Not_Now.Soon,

I’ll be happy to love your Lord with all my heart when He, or one of His followers, demonstrates His existence (I mean with objective evidence, not just personal experiences which can be explained by co-incidence and confirmation bias), and when He explains His appalling neglect over the millennia. His genocide; the Bible's endorsement of slavery. My Thor, your god would have some serious ‘splaining to do!

What you describe, regarding what it is that your belief does for you, is quite easily explained by psychology.

<<God loves you. Otherwise He would not have sent Jesus here for your sake and mine.>>

Firstly, you’re assuming that He did any of that. Secondly, even if He did do what you claim He did, then what he did was immoral. Substitutionary atonement is an immoral concept.

Substitutionary atonement aside, the alleged Jesus did a terrible job while He was here by perpetuating myths of demon possession (resulting in the deaths of millions over the following centuries) instead of providing us with useful information, which could not have been known at the time, about mental illness, bacteria, disease, or the benefits of hygiene.

His choice of location (and that He only appeared in one location), too, was terrible. If you're only going to appear in one location, then why make that location a remote and illiterate part of Palestine, when other parts of the world were at least far more literate at the time? (e.g. China)

<<… if He did not love you, He would not leave believers here to be mocked, chided, or even killed in the most horrible ways.>>

Of course, the other possibility is that He just doesn’t exist. This would also explain all the problems I've highlighted above.

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Josephus,

Firstly, atheism is the default position. It is not necessarily and assertion of the contrary. Secondly, you are engaging in equivocation here by confusing two senses of the word ‘negative’. Atheism is 'negative' in the sense that it is characterised by the absence of something, it is not 'negative' in the sense that it is bad.

AJ Philips, I will ignore your ignorance of Jesus life and mission. However I will ask you to explain how you live your life in a positive philosophical personal dynamic? Certainly not by attacking Christians with negative comments is not a good foundation on which to build your life. So what is the basis of your life?

Dear Josephus,

Apparently your life is based on superstition. Can you really believe human females can become impregnated and give birth without the involvement of a human sperm? Can you really believe God sent a man with a message to a remote part of the Roman Empire? Can you really believe there is a God, and he comes in three parts? Can you really believe an intolerant individual who would claim only through him could one enter the kingdom of heaven is worth worshipping? It doesn’t matter how good a life you have lived or what a decent person you are. Are you really only worthwhile if you accept the Christian mumbojumbo? Do you really believe one who was so nutty that he would curse a tree for not bearing fruit out of season is worth worshipping? According to the Bible Jesus did not have sex with either men or women. The guy seems less than human. Do you believe that dead people can be alive again? Considering Christian intolerance, the wars of religion, the Inquisition, the massacres of heretics, Jews, native peoples and others and the martyrdom of the scientists Hypatia, Servetus, Bruno and Galileo Christianity seems less valuable than a pail of warm spit.

I believe that Christianity will eventually disappear and go on the rubbish heap of history along with Thor, Apollo, Zeus and other gods that humans have invented and worshipped. I also believe that humankind will invent new forms of superstition. Just as Christianity displaced older superstitions new superstitions will replace Christianity.

Josephus,

Yes, I’m sure you will.

<<I will ignore your ignorance [sic] of Jesus life and mission.>>

After all, I know a lot about Jesus’ alleged life and mission. I spent many years in my church’s Bible study group learning about it, and none of the problems I have raised suggest otherwise.

What the problems I raise DO suggest, however, is that Jesus needed a much better mission. A mission with more/additional useful information for mankind; a mission that spread His message to more than one illiterate and highly superstitious location and has still not managed to penetrate every corner of the globe, even after 2000 years.

<<However I will ask you to explain how you live your life in a positive philosophical personal dynamic?>>

Probably in much the same way you do. I just don’t cherry-pick the good bits of an old book (employing confirmation bias based on those ideals as I go) and pretend that the old book is where those ideals come from.

<<Certainly not by attacking Christians with negative comments is not a good foundation on which to build your life.>>

I have not attacked Christians. I have, however, criticised an idea. Ideas should be open to criticism. You just feel attacked because you have made this idea central to who you are.

<<So what is the basis of your life?>>

That's a pretty broad question. Which aspect of it?

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ttbn,

As someone who used to be an atheist (http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=6644#99187), what was your god at the time? You didn't have one, did you? You just have it in for atheism ever since you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, and thought you'd make disbelief look as dogmatic as religious belief.

And what do you mean by 'self-belief', by the way? The belief that one exists? The belief in one’s own abilities? Neither of those sound bad, to me.

I've come across some bullsheet in my time but never a condensed collection.....but hey!....when I get the message from God I'm gonna let youse all know.....promise!

Jesus never existed. He was invented.