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[Edward]

I will still disagree that our beleifs are a matter of choice. I'd love to have an unshakeable faith that I was protected by the divine but, I can't simply choose to think that.

I like the way you put that, because it's the same for me but 180 degrees out. I can't help but believe God is there and watching out for me. I feel like God is my Father, and at the same time that I am connected to God as if we were one and the same, and sometimes I wonder if this is how Jesus Christ felt.

I would say, now after so many years (sixteen years to be exact), that I am hardwired for my belief. And it's not like I have this fear of death, per se. I don't believe I will continue to exist after I die, or at least not like most people think. I get this sense that I can't shake that when I die, my consciousness will simply disipate and all that will be left is the mind of the Father. The life of Edward will then become a perfect memory in the mind of God, as are all lives.

Having said that, Jesus spoke clearly about heaven, hell and judgment day. I think Jesus is the truth, so I don't doubt these states of existence are real. Where a memory is kept, how it is viewed, how often it is visited, and how it makes the Father feel to revisit His memories, perhaps this is what heaven and hell are.[/quote]

I can tell myself it's the truth all day long but, I'll never buy it unless something gives me a reason to do so. Such as seeing something that was a miracle, something unexplainable that appears to disreguard the known laws of the universe.

That wouldn't work either. You'd just think you were insane. What's the difference between seeing a miracle and a hallucination?

But without something happening to provide new evidence I cannot choose to beleive anything, I choose my label, I choose my company but, my beleifs are a result of my experiences. Also something I have had little luck explaining via the internet, I put a certain 'weight' on things that others do not; for example I would not kill one child even if it saved one hundred other lives.

Well now, that's a starting point. Because that's a "God" type of morality. Think about it. Only God could think that way. No rational human being would do that. No way of trying to figure out an ethical situation logically would produce that kind of morality. Only God acts like that. Jesus spoke like that when he compared the Father to a shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep in the flock to go and save the one who is lost. Now you have your miracle; now you have your evidence: there is something residing in you, a type of morality that your "experience" didn't give you.

Only God can walk into a burning orphanage, pick up one child from a crib and go walking and whistling out the door while the other thousand are left to burn. Think about it.

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That's what I think of as a Christian.

Atheists consider me to be a Christian. But Christians don't. To them, I'm one of those who say "Lord, Lord" but Jesus in the end says, "Depart from me, I never knew you."

Of course I think the same way about most of them, so around and 'round we go.

And in truth, especially when it comes to my elderly patients, if the topic ever arises, I just claim to be a non-denominational Christian. If I'm talking to a Mormon, I talk about how sure I am that Joseph Smith was a real prophet. If I talk to a JW, I tell them how interesting I find some of their beliefs on the nature of Christ, and how I have never met a JW I didn't have the greatest respect for. If I'm talking to an atheist, then I bash the idiocy of religion altogether.

It really doesn't matter, does it? I mean, you as an atheist should know that it doesn't really matter. We are, afterall, just matter. Right?

Not sure about the first part (way, truth, light etc.) but I certainly would hold that anyone who bases their beliefs on the bible, in essence follows (by and large) Jesus's teachings is a Christian.

Kyu

Well, I'm certainly not part of the Christian Church.