Anonymous wrote:I felt that certain things that happened in my life were too coincidental to not be influenced by a higher power.

But all the other things that happen, (good, bad and inconsequential) other than those coincidental things, are attributed to…?

I felt that certain things that happened in my life were too coincidental to not be influenced by a higher power.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whether you want to admit it or not, you already believe in lots of things about how the universe works, how people should treat each other, the nature of love, and if you are living in the DMV — very likely — the importance of equality, justice, fairness, respect. And yet, you can’t scientifically “prove” any of these things and many societies across history have had no respect for them at all — including Ancient Rome before Jesus. You have a very strong faith, even if you don’t realize it.

Once you come to grips with the fact that we have all have faith and belief, it becomes easier to investigate what you truly believe, what are the origins of it, and whether or not there is a much deeper meaning and purpose in life.

Does the above have anything to do with Jesus, or Jehovah or Mohammed or Vishnu or any god?

No, it was in response to the previous poster saying he wished he had faith. And my view is that in fact he has a very strong faith, even though he doesn’t think of it that way.

I am a Christian (and the person who has posted earlier in this thread) and I would encourage the PP to look at all of the religions you mention and then figure out what the PP believes. Your religion must be your own, not something you grew up with or something you inherited from your family.

And could be that for some people, their "religion" is no religion, but rather human kindness. Figuring out what you believe needn't involve deciding what supernatural being to worship.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whether you want to admit it or not, you already believe in lots of things about how the universe works, how people should treat each other, the nature of love, and if you are living in the DMV — very likely — the importance of equality, justice, fairness, respect. And yet, you can’t scientifically “prove” any of these things and many societies across history have had no respect for them at all — including Ancient Rome before Jesus. You have a very strong faith, even if you don’t realize it.

Once you come to grips with the fact that we have all have faith and belief, it becomes easier to investigate what you truly believe, what are the origins of it, and whether or not there is a much deeper meaning and purpose in life.

No, nothing you said is true. Nothing you named is claimed by anyone to be a thinking being or supernatural. Those things you mention are all emergent properties of a brain and none exist without a brain.

So, fail. 100% fail.

From a historical perspective, what the PP said is entirely true. Most Americans such as yourself have no understanding of pre-classical antiquity history, specifically the predominant ethical mores and rules which societies lived by.

No, that is more BS. PP’s primary claim was that everyone has “faith”. And that is false, with anything other than an unreasonably broad definition.

Your pseudo intellectual word salad is designed to obscure the fact that your point is ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I investigated the claims of Christianity from a historic perspective. The bottom line is that there is strong evidence for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Is it airtight? No. But nothing is airtight.

You're someone that I would be highly intrigued to meet IRL and discuss religion over coffee. However, without that, I am curious about your evidence for the death and resurrection.

I won't debate the scant, and inconclusive information related to an actual historic Jesus, but I am curious what your evidence is for him being divine, resurrected, etc.

I was the PP — and thank you, I love having thoughtful discussions with people about this subject!

Since we can’t have that discussion in real life …

I highly recommend reading NT Wright’s book The Resurrection of the Son of God. It is a 700+ page serious examination of the resurrection. While it is very long, the writing is done at a level that most people can understand it — the length is just due to the amount of detail.

I would then follow that up with Tim Keller’s A Reason for God (or do it in reverse order, it doesn’t really matter).

The thing is though — I tell people to read the Resurrection of the Son of God. And some people say “700 pages? nah, I am not going to read that.”

And I always find that response to be curious — after all, we are frequently told that it is religious people who don’t think or read.

But consider all of the things that we read in our lives; all of the social media scrolling; all of the cat videos and other frivolous things we watch. People don’t have time to read a single serious book on the resurrection, but find time to watch their favorite football team for 4 hours EACH Sunday.

The reality is that most people actively don’t want to think about these things. Which is fine. Be honest about it and own it. But don’t say that Christians aren’t the thinking ones.

Prior to becoming a Christian, even though I would tell everyone oh yeah, I am smart, well-read, etc., most of my life was filled with vapid subjects — politics, sports, money, women, porn, travel, social media, music.

Now that I am a Christian I can’t stop thinking about the things that really matter in life — why are we here, the meaning of life, the role of God, and yes, what it means that Christ died on a cross 2,000 years ago for me. I don’t think less — I think alot more now.

From PP: “What I don’t like is organized religion for the masses that dictates how you’re supposed to think. That’s where I pulled away from “church” but still believe in a higher being”.

This part of PP’s statement I agree w 1000%. I fell away from religion because I didnt like the organized part or that God would be used to exclude groups - LGBT or abortion supporters. I was religious growing up, fell out during college, and recently am very focused on daily prayer and my own personal relationship with God. That is the right balance for me. I feel such peace now and there is a difference in my life with prayer. I have always believed in God, but level of connection I have currently to my faith has increased and is strong. So to distill the why - I feel a strong connection through daily prayer and I feel a sense of peace and love that was not there in the same way without the daily prayer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whether you want to admit it or not, you already believe in lots of things about how the universe works, how people should treat each other, the nature of love, and if you are living in the DMV — very likely — the importance of equality, justice, fairness, respect. And yet, you can’t scientifically “prove” any of these things and many societies across history have had no respect for them at all — including Ancient Rome before Jesus. You have a very strong faith, even if you don’t realize it.

