March 23, 2013
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Christianity is True
Some reasons I believe
1. It is a reasonable belief that God might exist.2. It is also reasonable that this God who might exist might be a personal God and be able communicated with human beings.3. The world’s religions are a reasonable place to look to see if such communication has happened.4. In the worlds religions, Jesus’ teachings seem to encompass most that is good in the worlds religions.5. The resurrection is a reasonable explanation for the existence of Christianity as a distinct belief system from Judaism.6. The evidence for the Resurrection is strong. (many eyewitness who were willing to die rather than say it they did not witness it).7. If the Resurrection is true, then what Jesus’ said about himself it true. He was God on earth.8. My personnel experiences matches what Jesus said they would be. Therefore I have personal verification of the truth of Christianity.9. Then comes Pascal’s wager, I await eventual verification of this conclusion after death, but haven’t lost anything if I am wrong. I will still live a very happy life.Just off the top of your heads, do you have a reason for what you believe?It need not be more than one reason but it can be as many as you want and I am not going to beat anyone up over them, this is a personal thing
Comments (128)
I’m a spiritual person, but I am not a deeply religious person. I live in a hallucination with all sorts of spirits, though many were killed. I have had my own encounters with the divine, and I don’t mean psychotronic warfare. I mean, it’s almost like this entire planet was set up by someone, call it God or whatever, and we find things that were meant for us. I think when things fall from the sky that it’s convenient.
I am working on writing a book about this, though everyone will say I’m schizophrenic. I have too many projects right now.
I write for myself anyway.
Actually, concerning 9. you have lost a lot if you’re wrong. Namely 10% of your hard earned income and missing out on a lot of fun stuff your religion says you can’t participate in (premarital/extramarital sex, binge drinking, drug use, among other things). You often lecture me that I live my life wrong, yet you’re depriving yourself of so much “fun” by following a religion.
All of what you listed has zero scientific verification. Appealing to faith or emotions is hardly proof at all. There are those of us who need more than just personal experience. There are those of us who require some sort of substantial proof using empirical methods. Using the Bible to prove the Bible is a circular argument and by their very nature circular arguments are invalid as they rely on the statement you’re trying to prove true to prove themselves true.
Even then, if Christianity were proven true, why would anyone be one? Your “God” is a fucking asshole not worthy of worship, praise, or admiration and Jesus got exactly what he deserved (a painful death), so whatever.
I don’t believe in a strict afterlife. I think we exist in peoples’ memories. I also think there’s some sort of web that holds us for a few days but that’s it. Several of my dead relatives have visited me after they died–and before my knowledge of their death, but they were only fragments of themselves. They never last long inbetween.
@Colorsofthenight - Some pretty good books have been writen by people who may have had your condition
@secretbeerreporter - I am lost nothing if I am happy. What is money when you are dead? and most of us burn more than 10% on things that mean nothing to us. Church means a lot to me. And if it bothers me that much, I can just not tithe. Its not a condition of salvation
@Composing_Life - Cool I need to read it
@secretbeerreporter - This entry was simply off the top of my head stuff. That sort of thing does not take a double blind test with a control group. Is you opinion of what god would be if he exists your main reason to believe what you do?
I always believed in ‘God.’ I just did not have the personal experience. Then on February 13, 1965 a pastor shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with me at work and I believed. I was born again. For me, I felt like a jolt or something–not common or necessary. I was changed. I did not become perfect in this life, but some old sins dropped off immediately without effort. Other sins and/or bad habits were harder and I am still struggling with some things. I am 79. I will not be perfect in this life, but one day I will. lol
I had an instant desrire to read the Bible daily and that never stopped.
My wife was born again on the same day at another location.
We belived we were called to helped troubled churches and my employer moved me 20 times in 40 years and we always went to church and tried to help.
I know from all of that that church is not a panacea as some seem to believe. It is full of saved sinners mostly and we are all struggling together and occasionally make some jaw dropping mistakes in our conduct, but we all try to progress in ur walk with Jesus.
frank
omg, paige!!! i just finished writing along these same lines! are you in my head or am i in yours?
@secretbeerreporter - why do you have to be so disrespectful? couldn’t you simply make your comment without such ugliness?
This is a blog worthy endeavor. But I agree with your reasons listed here also. Off to my computer to write it out.
@HUMOR_ME_NOW - Yours sounds like a lovely life
@Colorsofthenight - How were the spirits killed?
