What about Cornwall? Is that north?

Pfft. London and Essex suck anyway, Kent is let off because it has the Shepherds Neame brewery.

Both the North and the south suck, the middle is where it's at.

get people like that up here...but not so much the forceful preachers, just the gouranga krishna folk.. i say "no sorry, i dont have any money" then they say.. "oh but say that magic happy word..." and i say "GOURANGA!" and im happy and they're happy.

although, one time, a monk asked my friend and i to go buy him some milk and butter because he needed to feed his monk buddies and they were not to spend their money they'd gained from begging or whatever.. but i didnt have any money so we said no sorry and he went away. he didnt even LOOK like a monk. i reckon he was just an imaginative hobo, and if i'd had the money i'd have probably bought his groceries.

Yes, it's north. Don't let those bastards at Ordinance Surveys tell you otherwise, there's a reason why we're 17th on the corruption list.

LMFAO.

Best answer 'Sorry, I worship Satan'

Reactions are priceless.

As a Christian, I really, REALLY dislike them.

My fiancee was quite upset with one recently at a major festival. He had a sandwich board talking about the types of people going to hell which was a laundry list. She got upset because we (both) know that you can't proselytize people that way. Christianity shouldn't and can't appeal by force or coercion of a real hell. It can and does appeal when people show a true change thanks to their faith in Jesus Christ. I know that the best witness isn't that of damnation, but of conviction that there's a better, more successful way in life by following the example of Christ.

im not particularly religious, but i agree with you here. yelling at folk to believe or be damned won't encourage belief. it cant be coerced. on the other hand, people who are treated well and see that there is hope when people follow the example of Christ will be more likely to follow that example, not necessarily because it makes sense or seems like a good idea, but because they will bea better person for it. like i said though, i'm fairly agnostic, so i believe that you can be a Good Person without any particular holy influence. just my opinion, though.

I have never, ever seen a preacher in my country. I currently live in the 4th biggest city in the country, and have seen none. And I've seen none when I've been to our capital.

I did see a couple when I went to Texas on a study trip, we thought they were funny.

I would argue that coercion/damning arguments *can* encourage belief, but the belief isn't genuine, as it's based of fear and not fact. A lot of people (especially youth) are coerced to join and participate in church as a requirement, and not a request or actual desire to do such....That's why 33% of all youth that attend church will never come back after heading to college - because there was a disconnect between actual faith and why they attended church.

Unfortunately, there's a major disconnect between (really stupid) 'Christians' that would rather lead by coercion and argument than lifestyle and learning. There is a lot of wealth to be had in Christianity from it's values and views that seem to be rejected by Christians because they're too busy sitting in church, hoping that prevents them from damnation. Still others think it's a wacky Jehova's Witness MLM scheme, where the top 5% get into an exclusive VIP heaven club which isn't the case.

i know what you mean, but i argue against it because in that case, is it really belief? being faithful "just in case Hell exists" seems like a cop-out. if there IS a God, and he is Good.. then surely he would rather an individual lived a good life (by good i mean kind, loving and generally "nice") by their own initiative, than "believe" in Him through fear alone, and not be terribly Good. i don't feel bigheaded saying that i try to live a Good life, but i do not do so out of fear or any particular religious pull (that im aware of, anyway).

i think we kind of agree, we're just saying it from different perspectives