Brilliant Singularity Blob Lacking Mass, Martyred "Winners", Misquoting Jesus, Bad Books, Four Gospels Should be Cookie-Cutters, The Foolishness of the Resurrection, Versions of Truth, Standing on the Lame Leg of Wikipedia, Underwater Ally, Religious Folks, Believing T.V. News not the Good News, Consider Everything...Except God, T-Shirts for the Biblically Illiterate, An Atheist Confused that He's a Jew...

Response to Comment:  "There is no God."

When atheists say, "There is no God," have a nice day, they will need a little more than "...because I say so." It's the response of a bratty, rebellious child.  The very best atheists can come up with to answer the question:  How did we get everything, is big bang and a singularity--all this matter came from a point with no matter.  The supposedly most brilliant man in the world, Steven Hawking came up with this gem.  If you put all common sense aside it is believable.  Even a fourth grader rejects this absurdity.  Ultimately, for Steven Hawking nothing matters so why would his opinion matter? 

Anyone who reads the scriptures with understanding soon learns that the bible could not have been written by men.  Put fulfilled prophecy aside, it is not a human book with human reasoning.  It is a heavenly book with a heavenly agenda.  It's no wonder when a man who loves his sin reads scripture, he does not cozy up to it.  Jesus was asked why he spoke in parables.  He replied:  "[I]t has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ^For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ^Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand (Mt 13:11-13, NKJV).  (See Ateism & Agnosticism).

If you want to know truth, you'll know it (Jn 8:32). If you are too in love with your sin, you won't (Jn 3:19).

Response to Comment:  "[Regarding the truth claim of the bible]...I'm sure a Muslim would say the same about the Koran."

Agreed, a Muslim would say that the Koran is true.  But the Koran has demonstrable errors.  A quick read of the "holy" book would convince any thoughtful person that it is wicked and perverse.  (See:  Islam & Christianity).

Response to Comment:  "[I believe the news]...usually with skepticism."

We are encouraged by scripture to " test all things" (Ac 17:11).  When you put each and every verse or doubt to the test, you will find that you quickly run out of arguments.  This is a bold claim, but one which can be substantiated.  If you are willing to read scripture with a sincere heart and mind, you will be persuaded.  It is usually the heart not the mind at issue. 

Response to Comment:  "News is notoriously inaccurate."

News is often inaccurate.  People came up with various theories as to why the resurrection of Jesus is not true.  From:  the eyewitnesses hallucinated, Jesus did not die on the cross, Jesus' body was stolen, people went to the wrong tomb..."  If you examine these theories or add your own, they break down.  Jesus was a man of history. He performed miracles (Ac 2:22).  Witness testified of his crucifixion and that his death was by God's purpose and foreknowledge (Ac 2:23).  David had spoken about the resurrection 1000 years before (Ac 2:24-31).  Everyone there was a witness to the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead (Ac 2:32).  See:  Evidence for the Resurrection.

Response to Comment:  "History books are written by the winners"

In our record of history we can choose what to believe and what to dismiss.  What we know of first century Christians, is that they died horrific deaths due to their faith in Jesus Christ.  It would not seem likely that they faced the lions manes for nothing.  They believed what they witnessed.  They were considers losers by the world but winners only for the cause of Christ.  

Response to Comment:  "[M]uch of history books are reliable, there are parts that aren't."

History books may be wrong but the bible has been proven right time and time again.  Each and every time we dig up a piece of history, we see the bible was right (See  Archeologist's Spade).  When we peer into space, we see that the bible was right...astronomy, geology, paleontology, genetics, biochemistry, mathematics (See Creation & Evolution Creation & Evolution).  Christians are not lacking for evidence of God.  Scientists all have the same data.  It is how you interpret that data that matters.  If you are intellectually honest, you will come to the conclusion that God made our world and we are responsible to him.  Because God's attributes are clearly seen, no man has an excuse (Ro 1:20).  If you want to life without him, you will.      

Response to Comment:  "[The bible may have been ] corroborated by several sources."

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls refute this argument.  The scrolls "affirms the Jewishness of Jesus, the Gospels, and Christianity." (J. Randall Price, PhD).  (See Dead Sea Scrolls).

Response to Comment:  "I recommend you read, "Misquoting Jesus" by Bart Ehrman...[It is] quite scholarly."

A Critique of Misquoting Jesus:  The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why.  "For most students of the Bible, a book on textual criticism is a real yawn...Ehrman appeals either to an interpretation or to evidence that most scholars consider, at best, doubtful."  If you'd like to know the real Jesus, you'll have to read the real scripture.  Why not go to the source?  Chances are you have a bible in your vicinity.

Response to Comment:  "If you are still comfortable believing what the Bible says after learning how it has been passed down, mistranslated, added to, deleted from, altered, edited, and otherwise changed completely, let me know."

Scripture has been passed down by persnickety scribes and verified by the Dead Sea Scrolls.  It contains minor discrepancies (an undotted "i" or an uncrosswed "t")--but nothing which would affect its meaning.  The bible still rings true after great attempts to destroy it.  With the Holy Spirit as our teacher, we have all we need for living.  (See Why Trust the Bible).

