How would you like us to convert you?
I was not asking to be converted, and regarding the feeling of the Holy Spirit in me. I feel so numb ever since reading some of Professor Gerald Joyce’s work (who showed me that it is unnecessary to invoke God when explaining biological features) and Professor Shapiro’s papers (which has influenced my views on the origin of life) and Shapiro’s book Origins: A Skeptic’s Guide to the Creation of Life on Earth, which influenced me to always engage in skeptical thought.How would you like us to convert you?
As the previous poster said, we can’t really convert anyone. The Holy Spirit (God) does that.
If you are feeling that you would like to be converted, the first step would be to pray about it. (Even if you don’t really believe in God, you can still pray - keep it simple, and just ask God whatever question you are most interested in.)
God Himself will take it from there, at a pace that you can handle. It might seem a bit scary, at first, but He has all the patience in the world, and He will lead you to whatever it is that you most need, at this point.
A short recited prayer that you can use whenever it gets really intense would be, “Lord, I believe - help thou mine unbelief.”
From “Numb/Encore” by Linkin Park and Jay-Z.
So what Christian affirming books have you read? Or have you set yourself up an echo chamber where you read only those books that affirm your lack of belief? Being your reading has made you sympathetic to Tookie Williams I would say you book list suspect.
What? Tookie has done more than most politians to quell the gang violence. He has done some work in order to prevent it from happening. I do not think he is innocent, but he should have been granted clemensy because he was a contrite man.
Sure the Holy Spirit might have done something to bring me here. Well, unfortunately that hypothesis cannot be tested in any meaningful way. But a scientist (through an e-mail correspondence) has advised me not to debate creationists and religious apologists because I am unlikely to convince anyone. I mainly came here to at least know about Catholic apologetics, not to be converted. In retrospect, I think some of the time I spent here could be used to finish reading Lubert Stryer’s Biochemistry Fifth Edition and studying organic chemistry.Someone must have the “ears to hear” and the “eyes to see”
You are spending a lot of time telling God you dont want to believe in him.
He is not going to take you by force, this is not his rejection of you but the honor he gave you to accept him out of love from your own free will.
The Holy Spirit may have brought you here. Or you can blame the posters here for not convincing you to convert.
If you showed an interest in the concepts of the faith maybe you would get more responses.
There are lots and lots of atheists who have become Catholics - in fact the majority of people who go through RCIA are coming from an atheist or “no opinion” background - only a very few are coming from an active Protestant background.
I’ll take your word for it.
I don’t believe, or rather I would hope that the people who are sceptic (which is good within reason) are not prejudice against the idea of God, and would want to know if there is a God if in fact there is one. Since Science is unable ( though some hoped) to distinguish the flame of Gods existence, it is reasonable to explore the possible existence of God. The universe does not explain the universe.
**Knock **and the door shall be opened to you. Seek and ye shall find.
I am opposed to the death penalty even for vile people like Tookie Williams. I don’t however see anything redeeming about his actions.
You woship a god as fervently as those of us who know the Lord do. your god is Science and as your life goes on you will come to ralize what an inadequate and limited god science is. The good news is the REAL Gid will be waiting for you with open arms.
Tookie wrote books to prevent children from joining gangs, so why isn’t that redemptive?
Tookie wrote books purportedly to prevent children from joing gangs but were actually poorly written, gave no coherent message and were mainly written to get him sympathy and support in his attempt to get his death sentnece overturned. Meanwhile this “compassionate” man never once apologized to the family of his Victim and never once took responsibility for his actions.
Nope, I admire people like Charles Darwin, Peter Singer, Robert Shapiro (of NYU), Gerald Joyce (of the Scripps Research Institute), Leslie Orgel, David Bartel, Jerry Coyne, Richard Dawkins, PZ Myers … etc.
