If Jesus wasn’t a real historical figure, where did Christian theology come from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let this thread die and NOT be resurrected.

+100. OP’s original premise, that Jesus existed and there was some cabal who made him up, has been soundly debunked. OP may even have been posting ironically to show how ludicrous that proposition is. LOL at all the atheist bigots demanding people justify their faith by proving divinity or denigrating other faiths, but no sane poster would engage with that and it’s a total derailment anyway. Die, thread, die.

Greetings from the college forum, b-word threads**tter!

FYI it is my belief that a theist wrote that super-weak first post. I am entitled to my beliefs, and you can't object to them or that makes your something something something....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let this thread die and NOT be resurrected.

+100. OP’s original premise, that Jesus existed and there was some cabal who made him up, has been soundly debunked. OP may even have been posting ironically to show how ludicrous that proposition is. LOL at all the atheist bigots demanding people justify their faith by proving divinity or denigrating other faiths, but no sane poster would engage with that and it’s a total derailment anyway. Die, thread, die.

Greetings from the college forum, b-word threads**tter!

FYI it is my belief that a theist wrote that super-weak first post. I am entitled to my beliefs, and you can't object to them or that makes your something something something....

? I don’t frequent the college forum. Not sure what your second sentence is trying to convey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let this thread die and NOT be resurrected.

+100. OP’s original premise, that Jesus existed and there was some cabal who made him up, has been soundly debunked. OP may even have been posting ironically to show how ludicrous that proposition is. LOL at all the atheist bigots demanding people justify their faith by proving divinity or denigrating other faiths, but no sane poster would engage with that and it’s a total derailment anyway. Die, thread, die.

Greetings from the college forum, b-word threads**tter!

FYI it is my belief that a theist wrote that super-weak first post. I am entitled to my beliefs, and you can't object to them or that makes your something something something....

? I don’t frequent the college forum. Not sure what your second sentence is trying to convey.

Whether you frequent it or not is irrelevant. You were there in the catholic school thread, probably from the hottest topics.

The second sentence is "trying" to convey what it says - that a theist wrote that weak argument, NOT an atheist, so they could come back here and then claim atheists were saying there was no person Jesus. It's so obvious and it happens here all the time. Let me know if that point is still unclear to you and I will spell it out in more detail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let this thread die and NOT be resurrected.

+100. OP’s original premise, that Jesus existed and there was some cabal who made him up, has been soundly debunked. OP may even have been posting ironically to show how ludicrous that proposition is. LOL at all the atheist bigots demanding people justify their faith by proving divinity or denigrating other faiths, but no sane poster would engage with that and it’s a total derailment anyway. Die, thread, die.

Read again. No one asked anyone to “denigrate” other religions.

The request was to expand upon this statement:
“after a baseline of evidence, people go with the religion that makes the most theological/philosophical sense to them.”

What is the process you used to select your own religion over others?

DP, but I went through a process and chose a religion, so I'm happy to speak to that experience, though it may differ from what PP had in mind.

I was raised in a conservative Protestant denomination that never made any sense to me. I gave it up for a while in middle school and high school and then in college started trying more liberal Protestant denominations. What I found in my church-hopping was that my problem wasn't just with the conservatism, but with Christian theology as a whole. The Trinity doesn't make sense to me. The focus on sin (original sin, daily sin, heaven and hell, etc) is off-putting. I remember I went to a Presbyterian Church on Mother's Day and the sermon was about how our earthly families are just a shadow of our relationship with Jesus, and that was my last straw, because it was just one too many times that Christianity had downplayed the importance of family and people in our lives, and it turns out that is a core value of mine.

Sorry, my point is not to take issue with Christianity here, but just to say that my experience with Christianity across the Protestant spectrum (and some Catholicism through my dad's side of the family and Evangelicalism through some friends and cousins) proved that it was not the right fit for my own beliefs. Visiting all of those churches that weren't right for me really helped me figure out what I did (and did not) believe. When I started to look outside of Christianity, I found a spiritual home in Judaism, and have been here happily for a long time now.

All that said, I think PP's point is over-exaggerated. I don't think it's common for people to go through a process of evaluating the beliefs in which they were raised, especially if their religion doesn't really play a major role in their lives (secular-style Christmas and maybe church on Easter). People generally don't spend time evaluating something with a minor regular impact on them. My brother spends more time thinking about being left-handed than he does about being Christian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let this thread die and NOT be resurrected.

