From the portal

 Pulpit Talk at Pulpit Rock

 I was continually amazed at the many debates I witnessed about whether God existed or not, all without anyone ever defining what each debater argued who God was that they were advocating.

I was an atheist in those pompous days. My arguments were largely based on the people I witnessed attending churches, and not on God at all. Eventually I realized my position was wallowing in a logical fallacy. The fallacy of the misplaced authority.

I incorrectly assumed the pastor and elders of my church were authorities and that God was in on it with them. This was from my idea as a child that God was in with the "other" adults. 

Today I constantly am meeting atheists who maintain their atheism on their position as an atheist solely because of church people. My view is that the devil of doubt fosters these attacks on the churches. 

This is the reason for the Pulpit Rock blog. Churches spin off atheists from the age of fourteen, only for them to be eaten alive by the time they get to college, where they become educated. (See for the sake of the children at Pulpit Rock)

From the portal

 Problems in Groups

I believe there will come a time when evidence from the unseen world will be more seen in the seen world. It seems inevitable this would happen. Nothing stays the same. Utopian political entities zero in on the concept word, same, as an example of their attempt to strengthen the group but which weakens creativity.

The difference between the political and the religious are not that dissimilar. The religious parties have not done a bangup job of teaching their members, young or old, anything much at all. Even in the time of Jesus, Jesus could suggest in the parable of the unjust servant, that the children of the light were not as smart as the children of the world.

When people gather together in groups, they seem to me to hesitate to engage each other as individuals, preferring to form even smaller cliques. Individuals enjoy agreement by in large, this is their 'never quite fatal' flaw. 

Nevertheless groups, no matter their size, never approach the creativity of the individual. Rather the creative individual can be expelled if they seem too far afield. Some churches emphasize singular differences, like baptism while never engendering an interest in any other focus that might naturally follow. This then becomes their distinction.

It is a point to remember; that Jesus ran against a church clique of His day. Reading the history of the early primitive church is less than awesome as when opposition brought martyrdoms. 

The Cross? Only a symbol?

And Off They Went

The devil is seldom seen in the barroom. Those kind folks can wait on themselves. The devil goes right to the head of the class in churches, religious schools, and especially seminaries.

For as long as my entire lifetime, professors in seminaries only confess to believing the easy part. Anything that takes too much faith they make no effort, avoiding belief in the hard parts. Since then, the polls have only kept growing this trend.

I was astounded to find as a child, that the adults only believed in God for the sake of the children. I overheard adults talking about pulpit talk. When I grew up I did not have to believe any of it. Most of the other kids decided fourteen was grown up. And off they went.

Pleasures of the Flesh wear out and many pleasures demonically turn on and consume their host. The event is often called accidental, but I think rather many were driven to it by demons for relief from exact pleasures turned too painful, like some sort of Venus fly trap.

Children played church on Pulpit Rock just like the adults on Sunday.

Testing My Faith

From the time I was deciding whether Santa Claus existed or not, the adults in church made me wonder the same about Jesus Christ. I eventually learned everything from the adults, who I concluded, were in with God. The verdict was the adults were pretending for the benefit of the children. 

This lesson of pretense was drummed into me, in the church I was born into, to the Christian high school I graduated from, to the religious college I attended where I finally decided I was an avowed atheist. After seven years I became tired of that crowd. The extent of their awareness seemed to be all rejoicing when a church burned down. 

Playing Church

From the church I was born into, to the church I was married in, to the church where they normally put on a celebration when one dies, religion was either for the "benefit of the children" or for "clicks". 

Pretending Church

It was well known, since I heard it often enough from the adults, about pulpit talk. It was just for the children, the adults put no stock in it. All this even as far as my 12th grade in high school where I was told, literally now, it was all for the benefit of the children. 

Jesus said, if you love me, you will obey my commandments. In my experience, few in church prominence even know or give any recognition of what the commandments are. Many in churches I attended, the lay people preached or taught from books they read. They never said what they themselves believed or mentioned how they came to believe in Jesus. 

If the great doubter cannot shake anyone from their belief in Jesus, he will settle for shaking their belief in the power of Jesus. 

One can only imagine how many fourteen old boys graduate from the coloring books of church and enter college. There they are told, by professors in college, and they agree, when they are told, if you are educated you do not believe in God.

One double negative equal one positive, negative?

I recall an incident, I'll never forget it either, I actually heard someone say a particular preacher they did not like, did not believe in something or the other. Here is the kicker. This was true because this preacher never said that they did not believe it. Amazing how some folks can tangle themselves up in their double negatives. Of course, I suspect not a few talk about me being that way. 

  Only grace will get us into heaven

One preacher I heard, declared only those with a soul will be in heaven. So that left out a little boy who asked if his dog will be with him in heaven. No dog? Not much of a heaven for that little boy. 

Having a soul will not get anyone in heaven. Only grace gets one in heaven if they accept it. If the little boy wants his dog in heaven, then his dog will be in heaven. What kind of a heaven is it for the little boy, without his dog? Is he to watch the lion lay down with the sheep without his dog? This is an example of doctrinaire-like nonsense coming from some pompous pulpits. 

Question about the cross

Early on, I had a question about the cross, or perhaps should say I had a problem understanding why, if Jesus went to the cross, we did too. This idea, vouched for in the Bible, begs an explanation I've never seen forth coming or even discussed anywhere in clerical circles.

We are encouraged to pick up our cross and follow Him. First we are encouraged to become a Christian for the pure joy and rewards of eternal life. Then, somewhat surprisingly to me, we hear we are going to find it is not all so easy, once we are roped in, that there will be lots of suffering involved. In fact we are going to look forward now, not so much in great joy, but picking up a cross yet. How quickly and how badly can events turn?

Searching

So well now, which is it? Sounds like a typical bait and switch to me. Looked like rather not a few had a good case of Billy Graham envy. I found myself explaining BG was a slave of Christ doing what he was told. He was surely a profitable servant but he did not save, Jesus did. The Holy Spirit convicts, not Billy Graham. My view.

Some pastors were vocally opposed to Billy stealing their congregations. From the treasure of their heart their mouth spoke.

Where are we then? Some preachers seem more interested in leading people to Christ than getting them saved. I heard one particular stock sermon delivered twice in my lifetime, so far that is. First to children in the lower grades in a Christian high school. The second time to advanced elderly in a densely populated retirement church. 

Both sermons were identical in purpose which was to just generate an extreme emotional reaction. The first detailed an ungrateful son, the other forgiveness for a wayward daughter. No mention of Jesus or anything about choosing Jesus as one's savior. 

The ungrateful son racked up nearly 100% rededications in the lower grades. The 11th & 12th grades were asked to leave the chapel for study rooms while all this transpired. 

The telescope and the telepathic

I told our supervising teacher as we waited, that is not right. She put her forefinger to her lips and said audibly, shs shs, for the sake of the children. Bang! It all finally hit me with full force. I had grown up and joined the adults! Hello hypocrisy!

