War Games AM

When a prophet comes along and says that (deity of choice) has spoken to him/her, that s/he has a message from said deity, etc., how exactly do those listening to this prophet tell if s/he has truly gotten a divine message, or if they are delusional?

I'm not intending this to be rude or snarky, but there's really no way to word it without coming across that way. I am genuinely curious.

We are forever being accused of "hating" God (generally, the biblical god) because of our disbelief, so I think it's time to address that particular misconception.

So...atheists...do you HATE God?

If Pol Pot and Stalin (both atheists) are used as examples of atheism and the things atheism can (allegedly) cause...then doesn't that make Hitler an example of Christianity and the things Christianity can (allegedly) cause?

There seems to be a sentiment lately that Christianity is being "oppressed" or "silenced" or "threatened", that somehow American society is attacking Christianity, trying to shut it down, etc.

According to www.adherents.com, 76.5% of the American population identified as Christian in 2001. Atheists, who seem to be the target of much of the blame for this "oppression", make up 0.4%.

(ref: http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html#re... )

Much of what I have seen as evidence of this so-called oppression is gay rights, removal of religious material from public school curriculum, banning mandatory prayer in public schools, removal of religious icons in government buildings, etc. Note that no one has said what cannot be taught in the home, nor has prayer been banned from schools (it just can't be mandatory or teacher-led during class time).

Honestly, I find myself scratching my head over these accusations that Christians are being persecuted in the United States. I see that people of minority religions are perhaps finding themselves on more equal footing with Christians than they used to be. I see that those who do not identify as Christians are less afraid to openly practice/worship/etc as they choose.

I guess I'm failing to understand how any of this adds up to "persecution" or "oppression" of Christians. Please enlighten me: Are you, an American Christian, being persecuted/oppressed, and if so, how? In what ways have you been restricted, threatened, persecuted, oppressed, or otherwise hindered in your practice of your religion, your rights as an individual of that religion, etc?

Think of what people often offer as proof of the existence of a god to people who don't believe:

- Look around you, this couldn't have happened by accident.

- Something couldn't have come from nothing

You get the idea. Now, let's assume for a moment that a god does exist. Let's assume you've convinced an atheist such as myself that a deity exists (this is a hypothetical).

How do you convince me that the god YOU believe in is the god that exists? How does logic such as that above point to your god, not Zeus, or Thor, or any other god that has been worshipped throughout the ages?

In other words, now that you've convinced someone of the existence of a god, how do you convince them it's the same one you're worshipping?

I'm an atheist, but I'm always curious about how Christians feel about this, because even as a Christian I never fully understood it...

According to the Bible:

1. God is omnipotent and omniscient.

2. God knows everything that will happen in the future.

3. God and Christ are part of the Trinity.

4. Christ knew he was going to die to save mankind, and be resurrected.

How exactly is it a *sacrifice*? Christ knew he was coming back. God knew Christ was coming back. Wouldn't a sacrifice mean giving something up, without knowing you'll get it back?

Christ and God are part of the Trinity anyway, so basically God was sacrificing a part of himself to appease himself for the sins of the humans that he had created -- knowing full well from the beginning that they would sin. That, and why does an all-powerful god NEED a sacrifice (of himself) to appease himself in order to forgive his creations?

I really fail to see how this qualifies as a "sacrifice" on Christ's part.

I asked this question a few months back, but there are some new faces here, so I'm going to throw it out there once more...

A frequent comment here is that it's not possible to be a Christian and then NOT be a Christian (ie., people like me who were once Christian and then became atheists).

I, for one (and I know MANY other atheists share this experience), believed as strongly in Christ as anyone. I wanted to be a Christian, to have a relationship with Christ, to be filled with the Holy Spirit...I wanted it so bad I could taste it. I read the Bible...I prayed...I listened for that small, still voice. I felt what I believed to be the presence of Christ, of the holy spirit, etc.

Yet now, I am not a Christian. I am an atheist.

According to many people here, I was never a "real" Christian, based on the fact that I am now an atheist. I wasn't doing it right, I didn't open my heart, I didn't open my mind...but at the time, I absolutely did.

So...HERE IS THE QUESTION: If I wasn't "really" a Christian at that point, in spite of being absolutely certain that I was...how do you know YOU are a "real" Christian now?