+100. OP’s original premise, that Jesus existed and there was some cabal who made him up, has been soundly debunked. OP may even have been posting ironically to show how ludicrous that proposition is. LOL at all the atheist bigots demanding people justify their faith by proving divinity or denigrating other faiths, but no sane poster would engage with that and it’s a total derailment anyway. Die, thread, die.

Read again. No one asked anyone to “denigrate” other religions.

The request was to expand upon this statement:
“after a baseline of evidence, people go with the religion that makes the most theological/philosophical sense to them.”

What is the process you used to select your own religion over others?

DP, but I went through a process and chose a religion, so I'm happy to speak to that experience, though it may differ from what PP had in mind.

I was raised in a conservative Protestant denomination that never made any sense to me. I gave it up for a while in middle school and high school and then in college started trying more liberal Protestant denominations. What I found in my church-hopping was that my problem wasn't just with the conservatism, but with Christian theology as a whole. The Trinity doesn't make sense to me. The focus on sin (original sin, daily sin, heaven and hell, etc) is off-putting. I remember I went to a Presbyterian Church on Mother's Day and the sermon was about how our earthly families are just a shadow of our relationship with Jesus, and that was my last straw, because it was just one too many times that Christianity had downplayed the importance of family and people in our lives, and it turns out that is a core value of mine.

Sorry, my point is not to take issue with Christianity here, but just to say that my experience with Christianity across the Protestant spectrum (and some Catholicism through my dad's side of the family and Evangelicalism through some friends and cousins) proved that it was not the right fit for my own beliefs. Visiting all of those churches that weren't right for me really helped me figure out what I did (and did not) believe. When I started to look outside of Christianity, I found a spiritual home in Judaism, and have been here happily for a long time now.

All that said, I think PP's point is over-exaggerated. I don't think it's common for people to go through a process of evaluating the beliefs in which they were raised, especially if their religion doesn't really play a major role in their lives (secular-style Christmas and maybe church on Easter). People generally don't spend time evaluating something with a minor regular impact on them. My brother spends more time thinking about being left-handed than he does about being Christian.

You may be right about that, but for many people, their religion either has, or is expected to have, a major impact on them.

For instance, people who aren't very religious may think they should be more religious, or people like you, who don't click with the religion they're raised in, think they should look for a another religion or "spiritual home" that does suit them, instead of just dropping religion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let this thread die and NOT be resurrected.

+100. OP’s original premise, that Jesus existed and there was some cabal who made him up, has been soundly debunked. OP may even have been posting ironically to show how ludicrous that proposition is. LOL at all the atheist bigots demanding people justify their faith by proving divinity or denigrating other faiths, but no sane poster would engage with that and it’s a total derailment anyway. Die, thread, die.

Greetings from the college forum, b-word threads**tter!

FYI it is my belief that a theist wrote that super-weak first post. I am entitled to my beliefs, and you can't object to them or that makes your something something something....

? I don’t frequent the college forum. Not sure what your second sentence is trying to convey.

Whether you frequent it or not is irrelevant. You were there in the catholic school thread, probably from the hottest topics.

The second sentence is "trying" to convey what it says - that a theist wrote that weak argument, NOT an atheist, so they could come back here and then claim atheists were saying there was no person Jesus. It's so obvious and it happens here all the time. Let me know if that point is still unclear to you and I will spell it out in more detail.

Haha. I don’t know if I’ve ever been on a Catholic school thread—ask the moderator. I’m not Catholic, for one thing.

You accusing others of being dense is rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let this thread die and NOT be resurrected.

+100. OP’s original premise, that Jesus existed and there was some cabal who made him up, has been soundly debunked. OP may even have been posting ironically to show how ludicrous that proposition is. LOL at all the atheist bigots demanding people justify their faith by proving divinity or denigrating other faiths, but no sane poster would engage with that and it’s a total derailment anyway. Die, thread, die.

Read again. No one asked anyone to “denigrate” other religions.

The request was to expand upon this statement:
“after a baseline of evidence, people go with the religion that makes the most theological/philosophical sense to them.”

What is the process you used to select your own religion over others?

