dado

prove it.

Starboy

Magus, it has to be the way you were suckered otherwise you would have been able to produce god long ago and we would all be slaves to god and would bask in the light of your holy enlightenment and we would call you brother Magus and would be calling on god to praise you and bless you and see you into heaven and when you died we would all cry and beat our breasts and scream to the heavens and plead with god to explain why such a loving and worthy servant as you should be ripped from our loving arms in such a terrible way......... or maybe not.

Starboy

Ad Astra

Many say this, and yet none of them ever have any evidence. Surprise us, Magus.

winstonjen

So free will isn`t important after all?

Still doesn`t change the fact that you made a mistake. You are also quite quick to judge.

I believe in `Judge and prepare to be judged`.

DBT

Well that's the sad thing, a lot of the happenings in the bible are just as unreal as Harry Potter.
And yet people do discuss them as if they were real.

Magus55

Sure, do you have J.K Rowlings phone number?

phoenixgirl

I find the way that Christians think this is a crucial question to be very interesting. An old Christian acquaintance whom I contacted to tell about his spiritual mentor's having been arrested for child molestation posited this to me as well . . . he told me that I needed to prove that Jesus and the whole lot didn't happen for him not to believe anymore. How did I suddenly become responsible for his beliefs?

Anyway, my response to him was that I don't believe in things just because they've never been disproved. If this were his stance, then he should simultaneously be a believer in all faiths and theories which he has not yet studied. On the contrary, his thesis is that Christianity is correct and that nothing can or will ever contradict that, so my arguing this or that point about Josephus or Mithras is really just an exercise in futility.

At the age of 12, I became an evangelical Christian due to the fear of hell. Until the age of 20 or 21, I read the Bible daily, led others to Christ, and carried on a "personal relationship with Christ" that is touted so often by evangelicals. Then one day, I was watching a documentary on cults, and it suddenly occured to me that my beliefs might possible be just as spurious as those of the former cult-members.

I never came up with a good reason why they weren't. The "relationship" that I had with a deity that I had never seen literally went poof! when I first allowed myself to question my beliefs without dictating the answer to myself ahead of time. The belief system didn't make any sense, but the human mind is full of imagination and flexibililty, and can be made to take on all sorts of nonsensical hogwash.

So anyway, one doesn't need an "excuse" to reject a fairytale. Instead, one needs extraordinary evidence to believe something supernatural. Christianity, like the other mythologies that have grown into world-wide religions, offers an interesting world-view, hope for eternal life, and reason to consider oneself chosen/superior/special. It is certainly appealing in some ways. However, it in no way is more valid or provable or likely than the other ideas out there.

My only "excuses" for believing in it would be to make my life simpler (avoiding the unpleasantness of Christians who object to my rejection of their beliefs) and to participate in the predominant religion of my region. These "excuses" are not appealing enough to participate in something that I now (as an adult who broke the cycle of self-imposed mental conditioning, i.e. brain-washing adopted as an adolescent) find ridiculous. On one hand, I can remember the meditative, cathartic, and ecstatic moments that resulted from prayer and worship. I know how subjective experience plays a role in determining what one believes. Once you have the subjective feelings to back something up, you decide that it MUST make sense! On the other hand, I can now look at Christianity without the goggles of being born into it. When you really look at it like it's just another religion, just another attempt of our forebearers to make sense of this world, it's startlingly obvious.

DBT

Unless you happen to one of the predestined.

Reality Amplifier

I disagree. If you believe in and are motivated by fear of avoiding Hell, you can sincerely speak a few words and you're magically in Heaven. Once there, I wonder if one will be compelled to worship God (still out of fear and fear of roasting). Sincerity that is based upon authority punishment or reward is still sincerity.

Acts 16:30-31 "Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."

Harumi

Well, I don't know where he lives, but you can supposedly talk to him here: Ask God