"Irrelevant drivel?" My goodness (or is it Godness or both?).

Speaking of drivel - what makes one sort more relevant than the other?

I suppose the mere mention of the word "God" brings out the "devil" in some people.

But enough of the jokes ... (I was just kidding).

The only way to avoid stepping on toes is to stand still. Religious convictions, if they are convictions, can't be pulled on and off like a pair of boots.

I'm an optimist, who worries a lot. And, I suppose I do look at the world through rose-coloured glasses, but isn't that better than having blinkers on and only seeing what's in front of my own nose?

I've seen enough examples of altruism and sacrifice to live in astonishment at what humans are willing to do for each other, and enough examples of cruelty to despair at what we are capable of doing to each other. The contradictions within human nature are inescapable.

I accept that God's will be done without professing to understand it.
I reject the suggestion that we pray for God to be on our side,
praying instead that we're on the side of God.

The "Godbotherers" don't bother me. I suppose because they argue that the "most acceptable service of God is doing good to man."
We cannot I suppose be certain of that. But we can at least make an informed guess that we've been given a conscience for a reason...

But is prosperity grace, runner? Is it virtue?

Rich man? Eye of needle?

In the 17/10 topic "Two bars in control", CJMorgans sole contribution was a snide attack on another poster. He did not have a single positive thing to say.

The thread was about great songs of the past 25 years, surely an opportunity for something positive from Morgan.

Sums up his contribution to OLO, snide and abusive. Had you tagged months ago Morgan, a hater.

As far as I'm aware, palimpsest, I don't hate anybody or anything. In fact, I don't personally understand that emotion.

However, I do confess to be unenthused by the Wiggles, and thought it absurd to see them mentioned in the context of "great songs of the past 25 years". I'm not sure that constitutes hatred.

And what on earth does it have to do with the issue of godbotherers?

"most great learning centres in the Western world were started by Christians"
Runner, given that all of the western world is Christian, that's not much of a point. Christians have in the past though been responsible for much destruction of learning (and ignorance of it).

"many of the great inventions were invented by Christians" - not necessarily going to argue with you here, as I'm not sure which great inventions you are referring to, but instead make the point that many scientists whose theories allowed these inventions to occur were actually church outcasts (think Newton et al).

"countries that adopted Christian principles have prospered much more than any others" - what about much of Africa (mainly catholic), South America (catholic), Ethiopia (Coptic)? How about you rethink this one

There is something inside us all that causes us to seek the ideals of human character above the fallen state of humanity. From that something we are able to make judgments on others on what we perceive as that perfect image of humanity.

However we all fail to see ourselves as others perceive us. We all prefer to not be classed in the imperfect bunch. Only the honest will confes their shortfall. The fact is we are all among the imperfect.

There is only one who is perfect, but when we met him we consider him also imperfect. Why? Because He does not match us in character and attitude and therefore he does not measure up to how I really want to view the World. The fact is we prefer a little bit of rebellion, rather than conformity to idealism. The fact is God is too pure for how most of us want to live our lives. God Himself bothers us!