DP, but I went through a process and chose a religion, so I'm happy to speak to that experience, though it may differ from what PP had in mind.

I was raised in a conservative Protestant denomination that never made any sense to me. I gave it up for a while in middle school and high school and then in college started trying more liberal Protestant denominations. What I found in my church-hopping was that my problem wasn't just with the conservatism, but with Christian theology as a whole. The Trinity doesn't make sense to me. The focus on sin (original sin, daily sin, heaven and hell, etc) is off-putting. I remember I went to a Presbyterian Church on Mother's Day and the sermon was about how our earthly families are just a shadow of our relationship with Jesus, and that was my last straw, because it was just one too many times that Christianity had downplayed the importance of family and people in our lives, and it turns out that is a core value of mine.

Sorry, my point is not to take issue with Christianity here, but just to say that my experience with Christianity across the Protestant spectrum (and some Catholicism through my dad's side of the family and Evangelicalism through some friends and cousins) proved that it was not the right fit for my own beliefs. Visiting all of those churches that weren't right for me really helped me figure out what I did (and did not) believe. When I started to look outside of Christianity, I found a spiritual home in Judaism, and have been here happily for a long time now.

All that said, I think PP's point is over-exaggerated. I don't think it's common for people to go through a process of evaluating the beliefs in which they were raised, especially if their religion doesn't really play a major role in their lives (secular-style Christmas and maybe church on Easter). People generally don't spend time evaluating something with a minor regular impact on them. My brother spends more time thinking about being left-handed than he does about being Christian.

Well yay, someone took the bait and trashed other peoples’ religion. Happy, atheist pp?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let this thread die and NOT be resurrected.

+100. OP’s original premise, that Jesus existed and there was some cabal who made him up, has been soundly debunked. OP may even have been posting ironically to show how ludicrous that proposition is. LOL at all the atheist bigots demanding people justify their faith by proving divinity or denigrating other faiths, but no sane poster would engage with that and it’s a total derailment anyway. Die, thread, die.

Read again. No one asked anyone to “denigrate” other religions.

The request was to expand upon this statement:
“after a baseline of evidence, people go with the religion that makes the most theological/philosophical sense to them.”

What is the process you used to select your own religion over others?

DP, but I went through a process and chose a religion, so I'm happy to speak to that experience, though it may differ from what PP had in mind.

I was raised in a conservative Protestant denomination that never made any sense to me. I gave it up for a while in middle school and high school and then in college started trying more liberal Protestant denominations. What I found in my church-hopping was that my problem wasn't just with the conservatism, but with Christian theology as a whole. The Trinity doesn't make sense to me. The focus on sin (original sin, daily sin, heaven and hell, etc) is off-putting. I remember I went to a Presbyterian Church on Mother's Day and the sermon was about how our earthly families are just a shadow of our relationship with Jesus, and that was my last straw, because it was just one too many times that Christianity had downplayed the importance of family and people in our lives, and it turns out that is a core value of mine.

Sorry, my point is not to take issue with Christianity here, but just to say that my experience with Christianity across the Protestant spectrum (and some Catholicism through my dad's side of the family and Evangelicalism through some friends and cousins) proved that it was not the right fit for my own beliefs. Visiting all of those churches that weren't right for me really helped me figure out what I did (and did not) believe. When I started to look outside of Christianity, I found a spiritual home in Judaism, and have been here happily for a long time now.

All that said, I think PP's point is over-exaggerated. I don't think it's common for people to go through a process of evaluating the beliefs in which they were raised, especially if their religion doesn't really play a major role in their lives (secular-style Christmas and maybe church on Easter). People generally don't spend time evaluating something with a minor regular impact on them. My brother spends more time thinking about being left-handed than he does about being Christian.

Well yay, someone took the bait and trashed other peoples’ religion. Happy, atheist pp?

Well? Did you actually put any thought into your choice of religion? Did you look at any “baseline of evidence”?

Or…maybe the PP who wrote this was mistaken.
“after a baseline of evidence, people go with the religion that makes the most theological/philosophical sense to them“

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let this thread die and NOT be resurrected.

+100. OP’s original premise, that Jesus existed and there was some cabal who made him up, has been soundly debunked. OP may even have been posting ironically to show how ludicrous that proposition is. LOL at all the atheist bigots demanding people justify their faith by proving divinity or denigrating other faiths, but no sane poster would engage with that and it’s a total derailment anyway. Die, thread, die.