The adults did not believe a word of any of it all. It was merely play church of pulpit talk at pulpit rock. In the Sunday School coloring book years I rebelled and was allowed to join the men behind the blue curtain of the choir. There I learned in my first class the stories in the Bible where not true, just the meaning was true.

Later learning about the sh sh and about to graduate from high school I was introduced into the adult world that not just Sainty Claus was for the children. I concluded it all was the entire ball of wax. Just one well booted Santy, pretty ga ga Easter-eggs and the hallow chocolate bunny. 

While this was most likely quite true, the premise that the pastor and elders (as adults) were on the inside with God Himself was my gross error by way of believing a logical fallacy, misplaced authority.

But the fallacy snuck in and harmonized with many other, more severe, events. I am convinced to this day that churches produce more fourteen year old atheists than even a devil can completely appreciate. In a church setting one's faith, if one has any, is severely strained under fire. 

Demons of the devil are not parading into the barrooms, they are marching up and down the corridors of churches. 

Pulpit Rock in the making

 As a child, in the first four grades, I went to a two room school house.  I had to descend a gravel lane used for foot traffic to reach the school on the same location as one of the earliest school houses in the city. 

Along the lane, we passed what was called, by generations of students, Pulpit Rock. This was a huge rock with what appeared to be a pulpit and choir loft. We climbed up in it and pretended to deliver sermons, and sang in the "choir." There were accounts of similar generations of students doing the same as far back as the 1700s, almost 250 years. I read accounts of those days in the old newspapers at the city library.  

As we grew up it became quite evident to me that the adults were still playing pretend church as grown ups. Hence the title of this blog. 

Later they built homes along the lane and Pulpit Rock was blown up.  

where faith enters the seen

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.  Ps 27:4

Setbacks can provide the stage to reach higher ground amid successes I did not envision at the time. So does it not say somewhere that the Lord turns evil into good? Fear not what any man can do to the body, fear what one can do to your spirit.

Fallacy of the misplaced authority tripped me up.....

 Since I was an atheist perhaps about seven years until the curtain went down on my college swing, I reflected recently, opposed  to rather belatedly, on the carte blanc moral foundation atheism offered me in the " timely" middle of my young time of life just when I knew so much with so little experience. 

I was free of the ten commandments and there was no obligation on me group-wise to live up to the guidance of any other standard except my own individual twist.  Collectively there stands a hodge podge up against the Christian outlook for me to reconsider. I wonder now how I did it. 

I did it by letting a fallacy slip by me unnoticed until I found myself under pressure which set me loose finally. Pressure can lurk in your mind for a long time before you even recognize it. It took me to my concluding college years to throw off a misjudgment I fell into when I was much younger beginning as a child. 

I thought erroneously that God was in with the adults. I even told God that if He was in with the pastor and those deacons I wanted no part of it even if He did exist. Then I was a child on my way atheism to immerge as a believer from college, where one of my better college professors told us if we were educated we would not believe in God. 

Later I was embarrassed but relieved to read that God forgave David because he was honest with Him. I grabbed ahold of that idea. I certainly was honest. Honest but dumb.

Mega churches

Church for Sale

 I've always wondered why Christians need huge, and elaborate expensive churches. The largest church with the most members in the world I last heard about was located in South Korea. Members get together in their houses, a comfortable group once a week. Every so often they hold large group gatherings. But it is in small groups, in small human sized settings, their own houses, which promote close interaction through conversational exchanges without one controlling leader standing up in front of them directing everything to his single view. This provides a close familiar learning exchanges of how to witness and increase their knowledge of Jesus Christ........ hope to elaborate later.....

Objections to churches....

I have no objections to churches so long as they do not interfere with God's work.  Brooks Atkinson

Christians are steadily shrinking ......

 I've never seen a poll yet where Christians were expanding.  My experience is that the boys yearn for the day when they can "grow up" and leave Sunday School coloring books, and boring church services as well, at 14. 

Aware children learn early that their adults say one thing in the pulpit and quite another the rest of the time. They call it Pulpit talk, meaning it is a lot of  "pretend for the kids talk." I've experienced this as late as the eleventh grade in a Christian High School.  

 

There is a confusion in some minds connecting God as a church. When a chilld I had the erroneous view, later I learned was one of the fallacies, that the pastor and deacons were in with God, and therefore I blamed God for their behavior. It was in churches where crimes were committed against Jesus  and later on many unfortunates. A situation some blame on St Paul who was himself a zealot against early Christians and later the same in favor. There are those in many churches who gather perceived power to themselves. They relate more to those they can see because the Spirit they cannot see or even conceive. The devil is not in barrooms. He sends his minions rather directly to churches where they seduce many.

Achilles heel of Christianity defeated

Problem with Jonah  believability erased simply by realizing Jonah died in the fish and his flesh restored after three days as a purcurser of Jesus in the Old and authenticated by Him in the New. Jesus preached in hell to those lost in the Flood and  Jonah prayed to God, both while dead in the flesh. Believing Jesus rose from the dead is central to believers. If you can believe it possible for Jesus then it is possible to believe the Jonah story as well

Attacking belief in Jesus....

If Jonah is unbelievable thru the intellect then one has to believe Jonah never died but rather continued alive praying inside the whale which the atheist view suggests is impossible for Jesus as well.

So Jesus did not rise from the dead because He, like Jonah did not die in the first place. This is the doubt some attempt to build. But Jonah was not said to live in the flesh inside the whale while he prayed. He died, like Jesus died, and then Jonah was spewed in flesh on the beach. Jesus was not the only one to rise from the dead, nor was He the first one. After Jonah, recall Lazarus? There were others, less prominent, as well. Big difference with Jesus was He, as a man gave Himself as the last sacrifice voluntarily, knowing everything beforehand.

If one does  not believe in Jesus  power to rise again they resemble Christians who think they believe but not in His power, his ability to rise again, in the flesh. It is as though the doubters want us to believe Jesus was the only one rise, unbelieably, from the dead into eternal life. We, this view suggests, will not. Only faith can counteract subtle opposing and erroneous arguments.

Resolving Jonah.......

I only recently resolved my  long standing problems concerning Jonah in an unexpected way. Jonah is a purcurser to Jesus, according to Jesus Himself. Yet another connection between the new and the old Testaments. If this is (obviously) true then why depart from it?   

This ironically ties in directly to my experience asking about the people drowned in the Flood. First of all if Jonah (possible) was swallowed by a whale then he eiither drowned, suffocated, or digested, probably all. Then he was after three days spewed up on the beach alive and talking after praying  inside the whale. Why not?

Did not Jesus go down into hell and preach to those lost in the flood? He, like Jonah, was dead but his Spirit was alive. The spirit once released from God never dies. It quickens the body and sometimes departs before the body is completely dead.   Getting off topic, Later...

Stumbling blocks.....coming

The weak heel of Christianity is often said by the athiest world to be the story about Jonah.  More later....

Increasing and decreasing one's faith....

