Transformed!

July 2, 2016

I'm glad Jesus loves me, because, as an atheist, I want be able to go to Heaven anyway if I'm wrong.

WestCoastRunner · July 2, 2016

I'm glad Jesus loves me, because, as an atheist, I want be able to go to Heaven anyway if I'm wrong.

I think you mean the kingdom don't you?

betsy · July 2, 2016

No they were emails to me. I don't recall insulting you in any of my posts but you have ended up insulting me. That's not such a Christian thing to do is it?

My sister would never insult anyone

I wonder how they can be email to you when she's responding to them?

I'm not insulting you. We're analyzing your odd behaviour towards this thread....and I'm going by your own post!

Your reaction to this thread is indeed bizarre - that's why we're talking about you.

WestCoastRunner · July 2, 2016

I wonder how they can be email to you when she's responding to them?

I'm not insulting you. We're analyzing your odd behaviour towards this thread....and I'm going by your own post!

Your reaction to this thread is indeed bizarre - that's why we're talking about you.

Who's we? You and Bryan are analyzing me? Sounds like fun.

Jesus loves you Betsy

Edited July 2, 2016 by WestCoastRunner

July 2, 2016

I think you mean the kingdom don't you?

Yep, that Heaven.

July 2, 2016

Wow, I just noticed! Heaven and heathen are very similar words! That can't be a coincidence.

cybercoma · July 3, 2016

Your posts are borderline spam.

She ignores you and copy/pastes trash from other websites. Yeah. I'd call that spam. She might as well be a bot.

BC_chick · July 3, 2016

I have a sister like you. I used to be able to have intelligent conversations with her. Now all I hear about is 'Jesus loves you'.

This happened with a friend of mine who went to AA, the Higher Power became like an obsession. I can't even really hand out with him anymore.

It's gotta be tough when it's a family member.

Pateris · July 3, 2016

Christianity is spreading rapidly in a lot of Muslim countries. There has been numerous reports of Muslims claiming to have visions of Jesus. Thousands are claiming this phenomena. Thousands are converting.

Good luck to them, since in most Muslim countries apostasy is punishable by death. You cannot leave Islam. It's the Hotel California of religions.

eyeball · July 3, 2016

Christianity is spreading rapidly in a lot of Muslim countries.

Adding insult to injury...

Moonlight Graham · July 4, 2016

There really is no controversy about conversion anymore. Sure activists do their best to smear the very idea, but more than enough people can and do "switch teams" in either direction, that it's obvious that you absolutely can make the choice to "convert" if you are motivated to do so.

Cothran is far from the first high profile pro-gay activist to do a complete 180 on their sexuality after a conversion to Christianity either. I've met several of them.

:lol: So you're saying you could stop being sexually & romantically attracted to the opposite sex and become attracted to men since "it's obvious that you absolutely can make the choice to "convert" if you are motivated to do so"?

Moonlight Graham · July 4, 2016

Betsy, re: your OP.

You're entitled to your religious beliefs but it takes a special kind of ignorance to start preaching this nonsense that's based on anecdotes and wishful thinking which has led to a great many gay people commit suicide because they thought there was something wrong with them and they couldn't be "transformed".

The example person from your OP sounds like a confused bisexual, not a miracle. You can choose what to act on and not act on, you can choose to repress desires, but you can't choose who you're attracted to.

BC_chick · July 4, 2016

Fantastic responses to both parties, MG. I just shook my head and moved on, but you expressed what I was unable to say quite succinctly. Very well done.

Bryan · July 4, 2016

So you're saying you could stop being sexually & romantically attracted to the opposite sex and become attracted to men since "it's obvious that you absolutely can make the choice to "convert" if you are motivated to do so"?

People absolutely do make that choice too. I know a few who have.

jacee · July 4, 2016

People absolutely do make that choice too. I know a few who have.

Moonlight Graham said it best:

You can choose what to act on and not act on, you can choose to repress desires, but you can't choose who you're attracted to.

.

Bryan · July 4, 2016

Moonlight Graham said it best:

You can choose what to act on and not act on, you can choose to repress desires, but you can't choose who you're attracted to.

.

Yes you can. People do it all the time.

jacee · July 4, 2016

Yes you can. People do it all the time.

