I hope that this topic does not get out of control..
I agree with a number of the posts here; Religion, hypocrisy and hate is counter-productive for society. It has been so for so many thousands of years. We have so many examples of this, only some listed here that it's just sad. In the case of Christianity, Christianity - as preached by, the author and the New Testament, is sadly often very drastically different than what you find on TV, or discussion boards. In early Christianity, being "Christian" was a derogatory term which basically meant you were doomed for torture and execution. Today it can mean being a bigot.
Conversely, Christianity teaches that God is real and he is just, that there is evil - and by nature - we
all are eg bad/evil ( eg sinners,
including Christians), and that although we deserve punishment, Christ died for our sins so that if we believe in him
and follow him we may have eternal life, eg "heaven." Christianity also teaches that the more we understand him, the more we realize how evil we are and how less of a right we have to judge others (not a typo).
Christ also teaches that there will be many "Christians" that will proclaim their faith but having failed to understand who Christ is and being a disservice to him, will be...sent to hell. You probably know many of them. Conversely, plenty of people who we (Christians) would easily judge to the same place will be in heaven. In fact, it might come as a surprise that the Bible is full of murderers and criminals that met Christ/God and then became messengers of Christianity (really).
Christ and the teachings of the NT
repeatedly put down the religion overzealous which acted as a burden on people, and lifted up those with genuine faith. The same message continues to apply today.
Here are a few videos by crazy guy named Marc Driscoll from a church called Mars Hill that agrees with the fact that Religion is bad and provides it's own POV. Even if you don't agree, I hope you can find it at least entertaining
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXKT8IPdvzA (On Religion)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23LaK99PEko (On Religion & Jesus)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZvgNuGzvUc (On Suffering)
My personal take on the case for God, Jesus Christ or other, this is and will always be a personal decision of faith for each individual. It takes Faith to conclude personally that God does or does not exist, and that he can or cannot be known, through Christ or other.
Nonetheless, while I don't offer this as unequivocal proof – I clearly make the case as a matter of faith in both ways - I find it highly fascinating to consider these 2 facts in making that personal decision for/against God and Christianity:
1.) The Universe has the configuration so elegant, that an infinitesimally small change would have ceased or drastically altered the course of the universe - even taking into account billions of years of existence and minimized the possibility of life to near infinitatum. In other words, life is highly improbable. Stephen Hawking even stated plainly that the “Universe is very suggestive for a Designer” (paraphrased) The odds that Universe came into being as it is by chance would be like getting a Royal Flush thousands and thousands.. or millions and millions in a row - even after taking into account 12+ billion year old Universe. This is known as the Anthropic Principle and, although hotly debated, it is to some, clearly suggestive of there is a Designer, a Creator... dare I say, "God".
Each person, confronted with this, I think, is then forced to make a leap of faith and believe either that: “God exists and…....” or “God doesn’t exist, it just is and I’m sticking to it. There is nothing that would make believe otherwise.” or I think the most humble, “I don’t know.. I’m hoping to figure it out before I die..” Each person has to take either the blue pill or the red pill and without ever being able to fully know the eternal implications of the decisions. Ultimately, we will "know" or will not "know" until after the end of this life. Let’s just do it peacefully and wish each other the best of luck, enh?
Since I go with the former, I can’t help but think that God, even
if he had a banner in the sky that said "Hi, stop arguing. I'm God and I exist" we would explain it away saying that it is not improbable that elements of stardust would gather together to form something that we would seem to be intelligeble. If there was then a second banner that said, "No really, it is me, you know, God from the Bible. Larry King from CNN - can we do an interview? I'm tired of the bickering. 8 PM next Monday is an open slot for me" We would not be more convinced. The decision for or against God, are personal.
Note: Another response is that there is really a multiverse, or multiple universes, and we are in one that just works. I don’t buy this because there is no way to measure, test and ultimately prove this hypothesis since we do not have a way to interface with it.
2.) 2ndly - 10 of the 12 disciples of Christ died a
torturous murderous death; the 2 exceptions, Judas, who betrayed Christ, committed suicide, and one of the apostles, John, was exiled. All the others left everything they had and were killed for preaching a radical message that Jesus Christ was God, that he was killed and that he resurrected, and that the way to Eternal Life with God was through the acknowledgement/faith and following of Jesus Christ:
http://www.everystudent.com/wires/apostles.html
Additionally, another apostle of Christ/writer of the Bible was a guy name Paul who was a highly respected, educated Jew, Roman Citizen with a privileged life initially pursued and killed Christians at that time, only to find himself one day, on another such journey, receive a vision that would transform his life and turn him into the biggest impact on Christianity after Christ; him too, having chosen death with Christ, then life without.
I find it very disturbing that 10, no 11 men would choose this path for a lie, if it is/was a lie, especially considering such radical claims....Although this does not prove that Christ was who he said he was, it brings serious question as to why there was such devotion and makes it more difficult to dimiss if they had instead gotten fame, glory, money, power etc...
In short - if you've read this far... and not addde me to your ban list - religion is bad, biggotry is bad, lots of Christians are bad - no wait, all Christians are bad - and it is my opinion that it is a matter of personal faith to believe or not believe that there is a God, that he can or can not be known, with or without Christ. Good luck. In the end, you can take the blue pill or the red pill.. but you have to take a pill...
