An atheist's experience with LC

[ZNPaaneah]

Originally Posted by zeek

No. Just four.



That's numero uno.



There's number two.



There's the third.



There's the fourth.

Nothing about how any of the earlier organism evolved into later ones. The evolutionary information you have lighting up in your neural network came from a different source. You could have read the bible over and for 1900 years and you wouldn't have come up with the interpretation you now think you are reading in it.

Why is "let the Earth bring forth" = a creation?

God created the heavens and the Earth = 1 creation.

Let the Earth bring forth -- still part of the Earth God created.

Let the waters bring forth -- still part of the Earth God created.

However, when he gets to man He "makes man" and then says "He created man". That is why this needs a little more clarification in chapter 2.

Formed from the dust -- part of the Earth God created.

But this time God breathed into him and he became a living soul -- that is somewhat unique from the initial creation.

[zeek]

Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah

Why is "let the Earth bring forth" = a creation?

God created the heavens and the Earth = 1 creation.

Let the Earth bring forth -- still part of the Earth God created.

Let the waters bring forth -- still part of the Earth God created.

However, when he gets to man He "makes man" and then says "He created man". That is why this needs a little more clarification in chapter 2.

Formed from the dust -- part of the Earth God created.

But this time God breathed into him and he became a living soul -- that is somewhat unique from the initial creation.

So what. It doesn't add up to natural selection which required observation of nature and couldn't be plagiarized from the Bible because the Bible doesn't explain it. Your thesis is bull****.

[awareness]

To the two z's :

Hey bro ZNP, don't fret. Bro zeek just doesn't cotton much to Biblical Science Fiction. He's still hung up on taking the Bible as written. He lacks any measure of imagination. Shame, shame.

[zeek]

Originally Posted by awareness

To the two z's :

Hey bro ZNP, don't fret. Bro zeek just doesn't cotton much to Biblical Science Fiction. He's still hung up on taking the Bible as written. He lacks any measure of imagination. Shame, shame.

...LOL....Imagination is cool but it does not constitute empirical evidence.

[ZNPaaneah]

Originally Posted by zeek

...LOL....Imagination is cool but it does not constitute empirical evidence.

Once again changing the topic. The Poster in Post #1 asked if we (Bible believing Christians) believe "Evolution is false". (I suppose these questions were a basis for his decision to be an atheist though that is merely my assumption).

My response is that there is no reason that believing the Bible would require me to believe that evolution is false.

Now I suppose if you define evolution as "purely random" without the hand of God in any way forming man, then yes, that would be contrary to the Bible. But if that is your definition please show me the empirical evidence that the scientist have unearthed that proves God's hand did not participate in "forming man from the dust of the ground".

Hello everybody

It's me again, OP. It has been a long time and many things have happened in the 10 months since I last posted on here.

The day after my post I discovered that the original thread was moved to another section, and trying to follow the link sent me to a page that made it seem like I had to create an account to view and participate.
I haven't been back until today.

To be honest I'm quite disappointed with your responses. You lost yourself in arguments about details that in no way would have helped me in my despair. I don't care about your opinion about Darvin, if you believe the whole world, humanity or whatever was created 6000 years ago.
I wanted to understand what the Local Church really is and how a life is affected by it.

But I'm not here to argue. I found the answers to my questions and I'm here to give an update.

On December 27 2017 I board a plane to China. Cici's mom told me that Cici planned to come back to China for her summer holiday. A few days before my flight (and several weeks after booking) I get the news that she will in fact come home and arrive on December 28.
The days prior to my flight (and on the plane) I read the bible again. I had read it when I was much younger (probably too young) but never in one go. And nobody could have been more surprised than I when I realize that I start to believe. I didn't think that was possible but I realize that I WANT to believe. I want to believe that Jesus died on the cross to forgive us sinful humans our sins. To forgive my own sins.
On December 29 Cici and I meet for the first time. Her mom told me that when she first told Cici that I was here to see her she got exhilerated. When we meet though Cici is very cold and keeps her distance.
That night after long and emotional talks with her mother (through translator-app) I decide that for my own sanity I must stop loving the person Cici used to be... and book my flight back home. At that point I believed that I had forever lost her.

Miracles happen somtimes.
Cici and I meet again the next day for dinner and the sentiment changes. The talking goes easier, the topics go deeper. When I tell Cici that my flight back is scheduled for the next day I can see disappointment in her eyes. More talking and she admits that she'd like me to stay longer. With her help we reschedule my flight to mid January.
We meet nearly every day after. We read the bible together, we sing songs together, we go hiking together, we laugh and we cry together. We discuss bible passages and while not always sharing the same opinions we respect each others views.

She apologizes for what she had put me through in the year prior. Through her studies in the school she now knows that the videos she shared were not christian but heretic.
She is a much more balanced person now, still firmly believes in Christ but all of her "craziness" is gone. She tells me how much she enjoys the community of the Local Church and the studies in her school and how happy she is to believe in Christ. I can tell that she's telling the truth.

What I thought - the LC kept Cici from contacting her family, the "crazy videos" are what the LC believes in,... - turns out to not be true. The LC might have some worldviews that I can't share but it isn't the brainwashing cult I believed it to be.

I feel empty when I board the plane back home. Cici will spend one more year in her school in New Zealand but even though we still love each other (and even more so because of it) Cici doesn't want to stay in contact with me. Not during the year, not ever.
We are one heart and one soul, but in her words "not one spirit". I'm heartbroken but also glad that I made the decision to try and meet her. For the last year and a half I have been in constant worry about her wellbeing and that weight has finally been lifted from me. I know she's happy the way she is now and that she finds comfort in her faith.
Who am I to judge?

I don't believe everything the LC and many christians believe in, but I believe in a creator and in Jesus Christ now. My travel turned out to also have been a spiritual one.

I don't know if I can take it and never see you again, Cici. Every time we meet we fall in love. I know it means something to you, too.

Therefore I'd like to end this update with:
Until we meet again may God hold you in the palm of his hands.

Love,
小兔兔

[awareness]

Brother Unregistered, you're still young, with the idealism that goes with youth, and perhaps naive. There's likely a lot of changes coming in your future.

Good luck with it bro ... blessings.

And stay away from Eastern Lightning ( “Lord Changshou” )

H-awareness.