I'll wager there are many chuches who send their children off to college like lambs to professors who impress upon them the fact that if one is educated then they are atheists. In church many pastors only mention the easy passages and never tackle  anything that will test ones faith.

In fact it will leave them defenseless and convince them their professors are right. I include here religious colleges and Christian high schools,  both of which I attended.  Most atheists I meet became atheists because of church experiences.

And that is what happened to me. I was an atheist seven years.

Jesus as metaphor

Jesus said that if one had enough faith they could move a mountain. God had enough faith to create the entire world, so that proves that well enough. But it seems that if a person does not have great enough faith then they drop it into the metaphor bin. Since this person believes in Jesus I would call him a Christian but if he does not believe Jesus means it then he is atheistic Christian.                          

the importance of Jesus

There used to be a preacher on tv who preached every sermon about Jesus. I only heard him preach one sermon not exclusively about Jesus first to last.

His church prospered and grew even larger. His son took over at his death and the church grew larger, the largest I understand in the entire country.

greater works than Jesus

 Just another metaphorical Jesus? So we are going to do greater works than Jesus? Sounds like another case for the metaphorical to the rescue. Or, maybe it is just not for today. Probably we just should give this one give it the silent treatment. More later...maybe. 

When I was younger and in a Christian high school, the idea that we would from time to time give our testimonies was always in the background, although I do not recall very much being done about it. They are good introductions at meetings. Something for the kids you know, adults never participated or provided any role models for it. My recollection.

But I strongly suspect there are a quite a few, many even most very likely, who are uncomfortable with this kind of event. Why? Well I suppose they are not used to such settings. The Holy Spirit is not bold enough within them? If we confess Jesus before men Jesus said he would confess us before God. Now there is an incentive to wrestle with.

body subject to an endless array of suffering

The body seems as though it could be a cocoon for the spirit within everyone. Gender has no importance here since they do not marry, nor are then given in marriage in heaven, as Jesus pointed out. This could possibly answer questions surrounding heterosexuality and homosexuality.

Since the body is subject to time, it will pass away and is indeed a source of much sadness as we age and is possibly even tormented by an endless array of suffering, ending in death. We are all destined to become like dead men out of mind.  It is commonly observed that the body is not who we are, indicating we think the inside is more who we are than the visible body itself. (See the portal this date. Sunset Stroller) 

The body and the spirit for many of us begin their final struggle, for those who've made it that far, in the eighth inning. By the ninth inning the struggle is already likely won or lost. Going into battle, a good stance to take, is to accept one's loss of the body and its' life as a foregone event. What is fooling us is time. We have plenty of time, time in the present tells us convincingly. But there is no singular time, time only exists as a comparative event. Our only goal after making a decision should be to build our faith. There are many stages and strengths of faith, from the little to great faith. One does not know how much we have until the blow falls. As my uncle said in the hospital corridor, I knew it was coming but not this soon. He was eighty. 

lies vs faith

What the world thinks is a lie, Christians regard as faith. This can only be because the world can only see what is happening now but not what is going to happen in the future. Christians in some numbers have called other Christians who believe in faith liars because they believe in things that are not as though they were. This of course is the definition of faith as given in Hebrews. The hinge word here seems to be persistence and the lack of persistence. When persistence fails then my faith fails. Fears are the opposites of faith. Most know that but apparently do not know when they declare God did not heal someone that it was God's fault and not their own lack of persistence.

are lies true?

The question is, when? If one persists then it is faith. Church teaching lacks zing, the attributes of life and action. It is obvious the conclusions one can draw from that. Meanwhile secularists chime in that believing for health issues is a lie. They do not define faith the way believers are supposed to believe. They do not persist.         Since faith is defined as believing those things that are not as though they were, humanists can argue this is a lie. In John, I think chapter 7, Jesus told His disciples He was not going up to Jerusalem for the feast. But then He went in order to deceive the synagogue because they sought to kill Him. So apparently He did not trust the twelve?
         This is the kind of thing those hostile to believers like to bounce on to hold Jesus up to ridicule. As to believers they usually ignore or deny the entire scenario ever happened like that, then they do not have to think about it or respond. My point is churches send their Sunday Scholars to college ill equipped to explain or stand up their faith or for Jesus. Then they usually graduate losing whatever meager belief they did have.  

wavering faith

The primary purpose of a church should be the same as the primary theme of Jesus Christ's ministry. This would be the spirit specifically the giver of  spirits and of existence, the Holy Spirit. It would not be, in my speculations, until Isaac Newton that anyone would mention unseen forces in the scientific arena.
           However, scientific circles were not comfortable with his efforts despite the mathematics, because they were still of the mind sight was proof. Their fear was Newton in discovering gravity, they thought, was getting too close to psychic phenomena and the occult.

Many in churches, and even the pulpit itself, do not have any idea of spirit whatsoever, relying exclusively on their concrete senses. An example of this would be a pastor telling me that if God did not heal a person, then this that and the other was the reason.

          His speculations were not only bannered under God's laws, but in closing off whether or not someone was healed, had abandoned the first rule of faith, Persistence. He was no longer believing, and in doing so had shouldered off the responsibility for healing onto God, rather than his abandoning his faith.

does a church full of people build faith?

What if you ask God to heal you and He does not do it.  I once was told this story by a pastor several years ago now. He said, if we pray for two men to be healed and He heals one but not the other then the reason was God did not heal the other because He did not want to. He either even had a lesson to teach the other one or else He wanted the other one to do some suffering for his own good, etc.

Notice that this in direct opposition to the definition of faith. First of all since faith is belief in things that are not as though they were, then who was it that quit faith altogether and decided God, God Himself, did not heal? 

I think rather that is we who decided the game was over, and the gig was up that did not believe in any healing. We forgot along the way of unbelief that persistence is the bedrock of faith. If our persistence wavers or we pull it back and turn from the plow, then we do not believe. If there is no persistence then there is no faith. 

I will believe even after death, death of the body will not deter me. Why was I not healed? I only know I am to do what I am told to do, and no explanation outside of that will weaken my faith except make it stronger. This is what I speak. 

Unfortunately people who go to church to gain faith, are often given no incentive to build their faith. Rather they are left to sit and wait until they decide no answer is coming. What else is such a decision but the end of faith? There is nothing for them to do.

If we do not get an answer and our request from God seems to go down into the grave with Lazarus what then? I don't know but I trust God anyway even though He kill me. So what if I do not have enough faith to hurl a mountain in the sea? The disciples could not heal the little boy but when they turned him of to Jesus he was healed. Why they asked could we not do it? This came out only with much prayer and fasting, Jesus said. 

So faith comes in various degrees, some with little and others with great.  It does not mean I am not saved or will not go to heaven. It means I did not have enough faith. I might suggest we ask God... ask Jesus... ask the Holy Spirit to step in and shore us up. We can never say He does not do it until our persistence turns to jelly. I say I will persist anyway and never give up my faith. 