People may change how they act.

They can't change how they feel.

.

Smallc · July 4, 2016

Male homosexuality exists throughout nature. Maybe the swans are just making a statement?

jacee · July 4, 2016

Male homosexuality exists throughout nature. Maybe the swans are just making a statement?

Surely not!

We must 'transform' those sinning swans!

.

Bryan · July 4, 2016

People may change how they act.

They can't change how they feel.

.

They can, and they routinely do.

betsy · July 4, 2016

Good luck to them, since in most Muslim countries apostasy is punishable by death. You cannot leave Islam. It's the Hotel California of religions.

A lot of them are "underground Christians." For most, even their own family doesn't know that they've converted.
I've heard of a muslim who still identifies publicly as an imam, but had actually converted to Christianity.

Jesus loves you Betsy

Yes.

And He very much loves you.....if you'd only open your heart to Him, you'll know that, too. You're precious to Him, WCR.
Actually, your responses indicate the sign that you're strongly reacting to this - it means you're sensitive.
There's a conflict going on inside you. He could be knocking......

Stop resisting Him.

Now, let me just remind you guys about that explanation given by the National Academy of Sciences:

"Science is not the only way of acquiring knowledge about ourselves and the world around us. Humans gain understanding in many other ways, such as through literature, the arts, philosophical reflection, and religious experience. ....."

http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/site/faq.html

Science is very much limited. It acknowledges that. There are things that science cannot explain.

Take note that the statement didn't simply say, "religion." It specifically says, "religious EXPERIENCE."

How can science explain away millions of claims of religious experience? Experiences so strong that they transformed lives?

For some reason, some non-believers could not help but believe!

The conversion of CS Lewis comes to mind:

You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.

I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape? The words compelle intrare, compel them to come in, have been so abused be wicked men that we shudder at them; but, properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.
― C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life
, 45-46)

Kris Kristofferson talked about a religious experience, and reluctantly became a convert.
His song, "Why Me Lord," resulted from that experience.

The feeling of "release," "lifting of the burden," and enormous "feeling of joy," has been described by numeorus converts on the fateful moment of conversion.

Maryland's most wanted had made a pact with the devil.

The authorities finally caught up with Bobby. One cop grabbed me, and rushed me and put me in a cop car. And they flew me, drove away instantly, from the scene, and I had a hood on my head. And he looked back and asked me, Are you ok? and I said, Why would you ask me if Im ok? Im a monster.
He said, I just wanted to let you know Im a Christian, and I got you out of there because some people would like to take your life. And that showed me at that point, that God had his hand over me. And I started crying in the cop car, because I didnt think I deserved grace. I didnt deserve forgiveness. And it was deep.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison. It would take a prison sentence, and God bringing me to my knees, the scripture says all knees will bow one day. I was bowing my knees. I didnt really think anyone could make me bend my knees, because I thought I was indestructible and powerful, and I could do what I want.
Bobby decided to tell God about his problems. And when I did, I thought God would punish me, but He told me He loved me, and His love broke me.
Bobby renounced the deal he made with the devil years before. I was looking for punishment and He gave me forgiveness. And that changed my whole life. For the first time I was actually free. I found myself free in prison.

http://www1.cbn.com/700club/former-inmate-comes-home

Here's Bobby Bowers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCErsvv7LEk

It's not only non-believers who's been transformed. So many of us are prodigal sons.

Alice Cooper.

When you get out there and realize youve had every car, every house, and all that, you realize that thats not the answer, he said. Theres a big nothing out there at the end of that. So, materialism doesnt mean anything. A lot of people say that theres a big God-sized hole in your heart. And when thats filled, youre really satisfied, and thats where I am right now.

He continued, And when I stopped drinking, I started going back to church with my wife, and there was this pastor in Phoenix who was just Hell-fire. I mean, there were 6,000 people there and he was talking to me every Sunday. Of course, he wasnt, but he was just nailing me. Every weekend Id get out exhausted. Id come out of there and be, I dont want to go back. It was like torture and I always came back.

