it would be great if god...
would intervene from above and stop a war.
shareIn every chapter of human history there has been a war and accounts of violent atrocities from man. This means there is no god. You have been lied to about whatever religion you follow. They all are a bunch of made up stories to control the population
shareThe Big Bang seems to strongly indicate that the universe had a beginning rather than being eternal. And we know that matter cannot give birth to itself out of nothing.
That's not enough for you to leave open the possibility of a Creator?
And it took billions of years after the big bang for the simplest form of life to appear in the universe. What was your god doing in the mean time? Face it. You were born into whatever religion you were taught. But they are all lies, meant to control the population. Thats what the powers to be at the time in that corner of the globe had to do to control their people
shareYou should read a good Christian apologetics book. I find that the only people who think that there is no evidence for Christianity are those who haven't really looked into it.
That doesn't necessarily mean that you will find the evidence or the arguments persuasive, but you should at least be aware that they exist and done your due diligence.
This might be a good starting point for your investigation:
https://coldcasechristianity.com/
And if you were born in a Muslim country, you would be telling me all about Muhammed and Islam, because you would have been born into that. They are all lies
shareThere are a lot of Muslims who have become Christians in recent days.
share"There are a lot of Muslims who have become Christians in recent days."
And a lot of BOTH who have also become ATHEISTS.
That's true. If anything though, that just supports my assertion that people who are born into a belief don't necessarily remain in that belief, as millsey seems to be claiming. A lot of people who were born into one religion later encountered new information that caused them to convert to another religion. Or as you say, to no religion at all. And there are also plenty of people who were born into no religion and later became religious.
share" I find that the only people who think that there is no evidence for Christianity are those who haven't really looked into it."
This is a very interesting observation. I also find that most Christians haven't looked into it either.
Another thing I have noticed is that atheists decide that the foundation of what they don't believe in is a owner/pet relationship or some other base-line that they choose other than what the adherents are claiming. Most common is the "If I were God ..." Say what you will about the blindness of faith but the hubris of atheists is at least as challengable.
Even as a Christian, I will agree with you that most Christians can't do a particularly good job of defending their faith. More Christians need training in apologetics and theology so that they can have firmer grounding in what they believe and why they believe it. I believe there are also a lot of people who will check the "Christian" box on a survey but who have little actual faith and whatever faith they do have doesn't actually impact how they live their lives.
There are a lot of smart people who have put forth defenses of the Christian faith though, both in recent times and in antiquity.
In regard to atheists, you're correct about their hubris. While many are mild-mannered, you certainly have the militant atheist who doesn't believe, will try to convince you that you shouldn't believe either, and more often than not I have found that their idea of Christianity (and probably any other religion, for that matter) is a caricature of the real thing.
I am sympathetic to skeptics, though. I was raised Christian but actually left the faith for about 20 years because of my own questions. The most important thing, if you have a skeptical mind, is to be persuaded that the resurrection of Jesus was a historical event. And the second is to be persuaded that the Bible is something more than just a man-made creation.
" their idea of Christianity ... is a caricature of the real thing."
Yes! thank you. This is very well stated. It's like not seeing a movie but making fun of something that isn't even in it.
Personally I have a Christian faith but am not a church goer. The man-made dogma wars breed a common attitude that I do not tolerate. As the Bible goes, I look at all of it through the lens of God's nature. He reveals his characteristics to us (somewhere in Exodus): Compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, merciful, loving, and forgiving. If something doesn't jive with these characteristics then I know its human nature working its way into the writing and polluting the message. I apply this same measurement to religious behavior.
In the big picture, people are foolish (even our wisest) and the Bible sorta acknowledges that but puts an arm around your shoulder and shows you that that's OK. Many live in despair and if the Bible provides them any solace then I call it good.
I think that if I didn't have confidence in the Bible then I wouldn't be a Christian. After all, it is the Bible that tells me about Jesus's life, death and resurrection. If it's not reliable, then where does my faith come from? How can I have any kind of confidence that one part of the Bible can be trusted but not another part?
I think Paul was correct when he said, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16). The Greek word behind "God-breathed" literally means as it sounds, God is the ultimate author of all Scripture. He worked through the writers to compose the books.
I don't believe that God took days off during the Bible's creation. That is to say, I don't think he stepped in and "breathed out" some parts but not others. He wouldn't allow Himself to be part of a faulty product.
Many Christians who have looked into it have done so at places like the Creationist museums, or in books written by Creationist "scientists".
shareAnd it took billions of years after the big bang for the simplest form of life to appear in the universe. What was your god doing in the mean time?
I'll take a shot at this coming from an atheistic view.
Allowing for a second the argument of an intelligent creation of the universe, time as *we* understand it means nothing. We understand time from the context of our lives, but elsewhere in the universe, 80 years may be an eternity or a mere blip.
A billion years to a deity may be an afternoon's work. For all we know, this universe of ours might be a snowy day science project built in someone's fish bowl.
share
Well I certainly don't live in anyones fish bowl. Different religions were created in all corners of the world by the powers to be to control the population and keep them in fear. Look at the food chain in the wild. Its brutal. Why would any god create a system like that? Also god showed up in this movie however where has he been since? Face it, all these religions are built on lies and fairy tales. Be smarter than that
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I guess you didn't read my post. I'm an atheist, but I'm not closed minded either. I can play devil's advocate to any argument, so I offered an answer to your question about a God and time.