Read again. No one asked anyone to “denigrate” other religions.

The request was to expand upon this statement:
“after a baseline of evidence, people go with the religion that makes the most theological/philosophical sense to them.”

What is the process you used to select your own religion over others?

DP, but I went through a process and chose a religion, so I'm happy to speak to that experience, though it may differ from what PP had in mind.

I was raised in a conservative Protestant denomination that never made any sense to me. I gave it up for a while in middle school and high school and then in college started trying more liberal Protestant denominations. What I found in my church-hopping was that my problem wasn't just with the conservatism, but with Christian theology as a whole. The Trinity doesn't make sense to me. The focus on sin (original sin, daily sin, heaven and hell, etc) is off-putting. I remember I went to a Presbyterian Church on Mother's Day and the sermon was about how our earthly families are just a shadow of our relationship with Jesus, and that was my last straw, because it was just one too many times that Christianity had downplayed the importance of family and people in our lives, and it turns out that is a core value of mine.

Sorry, my point is not to take issue with Christianity here, but just to say that my experience with Christianity across the Protestant spectrum (and some Catholicism through my dad's side of the family and Evangelicalism through some friends and cousins) proved that it was not the right fit for my own beliefs. Visiting all of those churches that weren't right for me really helped me figure out what I did (and did not) believe. When I started to look outside of Christianity, I found a spiritual home in Judaism, and have been here happily for a long time now.

All that said, I think PP's point is over-exaggerated. I don't think it's common for people to go through a process of evaluating the beliefs in which they were raised, especially if their religion doesn't really play a major role in their lives (secular-style Christmas and maybe church on Easter). People generally don't spend time evaluating something with a minor regular impact on them. My brother spends more time thinking about being left-handed than he does about being Christian.

Well yay, someone took the bait and trashed other peoples’ religion. Happy, atheist pp?

Well? Did you actually put any thought into your choice of religion? Did you look at any “baseline of evidence”?

Or…maybe the PP who wrote this was mistaken.
“after a baseline of evidence, people go with the religion that makes the most theological/philosophical sense to them“

Maybe some people do that, but I don't know any. People seem to be born into a religion, that they either keep or drop as they get older, then maybe find another one that they like better for various reasons, or maybe leave religion all together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let this thread die and NOT be resurrected.

+100. OP’s original premise, that Jesus existed and there was some cabal who made him up, has been soundly debunked. OP may even have been posting ironically to show how ludicrous that proposition is. LOL at all the atheist bigots demanding people justify their faith by proving divinity or denigrating other faiths, but no sane poster would engage with that and it’s a total derailment anyway. Die, thread, die.

Read again. No one asked anyone to “denigrate” other religions.

The request was to expand upon this statement:
“after a baseline of evidence, people go with the religion that makes the most theological/philosophical sense to them.”

What is the process you used to select your own religion over others?

DP, but I went through a process and chose a religion, so I'm happy to speak to that experience, though it may differ from what PP had in mind.

I was raised in a conservative Protestant denomination that never made any sense to me. I gave it up for a while in middle school and high school and then in college started trying more liberal Protestant denominations. What I found in my church-hopping was that my problem wasn't just with the conservatism, but with Christian theology as a whole. The Trinity doesn't make sense to me. The focus on sin (original sin, daily sin, heaven and hell, etc) is off-putting. I remember I went to a Presbyterian Church on Mother's Day and the sermon was about how our earthly families are just a shadow of our relationship with Jesus, and that was my last straw, because it was just one too many times that Christianity had downplayed the importance of family and people in our lives, and it turns out that is a core value of mine.

Sorry, my point is not to take issue with Christianity here, but just to say that my experience with Christianity across the Protestant spectrum (and some Catholicism through my dad's side of the family and Evangelicalism through some friends and cousins) proved that it was not the right fit for my own beliefs. Visiting all of those churches that weren't right for me really helped me figure out what I did (and did not) believe. When I started to look outside of Christianity, I found a spiritual home in Judaism, and have been here happily for a long time now.

