I want to be convinced - an experiment

It sounds like you have already made your decision to be agnostic/atheist.
If there were a single "Christian" that could come forward and fulfill your request then there probabably would be no one one these boards ,(save for Dan and Crash) I mean this as a joke guys..who would be foolish enough to risk eternal damnation in the light of such evidence. There is none to be had. If you had the power to create a creature and the power to create the universe would you want to program your creations to love you or would you want that love to come freely? God need not prove it's self , Hence there is no proof for God. Faith and Belief are all that is required and the hardest to truly give. Its a judgment call dude.

Chioptera, I did too. I think decision is the wrong choice of words. But it does come down to a choice. Does it not to either believe or not to believe?

Hi Truth,
The desire to follow JC is a personal journey. I never said there was no good 'reason' to follow JC. Follow him where? Where is he that I may follow? And what reason would I or anyone else need to follow him? If religion comforts a person and gives a warm fuzzy then I am all for it. To each his own, but if one goes on a web site seeking FACTS as to whether or not one will BELIEVE in a certain religion then I was simply stating there are none. Faith is believing in something in the absence of facts is it not? How can anyone state they have factual evidence for the existance of God and that JC is God incarnate and that all the 2000 year old Christian dogma is scientifically verifiable? Show me the evidence as well please.

Hi Truth Lover,
I applaud your geniune concern to refute those Atheist web pages. I do think it is nice of you as well. If all it took was to read the readers digest to get to heaven we'd all be saved.

Dear Sarde, I chose that number because it is called the Golden number, a number that appears throughout Gods creations that mathmatically at least to me smacks of a design/designer. IMO. I apologize if I offended you by saying dude/ It was a generic term assure you and I will refrain from calling you that again. Sarde that sound like you are looking for evidence and facts. Which is fantastic, but all I meant in my first post to you was that faith is believing in the absence of evidence and facts. Hence the word FAITH. If you require facts and evidence as do I then if you find facts and evidence please be so kind as to share with the rest of the group. Good luck on your quest for enlightenment.

Islam-and every other religion all think they have the (Right) religion. Great ...my question is : For 7 day adventist: Are dead people just sleeping? For Mormons: Where are the Golden Plates? And why are the grammatical errors of KJV carried over to the book of Mormon: For J-Witness: Why do you think the ArchAngel Michael is Jesus? Christianity: How did a poor handyman Jew become born of a virgin and become known as God himself. when the same story was being told by the Greek's god Dionyssus who was born of a virgin and was half god and half man? Every religion I have read about all tend have THE answers but all the answers are different. Hindu's slant: god is everything. Buddist god is nothing. Muslums.God is pissed off and will put you to the fire (*if you dont obey his laws.) And each example sounds ridiculous until your particular religion comes up. *scene from A Few Good Men**"you want the truth?" "I want the truth!!!" "You want the truth you cant handle the truth!!!!" There is no truth there is only you, and when you look into the abyss the abyss looks back at you. Just my humble perverse opinon. *edit in parenthese[This message has been edited by 1.61803, 03-05-2004]

Hi Sarde,
It is a slippery slope when one begins to tread on the "reliablilty" of the Gospels in order to 'believe' them. They were written decades after his death and vary considerably in content and scope. Is there any reliablity in that? Someone once told me to believe as a child, and I now see why; because once you begin to pull on the fabric of what is factual and myth you end up with nothing but more questions.

Pray pray pray. Stop reading books! you will be a nilhlist before it is all over LOL!!!

Hi Sarde,
I hope you enjoy your visit to Texas, April is a beautiful time of year here, lot of wild flowers in bloom. Perhaps they will brighten your day and remind you of how great it is to be alive to pounder god regardless of how one worships or doesnt worship.
Texas flowers
*edit to include photo of flowers[This message has been edited by 1.61803, 03-05-2004]

Me too Yaro, I had to resist like hell asking. It is just something you do not hear everyday.

Great post Truthlover,
It is of course a matter of opinion as to what constitutes faith.
If your definition of faith includes words like evidence, facts, proof then thats fantastic. My defininiton remains that faith is believing in something in the absence of facts, evidence or proof. I do not see how it could be otherwise. The unity and love you sight is not evidence of anything. Chritianity is responsible for great atrocities as well. The Crusades, Inquesitions ,Salem,KKK, Charles Manson, Branch Davidians right here in good ol Waco Texas. These are just a quaint few.
"The fact that a religion works, that it produces what it claims it can produce is evidence for that religion." I never said there was no evidence for the existance of a religion called Christianity, I simply stated there is no scientific or factual evidence for the existance of God or that Jesus Christ is God incarnate. Sarde in her first post said she will only be convinced by facts or convincing argumentations
to dispute her attached links, not quibbling over semantics and definitions of what faith means.. Thank you for your response I think you are a nice fellow to take you personal time out to share your knowlege of Jesus.

That's all that matters is how "it" makes you feel. Nietzche said that man is a neurotic ape or was it Freud? I tend to agree. Man seems to need to know he is special and has a inmortal soul that will continue after his death. Other animals seem content to live they're exisitance without the need to fret and worry about such things. I guess I am that neurotic ape.

The accounts of Jesus where written beginning with Mark some 70 years after his death. Of all the authors only Mark and John are possible eyewitnesses According to Theologians. Hitlers skull cap is currently being stored in a vault in the Old KGB headquarters building at the Kremlin. The couch soaked with his blood, His art collection and his uniforms as well. Stalin was an avid collector of Hitlers personal belongings. I that is true then why even bother studying history? Zach, Faith in something is believing it in the absence of facts. You do not need a book to believe in God.

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"One is punished most for ones virtues" Fredrick Neitzche