<firelock_ny@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1118769774.466300.298320@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

Our vacation dream this year is a cabin down in the Chesapeake
Bay area, Chincoteague Island, so we can spend most of our
day on Assateague beaches. I've taken my family there once
so far, we'd like to make it a regular thing. Wild ponies,
sand dunes, body surfing, etc...should be a lot of fun.

Oh, you *****! I've wanted to go there since I read "Misty of
Chincoteague" as a ten-year-old. I am SOOOOOO jealous :)

<Grey.Neighbor@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1118729856.638880.145640@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

Would you agree that atheist regimes who enforce atheism have an agenda
that transcends atheism?

I think that what happened in Russia was that
some pretty genius minds that thought in earthly terms to revolt in the
midst of dark history did not have the values to guide their steps once they
actually get what dreamed was justice. It is the lack of values on
individual levels that turned Russia towards that fate; not any conspiracy
that transcended individual lack of values.

The point of the Soviet Union and of China was not
to promote atheism, but to promote the supremacy of the State.

No. I think that it was to alleviate human suffering and complaints by
people from unjust circumstances.

The supremacy of the State guaranteed the power of the ruling class, and

that was the

goal of the whole exercise.

No. The state became the people of the revolution who lacked the values to
look up for God instead of earthly rewards. Those people thought that every
good thing they did was to their glory. The children in Russia were
indoctrinated in schools to take pride in calling themselves the children of
Lenin.

Of course China hasn't crumbled. It may yet grow and adapt. If it doesn't

adapt to the

human desire for religion, it too may crumble under the pressure of

Christian converts.

Death is not the death of the body rather of the spirit.

I'm sure you know that our goal here is to encourage everyone to think
for him/herself.

I am willing to donate for the cause if it were really what's happening
here.

Let me ask you something; you are an intelligent person who
speculated at the outset the possibility of a grander scheme for atheist
regimes; have you considered that those who have set this forum up for you
and encouraged the participants in a culture of violence against any
expression of faith truly care to make you "think for yourself"?

For
heavens sake my friend, if you think that those who lived under the
Communist regimes were taken advantage of, cannot you see what the people
who set you up in this forum are doing to you?

Is the culture of violence a
means for you to become an independent thinker?

I myself was an atheist;
but none like what I have seen here.

I welcome in my family people who
have doubts regarding faiths, because I believe it to be a healthy
development, but not like what I have seen on this forum. Please wake up
before you become like one of those Russians whom you judged to be fools
that lived under regimes with hidden agendas.

I'm not aware of anyone here holding up Stalin or Mao as an ideal to be

emulated.

But if you had speculated a conspiracy at the beginning why could not you
entertain that those who set you up in this forum and encouraged violence
against any expression of faith are not leading you to the path?

Frankly, I think that the United States is darn close to an atheistic
society.

I agree with your criticism. I myself used to be a socialist until I
figured that what matters is in the heart not in the pocket.

No matter how much lip service is paid to God, I don't see much actual
influence exerted by God or Biblical teachings

I know. But if you are truly seeking to become an independent thinker, do
not measure the Bible by the sinful nature of people around you.

on our national policy
of war when it's intended to protect Americans, or our national media,

which

uses sex and violence to sell absolutely everything, or on our national
priorities,
which set profit above helping the poor and unlucky. What's missing is
the ethical concerns many atheists have about social justice and
helping the disadvantaged.

Don't look after an earthly paradise. The kingdom of God will not come by a
political activity or in a magnificent city; it comes in one's heart.

I'd be curious to know if you think the present administration behaves
the way you'd expect Christians to behave, or the way you'd expect

atheists

to behave.

I only know that people are safe and free in the US; that their rulers are
not jamming them in prison when they express or doubt their faiths.

Other than that "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

I did not create the world and I won't attempt to fix it. God owns it and
He knows better how to manage it.