All that said, I think PP's point is over-exaggerated. I don't think it's common for people to go through a process of evaluating the beliefs in which they were raised, especially if their religion doesn't really play a major role in their lives (secular-style Christmas and maybe church on Easter). People generally don't spend time evaluating something with a minor regular impact on them. My brother spends more time thinking about being left-handed than he does about being Christian.

Well yay, someone took the bait and trashed other peoples’ religion. Happy, atheist pp?

Well? Did you actually put any thought into your choice of religion? Did you look at any “baseline of evidence”?

Or…maybe the PP who wrote this was mistaken.
“after a baseline of evidence, people go with the religion that makes the most theological/philosophical sense to them“

Maybe some people do that, but I don't know any. People seem to be born into a religion, that they either keep or drop as they get older, then maybe find another one that they like better for various reasons, or maybe leave religion all together.

What do you think people are doing when they "find another one they like"? They're picking one that makes theological/philosophical sense to them.
-DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let this thread die and NOT be resurrected.

+100. OP’s original premise, that Jesus existed and there was some cabal who made him up, has been soundly debunked. OP may even have been posting ironically to show how ludicrous that proposition is. LOL at all the atheist bigots demanding people justify their faith by proving divinity or denigrating other faiths, but no sane poster would engage with that and it’s a total derailment anyway. Die, thread, die.

Read again. No one asked anyone to “denigrate” other religions.

The request was to expand upon this statement:
“after a baseline of evidence, people go with the religion that makes the most theological/philosophical sense to them.”

What is the process you used to select your own religion over others?

DP, but I went through a process and chose a religion, so I'm happy to speak to that experience, though it may differ from what PP had in mind.

I was raised in a conservative Protestant denomination that never made any sense to me. I gave it up for a while in middle school and high school and then in college started trying more liberal Protestant denominations. What I found in my church-hopping was that my problem wasn't just with the conservatism, but with Christian theology as a whole. The Trinity doesn't make sense to me. The focus on sin (original sin, daily sin, heaven and hell, etc) is off-putting. I remember I went to a Presbyterian Church on Mother's Day and the sermon was about how our earthly families are just a shadow of our relationship with Jesus, and that was my last straw, because it was just one too many times that Christianity had downplayed the importance of family and people in our lives, and it turns out that is a core value of mine.

Sorry, my point is not to take issue with Christianity here, but just to say that my experience with Christianity across the Protestant spectrum (and some Catholicism through my dad's side of the family and Evangelicalism through some friends and cousins) proved that it was not the right fit for my own beliefs. Visiting all of those churches that weren't right for me really helped me figure out what I did (and did not) believe. When I started to look outside of Christianity, I found a spiritual home in Judaism, and have been here happily for a long time now.

All that said, I think PP's point is over-exaggerated. I don't think it's common for people to go through a process of evaluating the beliefs in which they were raised, especially if their religion doesn't really play a major role in their lives (secular-style Christmas and maybe church on Easter). People generally don't spend time evaluating something with a minor regular impact on them. My brother spends more time thinking about being left-handed than he does about being Christian.

Well yay, someone took the bait and trashed other peoples’ religion. Happy, atheist pp?

Well? Did you actually put any thought into your choice of religion? Did you look at any “baseline of evidence”?

Or…maybe the PP who wrote this was mistaken.
“after a baseline of evidence, people go with the religion that makes the most theological/philosophical sense to them“

Maybe some people do that, but I don't know any. People seem to be born into a religion, that they either keep or drop as they get older, then maybe find another one that they like better for various reasons, or maybe leave religion all together.

That has been my observation as well. Most people aren’t consciously deciding to be a certain religion. They just follow what they know and don’t seek out any “evidence” to explore options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let this thread die and NOT be resurrected.

+100. OP’s original premise, that Jesus existed and there was some cabal who made him up, has been soundly debunked. OP may even have been posting ironically to show how ludicrous that proposition is. LOL at all the atheist bigots demanding people justify their faith by proving divinity or denigrating other faiths, but no sane poster would engage with that and it’s a total derailment anyway. Die, thread, die.

Greetings from the college forum, b-word threads**tter!

FYI it is my belief that a theist wrote that super-weak first post. I am entitled to my beliefs, and you can't object to them or that makes your something something something....

? I don’t frequent the college forum. Not sure what your second sentence is trying to convey.

Whether you frequent it or not is irrelevant. You were there in the catholic school thread, probably from the hottest topics.

