everyone (else) seems to be hating on atheists

[Jesus Pipes]

Do I think his personal history was important? In a word, no. Inasmuch as it supports his teachings, perhaps, but it's clear our tendency is to dissect things that don't really matter, merely for the sake of argument. So the circumstances in which he was born, his mother, his occupation, the city in which he lived, all this, I believe, is superfluous. Interesting, but certainly not bearing on anything he taught, but most significantly, just contributes to the various forms of mysticism surrounding his life.

So, to sum it all up: No, I don't think Jesus is "superfluous"; but yes, it is possible to lead a righteous life without knowing him, since it is his example that was important and not his supposed divinity. It is possible that the essence of his truth exists in the world apart from him, and I believe he would be the first to recognize it.

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Let's be honest, no one on this planet can either prove or disprove the existence of a higher power.

The last sentence was from your response to someone else but I wanted to add that I concede it. Nonetheless, I don't find I am inclined to believe in God or a higher power. I think it is great that you can own the belief you nonetheless have that there is a higher power - even though you acknowledge your agnosticism too.

Half the energy that gets wasted on this and other atheist forums seems to be in arguing against the unreasonableness of Christian certitude - the inerrancy of the bible and so on. In the process lots of atheists follow that sort of theist right over the line into making unjustified claims of certainty. Someone once said something like "the purpose of reason is to delineate the limits of reason." I think there is something to that. Science will always remain the gold standard for determining the validity of empirical claims, but it is absurd to think every question of importance is an empirical one.

You have gone further toward acknowledging the non-essential nature of the NT and OT than any theist I've come across. Personally I have no desire to push you toward atheism. You've owned your beliefs as you find them. In the absence of true knowing a hunch is all we have to go on. I can respect yours even if I don't share it.

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Thank you, and that is really what we are trying to promote. There really is a middle ground here that we can exist with mutual respect and not force our negative beliefs on others. I don't want christians telling others they sinning and going to hell for such and such, and I don't want atheists telling nonjudgemental christians that they are idiots for believing in something that may make them a better person. There is a middle, thank you for seeing that.