Survey for Atheists

[Matthitjah]

Grace to you,

I'm not here to debate. I'm here to share the Truth of the Gospel. It is the mandate of my new life in Christ and it is also why I serve here.

I will continue to pray for you.

Peace,

Dave

[cwcrenshaw]

1 Corinthians 2:11-15

11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Also in response to your question

Romans 1:20

20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

God does desire everyone to be saved.

1 Timothy 2:3-4

3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Now if God desires all to be saved, but the natural man doesn't understand the things of God, Then it leaves it to Choice, the universe is created perfectly balanced to sustain life here, if earth move 4 degrees away from the sun the oceans will freeze, if earth moved 4 degrees closer to the sun, the oceans would boil, everything appears to hold a balance, that is where faith comes in, how inline everything is and balanced, it takes a lot of faith to believe it came this way on it's own, It also takes faith to believe in God, so then where you put your faith is the conclusion you are going to have. Everyone holds faith in something, and the faith everyone holds overcomes difficulty, As in a scientist having faith in his theory, he is able to overcome difficulty proving his theory, The same as a Christian putting faith in God to overcome tribulations and trials in our lives. There is enough light in this universe for those that desire to believe, but there are also enough shadows for those who do not want to believe. everything is balanced, even faith.

You have not addressed the more basic question of....If God set things up for us to question, won't we then question? If so, then it is designed for some to fail...this is not evidence of an all-loving God. And if, as you say, I am looking at this the wrong way and that all people are in fact meant to be saved...then how can God not allow people at least the chance to be saved? (i.e. infants that die a few days into life, kids that have cancer, etc)...again this is evidence that not everyone is meant to be saved. Of course you will probably say that the devil is responsible for sickness and death before someone has had a chance to be saved...but then that raises the question of God's omnipotence. If he really was omnipotent and all powerful, he would have the power to prevent this from happening. This leaves 2 possibilities....either A) he is not in fact omnipotent...or B) he is omnipotent, but allows this to happen anyway. Of course I go with option C...that there is no god, goodness lives in the brotherhood of man, and disease/death are caused by viruses and bacteria that effect all living things on earth.

Well if Gods thoughts are much higher than ours, don't you think he would know that he would watch over his word?

Well I suppose he could, but this clashes with free-will...if I wanted to rewrite the bible to better suit me...would God intervene? or would this be considered free-will?

Gods law is written in our hearts.

Romans 2:14

14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,

I would agree that we all have a sort of "law" built into us...whether or not this is God's law is the point i would take issue with. All over the world you will find very few cultures where murder, rape, etc are considered to be ok...there is evidence that there are an engrained set of morals in us all. I would postulate that this is an evolutionary trait for the simple fact that any prehistoric tribe that considered murder to be ok would obviously not survive very long...only those groups who viewed it as wrong ( by "wrong" i mean that it does not propogate their own existence) would carry on and so eventually we look back and say "hey, we all think that murder is wrong...how can this be?"

As for it being God's Law....apparently he missed a few of us for I have no desire whatsoever to seek Him. I am perfectly content and intellectually fulfilled with my understanding of the world and have confidence that mankind controls his own existence.

God created you so that you would willingly submit, and come to him out of your own free will, We all sin, and we all fall short of the glory of God, all sin will be punished, we all sin, so we are all accountable. You agree we are all accountable for our own actions right? Well God payed the price for our sins, he provided a way, of pure grace apart from the law, Accept him and believe in him, he payed the price and has taken accountability for your actions, But you still have the free will to allow him to do so in your life.

But why would he do this in the first place? Why create human beings simply for the task of testing their belief? Did he create us just so we would worship him? Was he bored? I don't mean to sound rude but these are questions that need to be answered.

[cwcrenshaw]

Consider the intricacy of the human body, especially the brain. The most advanced super computer is stone age by comparison. The information in one cell could fill volumes. Consider the conception and birth of a baby. Consider that if one little detail was off in the creation, it couldn't exist.

How much more evidence do you need?