The second sentence is "trying" to convey what it says - that a theist wrote that weak argument, NOT an atheist, so they could come back here and then claim atheists were saying there was no person Jesus. It's so obvious and it happens here all the time. Let me know if that point is still unclear to you and I will spell it out in more detail.

Haha. I don’t know if I’ve ever been on a Catholic school thread—ask the moderator. I’m not Catholic, for one thing.

You accusing others of being dense is rich.

I did not call you or anyone else dense. Don't make stuff up. But I assume since you did not ask for clarification my explanation that a troll theist wrote the OP in this thread is now fully explained.

You "don't know" if you have been on the catholic college thread, but I do. All those gish gallop "bigot" posts got deleted anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let this thread die and NOT be resurrected.

+100. OP’s original premise, that Jesus existed and there was some cabal who made him up, has been soundly debunked. OP may even have been posting ironically to show how ludicrous that proposition is. LOL at all the atheist bigots demanding people justify their faith by proving divinity or denigrating other faiths, but no sane poster would engage with that and it’s a total derailment anyway. Die, thread, die.

Read again. No one asked anyone to “denigrate” other religions.

The request was to expand upon this statement:
“after a baseline of evidence, people go with the religion that makes the most theological/philosophical sense to them.”

What is the process you used to select your own religion over others?

DP, but I went through a process and chose a religion, so I'm happy to speak to that experience, though it may differ from what PP had in mind.

I was raised in a conservative Protestant denomination that never made any sense to me. I gave it up for a while in middle school and high school and then in college started trying more liberal Protestant denominations. What I found in my church-hopping was that my problem wasn't just with the conservatism, but with Christian theology as a whole. The Trinity doesn't make sense to me. The focus on sin (original sin, daily sin, heaven and hell, etc) is off-putting. I remember I went to a Presbyterian Church on Mother's Day and the sermon was about how our earthly families are just a shadow of our relationship with Jesus, and that was my last straw, because it was just one too many times that Christianity had downplayed the importance of family and people in our lives, and it turns out that is a core value of mine.

Sorry, my point is not to take issue with Christianity here, but just to say that my experience with Christianity across the Protestant spectrum (and some Catholicism through my dad's side of the family and Evangelicalism through some friends and cousins) proved that it was not the right fit for my own beliefs. Visiting all of those churches that weren't right for me really helped me figure out what I did (and did not) believe. When I started to look outside of Christianity, I found a spiritual home in Judaism, and have been here happily for a long time now.

All that said, I think PP's point is over-exaggerated. I don't think it's common for people to go through a process of evaluating the beliefs in which they were raised, especially if their religion doesn't really play a major role in their lives (secular-style Christmas and maybe church on Easter). People generally don't spend time evaluating something with a minor regular impact on them. My brother spends more time thinking about being left-handed than he does about being Christian.

Well yay, someone took the bait and trashed other peoples’ religion. Happy, atheist pp?

PP here. I'm not trashing Christianity, just citing examples of why the theology didn't work for me to answer the question about the process of choosing a theology. I'm sure that the Trinity and original sin and the elevation of the relationship with the divine over earthly relationships is meaningful for Christians. It just isn't my beliefs, and so I'm not Christian anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let this thread die and NOT be resurrected.

+100. OP’s original premise, that Jesus existed and there was some cabal who made him up, has been soundly debunked. OP may even have been posting ironically to show how ludicrous that proposition is. LOL at all the atheist bigots demanding people justify their faith by proving divinity or denigrating other faiths, but no sane poster would engage with that and it’s a total derailment anyway. Die, thread, die.

Read again. No one asked anyone to “denigrate” other religions.

The request was to expand upon this statement:
“after a baseline of evidence, people go with the religion that makes the most theological/philosophical sense to them.”

What is the process you used to select your own religion over others?

DP, but I went through a process and chose a religion, so I'm happy to speak to that experience, though it may differ from what PP had in mind.

I was raised in a conservative Protestant denomination that never made any sense to me. I gave it up for a while in middle school and high school and then in college started trying more liberal Protestant denominations. What I found in my church-hopping was that my problem wasn't just with the conservatism, but with Christian theology as a whole. The Trinity doesn't make sense to me. The focus on sin (original sin, daily sin, heaven and hell, etc) is off-putting. I remember I went to a Presbyterian Church on Mother's Day and the sermon was about how our earthly families are just a shadow of our relationship with Jesus, and that was my last straw, because it was just one too many times that Christianity had downplayed the importance of family and people in our lives, and it turns out that is a core value of mine.

