Dear Rhian,

You wrote: “Because of my interest in Christianity I have studied something of the origins of the bible and social and religious thought in Jesus’ time and society, but have very little idea about most other ancient cultures.”

I believe the above statement tells what is wrong with most Christians. Christianity like any other social phenomenon is a living breathing expression of a current in society. Your statement above is like studying human history and confining your interest to the first fossil evidence of human life. You are possibly not only ignorant of other ancient cultures but also ignorant of the history of Christianity and its precursors. If you want to know about humans or any species are, you study what they have become and how they became what they are. What happened in Jesus’ time contains speculation and myth. Christianity has two thousand years of history – the way Rome became dominant, the wars of the Reformation, the Inquisition, the Holocaust, Christian Imperialism etc. To confine one’s study of Christianity to its beginnings means you know very little about Christianity. I am not a Christian but am interested in it as a social phenomenon. It has more than 2,000 years of history. It has been influenced by Greek and Jewish Society. I have read “A History of Christianity: the First Three Thousand Years” by Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford. You may find it interesting.

Dear David F.,

I am sorry to hear about the passing of your dear wife.
My you always find peace.

Dear Yuyutsu,

Thank you for your good wishes. May you have a great love.

Dear Rhian,

I am sorry for being critical of you. I don't know you. You may be a very good person.

Dear David

No need to apologise, I enjoy your directness and critical thinking.

I may have given the impression that my studies were confined to first century Palestine. If so, I apologise, that’s not the case. I have also studied the history of Christianity, the history and content of the Hebrew Scriptures and the influence of Christianity as part of my theological studies as well and some broader (mainly Western) European history. I own and have read several of MacCulloch’s books including that; and yes, it is interesting. One of my theology assignments was on the church’s approach to same-sex marriage and, because he is as a gay ordained deacon as well as a respected theologian and historian, I found his insights really helpful.

I am much less familiar with the history and origins of other faiths and societies – Indian, South American, Chinese, Sub-Saharan African. To be honest, I have focussed on the roots of my own faith and culture. If I were an Indian-born Hindu, my interests would probably be very different

To whom it may concern:
There are those who cannot get rid of the idea that life is continuous.
That somehow we existed before we were born, and live on after we die.
(This is where superstition takes hold of mental processes?)
People will say that they believe life does continue.
But I say my belief is that they don't believe that at all.

A belief is not a certainty.
It is something you have reason to think is more likely than not to be true.
So you have reasoned it out, and you have found logical argument to support your belief.
And that being the case, it should not be too hard to explain to others the validity of that 'belief'.
Using the same reasoning of course.
But you cannot.
So you don't really believe it, do you?

But none of this is important.
We live in a real world.
So what is really happening around us is what is important.
In other words, the truth.
We are the output of a computer program.
Our living computer will not last forever.
So neither will we.