Just a general observation:

Atheists, agnostics, astrotheologists, and Christ myth advocates; you can't dodge the issues forever. You feel like your day is dawning but be advised that there is a whole new breed of apologists coming along too and they are dissecting your confort zones. So, you better get ready and start confronting the evidence head on or you are going to be buried.

I agree with Oblivion, Interbane. There is no moving forward in any dialogue so what is the point in continuing it? there is never any point of agreement or concurrence, everything is disputed, denied and argued. One does wonder what could be in it for the "troll" but that is a question for psychology, not a mere message forum.

Can delusion really be so thorough that it's unable to be broken? It truly makes me sad that there are others who are caught up in it just as powerfully. Perhaps it's sort of like a virus, you can potentially immunize against it, but once caught, it's uncurable. Sorry for perpetuating it, I couldn't help myself again.

This actually is my first experience with fundamentalist evangelism. Although I know people of faith, they are more mainstream, so the attitudes and beliefs expressed here by some members and by some people I see on t.v. (like polygamy practicing Mormons and the Dugger family) are new to me.

The people I know would be at least receptive to listening and sharing, and maybe even considering. For instance I was speaking to a relative (Catholic) about her grandson who is 13 and very skeptical. She said he has a girlfriend who is Baptist and that perhaps he would be Baptist too. I said that I thought he would be an atheist and she said, yes, that he has a lot of questions. That is more the attitude I am used to.

I might have gotten used to the situation, but you're right, it's surreal to hear someone actually talk about the evidence for prophecy, YEC, Bible inerrancy, etc. On the plus side, we've heard that such people are around, so having so much firsthand exposure to one or two might be valuable. But enough is enough, I think most are in agreement about that.

I know the kind of religious people you're talking about. They almost don't seem religious at all, in the sense that they don't really believe. I'm using Sam Harris' sense of the word 'believe,' meaning accepting something as a fact. In the non-evangelical world, there are a good many people who go to church for reasons secondary to belief. They might be committed in various degrees to the people or to what the church does, or even to the idea of belief, but not in fact to the beliefs themselves. They're just there, and I would think these are the people most susceptible to falling out of sphere of religion altogether. I was one of these once myself.

Me too, Dwill. My five siblings actually cover a range of belief systems while practicing practically the same faith. My brother probably was most entranced with the spiritual/mystical aspect. One sister just custom. One social, communal (cleaning church, washing alter linens) attending a service friends will be at. One buying the story hook, line and sinker (she really thinks people lived over 800 years at one time) and the fourth receiving a completion of an unspoken need that transcends her understanding (and mine!)