An Introduction

[assuranceagent]

Well, I happen to know a fairly educated guy from the Gulf Shores of Alabama that frequents these threads who will certainly enjoy chatting you up. Goes by the name of Town Heretic. Don't let that ID fool you, though. I'm just sayin'. :e4e:

AMR

Has anyone else noticed that you never see Chris Gergen and Town Heretic on at the same time? :noid:

Just sayin'

:chuckle:

 

[ChrisGergen]

Wow, what a warm welcome.

Yes I am that Chris Gergen.

I did fail the 7 the first time I took it. Admittedly so. I had trouble with options. It took some trying, but I did pass it finally. I decided to move back to Seattle instead of getting involved in financial services full time. I needed to work on my family. I had been away fighting in Iraq for 5 years.

No, I am not egotistical. I'm sorry you took it this way.

Miss Catty - you're such a dear. I bet you live alone with your cats? I could be wrong.

It amazes me that some of you have such little to do that you would attack a new person as they try to show themselves friendly and simply explain the perspective from which they approach a new forum.

I left Christianity because I began to do much work and study in biblical Hebrew and Greek as well as Jewish studies. The process was not a quick one and certainly was not one taken in anger. I don't hate Christians, and I certainly don't want to destroy anyone's faith. But I will challenge your thinking - healthy intellectual pitch and catch? I welcome any challenge to my thinking as well.

Thank you all for such a warm welcome. I can only imagine how nicer you will be to me in the future.

C

 

[Nathon Detroit]

It amazes me that some of you have such little to do that you would attack a new person as they try to show themselves friendly and simply explain the perspective from which they approach a new forum.

It's what we do.... deal with it.

I left Christianity because I began to do much work and study in biblical Hebrew and Greek as well as Jewish studies. The process was not a quick one and certainly was not one taken in anger. I don't hate Christians, and I certainly don't want to destroy anyone's faith. But I will challenge your thinking - healthy intellectual pitch and catch? I welcome any challenge to my thinking as well.

That paragraph proves beyond any doubt that you know very little about Christianity.

Thank you all for such a warm welcome. I can only imagine how nicer you will be to me in the future.

Look on the bright side.... it can only get better. Right? :noid:

 

[cattyfan]

Actually I live with two cats...and my husband (so I'm actually Mrs. Catty.) He's a pastor (a real one, who studied at an accredited and respected seminary where he earned his Master of Divinity.) I have a low opinion of people who try to pass themselves off as someone who they're clearly not, hence my less than warm reception for you.

 

[ChrisGergen]

Chatmaggot:

(2) Did you ever wonder why Paul preached a gospel that was kept hidden since the world began whereas the 12 taught that which was prophesied?

I do find Paul strange. I am in the midst of studying about Paul and Pauline Christianity. There is an amazing work by Robert Eisenman entitled James the Brother of Jesus which really digs into this subject. My opinion of Paul is that he was a liar and the Apostles in Jerusalem knew it and tried to either manage him or eliminate him altogether. In fact the Ebionites, a small sect of very strict Jewish Christians, held that Paul was a liar and that he was not even Jewish! Now I don't know if that assertion is true, it was just interesting to me.

 

[ChrisGergen]

Clearly you are a charming Christian lady with a warm heart and a ready hand to extend in loving kindness. Which one of the nine fruits of the Spirit would you say you extended to me? If you're not sure, maybe you can ask your Pastor - the one with a Master's Degree.

 

[ChrisGergen]

Gentleness and kindness - I'm sure it was one of those - no wait - love! That was what you showed. You should be good Christian love. Wait no, that wasn't it. You showed me joy...no wait...

 

[cattyfan]

Clearly you are a charming Christian lady with a warm heart and a ready hand to extend in loving kindness. Which one of the nine fruits of the Spirit would you say you extended to me? If you're not sure, maybe you can ask your Pastor - the one with a Master's Degree.

Rather than looking to cast aspersions on me, perhaps you could address your initial claim of having been a pastor? One which doesn't appear anywhere on your resume, nor would it fit anywhere in the timeline presented on that same resume?

 

[Granite]

Folks, it's quite possible this guy introduced himself the way he did so as to attempt to avoid anyone here dismissing him as an ignorant rube without a clue.

