Why Christianity?

[loganonekenobi]

A question I always ask Christians is, "What arguments do you have to support your beliefs that a Hindu, Jewish, or Muslim does not? In other words, if I accept your notion that the universe must have had a creator, why couldn't it have been Thor or Ba'al? Even if I accept that prayer works, why must it be Yahweh answering them and not Allah or The Flying Spaghetti Monster?"

Every time I ask any version of these questions I get either radio silence or a quick, sudden change of the topic. Because of my many failed attempts at asking these questions in real life, I decided to ask these questions here.

 None of the other gods have called me, the God of creation did, I answered and found Him to be real and true to what He has said. It's amazing how quite the other gods are, you would believe they would want to steal followers if they were real, you know offering more than the others.

GC

strange. I did not hear this god and I really tried. I tried from 7 years old to 14 years old. I got nothing but then i tried a nature based worship and ...wow something happened. I wont go into the details but eventualy i began to realize that these connections to reality are possible for any human that tries and has the right set of circumstanses. Those moments of connection to everything can be achieved and felt in about any religion (not sure about the Aztec since i cant sacrifice a lot of people.)
this to me personaly invalidates any "one true faith" that is based on someone elses book of stuff.
"don't masterbate! but gawd... i like to masterbate.."
If you or anyone else chooses to live with guilt over being human then so be it but be assured chirstianiy or any other faith is/are not the one true way. How many different ways are there? What's the population of the planet. That's how many.
your god your Jesus your allah your shiva you buhda (although at least buhda would agree) is YOU, nothing more and nothing less.

[JuliaL]

The argument is that the Abrahamic god is indistinguishable from a fairy tale produced by a primitive, tribal people.

Why is that?

Because there is no evidence with which to distinguish the two.
Have you some?

It would be evidence of His existence and omnipotence were He to offer something a little more current

That would be true, but if knowledge of his existence exists anyways and proof of his religion exists, for sincere seekers of the truth, it would be redundant. And what would convince a generation to follow of the more current revelation being true?  It would be the content right? It would be due to it being something out of capability of mortals. But this is true regarding Quran anyways.

Please offer concrete evidence that the Quran is outside the production capability of mortals.  
At least DVDs would have been outside of the capability of 7th century humans.

The fact that no such evidence is ever produced suggests that the null hypothesis of non-existence is accurate.

Why is that? If you don't believe God is the Lord of the worlds, you will more likely believe it was revealed by aliens trying to control us. All miracles wouldn't be proof for an Atheist of God doing it anymore then highly advanced aliens.  It takes the belief of God being the Lord of the worlds and his lordship, to believe in miracles supporting messengers.

So how would you show that it was NOT highly advanced aliens?
Once you've bitten on the LordGodoftheUniverse sandwich, you've given up rational thought.  At that point, why argue?

Are there any  current exalted ones?  Who are they?

Currently on earth, there is Imam Mahdi (the 12th Imam), Khidr and Elyas. Not dead yet as well are Idris and Isa (Jesus) but they currently reside in a higher realm.

And these people differ from the rest of us in what way?  Do they levitate?  Glow in the dark?

No, forget that last one.  That's not magic.

[Minimalist]

they currently reside in a higher realm.

Speaking of "higher realms" I hope that joint your toking is legal wherever you are sitting.

[Mystic]

Why is that?

Because there is no evidence with which to distinguish the two.
Have you some? 

Yes I do. But you are moving the goal posts. Your argument suggests if God doesn't send DVDs or MP3s or what not, there would be no evidence of either his existence or religion. What you stated is non-sequitur.

Please offer concrete evidence that the Quran is outside the production capability of mortals.  
At least DVDs would have been outside of the capability of 7th century humans.

I can, but I've presented argument showing Islam is the true religion anyways. The problem is you don't accept the Creator to begin with, and your opinion is it doesn't exist...so you are already closely your ears towards religion. If you want to seriously study the unique eloquence and guiding role of the Quran, I can. But I think no matter how amazing the qualities I show of it, you will always say it doesn't prove it's beyond human capability. The question is why is there nothing close to it?