I consider this to be evidence of millions of years of evolution. We are all made of DNA, as is every other living thing on this planet...all DNA is made up of the same 4 building blocks (another during DNA replication, but I digress)...point is, this consistency indicates a common source....you see that source as God, I see it as a common evolutionary source. That is fine. But the question I pose is...why would God need to make every living thing out of the same 4 building blocks? seems to me to be stronger evidence of a common evolutionary source.

Edited October 12, 2007 by cwcrenshaw

[damo1]

Consider the intricacy of the human body, especially the brain. The most advanced super computer is stone age by comparison. The information in one cell could fill volumes. Consider the conception and birth of a baby. Consider that if one little detail was off in the creation, it couldn't exist.

How much more evidence do you need?

I consider this to be evidence of millions of years of evolution. We are all made of DNA, as is every other living thing on this planet...all DNA is made up of the same 4 building blocks (another during DNA replication, but I digress)...point is, this consistency indicates a common source....you see that source as God, I see it as a common evolutionary source. That is fine. But the question I pose is...why would God need to make every living thing out of the same 4 building blocks? seems to me to be stronger evidence of a common evolutionary source.

from damo1

good for you friendly neighborhood atheist can i ask you something why are you on a christian forum if you beleive in what you belive why come hear and throw out tuff questions toward what we beleive in and then have us quetion this is this not what you guys do best i mean common man i have atheist friends who do this them selves as this sort of just puzzles me to why you would want to get into such heated debates people hear on this forum share openly to wear we are in our faith i do not invade an atheist forum and then start preaching as i know it will be my waste of time so can i get you to ask me honestly why are you hear if you will not listen to what we have to say if you are comfterball living your life than live it but will you if you face the living god tell him to his face i do not beleive in you or what the christians on earth while i was alive had to say to me evolution or science has nothing to do with what i beleive in and this is all that i will say i will just come back to this post to see what you have left but i will not waste my time debating with you on stupid things that mean nothing to me

i use to do the same i use to push christians my self to see if i can get them to question their faith so i just ask that you do not try this with me to wear my time is being wasted try sticking to an atheist forum as i know you will be telling your mates what you are doing my friends constantly tell me when they invade a christian forum how proud they are its like throwing a spanner and then just sit back and watch all the christians argue among them selves and this is what i do not beleive in doing i show respect i do not push and ask stupid questions to wear it will waste a persons time

if you are happy with your life good for you go on living that life but on the day this world faces god i wil be trying to keep an eye out not just for you but for those that pushed me as i want to see what you say to the living god who created this earth

you cant tell me this was formed from nothing and we are wasting our time beleiving in a book that is not true and is flawed

have a good day friendly neighbor hood atheist neet signiture by the way does it have a meaning to it ?

[cwcrenshaw]

from damo1

good for you friendly neighborhood atheist can i ask you something why are you on a christian forum if you beleive in what you belive why come hear and throw out tuff questions toward what we beleive in and then have us quetion this is this not what you guys do best i mean common man i have atheist friends who do this them selves as this sort of just puzzles me to why you would want to get into such heated debates people hear on this forum share openly to wear we are in our faith i do not invade an atheist forum and then start preaching as i know it will be my waste of time so can i get you to ask me honestly why are you hear if you will not listen to what we have to say if you are comfterball living your life than live it but will you if you face the living god tell him to his face i do not beleive in you or what the christians on earth while i was alive had to say to me evolution or science has nothing to do with what i beleive in and this is all that i will say i will just come back to this post to see what you have left but i will not waste my time debating with you on stupid things that mean nothing to me

i use to do the same i use to push christians my self to see if i can get them to question their faith so i just ask that you do not try this with me to wear my time is being wasted try sticking to an atheist forum as i know you will be telling your mates what you are doing my friends constantly tell me when they invade a christian forum how proud they are its like throwing a spanner and then just sit back and watch all the christians argue among them selves and this is what i do not beleive in doing i show respect i do not push and ask stupid questions to wear it will waste a persons time

if you are happy with your life good for you go on living that life but on the day this world faces god i wil be trying to keep an eye out not just for you but for those that pushed me as i want to see what you say to the living god who created this earth

you cant tell me this was formed from nothing and we are wasting our time beleiving in a book that is not true and is flawed

have a good day friendly neighbor hood atheist neet signiture by the way does it have a meaning to it ?

