The New Testament isnt all good news for example :
10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 10:35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
10:36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

peace and love hey , makes me glad im a athiest .

What of man demands God be expressed and understood by man? What man must come forward and say, I above all have been touched by God? God has spoken to me and granted me authority over you. Here are Gods commandments to you. Follow me.
Early man believed God showed himself in the deranged. Some one at some time became jealous of that attention and decided such potential for social control ought to be in their hands. Religion is it's name and the manipulation of your faith is the game. Not Gods will but, rather man's want.

TassieDave....
Some Jews have mock funerals for offspring who believe in Christ as Messiah. Thats the kind of thing Jesus is referring to...
jdrmot@tpg.com.au for more info...

To commit to Christ in discipleship "If any man will follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross etc" it can often mean us being at variance to the beliefs of our families. You know what can happen to a Muslim who becomes Christian... right ? "Apostate!...slice!". Jews have been known to have mock funerals for those who embrace Christ as Messiah. You should try a bit harder to see the big picture.

Sylvia and Fencepost.
Sells is trying to make the idea of belief in God more relevant to modern man, based on his understanding of Science,Scripture and faith. He gives himself away by such statements as

<"We do not have to believe that the miracles actually happened for them to confront us with truth. We do not have to believe that the resurrection of Jesus consisted of a resuscitation to understand its centrality for us.">

I respond with Pauls words "If for this life only, we have hoped in Christ, we of all men are most to be pitied"...(1Corinthians15) That pretty much says it all. Without the resurrection.... its all a waste of time, our faith is meaningless. Now..given Sells on one hand and Paul on the other -I'll go with Paul..(sorry Sells :)

Miracles confront us with truth ? which truth ? "but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name" (John 20.31)

Fencepost..I feels sad reading your words. "Masters in Theology"....then "I am an agnostic".
Remember Festus cry against Paul?

"As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane!"

Certainly not 'insane' in your case, but it seems to have caused you to miss the mark.

"For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain" said Paul.

Christian atheism consists in a retrieval of the God of the Bible who is identified in the events of the particular nation Israel.(End of quote)

As that nation committed genocide, murder, rape and wanton destruction I take it that god is a war criminal murderer rapist and vandal.

How does God exist? God exists only in the minds of those who believe in him, or her, or them; depending upon who happens to be the deity of your choice. (Hi, I'm Freyia; I'll be your god for today!)

Returning to the Christian god, whom I understand to be more-or-less the Jewish and Muslim god, and about whom this article was written; we are told that he created man in his own image. Man thus had a creator; if man - having a creator - was the image of the creator, then it logically follows that the creator of man must have himself had a creator in whose image he was made. This ultimately, and quite quickly, leads to the ludicrous conclusion of an infinite number of creators. This one might call the Russian Doll theory of serial creation.

Believe in god if you will. It is your belief has created god.

Well I must say that I am not much clearer about the nature of God. I am not even sure if the term "nature of God" is an oxymoron if God's otherness makes Him not tied into nature. Indeed is speculating about the nature of God in conflict of the second commandment prohibiting us to make an image of God?

When we are created in His image are we exact replicas, or perhaps a Picassoesque imperfect, two dimensional image. Is it the physical or mental or moody part that is similar?

I do get the feeling that the discussion if God is the Word or the Event or something else easily lead to theological hair splitting as none of these theories can be proven.

If Peter wants to prevent our secular society from slipping into a post-Christian society he'll have to do better than this.