Why should i belive in christianity?

[Leonard]

Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Dear Philosopher:

As an accredited Theologian, a college professor who has taught Comparative Religions, Theology, Ethics and History, I have to say it doesn't sound like you've seriously considered the claims of Christianity at all!

First of all, most of the occurances the New Testament speaks of didn't take place "A long time ago, and far, far away." Quite the contrary. The books were written in a time when most of the eye-witnesses were still alive and could be contacted by anyone willing to make the trip. Further, the legal proceedings leading up to the Christ's crucifixion would have been a matter of legal record at the Procurator's offices, and also at the Roman Imperial Library.

Second, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most widely attested event of the ancient world. No other event even comes close to the number of first-hand, second-hand, or third-hand reports of the resurrection. If we simply reject the resurrection out of hand, then we must reject EVERY SINGLE THING WE THINK WE KNOW ABOUT THE ANCIENT WORLD. We must deny Hannibal crossed the Alps, or that Caesar conquered Gaul. Such a position would be preposterously difficult to maintain in academic debate!

Look at it this way: The 'irreducable minimums' of Christianity are these two statements: "Jesus Christ rose from the dead" and "That resurrection somehow means my salvation." These are two very different sorts of statements. The first statement is a statement of history. It can be looked at and evaluated according to the ordinary criteria historical scholars use to evaluate statements of history. On this score, it wins, hands down. No serious scholar could deny that it is the best-attested fact of the ancient world. The second statement however, is NOT impirically verifiable. I can say "I possess salvation," but in pure logic that is a gratuitious assertion, which according to the rules of logic, may be as gratuitously denied: "No you don't."

The fact is that a complete atheist can (and ought to) believe that Jesus rose from the dead. The religious part of the equation comes in the meaning Christians assign to that event. The atheist, of course would assign other meanings (or more likely, no meaning) to the event. It was just an event, like "Joe at a hot dog." But it is very difficult for us humans to accept the idea that extraordinary events are void of meaning. Hence we make a big fuss over a 50th wedding anniversary, a 100th birthday, a Bar Mitzveh, a wedding. Are we collectively completely wrong? Are extraordinary events empty shells without importance? Of course, a person may answer yes, but such a person greatly impoverishes their own life, so to answer. Only a very few individuals have really accepted the concept of the 'universe of the absurd.' Neitzche comes to mind, and it drove him mad. Sartre could not do it; he condemned the French-Moroccan war, Camus could not do it. De Sade did it, and was driven utterly mad and sunk into the vilest dissipation.

The fact is that if we look at the unhappy record of those who deny meaning, it would appear that we are intended to accept that meaning exists. Hence I think it is important to find and ascribe some meaning to the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus.

At the shock center of history, stands the Galilean, pierced hands outstretched to receive you as His disciple and His friend. "What will ye do with Jesus?"

With a blessing,

Leonard, a sinner

[Guest shiloh357]

As to the flood, again you must understand that some Christians do not believe that man and dinosaurs co-existed, and therfore do not hold to the belief that the flood of Noah's day wiped out the dinosaurs. Human skeletons? Who said that no human skeletons have been found from the flood area?

6 if god is really "all powerful" then why did it take him seven days to make the earth? and if it took him that long to make just the earth then how long would it take to make the rest of the universe?

God took as long as He deemed necessary. Here is something you need to understand. Genesis 1 is not a science lesson. It is not a scientific account of how the world came into being. Therefore it is not wise to make it scientific. Genesis 1 has a much more important message to get across about God, and about his desire to fellowship with man. The world was created for man's benefit.

Would you criticize a biography becuase it did not read like Shakespeare? Would you treat a Disney cartoon like a PBS documentary? Genesis 1 needs to be seen for the message salvation that is present within it, and not picked apart because it is not written in scientific lingo.

[Guest philosopher]

I'm srry, Thats what they were doing to us philosophers, asking questions we couldn't possibly answer. but i know that there are alot of different views on how the bible should b taken. and to let you know i was brought up in a christian family and at one time was very religious. but then i opened my eyes and chose to seek things out, why study only one thing? why not get a better view of all the OPINIONS on our existance. and please share your opinions with me. i'm very open. I guess i'm used to hearing from extreme fundamentalists. one of the sites i found was www.raptureready.com they really get at philosophers, and i guess they just gave me a bad view of some christians.

[Guest shiloh357]

i have read the bible, multiple times, and it hasn't answered my questions. and what has the bible proved b4 science? if ne thing science has proven things b4 the bible not the other way around.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Can you give examples?

[ted]

Philosopher,

Welcome to Worthy!

I pray you will be blessed!

One thing to understand about the Bible is that it is definitely not a complete record of every historical fact.

It does not answer every question that mankind has been able to wonder about.