Why don't we all just stick to our little comfort bubbles and not ever have conversations with anyone else then? The whole point of debate is to share ideas and be able to defend your position. I'm sorry if this is intimidating to you but this is a thread for atheists....so I figured that this would be an appropriate place for my ideas. I am not going to post in a thread where my ideas are completely unsolicited...I addressed this in my introduction (worthy welcome board) and also on my profile. It seems that everyone is happy to raise their own points and debate with me until I begin raising questions that aren't so easy to answer. The truth is, atheists are the most hated minority group in this country (by "this country" i mean USA, where I assume most of the members are from)...more than gays, more than muslims, more than anyone...and this is due primarily to incorrect stereotypes. The only way to correct stereotypes is to have a dialogue...and I doubt you would come to an atheist board to try to start a polite conversation. I'm not trying to impose on your beliefs or say that you are wrong...but I do have the right to raise my ideas when people are genuinely interested in them. This thread is called "survey for atheists" and is basically asking about our beliefs....so don't get upset when I lay those beliefs out and explain how it is that I came to them. You will not see me posting in a thread called "survey for christians" for example.

edit: about my signature, "friendly neighborhood atheist" is just a pun, goes against the stereotype that atheists are devil-posseseed, baby killing demons. Shows that we are friendly and hospitable. The quote is self explanatory.

Edited October 12, 2007 by cwcrenshaw

[ollkiller]

The fact that atheists do not believe in a higher power is based on a lack of evidence...

Consider the intricacy of the human body, especially the brain. The most advanced super computer is stone age by comparison. The information in one cell could fill volumes. Consider the conception and birth of a baby. Consider that if one little detail was off in the creation, it couldn't exist.

How much more evidence do you need?

That is evidence of life. It is not evidence of a creator.

Well, how do you think such miraculous things got here? Out of the clear blue, by chance?

It either happened with God or with the big bang. I cannot say which as i was not there at the beginning therefore i have no reference point. Whichever way it happened i am thankful. That's all.

Also to damo1 (please use full stops, i don't know when your sentences start or begin) you ask why are us athiests coming here and arguing. I am here for debate not arguing. Debate the issue nothing else. Later hombres, i am off after a week's work to enjoy one or two nice Southern comfort's and coke (lots of ice, makes it taste like cola Mr. Freezes we had when we were young) Enjoy the weekend.

[cwcrenshaw]

Later hombres, i am off after a week's work to enjoy one or two nice Southern comfort's and coke (lots of ice, makes it taste like cola Mr. Freezes we had when we were young) Enjoy the weekend.

mmm SoCo and Coke....good man.

[damo1]

from damo1

good for you friendly neighborhood atheist can i ask you something why are you on a christian forum if you beleive in what you belive why come hear and throw out tuff questions toward what we beleive in and then have us quetion this is this not what you guys do best i mean common man i have atheist friends who do this them selves as this sort of just puzzles me to why you would want to get into such heated debates people hear on this forum share openly to wear we are in our faith i do not invade an atheist forum and then start preaching as i know it will be my waste of time so can i get you to ask me honestly why are you hear if you will not listen to what we have to say if you are comfterball living your life than live it but will you if you face the living god tell him to his face i do not beleive in you or what the christians on earth while i was alive had to say to me evolution or science has nothing to do with what i beleive in and this is all that i will say i will just come back to this post to see what you have left but i will not waste my time debating with you on stupid things that mean nothing to me

i use to do the same i use to push christians my self to see if i can get them to question their faith so i just ask that you do not try this with me to wear my time is being wasted try sticking to an atheist forum as i know you will be telling your mates what you are doing my friends constantly tell me when they invade a christian forum how proud they are its like throwing a spanner and then just sit back and watch all the christians argue among them selves and this is what i do not beleive in doing i show respect i do not push and ask stupid questions to wear it will waste a persons time

if you are happy with your life good for you go on living that life but on the day this world faces god i wil be trying to keep an eye out not just for you but for those that pushed me as i want to see what you say to the living god who created this earth

you cant tell me this was formed from nothing and we are wasting our time beleiving in a book that is not true and is flawed

have a good day friendly neighbor hood atheist neet signiture by the way does it have a meaning to it ?

