Reply to Moving from belief in God, to belief in Jesus

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You cannot judge an ideology or belief system based on its worst elements.  This is the same as judging Islam based on ISIS adherents, or democracy based on Donald Trump.

Belief in Jesus' death and resurrection is the core belief of Christianity.  Early Christians did not rely on threats or punishments to spread Christianity, they led by example.

Look at this quote from around AD 360:

[quote]Why do we not observe that it is their [the Christians’] benevolence to strangers, their care for the graves of the dead, and the pretended holiness of their lives that have done most to increase atheism [unbelief of the pagan gods]?â€¦ For it is disgraceful that, when no Jew ever has to beg, and the impious Galileans [Christians] support not only their own poor but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us. Teach those of the Hellenic faith to contribute to public service of this sort.[/quote]

http://www.alanknox.net/2011/01/the-christians-support-not-only-their-own-poor-but-ours-as-well/

[/quote]

It's nice that a quote supportive of good Christians exists from the year 360.  I suppose if you dug around  a little you could find recoreds of really nasty things Christins did as well. Perhaps the early Christisn "led by example" but many good, upstanding Christians (e.g., during the inquisition) mercilessly tortured unbelievers.

As for "Belief in Jesus' death and resurrection is the core belief of Christianity" -- it depends how you define "belief."  Many sophisticated Christians thrive by  beliving in the metaphor of rebirth, not in actuality of the resusitation of a corpse.[/quote]

I think you are just arguing for the sake of arguing...

For one, the vast majority of Christian churches have a "creed" that is a statement of belief.  Christ's death and resurrection is always part of that.

People who believe the resurrection is a metaphor are not Christians.  They may be terribly sophisticated, I don't know or care.  But they're not Christian.

And btw, if you believe in God, why wouldn't you believe in re-animation of a corpse?  Current human technology manages to re-animate dead people after a few minutes, you think the Creator of the Universe couldn't manage it?  I just never get this argument.

And Christianity's initial spread was not through bad behavior.  This is just a fact.  Christians were persecuted and martyred all over the place, and Christianity still spread.

Do yourself a favor and learn more about this topic![/quote]

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