you receive over 10 comments on a post, you must post again.

i am not sure if that is true, but i am ready for some more thoughts from andrew top

Coming... top