Internet Infidels

[AJB4]

I've just sent an email registration to join the Internet Infidels forum. I'm not totally sure why. I know it's generally Atheist-based. Maybe I'm kind of scared of what I'll read...

Is anyone else here a member?

[Akathist]

I don't belong. There are people at CF who do. I am aware of gossip that they do there about CF members and staff.

Some people like to go there and try to convert atheists. Think of GT only the debates are all with atheists and it is thier turf.

[MariaRegina]

There was a former member of TAW who was an inquirer. He was young like you and wanted to debate with atheists. We in TAW advised him against this, but he insisted.

He is now an atheist.

Please be careful.

[AJB4]

There was a former member of TAW who was an inquirer. He was young like you and wanted to debate with atheists. We in TAW advised him against this, but he insisted.

He is now an atheist.

Please be careful.
It's certainly uncharted territory for me.

May I ask what user it was?

[Tonks]

I'm a member and post from time to time. Back in the day when I used it more it was a place to complain about CF...a pressure valve which served a purpose. These days I find it rather boring to be quite honest...and my posting has declined substantially to the point where it has basically stopped.

[AJB4]

I don't know what I feel I have to prove to myself by posting there. Maybe I feel like I don't know what's out there. I've only accepted what I've been told my whole life...

I dunno. :sigh:

[MariaRegina]

It's certainly uncharted territory for me.

May I ask what user it was?

Andrew and Tsarina know him.
He was a muslim, then became interested in Christianity.

He was on fire to convert the atheists to Christianity, but he was still too young. He wanted to win their approval and argue at their terms, but he lost ultimately.

When you cannot quote the Bible and the Church Fathers, and when you have to prove everything by the use of our senses, it becomes ridiculous.

CS Lewis talks about this very thing. He was an atheist. Read his Surprised by Joy.

Lewis talks about being in a room all alone and knowing that there is a presence that you cannot see, but you can certainly sense, not through the senses, but through the mind.

This is where God meets man, but God allowed His only Begotten Son to come to earth and to become Man.

You must read this book. I quoted from Lewis in my English class, and the teacher became very upset with me and asked me if I were trying to convert her. She ended up giving me a B+, my first B+ in graduate school. All my other grades were straight As. A lot of other Christians in that class were furious with her as she was not a fair grader.

[GabrielWithoutWings]

I've just sent an email registration to join the Internet Infidels forum. I'm not totally sure why. I know it's generally Atheist-based. Maybe I'm kind of scared of what I'll read...

Is anyone else here a member?

Well, if you're wanting to see what an atheist board is like, you don't really have to go to IIDB to get a taste.

Just go to the General Apologetics forum on this website. It's almost as bad as General Theology.

Almost.

[ThePosterFormerlyKnownAs]

Maybe it is an attempt by the enemy to lure you away from Christianity and he disguised it as curiosity.

[Lotheriel]

I actually think mingling with atheists can be a good thing. I believe it can actually make your faith stronger by questioning what you believe. You say that you have accepted what you have been told your whole life so on what grounds do you hold your beliefs on?
I have questioned my faith so many times and I think being around atheists most of my life constantly forcing me to justify my beliefs has made me a lot stronger!

God bless xxxx

[seashale76]

I've just sent an email registration to join the Internet Infidels forum. I'm not totally sure why. I know it's generally Atheist-based. Maybe I'm kind of scared of what I'll read...

Is anyone else here a member?

I'm a member there. I haven't been there in about three years though. I'm not even sure what my user name and password are anymore.

Let me tell you something about that board. I couldn't stand the profanity and mean-spiritedness that abounds there. That alone turned me off from going back there.

Say you post something. I mostly lurked, so my posts were responses to existing threads as I'm not the sort of person who usually likes to start threads. Someone will come along and insult your intelligence, your character, your intentions. They'll tell you what you believe, think, feel, etc. It's actually pointless to discuss anything with people who truly do think they know everything, even about you.

There are people who rejoice and consider it a worthy goal to deconvert Christians over there. It is lauded. Nevermind the fact that those who deconvert usually start all sorts of threads about how miserable they are now that they are faithless. So, people will tell them to buck up, or just wait a few months to a year and that misery will pass, etc. It breaks my heart to even read about it. Don't get me started on all the threads geared toward getting people to stop praying. Why atheists would care if people pray to a God they don't even believe exists is a bad thing or will harm anyone, I don't have a clue. Well actually, I do have a clue.

The mere existence of Christians offends many of them. It's actually a pretty irrational fear for them to have, which is sort of ironic, as they tend to pride themselves on being the most rational of individuals. Anyway, they aren't really representative of atheists, just a very specific segment of internet atheists, which are a whole different breed. My advice is to stay away.

[Protoevangel]

I actually think mingling with atheists can be a good thing. I believe it can actually make your faith stronger by questioning what you believe. You say that you have accepted what you have been told your whole life so on what grounds do you hold your beliefs on?
I have questioned my faith so many times and I think being around atheists most of my life constantly forcing me to justify my beliefs has made me a lot stronger!

God bless xxxx
Lifting weights can make you stronger. But you aren't going to put an infant under a weighted barbell, I hope. ;)

That's what we're talking about here with AJB4. He can't even stand under his own strength at this time, but wants to run with the big boys.

AJB4, you really need to strengthen your own faith before you engage the enemy on their own terms. You are a gamer right? Are you going to take a low-level character with no armor, weapons, and few skills, alone into a high-level area, and expect him to live long? Yes, you may need some challenges to your faith to make you stronger, but IIF was built to crush faith, and I have known them to be quite adept at what they do.

