Gregg

Well, you can laugh at yourself, Alistair--that's a good sign. So is your willingness to seriously study other points of view.

You are correct that just because 99% of religions are false does not mean that there cannot be one religion that is true. However, you have not provided any reason for anyone to believe that the one true religion is Christianity. The evidence to support your faith is no stronger than the evidence for any other faith.

On your last point, I'm very much aware that Christians like to claim that this is a distinctive feature of their faith. However, I'm also aware that it's a very chauvinistic claim to make.

Judaism supposedly began with God coming to Abraham and telling him to leave his comfortable life and go somewhere else. Abraham wasn't on his knees praying to find God--God came to him. Same thing for Moses. Moses was trying to make things better for his people, but he wasn't looking for God. God came to him, and at first Moses was very reluctant to follow God's orders and made a lot of excuses. The Pentateuch is full of stories of God intervening in human history and in individual human lives without anyone asking.

Islam supposedly began with Muhammad looking for a way to help out the poor, wandering desert tribes, but he wasn't looking for Al'lah. Al'lah sent the Angel Gabriel to him, and Gabriel squeezed the stuffing out of him several times until he cried "uncle!" and agreed to write the Qu'ran which Al-lah communicated to him through Gabriel.

Now, I'm not saying that these things actually happened, but many believers in Judaism, and nearly all believers in Islam, sincerely believe that they did. And in all of these cases, GOD INITIATED THE CONTACT WITH MAN...not vice versa.

Something else for you to think about.

Benjamin Franklin

Alistair,

I am sorry. My tone was a bit rude. It is just that I have been caught out quite often in the past by the tactic that if you cannot explain the origin of the Christian religion, you must accept it as true that I am a bit reactive when I see it being foisted on me again.

BF

copernicus

Nice summary of the jesus mystery claims, Gregg, but that link is broken. Try http://pages.ca.inter.net/~oblio/home.htm for the new home.

Alistair, you've made a good point that, just because the vast majority of religions are wrong, that is not evidence that any particular religion is wrong. It is, however, evidence that any particular religion is improbable. And the facts are quite consistent with the possibility that no religion has got it right. If you can't offer positive evidence in favor of religious belief, then you have to fall back on faith--belief without evidence.

NOGO

I read a book nearly 25 years ago called

The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross
By John M. Allegro

I found this book hard to swallow however the basic premise that hallucinogens such as the Amanita Muscaria (mushroom) could have played a part in many religions.

If we think in terms of the belief that
[1] someone is possessed by either satan or the spirit of God, [2] speaking in tongues, [3] the kingdom of heaven as in the transfiguration etc ... are all elements which may have started with the use of drugs.

Paul, on the way to damascus saw a light and heard voices. Was he drugged?

John M. Allegro claims that Josephus writes that some people were asked to travel to the countryside in order to be shown proof of God's revelations (or something like that ... it has been 25 years). He claims that this may have been a mushroom eating session aimed at making converts.

At any rate I don't believe that the drug angle can be discounted completely, at least for starting some ideas.

By the way John M. Allegre was a scholar who participated in the translation of the dead sea scrolls.

Gregg

Actually, I think the simpler URL does work. It just got a period stuck in it. This should work:

www.jesuspuzzle.org

Gregg

P.S. Yep, that was it.

copernicus

Gregg, the simpler link does work, but it takes you to a site that refers you to the link that I gave. The full web site has moved to the location that I cited. Read the "Important Notice" on the jesuspuzzle.org web page.

Gregg

Yeah, I knew that, but I still like to give the simpler URL even tho it doesn't link directly, because it's easier to remember--for me & the person I'm giving it to! Thanks.

Gregg

malookiemaloo

Apologies for not continuing the discussion in the Bible and Archaeology section on the Resurrection.

The responses were more numerous and of a much higher standard than I anticipated and I just do not have time to continue the dialogue.

I will 'resurrect' the subject when time permits.

Thank you,


malookiemaloo