I do not have to know everything. I am a slave dead in Christ. 

when the context consumes the point

Watch out that the context is not used to negate the point. Whenever someone makes a point you want to smooth over and loosen the strength of the argument illustrated by the point, there is one place to go, and that is the context. The context is often used to gloss over the point and redirect it somewhere else other than the point itself. The context harnesses the point to ostensibly highlight the true point that was not evident in the point, but in the context. Any intense emphasis on the context to the lack of emphasis of the point can do all this with impunity for many. However, I am taking the stand that when it comes to Jesus the point is the emphasis to begin with and that the context is designed to either strengthen the point or merely bring pure gingerbread to set off the point. Therefore I would maintain that Jesus' utterance is the point and He is the context out of which the point rises.

Christian atheism, the thorn in the church

Very few believe everything the Holy Spirit recorded in the Bible. This especially relates to faith. Many people seem to live forever in their waking concrete conscious and never seem aware of their unconscious, or their abstract spirit deep within. The former they generally think they control, but the latter is a mystery of the first order and little considered. Count how many times Jesus says over and over, ask and it shall be given. Ask anything of the Father and He will give it you, etc., on and on it seems. Jesus offers no suggestion of limits and in case one were to consider one Jesus cuts it off by saying that if anyone had enough faith they could move a mountain.


On the other hand, once and one time only, Paul, not Jesus, Paul, says God told him His grace was sufficient. Against so many this is very often the belief preferred. And so the power of Jesus, of God, is limited, stopped entirely even. If one cannot shake out entirely the belief in Christ, the next best thing is to cut off the power of Christ. While the lips are very close the heart is far from Jesus, as it is said.


On top of this, look at the last verses in John when Jesus tells Peter to mind his own business. This is when Jesus says that if He told this man (John) what has that to do with you (Peter). Is this not the same with Paul? What God tells Paul, what has that to do with us? The promises of Jesus seem so much greater to be desired, yet unbelief ignores them entirely. The churches are full of those who believe in Jesus but by limiting the power and the promises of God we are left with their unbelief that causes one to wonder if this cannot be called a Christian atheist view?

we all speak for our own benefit

If someone agrees with you there is no incentive to improve and reveal new insights. Always be ready, the Bible tells the Christian, to be able to justify why you believe the way you do. This is for our benefit more so than for the benefit of another. They can take care of their own mote, we got a beam to deal with in our own. Which is why we point this all in the first place. We try to convince someone else more so to convince ourselves.

behind the blue curtain

Starting a new year of sunday school I was handed my new set of coloring books. More phoney coloring books, ugh! Just like school, public school. I was told I could go with the men then. They met behind the drawn blue curtain that separated the choir and pulpit from the congregants. Sitting with the adults the first words I heard the pastor say was that we are studying Samson. Of course we know that this Bible story is not true, only the meaning. So what does it mean then if something is not true, only the meaning? I knew exactly! It was Donald Duck, Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, and now Samson, Jesus Christ and God Himself! Just like over the rainbow, pay no attention to the minister behind the pulpit. A story the adults tell for the  benefit of the children behind the blue curtain The first nail in the atheist's coffin was in place.

sheep to the slaughter

"If you are educated you are an atheist," my college professor. Churches send their children to college armed only with Dick and Jane coloring book Biblical stories. I believe in my heart there are more atheists born in churches than anyone ever dreamed. They generally leave around fourteen and never return. The ones who stay could be called christian atheists.

anatomy of a lie

Key word to listen for in a restless church is the word lie, as in I caught him in a lie. This is how you will know when someone is to be disincluded from the group.  Defining what a lie is and how easily and often the word weaves itself into a church discourse... it is expected several will be returning to this in coming posts.

knowing yourself is a challenge

Our sun is among these arms.

The most important thing we can do, must do if we desire survival rather than apparent oblivion, is to know what we believe and have faith in. I strongly suspect we should do this before we carry over into the future, beyond the failure of these cocoons we call our bodies, as they complete their course and pass away. Suspected reason is, we become what we believe really believe in, trust in and rely on, deep down inside the secret places of our spirit we cannot lie to ourselves about. I believe that I will be what I feed my spirit, even as I fed my body. This is my view even as time fools us all.

God and the Waiter

It is said one should tithe 10% while many give 20% to the waitress in a restaurant. That is double what God gets in that little scenario. Why not forget 10% and tithe 100%? Whatever the Holy Spirit tells one to do, try to do. So if anyone with a conflict of interest wants others to give money why shouldn't they emphasize asking the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit has our number. Meanwhile, an epitaph on a stone somewhere in a cemetery of a waiter reads, after awhile God caught his eye. And right there is 100% unless I miss my guess.

God's original plan

Everyone does the best they can. But it is murky what they are talking about when anyone constantly uses pronouns without any antecedent noun. Usually congregants confuse their church with God when they think and talk with more emotion about attendance and finances than the Holy Spirit. Since to be God means one needs nothing, as it was said eons ago that to need nothing is Divine, how is it we even think of giving anything like money and buildings to God, all for our own comfort and company? We got and get everything from God? We give him nothing but company. This was his original  plan.  And this too is spiritual.

God did it all for us...

If you go to the doctor and it is all about him, Run! If you go to God and it is all about him, Run! That god is not the John 3:16 God. That is the church god which is all about the church, the people in the church, and their social entertainments.

all God's laws are for our own benefit

All God's primary concerns are about us individually alone. Jesus asked what credit can you receive if you love those easy to love? Credit comes from loving the least easy to love. Why should we love those hardest to love? It is, what seems to be the purpose of all God's commandments, for our own benefit. We are not doing anyone else any great favor are we? After all we are not God.

we all speak about Jesus everytime

However we speak of and whoever we speak about, if we speak about the least attractive and most annoying person we ever met who deserves undying rejection because they are bad for our church, we speak about Jesus. When was that? Extensive verses, one is. Whatever you do to the least you do onto me. . . see Matt 25.

keeping my hedge strong

We view the spirit with spiritual eyes and see the works with our physical in time corruptible, even deceivingly unreliable eyes. Christians who know they cannot get into heaven by their own works, by their actions emphasize their works more than their beliefs just by spending more time talking about them. Their hearts are where their treasure is and their treasure and their time is spent in works, where there is much opportunity for socializing. If a disagreement or a misunderstanding arises while socializing they will forget the spirit of the affair and translate that spirit into works, too often walking out of the church. Everyone in a church should have the permission, the mandate, the desire of the Holy Spirit for being there. It would seem therefore, walking out of a church without the permission of the Holy Spirit for me would be a great mistake. I would be concerned the strength in the hedge around me would be gone.

