Christian; Faith In Hearsay?

Thank you so much, this made me so happy to read. Great to know there are still some sane people out there.

"It is vitally important that you recognize that all anyone today really “knows” about god or Jesus is based on what was written by primitive people that you never met and know almost nothing about."

The arrogance of the modern mind. Any age not possessed of twenty first century technology must have been "primitive". I doubt if people living then had average IQs any different from those of today.

"Neither god nor Jesus has ever shown himself to you directly in an unambiguous way."

Neither has Henry VIII

"All you have learned about god and Jesus comes directly or indirectly from the Bible."

Atheists want to have it both ways. One day they want to complain because not all the texts which could have been included in the Bible were included in the Bible. The next day they want to tell you that there is no textual evidence outside the Bible. Well actually the first of those two assertions is the correct one, and the Bible is not our only source of information.

"Now how do you know these Biblical authors were telling the truth? How could you?"

How do I know any ancient writer wasn't telling a pack of lies. As somebody put it, there is a level of scepticism which makes the writing of history impossible, and that is the level of scepticism which atheists, or at least the more militant amongst them, invariably bring to the Bible.

" And don’t just read apologist literature to prove I’m wrong here, read the other side too. You must know that the apologists only see what they want to see and ignore the rest."

Yes, I must admit that I have seen quite a few atheist apologists doing that.

"And what do you really know about these Bible writers and the quality of their testimony? Can you be sure that they weren’t just drunk or eating mushrooms, or schizophrenic, prone to epileptic visions, delusional, or simply con men seeking power and influence? Do you really know for sure? How could you?"

It doesn't take a genius to throw out an endless stream of unsubstantiated conjectures. Just a propagandist.

"And if those other wild Bible stories are just metaphors, then how can you be sure that the Resurrection was not also meant metaphorically – or heaven and hell, for that matter? Was Jesus just a metaphor? And what about god?"

I would advise you to read some of the scholarly literature on the subject.

What has become the Christian faith is indeed that which the Church of Rome and it's Fathers decided to include and interpret. It has little to do with the actual teachings of a man named Jesus that no one can prove historically existed. Yet these Christians are undeniably right and put their faith in whatever the early Church Fathers determined to be the truth in a circular reasoning that was built for the minds of buffoons and the uneducated. That and the point of as sword and many deaths at the hands of God's people has insured that Christianity has survived. If it was really of God would it have needed to be spread by force? That killing and arrogance they say is of the "Devil". How absurd of them. Catholic or Baptist, they share the basic scriptures and tenets that was set out by Rome and are all Roman Christianity.

I totally agree with you. The only thing you omitted is the actual absurdity of specific ideas in the Bible.

Christians would like to forget the old testament, as it is truly a savage and fantastic story which I think is more or less on par with a good Disney fantasy.

Of course, both you and I realize that when a person has a profound level of ego-involvement, rational argument doesn't work. The non-believers, like me, will agree with you. The theists will try to pick your argument apart, not willing to admit that they believe in God and the Bible for totally non-rational reasons.

And, one can hardly blame them. Who, in this imperfect world, with imperfect parents, a strong dose of absurdity , and death the end of a not always so happy story, would give up a loving God and eternal paradise for the sake of logic

For more entertainment, please click on this link. I think you will be amused

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaEj3g5GOYA&feature...

Thank you for sharing this good article with us; it is all true, the facts about many of these stories are also available but there is no reason to say anything for the story stands on its own.

I would just like to say to those that deny the validity of these arguments, be they Muslims or Christians, that their arguments tell us a lot about their mental activity but nothing about the validity of the thesis.

define "divine revelations". I doubt any Christian might state that they have got not had a private adventure that has given them faith in God. whilst this may be greater of a vast definition then you definately might use, it is greater in conserving with the thought the lack of ability of such an adventure is only in step with rumour. of direction, employing such good judgment to a question assumes the willingness to somewhat think of approximately stated question. right this is my question back to you. whilst atheists usually submit assinine responses that for the period of no way instruct logical reasoning ability, and looked completely a poke at human beings of different faiths, are they actually representing atheists properly. I continuously hear how "atheists are smarter" or "atheists are greater logical". Do the solutions published bare this out, or are they jsut further info that their is little distinction between atheists and theists?

Well, you wrote way too much but I did enjoy it.

You did, so far, smoke out 2 believers - one of them even read it all! Wow!

You outlined it very well.

That last sentence is the part that caused me to realize that the Christian god was either really dumb or completely absent.

I preferred absent. LOL

In spite of the length you did it very nicely. Thanks.

I didn't bother reading the whole thing because, from the outset, your thesis is wrong.

"your faith is really in those men who wrote those ancient texts."

No, our faith remains in God; that He has made an effort to draw us closer to Himself.

If I was a Christian, I would have to respond to this by saying "La la la, I can't heaaaar you!"