Response to Comment:  "Mein Kampf is a book too and I don't believe any of that nonsense. Just because it's in a book, doesn't make it true."

Mein Kampf is not an inspired work.  Nor could it claim to be.  Even the most poetic human book falls short of Ecclesiastes.  "The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and
the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Cor 1:25)."  God puts man's best to shame.  When a man comes to the end of himself, he can begin to hear what God has to say.  Man can complain but it is God who has the final word.  When man is prepared to "gird his loins" (Job 38) or "act like a man" (1 Ki 2:2), God has answers.

Response to Comment:  "I've never ever seen any evidence for Jesus resurrection, or most things in the Bible, except in the Bible...[U]ntil you can come up with an argument based on something solid-- something that isn't the Bible, I guess I don't think you have much of an argument at all. "

Dismissing the authority of scripture handicaps a person.  This is what intellectually dishonest secular scientist do.  It is no wonder that great scientists who were not willing to reject scripture as possibly true made great discoveries:  Nicholas Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Rene Descartes, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein....

Response to Comment:  "All four gospels get it just a little different, and to varying degrees of contradiction."

If you were on a jury and heard two witnesses' accounts of the same story with the same details, would you not be a little suspicious?  As witnesses are necessary in court, the testimony of witnesses (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) is given in the bible.  Each man gave his own perspective of events that occurred during the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.     

Response to Comment:  "[W]hat exactly is the Jesus resurrection all about. SuperDove, can you explain it without resorting to the cut paste words that you get from your minister or some other source? Explain it. Break it down. What really took place in the death and resurrection? Who was being atoned in that resurrection? Why ...death, bloodshed, and sin?  I mean, you have the author of a great vast universe, but yet must be born of a virgin and hung on cross so the people he created can be saved?  (And...the...virgin thing...).  He has to let us suffer through earthly turmoil and worship him so we supposedly can be worthy of entering heaven.  Exactly what is that all about? My own mother would have done a much better job of setting up things up for us. She wouldn't have required death, constant worship, and promises of damnation. Your God is just so infatuated with suffering.

I mean, if we never existed, what would have mattered? What purpose did the author of the cosmos need with us sinful beings? What kind of being does this? We didn't ask for it. What made him so lonely that he created paradise when he already had heaven?  Why go through all that?  It makes no sense it all."

I agree, the gospel makes no human sense at all.  But God's ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts (Isa 55:8).  Neither you nor I would have chosen this way to save the world.  Jesus did not fear as he walked and talked with his followers because he trusted God, the father "nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will (Mt 26:39).”   He came in perfect submission to the father's will.  But as he neared the cross in the garden of Gethsemane he began to experience real fear.  Why?  Because we do.  Jesus identified with us.  He is a man of sorrows acquainted with grief (Isa 53:3).  We can identify with him.  It is a transaction that takes place. 

If a man intends to marry a woman, he may ask her to marry him on a Monday but end up not actually engaging in the ceremony until 52 Tuesday's away.  He intends to marry but is actually married on Tuesday, the 10th, for example.  When we trust Christ, we enter a spiritual covenant.  We are his and he is ours like a bride and bridegroom. 

Sin may not bother you but it bothers God.  He is too holy to look upon it (Hab 1:13).  An atonement for sin must be made.  God cannot just let it go.  He can't lower heaven's standard or slip sinners into under the cover of night.  He can do these things but he won't.  He must remain true to himself.  He is committed to righteousness.  So, when Adam disobeyed God the world changed.  Did God like the new world?  No.  He cursed the ground.  He did not curse Adam.  The first act he did was to cover Adam with a bloody skin of an animal.  Life would be tough now.  A price had to be paid and man would never be perfect enough to pay it.  God would pay it himself.  Man had to trust God. 

What took place at the death on the cross was that payment (a propitiation).  Jesus lived the perfect life that neither you, nor I could live.  He became our covering for sin like the skin that covered Adam.  As death entered the world through one man, Adam, life came to the world by God's grace through one man, the second Adam (Jesus).

Jesus had to be perfect to be an acceptable substitution.  It was prophecied that Jesus would  be born of a kingly line (Davidic line) and a priestly line (Mary's lineage) and he would be born of a virgin.  God himself left eternity to be born a burping baby.  A change in his being took place.  The second person of the trinity became flesh and bone.  Being born of a virgin was a miracle and sign and authentication of his deity. 

When Jesus hung on the cross, it becomes clear what God thinks about sin.  He has not left us here alone as you charge.  We can enter into a bit of heaven here the moment that we receive Christ.  When we are found in him, we are never alone again. 

When we worship him, we are worthy of entering into heaven not of our own merit but of his merit.  We are still fallen beings but when we are covered in him we are considered positionally a child of God.  God can accept us because of his son's sacrifice.  "Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Heb 9:22)."  The work is finished in Jesus.  We need to believe that:  Jesus is who he said he was, that he has the power to do this.  Then we can ask him to forgive us for our sin. 

