I'm not sure how I am benefitting to be honest, but I'm engaged in this conversation now. I really am going to try to be concise this time. I'm not feeling too bad right now in the context of how I normally feel these days, but I'm still not well, I have depression and cortisol problems. And when I spend an hour on the computer my little girl is ready to do just about anything to get my attention. Reading and writing long posts isn't very practical for me at the moment. Having said that, you'll see lots of posts around from me because nipping on the computer here and there is usually the only way I can grab a break and exercise my mind a little, and talk with people (even if it is virtual reality -- there's a lot of that here LOL).

You set your post up nicely Russ. Passion, logic, and memory, yes no disagreements there. I don't see much logic in creationist arguments though, mostly logical fallacies masquerading as scientific "proof." I'll be pointing them out as I see them come up.

Did you know that in Buddhism, one of the main goals is for people to learn how not to be driven by fear? Involved in this is an acceptance of the necessity of suffering, rather than a fear and avoidance of it. Do you truly know little of any religion other than Christianity? Do you feel so firmly that they have so little to offer you that you won't taken even a glimpse into their philosophies? Just a thought. There is a lot of wisdom in the world, from all people and all cultures, and if we listen we can learn.

If sex becomes an obsession or an addiction for someone, and it blinds them to other aspects of life, or leads them into making some bad life decisions, then that's not a good thing. Everything has its place as I said before, spirituality as well as physicality. All are part of life. Indulging in one's sexual desires isn't necessarily dangerous or harmful. It may break your own personal rules about what is right. I do not believe that a god has set out rules for this kind of thing; these rules come from the ancient peoples that wrote the Bible. They are no more divine than the rules of any other society, even if they call those rules holy by their own definitions. Sorry but that's what any person who doesn't believe in a god is going to think, and even quite a few theists can think this as well, without feeling they are compromising their deeper beliefs.

You have mentioned the anti-Christ several times. I've said elsewhere what I think about prophecies. I do believe some people who would be called psychic can have glimpses of the future. I also believe that you can take any prophecy and retrospectively put together a fat dossier of "proof" that the prophecy has been fulfilled. You can cherry-pick your "facts" from whatever sources you find. Believe in a coming anti-Christ who is worse than Hitler or Stalin if you like, quake in your boots if you want. I think we've got enough to be getting on with right this minute with other nefarious goings-on caused by less than honest or loving people.

Do you realise that the person who wrote the Book of Revelation, St. John, would probably be institutionalised today for believing such things? He'd be labelled schizophrenic and put on 5 or more different psych meds. I'm not saying this makes what he said illigitimate, but I think we ought to take this book for what it is: a person's vision who claims it is prophecy. There are a lot of these in almost any religion you care to look at. This particular one doesn't speak to me, though its imagery is rather more interesting than that of most of the rest of the Bible.

I agree that instinct and emotion can be confused with each other. That is why it's often important to consider big decisions carefully and not act too spontaneously. Meditation, research, talking to other people -- these can all help. Do I not accept Christianity because I am too emotional in my thinking? No. Maybe you can claim this because in your thinking, your God is the only true God, so logically my intuition has led me astray. You know by now that I see things rather differently.

Please can we not get onto Evolution here, there is a thread for this. You do seem to steer things in this direction in other places quite a lot. It's ridiculous to reject everything the different scientific disciplines posit as facts, which have any bearing on evolution, as wrong -- but I will engage in this discussion where it is appropriate. It seems a bit much to end up with a lot of threads in different places here, all having the same debate.

And for goodness' sake, it's obvious that the Christians here don't like the Catholic church. That's your choice. But please get your history right and don't say they aren't Christian. Protestant religions stemmed from Catholocism. You may say that you follow the Bible rather than an organised religion Russ, but your ideology is bang in line with that of most Christian fundamentalists, and they would not exist if the break with the Catholic church hadn't happened. It would at least be more honest to see them as rotten parents you were glad to get away from, if that's what you prefer.

You say that sin is imperfection, but it is more than this. It is the act of violating God's laws. I've already said what I think about these laws. I do not believe they came from any God, and it is up to us and our societies to judge what the best ways are to live. Some of these laws seem to be innate because a coherent and harmonious society cannot function without them. I would rather be beholden to the people I am letting down when I break a law, whether it is myself, my family, or my community, than to a God who says "do this because it is my will."

I don't think I'll address the "effeminate" comments, I've said what I think about the attitude to homosexuality here and the hatred and bigotry spouting from people's keyboards in the name of God.

So do I feel I've benefitted from this conversation yet? Nope. But as long as people respond to what I've said, I'll carry on.