This website claims to make a case for Christianity. It starts, logically enough, with the premise that you can't automatically assume that you were born into the correct religion and then goes shooting down the logical crapper from that point on!
| When evaluating a religion, the most important item to look at is how does this religion deal with sin and its consequences. Since sin is what’s separating us from God and will send us to hell, the way a religion deals with sin is extremely important. |
Sin? This is a largely Christian concept so are we just using Christianity to prove that Chrisitianity is the correct religion? Why couldn't a Hinduist say that the most important item to look at is how the religion deals with a caste system, a Buddhist will claim that how a religion deals with Karma is the most important attribute whereas the establishment of Shariah would be at the top of the list for Muslims. This is pure circular reasoning at its worst!
The site then claims that we should look at nature to see what the real god would be like. The author claims order, complexity and accountability for actions. Let's ignore the fact that ALL religions provide punishments and rewards for behaviors - let's LOOK at nature. Nature is NOT order - it is full out chaos and war! Nature makes animals accountable - mercy and gentleness is sometimes rewarded with a swift death allowing the cruel and merciless to live on. The laws of nature are EAT or be EATEN! It is not the passive, merciful animal that survives - it is the most vicious, sneaky and brutal! When a lion takes over a pride, it KILLS the cubs of the former lion! Snakes will sneak onto an island and take it over simply because there are no adequate predators to kill them. Dodos find their deaths at the fangs of imported dogs - were they being bad or were they just not vicious enough to fight back? Nature is vicious, brutal and WANTS you to DIE! Is that God? Vicious, brutal and wanting you to die?
| "God cannot ignore sin. When He serves as judge, He must fully meet all the requirements of His laws. If He fails to do this, He would become a trespasser of His own laws." |
So basically, WITH omniscience, Jehovah made a law that sin must seperate people from him with the knowledge that this law would harm both him and his creation! Instead of saying "For the wages of sin is a good apology." this GOD made the ridiculous law that "The wages of sin is ETERNAL seperation from God". I guess Jehovah's powers of forgiveness are far less powerful than mine, I can forgive - am I more powerful than GOD? Okay - so quickly, with foreknowledge GOD makes a rule that he knows will seperate his favorite creation from him until he comes to earth and is tortured to death so that he, himself is satisfied by his own death? CRAZY!
IF you want a real headache - try my interactive "Propitiatory Sacrifice" logic tree here: The Propitiatory Sacrifice
| Simple logic dictates Jesus could not be "just another good man." Either Jesus is Lord God Almighty, a liar or a lunatic. |
He was either a liar or lunatic like Marshall Applewhite, Jim Jones, Joseph Smith, Mohammed, L Ron Hubbard etc. What's so hard to understand?
| Although the resurrection took place 2,000 years ago, it is still possible to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, Jesus rose from the dead. |
Jesus did NOT rise from the dead and NO, there is NO evidence that he did.
| Historically, there is no way a person could reasonably deny the existence of the person we call Jesus Christ. There is too much secular evidence supporting His existence. |
There is very LITTLE evidence that Jesus ever existed. NO historian who lived within a hundred years of his supposed ministry ever wrote about him (with the exception of an interpolated passage in Josephus). Jesus follows a familiar pattern of a virgin-born savior god and could simply be a legendary figure. Paul's epistles are our oldest Christian documents and Christ is treated as a near myth figure with little information about his life on earth.
| Finally, a person could not reasonably deny that Jesus’ tomb was empty on the third day. |
I guess no reasonable person can deny all the miraculous events detailed in all the other religions either. Surely Mohammed split the moon. Surely Buddha could fly. Surely Krishna slew the ogres. Surely Perseus fought the Medusa.
| As a result the tomb was sealed and Roman soldiers were assigned to guard the tomb. |
Just a story - there is no proof this ever happened. Besides Paul - remember that his writings are the oldest - says that he was BURIED - not interned in a tomb. Here's my response to "the resurrection": Who was Jesus
| There is another reason I have concluded the death and resurrection of Jesus is God’s method of salvation. In fact, I find this next reason even more convincing than the empty tomb. I am referring to the reason the disciples died a martyr’s death. |
Again, we're dealing with legend here. Martyr myths are extremely common and there's no reason to believe that most weren't made up wholecloth. Now as to the martyr apologetic... ALL religions have martyrs! Martyrs can be found in Buddhism, Islam, Mormonism, Heaven's Gate, Jim Jones, Branch Davidian and even the new PBMA cult. Religious zealot martyrs do not prove a religion - they prove the power of religious delusion!
| Either the disciples actually talked and walked with Jesus after the resurrection, or they were lying. |
...or the stories are exaggerated and added onto later. Let's say that the disciples are all sitting around trying to figure out what to do now that their Messiah has been executed. They know that the corpses have been taken down off the crosses for the religious festival and they want to prepare Jesus' corpse. They petition the priests to get to Jesus' body - the priests refuse saying that they have already buried the criminals in a common grave. Later on a rumor starts to cycle that Jesus has been seen here or there and the disciples start to believe that he's been raised from the dead. The apostles quickly believe this new bit of wishful thinking and adapt their theology so that Jesus was supposed to die! This is entirely possible - both the Millers and Jehovah's Witnesses changed their theologies when the expected 2nd coming never came.
This site was almost completely devoid of evidence in favor of Christianity. I see a zealous belief in the writer's own religion which clouds the writer's critical thinking but his evidences can be claimed by every religion on the planet. Surely if Mohammed wasn't the Prophet of GOD - why would so many people die for him? Surely if Joseph Smith didn't have X-Ray vision and didn't talk to GOD, why would he and his followers accept so much persecution?