@trunthepaige - Is it a sole condition of my atheism? No. It is, however, a large part of the reason I reject the notion of a personal god in particular. When it comes to all of the religions that worship a personal god, I find their respective personal gods to be absolutely repulsive characters.
I have not outright rejected the notion of an impersonal god, though there’s not enough evidence to convince me an impersonal god exists either.
I think my reasons would match #4 & #8 on yours. I’m a Christian because I find the teachings of Christ tend to be very true and relevant. I can’t say I’m a fan of most Christians, or churches, but what Jesus taught. Destruction of egotism, we’re all equal and no one is good, love is the most important concept, mercy, humility, peace, empathy, and a pure heart. etc
@secretbeerreporter - I can understand that and thank you for telling me
@secretbeerreporter - oh my aren’t we acrimonious today! sound just like a gayboy hissy-fitting over having a Father who will judge his behavior. CHILL out, dude. God made Life. So I guess you hate what He made? All Goodness comes from God. So you must hate goodness too….nah, you don’t, do you. Are you a Satanist? in fact, the word God and Good are linguistically related…you better stop saying “Goodbye” to people, because it really means: “God Be With Ye.” God be with ye.
i have my reason for believing what i believe in.. however haven’t have the time to properly post it yet
@ShimmerBodyCream - Churcianity is a bit rough
I’m not going to go into my own subjective experiences which are very real to me, but other than those it makes no sense to me that all of of life’s incredible complexities and that we have consciousness, could exist without God.
@mortimerZilch - Yes, I in fact do. I’m an antinatalist and I actually am angry over the fact I was brought into existence. So yes, if your “God” made that all the more reason to hate him.
I believe in Jesus. I believe in God. However, bible-based (KJV especially) christianity does not exactly follow my belief system.
@secretbeerreporter - professional help is what you need. I recommend Neo-Freudian psychoanalysis, which is very hard to find nowadays. Might check out http://www.NARTH.com
love something!
@musterion99 - a lobotomy.
@musterion99 - the spirits were never separate from me, but they were imprinted in me by others. It’s complicated.
@mortimerZilch - Do you work for the psych fraud industry? Just curious. Sure as hell sounds like you do.
I’ve gotten every type of “professional help” you can name. I was on antidepressants for years and went to counseling for years. Didn’t change how I feel about god, religion, life, anything.
@Colorsofthenight - A lobotomy kills spirits? Interesting. So they weren’t real spirits, just something that existed in a part of your brain.
@musterion99 - that’s all they ever have been.
When was the last time you saw a real demon on TV?
And I believe they were planted in me by the ancients. Not that they knew me as anything more than a pattern.
@trunthepaige - While I think all of the points above can be rebutted pretty easily, I’m not sure someone who longs for the day when he can commit suicide (cuz non-existence is so much preferable to even the most blessed life) has much credibility in telling anyone they are missing out on all the fun in life on account of their faith.
You are trying to prove the unprovable.. Religion has nothing to do with reason. Not even Thomas Aquinas could make religion reasonable.
I believe in God and in Jesus Christ because of my own personal experiences, my own relationship with Him, and because quite simply nobody has ever given me a good enough reason NOT to believe.
@Colorsofthenight - Why do you call them spirits if they’re not real, instead of imaginations or hallucinations, and who are the ancients?
I don’t think I presume to believe anything.
So yes and no
I believe in God and having read the Bible and seen how Jesus lived, makes me to believe in Christianity.
Early Judaism and Christianity had hundreds of thousands of witnesses who saw God in action, with their own eyes.
No other religions can make that claim.
We have to believe the Buddha because nobody saw what he saw. Likewise, nobody saw what Mohammed saw but Mohammed.
And though all the world’s great civilizations rose up around religion, Western Civilization which grew up around Christianity became the greatest civilization in human history.
Notably, atheist civilizations seem to devolve into mass murder, rampant greed, organized crime and mass misery. Russia is a dung heap and human life has less value than a spittoon of cold lugees in China.
@SKANLYN - If you’re really going to rebutt, pull down your pants and bend over and grab your ankles.
Otherwise you’re just teasing.
@secretbeerreporter - Hey Lynn. Didn’t you have a Christian conversion? Or did you conjure it up to fuck with your friends on Xanga?
@secretbeerreporter - Nothing you ever say about anything has scientific verification either. You just quote a bunch of lunk headed Ph. D’s who suffer from the same emotional afflictions that you do.
