Andy S you are using what appears to be a disagreement between Christians as an excuse for you to reject God.
What appears to be a disagreement??? So are you saying that you now agree with Kala83??? This does not "appear" to be a disagreement between the two of you, it is a disagreement between the two of you. No, this disagreement is not an excuse for me to reject God. I mainly reject the Christian God because of the lack of evidence and the ambiguous and vague language concerning various doctrines in His so-called "inspired word".
If you know anything about the bible you already know that the Jews (Old Testament) / Christians (New Testament) are forbidden to use the occult in any form. You are reading the excuses of a very disobedient Christian (assuming she is one but has become terribly self-deceived). The Holy Spirit NEVER would give the OK to use the occult like she currently is.
Yes, I am familiar with the bible. As a secular humanist I am glad that you don't know Kala83 personally. Who knows, depending on your interpretation of the bible you actually might want to kill her since Exodus 22:18 says, "You shall not allow a sorceress to live".
It is apparent to me (and Kala83) that you think it is foolish for her to "use the occult". What is so funny about the bible is that she could come back at you and say that you are in danger of going to hell since Matt. 5:22 says, "...anyone who says, You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell." In addition, Matt. 7:1 says, "Do not judge so that you will not be judged".
Would you expect Richard Dawkins - a militant atheist and evolutionist - to be claiming to be a believer in God and creationist as well? Wouldn't you say he couldn't possibly be both? Can't you understand that a (allegedly) Christ-following pagan is just as much of an oxymoron?
Yes, I would say Richard Dawkins couldn't possibly be both. However, I'm not too sure that a "Christ-following pagan" would be an oxymoron since the doctrine of salvation is unclear in the bible and people cherry pick their own ideas out of the bible when it comes to how one should follow Christ. It is entertaining to me that Christians judge one another and damn one another to hell. Joey Downunder, you could lay out your entire formula for salvation and there would be many people on this forum that would disagree with your formula and point to how you are wrong through their interpretation of the bible. That's why there are thousands of Christian denominations. The Holy Spirit is either a horrible communicator or he doesn't exist.
The oxymoron I see is the person who judges another Christian and says what the alleged Christian is doing is foolish but then calls himself a "Christ-follower". My interpretation of Matt. 5:22 is that the "Holy Spirit would never give the OK" to judge another Christian in the way that you judged Kala83.
Doctrinal disputes have always been a problem for Christians. Just look into a little bit of Church history and you will find that Christians excommunicate and kill one another over doctrinal disputes. It is amazing that the all-loving Christian God would allow all these killings amongst one another but then again, I've read the entire bible and know a little about God's character. Well, there is nothing new under the sun and history repeats itself as you have proven to me in your posts to Kala83. I'm just glad you at least live in the new testament era unless you would want to find out where Kala83 lives so you could put her to death like the bible required.