>I am confident in what I believe Mike, no doubt.

You are also confident that deep down I believe what you believe, and it isn't. So get off your horse.

>I'm picking at that for the very obvious reason that you're trying to hide behind a non-answer. And, from the tone of your reply it looks like I'm real close..

Real close at pissing me off?

>what I'm asking you to do is admit that your so-called 'non standard' is actually a standard in its own right. That's all..

I have standards, values, morals, ideals, yes. But I'm not going to tie myself to a belief if I don't believe it. I also don't want to lead my life by a belief because the world will change alot faster than a silly belief will. They're too hard to change.

>And yet, when I read your messages it sure looks like to me that you're the one tossing accusatory judgements around. Have I ever asserted that your illustrations are 'pointless'?

A. As much as you would like to think it, you aren't "Swimming circles around me here", plus, it was just an unneeded explitive. Therefor, your analogy was pointless, and you've got lots of them. It wasn't a judgment, its what I consider a fact. Now YOU, call me a sub-bar thinker I cause I see a swear word as just another word for ones you use. Thats an opinion and a judgement.

>You still haven't given me any proof that coarse and base language is better or more enlightened...

Its just a word, Doug! "THere's shit on the floor" "There's excrememnt on the floor". Its the same damn thing, but you are apparently offended by one, for what logical reason?

>Well, because every position is some form of a belief system.

Belief is a strong word. I have an idea of how I should act and what life means. I don't believe anything, its too strong of a word.

>And, no offense, but it doesn't appear to me that I'm the one who's being 'close minded' here. I'm just asserting that you have a belief system just as much as anyone else does. Perhaps you just haven't connected those dots yet..

Ok, for the last freaking time. You are insisting that I have something I don't have, or want at the moment. You cannot accept this. You think that I don't know what I have. You are wrong, I know whats going on in mind. You can't accept this. You think I don't know because I'm not as old as you. Well, guess what, I'M NOT YOU. You can't accept this. Accept it, deal with it, pray for it, whatever the hell you want to do, but there is and always will be more than one type of person in the world. To ignore that is just plain closed-minded.

>Mike, how in the world can you be so sure I'm just blindly following my beliefs?

How in the world can you be so sure I have them? I don't care if their blind or not, they;re still next to impossible to change, which sucks.

>No.. I've struggled in ways you'll most likely never understand - and that I'd not want you to understand - to get to where I'm sure of my thought process.

And you are obviously the only one on the planet who's absorbed mass quantaties of narcotics and come close to the end? I was a high schooler with alot of money...

>if God does exist it's better in terms of aligning your mind with reality to believe in Him rather than denying Him, don't you think?

Nope.

>Now, if He does not exist, as I've mentioned to Erik, it makes a lot more sense to simply not bother. But, for those in this 'camp' then I just have to wonder why they get so angry at those of us who do believe in God?

We're not mad at you for believing, its after you hear things like "I don't have any beliefs" and say "yes you do" that pisses us off. Thats arrogant.