So how would you show that it was NOT highly advanced aliens?
Once you've bitten on the LordGodoftheUniverse sandwich, you've given up rational thought.  At that point, why argue?

My point was, people who want to deny can always deny.  For me it's obvious that asGod is the Lord of humanity, King of humanity, and God of humanity, he would protect humanity from such deception, and as he is the Lord of the universe, would not allow his creation to be easily in the hands of others for manipulation to the extent of creating snakes from a staff to turn back to a staff. Or that he would split the moon only to put it back perfectly as if nothing happened, and do so without all the physical consequences of the moon splitting. I think these things he would not allow people to be lead astray regarding and manipulated. It would be against his position as Lord and caretaker of humanity.

And these people differ from the rest of us in what way?  

To you everyone must be a plain rock. Any Jewels among us, and they are put back at levels of rocks. Let alone those way exalted above the rest of humanity.

[JuliaL]

Because there is no evidence with which to distinguish the two.
Have you some?

Yes I do.

Please provide it.  

Please offer concrete evidence that the Quran is outside the production capability of mortals.  
At least DVDs would have been outside of the capability of 7th century humans.

I can, but I've presented argument showing Islam is the true religion anyways. The problem is you don't accept the Creator to begin with, and your opinion is it doesn't exist...so you are already closely your ears towards religion. If you want to seriously study the unique eloquence and guiding role of the Quran, I can. But I think no matter how amazing the qualities I show of it, you will always say it doesn't prove it's beyond human capability. The question is why is there nothing close to it?

My bold.

You say 'you do' and you say 'you can.'  
But only if I believe first.

You are stating that if I would only believe, then I would believe.  Tautologically, and trivially true.
This fits with your abandonment of rationality.

The question is, "What makes you think there is nothing close to it?"
And why can you only supply proof to those who already believe?

So how would you show that it was NOT highly advanced aliens?
Once you've bitten on the LordGodoftheUniverse sandwich, you've given up rational thought.  At that point, why argue?

My point was, people who want to deny can always deny.  For me it's obvious that asGod is the Lord of humanity, King of humanity, and God of humanity, he would protect humanity from such deception, and as he is the Lord of the universe, would not allow his creation to be easily in the hands of others for manipulation to the extent of creating snakes from a staff to turn back to a staff. Or that he would split the moon only to put it back perfectly as if nothing happened, and do so without all the physical consequences of the moon splitting. I think these things he would not allow people to be lead astray regarding and manipulated. It would be against his position as Lord and caretaker of humanity.

When you've made up a god, it is easy to give it any characteristics you wish.
As long as it never has to prove itself.
It is just a bit arrogant for you to claim you know the mind of GOD and what He would or would not do.
What makes you so special?

And these people differ from the rest of us in what way?  

To you everyone must be a plain rock. Any Jewels among us, and they are put back at levels of rocks. Let alone those way exalted above the rest of humanity.

You say trust.
I say, trust, but verify.  There are a lot of scammers on the internet.

[Godscreated]

Nope, you should read more carefully, God called me. Like I've said I do not live on speculation of what might have been, it's a waste of time. What has happened has happened and I'm glad of it, you should remember that I don't speculate I'm tired of having to remind you of this.

GC

If God called you then you are a prophet, right?  So what did he say to you?  Have you written it down?    Did he give you any magical powers?  Can you turn a stick into a snake?  Can you walk on water?  Can you raise the dead?  When God first spoke to you did you roll yourself up into a carpet?  Did he tell you to sacrifice someone to prove your faith?  Can you levitate a mountain?  Did he put you into the mouth of a whale for three days?  Tell us what happened so that we won't think that you are a lunatic.

It's easy to see who the lunatic is, in case you can't figure it out find a mirror.

GC

[orangebox21]

Does the deity posses the characteristics necessary to be the creator?

It's inconceivable that a being with the power and knowledge to create a universe could possibly be held accountable for the bullshit in The Bible. Genesis doesn't even accurately describe the sequence of events and it's all downhill from there. I never understand why Christians are so hell bent on proving a creator deity. Even if I grant this type of being, which I don't, there is no way in hell you can get from there to the split personality character in your special book.

