I've found myself thinking that Dotard and Heretic seem like two peas in a pod.

Because I found his post thought provoking and couldn't find any flaws in his original post?  (found here http://sntjohnny.com/smf/index.php/topic,1549.0.html

that the outlay of 300 million dollars a year is prima facie evidence that in fact quite a few people do?

No, that tells me about 18750000  people gave about four bucks each. Or 150 million christians gave two bucks.  How many professing christians are there?

Apparently for that the only thing that will do is cutting off people's heads and flying into buildings.

If that is what your God commands then yes, that is the only thing that will do. 

Out of all the commandments found in the Bible you pick "Everyone live in peace and just get along" and cite that as evidence for serious believers? If a gaggle of atheists are "getting along" is that evidence of serious theism?

I would say serious believers would be carring out every commandment given in the bible from killing those who tempt you with following 'other Gods' to not eating those slit-hooved animals to not wearing garments made of two different materials to selling all that you have.

The thread was a good read anyhow.

Well said.

I see your "barreling truck" analogy . . . and I raise you a
"global warming" analogy.  I bet a lot of people believe in human-caused global warming by now.  But how many are seriously working to combat it? 

"So his arguement stands."

I can't let you get away with that.  :)  Did you also research how many Christian charities and organizations are out there?  I simply listed one that I was familiar with.  There are others, and if you include organizations that you don't necessarily approve of but nonetheless reflect sincere belief in one's own precepts, then you have to include organizations like Focus on the Family and every church building, every Christian school, every Christian college, every Christian seminary, too.  There is ample evidence that tens of millions of Christians are willing to put their money where their mouth is.  Moreover, I object to expanding the overall sample to the entire world and focusing only on the 1-2 million we agreed are likely sincere in relation to the 2 billion others in the world.  A more fair comparison would be to take that 1-2 million and compare it with the number of Christians within Compassion International's 'target market' which is almost completely the American church.  So, how many Christians are in America?  And there are other relief organizations, both for domestic and international (eg, Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Services are massive operations acting domestically)?

It is also worth pointing out that this all happens largely uncoerced.  Christians aren't taking anyone else's money to be generous with via taxation, they are being generous with their own money.  And that surely means something.  Compassion International collects 3 billion dollars every 10 years on donations alone. 

"I can't seem to find anything that lifts and separates (oh wait, that's in ladies lingerie), I can't seem to find anything that lifts, revises or fufills these passages."

Where did you look?  Though it isn't exact for this example, did you at least look at the Acts passage I gave you? 

"No sir. The question is whether carrying out the instructions given by any God in their holy books is demonstration of a sincere belief in the reality of that God. Not just head cutting."

Right, but you turned it into a test of "If God tells you to kills someone, should you?" which is a different question than "Should a person's actions reflect their beliefs?"

"Same with christianity. To do anything less than 100% what the God of the Bible commands you to do demonstrates a lack of sincere belief in the reality of the belief."

I don't buy it.  Have you ever made a promise that you didn't keep?  You believed you could, but you failed.  Was your belief not sincere?  Were you not well-intentioned?  Can't people make mistakes?  Could even a hedonist tend to only his own pleasures 100% of the time?  Setting aside completely the question of how well Christians follow through with their beliefs, I dispute that humans with any beliefs can act out their beliefs consistently 100% of the time.  I don't think this has to be because they don't have a sincere belief.  There are lots of reasons.

Even on your example of Muslims cutting off heads, presumably 100% adherence would require that every Muslim cut off the heads of every infidel at every opportunity.  Bin Laden might say that a more strategic approach would be better- lay off the head cutting, wait ten years, and bomb a building.  But what about all those infidels they passed by in the meantime? 

There are rational constraints on human activity.  For example, you cannot be in two places at one time.  You often cannot do two things at one time.  You can't be a missionary in Africa while at the same moment you are feeding the poor in Chicago while at the same moment you are studying to be a pastor while at the same moment you are working your 9-5 to put food on the table for your family.  That is reality.

Very few people believe in God. 

Now billions of people may say they believe in God, but very few people actually do.

As silly as I may be here in the snj boards sometimes but I don't think I can make this kind of claim ever.

But I understand why this is done.

There are examples of people who have given all they have (christians) which are very consistent with their belief.

And sometimes I've read stories of people who are not religious at all but give all they have to help those in need.

One day threads like this will end.. I hope

So the question continues

But this is just a tad thing of this thread so far... I am hoping to address more of this thread when I have more time.  :)

Titled "You don't believe in God." by Heretic.

This person is right.

I gave an elementary introduction to answer this.. now tell me more how this person is right based on the comments made so far.