Jesus demonstrates healing prayer

When we pray publicly it may be good to tell God what He already knows, but it can be only for our sake since He knows what He is before we started praying. We remind ourselves. Public prayers have a problem with self consciousness. What you say to God when others are listening in and what you say alone is an entirely different matter. Corporate prayer is not personal prayer. But when you are praying for healing publicly there is little difference. Jesus told us how to pray for healing. You have to have a "specific" desire. You have to "say", to speak, to the matter. You have to "believe" that His power can heal you. How do we know this? We watch Jesus heal someone. He asked what they wanted Him to do. He already knew that, anyone could see that, so why ask? He wanted an answer. A spoken answer. Answered prayer often seems to involve speaking. Speak to the mountain. Then He said, He pronounced it done, according to our "belief". Not His belief, ours. We have to do something in order to receive.

knowing yourself is a challenge

The most important thing we can do, must do, in life is to know what we believe and have faith in before we carry over into the future beyond the failure of these cocoons, we call our bodies, as they complete their course and pass away. Suspected reason is we become what we believe, really believe in trust in and rely on, deep down inside the secret places of our spirit. I believe that will be what I feed my spirit, even as I fed my body.

lip service and spiritual service

Some people place Jesus above church in their speech and place the church above Jesus in their actions. Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these you do to me. And He said to love one another. Further He  asked, what credit do we expect loving our friends, even the devil does that. Yet christians in churches are so often ready to shun and make uncomfortable those they feel are not good for the church.

nothing right found in anything wrong

Once one works to become an expert on what is wrong, they will find it does not have any future of any interest to the good. It is very interesting to that which is wrong, interesting to examine what is wrong, why it is wrong, and all that, but it is not interesting to what is right and good. It should be avoided, one would think, by definition. The wrong does not incease the good, it increases itself. Rather than avoiding the attempt of anything wrong, it can let a curiosity slip in for it that leads to destruction. You need to know what is right and everything about what is right and which leads to harmony with Existence. It is dangerous to flirt with negative spirits in any matter.

we forgive for our own benefit not for another's

Jesus wants us to forgive others. Is this for their benefit or is it for ours? We forgive others for our own benefit and mind our own business as to whether it does anything whatever for another. It is what is in our own eye that we are to be concerned with, not anyone with else. That is their jurisdiction and the business of the Holy Spirit, not ours. This is what Jesus told Peter in regard to the longevity of John.

more emotion at a football game than at church

The reason so many churches are not much more than social lodges is their weak abstractions generate very little, if any, emotion. Many churches do not compete well with the world's attractions. Without emotion, our abstractions are stillborn. Some churches display little emotion and others are not much more than ritualized emotion. Abstractions should normally lead to emotions, this is the normal course of events. Those who reverse the order are thrown into an arbitrary and unpredictable thinking process that makes them vulnerable to manipulations of whim and circumstance. Then there are those who are wary of emotion as a loss of control, probably because they have not done, simply put, any homework. When talk of the spirit rises, which is after all what any church should be all about, then they retreat because things are getting ghosty. This is ironically the exact case of the matter. Churches without the presence of the Holy Spirit are a contradiction in terms. If abstracting has not taken place, then one should be wary. However, without emotion there is no power to translate the abstract into the concrete. While we are in the concrete it is more difficult to control the manifested world, one would think, because abstractions are more powerful from the unseen.  

when we see eye to eye

For those who follow the commandments of Christ, if they actually love someone they do not accuse them, they excuse them. We have one accuser, the father of all accusations, the source of doubt the devil. When a christian accuses his brother we can say he is giving tongue to the devil. Devil is a term for the personfication of destruction and the lover the many mirages of oblivion and there is no love in it. If I think someone is not in harmony with the commandments of Christ I may witness to them, but for my own benefit not theirs. It is up to the Holy Spirit to convict those that He will, no one else. It is not anyone's job to straighten any person out but themselves. We see this when Jesus speaks about the speck and the beam in the eye.  

eating the spirit builds the body

The only way christians can please God is to have faith. The only way for the faithful to have or build faith is to feed their spirit faith verses in the Bible, and thereby hear the word daily. We all eat food three times a day every day for our bodies. We all feed our spirit something, christians should eat the words in the Bible at least once a day for their spirit. God has the power to heal them but if they just agree it is not good enough, we all must have enough force to believe. The spirit knows what it believes. Many christians are not too sure of what it is since they spend very little time searching their spirit out.

being out of everything

Ominious cloud at sunset
with a hint of the future.

When the agnostic makes a decision to not decide he nevertheless makes a decision not to decide. It makes no difference at this point why he made this decision, it is still a decision no matter why. This is a decision not to decide. So now we have a decision on our hands not to decide. Not making a decision is a negative position about God which means not recognizing the primary Person reflecting Existence. Most likely fact is that the word-concept God has not even been defined in his head and is in a basket of fuzzy thinking in the corner of his mind. It is like God held a party for life and this poor soul never came because he was not sure where he was, let alone where the party was. So what? Well first of all it is hard to appreciate and celebrate life fully very long if you cannot recognize or affirm it only on your own actions, similar to an existentialist who makes a box for himself he cannot get of he calls No Exit. Secondly, sitting in the back row of a humanist convention is rather like being out of everything. Lastly your spirit may not survive the cut.

sympathy is love

If we love our friends we do well but if we cannot love someone we can clearly see standing right in front of us, how can we love God who we cannot see? Even tho David sinned he was honest with God and God loved him for that. Whatever we do to anyone, even the very least desirable person, we do to God. If this is how we treat God, who is the personified Spirit of Existence, then why be surprised when we reap the harvest of our mouth? 

words are powerful onto creation

Out of the treasure of the heart the mouth speaks. If we want to know how important words are to God, and by deduction our existence, all we have to do is read Genesis where God speaks the world into existence. One must conclude He believed it since His word never returns to Him void. Jesus also speaks, and instructs us to speak. In English translations He uses the word say repeatedly. This must mean something for us if His example has any significance.

know the will of God

God operates by his own rules which are set up to serve our existence. It might be a good idea to accumulate Bible verses which reveal the will of God if it is that we really want to know His will. Matt 7:11 where Jesus speaks about giving good gifts to our children and every good gift comes down from above in James 1:17 reveals His will among countless countless others. To match up these generalities with a specific so that a bitter gift can be construed to be given by God instead is not just bad logic, it is merely self-serving unbelief, and cannot find a parallel anywhere in the Bible. Jesus said that whatever things we desire when we pray, to believe that we receive them in Mark 11:34. W. Somerset Maugham as a child went to bed believing that and because he still stuttered in the morning, he dropped the matter and became a life long unbeliever. This most sophisticated man never grew out of that view even as an adult. Persistence is the bed rock of belief. His belief was brief. Somethings are not accomplished without much prayer and fasting, according to Jesus as he answered His disciples when they asked why they could not heal the child being consumed by a demon, Matt 17:21. Sometimes it is just not yet, but it is never forever until eternity when there is no time. It is a good course to stick with Jesus whether we understand it or not, as for me I choose no other course. The alternative is to involve onself in other spirits of unknown destination.

