Why aren't you a Christian?

[Polaris]

First thought...."oh this is going to turn out well".....

[jonb]

You're getting old(er).... you'll never type faster, no matter how many notes to self you make!

Are the whit of the young

Old men like me and Stimbo can still dream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvaJ_-QzGSE

[Cyberman]

Thought that was me for a second. I was just wondering where my glasses had gone.

[Reasonable_Jeff]

Hey guys, just to clarify...I'm not trying to convince you that Christianity is true here or that you need to join it..

I'm simply asking for solid reasons and I appreciate those of you who have provided them.

[jonb]

[Darkstar]

The reason I'm not a Christian is because I can't think of any reason to be one. I was a Christian for years and then one day it occured to me that, despite what the church said, I was allowed to consider the possibility that god didn't exist. Ten seconds later I'm agnostic, and after a few more months (the next time I gave religion any thought) I'm a full blown atheist. I didn't really have to think about it much, and I didn't read a lot of the bible, but the I knew that the stories I did know (Noah's Ark, Adam and Eve, the ressurection) were implausible. Doing research into some things online hasn't strengthened my atheism much (I was already a strong atheist) but it has given me new counter-arguments (which I will probably never end up using in real life because I'm a closet atheist).

[Minimalist]

I was a xtian, Jeff. An extensive examination of it led to the conclusion that it was total horseshit....just like every other religion ever invented by the mind of man.

You need to consider the ramifications of this...

If we had opened our eyes to the light under the shadows
of St. Peter's at Rome, we should have been devout Catholics; born in the Jewish quarter of Aleppo, we should have contemned Christ as an
imposter; in Constantinople, we should have cried "Allah il Allah, God is
great and Mahomet is his prophet!" Birth, place, and education give us our faith. Few believe in any religion because they have examined the
evidences of its authenticity, and made up a formal judgment, upon
weighing the testimony. Not one man in ten thousand knows anything
about the proofs of his faith. We believe what we are taught; and those are most fanatical who know least of the evidences on which their creed is based.

--Brig. Gen Albert Pike, C.S.A.

[Waratah]

Questions I asked when I was a child and some answers I got back.

Why should the Australian Aborigines be sent to hell for not knowing?

Noah’s ark(enough said)?

How do you know Jesus was a real person, anyone could of made him up?
Reply: Do you believe Hitler existed?
Me: Yes
Them: Well you never met Hitler either. (This is the only answer I remember because it made me think little bit.)

Why would it make me a better person to believe in Jesus or god?

This is all I can remember for now from my childhood.

Christianity just does not make sense.

[Reasonable_Jeff]

To give my perspective a bit of context, consider the counter-question "why aren't you a Muslim/Sikh/Hindu/etc?" In fact, while I have your attention, "why aren't you an atheist?"

Good questions.

I am not a Muslim/Sikh because the Quran doesn't not match the historical information we have regarding Jesus of Nazareth. The Quran teaches that Jesus was nailed to a cross and crucified. History says he was.

I am not a Hindu or Atheist because of the compelling amount of reliable information regarding Jesus Christ and his resurrection.

Jacob Kremer, a New Testament critic who has specialized in the study of the resurrection say, "By far most scholar hold firmly to the reliability fo the biblical statements about the empty tomb."

Gary Habermas did a survey of over 2,200 publications on the resurrection in English, French, and German since 1975 and found that 75 percent of scholars accepted the historicity of the discovery of Jesus empty tomb.

Even Jewish scholars such as Pinchas Lapide and Geza Veres have declared themselves convinced on the basis of the evidence that Jesus' tomb was found empty.

[Cyberman]

I'm sure a lot of people here would be interested in this reliable information of which you speak. In fact I invite you to bring it over to the JesusNeverExisted forum - one of the admins has debated Habermas face to face.

Until then, I'll just point out that arguing from authority won't fly you very far.