Posted by Carl D (208.4.16.110) on March 19, 2000 at 12:20:53:
In Reply to: Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, et cetera. posted by drummer on March 18, 2000 at 08:46:56:
That is one of my favorite quotes..."If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice!!!"
The fact of the matter is though, I made a conscious choice back in '94 to disprove God, Christ and Christianity - both to solve the mystery once and for all, and to give myself reason to end this miserable existence without fear of possible judgement in an afterlife.
I found what most people who have set out for this same task have found. Yes, God is real - the Bible is real - and the Life, death and resurrection of Christ, more historically documented than the lives of Lincoln and Washington put together.
Ok, put away your guns, knives, hammers and nails. I'm not trying to preach or anything - but after reading Nick D's post and all of the replies, and reading this one, well - its not like me to remain silent on a subject I know far too much about.
Think about the guys who followed Jesus who were known as His 'disciples'. Now, if what the romans wanted us to believe after the resurrection was true - that his disciples removed his body from the grave and only said he rose from it - then wouldn't his disciples know this to be a lie? Ok, now if you knew 100% that something was not true, rather it was a lie - would you die for that lie or recant it and tell the truth? I won't get into how the disciples were martyred, but I will say that the origion of the upside-down cross did not begin with Black Sabbath (as some may think), rather Peter requested to be crucified upside down - because he was not worthy to die like his Lord.
I could go on for days with what I've learned - but the thing is, I learned it from a none-biased acceptance of the facts (Ok, I was slightly biased...I didn't want to believe it was true.)
Which reminds me of the fact of truth. As they say, the truth has never been popular. And one thing is for sure - you never hear people publicly bashing Mohammed, Bhudda, or any of those guys. Any time someone picks on any symbol of God it is always Jesus. Why is that?
I will admit, God has been misrepresented by his 'so called' people time and time again. We choose to dwell upon the idiots who make a mockery of His word and those who have fallen publicly than to think of those who are truly living out thier faith.
I will say this; not everyone who claims to be a Christian really is. Some of them have deceived themselves. If you want me to elaborate, just email me. The truth of the matter is, the church as it is today - is a joke. There is so much focus on what you watch on TV, how you dress, what you listen to musically for entertainment (I don't believe God is against any kind of music - except for Yanni and John Tesh). They have lost the true focus of Christ's teachings which was : it is not who or what you are, but how you treat others. Remember the golden rule?
Ok, with all of that said; I am a Christian by belief (obviously), I do not always act like it, don't always talk like it, and have learned to deal with the fact I am the biggest screw-up this side of the galaxy. And yes, one of my fave bands is RUSH, along with TOOL, Nine inch Nails, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jean Luc Ponty, and The Beatles.
Now please do me a favor; don't bash me for writing this. I am just stating what I know to be true and fact. If you want to argue about go ahead, but argue with yourself. Ultimately we will all get the chance to find out when we meet that blanket of dirt to cover us.
And Drummer, if I am wrong (which I know I'm not), you can laugh at me then and poke fun at me (Oh wait, you won't be able to because we won't be!)
Anyway, I couldn't not say what I just said and if you don't like it.....
....the truth has never been popular.
Peace,
The RIGHT Reverend FREEk
P.S. - I appreciate what anyone has to say, or thier viewpoint - so please respect mine and don't send me all kinds of hate-mail and clog up my useless e-mail box.
And yes, I do like Zappa - he was just a little disoriented from a few recreational pharmaceuticals.