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I have a little Trump fatigue and wanted to change the topic a little. Just a harmless anonymous poll to get some discussion going... (you can choose more than one because.... why not?) And BTW, this is not some elaborate way to proselytize, although after I read it, it kind-of looks like that. I'm just genuinely curious about what people believe.

I am a Christian, but I have lots of questions. I’ve found some answers. But for every answer I find to my satisfaction, it seems like I come up with a couple more questions. I suspect that there are some Christians on this board with similar questions—or perhaps some non-Christian posters who have questions about Christianity—so here goes. btw, I am hoping this can be a thread to discuss God, the Bible, and Christianity—sort of an online bible study—not to debate the existence of God, but rather to discuss aspects of Christianity. I'm not sure it will be possible to have such a conversation on HB, but it's worth a try. (O/U on the number of posts before some joker touts the Flying Spaghetti Monster: 12) ======= Okay, one question I have concerns the Holy Spirit. At one extreme, some Born Again Christians claim you can’t be Born Again until you receive the Holy Spirit. At the other extreme, I had one minister tell me that the Holy Spirit does not exist today—that it only existed during the generation alive when Christ was crucified. He said those who claim to have received the Holy Spirit are headed down the wrong path. So my question is, what gives? Does the Holy Spirit exist? And if so, do you need to receive the Holy Spirit in order to be born again?

Article on Gawker Article on Arkansas Times The issue is that Arkansas State Representative Justin Harris (R-West Fork) has three biological sons, and they were looking to adopt to help kids out. Sounds good on the surface...but the two girls, aged 4 and 2 in 2012 "suffered from reactive attachment disorder, a condition sometimes occurring among children with unstable backgrounds that results in severe emotional and social problems." (ArkTimes) Harris is throwing all of the blame at Arkansas' Department of Human Services (DHS) and that he and his family were 'misled' about the girls condition. DHS is calling bulls**t on his claims (quotes via ArkTimes): But of course, they pressed on and pulled strings/used connections to get the kids, despite numerous objections. But when things went sour, instead of taking blame themselves and doing the right thing, they instead turned to Jesus* for their answers: Of course, these good Southern Christians believe you can "pray the gay away", so a little bout of demonic possession and telepathy should be a walk in the park, right? No...problems persisted, and the Harrises, who also owned a daycare, decided to give the girls away to a worker from their daycare: Okay...so why did the Francises leave the employ of their daycare? Well, initially the Harrieses said it was so the husband could go to seminary school. But after allegations of the rape of the two girls the Harrises put in the Francises' care came out...the story changed: And here's the rub with all of this--the Harrises' rehoming of the girls can't be discussed by DHS, the agency that the Harrises are claiming failed them--most of the people that went on record had to do so anonymously and/or were former employees. But the evidence is overwhelming that the Harrises were rather fanatical in their beliefs, and these girls suffered because those beliefs were upheld over existing, proven, documented science and therapy guidelines on how to properly help these girls out. So, of course, people are crucifying the Harrises for their missteps, throwing DHS under the bus for their own failures, and their whackadoodle beliefs, right? So, if you have a Picard facepalm pic, this is the place where you would use it. Thankfully, and most importantly, the girls have been adopted by another family, and are doing quite well. In fact, so damn well, that their current family felt the need to speak up and call bulls**t on the Harrises' story: I guess the takeaways/questions I see are: If lay Christianity is truly more rational and compassionate than what the Harrises displayed, then why the hell are they not standing up and denouncing their bats**t crazy, insane beliefs of demonic possession and exorcisms? If they're not speaking out against their abuse and beliefs, aren't they supporting them with their silence?

There's something about Christianity that really seems bother some people. A number of people are downright hostile towards the topic of God and Christianity. Well, that got me to wondering. Why? What has Christianity, or Christian people, done that turns people off to the point of being hostile? I mean, I can understand why a person would zealously believe in something. I just find it odd that people would zealously *not* believe in something.