welcome to the site, and don't let the lack of emails get ya down. Ya gotta be here for a while and do a lot of work (actually, this whole romance thing is a lot of work!) before you start getting responses.
You're posting to the forums though - that's the best thing to do.
It's possible oxygen played a role - but oxygen by itself is not enough. It would also require things like increased atmospheric pressure. That's a one hour lecture I do on that subject alone, soooo, obviously I won't be writing that here :rolleyes:
As far as pterodactyl sitings in Utah, believe it or don't, I investigate such reports, and much to my surprise, I know of more reports of possible living pterodactyls in North America than any other place on earth! Specifically, Arizona, Texas, Utah, and Mexico. But I don't know if you caught this report of a "bird" the "size of a cessna airplane" that half of Anchorage Alaska saw about three years ago. Do an internet search, you'll find the reports.
Why - do you think you may have seen something in Utah? Message me privately if you did and are afraid of sounding crazy.
When I talk on this subject - especially in the south west, I often have people who come up afterwards to say that ya - they saw what they thought was a pterodactyl; but they wrote it off, figuring it was their imagination or something. Then they found out others had seen the same thing.
Then there's other reports, for example, of Mokele Mbembe in the African congos - what appears to be a long-necked dinosaur. That was originally investigated by evolutionists in the 70's - namely Roy Mackal from the U of Chicago.
The pterodactyls aren't the only sightings we gotta deal with.
Welcome to the forums. Sadly, what you are experiencing will be the norm - and it's the same for both men and women. All I can say is "keep plugging away."
I've emailed at least that many women, and have only had three responses, all of which turned me down, but at least one of which has turned into a very nice friendship actually.
You're doing the right thing posting to the forums here though - attend here regularly and post regularly. There are many "lurkers" on here who don't post, but read all the posts, and they'll see you for who you are, and that may get their interest. There's been a few ladies here who've written to me as a result of my posts, but I've never seen them post anything on the boards. And again, a couple of those I've really appreciated the friendship.
Thank you very much ladies. I was just making those lines up; I am more careful what I write, and typically, I go the more conservative approach.
K. wrote:
"kind of a little freaky for a stranger type of man in his first approach to say ooooh baby im here to take you off the market."
Haha! Ya, I guess I didn't mean it that way - but that's the kind of feedback I'm after. Tanks eh.
Angel wrote:
"You gotta get to know someone first and then decide if they are right for a possible relationship. I'd just go for a friendlier approach."
Okay, now my former girlfriend (we're still good friends, she coaches me a little bit) was saying something along this line too; and this is where it gets kinda, I dunno... confusing? I mean, it's a christian dating site - we're here for a reason, so I figured pouring on the flirtation was acceptable here, and being up front about my hopes and intentions - even though I'm very much a "friends first" kind of guy anyway, so I would be seeking friendship anyway - but I figure, what the heck: get the question mark out of the way?
Even when I first started out approaching ladies on the christian dating sites, and I was ultra-conservative, "Hey I just want to talk to get to know you" and not suggesting anything romantic, the reactions were *exactly* the same ....silence (which much as I hate it, really is an answer), or "I'm sorry, I don't think we would be compatible." - even though I never even alluded to anything in the direction of romance.
Okay ladies, as I attempt to approach various ladies and express interest, I find myself wondering how I should approach a total stranger on these sites to express interest.
Should I go for the gusto? i.e.
"Hi _______, I was reading through your profile, and WOW - you're still single? Can I try to help you change that? It was so nice to see that there are single women of God out there still, but I'd sure like to make it one less single woman of God available. My name is Ian, please take a look through my profile."
Or something more conservative like
"Hello _____________, I really enjoyed reading through your profile. It's nice to see that there's Godly women out there who are still single. I really liked what you wrote and would like to get to know you better, in hopes that maybe it'll go somewhere. Would you please take a look at my profile and get back to me?"
Or something like that - I'm just throwing out some hypothetical approaches. I've tried something like both of these, but seeing as how 99% of emails sent never get any response, it's difficult to know what's going on on the other end, y'know'm'saying'vern?