It's much more honest to say you believe it because you want to instead of going through the machinations required to attempt to make any sense of any of it. It simply can't be done.

That doesn't address the question.  The question addresses the fact that the creator of the universe would necessarily transcend the universe.  In other words the creator of the universe transcends time, space, and matter.  What deities make this claim?

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And that leads to disjunctive syllogism.  Either truth claim A or truth claim B is true.  As an example, one of the truth claims shared by all religions is that man is in a fallen or imperfect state and is in need of salvation/redemption/perfection [a claim atheist's would recognize as well].  To the best of my knowledge, all religions other than Christianity make the claim that salvation/redemption/perfection of man is found in man's own efforts.  In other words, all other religions teach that man is his own redeemer.  Christianity makes a different and mutually exclusive claim.  Namely that you have the forgiveness of sins [salvation/redemption/perfection] through the effort of [God] Jesus Christ.  It is by grace you have been saved, not of works.  So on this specific issue, either Christianity is true or all other religions are true.

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Or they could all be false.

Interesting that you did not include that choice in your dichotomy.

Given that the OP wrote:

if I accept your notion that the universe must have had a creator, why couldn't it have been...

we are arguing form the premise that the universe has a creator.  The OP then asks why the Christian God rather than any of the others.  The framing of the question doesn't allow for "none of them" as an option.

But for the sake of argument let's say the OP reworded the question to allow for your option.  To include "all are false" in my dichotomy would be illogical.  To claim that all could be false would be to claim that none of the known deities are the creator.  That necessitates an unknown deity being the creator. Therefore you're asking me to make an argument not from a position of knowledge, but rather from a position of no knowledge.  Claiming to have knowledge from no knowledge is illogical.

[Aristocatt]

Of course it has to do with familiarity. Yknow when I first left Catholicism I actually had a very brief phase of being interested in Paganism. If I'm gonna be completely honest in hindsight, I wasn't interested in Paganism because it seemed "logical". I was interested in it purely because I was curious about European culture that came before Christianity, and felt connection to it as a European. Had I been raised in Africa I'd know nothing of the Pagan religions and would never have had this phase.

I'm also interested to hear exactly how you think Islam is "logical" or "rational" - don't just tell me "it seems logical", that tells us nothing, how is it logical? The details.

To be fair, pagan mythology is a lot more interesting than monotheistic mythology.  

Also their gods are not perfectly good beings that somehow came to the conclusion that creating a world filled with catastrophic events was the best option.  

So paganism doesn't have to deal with that conundrum.

[Shuffle]

Can we get some more Christians on here? It seems like the only ones on this thread are employing the tactic I previously mentioned: radio silence. If they are are not silent then they are posting things such as: "God called me, the other Gods didn't." It is pretty pathetic.

Oh wait! I forgot! We also have MysticNight on here that is eager to use presuppositions to advance his silly argument. His excuses for these presuppositions are: "I already covered them," or: "I will cover them."

We also have a group of atheists that easily tear down any defense Mystic has put up, however his only responses are: "I already explained that," or, "I will explain that."

Since this is my first real thread, I really had hope for the theists on here to surprise me, however they did quite the opposite. I no longer have hope for any theist on here to have any real arguments, points, or legitament thoughts that haven't been picked apart to shreds by atheists. Maybe I will give them a second chance in the future, maybe not!

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Yes but even then, why back to Islam instead of going to Christianity, Buddhism, Paganism?

Because Islam is what you are familiar with, because of your upbringing. It's not because it's more true than any other religion.

That's your assumption.  One reason I was hesitant to become Muslim again, is because I felt I had a bias towards it.  So I felt do I want to believe in it because I was born into it.  And this prevented me from becoming Muslim for a while (even having solved the issues of Quran). However, rational reasons lead me back to this religion.

What's your favorite ritual?  30 days of fasting, going to Mecca, praying five times a day, being part of a group of guys?