The bible was written down about 200 years after the death of Jesus. So today’s equivalent is to try and write the history on the founding of Australia on what your mum, dad, grandma, grandpa and friends tell you. You have to give it to the blokes who wrote the bible they got an awful lot of detail from word of mouth of things that happened 200 years ago. You try writing about Captain Phillip and the early history of Australia asking everybody you know I doubt if you could get any more then a chapter let alone a book the size of the bible. For this reason you should be quite skeptical of the facts the bible tells you.

As I said before the only philosophy which I have heard which has any real credibility is the simulator theory.
Unlike Jesus, Mohammed and the rest of them this one in a way can be tested as to how likely it is to be true.

I guess in a way it is similar to the drake equation.

This is how it works. One of these 3 things MUST be true.

1. Humans never make to a post human civilization (we die out as a race)
2. Humans never bother creating computers which could simulate the past (nobody is interested in experiencing or seeing how there fore fathers lived)
3. Or they do create these machines and the question becomes how many. (If they create 1 I guess it is a 50/50 chance that we live in the real or the simulated environment. If they create 2 well it’s a 66% chance that we live in a simulated environment if they create 1000, well you do the maths.

Point 2 could also have added to it any civilization that exists in the universe has never attempted this. It does not have to be a human civilisation that creates this simulator

What are the chances of us living in a simulated environment well most people who have studied this theory give it from 20% chance to 99.9999999% chance.

Belly,

"The fact some, once most religions can call for my death because I do not believe is worth considering, why?"

No idea. I've heard that rumoured about only one religion but it is a highly controversial allegation. Are you sure that is even a fact?

"What one of the many Gods is the only one? why?"

Considering the level of sophistication of the debates on this type of topic between those who believe in different religions you can't expect this answered in here. It sounds more like you want reassurance for your disbelief when people don't deliver in 350 words or less. Are you having doubts about your faith that there is nothing to the extent that you feel a need to rationalize with this type of thing?

"what about all those other Gods? who made those who follow them, what fate them, those who follow the wrong God?"

Considering the level of sophistication of debate on this type of thing by great minds over thousands of centuries what are you expecting with the question? If you were seeking a religion you would need to invest a lot of time in working that out. You claim that you aren't seeking a religion. You claim that you don't believe in God. Accordingly, your perspective precludes dialogue on comparative merits of religions for someone who seeks faith. How can one thing you don't want to believe in sound better than something else you don't want to believe in? That doesn't make sense to me.

Do you want us to make you have faith in one religion when you choose to reject all? Noone can force faith upon another person. You can choose what you wish and so you will. Personally I'd love for you to experience the love of Jesus Christ but it has to be up to you. That is the way we are.

continued

"Each book of God any God informs us if we only obey we get life forever, to do what? obey and serve?"

I know in one religion it is an experience of perfect love. Framed that way it seems more appealing.

"If man could write the great classics so very many of them why could he not produce those Holy books?
He did,"

You were there? Wouldn't it be better to advance a theory that they could have rather than have faith that they did because you think they could have? If you really feel that way I withdraw my comment about your apparent doubts and note that I wish my faith was as strong as yours.

"They stand between man being one or todays endless race toward dreadful wars."

I admire your confidence in the human race. As we become increasingly secularised I presume war will increasingly fizzle out?

"Irony is the actions some take in the service of fables harms us all."

What I find really scary is atheist fundamentalism - particularly as demonstrated by its best known example. Having said that I find it curious that you preface your comments with an assertion that you want to avoid negative responses then you disrespectfully deride the belief of most of the world's inhabitants as "fables". Does that seem consistent to you? Do you think that type of approach toward other people and their beliefs will end all wars?

ET,

70-100 years not 200 wasn't it? So it is more like finding out about Australia in the 20th Century from your Grandfather.

"For countless centuries, scientists, philosophers, archeologists, and historians, have been pursuing the goal of revealing the truth about the events that happened before their birth.

"Multitudes of lives have been spent toiling over massive records of relevant episodes in the epic of man's existence. And yet, while the effort behind these actions has not been futile, has any common truth, or agreement on such a truth come into being?

"While these people have sought to eliminate all error from the accounts of specific events, have they succeeded in anything but incorporating the views of their own time into these precious recollections of history?

"It seems that if so much time and energy has been channeled into the preservation and reconstruction of this subject, a certain outcome of accuracy and fact should result.

"And yet, all that is said about any event that occurred in the past, be it the existence of King Arthur, or the fall of the Ming Dynasty, can be argued, debated, and ultimately, proven to be completely false.

"The quest for truth that inspires historians can be considered to be a foolish enterprise, as no truth is ever revealed. It is impossible to obtain a completely accurate account of any given event, as no human being is omniscient.

'"Whoever wants the total reality," writes Jacques Barzun," must first gain access to the mind of God".'

"The error that so many consider to be the ultimate flaw of history is indeed history in itself. We cannot escape our nature. To be human is to err, and to form bias, and make mistakes.

"Even when one attempts to obtain pure knowledge, one is already bound to a certain opinion of the subject, regardless of one's wishes.

The reason history exists is to provide inconsistent, flawed accounts of the conflicts that lead up to the current state of affairs.

runner, on the 500 witnesses, I have a vague recollection that one of the passages describing the period after ressurection said (I'm paraphrasing) "It didn't look like Jesus but she knew it was him" and from memory "she" was Mary of Magdelene. I know I'm displaying my ignorance, but if I'm correct in that memory, how is that accounted for by the witnesses.

Dear friends.. the guiding principle for all of us should be:

"am I doing to others, as I wish/accept them to do for me"?

So for Belly and PALE..this is the guide. When it comes to specifics, and specially to animals.. I think you both would agree "Avoid Cruelty" so..problem solved :) The difficulty then arises about 'greatest good' when economic circumstances enter the picture. This is something we have to humbly determine with our best information. I would just add "Greatest good with the least pain..all round" I doubt we will ever find an ideal mutually satisfying solution to the problems you 2 discuss. So, respectfully agreeing to disagree might be the best course.

I do want to address 2 other points. Pericles.. yes..I totally have no problem with the age of Noah when he fathered children. Why ? because I don't project backwards our current life spans into past history. I notice a gradual decrease in the life spans of the characters in the old testament.. you might like to examine this some time. It explains a lot.. including how so few people could populate the planet so quickly. I have zero scientific information on this. It just does not particularly bother me.