outside the inside of the cup

The letter of the law of God is a curse and condemns us without the spirit of the law. The law was made for Man not Man for the law. The law serves us, not we the law. Jesus' entire ministry was heavily accented on making this clear....the outside of the cup is clean but inside is filthy. "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree." Galations 3:13

must be OK to die

Based on the data we all had when we were being born, the entire scenario was a bad move percentage wise. What made it critical, unbeknownst to us, was the introduction of time. We had no information to insist we leave the absolutely perfect invironment we found ourselves in, so why leave now, or at all? No information on that at the time. But if you were told you'd be hung upside down and wacked, that you would be faced with hunger and cold, then throw in income taxes and all the other routine aggravations of living, who would opt for that? But it was ok so it must be ok to die? We were propelled light years ahead just being born, so it may be the same going out as coming in. Purpose of the trials of old age may be to make it easier to accept the ending of time. Time fools us all, more especially in the end. So if we withdraw time, introduced at birth, and reverting to the absence of time, we have eternity. It was good to exist. It looks as if it will be even more exciting going forward.

spiritual slumber parties

In my youth a rite of passage in order to walk alongside our peers was, no longer going to church. If you were going to church past the age of fourteen then you were a wimp and no longer thinking for yourself since from what I could tell the church was put up by the adults to fool the children there was a Santa saint. These were not isolated incidents as it turned out, this was total and complete across the entire spectrum of young people. You had to be pretty gutsy or unnoticed to get away with explaining your involvement in church. According to a survey last year by a Christain group most young adults - do not pray, do not worship, and do not read the Bible. I suspect even adults of all age groups are indifferent even if they do go to church, as well as doing something else if not watching football. Curious fact of the survey is that many consider themselves more spiritual than religious. This means that if you dig down we find that lack of faith coincides with the decline of churches as they become more and more social outlets doing little works of the flesh rather than any big works of the spirit. Seems like an awful lot of slumbering going on.  

the God who is Existence

God is the personified Spirit of Existence. This Spirit has been called the Great Spirit, the Holy Spirit, I am that I am, as well as God. The idea of God has been hung in our hearts by God because God, personified as the Holy Spirit, animates those He creates into existence as a person. This is so we can comprehend and relate to Him.

in defense of hypocrites

Many church people like to attack the argument of those people who charge that they are hypocrites by pointing out so what, so are you. This is a straw because foremost, churched people are assuming a desire for higher standards which make their positions appear vulnerable in the extreme. Fact is most churched people are not so hypocritical as some would have us believe. Many come right out and admit they do not believe everything in the Bible is any longer true. They will openly regulate Christ's teaching to the limbo of metaphor. That is hardly hypocritical and seems more honest than the so what defense implies.

the suddeness of now

Your body is not going to want to give you up. But someday it will fearfully leave you and it is certain you, and we, will all be surprised. It is just that no one thought it would be now. No body likes change. But since it was alright after all to be born, maybe it will be alright to die.

church hoppers hopped up

Church Hopping at first flush seems a harmless bit of shopping fun. If it keeps up too long there must be a time when a bell tolls somewhere in a tower far away in the Hopper's mind. The bell that tolls for an end to this fearful game. Church hopping requires a singularly self-centered point of view. It is selfish because it is for certain the Holy Spirit is not the leader in this quest, since the Holy Spirit knows where to go and would say so if He were consulted. One would think the Holy Spirit directs where we are most needed, not where we most wanted. This is better for us where He directs because it is there where we grow. Instead the church hopper acts out a dance like a confused bee flitting around looking for honey. Self consciousness, perhaps even fear, is at the core of any definition of introversion. A Christian imbued with the boldness of the Holy Spirit is turned outward, not inward. He is not quiet and withdrawn but happy, and with a spirit within him that causes him to witness, sharing it with others. Every time a church hopping church hopper leaves a church I've asked him, Did the Holy Spirit tell you to leave? My question has always gone unanswered, so apparently not. Not an enviable position to be in.

only one thing Christians must do

There is only one thing the Christian must do to be Christian and that is to believe the commandments of Jesus. First it is only through faith that they can please God. Faith is believing and Jesus said his teachings were commandments, he never hinted that they may be just qualifying suggestions that could be limited and or redefined according to our belief abilities. He never said anything whatsoever was just for now, but would not hold up or not be required later. God is not a man that he should change. His word is the same today, yesterday and forever. If they only believe some and not something else, then they are luke warm and will be spewed out of the mouth. That is the word and the spirit of the commandments of Jesus. The law cannot be used to wiggle around anything for those who would be Christians.

defining the Christian atheist

A churched Christian atheist denies actualized meaning and power of certain Christ's sayings by regulating them to the ineffectual limbo of metaphor. The church is more real than Christ's teachings and occupies a greater space in their speech. While they may profess to believe that Christ rose from the dead among other to us miracles, they cannot stretch that belief far enough to cover what Christ says about us. For instance, if you believe, casting a mountain into the sea. The only conclusion one can draw from this is that they not only do not have faith to do that, they do not have faith to even believe Christ actually meant what he said. They then qualify, dilute, distract, or otherwise avoid the meaning of what He said. If someone does not believe in all of Christ's sayings, then I would call that person a Christian, but an Christian atheist because he is more than just an atheist, he is a luke warm Christian who Jesus said he would spew out of his mouth. This unbelief often extends to the healing stripes of Jesus and denies the power to believe what Jesus actually said about healing as real.

churches bing bang boring

Current research talks about a slight gain in church attendance in recent years coming largely from an aging population. Over all, attendance is declining in all the developed countries they say. Those who study these things attribute this to negative media coverage (and indeed they have a lot to be negative about) and boredom during church services. There you have it. Can't come up with solutions unless you are willing to discuss the problem, something religious leaders seem reluctant to even talk about casually in the corridors. 

Existence requires belief

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A God who let us prove his existence would be an idol. It is very difficult to prove quite a few things with any technical assurity, a certain amount of belief must come into play. Existence reveals itself slowly to us and as this happens we learn there is quite a bit more to things than we imagined previously. It is as if the more we learn the more ignorant we realize we are. As the universe expands so does our knowledge, and our own ignorance along with it. That is my view at the moment. Facts may be factual but nothing can be carved in stone since even stones melt in time.

not all theoretical

The man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with a theory.

sympathy as a measure of intelligence

As a child grows if they can sense sympathy for others we can say that individual is expressing a certain level of intelligence. So if anyone can experience sympathy for others, they express it for all and not selectively for themselves or in an unbalanced way. Comparing their desires and comfort against another's life for instance. So if someone cannot sympathize with new life how can they sympathize with life that is older? They have to be intelligent so they can understand, identify or enjoy someone in the abstract. The higher the level of abstraction the higher the intelligence. Therefore we can conclude abortion would appeal to those who are selfish, concrete minded, and unsymathetic to others. If this is true we have to make peace with the conclusion with these people cannot experience sympathy to the same level nor think in the abstract to the same degree. Their views will carry over into politics for the most part and the same results should be seen there as well. The individual will not appear on their radar and the group will be manipulated to achieve their dreams for us all. The ideal of many decision makers will seem to be chaotic so they bring order to the scene by a select few deciding for everyone. Once we understand this we will see the danger of being offended by them, because to take any offense from them is to render ourselves offensive by the actual taking of any offenses. Therefore we extend our sympathy to them as well. If we can be sympathetic to a stranger it is more to our credit as to our level of intelligence than just being sympathetic to our friends.                    

