Just remove god from the equation,promise of eternal life and our humanity will find more meaning/solace in striving for the understanding of our universe than all the biblical damnation could produce in 2000yrs.

The meaning of life is in the eternal present.Death is just the absence of memory and consciousness.Our new religion should be centered around learning and faith in our fellow humans.The concept of god is a flawed human foible based on our own arrogance and insecurity.

People, I truly enjoyed reading all of your posts and much of what I was going to say has been said by you intelligent sinners.

OK I can accept that all the miracles are not to be taken so seriously, but then there still is the question of the biggest miracle of them all: GOD.

A supernatural, timeless being, who is omnipresent and has apparently lived outside time and space for eternity, decided one day to create a universe of which we are part- and that's more acceptable an idea than all the other miracles?

Why not go one step further and also claim that the idea of God is a silly miracle that shouldn't be taken so literally?

Most people agree there is something greater than all of us - be it Yahweh, Allah, God or whatever.

Religions however all impose a particular dogma, ancient rule and power systems on us based on some obscure book (thank god it wasnt Shakespeare's plays!).

Christianity like all religions is a power system. It once burned people that translated the bible so the common man could not bypass their power system and have direct access to their belief.

Religions obscure god by elevating common people that reckon they know better.

Today the religious power systems feel threatened - 9/11 is but one expression.

The bible records god having killed 2,034,344 people while satan just 10. Since then multiples more have died directly and indirectly in the name of the bible.

SAVE LIVES - BURN A BIBLE.

It’s nice for Peter Sellick to espouse his reinterpretation of Christianity. But the Bible, with all of its miracles intact, reads quite plainly. The writers of the gospels explain to us how we are supposed to interpret them. They tell of the remarkable and impressive events that speak of a powerful God.

“For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the power (i.e. miracles) of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming again. We have seen his majestic splendour with our own eyes.” 2 Peter 1:16.

“This is that disciple who recorded these events and wrote them down. And we all know that his account of these things is accurate.” John 21:24. Here John dares anyone to challenge the accuracy of his accounts.

“Many people have written accounts about the events that took place among us. They used as their source material the reports circulating among us from the early disciples and other eyewitnesses of what God has done in fulfillment of his promises. Having carefully investigated all of these accounts from the beginning, I have decided to write a careful summary for you, to reassure you of the truth of all you were taught.” Luke, chapter 1.

I’d like to take a similar view to Celivia, but from the other side of the same coin. Celivia said that if we are willing to drop the belief in miracles, why don’t we forget about the biggest miracle of all, that of God creating the world in the first place? But by the same token, if God is capable of creating such an amazing, intricate and interconnected universe just by speaking it into existence, then all the other miracles are just child’s play, just what he eats for breakfast.

Believing in miracles may not be easy or rational for a materialist, but believing in a God that is incapable of miracles is selling Christianity short.

MickV, "Believing in miracles may not be easy or rational for a materialist, but believing in a God that is incapable of miracles is selling Christianity short."

May I compliment you on your wisdom!

If you can accept that all of humanity has something inherently bad inside them because a talking snake convinced a rib-woman to eat some fruit from a magic tree, then belief in miracles are really not that much of a stretch.