Simmer down, Stu! You've been just as guilty, at times. So, let's just go from here - EVERYONE just needs to watch the personal stuff - Ed, you, me - everyone here does! And no matter who cranks up such attacks, it puts us mods in a bad position, particularly ones like this dumb dust-up - as there is a history of this kind of stuff all around!
And let's start with Horator's cranking up trouble:
Horator: Rick, I am getting really tired of this schtick.
The whole “Both sides are wrong” argument is silly and you are silly too, Rick, for using it.
No, Rick is trying hard to be balanced, as in such arguments, there are rarely clean hands on either side - although one or the other may have started it.
Horator: However. Pick a side. Yes, it IS black and white when dealing with atheists, now choose.
What a loaded statement. So if a person is an atheist we should have different standards of conduct or how we treat them???!!! And like even Ed noted, if it's a matter of standing up for God / Christ / Scripture - yep, we mods DO have a side he realizes we'll not back down from. But as for how we treat people individually - nope, God calls us to be fair to people - ALL people. We're not to be like the lawyer questioning Jesus with His slick question, "And Who is my neighbor?" But it's not always an easy thing moderating between people who are emotionally driven and angry.
Horator: I would rather not see you on the side of some Luciferian chronic liar who has plagued a Christian website for years as multiple persons and has only gotten worse in his time spent tormenting it.
Another loaded statement. Ed made a mistake - a big one. He's publicly admitted it. OK, let's move on - he's not been here arguing against Christ or Scripture - only at times questioning things. But Horator, you are apparently making the same mistake we've seen here, time to time. And that is, equating non-believers with being an unforgivable enemy of Christians. That is exactly the opposite of the thrust of the entire New Testament. Good thing God didn't have that attitude toward the former Saul / Apostle Paul, right? NO one is going to change or influence people towards Christ with that kind of attitude!
So, what did the Apostle Paul say - as he included himself, while using the pronoun "we?"
"For if
WHILE WE were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life."
The above means that EVERY Christian, BEFORE they were Christians, were essentially an "enemy of God" - and yet enemies of a God Who wants ALL people to come to salvation and faith in Christ (although all will NOT receive Him). A God who loved us ALL so much that He came here Himself in the form of a man and endured all manner of hideous torture and brutality, to bring us His offer of Salvation. What world did Jesus come to? An UNSAVED world? Did He come here to condemn unbelievers He hated?
READ it!
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?s ... ersion=ESV
Sorry for the rant, but this attitude that unbelievers should be considered the enemy of Christians - that's simply an unScriptural attitude!