So why demand scientific verification now? And what about all those Ph. D Christians out there?
Besides, limiting yourself to scientific verification is rank ignorance.
I’m taking a university level course right now on how to be an effective thinker. Our emotions play a critical role in effective thinking.
Since you admit to being emotionally disturbed, it would seem that you would be interested in working that kink out of your system so that your thinking became more balanced.
So does this mean that all you believe is based on you not liking what I believe? @SmartyPen -
What you said makes sense.
How many times do you have to timestamp this a day? What about writing some new content?
Good reasons. I basically concur.
Yes.
I had to go to town just as I sat down to write my answer blog, because they are calling for bad weather and we had to get out before it came in. So, I just now finished it. http://mtngirlsouth.xanga.com/772263567/why-i-believe/ Thank you for the great idea, Paige!
@Celestial_Teapot - I do it 2 times an entry, no more. The last time stamp you saw was a different post I have put up a new post everyday lately. i will poll you guys tomorrow and see if I am doing it too much
@Celestial_Teapot - That fake conversion is why I did not talk to him for about a year. And I was not nice when I first did. I am over it, but its not forgotten
@trunthepaige - You Christians are so forgiving. ^_^
@trunthepaige - Thanks for being responsive. It’s something that’s bugged me from when Xanga first letted us doing it.
Over the years I’ve had many supernatural encounters. There are 3 separate cases where I laid hands on people and prayed for healing, and their pain went away. I don’t know if full healing came, but all of them claimed substantial or total loss of pain. It had nothing to do with me, I just prayed.
During a prayer meeting at one church we were looking for property to build on, and I was praying in tongues. One of the members of that church is from South Eastern India, a region called Tamil, and the dialect spoken is also called Tamil. He told me, that during prayer, I had been speaking Tamil. Do I need to tell you I don’t speak any Indian dialect?
When I pray for people, something I love to do, often I pray about very specific matters only they and God know about. Again it has nothing to do with me, I’m simply a conduit. There is absolutely nothing special about me.
During a phone call a friend confessed she’d been having an affair. I did not know with whom she’d been having the affair, and she wasn’t telling. She was repentant, and after I prayed for her, and hung up, a guy’s face and name came into my mind. I called my friend back, and told her with whom she’d been having the affair. She didn’t have any more contact with the guy again, and she knew the Holy Spirit was watching, as well as a brother in Christ.
I smoked for a decade. By the time I stopped smoking I was up to 3 packs a day. I was a new Christian went to church, and there was a visiting preacher speaking that night. There was a prayer line, and someone asked for prayer to quit smoking. I never thought about asking God for that, and being the newbe I was just figured I’d missed out. I said, “Gee, God I really didn’t know anyone could pray for that, and I missed it.” As soon as I’d made that statement to God the taste of tobacco left my mouth, and I wasn’t jonesing for a cancer stick. I always had a jones for nicotine, and I always had the taste of tobacco in my mouth. God instantly freed me from tobacco addiction.
There are so many God encounters it would take a long time to tell them all. None of those encounters were meant to help me believe in God. All of them happened because I already believed God could and would do good things to people.
Excellent post, and interesting comments.
My youngest son is alive.
It was reasonable that some people thought the Zags were going all the way. They were numero uno. From WA no less.
We just don’t know..why we play the games.
To have a creator that would allow us to SEE evil,have it in our lives to understand it’s wrong and to show us He has power over it and can bring good out of evil.Not to mention He had all that evil dumped on Himself to spare us who believe He loves us enough to take punishment we deserve.Without putting super deep thought into it,thats what pops into my head first.The list would be endless tho as to why I believe!
If Christianity is so True, where is it’s xanga badge?
From my perspective, both atheists and christians consider me worthless and pathetic. For me to talk about God would be like a Jew talking about the anti christ. If God hates me that much I am willing to experience the cross all over again so that this world may belong to Satan, and if you watch the news, violence is in our nature, this world belongs to Satan, so feel free to do whatever makes you happy. When kids like you talk about Jesus, it makes Satan happy, because he is the true winner of the spiritual war taking place on earth, soon the corruption will spread, and you yourself will one day stop believing in a God who stands no chance against greed, and lust.
Add one more “recommend” for this post.
@secretbeerreporter – Couldn’t you potentially end up missing out on a lot of “fun” if you have a drug overdose or die young from binge drinking?(Or perhaps get a bullet from an angry spouse who’s caught you cheating – just saying.)
