The cook is welcome in church.
OCT. 11, 2017
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — When a young Catholic cook moved into a newly built house in a Protestant part of Belfast last September, it was a vote of faith in not just his own future — but that of the province of Northern Ireland.

That hope ended just before midnight on a Tuesday in late September, when two policemen knocked on his door and that of three other Catholic families in Cantrell Close. “We believe there is a threat on your life,” the cook remembers being told, “if you’re not out of your property by Friday.”

The cook, his pregnant fiancée and their 14-month-old son were gone by Wednesday morning. At least two other Catholic families left that day, too, while others told local politicians that they wanted to leave as soon as possible.

//At what point are you accountable for your own actions?//

At all points along my worldline where I'm conscious, because I'm accountable to my conscience and it is my constant companion.

//I haven't lied about you, nor deliberately missed your point.//

Well that's good to know.

Although I note that you've failed to address any of my other points. What, you can only address one point per post or something?

Maybe if you devoted fewer words to personal attacks on the basis of my perceived immaturity, you'd have more space to devote to arguments and rebuttals.

//You never made that point until now.//

Yeah, I did. On Friday. Here's the link:

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=19345#343854

And here's the relevant quote:

//You don't? But that's what Christians do. Everybody reads the Bible selectively.//

And here's your rebuttal:

//Do you have any teachings of Jesus you would like to discuss?//

Because if your first attempt to rail-road the discussion doesn't work, why not just keep repeating yourself? That's bound not to annoy people that enjoy healthy debate. (sarcasm)

//If I am honest with you I have guessed your age to be between 17 and 20.//

Oh dear, it sounds like somebody has been taking mind-reading lessons from the Amazing Phanto. Sorry, old reference... probably before your time. Link here:

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=19267#342653

I am very nearly 9.57321407938342 x 10^18 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom old, in case you're actually interested.

//Hopefully not older because of a lack of maturity.//

Yep, definitely studying under the Amazing Phanto: zero insight, but that doesn't matter because it was just the build up to some personal abuse. Charming. And so very Christian.

Oh well... as a wise man once said: 'whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.'

//In that age, I know people are less exposed to the world//

Well if that is the metric we're using to determine age (rather than the standard and more commonly accepted metric of rotations around the sun), I think yours would be in negative terms. No offence, but you come across as more sheltered than an armadillo in a kevlar jacket living in a specially sheltered habitat inside the Presidential nuclear bunker.

//The world does not think like you nor can read your mind. Neither can I.//

Hold onto that last thought. The Amazing Phanto may not have fully corrupted you yet.

//If you do not say your points, then you haven't made your points.//

But if I do - and it's hard to get more direct than 'Everybody reads the Bible selectively' - and you don't read so good, then that is your fault, no mea culpa required on my part.

//Regardless if you believe in God or not though//

Where does God come into this? I thought we were talking about a Jewish carpenter called Jesus.

Worst bait & switch ever.

Dear Nick,

Your reference to the cook is disturbing, but my experience is very different. Though not a Christian, I am always most welcome in church, I actively participate in services, I have clergy as friends and nobody ever asked me why I don't become a Christian.

The cook was disturbed by the 3500 previous deaths and also the Thirty Years' War was the deadliest European religious war. It took place in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648 and resulted in eight million casualties .

To AJ Phillips. Some archeological finds.

Here is a site that gives several archeological remains that support several narratives of events in the bible.

http://www.equip.org/article/biblical-archaeology-factual-evidence-to-support-the-historicity-of-the-bible/

In that site it includes.
-The Code of Hammurabi. A find that gives the laws of Babylonian empire.
-The Nuzi Tablets.
-The Merneptah Stele.
-hieroglyphic wall carvings on the Temple of Amon at Thebes, that tell about a Pharaoh's conquest on Judea (mentioned in 1st Kings 14 and 2nd Chronicles 12)
-The Moabite Stone
-Obelisk of Shalmaneser III
-Burial Plaque of King Uzziah.
-Hezekiah’s Siloam Tunnel Inscription.
-The Sennacherib Prism.
-The Cylinder of Cyrus the Great.
-as well as evidence of cities mentioned in the bible and their factually existing.
-and a discovery of the remains of Joseph Caiaphas, one of the high priests mentioned in Jesus's trial before being crucified.

There is also (might have to look these up separately. I know of them from a study bible "NIV First-Century Study Bible.")
-A carving of an Assyrian battle scene (c.728 BC) that relates to Jeremiah 19:7
-Tablet discovered in 2007 confirms the historical accuracy of Jeremiah.
-seal impressions of Baruch, who was a scribe of Jeremiah.
-"Lamentation over the distraction of Ur." A tablet of non biblical writing similar to the bible book "Lamentations.
-Brick of Nebuchadnezzar II
-Relief of Persian King Darius the Great. Gives historical credit to Haggai who was an old testament prophet said to begin his preaching in the second year of King Darius's reign.