RE: In your opinion what causes christians to believe in Jesus
May 12, 2025 at 10:23 am
(This post was last modified: May 12, 2025 at 10:25 am by Fake Messiah.)
(May 12, 2025 at 4:34 am)Belacqua Wrote:(May 12, 2025 at 4:24 am)The Valkyrie Wrote: Too broad a question.
It depends on the individual Christian why they believe, and why they accept some parts of the bible and reject others.
Well it took 84 pages, but we finally got the most sensible possible answer.
Yeah, just like believers in a Nessie have individual reasons for believing in Nessie: some go to the Loch Ness and see something on the water and start to believe, some see photographs of Nessie and start to believe, some hear testimonies and think "why would this person lie?" and start to believe in Nessie, some believe in Nessie because it makes them feel good, some believe in Nessie because they read some pseudoscientific paper on it which seems believable, some believe in Nessie because they were brought up in a household where people believed in Nessie, and some see documentary on Nessie and start to believe in it.
The same is with believers in Jesus: some people believe in Jesus because they went to the holy land and think they have seen evidence for him, some see pictures of Jesus appearing on the wall or toast and believe in him, some hear testimonies of people who claim to have seen Jesus and think "why would this person lie?" and start to believe in Jesus, some people read some theological book on Jesus and start to believe, some believe in Jesus because they were brought up in a household where people believed in Jesus, and some see documentary on Jesus and start to believe in him.
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