I don’t think you’re measure of happiness is taking into account the misery on the back end of such a continued lifestyle. On the other hand, if when she dies she finds nothing on the other side, she may have far lesser suffering on the back end of her life(or if she’s killed instantly, none at all, health wise), or at least find a better end in comfort in what you may see as her illusion.
Also, I would have to say that not everything you consider fun, other people find as fun, because in addition to some people’s disinterest to binge drinking and drug use, there are people like myself who don’t find any desire in extra-marital affairs, and that has nothing to do with religion in my case. Additionally, when you factor in the grief it causes others involved, her “sacrifice” seems worthy, on merely a human to human level.
I don’t think any of us have the perfect prescription for happiness, and I would just say that the most universal way to find it I know of is to not try and enflame others ; )
“where there is a design, there’s a Designer.” “the one who pushed the dominos.” and Faith is the way to be connected with Him
I agree with the points you bring up. I would also say that for me, probably to the dismay of some, it is through the study of science that my belief in God has been greatly strengthened as well.
As for personal experiences, they are too numerous to list them all. But I will say I am certain God has spared my life on more than one occasion as well as bringing my marriage back from the brink.
Christianity is FALSE
Some reasons I DONT believe
1. It is a UNreasonable belief that God might exist. There is no physical evidence for the existence of God. 2. It is also UNreasonable that this God who might exist might be a personal God and be able communicated with human beings. This is for the same reason as in #1.3. The world’s religions are a UNreasonable place to look to see if such communication has happened. Eye witness testimonies are the LEAST reliable form of evidence. 4. In the worlds religions, Jesus’ teachings seem to encompass most that is good in the worlds religions. Jesus’ teachings are held within the bible. There are many other teaching that are “taught” by the bible. Are you picking and choosing from the bible instead of viewing it as whole? Also why would you take any book as absolute truth? That is foolish. It would be equivalent to saying the events in “Green Eggs and Ham” where factual.
5. The resurrection is a UNreasonable explanation for the existence of Christianity as a distinct belief system from Judaism. READ ABOVE. Numbers 3 and 4.6. The evidence for the Resurrection is WEAK. (many eyewitness who were willing to die rather than say it they did not witness it would not constitute strong evidence for an eyewitness account. In fact it provides strong evidence for created eyewitness accounts few people WANT to die. They will avoiding telling a persecuting individual these “truths” to avoid death).
7. If the Resurrection is true, then what Jesus’ said about himself it true. He was God on earth. —I can’t argue with this one. Too bad it DIDNT happen. There is no evidence of resurrection in modern times so why would you take a claim by a book completely at face value?
8. My personnel experiences matches what Jesus said they would be. Therefore I have personal verification of the truth of Christianity. The human senses are far more frail than you think. Day to day tasks your senses do very well, but under “intense” situations (ie near death experiences), or dreams, or some other things, your sense can be very well tricked.9. Then comes Pascal’s wager, I await eventual verification of this conclusion after death, but haven’t lost anything if I am wrong. I will still live a very happy life. — You may live a very happy life and that’s great. I’m all for that, but don’t fool yourself. You have lost something if you’re wrong. You’ve lost time praying, worshipping, talking about, and WRITING POSTS about this fictious being. You may have made poor decisions because of this religious idea or appropriated money or time to a false cause. To think that if you are wrong and you don’t lose anything is incredibly naive. Just off the top of your heads, do you have a reason for what you believe?It need not be more than one reason but it can be as many as you want and I am not going to beat anyone up over them, BUT this is NOT a personal thing. Your beliefs have some hold on your governments which affect its constituents.
Contrary to Christian believe YOLO.
@trunthepaige -@Celestial_Teapot - I think timestamping twice is ok. 3 times is a bit much.
@RulerofMasons - You believe in satan but not God?
@Yourewr0ng - Why are you hiding behind a fake account you just made? Are you afraid to use your real site?
@musterion99 - I don’t talk to lizards, and I’m in a good mood right now.
You have set out your belief very distinctly, clear and pithy. Thank you for sharing such an important topic with us in the Xanga community.
I rather trust in knowledge than in faith. Belief is easier when it is substantiated by knowledge. I gain my knowledge from the two uncorrupted books written by God – The one being nature and the other being humanity. In both we can see the direct action of God and can we find the keys to direct communication with the God of our hearts and understanding. I believe what I believe because it concur with natural law and it is on some level verifiable through experience and supported by reason.
