I still don't understand why anyone would make up a person like the Biblical Christ..

[Minimalist]

You're SOL on that one!

[MilesTailsPrower]

It's the fact that people believe he is real that gets me...

[FutureAndAHope]

It's the fact that people believe he is real that gets me

I guess people say this all the time, but how can you say for certain he is not real. If God were real you would expect he would show people things that were of a supernatural nature to prove his existance to them. Especially if he was declaring the truth about who God was. You read the story of Moses, and say that is just insane, how could that happen. But if we were indeed dealing with the God who created all living things then you would say well that is just normal. Miracles are only unexpected if God is infact not real. You have started with the assumption that God is infact not real. Others start with the assumption that he is. Then it comes down to personal evidence and conviction. How does each one get that evidence well it starts with being exposed to things that proved God's existance. For me I was bought up in a Christian home but never really followed God. I heard from time to time others experiences with him, and did not think they were lying. But I just played computer games and was happy with that part of my life. One day God reached out to me in a dream and it changed my life hopefully forever. So now days I have had some experiences of my own, I have seen a healing, but heard of other pastors who have done more than I have done, like opening the eyes of the blind, and all sorts of cool stuff. Why do I believe Jesus, well becasue he is real not becasue some one tells me to believe or forces me to go to church. I am an adult with a family, have a university education, but despite all of that do not trust in that alone but put my trust in God. On my personal website there is a link to a page that has documented cases of divine healing I will get it for you. Here it is http://www.wcdn.org/wcdn_eng/case/divine_case_e.asp they were all documented by degree trained doctors not natropaths or some thing.

[KichigaiNeko]

Sorry ...what was your sig again?? ah yes FutureandAHope??

We don't just "say" it is insane nor it didn't happen ...we do not find any evidence that the "Nursery stories you cling to" have any more validity than someone on some psychotropic drug who decides to write a book and declare it was inspired by some mofo deity.. that's about it mate.

Your 'god' is all in your mind mate and would seriously keep a close watch on myself if I were you...you HAVE got a psychiatrists number handy don't you??

[Minimalist]

You read the story of Moses, and say that is just insane, how could that happen

200 years of excavations in Egypt have failed to show any evidence that there were ever any appreciable number of slaves ( Israelite or otherwise ) in that country.

More recent excavations and surveys in Israel have shown that the populations which later became "Israel" and "Judah" did not enter the country in a wave of "Conquest" ( which those same excavations have shown did not happen either) but instead were indigenous peoples.

Against that you have a book of fairy tales. We are not the "insane" ones, lad.

[DeistPaladin]

You read the story of Moses, and say that is just insane, how could that happen. But if we were indeed dealing with the God who created all living things then you would say well that is just normal. Miracles are only unexpected if God is infact not real.

One of the things that struck me when I read the Bible cover to cover is how you could barely turn a page without reading some supernatural event, from an angel talking to someone to Yahweh smiting a group of people, etc. Then I put the book down and contrast it with the universe we've known ever since we stopped believing in this stuff.

The contrast is quite stark. We live in a natural universe devoid of all this magic and supernatural activity and yet the Bible was so soaking in it that you could barely blaspheme without Yahweh smiting you. This was true even after Jesus' sacrifice, as the Book of Acts is just as full of miracles. The contrast would seem to only allow for two possibilities:

1. Yahweh was very active back then but has decided to leave things alone in today's world because he works in such mysterious ways and all
2. They're just myths, just like the ones we read from the Greeks, etc.

And enter Occam's Razor...

[5thHorseman]

Opening the eyes of the blind. Educated or not, you are a gullible person and having an education does not make you smart, it means you can pass exams and write essays.

For some of the stuff you have posted in this thread, Occams Razor, or even Russells Teapot would be good things for you to google.

[The Grand Nudger]

It's a story, you're supposed to be compelled to keep turning the pages. Twilight books fly off the shelf but books on physics, biology, and archaeology spend a little more time languishing in their respective aisles, don't they. Storytellers know what people want to hear, they know what makes us sit down and crush the popcorn. It's sex, violence, and the supernatural.

[searchingforanswers]

I must agree. All you have to do to realize the bible is false is read it. talking snakes, worldwide floods, spirits entering pigs, walking on water. All of these are impossible and NO one would believe anyone who said they happened without proof. Unless of course, its written in a thousand year old book and you start with the assumption that god is real and can do anything. Really? Then I guess we really should believe apollo blows on the arrows of every single bow ever shot. The evidence shows it if you go in with the assumption that its real.

[The Grand Nudger]

Hehehe, it isn't Apollo that pushes my arrows forward. It's my hard heart, practiced draw, and taste for deer.