Sorry, my point is not to take issue with Christianity here, but just to say that my experience with Christianity across the Protestant spectrum (and some Catholicism through my dad's side of the family and Evangelicalism through some friends and cousins) proved that it was not the right fit for my own beliefs. Visiting all of those churches that weren't right for me really helped me figure out what I did (and did not) believe. When I started to look outside of Christianity, I found a spiritual home in Judaism, and have been here happily for a long time now.

All that said, I think PP's point is over-exaggerated. I don't think it's common for people to go through a process of evaluating the beliefs in which they were raised, especially if their religion doesn't really play a major role in their lives (secular-style Christmas and maybe church on Easter). People generally don't spend time evaluating something with a minor regular impact on them. My brother spends more time thinking about being left-handed than he does about being Christian.

Well yay, someone took the bait and trashed other peoples’ religion. Happy, atheist pp?

PP here. I'm not trashing Christianity, just citing examples of why the theology didn't work for me to answer the question about the process of choosing a theology. I'm sure that the Trinity and original sin and the elevation of the relationship with the divine over earthly relationships is meaningful for Christians. It just isn't my beliefs, and so I'm not Christian anymore.

Don't worry. Previous pp is just a meanie who can't stand anyone who doesn't prefer Christianity - and is very unchristian about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let this thread die and NOT be resurrected.

+100. OP’s original premise, that Jesus existed and there was some cabal who made him up, has been soundly debunked. OP may even have been posting ironically to show how ludicrous that proposition is. LOL at all the atheist bigots demanding people justify their faith by proving divinity or denigrating other faiths, but no sane poster would engage with that and it’s a total derailment anyway. Die, thread, die.

Read again. No one asked anyone to “denigrate” other religions.

The request was to expand upon this statement:
“after a baseline of evidence, people go with the religion that makes the most theological/philosophical sense to them.”

What is the process you used to select your own religion over others?

DP, but I went through a process and chose a religion, so I'm happy to speak to that experience, though it may differ from what PP had in mind.

I was raised in a conservative Protestant denomination that never made any sense to me. I gave it up for a while in middle school and high school and then in college started trying more liberal Protestant denominations. What I found in my church-hopping was that my problem wasn't just with the conservatism, but with Christian theology as a whole. The Trinity doesn't make sense to me. The focus on sin (original sin, daily sin, heaven and hell, etc) is off-putting. I remember I went to a Presbyterian Church on Mother's Day and the sermon was about how our earthly families are just a shadow of our relationship with Jesus, and that was my last straw, because it was just one too many times that Christianity had downplayed the importance of family and people in our lives, and it turns out that is a core value of mine.

Sorry, my point is not to take issue with Christianity here, but just to say that my experience with Christianity across the Protestant spectrum (and some Catholicism through my dad's side of the family and Evangelicalism through some friends and cousins) proved that it was not the right fit for my own beliefs. Visiting all of those churches that weren't right for me really helped me figure out what I did (and did not) believe. When I started to look outside of Christianity, I found a spiritual home in Judaism, and have been here happily for a long time now.

All that said, I think PP's point is over-exaggerated. I don't think it's common for people to go through a process of evaluating the beliefs in which they were raised, especially if their religion doesn't really play a major role in their lives (secular-style Christmas and maybe church on Easter). People generally don't spend time evaluating something with a minor regular impact on them. My brother spends more time thinking about being left-handed than he does about being Christian.

Well yay, someone took the bait and trashed other peoples’ religion. Happy, atheist pp?

PP here. I'm not trashing Christianity, just citing examples of why the theology didn't work for me to answer the question about the process of choosing a theology. I'm sure that the Trinity and original sin and the elevation of the relationship with the divine over earthly relationships is meaningful for Christians. It just isn't my beliefs, and so I'm not Christian anymore.

You’ve got that wrong. Jesus took adherence to god-dictated Levitical rules and made them more personal and interior. Don’t just like your neighbors and co-religionists, love your enemies too. Don’t just give to charity, give the beggar your coat. And many more examples.