@trunthepaige – you have a right to believe what you like to believe, but it has nothing to do with reason.
Wow! It looks fantastic. I wish I knew
how to do all that! thanks for sharing.I am your newest follower. Visiting from
SNS linky. Hope you can visit me sometime.white marble tile
@SmartyPen - Oh it very much does, you just do not like my conclusions. But you answering my question the way you did, indicates that you base what you believe on what I believes. Is that what you do?
@Yourewr0ng - Wow thank you for creating a Xanga just to disagree with me
So off the top of your heard the reason for what you believe is that you disagree with my reasons. That seems very reactive and gives me far to much say in your life
@Zeal4living - Thank you for that
@musterion99 - That was funny making an account just for me. I do not track people down and beat them up. And as of yesterday I have no one on my block list. And I allow anonymous comments, so there is no reason to do that
@my_words_are_my_sanctuary - Well that is a different way to look at it
@tendollar4ways - I almost wanted to cry
@Yourewr0ng - Please don’t say you’re a tenant in “YOLO”, because that’s just Carpe Diem for dummies.
For me, I have no problem believing in the idea of Christianity. The basic ideas presented in an intelligent design creation/evolution seem quite plausible (if unproveable) to me. My problem comes in the way man has used this as a device for personal power and, in some cases, wealth. I guess the best way you could put it is I believe in religion, just not when it’s organized.
“Some reasons I believe”
In my experience people never give their real reasons in an open forum, because they could get shot down. Most people I doubt know why they do or think the things they do.
“1. It is a reasonable belief that God might exist.”
It is a reasonable belief that a unicorn might exist. There is a huge difference between might exist and does exist.
”2. It is also reasonable that this God who might exist might be a personal God and be able communicated with human beings.”
If we’re making things up, sure.
”3. The world’s religions are a reasonable place to look to see if such communication has happened.”
Well, history in general.
”4. In the worlds religions, Jesus’ teachings seem to encompass most that is good in the worlds religions. “
This is bias, if you were muslim you’d say the same about muhammad. To quote alan watts:
“…if for example you get into discussions as to whether Buddha was a more profound and spiritual character than Jesus Christ, you arrive at your decision on the basis of a scale of values which is
of course Christian, and in this sense the judge and the advocate are
the same.”
”5. The resurrection is a reasonable explanation for the existence of Christianity as a distinct belief system from Judaism.”
Countless sects have split off of countless religions (including many sects of christianity that have become their own religion, for instance mormons) based on supposed miracles. If their branching off substantiates the foundational claims of their church why does it only apply to your religion and not every other religion?
”6.
The evidence for the Resurrection is strong. (many eyewitness who were
willing to die rather than say it they did not witness it).”
First of all I don’t know any of that actually happened, and even if it did it proves they believed jesus was the son of god, not that he was. People die (and kill) in the name of false gods and fake miracles every day. If martyrdom is a valid justification of a religion’s doctrines then you have to accept every religion with a martyr.
”7. If the Resurrection is true, then what Jesus’ said about himself it true. He was God on earth.”
I don’t know that jesus ever said that about himself. He didn’t write a gospel, and none of the texts about him were written in his lifetime or by people who had met him.
”8.
My personnel experiences matches what Jesus said they would be.
Therefore I have personal verification of the truth of Christianity.”
What experiences?
”9.
Then comes Pascal’s wager, I await eventual verification of this
conclusion after death, but haven’t lost anything if I am wrong. I will
still live a very happy life. “
Yeah but you might deny millions of gay people equal rights, keep atheists from being able to run for office etc. Religions might make you happy, but the separate moral identities they create are responsible for a lot of wars, persecution, division and hatred. Contrary to what pascal argued, beliefs matter. I won’t use mine the way an addict uses crack, to feel good or escape my problems.
@Garistotle - Organizing is the best way to maximize effect. Since the purpose of religion or any social endeavor, for that matter, is maximum effect, organized religion is pure wisdom.
And that is why Jesus established the Church.
@ImNotUglyIJustNeedLove - But it’s when people start to base how religious they are by how involved they are in the organized religion that you start to encounter problems. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”, and the like.
@agnophilo - I’m not shocked at your reply. I think you are wrong on the honestly part. My list is not in order of priority, it is just as it came to mind. With most a version of my number 8 is the number one reason and it is my number one as well. Personal experience in other words. And to mock that reason is foolish. I would not do it.