Remembering that this is a total stranger that you may take one look at my profile and go "Wow - we are so not compatible" cause sadly, the lady often knows something that I don't and we're just not compatible.
Would you be offended by a certain approach? Is there one approach you appreciate more than another?
Gimme yer random thoughts on this please, and any coaching or suggestions of what to first write would be appreciated.
Ian
p.s. - if you ladies would like, I can tell you in another forum what I think the guys like if you try to approach them.
It wasn't just sitting on the fence that was the problem; the problem I ran into was finding rational, calm people to debate this with. Most just went off the deep end, got very emotional and very irrational.
I think it's important to ask the tough questions - if we do not, the atheists will be MORE than happy to ask them for us - and publically no less, to make us look bad and put us on the spot - ultimately to make Christ look bad. I don't mind admitting I don't have answers, or I'm questioning major theological issues. This is how I've gotten the answers to all of the tough questions that I speak on now.
Sadly, it's just been so crazy I haven't had time to delve into this.
There's so much more I want to add - especially onto John Constantine's post on hell - but I've already spent enough time on these forums when I should be doing work elsewhere :rolleyes: and merely participating in the conversation would take incredible amounts of time...
I've been too busy and then on the road to post in the many excellent posts in biblical discussion - the one on hell is one of special interest to me. All I know is that I know enough to know that I don't know enough! I'm still researching this years later.
This ties in somewhat with that discussion. My time is still limited, but I thought I'd throw this out there.
I was aware of several interesting points in the scriptures referencing God's soul:
Lev 26:30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my *soul* shall abhor you.
Mat 12:18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my *soul* is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
But then I stumbled on this (prophetically speaking of Christ):
Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt *make his soul an offering for sin,* he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Isa 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his *soul,* and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath *poured out his soul unto death:* and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
and again in Matthew:
Mat 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My *soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death:* tarry ye here, and watch with me.
Now of course this brings up a question that a friend of mine (of annihilationist persuasion) brought up: "Does a man have a sould, or is he a soul?"
anyway - This was very interesting how Christ made His soul an offering for sin - offering implies sacrifice, and destruction.
Coming back to the annihiliationist perspective (which I do not adhere to, I am actually sitting on the fence on that one; I've seen good arguments from both sides); one annihilationist argued like so:
"We are given the analogy that we are in a courtroom on judgment day. We have been found guilty of heinous crimes and the punishment has been sentenced. A person steps up who was guilty of no sin, and takes on our punishment.
And thus, if Christ took on the punishment of our sins, and punishment for our sins was eternal torments in the lake of fire, then Christ should be eternally tormented in the lake of fire."
Of course, I pointed out that that argument is a double-edged sword: If sinners are destroyed in the Lake of fire (as the annihilationists propose), then Christ should have been destroyed in the Lake of Fire. I freely admit that I have no answer for the courtroom analogy, which is why I don't use this analogy anymore. I can come up with ad-hoc arguments for both camps, to explain away why Christ didn't receive the judgment - but it is all ad-hoc frankly.
However, you can see how this verse from Isaiah now comes into play. Is man a soul? The scriptures speak of God destroying a sinner's soul i.e., Lev 23:30.
So - if soul is a part of man (a living part aside from the flesh), did Christ sacrifice His soul that He created as part of the human body that He created to sacrifice for us?
I'm sure this is bound to stir up controversy, so bring it on - I wanna hear what y'all have to say. Like I said, I'm sitting on the fence - and that's a very uncomfortable place to be. I will argue the points as I have time, simply to argue them - not because I believe one way or another.
Welcome to CDFF, and welcome to the forums. Make sure you post lots - this way you get to know people, and people get to know you. Remember - there's a pile of guys who read through the forums, but never post - you only hear from them out of the blue when they write to you.
But keep your chin up and don't be discouraged by a lack of response - everyone here gets a little discouraged by the lack of response. Keep plugging away.
Welcome to the forums, and keep your chin up. They call it "fishin" and not "catchin" for a reason. You've done the right things coming here - post like mad on the forums!
