So David you are a Buddhist, it is a pity you would only practise it. Like live and let live.

Hi david f, I once met a god in the flesh, after a long drive, my partner took me on a 30 minute trek into the Waipoua Forest New Zealand to meet the god Tane Mahuta. "T"'s belief is that the mythology of her Maori people is as plausible as any other religious belief. I don't dispute that.

http://teara.govt.nz/en/te-waonui-a-tane-forest-mythology

Dear Josephus,

Pointing out that Buddhism is a religion without a God does not make me a Buddhist. Your logic and reasoning are questionable. Maybe you can read up on Buddhism and other non-Christian religions, and learn that some of the world can do without your superstition. Nobody was a Christian before Christianity was invented. Religions are born and die. At one time the religion, Manichaeism, extended from Spain to China. As far as is known there are no more believers in Manichaeism. some day there will be no believers in Christianity. Except for people like me who take an interest in history nobody will have even heard of it. Have you heard of Manichaeism?

As for me I do not find it necessary to believe in any religion. I believe the world would be better off without mumbojumbo.

//Everyone needs saving. Including you. Including me.//

Saving from what? I know what I need some saving from right now: the heat. Will Jesus bless me with a cool change, or will some weather god beat him to it?

Or perhaps the weather will just change, without the helpful intercession of the barometer gnomes.

/And that's what I know can be there for you too.//

This man claims to hold knowledge beyond the ken of mortal men. If this be truth, then surely he be a witch. And what do we do with witches?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3jt5ibfRzw

Burn 'em!

And if this be lies, he stands guilty of breaking the 9th Commandment. A sin more grievous even than witchcraft. Let his punishment then be even more grievous than immolation.

Truth or lie, this man stands condemned. Not_Now.Soon, I name thee heretic and witch. May the angels of the abyss show him mercy, for the Lord will surely not.

The Exquisition has passed sentence on this heretic. Let the Inquisition make his sentence merciful, divine, and a sound example to those who might choose heresy.

In the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit,

Vice-Curate Lavis

Not_Now.Soon,

So, if I had lost my Christian faith because of a tragic loss, then you would have considered the possibility that I had really found Jesus, but since I was (*ghasp*) THINKING, you as assumed that I could not have possibly been convinced that I had found Jesus?

<<If you had mentioned a tragic loss, I might have considered it. But instead you only seemed to be stuck on thinking about it too much.>>

In other words, the less rational a reason an individual has for losing their faith, the more likely it is that they had found Jesus? That makes no sense at all.

<<If you had found God you wouldn't be trying to explain Him away.>>

I wasn’t trying to explain Him away. The irrationality of my beliefs, and the lack of real evidence that I had for them, simply became increasingly difficult to ignore. It only took one small realisation to get the ball rolling uncontrollably (over the space of many years), without any conscious effort on my part at all.

If you read Dan Barker’s ‘Losing Faith in Faith’, you will get a pretty good understanding of what my journey from faith to reason was like.

<<It was philosophical thinking that seemed to turn you away.>>

Only to the extent that philosophy touches on every facet of life. Otherwise, it was simply the eventual realisation that I could not rationally justify my beliefs.

Science probably played a bigger role than philosophy. Especially where evolution was concerned. After all, no Adam and Eve = no Fall = no Original Sin = no need for redemption = no need for Jesus. Then there was the problem of a god sitting around for millions of years, not caring about what happened to us, and then finally deciding that it was finally time to intervene 5000 years ago…

<<I can't see philosophical arguments and logic issues actually convincing me that God did not comfort me when I was needing it.>>

Well, basic Psychology should be able to do that. There’s no need to bring philosophy into it.

Continued…

…Continued

<<… [Personal] experience is more then enough to tip any scale to the point that God can be verified, because there's no other explanation.>>

That would be an appeal to ignorance.

http://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/56/Argument-from-Ignorance

Nevertheless, there ARE other explanations. It’s usually co-incidence, or something that has a perfectly rational psychological or neurological explanation. And if one wants to appeal to multiple experiences as some sort of cumulative evidence, then confirmation bias becomes factor which brings personal experiences into doubt.

<<Don't double standardize me with your view of Christian arrogance though, you seem pretty prone to try and speak for my views or say you know them, because you were there before.>>

This statement doesn’t make much sense. Are you accusing me of being condescending because I said that I used to make the same mistake (and, presumably, know better now)? If so, then I apologise that it came across as condescending, but I wanted explain that I knew, from personal experience, what it was like to make the assumption that you and so many other Christians make.

<<… after talking to you I hoped I could help others in the Christian communities I am in, to avoid the problems you had.>>

I didn’t have any problems. So, I’m not sure what it is that you think you are fixing. If assessing my own beliefs rationally, objectively, and dispassionately was a problem (and I can certainly see how it would be for religion) then, yes, I suppose I had what you would call a problem. But I fail to see how that’s actually a problem. I am a better person for having seen reason: I’m more sceptical, I’m less gullible, I’m less of a busybody, I respect women’s rights to bodily autonomy, I’m no longer homophobic, I care more about the truth of my beliefs, and I’m more humble because I no longer believe that the entire universe was created with me in mind.

I am living counter-example to mhaze’s assertion that we need Christianity.