this question brings down the duck

Some people are atheists and others are avowed atheists. There are some, perhaps many, not willing to readily admit what they are. But we all leave tracks as we speak which tells the true story. What is the true story in this scene recalled from the past? Watching the psychology professor chalking a formula on the blackboard prompted a question, what does the zero mean? It is not a zero, it is an "O"! Oh I said. I think in logic they call this begging the question. Momentarily I asked, then what does the "O" stand for? Organism! Definitely ticked off now she was. Then I really ventured into the center of the battlefield. So? What Organism? Humanity! she exclaimed completely exasperated with me now. Remember this is a psychology class. I started catching the frustration building in the room myself and I retorted, then why don't you use the letter H? This was the question that brings down the duck. This was a very significant exchange and reflects two different views of humanity.  In one, individual humans are not mindless organisms and in the other there is a lack of respect for organisms, pick any fetus for instance.When one wants to take away a person's rights and respect you take away their humanity, their H and replace the H with an O that looks like a zer0. And that is the difference between the individual in the group and the group in the individual.  

view of humanity different

Those who believe in God no matter how you define God are more likely to have greater respect for humans that those who do not believe in God. There is a certain haughtiness, a hubris, actually a definite pompous assery that comes into play when man views himself as the center of the decision sphere for all humanity. The more he learns the more intelligent he thinks he is, but actually he is learning that there are so many more things that he did not know that before he did not know.  

ourselves understanding ourselves

If survival is one's goal, to continue to exist, the only hope is not existing with corruptible bodies decaying day in and out, but with the core-deep spirit within us. Many have not even come close to their own spirit within, but to know ourselves deep down is the most important goal we can have if you want to survive or even just excel in one's chosen career. Those that search will find themselves.

God spelled backwards...

is dog. This was seen on a sign in a trendy shop in an exclusive neighborhood. Not far away was a car with a bumper sticker that said The Devil Can Heal. First, this is the opposite of the truth, since any attempt to do the opposite of what anything is, will self destruct, because it would have to consume itself. It could not be what it was designed to be. Second, any word spelled backwards is a common characteristic of devil worshipping. The devil is the opposite of existence, which is why it is true that the devil does not actually exist, except as a phantom since he attracts all that exist into oblivion, or non-existence. Ancient writers did not, and indeed we may not best conceive spiritual forces in ourselves, unless perceived as personifications. This is why the Spirit of Existence, who the religious call today the Holy Spirit, is a person, and not a cloud of nebulous concepts.

what we believe is central to our existence

What we know is natural. What we do not know or understand is the supernatural, because we do not know it. It therefore requires faith to be believed. There are those who want the super natural to be believable but if it were believable it would be natural, not supernatural and require no belief at all. Belief is the central activity of our lives in the concrete world leading to the abstract world of the spirit. What we believe is spiritual and is the prime activity of our existence.

atheism in the church

Some believe nothing happened at all. This would be an atheism. Some others believe that it may have happened but now it does not matter anymore. This would have to be dangerously close to another variety of christian atheism which accepts God but denies His power in their lives. This is convenient for those with little faith. This is also quite convenient for the accuser of the brethren who wants to marginalize God in someone's life so that no person can benefit from that power. One author called it the Quenching of the Spirit. It is shocking how far the church can get from the teachings of Christ who is no longer for today and therefore in their eyes no longer the same today yesterday and forever as it says in the Bible. It all depends whether you live in the world of specifics or of generalities. Specifics require faith in the speaker, generalities require whatever one wants to hear. It has to be one or the other, to jump categories is a commonly known fallacy in logic.

more water in the wine

There are those who say miracles are not for today. Translated it means they believe Christ died on the cross to save their sins and by his stripes heal their bodies, but it is no longer for today. Once the crack in the door is edged open for one thing then next the hinges. Sort of those magic acts where now you see it now you don't that atheism tries to play on christians. Some call it doubt, some call it the devil.

watering down the wine

There are more atheists in many churches than in any humanist convention. The way the Bible reads and the way Christians read the Bible are often two different and very opposing things. This according to a non-churchgoer who, like many atheists, are not so opposed to a concept of God as they are to churches. As the more well known quote goes, I am not against churches so long as they do not get in the way God's work.  

abortion in ancient Carthage

Abortion short term provided a higher standard of living in Carthage compared to Rome, until it led to the dimise of their culture.

the preacher and the witness

The preacher preaches, and the teacher teaches, but the witness only gives his testimony.

pantheism reveres the environment

altho an ancient belief panthesism is very active today thinking God is in His creation. The obvious limitation of pantheism is that it only acknowledges the seen. Existence is the Spirit behind nature rather than nature itself. 

minding your own business in the Bible

when Peter heard that John was not going to see death he asked Jesus what about himself. Jesus said if I say one thing to one man, what is that to you? You have to conclude that he was telling Peter to mind his own business and not involve himself with anyone else's. There are some in the churches who have to realize that a slave of Christ does as he is told and there are no raised eyebrows or hand clapping about it.

harder for a rich man

to pass thru a needle's eye than to get into heaven because someone rich, in money or in knowledge, will have a greater opportunity for doubt and less desire for the spiritual than a poor man since he has it so good already. With no incentive to leave the concrete world of the flesh he must make a greater effort to move into the abstract world of the spirit than anyone who does not. It is easier for a child to believe than an adult to believe.

proof is relative not absolute

it must be assumed from overwhelming evidence. Doubt can be introduced from almost every quarter on almost everything. When we assume proof it is a spiritual decision in the final analysis. We can never know for absolute surety. It is a very good probability, a percentage possibility. But we are using faith in our judgment in the final conclusion. When we say all things seen came from the unseen it is meant that the unseen comes from the spirit. There are many who do not relate to anything spiritual which assumes on their part that they know much more than any of us actually do know. Davin Paralee Specific Theory of Existence

waking up the searching spirit

Everyone does exactly as they are told. The spirit within moves the spirit without. Not everyone is as keenly aware of the spiritual as others. Some denominating spirits hardly recognize the spiritual at all. Some spend all their time with the entertaining spirits and great effort and thought goes into making churches grow by attracting people with entertaining spirits but with very little revealed to the searching spirits. While the church supper is important, since it feeds the body, the social setting is not used to advantage to feed the searching spirit within. The banquet for the body is very often ample while the banquet for the spirit is meager in comparison.

