An Interesting Encounter With A Young Lady.

[_antishock8]

This is a typical Christian tactic. It's the I-was-an-atheist-in-jail-would-have-died-from-drugs-hated-Christians-worst-person-ever-until-this-spectacular-come-to-Jesus-moment conversion story. They all have little twists and variations to their stories depending on their target audience, but you get the picture.

So you're discounting her story, essentially calling her a liar, why? Are you also calling Lamanite a liar, because he has a similiar story?

Why are you unable to allow people their own interpretation of their own experiences?

1) I'm calling her a liar because that's what she is. She's clearly fabricating an experience in order to evangelize.

2) I'm not familiar with Lamanite's story.

3) Where have I "not allowed" this woman the opportunity to interpret her own experience? That's a silly charge.

The bottom line is this:

Religious people, and people in general lie. But religious people, in particular, lie about their experiences in order to promulgate their faith. It's sad.

[_harmony]

1) I'm calling her a liar because that's what she is. She's clearly fabricating an experience in order to evangelize.

Or she is honestly reporting an experience she had. You, on the other hand, have no first hand knowledge, and thus no way to verify whether her experience is true or not. You can only relate your own experiences, which while they may be different from hers, do not in any way negate hers.

2) I'm not familiar with Lamanite's story.

You might want to seek it out.

3) Where have I "not allowed" this woman the opportunity to interpret her own experience? That's a silly charge.

She interprets her experience honestly. You called her a liar.

The bottom line is this:

Religious people, and people in general lie. But religious people, in particular, lie about their experiences in order to promulgate their faith. It's sad.

Everyone lie. Big deal. That doesn't mean everything is a lie. That doesn't mean this individual is lying in giving her own interpretation about her experience. You have no frame of reference by which to judge her personal experience.

[_marg]

1) I'm calling her a liar because that's what she is. She's clearly fabricating an experience in order to evangelize.

Yes that is my opinion as well. Her story seemed rather pathetic, juvenile in fact, in my opinion.

[_antishock8]

Harmony,

Everything you just posted is stupid.

Of course I can determine when someone is conning me or not. Otherwise I'd be gullible my entire life. I know when someone is lying and when someone isn't. It's not rocket science.

You have to allow yourself the confidence and knowledge that when someone is full of **** he or she is truly full of ****.

I have encountered this modus operandi so many times throughout my life that it's obvious when it rears its ugly and deceitful head. It's a typical Christian "hook" story that captures the attention of a gullible "Believer" and brings them into the fold. People who are "skeptical" are automatically dismissed as being 'hard-headed' or whatnot in an effort to maintain the illusion.

Don't be deceived by this nonsense.

V/R
AS8

[_harmony]

Harmony,

Everything you just posted is stupid.

You are, of course, entitled to your opinion.

Of course I can determine when someone is conning me or not. Otherwise I'd be gullible my entire life. I know when someone is lying and when someone isn't. It's not rocket science.

On the contrary, A8. You have, on occasion, shown a hubris that you think allows you to make declarations based on minimal evidence about people you've never met. Perhaps it comes from your roots in Mormonism. The prophet tends to do that too.

It's entirely possible that the girl is wrong. But being wrong is not the same as lying.

You have to allow yourself the confidence and knowledge that when someone is full of **** he or she is truly full of ****.

Actually, I'm about the only one who knows exactly what your ***'s really is, since I'm one of the few who actually has owned a bull.

I have encountered this modus operandi so many times throughout my life that it's obvious when it rears its ugly and deceitful head. It's a typical Christian "hook" story that captures the attention of a gullible "Believer" and brings them into the fold. People who are "skeptical" are automatically dismissed as being 'hard-headed' or whatnot in an effort to maintain the illusion.

She may be wrong, A8. She may be interpreting her experience incorrectly, but that doesn't make her a liar.

Be deceived by this nonsense.

V/R
AS8

You'd prefer I was deceived by your nonsense. Personally I think she's wrong. I don't believe in hell, you see.

[_marg]

So what do you make of all this? Fact? Fantasy? A deluded mind under duress? Whatever it was, it radically changed Storm's life, just like the young lady I met on Sunday night. I probably would not have brought this up again, except for the similarity of her experience to Storm's, though hers did not come through a near death experience, well, at least not a clinical near death experience, because for all purposes she seemed to have considered herself "dead" in some way.
(And gee, I wish some more of my rough and uncouth customers had experiences like this; my job might even be "heaven".)

Fantasy Ray. One of the tip offs was right at the beginning when he says "I had absolute certainty that there was nothing beyond this life – because that was how really smart people understood it."

Uh? So in other words this story is for people who believe in an after life but have been made to feel inferior by non-believers who think they are so smart. It shows his negative sarcastic attitude, Ray towards non believers. And no one that I know claims to know with absolute certainty what is beyond death, they may say what they believe but don't claim certainty. So what he does is paint non-believers as being dogmatic, rather than as being skeptical.

His story is not particularly very imaginative and he doesn't even try to make it somewhat credible. Apparently he's lying in bed, but in the same physical body with all the senses and organs functioning, like breathing, feelings of cold and heat etc he's looking down at this body and with that physical body he's able to walk talk , but even though he's walking miles and conveniently it's through a fog so he doesn't have to describe the surroundings he's still able to look back and see his body...excuse me what about the fog?

I only skimmed the story Ray, I wouldn't waste too much of my time on that nonsense unless I found it entertaining in an amusing way, but I don't.

[_marg]

Personally I think she's wrong. I don't believe in hell, you see.

Personally I think she's a liar.

[_Black Moclips]

His story is not particularly very imaginative and he doesn't even try to make it somewhat credible. Apparently he's lying in bed, but in the same physical body with all the senses and organs functioning, like breathing, feelings of cold and heat etc he's looking down at this body and with that physical body he's able to walk talk , but even though he's walking miles and conveniently it's through a fog so he doesn't have to describe the surroundings he's still able to look back and see his body...excuse me what about the fog?

LOL. I get the feeling that no matter how much imagination he used (flying purple unicorns?) or how much landscape he described, it really wouldn't change your opinion of the event or story, now would it?

[_marg]

His story is not particularly very imaginative and he doesn't even try to make it somewhat credible. Apparently he's lying in bed, but in the same physical body with all the senses and organs functioning, like breathing, feelings of cold and heat etc he's looking down at this body and with that physical body he's able to walk talk , but even though he's walking miles and conveniently it's through a fog so he doesn't have to describe the surroundings he's still able to look back and see his body...excuse me what about the fog?

LOL. I get the feeling that no matter how much imagination he used (flying purple unicorns?) or how much landscape he described, it really wouldn't change your opinion of the event or story, now would it?

Perhaps a better word to use would be "creative". I can find imaginative stories which are obviously meant to be fantasy ..very uncreative. Throwing in some flying purple unicorns into a story would be uncreative. Dying and remaining in the same physical body but separate to the body lying on a bed is in my opinion not creative.

And by the way, what do you think of the notion that he was in a physical body, with all the same sensations and abilities like walking as when alive. Walked miles and miles away from the body, had fog all around him which he obviously could see (based on the story yet was able to look back and see his body? Did the fog lift, if so what else did he see when it did, where did it go, did it come back? Anyhow I really shouldn't be discussing this story, as it doesn't interest me, it's just nonsense meant to sell to believers because that's the sort of story that appeals to them.

[_Brackite]

I am NOT an Atheist.

I am Theist, and a strong believer in Life after death.

The thing is, is that I don't believe in a literal eternal hell.

And I also believe in Human Evolution.

I believe in Theistic Evolution.

She sounds like a sincere, kind, and nice Young Lady.