I'm specifically looking for a trail that's relatively well-maintained and suitable for cycling (paved is good, off-road is fine, just not single-track or REALLY rough), not overly crowded (especially with pedestrians), etc.

We're in Norfolk...anywhere in Hampton Roads or even NE North Carolina.

TIA!

I'm a navy wife. My husband doesn't have orders yet, but may be doing an overseas PCS in the coming months. We're not sure where. I'd like to be pro-active about getting things organized as far as required paperwork for me (health waivers/clearance, etc.)

Where do I start? Do I just make an appointment for a physical, or do I need to go through the naval hospital? Is there a checklist available detailing what I'll need for various duty stations?

Any info would be appreciated. :)

My husband and I are considering some career options that may require us to move overseas. However, we have 5 cats that are basically our children - we don't want to leave them behind.

I have read about the restrictions and requirements for transporting animals overseas to various places. That's not an issue.

Some of the possible destinations require travel times of 10-24 hours (including layovers and such), going through customs, etc.

My question is, how well do cats generally tolerate such a move? I'm sure they won't like it (who would?), but I'm just concerned about overstressing them, having them get sick/injured, etc. Would getting them a sedative be a good idea? (And would that cause problems if I had to bring additional doses through customs, since it's likely I'd have to give them more than one dose?)

Does anyone have experience with this? Any info would be great.

I am a photographer, and often shoot artistic nudes. One of my girlfriends might like to have me do some pics of her. The pics themselves won't show much, but she'll have to be fully or partially nude to pose for them.

Here's the thing...we are quite close, but she does not know that I am bisexual (I'm female). It's just not something I've needed to share with her.

I have no problem seeing my models as models and not getting turned on or anything like that, but I'm concerned that it might bother her if she knew. I'm pretty certain she wouldn't be comfortable with a male photographer.

I feel I have two choices:

1. Tell her...let her decide if she's comfortable with it, and run the risk of her being uncomfortable *with me* (she's not homophobic, but because of some situations we've been in in the past, she might be uncomfortable).

2. Don't tell her, and run the risk of her finding out later...which could make her feel really uncomfortable about the shoot.

Help?

We're considering a modular home -- I'm not concerned about the issue of finding suitable property on which to build it, just the pros/cons of the modular home in and of itself vs. a traditional "stick built" home.

Pros? Cons? Thoughts?

What on Earth is wrong with my cat?

We have a 4 year-old unaltered male, and four other (altered) cats. They are all indoors, they all get along, and usually they sleep in the bedroom with us.

Lately, the one male has started howling during the night. As soon as we go to bed, it starts, whether we go to bed at 10pm or 2am. He wanders all over the house shrieking like he’s being fileted.

We thought there might be a female in heat outside, but we haven’t seen any, and he doesn’t linger by the doors or windows. He just wanders around and howls. Food dish is full, water is full, the other cats are not doing anything out of the ordinary. Lights out…howling starts.

He’s always been a fairly timid cat…ok, he’s a bona fide scaredy cat…but this is definitely new behavior.

Any ideas? I swear to God it’s like he’s afraid of the dark. LOL I’m worried that something’s wrong, and I’m also not getting any sleep because of it!

Well...?

I live in Norfolk, VA, and am looking for a doctor willing to perform a tubal ligation on a woman under the age of 30 with no children. Has anyone had any luck with this?

Has anyone had difficulty getting TriCare Standard to cover a tubal ligation? How much did you have to pay out of pocket? Does it make a difference if you're getting it done after you've had kids or if you've decided NOT to have children at all (besides, of course, the difficulty finding a surgeon if you haven't had children)?

I'm considering going this route, but haven't found the info on the TC website.

Obviously everyone's experience is different...I'm curious about different results. How was your recovery? How was the pain? Did you have any complications or unforseen problems? Was there anything you wish you had known beforehand?

If you CHOSE not to have children, do you ever regret it? If you had it to do over, would you have chosen to be a parent?

I'm NOT asking if you love your children, or if you wish they'd never been born. Simply put: Knowing what you know now, if you had it to do over again, would you have chosen to become a parent?

Why is it that just about every question about Christians doing this or that (divorcing, for example) is met with "Well, they're not a REAL Christian..."?

Ex: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AlI_R...

Who decides who is a "real" Christian? And why not just own the fact that not every member of your religion is perfect or interprets things exactly as you do?