Once I arrived at the conclusion that there must be a Creator behind all existence, I then had to determine which world religion most accurately reflected the true nature of God. The first thing I noticed about Christianity was the abundance of historical evidence and eyewitness testimony for the events recorded in the New Testament. This stands in stark contrast to other religions which rely primarily on a single person's account of a private revelation from God, holy texts delivered by God to a single individual in a private encounter, ancient tales passed down through generations via oral tradition, etc. With the New Testament, we have multiple perspectives of eyewitness testimony recorded in manuscripts dating back to the lifetimes of those who authored them. We are not relying on writings that have been copied dozens of times through the ages. Compared to other ancient manuscripts of that time, including the historical records of ancient Rome, this is extraordinarily unique.
But more importantly than this is the unique message of Christianity. Look at any other religion and, at the core, you will find a common theme: that in order to make things "right" with God or to earn "enlightenment", you must work at it. You must earn God's favor through good deeds, by following a list of rules and observing certain restrictions, by not eating various foods, by practicing a specific ritual on a regular basis, whatever. Only after you have proven yourself to God will God love you and reward you.
Christianity breaks this mold. At the core of Christianity is a message of immediate forgiveness, freely given. A recognition that we humans are inherently flawed, and that's ok with God. Christianity recognizes that we can never be perfect, no matter how hard we try. We can work at it all our lives and we will never get there.
In Christianity, we find a God who loves us by default. There is nothing we must do to earn it, and there is nothing we can do to erase it. Everyone gets into the club the same way, everyone is invited, and the price of admission has already been paid. Not a bad deal if you ask me!
For those of you who are Christian and attending church, I urge you to closely examine how your church presents the Christian message. If your church doesn't communicate this central theme, and if it doesn't embody this theme in its attitude, then leave. You're better off taking your family to the park on Sunday morning. Most churches have unfortunately allowed the common trait of other religions -- the notion that God's favor must be earned -- to creep into their thinking and their way of doing things. This is partly why so many of us have become disenchanted with Christianity today. As we drift further away from the uniqueness of Christianity, and drift further towards other religions, the problem of disenchantment will only get worse. We've got to get things back on track and rediscover what makes Christianity so awesome. It is superior to other religions because it is grounded in truth, and it produces superior results when adopted and applied correctly. Let's not forget that.
"the abundance of historical evidence and eyewitness testimony for the events recorded in the New Testament."
ReplyDeleteTrends exist in human society. Culture as a whole is based on norms and traditions, the most significant of which is religion and parallels can be found in subcultures of any kind you care to imagine.
New cultures are always developing, and this has always been. Once a small group of people believe something, it spreads easily.
Human beings tend to organise themselves into groups, like many things, it all goes back to evolution...
When we're looking at historical documents, any claims must be substantiated with physical evidence.
This is the central reason Christ's resurrection and miracles cannot be taken to be true. By their very nature, there is no evidence for these events occurring. It doesn't matter if a document says a crowd saw the event; it still remains to be nothing more than ink on paper.
Documents of Rome however are different, since we can reference any claims therein to what we know happened owing to physical evidence: buildings, trade routes, objects such as spears and armour, pots, etc. The economic effects of Rome's collapse and the rise of other empires also has long lasting consequences which we can see...
Christianity and the following of Christ was merely a fad, a cult... Until the Emperor made it the state religion a few hundred years afterwards, which is most likely the reason it caught on and spread.
By analogy, one could ask: if the Native Indian religions had conquered half the world, would we believe accounts of crowds seeing a bear ride on the back of a horse down from heaven, thousands of years ago?
No.
Great article. You're right about that. I too am interested in the historicity of the NT and OT.
ReplyDeleteThe deeper you look into it the more astounding the Bible gets. I'm glad this blog and your channel are running, I always check back for new posts- you have a great perspective and articulate these things well. God bless!
"Once I arrived at the conclusion that there must be a Creator behind all existence ...", okay, I'll bite, how did you arrive at this conclusion? As another person that is somewhat "obsessed" with truth, I would like to know your reasons for assuming a creator, and then how you jump to the idea that any religion could reflect the true nature of God.
ReplyDeleteYeah well, you may want to tell that to the Egyptian first-borns, the Amalekites, the Midianites, Philistines, Canaanites... all neatly documented in your, apparently, historically accurate holy book.
ReplyDeleteI invite you to check this out : http://www.islam-guide.com/
ReplyDeleteWhat then, if all are loved, is the purpose of good deeds?
ReplyDeleteA ready Defense by Josh McDowell. It walks you through step by step and piece by piece of historical, physical, philosophical evidences which support the claims of The Bible. I suggest you read it. Very good.
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice sentiment, Dan. Too bad it has nothing to back it up other than your own desire for it to be true.
ReplyDeleteI stopped at "eyewitness". Wait, what? Where is the source for that?
ReplyDeleteGreat post! As a scientist and fromer atheist you have captured my thoughts completely.