You didn't take our advice when it came to avoiding the coc propaganda websites (and you are still full of doubt - you should have listened), and I expect you'll ignore our warnings now. :sigh: Just be careful.

[cobweb]

I posted at IIDB for about 5 years before I came here. The people over there are generally pretty nice and supportive, but I wouldn't post a lot over there right now unless you are absolutley certain of your faith OR you want to be an atheist.

[Saint Melania]

Well, if you're wanting to see what an atheist board is like, you don't really have to go to IIDB to get a taste.

Just go to the General Apologetics forum on this website. It's almost as bad as General Theology.

Almost.
I certainly agree with you there!

[kamikat]

Like Tonks, I'm a member there and used it as a pressure release when I was on staff here. For the most part, everyone is pretty nice and its not all theological debate. There's lots of social, non-theological stuff going on.

[gzt]

Generally, I wouldn't recommend for young people in spiritual crises to go to those sorts of sites because often they're unconsciously looking for a stupid excuse to lose their faith. Dawkins can look fairly attractive in the right light. Same reason a lot of college students lose their faith the moment they discover sex or booze. There isn't anything particularly convincing, they're just convenient and there at that moment, and once you go down that path, it's hard to crawl back because sin clouds one's ability to perceive God.

[AJB4]

Lifting weights can make you stronger. But you aren't going to put an infant under a weighted barbell, I hope. ;)

That's what we're talking about here with AJB4. He can't even stand under his own strength at this time, but wants to run with the big boys.

AJB4, you really need to strengthen your own faith before you engage the enemy on their own terms. You are a gamer right? Are you going to take a low-level character with no armor, weapons, and few skills, alone into a high-level area, and expect him to live long? Yes, you may need some challenges to your faith to make you stronger, but IIF was built to crush faith, and I have known them to be quite adept at what they do.

You didn't take our advice when it came to avoiding the coc propaganda websites (and you are still full of doubt - you should have listened), and I expect you'll ignore our warnings now. :sigh: Just be careful.
I don't think I'll post there for the moment (although I will introduce myself). Although, I kind of feel like I'm sort o, by not posting there, remaining "naive and ignorant", staying within my comfort zone kind of thing.

[gzt]

Well, some people use that as an excuse to go to orgies.

[Protoevangel]

I don't think I'll post there for the moment (although I will introduce myself). Although, I kind of feel like I'm sort o, by not posting there, remaining "naive and ignorant", staying within my comfort zone kind of thing.
I understand where you are coming from. I just want to say a few things.

One, you are already plagued with doubt, posting with professional doubters who want to make you a professional doubter might be a little premature at this point.

Next, this is really more of a question. Do you have a Spiritual Father you can talk to yet? This is very important if you are going to be doing this.

Finally, perhaps we've been a little overprotective of you. But we care about you, and don't want your doubt to snowball until it's out of control. I'm not up to it now, but maybe you can team up with an experienced Orthodox person here, and go into one of the CF areas where atheists debate. It's just a thought.

[AJB4]

I understand where you are coming from. I just want to say a few things.

One, you are already plagued with doubt, posting with professional doubters who want to make you a professional doubter might be a little premature at this point.

Next, this is really more of a question. Do you have a Spiritual Father you can talk to yet? This is very important if you are going to be doing this.

Finally, perhaps we've been a little overprotective of you. But we care about you, and don't want your doubt to snowball until it's out of control. I'm not up to it now, but maybe you can team up with an experienced Orthodox person here, and go into one of the CF areas where atheists debate. It's just a thought.
What if I like, actually get convinced by what they say...? :(

BTW I think I'll take your advice and lay back for now, not post there very much, at leas not about religious of God matters.

[Protoevangel]

What if I like, actually get convinced by what they say...? :(

BTW I think I'll take your advice and lay back for now, not post there very much, at leas not about religious of God matters.
I think you are making a wise choice.

[AJB4]

I think you are making a wise choice.
Yeah, but I feel like I'm only making that choice because I'm scared of what they'll say to convince me of something. I'm very much remaining in the dark purposefully. :D

They seem overall like a hostile bunch over there anyway, having made a couple of threads.

[gzt]

Well, it's not that they'll convince you by strong and irrefutable arguments, but that you're hardly in a state to be able to refute their arguments. Really, you will be interacting at the level of behavior rather than discourse. You're in a sensitive and suggestible state, you're horribly "emo". You can probably be convinced to believe just about anything if you find the right forum of like-minded people and hang out there.

[WarriorAngel]

Be careful for your own faith when entering a den of iniquity.

One must be strong in their faith to enter into athiest sites to discuss ...

They can cause someone to stumble. :wave:
I used to debate athiests as a hobby, but all too often it is frustrating.

And sometimes the spiritual attacks are subtle and before you know it, doubts can really fight for the soul.

I would advise you avoid this endeavor until you know your faith well.....really well.

Sorry, just trying to help you out so you dont stumble. :hug:

[Kolya]

There are various political commentary sites that I read very often. While I respect the blogger's views, from time to time they all feel they have to make a jab at organized religion.
They usually term it as Superstitious mumbo-jumbo. While I hold that everyone has the right to believe what they want, their almost evangelical fervor against Christianity really turns my stomach.
I don't push my faith down anybody's throat, I live by example. Why do they always have to be trashing Christians? I know that a lot of injustice has been done in the name of the church, but then between you and me, we know that Christ said 'by their fruits shall ye know them'. Their deeds mirror their inner soul.

The purpose of this rant? Be careful of athiests! They're poison. Rather than try to reason with them, pray for them. Let the Holy Spirit do its work.

Kolya