Dear Atheists..

Just a question, not knocking your beliefs or anything, but if you were born in another part of the world do you think you would have grown up believing in your god? The Middle East, let's say, or Russia, or Papua New Guinea?
Islam, Judaism, Eastern Orthodoxy all have the same God with different prophets, not sure about Papua New Guinea but think it's been mainstream Christian during my lifetime. So yes.
 
The majority of religious people (actually all, I would argue) follow their religion for purely social reasons. Intelligent people can believe in God, but no-one has ever actually come to belief in God intellectually. They may try to intellectualise it later on, but they're coming at it from an intense desire to believe for whatever reason (usually social or emotional). Intelligent people still believe in God for the same reason intelligent people still don't accept that their wife is cheating on them when it's obvious to everyone else.

We've got people on this thread boasting about how 85% of people 'believe in God.' And yet 85% of that 85% live in places where if they publicly denounced the prevailing religion, at best they'd end up ostracised from their community, and at worst, they'd end up dead. Which shows what a sham the whole thing is, based entirely on social belonging and control, and not at all on any kind of objective observations about the nature of the world.
Not a sham, religion is woven into the fabric of society but obviously much less so in this one these days. Christianity is at the heart of western European culture and Islam that of the middle East and northern Africa. Always difficult for anybody to reject the norms that define their society. China today is a similar example in an atheist context.
 
Islam, Judaism, Eastern Orthodoxy all have the same God with different prophets, not sure about Papua New Guinea but think it's been mainstream Christian during my lifetime. So yes.

Are you sure they're the same god? I never paid much attention in RE but I thought they were very different
 
It's pretty obvious, try to work it out for yourself and please say something relevant when you next post.
i could argue you have never said anything relevant in this sphere but i try to keep insults to a minimum
so instead of being obtuse answer my question.

i was stating a fact that there is no external corroborating evidence apart from the the 4 gospels from the time of the alleged lifespan of jesus
and considering he was hailed the king of the jews as he rocked up into jerusalem did all these miracles etc
i find it a bit strange that there was no comment from anyone anywhere
and there was plenty of people who would have should have said something

it has nothing to do with applying standards it just should of happened considering who he is alleged to have been

and you are on stony ground right away as identifying the author/authors is nigh on impossible as you well know
 
i could argue you have never said anything relevant in this sphere but i try to keep insults to a minimum
so instead of being obtuse answer my question.

i was stating a fact that there is no external corroborating evidence apart from the the 4 gospels from the time of the alleged lifespan of jesus
and considering he was hailed the king of the jews as he rocked up into jerusalem did all these miracles etc
i find it a bit strange that there was no comment from anyone anywhere
and there was plenty of people who would have should have said something

it has nothing to do with applying standards it just should of happened considering who he is alleged to have been

and you are on stony ground right away as identifying the author/authors is nigh on impossible as you well know
There's also the time period between his miracle birth, and suddenly appearing as the messiah. IIRC there's allusion to being a carpenter with his 'dad' in the mystic book, but basically you have 20+ years of nowt.
 
i could argue you have never said anything relevant in this sphere but i try to keep insults to a minimum
so instead of being obtuse answer my question.

i was stating a fact that there is no external corroborating evidence apart from the the 4 gospels from the time of the alleged lifespan of jesus
and considering he was hailed the king of the jews as he rocked up into jerusalem did all these miracles etc
i find it a bit strange that there was no comment from anyone anywhere
and there was plenty of people who would have should have said something

it has nothing to do with applying standards it just should of happened considering who he is alleged to have been

and you are on stony ground right away as identifying the author/authors is nigh on impossible as you well know
It's extraordinarily depressing that a recent CoE survey found 22% of adults in England didn't believe Jesus was a real person. It is quite true as an obscure peasant there are no surviving archaeological artefacts for him. (Although last month - hey presto! https://catholicherald.co.uk/new-evidence-indicates-turin-shroud-not-a-european-forgery/).
Turin Shroud and the biblical record aside there is though abundant corroborating evidence about his life given in the near contemporary accounts of Roman and Jewish historians like Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny the younger & Suetonius - who were all hostile to him. This is exactly what you would expect for a messianic figure at this period and no serious historian doubts Jesus' historicity these days.
 
Islam, Judaism, Eastern Orthodoxy all have the same God with different prophets, not sure about Papua New Guinea but think it's been mainstream Christian during my lifetime. So yes.
Do you believe that Jesus was the son of God?

(A one word answer will suffice, but if you feel the need to expatiate, at least start the answer with yes or no).
 

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