BOAZ,

Thank you.

1. In what ways can his sinless life be known and articulated? Wasn't he known to throw the occasional temper fit? If he was born without original sin, he would not have been a man. If he did not have human father, he would not have been a man and not from the House of David (Joseph's house?). Being sinless, why was he Baptised?
He seems to have been not without the sin of Pride?

Did Jesus always honour his Mother? Never being rude to her?

2. Signs and wonders. Uri Geller was known for these :). First century Messiahs [plural] were known for saying they fulfilled OT prophetic agenda [could even go back to Greek occupation]. Morever, some claimed miracles, as with mystical surgery is today.

3. Why was he a unique rather than an merely outstanding as a human?

I will follow the URL and have a read.

Cheers,

O.

See what I mean?

Dear Oliver
thank you again for an opportunity to prove Spanky right :) (that I'm stubborn).....

Ok...joking aside.

You highlight some important and quite profound issues.

1/ Jesus and 'tempter tantrum'. Presumably you are referring to his righteous indignation at the money changers and the chasing them out of the temple with a whip?

The amazing truth is that that is the only incident recording such an act. Secondly, if the Church saw a problem with it, I'm sure they would have 'censored' it? (after all..the Church redacted the scriptures to make the more palatable right ? :) well, many do say that.
Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament.
In the incident mentioned above, look 'closely' at his actual words
"It is written"......My house will be called a house of prayer (for all the peoples Isaiah 56.7) Then his rebuke BUT YOU have made it a den of robbers.
He could have chased them out every time he went there... but didn't. He could have struck dumb Herod and Pilate...but didn't He did what he did to fulfill scripture.. (Refer Luke 24:44-48 "thus, all that is written in the Law of Moses, the Psalms and the Prophets.....)

2/ Uri Geller ? Signs? "You can't keep a good man down"-Christ Rose from the dead.

3/ Refer answer to "2"

Please consider the conversion of Saul, read his own testimony.. (yes.. his own words)

(see the link below) But BEFORE you read it, you should first gain an insight into the reality of the former Paul, see this video, and you will realize just how he was as a persecutor of the Church.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gLUd-5xqWY (Africa)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJRcKcjJM9w (Indonesia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP4CvfnbQaw (Indonesia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI0iXyYLer4&mode=related&search= (egypt)

Once you have absorbed these images and events. Stop...reflect for a while. Put yourself in their place.. ask 'How would I feel if a Paul was leading such groups against me and my family because of my faith"

THEN....see this passage. (read from verse 11)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=55&chapter=1&version=31

The glorious words in that passage.. "BUT...when God..." (v15)

Blessings.

BOAZ,

Thanks for the reply. Regarding your earlier reply, I did follow the link, but it seemed refer to some other scripture. I will have a poke around over the weekend. Very busy now.

My challenge was to address the [perfect] life of a human, Jesus' supposed [perfect] human life. Human's don't raise people from the dead. Besides, James Randi debunks people doing this sort of thing all the time.

I thought Jesus had killed a piece of fruit on a vine in spite. And doomed the tree never to grow fruit? Maybe, just Hollywood? A human poisoning [or ring barking]a tree in some instances would result in the evil-doer being charged with a crime today.

The Sermon on the Mount is powerful, wonderful, but so have been many other human speeches. Besides, versions of "do unto others"are know to ancient Jewish preachers, and, in China, predated Jesus by centuries.

Cheers,

O.

Steve,

Interesting article. I will try, as another atheist, to have a go.

I doubt that this Priest, Redding, could be called a Christian. Not that I care about it since Christians can’t even agree on what ‘being a Christian’ means, but the woman is simply having a fling with Islam and trying to rationalise it.

She can defend her theologically promiscuous relationships by saying that ‘we are all sons of God’, but that’s just not what true Christians believe Jesus is.
Christians believe that Jesus was the son of God, while Muslims deny that God had a son.
When she prays, who does she pray to- to the God with the son or the one without the son?
Will she go to her Christian Church and preach that God had a son, then rush to the Mosque and preach the opposite, and other contradictions?

Or she might just omit the differences between the religions and only focus on general similarities; but Muslims and Christians might eventually ask to hear something specific.

She can not believe 100% both as she claims. She simply must believe either story some of the time- she can’t believe in both all of the time.

I remember, when I was a child, that I discovered that Santa didn’t exist, and I kept disbelieving in Santa throughout the year. But when Christmas came, I temporarily changed my mind because I wanted to believe the Santa thing, it was so exciting. I was able to convince myself that he did exist and re-experience all the excitement. Perhaps it’s the same with her. She might just ‘want’ to believe in both and convinces herself.

I have the impression that this is the case with many religious people- they surely must know that the whole God thing is far fetched, but they choose to believe anyway because of personal reasons, e.g. it makes them feel good, feel loved, feel stronger, feel less lonely, have more power, want their morals backed up by a group, or for some, they like the social side of being part of the church.

Celivia,

What I'd like to know is how far the Episcopalian Church of the USA is prepared to tolerate dual religious adherence. How about an Episcopalian priest who is also a Catholic? Or a Baptist? Or an orthodox Jew? Or a Mormon?

How about an Episcopalian priest who is also a Satanist?