Why don't we all just stick to our little comfort bubbles and not ever have conversations with anyone else then? The whole point of debate is to share ideas and be able to defend your position. I'm sorry if this is intimidating to you but this is a thread for atheists....so I figured that this would be an appropriate place for my ideas. I am not going to post in a thread where my ideas are completely unsolicited...I addressed this in my introduction (worthy welcome board) and also on my profile. It seems that everyone is happy to raise their own points and debate with me until I begin raising questions that aren't so easy to answer. The truth is, atheists are the most hated minority group in this country (by "this country" i mean USA, where I assume most of the members are from)...more than gays, more than muslims, more than anyone...and this is due primarily to incorrect stereotypes. The only way to correct stereotypes is to have a dialogue...and I doubt you would come to an atheist board to try to start a polite conversation. I'm not trying to impose on your beliefs or say that you are wrong...but I do have the right to raise my ideas when people are genuinely interested in them. This thread is called "survey for atheists" and is basically asking about our beliefs....so don't get upset when I lay those beliefs out and explain how it is that I came to them. You will not see me posting in a thread called "survey for christians" for example.

edit: about my signature, "friendly neighborhood atheist" is just a pun, goes against the stereotype that atheists are devil-posseseed, baby killing demons. Shows that we are friendly and hospitable. The quote is self explanatory.

to cwcrenshaw saturday 13th of october 2007

from damo1

the psrson that set this post up we have all noticed has not come back to this post as if it was a survey for atheists the op would have been checking to see what replys have been left . most people just do not know how to show respect to others and do not stop to listen or ask how are you today.and i am a little puzzled to why a survey for atheists would be left on a christian forum this should have been left on an atheist forum wear the op hear would have gotten more hits to her post this is called respect and not forcing your views on any one else

i am sorry that you feel that way as i am very diffrent and when i sit with my atheist friends we talk on other things or go out together just because i am a christian does not mean i cut my self fully of from people. i like heated debates to but when they begin to go out of control this is what i do not like. and my mates have bought some to tears with the questions they throw i grew up with these guys sevral are in goverment jobs or work with in the security industry i think the reason for you feeling that people hate you so much is that some atheist do not stop and hear the other side.

i am not saying all atheists are like that but a minority are just like their are christians who give what i beleive in a bad name and i have ran into a lot of them but i have fun with the more hard core ones and i know how to deal with them as this does know one any good when you begin to do this i got tattoos my self and i have had sevral tell me to my face that i will go to hell and i cant be forgiven for my sins and i have had to challange to the point of having some say sorry people look on the out side with out seeing the inside of a person

i get the same from serbs as i am croation my self my friend as you would know our history and what happend in kosavo when i meet a serb hear wear i live in Australia most think i am golng to lash out or get stuck into them due to what they did to us croations and other culter groups that were settled as these guys wanted to control the hole of yogoslavia and have their kind in power and force their views and their beleifies on others i have ti almost put the hand out and say hay i am not like that and you should leave this wear it happend and not drag it into a new country and start it all over i have to almost state respect the land you live in and aide by the laws that have been hear for a long time

i broke that sycle and started to see it was no good for me as a human to behave like this every single male in my culture is brought up to hate the other side and i was brought up to hate the serbs and the serbs bring their male boys up to hate us

one thing i do not beleive in is looking down on a person and i do not beleive in forcing my views down anyones throat if some one asks why i beleive in the bible and what it means to me i will tell them openly and vice versa i get to know the other side with showing respect and when i share i hope i get the same respect

this is why i have been coming back to this topic my self to see if any have left something for this post yet all i have seen is christians sharing and stating their views and then i read your topic and oil killers topic before i decided to respond

most topics are not answerd due to to much heated debates wear no respect is given and honestly i feel this psst is going to be one of them

i will not judge you like you have been by some you will find i am a down to earth person who is willingly to get to know others i do not beleive in sitting in a bubble i will be moving to the philippines in 2009 and i wil be living with my partner so i am one of these guys that gets on well with many diffrent culterd groups i stop to give some one the time of day and i hear them out

