What's your religion?

[bugfartboy]

I thought he was 11. I thought so because in "Train of Thought" I think he called himself "an 11 year old with an education".

[ArtDrake]

I don't think I ever said that.

im2smart4u, I would have to say that I have yet to find a church which does not simply preach to me the wisdom of believing in their god.

I, as an atheist, have a form of self-reflection that works, minus the preaching. Whenever I stray from the moral compass, I think about how it happened, what went wrong, and how it can not happen again.

I think a wise man once said that if you only count your time as valuable when it's in short supply, you can only do great things when you're old.
And seriously, I'd rather do great things at thirteen.

[cyso]

No. I may have done some things that go against their moral compass in the evaluation of the actions they would take in the circumstances, but I have not done anything against my moral code in the last 60 days. Not perfect.

Who's to judge whether the time spent was worth it? You? I don't waste my time. Other people (irritatingly) waste my time, but I allow them to because they convince me that they have the authority to waste my time, or that the waste of time isn't, really, or that the expenditure of time at the present will grant me gain in the future. But, yeah. I haven't really wasted my time recently. I'm sorry if this isn't the case with you.

So, I can't judge whether or not the time you spent was worth it, but you can judge that the time I spend on religion isn't worth it?

And about your moral compass, I guess mine is just a little bit more strict than yours, so I guess it is very possible to live up to your moral compass without screwing up. But, two things.
First of all, you said in your previous post, Whenever I stray from the moral compass... which means that you have, in fact, strayed from you moral compass and have done some things that are wrong.
Secondly, the definition of sin isn't not following your own moral compass, it's not following God's moral rules.

[bugfartboy]

They're not moral rules. They're laws that were only put in place due to all the times we've screwed things up.

[ArtDrake]

But how can we have screwed up if there were no rules? That's a paradox. Are you referring to the Adam+Eve situation?

Because if you are, I have one thing to say: "What's wrong with eating an apple?"

[cyso]

They did something that God told them specifically not to do.

[ArtDrake]

Yeah, but did he even have a good reason?

[cyso]

Well, seeing as the result of them eating the fruit is the mess we have today...
And, of course, you might ask why God would make the fruit in the first place. To which I can only say, if God never made the tree, then we would have lived without really knowing God. And, I think that when God does something or allows something to happen, he is focusing on the end result. But, I don't know for sure.

[bugfartboy]

The tree was there to give us choice. We could choose to love him and ignore the tree, or we could eat from the tree and turn our backs to God.

[ArtDrake]

But why couldn't we eat from the tree and love Him? God makes little sense to me.

[bugfartboy]

Because you aren't trying to make sense of it. He specifically said not to eat off that one single tree amidst uncountable others. Say that you are a parent, and really love your kid. So much that you give them freedom to do anything. But give them just one rule. Don't use this sandbox. Now imagine that that kid was an adult. And then he knowingly played in the forbidden sandbox. Would your kid really love you if they could do anything they wanted as long as they didn't mess with the sandbox?

[SmartyPants]

im2smart4u, I would have to say that I have yet to find a church which does not simply preach to me the wisdom of believing in their god.

I don't doubt that the one church you went to when you where 10-years-old spent tons of time preaching about god.  They have those type of churches, but I don't care for them either.  You should try new things, because most churches now tell present day stories with moral lessons and signs of hope.  They will also throw in tales of bible that serve the same purpose.

I, as an atheist, have a form of self-reflection that works, minus the preaching. Whenever I stray from the moral compass, I think about how it happened, what went wrong, and how it can not happen again.

I don't think you current ways of doing things are working very well.  I have read some very unempathic comments from you that have been kinda appalling.

I think a wise man once said that if you only count your time as valuable when it's in short supply, you can only do great things when you're old.
And seriously, I'd rather do great things at thirteen.

What are you doing at 13 that is so great that you can't spend a couple of hours on sunday hearing moral lessons?  Video games and talking online?

[bugfartboy]

Ducky! This morning during bible study if found a group of scripture that describes you almost to the letter!!!

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

[Steelfist]

Just to clarify, you are calling him depraved, wicked, gay and foolish? And saying he deserves to die?

Not only do you break the forum rules, you debase your own teachings by using it in this context.

[bugfartboy]

I said almost. And how did that break the forum rules?