I disagree. People in general throughout history have a psychological need to feel the strength of numbers and to have a sense of belonging. It is everywhere. We have so many different religions around the globe. Can they all be "correct"? Obviously not since many are diametrically opposed.
It could also be said that believing in these unseen forces leads to the feelings of belonging so SOLE purpose may not be a good presentation. I conceed that much. I never said there was anything wrong with it. It just is.
Yes, they do. But they also, throughout history, have always ALWAYS been drawn to some sort of worship to something greater than themselves. Don't you think that is a little... coincidental? I mean, every single seperate culture in the world, with incredibly small exception, has some sort of faith in higher beings. Many of them very similar beliefs to each others. Do you not think that perhaps, just on a whim, that we are wired that way for a reason? I mean, what evolutionary value would that wiring have for us? If it is false, would it not just hold us back? But still, every culture seems to be drawn to a faith like a moth to flame... does that cause you to step back and say... "hmmm, well maybe..." Maybe we are geared with a need to feel as though we belong... but why? That would certainly not be a plausible effect from evolution. Maybe, just maybe, we are wired to believe that something is out there because someone is out there. What if that was God's plan?
It is exactly how it works but over thousands of years with infinitly greater opportunity to distort the original meanings.
Which is why it was written down, even in a time when anything to this nature rarely was written down. But also, if you experienced Christ in the way that is proposed, do you not think you could give an accurate account of it even fifty years later? Morever, if someone told you about this stuff, do you think you would forget it's more important details over time? This isn't you're average bedtime story... it's story big enough to devide history itself in two... at least to some of us.
Like what? Be good to others and try to get along? I do not have a problem with that.
No, more like "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, if any man wishes to seek the Father He must come through Me"
or
"For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."
or
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever belief in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
Or the idea of absolute humbleness. A recognizing that you could do nothing without the grace of God. That you an enternal child, that there are things you will never know on earth, and some things you just have to accept as truth because Jesus said so. It's more about the calling to share the gospel to everyone. To be bold in your faith, and a steady warrior for what you believe in. You must be willing and able to overturn the tables in the church (in the preverbial, and even possibly lilteral sense). It is a life changing thing if you honestly believe it. The problem is that people are often to prideful (they believe they are the masters of their own universe, and refuse to accept the belief of a God) or they are blinded by their own logic ("well, I can't see God, and I can't hear Him, so He must not exist) or they simply do not have the willingness to educate themselves on seperate faiths, or attempt to experience God themselves... There are millions of reasons people write off the Bible as false and fiction... but none of those is because it's been proven wrong or is simply out of date. It is rarely ever that anyone seeks to disprove the Bible without having some sort of spite against the faiths of it. And even when that is done, it cannot be proven wrong anymore than any other very solid historical documents we have, escpecially dating to that time or before.
I find it funny you used the Ten Commandments... but okay, I'll work with that. I noticed on a few of them you said that you could follow them begrungingly, but it isn't as easy as it looks. You see, these commandments, when given, were instructions not only through action, but they were also sinful to be even considered in the mind (because face it, if sin is something seperating us from God, do you really thing God even thinks about stealing or sleeping with someone's wife?). Furthermore, you ever realize how hard it can be never to bear any false witness? Or how hard it is not to at some point or another covet what someone else has? Especially in the good old home of the brave, where we are constantly fed the "bigger and better" lines. Society around us, through television and radio and even the market promotes the obsession to "things" or idols (things that are worshipped other than God). So much more I could talk about these alone, but what about love your neighbor as yourself? You ever attempted to love EVERYONE. It is not anywhere in the vicinity of an easy task. Sacrifice is a big part of Christianity. It is giving up the thing of this world to seek the treasures given from heaven. Do not get me wrong, it is not impossible for anyone. And it is an incredibly rewarding, and in the end, better path for anyone who might choose it. But it is not cakewalk. And the faith aspect is a large reality of it too... and for some of us, that in and of itself is a challenge as well.
Actually they can do DNA tests now. I have no idea what they are comparing it to however.
Napolean who? Without the literature there is not Napolean for all we know.
What reality?
I went to catholic catechism for 12 years and passed with straight As(Yes it was graded). So what? I received much information but I am now suspicious as to the motivations of such teachings in general and their value to the global youth. Where it should serve as a unifying power these religions are divisive in nature and lead to global warring.
Very good. Then you know better than anyone that obtaining knowledge on something and being informed of something is a very different matter that actually experiencing something and believing it. It's the heart/mind gap. Knowing about Christianity... knowing where it came from, why it is, what it teaches, the bends and twists it has taken along the way, the countless tenets... none of that is any more that facts and knowledge right? I mean you can know every last detail of how a rollercoaster works, but until you ride hop on and ride, you'll never really get it you know? I think everyone ought to know as much about their faith as they can. Christians today are awful about not knowing the Bible, but even in the Bible it says to seek wisdom and knowledge of God specifically. BUT, to know facts and history doesn't change anything. Until you start believing all of this for yourself, and until you really truly experience God (concsiously and firmly), then you will never really understand the reality of Christianity.
Be good. Be tolerant. Be safe. Be Prosperous.
Treat your fellow man the same way you expect with be treated. How hard is that?
Firstly, there is no good man. The rest is hard enough of a task to do everyday. I have a great deal of loving myself many days, so it is hard for me sometimes to really know how to love others. Furthermore, all of this is only surface stuff. None of it cocerns your own spiritual self, which is at very leas half of Christianity. Where you are guided, where your faith lies, how you are presenting yourself to the world that watches your moves to point out any hypocracy... It's not as easy as you make it out to be... at least not for someone as horribly fallible as myself.