i will come back to this post tonight or sunday afternoon thanks for sharing your views with me know i understand wear you are coming from have a good weekend

to oil killer i am getting use to this computer and i still have a long way before i am their wear the best are some times i do not put full stops as i gave up my education and this is how i am eble to express my self if i had a good up bringing i would have probbably had a better chance but i have been on my own since 14 and did not bother getting a decent education i am teaching my self how to use a computer and i am the type of guy that picks things up fast so i will try to make sure that their are full stops

when i use to drink i do not drink know i use to put left over burben or jim beam in coffe try it it will pick you up for the day but only put a little bit in not a lot

have a good weekend from damo1

[Grungekid]

You have not addressed the more basic question of....If God set things up for us to question, won't we then question? If so, then it is designed for some to fail...this is not evidence of an all-loving God. And if, as you say, I am looking at this the wrong way and that all people are in fact meant to be saved...then how can God not allow people at least the chance to be saved? (i.e. infants that die a few days into life, kids that have cancer, etc)...again this is evidence that not everyone is meant to be saved. Of course you will probably say that the devil is responsible for sickness and death before someone has had a chance to be saved...but then that raises the question of God's omnipotence. If he really was omnipotent and all powerful, he would have the power to prevent this from happening. This leaves 2 possibilities....either A) he is not in fact omnipotent...or B) he is omnipotent, but allows this to happen anyway. Of course I go with option C...that there is no god, goodness lives in the brotherhood of man, and disease/death are caused by viruses and bacteria that effect all living things on earth.

Oh you're trying to argue against God with the straw-man problem of evil? Fail. You see, God does allow everyone a chance to be saved. It's Christianity 101, and I'm amazed you don't know the answer. God sent His only Son, Christ, to die for our sins so that all who accepted Him as their Lord and Savior will be saved. Those who have not gotten a chance to hear the Word or died quickly during birth or shortly after will - it says in scriptures - be allowed into heaven.

Well I suppose he could, but this clashes with free-will...if I wanted to rewrite the bible to better suit me...would God intervene? or would this be considered free-will?

Oh you could, but I wouldn't listen to you, and the REAL word of God is always there.

I would agree that we all have a sort of "law" built into us...whether or not this is God's law is the point i would take issue with. All over the world you will find very few cultures where murder, rape, etc are considered to be ok...there is evidence that there are an engrained set of morals in us all. I would postulate that this is an evolutionary trait for the simple fact that any prehistoric tribe that considered murder to be ok would obviously not survive very long...only those groups who viewed it as wrong ( by "wrong" i mean that it does not propogate their own existence) would carry on and so eventually we look back and say "hey, we all think that murder is wrong...how can this be?"

I disagree. I think that allowing murder actually gives more evolutionary benefit. That way, only the very strongest creatures rise to the top of the clan. Don't you just love this mode of thought?

Look, I can think of very few cultures that allow murder or rape without special justifications in their cultural tradition, and I don't think that the presence of a culture that allowed these would do very much to discredit Christianity. We do believe that it is a fallen world full of sin and people who do not know God, thus not having His morallity.

As for it being God's Law....apparently he missed a few of us for I have no desire whatsoever to seek Him. I am perfectly content and intellectually fulfilled with my understanding of the world and have confidence that mankind controls his own existence.

That's sad to me. I'll never understand why atheists feel so happy about their very melancholy ideas about the world. It's the only thing in their entire argument I fail to understand.

But why would he do this in the first place? Why create human beings simply for the task of testing their belief? Did he create us just so we would worship him? Was he bored? I don't mean to sound rude but these are questions that need to be answered.

We may never have the answers to those questions, cw. God is beyond human comprehension. I can make an educated guess from the standpoint that He is omniscient and benevolent, though. God wanted to create something and give it a choice, because He valued that abillity in His creation, saw that there was something intriguing and superior about creatures with free will. So He created us, but He had something more in mind. He wanted to know if, when giving the choice, His loved creation would love Him back. A human being deciding on their own to love Him would be so much more pleasing, so much more lovable than a machine that 'loves' God because it had to. Thus, we're in a sense the Creators search for company, I suppose.