Rather, it is the record of how God has revealed Himself to the world. It is a record of historical facts, poems, illustrations, and acts of humanity that give enough of a view to mankind as to what God's plan is for us.

It give us all we need to know who Christ was, what He did for us, and it gives a glimpse of what is in store for us.

I pray that you will be able to understand this, and just how important it is for us to be able to know Christ through Scripture.

May you come to that realization tonight.

Blessings,

t.

[Guest Thomas I believe]

I have studied alot of religions, hence the name Philosopher, and i always have an open mind. but i like to know were i'm walking before taking a step and maybe falling off a cliff. and i din't mean to offend ne1.

My dear friend, I understand how you feel about the unknown. Its scarey and we must have some proof. Hang out here at Worthy and you will come to understand many things. Jesus will not let you fall off a cliff. He is the reason you have found your way here. Seeking the truth is a process and God makes that easy. We just have to get past our thinking and open our eyes and heart. I pray that God will bless you abundantly in your life and that you will understand the absolute truth that God wants to reveal to you.... Welcome to Worthy Boards !!!

[Guest philosopher]

I don't think that i'll b a christian by tonight, lol, but i am considering it very deeply. i know that the bible doesn't have every thing that ever whent on in the history of humanity, but there are of things that try to predict the future and people relate it to everything. alot of these predictions are very vage so you can relate them to alot of things. but i have another question, if we will never get off this earth by the time of the rapture then why would god take all the time to creat the cosmos? really, i'm open to opinions and i don't want ne1 to think i'm sounding like christianity is a fairy-tale and that its crazy that ne1 could belive in it.

[Guest Thomas I believe]

I don't think that i'll b a christian by tonight, lol, but i am considering it very deeply. i know that the bible doesn't have every thing that ever whent on in the history of humanity, but there are of things that try to predict the future and people relate it to everything. alot of these predictions are very vage so you can relate them to alot of things. but i have another question, if we will never get off this earth by the time of the rapture then why would god take all the time to creat the cosmos? really, i'm open to opinions and i don't want ne1 to think i'm sounding like christianity is a fairy-tale and that its crazy that ne1 could belive in it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You are seeking the truth my friend and that is good ....

[O'Dannyboy]

I will give you the best answers I can.

1. how could it take 7 days to creat the earth if the earth wasn't even created yet? since time is based on were the sun is on the earth? Genesis 1:1  In the beginning God (1) created the heavens and the earth. We measured time using the sun as a reference. But would time not exist without our sun?

2. if there is a flood as you say, and thats what suposedly wiped out the dinosours (at leats thats the info i got when i was looking at other sites www.christiananswers.com) were are the mass remains of human skeletons. and even though know that dinosours and humans have never co-existed. Mass remains? Oddly enough our planet is 3/4 covered with water and yet people wonder "where could it be"?

#3 how do you explain the rocks and fossiles that have been dated over a millions of years ago if earth was younger then that. The process for dating artifacts is obviously flawed.

#6 if god is really "all powerful" then why did it take him seven days to make the earth? and if it took him that long to make just the earth then how long would it take to make the rest of the universe? and how come it doesn't say anything about other galaxies in the bible?

14  God said,

[Guest philosopher]

here, this is my philosophy, srry if i offend ne1, it was written when i was more of an atheist. not saying i'm religious either and its still a work in progress.

Our Existance

Religion: Something to devote our lives to so that they are worth living. stories about how we were created from a greater source.

I can't think of any religions that tell us why we exist only ones that tell how. I feel theres no purpose in living if theres nothing to devote your life to

but I can't devote my life to a religion becuase i know they are incorrect or have no actual evidince that they are true at this moment. So now that i know this

its hard for me to live but i see that those who belive in a falsehood like religion find it much easier but they are eluded in a fog of reality so its much easier to

Deal with an unknown purpose. but now that i have excaped that illusion I find it much harder to deal with the truth. I find peace when i meditate

and what is meditaion? the clearing of the mind. theres nothing, no good no bad. so how can we find nirvana when we are alive? Is that our lifes goal? to die?

If so then why are we born? Why is it that every time i try to find answers i just get even more questions, yet somehow i feel better Knowing a little more and having

even more questions then knowing a little and having few questions. I still can't find the answers even when i'm on my knees.

I feel like i'm running blind. I wish i had a mentor to teach me things i don't know but i'm in a state were the mentors on

the same page as i am.

One of the few things that will make me mad is knowing that i can't know something that i want to. The only thing that can

help me is meeting another form of life who's smarter then us. then i could get a wider view of my surroundings and get a

third pair of eyes on "life". Right now all i want to do is get off this planet full of blind morons and become a student of

another race who have figured "it" all out. I really want to learn and i love learning. Sure textbooks teach but they are very restricting

and only have one purpose. I try focusing on somthing biger like the meaning of life not just how to make it better.

To me Plato and all those other philosiphers are smarter then any textbook scientist.