When we worship God, we line up with God's way of thinking given to us in scripture.  The death of Christ is not appealing to humans at all.  Long before Jesus was born the prophet Isaiah said:  "There is no beauty that we should desire Him.  He is despised and rejected by men (Is 53:2-3). 

Response to Comment:  "[T]his is just old ancient stories written at a time when people lacked the consciousness to understand things better... at least we're finally getting behind these foolish interpretations of life."

"The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (Co 1:18)."

Response to Comment:  "What you write doesn't sound like anything new."

Neither is your rebellion new.  We pick our sides and grow together as wheat and chaff (Mt 3:12).  Truth does not change with time.

Response to Comment:  "[These] ancient beliefs are seriously outdated. Pure and simple."

New morality is just old sin.

Response to Comment:  "I tried to be nice, but your arguments are laughable. They don't stand up to anything. If you rely on the Bible to make an argument about the Bible, that is a circular argument. It is worthless.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question...You are proving that the Christian religion is laughable and has no leg to stand on. "

You don't believe the bible but you trust and reference Wikipedia--who anyone can edit? 

Response to Comment:  "Go ahead SerpentDove.  Prove to us that the bible is true."

The Holy Spirit is the person who testifies that the bible is true within the life of a believer.  I can lay out the facts and tell you the "good news" of God's solution to man's problem.  Most do not see it as good news at all.  Most find it offensive and foolish.  Jesus was and is hated because he testifies of that which is true (Jn 18:37).  People don't want truth.  They want to be lied to.  

Response to Comment:  "You should be very careful not to provoke the wrath of Allah, SerpentDove. After all, the Holy Qur'an tells us:  "In blasphemy indeed are those that say that God is Christ the son of Mary 5:17."

I give no credence to a left-over pagan moon god.  Islam is a perversion of Christianity.  Read the newspapers for evidence of their perversions of Jewish and Christian doctrine.

Response to Comment:  "SuperDove's beliefs that are just that, beliefs. ...that fiction he's referring to is not real. It's like arguing about ghosts, monsters, or Elvis being alive. There's no point in it."

I am pretty sure that Elvis is dead.  Spirits are real.  If they are talking to you they are bad ones.  Monsters?  Perhaps we will find a plesiosaur from the depths of the ocean alive one day.  It would not be surprising. 

The bible is true.  Once a person comes to the belief that the bible is true there is sort of no going back.  When asked if they would leave him, the apostle Peter replied to Jesus, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life (Jn 6:68)."  Once converted, there is no going back.  Many false teachers claim to have been converted, then unconverted but there is not such thing (1 Jn 2:19).  When a person finds life, he/she is no longer willing to live like the dead.    

Response to Comment:  "[W]e should spend more time talking about how we exert ourselves in a largely theist society or world? How do we change the conversation?"

It is politically incorrect to talk about religion in polite company.  The fact is, theists and atheists will have to live along side one another.  You will find many compromised Christians who are tolerable, I'm sure.  They do great damage to the church.  But perhaps that is your goal.  Jews and Christians can live peacefully with their enemies (Pr 16:7).  Muslims cannot. 

Incidentally, if you find yourself hating Jews and wish they were dead or destroyed, it is likely that Satan is your father not God (Jn 8:44). 

Response to Comment:  "We know the bible is flawed and...fictional...He brings nothing new to the table. He's not sincere in his believe. He shows no love of humanity or even progress. He's stuck in a belief system that is seriously flawed."

I hold a Christian worldview.  (See Worldviews Comparison).  Loving others is telling them the truth. 

Response to Comment:  "Our arguments make a lot more sense than religious folks'..."

I do not consider myself "religious".  The law was given for the lawless.  Christ fulfilled the law that man could not keep (Mt 22:40, Ac 15:10).  It was the "religious" leaders who hated Jesus.  Many still do.  

Response to Comment:  "Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris will focus on religion and violence as if they are synonymous. He said the focus should not be on religion when it comes to violence, the focus should be on violence, no matter where it comes from."

Many false religions lead to violence.  Even the Roman Catholic church murdered authentic Christians.

Response to Comment:  "I'm not saying we ignore theists, I'm saying we change the nature of the conversation."

Ask the one claiming to be a Christian about his/her conversion.  Did it change his/her life?  Do they live differently?  Do they have joy?  Do they live for themselves or for God?  Are they experiencing the fruits of the spirit that the apostle Paul spoke of:  "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s fhave crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Ga 5:22-24).

Response to Comment:  "We're asking them questions about why God does certain thing[s] as if there's a possibility that God indeed exists."

Consider everything except the possibility that God exists.

Response to Comment:  "Their children also will be udashed to pieces before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished (Is 13:16)."

A few housekeeping items: 

Response to Comment:  "With my reasoning skills, I deduct there's a very good possibility this is a copy/paste job."

I copy and paste from my digital software program where it applies.  I have spared you from additional cross-references in the bible.  I know how they upset you so.  Accept the following disclaimer for any future bible quotation.  I borrow it from Bob Enyart (pastor of Denver Bible Church).  "Warning, warning, warning, Will Robertson, the following is not for the faint of heart.  Pure unadulterated truth is about to be uttered..." 

SerpentDove Achieves