quote:
Originally posted by Jankinonya:
Are you requesting I post more of your personal information here in the forums? That is up to you. I would never out anyone, ever. You ask how I knew you...you said you never posted your name, I showed you that you had. Dan, the point of my original post was this...
fair enough. no, i hadn't forgotten that i'd posted that bit, but having read that bit doesn't mean you know me.
i read once, form some other poster in here, that the times daily regards identifying yourself or others as against the rules of the forum, so i think you're correct to not go there.. but you're the one that claims to know me. and now you say ' and have for years'.
well, i still go back to just because you know my name, even if you've known it for years, doesn't mean you know me.
heh.. for that matter, if someone made it a point to follow me around this forum and read everything i've ever written here, doesn't mean they know me either.
all i'm saying is, no matter what you think, clearly you don't know me, even tho you think you do. until i'm offered proof otherwise, i laugh at your claim.
fortunatly for us both, i really don't care. so it really doesn't matter. even if we've met, you're obviously insignificant in my life at this time, so who you are and who i am doesn't make any difference.
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Because I DO know you personally, and have for years any critique you might have of me or basically anyone else on here is useless. Susan Smith is the woman who pushed her two children into a river while strapped into their car seats and watched them drown. So since I know you I take any advice or "words of wisdom" you might say about as seriously as I would her on child care.
i offer no advise. i have never made any claim to any wisdom. so i guess it's lucky for you that you don't even have to discount it.
i still don't know who susan smith is. i see know why you made the referance to her, but i don't recall any of that. i try to avoid the news as much as i can. this story is a great example of why i avoid the news.
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I thankfully have not had to have any kind of personal contact with you for some time now. I want to keep it that way. When I realized who you were it was upsetting to think I had at anytime pondered your thoughts as valid.
LOL.. so.. did this loathing for me begin on this forum because you think you realized who i am, or do you now loathe me because of something i said on here?
just curiosity...
you shouldn't think anything i said was valid. when i'm talking to people almost everything i say is nothing more that how i feel at that exact minute.
i rarely discuss my real true inner feelings with people unless i know them very very well. most of what i've written here has been seat of my pants, heat of the moment, make it up as i go. this isn't to say i've lied about anything, but if i had been in a different mood when i started a post, the post might have been completly different.
i do have a few sacred beliefs, inviolate, but except for skating around the edges a couple of times, those have never come up here...
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I am not here to convert. I have made that clear many times. I am here for others like me. I came to this forum feeling alone in my non-belief. I didn't know anyone personally that was not religious in some form or fashion. Finding others gave me support and comfort. I actually know I have been that person of at least 2 people here on the forum. So I will stay, and I will continue. I don't care if the christians ever change their minds. Makes no difference to me. What it does is give me and other atheist a means of putting our views out there for others that ARE interested to see.
well good then. if that's the case, then my original post didn't have anything to do with you after all.
if you were trying to forward the cause of atheism, then you were just wasting your time.
which was the whole point of that first post.
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I always think it is hilarious when some one post on the forums that it is "pitiful" that everyone else post on the forums....What does that say about you? Do you have a reason, or a purpose for being here?
I do.
sometimes i do. sometime i hope to get soemone to see the other side of the issue. not change their mind, just help them see the other side. what they think about it is none of my concern.
sometimes i come to see if someone has presented a new angle to something, something to give me a new way to think about things.
sometimes i come for entertainment, to chuckle at the ignorant closed mindedness of some people.
sometimes i come just to kill time. cause i just finished the new book, and i don't have anything else new to read, and there is nothing better to do. somethign to relieve the boredom.
again.. i didn't say pitiful.. i was just pointing out that if you're here to convert one side or the other, you're wasting your time.
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Oh and I really hope you hold on to your new found belief. You stated on here once in a post that your belief is all that gives your life meaning and keeps you from shooting people in the head. By all means...please keep on believing. I think we would all agree on that.
yeah.. everyone missed the point on that one.
1st - i don't have a new found belief. i realized that what i believed wasn't what i thought it was. i've come to understand my belief better, to give it better definition and clarity. a lot of the things that were conflicted in me are no longer conflicted. things make better sense. a lot of that was caused by things you said and some things puppy said and veep said. some others, but mostly you three said things and asked questions that caused me to re-evaluate a little.
2nd i never said my belief was the only thing that gave my life meaning. that's never ever been true. my wife and my children are the meaning for my life, and this as always been the case.
what i said was, if a person doesn't believe in eternal punishment or reward, why would there be a reason, in the long run, to not be horrible and run around shooting people and robbing and so on. if there is no reward, no punishment, then why would a person care about what other humans thought about him?
so they think he's scum.. so what? why does that matter? so people hate him.. he's got piles of money, huge houses, sweet cars, and the best women money can buy. why would he care what other people think?
so.. as i said.. i can't see why, if i didn't believe in an after life, what would be the reason to stop me from running around shooting people and taking what i want.
because if i'm not going to be punished for being vile, and i can be rich happy and have all the best toys, then i dont' care if people think i'm vile. why on earth would i? why would it matter? so you hate me.. so what.. i have billions of dollars. i'm going to buy every company you get a job with and fire you, just to amuse myself because you said bad things about me.
i was trying to illustrate a point... but it's been more than 15 minutes ago, so i don't really remember what the point was, exactly...
however, the acctual answer, for me, is - my wife.
she would never be able to live with someone capable of murder, theft and pillage, so even if i didn't believe in an after life, the need for my wife's love would make me conform to societal norms.