ReplyDeleteIF there is a god then why do the innocent get punished and the evil prosper??? Why is there so much suffering, hunger and poverty in the world??? Why hasn't this being showed itself??? Why when people pray there prayers are NEVER answered??? Who cares how the universe was started, we are here now and there is so much SCIENTIFIC PROOF from where we once came from!! Humans evolved into the species we are today. IF there is a god then wouldn't he have more than one planet with life growing, not neccisarily human life but life all the same?? THERE IS NO GOD, I am not going to argue with your beliefs, if you choose to believe ONE being can create a UNIVERSE then thats up to you. What I will say is with all the greed suffering anger and chaos in the world today, shouldn't there be a flood, a plague or unexplained wipeout of all humans to start again?? and by wipeout of humans I am NOT talking about extremist terrorism!!!
ReplyDeleteHey I like your blog man! Really great job! (:
ReplyDelete"the notion that God's favor must be earned" Is in your blog. Yes, a lot of people have this view and it is incorrect. God's grace has earned your way into the kingdom of heaven to live beside him. There is nothing we can do to earn it!
The view of earning it is called legalism. Some people don't even realize they've fallen prey to it (: It's just one of Satan's schemes. I would love if you would check out my testimony about how I came to know Jesus! :D Gregoryrocca.blogspot.com! I think you would like it! ^_^
There is absolutely a price you have to pay to get into christian heaven, and it's too give you're entire being to a zombie. I'm sorry, this is beating a dead horse here, so much so that this crap is getting boring to me, but you have to know that none of the new testament is "Eye Witness" testamonial. You have to know that. You are doing yourself a disservice here. Oh, and I see right through your little about me blurb up at the top of this page. Christianity IS religon, dipshit. Who exactly are you trying to fool. Or recrute for that matter. Those people sitting the pole between a realistic worldview and the magical wonderland you live in? There is nothing singular or special about the christian message. DAMN YOU FUCKING IDIOTS. I'm not even an angry person, non violent, but I'm really starting to hate you people. I never wanted to hate anyone. Thank you
ReplyDeleteI have always wondered why atheists are the way they are. All the hatred towards Christians and God. I think the reason is is because they think God has done them wrong. or at least that is how it started out, then they taught their kids that and thats y some people are atheist. Just a thought. email me @ lizlivbffl@yahoo.com and tell me what you think.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff here! Absolutely on point! More videos/ posts please!
ReplyDeleteAtheists have never made any argument that we did not value any number of things in life as we know it, ever, mainly because there is no one person all atheists follow, where-as your fickle god, and lets be honest; a being that created everything that would banish you to a place worse than the worst place anyone could imagine ever, FOREVER because you didn't simply accept a laid-down belief system instead of using you're free-will and mind, both of which that being supposedly gave you, to come to a conclusion of what you think is believable IS FICKLE.
ReplyDeleteI am NOT saying that a person who used reasoning to arrive to the conclusion they have, which may be to believe that there could be a being that created everything would be any more or any less than someone who didn't.
What I am saying is a being who WILL sentence you to a place of unimaginable torment forever if you don't act as his fanboy for the life you have, as far as what we know life is, in the only place we know of to exist in this way is a just, even if you lead a good life, but who, according to that beings laid-down teachings, WILL accept rapist, serial murderers, adulterers, and any other kind of horrible, awful person into his abode that he has created for the good and just, IF those horrible, immoral people simply accept his love into their hearts before their imminent demise.
Atheists that do use their own logic and reasoning to come to a thoughtful conclusion as pertaining to what they believe simply cannot fathom why anyone would ever follow such a being unless out of fear of punishment and a lust for reward.
I personally believe that if there is a being that did create everything, that being is not fickle, and would be more proud of one of their creations that used all the gifts that being had given them to come to a conclusion on what they believe, regardless of what that final conclusion is.
On the other hand, if I do find myself, once I die, standing next to an all powerful being who is about to send me to hell because I simply didn't accept them in life, after I recovered from my immense shock, I would realize that I am, in fact, in a way glad that I will not spend all of forever with a being that is that vengeful, manipulative, and fickle.
Dan you are the man. I found this blog after watching that cartoon video with the Atheist's head blowing up after being debunked! Hilarious. One question,why are these so called atheists so angry? Why do they feel the need to defend nothing? Why do they feel the need to defend the idea of natural selection? They say that they are trying to inform and refute Christianity and better inform the world that we came from nothing which came from nothing which is impossible. Why don't they just leave us alone in our wonderland? It is interesting to note that the rise of atheism is found in rich and prosperous countries as contrast to the Gospel which spreads like wildfire in communist and secular countries where the poor and oppressed live. Interesting, right in line with what Christ says. Keep up the good work. I have started a blog similar to this. Its jay-onlevelground@blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteOnce I developed my opinion on creation and chose the easiest way to describe it, because it is much too complicated for me to really comprehend scientifically, then I had to pick a religion because that's what other people do.
ReplyDeleteSo I chose the one I am exposed to by 90% of the country I live in....
Dude. Get a clue and think outside the box and outside the state.
Miss you over on youtube man! Your videos are excellent. Looking forward to logging on one of these days and seeing "New video uploaded by Godlowdown".
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