I finally realized, I had to go one side or the other, said Cooper. I had to make a decision for one side or the other, because I was so convicted. The Lord really convicted me, saying, look, its time to make a decision here. I said okay, and I joined a church called Camelback Bible over there, and thats where I go now. Its a really good teaching church, good strong Bible-teaching church.

http://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/alice-cooper-christian-world-belongs-satan

Edited July 4, 2016 by betsy

jacee · July 4, 2016

They can, and they routinely do.

They're lying to you.

.

cybercoma · July 4, 2016

They're lying to you.

It doesn't matter if people choose to be gay or not. It only matters to regressive bastards who think that homosexuality is something that's disgusting and needs to be stamped out. They want to point the finger and blame gay people for not choosing to be straight. You never see anyone who subscribes to the choice theory chastising straight people for not choosing to be gay. The fact is some people choose and others don't and it doesn't matter one damn bit unless you're a knuckle-dragging neanderthal who is disgusted by same-sex couples.

betsy · July 4, 2016

Betsy, re: your OP.

You're entitled to your religious beliefs but it takes a special kind of ignorance to start preaching this nonsense that's based on anecdotes and wishful thinking which has led to a great many gay people commit suicide because they thought there was something wrong with them and they couldn't be "transformed".

The example person from your OP sounds like a confused bisexual, not a miracle. You can choose what to act on and not act on, you can choose to repress desires, but you can't choose who you're attracted to.

It's your ignorance that shows through your statement......for one thing, I didn't say it was a miracle! Read my OP again.

They may be anecdotes but it's not for you to say that what they feel is not real. Have you notice that Charlene Coltran

did a life-changing decision?

For her to stand before an auditorium of gays and lesbians at that fateful day......and to publicly reveal her transformation....to dismiss that as mere "confusion," is a very shallow analysis of what just happened.

It's not confusion. It is a conviction!

You're basing your rationale on a very narrow assumption - basing it all on how you, or what you think about religion.

You are being judgemental since you suggest to know the motive for each and every gay that want to convert.

Who are you to know? Have they confided in you? Do you know their pain?

For some people, the desire to make a choice goes far beyond the mere physical.

It depends on each individual as to the motive we have for making choices.

Some people do feel the pain of having that void, thus they are never happy until it is filled. Some feel the void but are not capable to recognize what it is exactly that's missing.

Edited July 4, 2016 by betsy

betsy · July 4, 2016

Have you heard of David Kyle Foster?

Former Homosexual Reveals 'Unmitigated Disaster of Gay Marriage'

For over 10 years I lived the homosexual lifestyle, and for 34 years I have not. And there are very good reasons for that difference. To those who suggest that I never was homosexual, my response is, "Does sleeping with over 1,000 men count?"

I recognized the obsession with youth and beauty that drove their fantasies and lusts and knew that once I entered my thirties, the thrill of being wanted would quickly come to an end. I cringed at the epidemic of perverse sexual behaviors commonly practiced and celebrated by gay culture and wanted nothing to do with them.

Such behaviors were so obviously perverse. Simple anatomical design declared it. A man was designed to interact sexually with a woman. That's the design. And when sex is practiced outside of that design, physical damage and a legion of diseases are unleashed—not to mention the judgments of the Lord described in Romans 1:24-32: "God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual immorality ... God gave them over to shameful lusts ... receiving into themselves the due penalty for their perversion ... God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done," and in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: "the sexually immoral ... those who practice homosexuality ... will not inherit the Kingdom of God."

God created a man and a woman to become one flesh in a lifelong covenant of love (i.e., "marriage"), and to be fruitful and multiply when possible. God invented marriage. He designed it as a prefigurement of the marriage between Jesus and His Bride, the Church (Ephesians 5:31-32), and laid out its parameters from the dawn of time. Even cultures that do not know Him have followed that design from the beginning. There is no ambiguity about His design nor His description of it in the Scriptures. Indeed, every departure from that model is universally condemned and forbidden by Him, for what it does to our bodies, our souls and to the image of God that is stamped into the one flesh, marital union of male and female.

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/44691-former-homosexual-reveals-unmitigated-disaster-of-gay-marriage

"Watch the story of a former Hollywood actor who lived a double life as a male prostitute while starring in films and television before finding God on a trip to Israel."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujPWcEPFUf8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BND4PZQqIv8

Edited July 4, 2016 by betsy