LogFAQs > #876879632

au_gold posted...

This is one of the reasons I don't follow a particular faith. Religions instill their own interpretations of God and His teachings to their followers so many of them don't bother to read and interpret the Bible themselves.

That is fine, but what makes the Abrahamic God any better than Brahman or Odin? More importantly, and to the point, believing in God just to hedge your bets isn't going to get you any rewards because you are essentially lying to a god.

au_gold posted...

One thing that is for certain is that Jesus existed on Earth. Everything surrounding that fact is subject to interpretation.

That is sort of the point, though. Jesus existed, sure. But his mere existence doesn't prove the validity of Christianity. Even other religions admit he existed, but without his miracles and divine heritage, he is pretty much just another historical religious founder.

To illustrate, one of my favourite books is Romance of the Three Kingdoms. All the characters in the novel existed and are heavily documented. All historians pretty much agree that guys like Guan Yu, Cao Cao, and Sun Ce existed and battled it out in medieval China. However, that doesn't mean the book's description is accurate; in fact, a large amount of the novel's events and narratives are based on Operas and other works of cultural fiction. For example, I know Dian Wei existed and worked for the warlord/prime minister Cao Cao; but I don't believe that he broke his sword on an attacking soldier during an attack and then grabbed two dead soldiers and used them to bludgeon the rest of the invaders to death as makeshift meat-clubs. Or, another example, I know that the entire events of the warring states period came about because warlords distrusted the court eunuchs who held a large amount of power; but I don't believe that their downfall was foretold by a feathered snake dragon showing up and having a seat on the Emperor's throne.