gates of oblivion across the Sea of Lethe

Humanists, a recent news items says, are advertising their faith formally and publicly. The politcal implications should be obvious. Notice humanism largely exists as a counterpoint inside cultures putting it forth that they do believe in God. Sinking into oblivion on the Sea of Forgetfulness seems like the only hope humanistic atheists hold out for themselves. Also, seeing is believing, not scientific, but if they cannot prove something they disregard it in their world. I would think that if there were no future beyond their body's demise then they are released from all moral considerations. They are on a suicide mission to oblivion, like getting drunk on a mindless college night. They have no check or balance to rein in impulses. One can even lie if they wanted to, since there are no ten commandments to consider. They are their own moral compass. No wondering for them which man is worse off, the one who tells a lie, or the one who believes it.

no matter what

When praying I often find myself thanking God for His Existence, and for the existence He has given me. Praise and gratitute no matter what.

the same forever never changing

Prayer is my spirit talking. It is very private and often quite different from public prayer. Growing up I thought many public prayers were wonderful to behold and wished I could pray like that. The glittering generalities and pious platitudes flew back in forth in a beautifully soft firecracker display largely telling God what He knew already. Then there were those that started out talking to God but ended up giving a sermonette to the audience. How they were able to morph that God-like feat was enviable in the extreme. Then there were the humble pie people who overworked the word just until I felt we might as well go away and tell God to never mind. Now when I pray, privately or publicly, I try to remind God of what he said and thank him for the answer. But one thing I never do is give God an out and tell him it is ok if he changes his mind. A poor dancer, I avoid dodging lightning bolts like the dickens.  

how much time do I really have?

I do not have much time, perhaps not even that much, to get my spirit believing, believing deeper down believing, in the existence of the Holy Spirit of Existence. Time has fooled me and it is fooling us both even as I think it. There is not much time left. If I can say, with our eternal God there is no time, then time may be an illusion, time, since it only exists in a comparative state. It is seemingly is experienced in the present, reflected in the past, and hope or feared in the future. But what is it? The laws of physics, the so called immutable laws of physics, cannot help me there. From this point on I need faith.

not deciding is a decision

Many atheists decide there is no God without defining what they mean by God. They just assume it means Supreme Being, look at Christians holding God up to ridicule and expect a more moral informed response to the world around them. Notice their definition is either borrowed or lacking since they cannot prove a negative. Proving God is a contradiction in terms and shows that since we know so little compared to all that can be known, that they are ignoring our ignorance of all that we do not know. They do this all the while we are learning there is even more that we do not know than we knew before. They cannot make an informed decision even as we are forced to make a decision without all the provable facts. Atheists are often humanists who believe in themselves rather than God. If one does not believe in God then they must, by default fill the vacuum, believe in themselves to make an informed decision and substitute Their religion for a belief in God. So it seems like a rather pompous position that accounts for their attempts to substitute their own religion of disbelief for a belief in God opposed to what the Founding Fathers incorporated in our Constitution.

lifting God up lifts us up

My mother used to say God loves praise, whereupon I would ask why? Does God have a self-esteem problem? What I did not understand at the time was that God wants us to praise Him for our own benefit. When we lift Him up, we lift ourselves up. And this is true when we speak well of every individual, here too we benefit. We can even see this linked to capitalism, when we help others the marketplace rewards us according to the extent others benefit from our help. We are rewarded for success, unlike those in the current government who reward failure.  

love in a fist

There is one single reason underlying many atheists denial God exists. It rests primarily in the example the church gives them, the witness by individual church members. The over riding impression most have is that many churchgoers either have a weak witness or no witness at all. Churches themselves seldom even broach the subject. More than a few churchgoers have an outright negative witness which in turn under girds much of the atheist position. Almost all negative witness involves the lack of love as Jesus taught it. The main fall down of followers of the letter or the law only is that, lacking the spirit of the law, they lack love. So separating the view of atheists from their view of churchgoers becomes paramount. Unfortunately perhaps this does nothing for church attendance.

starving in the pulpit

Speaking to a pastor I said, if Jesus walked in the front door of many churches 70% of those inside would run out the back door. The pastor responded, I would speak like Peter, stay away from me Jesus for I am a sinner. Notice that Peter's sins were not yet taken away on the cross. Notice that the Holy Spirit had not yet come over him. Notice it was the same for that pastor. Today we were already healed on the cross, and our sins were already taken away on the cross. I've heard boasting in the pulpit and the boaster was proud of still being a sinner and said plainly, by using the if word, that being a proud unworthy, even after reading the Bible, he had no idea of what God's will was. Many in the pulpits are fat in learning and starving for a lack of understanding.

the church as a lodge for the social life

The real Pulpit Rock was a natural rock that gave the appearance of a pulpit with off to one side a place for a choir. As children we used to pretend on this rock we were delivering sermons like the adults. This rock went back plenty far but children playing church on it went back to the 1700s when the rock was first encountered. Today the rock is gone but children continue to play church as before, only now as grown ups in real churches constructed for the purpose. As originally, the main activity is to socialize, have fun and get along with each other. Spiritual matters do not all that often come to the fore.

the spirit depends on the Spirit

The Spirit leads the Body or the Body will lead the spirit into the final end for all bodies. The concrete world is a magnification of the spirit world. Older people over 70 often encounter inexplicable depression, and as someone who has dealt extensively with old age in others and is now engaged in the same struggle, one can find events overtaking one that are overwhelming. The only help we can count one is from the spirit and the Spirit of Existence which placed us in the orbits of life. Concentration on the Spirit is vital. There is no way out of the predictament of the crumbling body concrete other than the Spirit. Nothing ends in the concrete and nothing came from the concrete.

faith is everyone's final decision

Everyone is forced to operate on faith whether they understand this, like it or not, for the reason that none of us know all that there is to be known to make a final decision. All our new learning increases our knowledge, including the knowledge that we learn that there is yet much more that we did not know than we realized before. Answered questions reveal more questions so that increasing our knowledge increases our knowledge of our ignorance. Since this means we must make a decision right now without the benefit of all knowledge, then we close the gaps in our knowledge by assumptions which must be taken on faith. Even the knowledge we have now is subject to over riding new knowledge. Anyone rejecting this definition assumes by their own definition that they know all and all there is to be known. They are then locked into this mind set until the next increase in knowledge comes along to unset this.

the dark night of the soul

I lie awake, lonely as a solitary sparrow on the roof. Psalm 102:7 Davin

in the pews and in the pulpit

We know that everything comes from the unseen, from the spirit. God is a Spirit. But God defined himself. Don't take anyone's word on who God is, what he is like, whether he exists or not. Let God do that. But there are quite a few, a tremendous number, of what could be called christian atheists. They are both in the pews and in the pulpit. They want to believe but cannot, they have doubts. They cannot really believe for certain that God sent His only begotten Son. Or that the Son said when He left He would send the Holy Spirit. This Spirit is charactereized by boldness and courage. Therefore when the ancient writers said it was reported to Moses that God said He was I am that I am, this would be existence. This is in Ezekiel. But it is hard to believe. Without all the facts of the matter, one is forced to decide intellectually what to believe, and then with this decision to believe it with their full emotion.