That said what are your reasons, off the top of your head, for what you believe, not so much disbelieve? I doubt you really base you personal beliefs on disagreeing with what others believe
This is one of those give others a change to speak entries I am not going to beat anyone up. But we can do apologetic s and my personal experiences another time
@Garistotle - Your complaint concerns people then, not religion. People are prone to misuse or abuse anything and everything.
Organized religion is the only social force that has improved the human condition. Even good government fails without the good backing by organized religion.
@RulerofMasons - You don’t know the difference between a lizard and a frog?
@trunthepaige - It is funny.
1. i’m agnostic because i’ve never experienced anything “divine” or “miraculous” that cannot be attributed to something else. and i don’t think it’s more reasonable to invent a deity.
2. religion is just as much of a negative force in the world as a positive one. i’m not willing to align myself with such a thing, when all i have to go on is extreme peer pressure and a lack of true knowledge about God. assumptions and feel-good ideas are not enough for me.
also, personal experience (the bulk of your reasoning) shouldn’t lead you to suddenly ascribe to a belief system that orders you to convert others. if all we have to go on is personal experience, how can you expect someone with different experiences to believe the same thing as you?
@flapper_femme_fatale - Thank you you did not resorting to basing what you believe on not liking what others believe. Though you obviously do dislike what I believe making that temping
@trunthepaige - i think that most of what you believe has little to do with your religious choices. i know Christian socialists, Christian anarchists and Christian conservatives. religion usually has little to do with what politics you prefer. it may be an excuse (“I’m against abortion because God says so”), but never a reason in and of itself.
@flapper_femme_fatale - There is no better proof to any individual than their own personal experience. And if I know something was true because of that personal experience and it was a great life saving thing. My not telling you about it, would mean I did not want you to live. I did not care if you ever found that wonderful thing that I had found. Unless I hate you, then yes personal experience must lead to me or anyone else telling you about it. If they don’t tell you, its not out of love that they keep you ignorant from what they know is true
@flapper_femme_fatale - I agree
@trunthepaige - personal experience is not universal. so how can a reason behind that personal experience be?
@trunthepaige - and if what they know to be true really IS true, why is the best evidence they can come up with nothing more than a personal narrative? i can find more unbiased and objective resources telling me i should wear sunscreen than i could find sources telling me to convert to Christianity.
@flapper_femme_fatale - I HAVE experienced the divine and the miraculous and it still didn’t do any good. That puts me in the same company with the ancient Hebrews and the Apostles, normal human beings, all.
The Christians here who are talking about how they have spoken in tongues and whatnot are just members of weird cults where they can be pretend to be somebody other than their miserable, hateful selves.
Try being a Catholic where being a quiet, untalented normal is a virtue. That is where the religious rubber hits the religious road.
@flapper_femme_fatale - That really did not address my point. I was talking about the motivation for talking to you about it. If I want good things for you I will tell you about those things I think are life saving
But if you want me to use the same criteria for faith as those telling you to use sun screen could do that easily. But please not now
It makes me happy.
Nine points, nine examples of fallacies. But you knew that
.
I believe that I am a hairy gorilla with an IQ over 140 who contemplates the universe and wonders why I have the capability to understand what I have so little control over. I like the feeling that at any moment the universe could end my life or every life on Earth. I like the feeling that collectively we can one day prevent at least some of this calamity. I like the fact that when I die, I won’t exist at all.
@ImNotUglyIJustNeedLove - I suppose I didn’t exactly term my issues with organized religion all that well.
@musterion99 - you’re childish. you made no attempt to refute any of my points. i choose not to engage in this discussion with any of my personal details because i choose not to. honestly i haven’t used this site in a while and overlooked the guest sign-in so i created a site. my mistake. my personal info isn’t important but my arguments are. clearly that is something you don’t understand.
@trunthepaige - see… your comment reflects exactly what is wrong with you religious types. my comments gives you absolutely little to say towards my life. all you know about me is that i disagree with your viewpoint and my very “general” style of writing(oh and that i haven’t used xanga in a while). you can’t see a comment and say you know jack about that person. that’s equivalent to seeing a UFO and assuming that there are aliens inside of whatever object you’re viewing. UFO’s are UNIDENTIFIED flying objects(and even going further you can’t really say that it’s flying because you don’t know that its truly an object in the sky(you can just say there is an IMAGE in the sky). don’t speculate unless you’re prepared to do some hardcore researching… and since i did not display my info it will make it impossible for you do so.
in regards to your other statement…. i disagree with your position because you don’t have strong evidence for your position. shoddy recorded history, a book, and many millions of people believing an idea is not strong evidence. it is weak “evidence”. i believe what i believe because the notion of a god is a bad model of reality. it predicts things that cannot ever be tested. it predicts nothing in our physical reality. i believe in something that can be tested and have hard evidence presented either for or against an idea.
