"...I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me..." [Deuteronomy 5:8-10]

Thursday, July 22, 2004

Thoughts On Christianity
Just some thoughts.

  • The Bible is not inerrant, because it is historically and scientifically inaccurate. (Only those who insist that the Bible is inerrant to begin with say otherwise)
  • Faith cannot confirm that the Bible is "divinely inspired", because belief without evidence cannot confirm any one given interpretation of the Bible over any other
  • There is no confirmation of "the Resurrection" of Jesus outside of the Bible. Therefore to doubt the Bible is to doubt the Resurrection
  • The Resurrection is the cornerstone of Christianity. To doubt the Resurrection is to doubt Christianity
  • The Bible itself states that those who witnessed Jesus's miracles (Matthew 11:20-24) and even the Resurrection (John 20:24-29) doubted their veracity
  • Belief in the Resurrection depends upon faith - evidence without reason. It can only be reasonable therefore to doubt the Resurrection & the divinity of Christ
  • Since non-belief in the Resurrection is reasonable, it is unreasonable for humanity to be punished for such non-belief as taught by the Bible
Christians have two strategies for coping with this problem.

Fundamentalist churches teach that there is no excuse for not believing in Christianity, because the evidence is overwhelmingly in its favour. This is plainly dishonest.

Mainstream churches teach that "hell" or damnation is not a real punishment - it is merely separation from God. This is odd. If "hell" as described in the Bible is metaphorical, then why should we accept visions of "Heaven" or indeed any form of afterlife as non-metaphorical? Any is it not logically inconsistent for an omnipotent and omnipresent being to "require" anything?

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