Again, these are all just the guesses of an average, young human being and I can't verify them, because I would have to be God in order to do that.

Edited October 13, 2007 by Grungekid

[cwcrenshaw]

to cwcrenshaw saturday 13th of october 2007

from damo1

the psrson that set this post up we have all noticed has not come back to this post as if it was a survey for atheists the op would have been checking to see what replys have been left . most people just do not know how to show respect to others and do not stop to listen or ask how are you today.and i am a little puzzled to why a survey for atheists would be left on a christian forum this should have been left on an atheist forum wear the op hear would have gotten more hits to her post this is called respect and not forcing your views on any one else

i am sorry that you feel that way as i am very diffrent and when i sit with my atheist friends we talk on other things or go out together just because i am a christian does not mean i cut my self fully of from people. i like heated debates to but when they begin to go out of control this is what i do not like. and my mates have bought some to tears with the questions they throw i grew up with these guys sevral are in goverment jobs or work with in the security industry i think the reason for you feeling that people hate you so much is that some atheist do not stop and hear the other side.

i am not saying all atheists are like that but a minority are just like their are christians who give what i beleive in a bad name and i have ran into a lot of them but i have fun with the more hard core ones and i know how to deal with them as this does know one any good when you begin to do this i got tattoos my self and i have had sevral tell me to my face that i will go to hell and i cant be forgiven for my sins and i have had to challange to the point of having some say sorry people look on the out side with out seeing the inside of a person

i get the same from serbs as i am croation my self my friend as you would know our history and what happend in kosavo when i meet a serb hear wear i live in Australia most think i am golng to lash out or get stuck into them due to what they did to us croations and other culter groups that were settled as these guys wanted to control the hole of yogoslavia and have their kind in power and force their views and their beleifies on others i have ti almost put the hand out and say hay i am not like that and you should leave this wear it happend and not drag it into a new country and start it all over i have to almost state respect the land you live in and aide by the laws that have been hear for a long time

i broke that sycle and started to see it was no good for me as a human to behave like this every single male in my culture is brought up to hate the other side and i was brought up to hate the serbs and the serbs bring their male boys up to hate us

one thing i do not beleive in is looking down on a person and i do not beleive in forcing my views down anyones throat if some one asks why i beleive in the bible and what it means to me i will tell them openly and vice versa i get to know the other side with showing respect and when i share i hope i get the same respect

this is why i have been coming back to this topic my self to see if any have left something for this post yet all i have seen is christians sharing and stating their views and then i read your topic and oil killers topic before i decided to respond

most topics are not answerd due to to much heated debates wear no respect is given and honestly i feel this psst is going to be one of them

i will not judge you like you have been by some you will find i am a down to earth person who is willingly to get to know others i do not beleive in sitting in a bubble i will be moving to the philippines in 2009 and i wil be living with my partner so i am one of these guys that gets on well with many diffrent culterd groups i stop to give some one the time of day and i hear them out

i will come back to this post tonight or sunday afternoon thanks for sharing your views with me know i understand wear you are coming from have a good weekend

to oil killer i am getting use to this computer and i still have a long way before i am their wear the best are some times i do not put full stops as i gave up my education and this is how i am eble to express my self if i had a good up bringing i would have probbably had a better chance but i have been on my own since 14 and did not bother getting a decent education i am teaching my self how to use a computer and i am the type of guy that picks things up fast so i will try to make sure that their are full stops

when i use to drink i do not drink know i use to put left over burben or jim beam in coffe try it it will pick you up for the day but only put a little bit in not a lot

have a good weekend from damo1

Well Damo1, I'm glad to hear that you are a tolerant person who is willing to hear the other side of things. Unfortunately there aren't alot of people who are very tolerant of atheists here in the southern part of the United States. For example, there are members of my family who still don't know that I'm an atheist because I fear they will break communication with me and I don't want that to happen. I dare not mention it to some co-workers either. Anyway, I don't understand why the op left a "survey" for atheists on a christian board either, but seeing as I am probably one of the few on here, I figured I ought to respond. Anyway I'm glad to know that you are tolerant and easy-going, I hope that I encounter more christians like you.