@Garistotle - YOLO
@Garistotle - Well, people do the dog gondest things, that’s for sure.
@ImNotUglyIJustNeedLove - actually, Catholicism is just about the only branch of Western Christianity that i have any respect for.
@trunthepaige - Jesus preached love and unity.
If you say you have experienced God and yet are hateful and you belong to one of the thousands of Christian sects, your experience contradicts the very founder of your own religion.
That makes Christians look as dumb as door nails and loopy to boot.
@trunthepaige -
my point is simply that either personal experience is meaningful, or it isn’t. if it’s meaningful, then negative experiences with Christianity, and religion in general, are just as valid as the positive experiences. if i followed your logic, i’d go around telling miserable Christians that all their problems could be fixed if they would just renounce their faith. but i don’t, because i respect the fact that my experiences are unique.
@brown_buffalo -
I like the fact that when I die, I won’t exist at all.
It’s not a fact. It’s just something you believe by faith.
@you’re wrong^ - Yep. Thank you for proving my point.
@trunthepaige - I was just curious. And I don’t believe in the claims of religions mainly because I can’t honestly accept one form of evidence for one religion and ignore it for another religion. I want to know if a claim is true, I don’t believe things out of comfort. To me we have a moral obligation to seek out the truth and act upon it.
I can’t accept miracles or prophecy or supposed eye witness accounts in one religion out of ten thousand and ignore it for the other 9,999 religions. And they can’t all be right, so my attitude toward the gods of every religion is the same as your attitude probably is toward the god of every religion but christianity – they could exist but until you have a reason to think they do they’re not going to weigh heavily on your decision making process.
But that is what I don’t believe, not what I do. I can’t tell you what I do believe because I believe thousands of things for thousands of different reasons. I can’t sum it up with a quick label.
Why do I believe? For the reasons you stated.
When I accepted Christ as my Savior, I was struggling through many things. God came along side of me and helped me through them. He didn’t take them away. I still struggle with some issues to this day. However, I knew that I wasn’t alone. Sometimes, I still feel alone… However, I know that he is there with me, just out of site for whatever reason. When I pray, they’re answered. I ask the Lord for His will to be done over our own, and I see him work out things even better than I could have imagined in the long run. So, even when my prayers aren’t answered how I think would be best at the time, he does answer. 
I still have some faith struggles. For instance, I feel like prayers for myself are often overlooked, whereas my prayers for others are typically answered fairly quickly. I feel like my life is more so of a trial and error run, and Jesus has to let me stumble along the path sometimes to find my way.
My personal experience tells me he’s real. I know he’s there. And I will share his love with others every chance I get, so long as I still live. I’ve seen too much evidence to not believe that there is a God, and a personal one.
Thanks for sharing. <3
Seems like quite a long chain of uncertainties. I wouldn’t start a journey with those directions.
@somewittyhandle - really you must never travel then if others telling about the place an you own experiences about the place is not enough to get to to go
I believe because I did poo poo in my panties.
@the_man_who_broke_the_bank -In your case I believe that
@trunthepaige
But why do you believe that? Because it seems reasonable? Or because of my testament?
@the_man_who_broke_the_bank - You seem like a guy who likes to think using his ass, so poo must be very important to you
Indeed, as a Christian, it is my raison d’etre.
@the_man_who_broke_the_bank - Cute so what other sites do you have? this old theologian parody can not be you only site
@secretbeerreporter - Are you aware that the Bible consists of 66 books penned through at least 40 humans over 3000 years?
@mtngirlsouth - I’m very well aware of that. As I’ve always said about the Bible and similar religious texts, they are written by powerful men for the control of the masses. It is a tool for royalty if you will to control people. Nothing more.
Of course, there are a bunch more texts that didn’t make it into the canon, which also makes me even more suspect. What makes these 66 (72 if one is Catholic) more authoritative than the ones the Council of Nicea decided to reject?