In any event, plenty of pastors and ministers are found in the faith who have zero formal training or education from a seminary or divinity school (as you all know), and plenty more with "degrees" from diploma mills and silo colleges.

 

[cattyfan]

Perhaps, too, you could address your claim to be a "well educated" former pastor...when no evidence of any type of education in the realm of Biblical studies or theological pursuits appears anywhere on your resume.

 

[ChrisGergen]

I was a bi-vocational Pastor from 1995 to 2006. I did not get paid except when I traveled and preached as an Evangelist in the mid to late 90's.

And who are you to claim I have cast aspersions against you? I showed myself open and kind...

I want no part of a fight with an arrogant self-righteous women and her Pastor Husband. I bet you're winning thousands with that attitude...

 

[cattyfan]

Folks, it's quite possible this guy introduced himself the way he did so as to attempt to avoid anyone here dismissing him as an ignorant rube without a clue.

In any event, plenty of pastors and ministers are found in the faith who have zero formal training or education from a seminary or divinity school (as you all know), and plenty more with "degrees" from diploma mills and silo colleges.

True...but this person made a point of claiming to be a "well educated former pastor" when that certainly seems to not be the case.

 

[ChrisGergen]

I studied theology at Liberty University in the early 90's. I left it off because I don't hold those religious views any longer...

 

[Granite]

True...but this person made a point of claiming to be a "well educated former pastor" when that certainly seems to not be the case.

Well, read #31.

I'm incredibly surprised you of all people turned this into a rock throwing contest.

Chris, welcome to TOL. You'll need a helmet, as you can already see.

 

[ChrisGergen]

I am well-educated...maybe not Masters level divinity educated, but I am well-educated. Well-enough educated to operate million dollar equipment in the military while flying missions during combat.

Please, don't attack me before you know from where I have come...
Its just not nice...

 

[cattyfan]

I was a bi-vocational Pastor from 1995 to 2006. I did not get paid except when I traveled and preached as an Evangelist in the mid to late 90's.

And who are you to claim I have cast aspersions against you? I showed myself open and kind...

I want no part of a fight with an arrogant self-righteous women and her Pastor Husband. I bet you're winning thousands with that attitude...

"Bi-vocational" and part-time, unpaid? Sounds like you were more of a church volunteer.

I'm neither arrogant nor self-righteous. I value honesty...a trait which apparently is foreign to you. I also value people who study and train for their calling...not people who simply decide to announce themselves as a pastor one day...then because of their own lack of study, denounce what they had ostensibly been preaching.

(And, to clarify, my husband hasn't entered this discussion at all. I merely brought him up to answer your incorrect assumption that I was a single woman.)

 

[ChrisGergen]

I was unpaid - but not volunteer. Serving God was an honor I did because I love people.

How many people have you fed?

How many drunks have you counseled?

How many prostitutes have you pulled out of the rain?

How many children have you housed because their parents were drug addicts?

Don't talk down to me. I've been in the trenches both in wartime and in the ministry. I don't have a Masters to hang on the wall. But I have a laundry list of people that would stand up and say I saved their lives because I loved them. So don't speak down to me without knowing were I've been.

I came to a different conclusion theologically than you, and can't that be OK or do I need to be just like you for you to be OK with me? I am educated and I did not lie. You smeared me and you should apologize for your very unloving, unchristian behavior.

 

[Granite]

Oooh, ouch. I'll remember that church volunteers don't rank highly in catty's book.

 

[ChrisGergen]

And by the way - I still do all of these things for the poor and the needy because its right and because I do love people not because your God says I should.

 

[Random]

I was unpaid - but not volunteer. Serving God was an honor I did because I love people.

How many people have you fed?

How many drunks have you counseled?

How many prostitutes have you pulled out of the rain?

How many children have you housed because their parents were drug addicts?

Don't talk down to me. I've been in the trenches both in wartime and in the ministry. I don't have a Masters to hang on the wall. But I have a laundry list of people that would stand up and say I saved their lives because I loved them. So don't speak down to me without knowing were I've been.

I came to a different conclusion theologically than you, and can't that be OK or do I need to be just like you for you to be OK with me? I am educated and I did not lie. You smeared me and you should apologize for your very unloving, unchristian behavior.

If you had a shred of humility you would not have made a post like this. True servants of Christ never boast in what they've done and lord it over people. When you boast about your accomplishments you devalue them and come off as a condescending jerk.