"Harold and Susan Vordos" wrote in message
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The point I've tried to stress, apparently with little success, is that
you seem to think that the misfortune of others is a blessing given to you
by God. Said another way, it's as if God sanctioned the disaster, such
as it is, so you could make the additional pay. I have a lot of trouble
with that, Roger, just as I have trouble with hardcore Muslims thinking
that anyone that doesn't agree with their philosophy should die.
Individuals, for some strange reason, seem able to place themselves above
all others, as if they alone were created by this God you speak of,
rendering their fellow man and other life forms expendable. People
with that mindset screw over their fellow man routinely------something I
witnessed first hand in my 56 years of living in the heart of the mormons,
Salt Lake City, Utah. They do not have a corner on abuse-----any regional
majority religion tends to behave in a like manor. Virtually all have
forgotten the message of Christ----making them far less Christ-like as
their dogmatic approach to their religion deepens.

Roger, I think, from what you're saying, that you're a decent guy that is
so blinded by his faith that he can't see things clearly. You must get
a grip, and you can do that by beginning to pray in private, and not
impose your unreasonable beliefs (superstitions) on others. If you
expect me, and others, to respect your right to be religious, you must
respect our rights to not be. You would go a long ways towards doing
that by not waving your God concept in our faces, as if you are the sole
authority, and know exactly of what you speak.

I'm not wanting to push my religion down anyones throats. I've met them
kind of people and I don't like them. All I want to do is let people that
need it know the results that worked for me and thousands of others. The
reason for Jesus is because I'm such a hopeless case that I can't be moral
enough to deserve to go to heaven or even get my prayers heard by God. In
my hopelessness Jesus is my only hope, he paid the price for all that choose
that narrow way. I'm really pathetic, believe me, all my friends would
agree. But don't forget, I'm not a good Christian, I don't go to church and
I have sin in my life. There has been times in my life I have turned away
from my sin and looked straight to God, that is the times I received
miracles. I doubt about everything I can but when I have a problem for
years and years, and get healed at the same time I am drawing close to God,
and a problem I have had for years gets healed at the very moment that
coincides with my repentance and prayer. All I know is that it worked for
me on numerous occasions.

You may have studied the Bible all your life, and may have dedicated
yourself totally to your religion, but doing so does not make it true, nor
right. It may or may not be, but that's not the point. You have chosen
to allow your beliefs to control your very being----and you're letting
that control spill over to others in an attempt to show them the way.
It doesn't work for everyone, Roger. One of my most cherished friends,
a gentleman more than 25 years my senior, was an avowed atheist. He was
one of the kindest and considerate people I have ever known. From that
you can conclude that one need not believe in a creator to be a decent
individual. If you choose to do so, do so privately, and allow others
the privilege to have their beliefs. After all, yours are just as absurd
to them as theirs are to you.

As far as understanding the Bible I may rate myself at a 2nd to 3rd grade
education but the Athiests I hear putting down the Bible I can tell they
don't know what they are talking about. It would be kind of like someone
that doesn't know squat about machining saying Machinery's Handbook was crap
because it says to cut metal at 120 SFM and the lathe and mill doesn't even
have a SFM setting. The Athiests talking about the Bible are just as
ignorant of it as the Machinery's Handbook example I used above. The SFM
settings don't make sense unless you know how to calculate the RPM from the
SFM and diameter of the stock. Likewise many things in the Bible doesn't
make sense unless you understand other parts of the Bible.

I honestly believe that I can carry on a conversation with an individual
without knowing his religious preferences or beliefs. I really don't
want to know them, and I don't want them thrown in my face. The moment
they make them known, I realize I should be talking with others instead.

Harold