Once you come to grips with the fact that we have all have faith and belief, it becomes easier to investigate what you truly believe, what are the origins of it, and whether or not there is a much deeper meaning and purpose in life.

No, nothing you said is true. Nothing you named is claimed by anyone to be a thinking being or supernatural. Those things you mention are all emergent properties of a brain and none exist without a brain.

So, fail. 100% fail.

From a historical perspective, what the PP said is entirely true. Most Americans such as yourself have no understanding of pre-classical antiquity history, specifically the predominant ethical mores and rules which societies lived by.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a long story. I got extremely lucky connecting with church community, which completely transformed my life and conception of the world. I was raised as an atheist, but changed my ways in early 20s. Even though I had a great childhood and was a happy kid/teen, I have to tell you - atheism is pretty depressing lol. Don't subject your kids to it, it's just sad. There is so much more to life.

What does being "raised as an atheist" mean? I understand being raised as a Catholic, or a Methodist, etc., because there are regular services that you go to and things you learn as a child, but my understanding is that atheism is a lack of that. Thus the question.

It means I was raised without any knowledge of God or religion. I was told by everyone (including my parents) from a very young age that such concepts are false, and obviously as a child didn’t question the validity of such statements.

I doubt the post above is honest. Most people raising kids without religion just say nothing about it at all.

If this was true, those same people wouldn't bother posting on DCUM religion forum.

Anonymous wrote:Whether you want to admit it or not, you already believe in lots of things about how the universe works, how people should treat each other, the nature of love, and if you are living in the DMV — very likely — the importance of equality, justice, fairness, respect. And yet, you can’t scientifically “prove” any of these things and many societies across history have had no respect for them at all — including Ancient Rome before Jesus. You have a very strong faith, even if you don’t realize it.

Once you come to grips with the fact that we have all have faith and belief, it becomes easier to investigate what you truly believe, what are the origins of it, and whether or not there is a much deeper meaning and purpose in life.

No, nothing you said is true. Nothing you named is claimed by anyone to be a thinking being or supernatural. Those things you mention are all emergent properties of a brain and none exist without a brain.

So, fail. 100% fail.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whether you want to admit it or not, you already believe in lots of things about how the universe works, how people should treat each other, the nature of love, and if you are living in the DMV — very likely — the importance of equality, justice, fairness, respect. And yet, you can’t scientifically “prove” any of these things and many societies across history have had no respect for them at all — including Ancient Rome before Jesus. You have a very strong faith, even if you don’t realize it.

Once you come to grips with the fact that we have all have faith and belief, it becomes easier to investigate what you truly believe, what are the origins of it, and whether or not there is a much deeper meaning and purpose in life.

Does the above have anything to do with Jesus, or Jehovah or Mohammed or Vishnu or any god?

No, it was in response to the previous poster saying he wished he had faith. And my view is that in fact he has a very strong faith, even though he doesn’t think of it that way.

I am a Christian (and the person who has posted earlier in this thread) and I would encourage the PP to look at all of the religions you mention and then figure out what the PP believes. Your religion must be your own, not something you grew up with or something you inherited from your family.

Anonymous wrote:Whether you want to admit it or not, you already believe in lots of things about how the universe works, how people should treat each other, the nature of love, and if you are living in the DMV — very likely — the importance of equality, justice, fairness, respect. And yet, you can’t scientifically “prove” any of these things and many societies across history have had no respect for them at all — including Ancient Rome before Jesus. You have a very strong faith, even if you don’t realize it.

Once you come to grips with the fact that we have all have faith and belief, it becomes easier to investigate what you truly believe, what are the origins of it, and whether or not there is a much deeper meaning and purpose in life.

Does the above have anything to do with Jesus, or Jehovah or Mohammed or Vishnu or any god?

Whether you want to admit it or not, you already believe in lots of things about how the universe works, how people should treat each other, the nature of love, and if you are living in the DMV — very likely — the importance of equality, justice, fairness, respect. And yet, you can’t scientifically “prove” any of these things and many societies across history have had no respect for them at all — including Ancient Rome before Jesus. You have a very strong faith, even if you don’t realize it.

Once you come to grips with the fact that we have all have faith and belief, it becomes easier to investigate what you truly believe, what are the origins of it, and whether or not there is a much deeper meaning and purpose in life.

I think these people must always have wanted to believe in something.

Like me. I want to believe in something. I'm a scientist. I yearn for a little more spirituality. But my rational brain cannot convince me to let go and accept something that is indescribable and unprovable.

But one day.. who knows? Maybe I'll find my way to a church.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am still an atheist but choose to follow Christian teachings because Christianity is the foundation of western civilization and responsible for the morality and societies that do the most good for humanity.

Does that mean that Christianity is also responsible for the wars that western civilization fought in Jesus' name?

To some extent. If they weren’t warring over Jesus, they would be warring over property lines or the FSM.

War, slavery, and prostitution have always existed and will always exist. No religion will completely eliminate these human desires.

Anonymous wrote:I am still an atheist but choose to follow Christian teachings because Christianity is the foundation of western civilization and responsible for the morality and societies that do the most good for humanity.

Does that mean that Christianity is also responsible for the wars that western civilization fought in Jesus' name?