A Question For Christians

[Saint_D]

As a Saint, it seems I am doomed to write something here. I have read the entire thread. There are some interesting ideas here.

First off, I think if anyone but David had started the thread, it would have been written off as trolling. So while some have accused him of wasting his/our time, I for one think generating this discussion has value.

My (admitedly fictional) sainthood began in a church. At a cermony inducting me into the church, I was asked a simple question. "Do you believe Jesus Christ is the son of God and accept him as your lord and savior." At that moment I had an epiphany. I did not hold this belief!

All of my years of indoctrination and I failed this simple test. When asked directly, I knew in my heart that I didn't know.

I am a card carrying agnostic. I don't believe we can <font color="blue">know</font> for certian if God/Jesus exists and is real. No amount of debate (and I have been involved in plenty) can settle this for me. YMMV and that's cool with me.

This thread brings up some interesting ideas that haven't been discussed.

Appropriate to the Psychology forum is this question: Why does mankind have a pervasive notion that the supernatural exists? Why have 2000 years of men and women worshipped the god of Paul? (Who I envision as the first televangilist.)

For that matter, why do most people in the world identify themselves as belonging to a religion of some sort?

It's part of our makeup. Why is this? Is it an accident? A cruel hoax of fate or a hint that there is something bigger than ourselves?

It's easy to look at the complexity of the universe and say that there is evidence of Intelligent Design. It's also easy to look at something like the random distrubution of cards and say "luck is only a perception that we put onto randomness after the fact. The world is real, physical, concrete and uncaring."

If god is indeed all powerful and loves us, why does it seem like the deck is stacked for suffering, misery and inhumanity on earth? If this life is a testing ground for the next, wouldn't something more nuetral be a bit more fair?

I want to be clear. I am truly agnostic. I ask these questions as a child.

If you turn David's question backwards and aim it at the agnostic it would look like this: "How would you feel if at the very end of your life, it turned out God is real and Jesus is his son?" (this is for you to answer David)

I would have to say that I would feel like it really wasn't fair. And if I undulge in faith my faith is in this: If there is a an all powerful creator, she isn't unfair.

[ChoicestHops]

Im not entirely for sure how to answer the question. But I do know this.

Islam - Christianity - Judaism

Christianty's entity is the YHWH. Islam's entity is Allah. Unless Im mistaking, Allah does not translate from Hebrew to Arabic. This is an entirely different name. However, I could be wrong and Im not stating this as 100% accurate.

Jesus Christ's real name was Yahushua. In the entire Bible, Christ's name is the only name with the YHWH's letters. Christ's Hebrew name literally means God With Us. Considering the translation, Christ's name is YHWH with the with us in Hebrew added on.

For a quick note, Christ's name became "Jesus" in our language from old miss-interpretations of Greek/Latin. The Hebrew name was mistakingly translated to "Iesous" in Greek to "Iesus" in Latin to "Jesus" in out current English.

In Genesis, the English translation of "GOD" or "the LORD" comes from the word "Elohim," which literally means "Mighty Ones." This helps with the trinity debate - that God is three in one. This is why I believe Jews have it wrong.

The only thing left in my opinion is the whole Christianity story may indeed be fabricated. It does resemble alot of Greek mythology. Yet, if higher powers are indeed real, then they have the ability to spread false information, which the mythology would be.

I don't believe Islam to be the true religion for a few reasons. For one, the Bible says that Adam sinned. The Qu'ran says that Adam was perfect, sinless, and faultless. This would mean that The Bible's OT is a lie. However, the recent Dead Sea Scrolls show that alot of OT books were not miss-translated or edited - they are exact copies. Muslims believe in the OT when it doesnt contradict the Qu'ran. If you're a Christian, then the only answer is that Satan in the image of Gabriel told Mohammed all he needed to know, and thus a religion that was opposite from Christianity was created to direct people away from God.

I also don't like what all the Qu'ran says. There is supposed to be a holy war and you are supposed to defend you faith if you are a Muslim. If either religion in indeed absolute truth, it's going to be between Islam and Christianity. Except, Christianity preaches to love your neighbor and turn the other cheek, while Islam proclaims to make a stance.

[mungpo]

Religion is Darwinism at it’s highest level. You can guess where I stand on this issue.

[BigSkiRace]

the subject says enough

[ILL34GL3]

[ QUOTE ]
I am not trying to be a smart alec or trick anyone with the following question. I really would like to know. And unlike some other religious posts I put up here, this really does deserve to be on the psychology forum.

The question is this: How upsetting would it be to you if it was somehow shown that the Jewish religion was the true one? In other words (and please don't quibble if I have my precepts a bit wrong) the Old Testament is true but the New Testament is hogwash. The Ten Commandments came from God but Jesus was just a man who fooled or had followers who fooled the masses into believing he was something else. (There are also some differences about afterlife that I'm not sure of).

More specifically I'm curious how this revelation would compare to the revelation that there is no God at all. Is it:

A. Almost or just as bad (as no God)

B. Even Worse

C. Moderately Bad

D. Mildly Upsetting but Tolerable

E. Not Answerable because even entertaining the possibility is blasphemous.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not a Christian but I would be ecstatic to learn that there actually was a true religion. You'd have to be pretty egotistical to be the least bit upset about learning such a grand truth.

[Mark Heide]

Hi David,

I don't see how it could be proved, since religion is based on believing in a God and not on scientific fact. The question I have is why is afterlife necessary, even if there is a god, since you can have kids. Whether god exists or not. Why would he give you the ability to have kids? Furthermore, if he does exist, I would think that he did this so you could produce someone better than yourself, so there is no need for an afterlife.

Good Luck

Mark

[Rickjohn]

You are on the right track.

IMHO it's either Judaism or Roman Catholicism.
It's a waste to look anywhere else.