New Members - Introduce Yourself here for many welcome and hugs.

[ChristianInvestigator]

Welcome to the forum!

[McP_82]

Hello everyone,

My name is Paul, I'm originally from Kansas, and now live in Russia.
I was brought op, as you guess, in a traditional, conservative, WASP family, but gradually lost my interest for religion in my teenage and young adult years. I've described myself as an agnostic and atheist at different periods of my life, but this process started turning around a couple years ago.
As I was getting exposed to, and acquainted with Eastern Orthodox Christianity, its teachings and views on life, society and nature increasingly resonated in me.
Now, I'm debating mentally whether I should get baptized or not. I know that my wife identifies as an Orthodox Christian, too, but doesn't practice or really believe, and it's more of a tradition-related thing.

This is  why I'm on this forum today. I'd like to exchange with other Christians, possibly with people with similar relations to religion, and hope to find my way in life!

[ChristianInvestigator]

Welcome to the forum, Paul! I know there's at least one other Orthodox believer here, so you're in good company

[McP_82]

Thanks, that's good to know, I was a bit afraid I'd be the only one.

[borgan]

Hi,

I'm a RF chapter director (PCB, FL) and am happy to be here interacting with people and making friends! I've been a Christian for 40+ years, have worked in jail ministry, and love talking about philosophy and theology! My own area of interest is history, and what a fascinating subject it is!

We are in a golden age of scholarship!  Never, in my lifetime, has there been so many resources, and never has it been so easy to connect with people to talk about these things!

[aL]

Hi, I'm Al. I've recently come to believe in God but I don't have any religious commitments beyond that. At this point I have more questions than answers and I thought this might be a good place to explore some of those questions so if you're willing to indulge me a bit I'd like to pester you with some of these mysteries that have been perplexing me lately. I guess I'll just say thanks in advance for your patience and that I'll try my best to keep up and not become too much of a bother.

[Arikel88]

This is a place for new posters to say hello and tell us a little about themselves.

NOTE: You may briefly explain your position or philosophical/theological alignment here, but save the arguments for threads dedicated to them. No agenda pushing in the introductions or welcomes.

NOTE: Before you'll be able to post freely on this forum, it's required that your initial 5 posts be approved by a moderator. This is to screen for trolls and spam. After 5 of your posts are thus approved, you'll also be able to access your profile and send personal messages on the forum.

Hi and welcome

[Q216]

I lost my access to an email account attached to my previous account 'The Q Source'.

Is it possible to merge these accounts or restore access please?

I am currently on a zero post count and very restricted insofar as what I can post. Could someone please assist me.

Q

[viole]

Hi, my name is viole, and I am an ontological naturalist. Which entails atheism.

I originally come from Sweden, even though I live in Switzerland now as a mathematician
I hold both citizenships, so you are safe to confuse Sweden and Switzerland, at least in my case.

Otherwise I am a pretty vanilla woman, with a pretty vanilla husband and with pretty vanilla children.

Hope to have interesting philosophical discussions with you guys. 

Ciao

- viole

[BooBooMcFizzle]

Hi all, Boo Boo McFizzle here - no, not my real name....

Um, not a lot to say. Was a Christian, not any more - I'm, as I tell the door-knockers, a happy atheist - , but I still enjoy talking about stuff. I might harbor a little resentment towards the Church and it's leaders from what I see as lying to us for decades, but I also forgive them to some degree - they know not what they do.

So, I guess I'm here to debate/discuss matters related to religion in hopes of confirming my beliefs. Though, I am willing to admit if my beliefs have sufficient merit or not. I'm pretty thoughtful, but I know we all have our biases and blind spots.

I enjoy listening to the Justin Brierly "Unbelievable" podcast (which I feel is the most aptly named podcast ever!) I have watched many WLC debates, the one that really struck me was his debate with Shelly Kagan. I thought Kagan expressed my view of the world really well.

Anyhow, I know I'm not going to convince any Christian to become an atheist, but I suppose these debates can be fun.

That's all, Boo out!

[AstroCat]

Hello to RF! I am going to mirror the first post in this thread to an extent: I am also a physics graduate student (though I’m weeks away from my MS, I will be bridging to PhD program almost immediately) with an emphasis on astrophysics and cosmology (hence my supremely uncreative name: I like astro and I like cats).

I am not a theist. I tend to avoid the term “atheist” because of the baggage it sometimes carries, though I am fine with the term personally. I will generally just say nontheist.

I am interested in the forum because I enjoy theological and philosophical discussion and debate. I have a Christian background, having been raised as a Christian through early childhood, so the sorts of theologians I read and follow naturally tend to be on the Christian side of theism.

It is always awkward to step into a forum holding a different worldview than the prevailing one. “Is she just here to be a heckler,” you might ask? Well, no. I try to learn, digest, and challenge myself as much as I like to present ideas and challenge other ideas. I try to always keep things amicable and friendly, and I hope that’s the sort of environment this is.

See you around the boards (as my limited time allows, unfortunately!)

[The Beego]

Hello to RF! I am going to mirror the first post in this thread to an extent: I am also a physics graduate student (though I’m weeks away from my MS, I will be bridging to PhD program almost immediately) with an emphasis on astrophysics and cosmology (hence my supremely uncreative name: I like astro and I like cats).

I am not a theist. I tend to avoid the term “atheist” because of the baggage it sometimes carries, though I am fine with the term personally. I will generally just say nontheist.

I am interested in the forum because I enjoy theological and philosophical discussion and debate. I have a Christian background, having been raised as a Christian through early childhood, so the sorts of theologians I read and follow naturally tend to be on the Christian side of theism.

It is always awkward to step into a forum holding a different worldview than the prevailing one. “Is she just here to be a heckler,” you might ask? Well, no. I try to learn, digest, and challenge myself as much as I like to present ideas and challenge other ideas. I try to always keep things amicable and friendly, and I hope that’s the sort of environment this is.

See you around the boards (as my limited time allows, unfortunately!)

Welcome SpaceKitty! Glad you've joined us!