@secretbeerreporter - Well then, is it the fact that usually those66 books written over 3000 yearsby at least 40 people are traditionally bound all together as one that confuses you, or what? Because if you are aware of that, how can you possibly then say that using it to confirm itself is circular reasoning?
@mtngirlsouth - Because it is circular reasoning. Using the Bible to prove the Bible is circular reasoning. That would be like me saying “an odd number plus an odd number equals an even number because an odd number plus an odd number equals an even number.” That is a true statement, yes (and is easily proven), but why should you believe me? I haven’t provided any sort of proof other than re-stating my initial statement. Instead, if I want to substantiate this claim, I show the following:
2m+1+(2n+1) = 2m+2n+2 = 2(m+n+1)
which demonstrates my claim because a number of the form 2x+1 is odd and a number of the form 2z is even by definition.
Much the same way, why should I believe the Bible is true just because it says so? I need some sort of external evidence to confirm it, which there is none (and eyewitness accounts aren’t enough, I need science).
@secretbeerreporter - So siting different people from different times is now circular reasoning because they agree. Okay. You’re hopeless. Don’t even bother.
@mtngirlsouth - Well, seeing as how the Bible was written by powerful men for the control of the masses, it only makes sense that the powerful would take something that worked for the past powerful people and confirm and add to their claims. The fact of the matter is that none of the Biblical authors have any external evidence for any of their claims. Word of mouth is not evidence. Maybe it is by your standards, but for most reasonable people it isn’t.
@secretbeerreporter - Powerful men? No educated person contests who wrote most of the scriptures. Other than the old testament they were not powerful men at all
@trunthepaige - They might not contest it but they sure as hell don’t have solid irrefutable evidence either. There’s no way to absolutely prove anything in history happened exactly the way historians say it did. This is no different.
@secretbeerreporter - Then the world started the day you were born. Ok maybe not even then. Make that it started when you were 3 years old
@trunthepaige - The point is it’s all conjecture. For all I know my parents could have been blowing smoke about the times prior to my long-term memory kicking in. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least, but I’d never know any different.
I treat anything like this with a healthy dose of skepticism. Why should I believe what some historian who wasn’t there says? Why should I believe what he says without reservation? There’s no reason to. I wasn’t there, I don’t know. For all I know the Revolutionary War could be made up just because it sounds good. I wasn’t around in 1776 to know for sure.
So if you want to say my world began when I was three, fine. I totally accept that.
@secretbeerreporter - Please explain to me how any of the OT gave anyone power BC.
@mtngirlsouth - Seeing as how BC and most of AD was ruled under theocracy, it’s easy to see how both the OT and NT gave people power. The Bible was used as governing law for millennia, and if you dared oppose it you were put to death! Look at the old Jewish law where they put you to death for missing the sabbath, being a drunkard, being gay, being an adulterer, enticing your brother to serve other gods, among other crap. If that’s not giving a few people power over the masses I don’t know what is.
@secretbeerreporter - According to what sources? Are you using the Bible to confirm that?
@secretbeerreporter - Don’t bother answering, Lynn. I am just playing with you. This conversation means nothing to either of us and will have zero affect on either of us. You won’t change my mind and I won’t change yours. I will stay happy and you will stay angry and bitter.
@mtngirlsouth - Do I know how many were put to death under Jewish law? No. It might have been none, it might have been millions. But the Bible (and more specifically the Torah) was the law and it was enforced as law at one point (regardless of the existence or non-existence of its deity), and there are tons of external sources that point to this.
@mtngirlsouth - Oh you did NOT just go there. My lack of belief has nothing to do with me being depressed. How about you have lived my life for a change? I can’t go ANYWHERE without being torn apart either verbally or physically by other people and it’s been that way since I was a little kid. How about YOU be completely, totally, and permanently disabled and unable to do ANYTHING worthwhile or have any sort of meaningful career. YOU THINK YOU COULD BE HAPPY LIKE THAT?!?!?!?!?
Don’t you dare say “yes” either. Until you’ve lived it you can’t comment.
@secretbeerreporter - I was making the statement that you will remain angry and bitter. I never meant that you are that way because of your lack of faith, I meant that faith may be the only thing that would ever help releave that. And I only believe that because I have seen it work that way so many times for others. And it is the only thing that has kept me from becoming that way myself. Not that I think for a minute you will believe me.
All this just serves as further proof that conversation with you is futile because you begin angry and whatever I say just fuels it. I wish you had peace instead of so much acid.
I reckon it is best to leave alone.