I'm still here, and I don't know why the email bounced, as I get notifications from these boards.I tried your email, Umaro--it bounced me out. I hope you are still with us. We need sharp minds like yours to keep our faith honest. Here is the letter that I tried to send you:
Umaro:
I haven't been on this website long, but in the last couple of weeks I have seen your name all over the place--questions, challenges, arguments. You seem to want to prove the existence of this Jesus so that you can believe, or disprove all claims of his existence so that you can get on with your life--good luck with that.
I asked you to read the book of Luke for a reason. Luke's Gospel focuses on the perfect humanity of Jesus. This differs from the other Gospels--Matthew's account focuses on Jesus, the High Priest & King; Mark: Jesus, the Conqueror of death & sin; John: Jesus: the incarnation of God.
You have indeed found many, if not all of the discrepancies in the Gospels that describe parts of Jesus' life & his ministry. Your scholarship is very good. I have come across many of these discrepancies as well in my MDiv. studies. What you haven't done, however, is find fault in the man they called Jesus. You have, in effect, built a strawman out of the 4 Gospels & tore it down. Jesus is still standing. You have failed in your attempt to find fault in the man they call Jesus. These different accounts of parts of Jesus' life & ministry don't trouble me at all & I'll tell you why.
My professor, a PhD graduate & noted scholar, used modern analytical techniques as you have & came up with almost the exact same argument that you did. This man, a professing Christian, said, "When I read the Gospels, I see 4 different Jesuses. How can I believe their accounts?" I answered him with this. Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John are 4 witnesses pointing their fingers at a star. When you see the star, you don't need the fingers anymore.
The professor could not refute my argument, for to do so would be to admit that he hasn't saw (experienced) the presence of Jesus (the star) in his life. He was dumbstruck. Like you, his "faith" (beliefs) was based on logical arguments & scholarship. His knowledge of God & the Scriptures was very broad, but not very deep. His emptiness was there for all to see. That is the power of God-given revelation, which is greater than any PhD degree.
The Gospel is supposed to be good news. Why are you trying to "gun down" his messengers? The Bible is like a tapestry. The inconsistencies you point out are part of the Bible we read. The Bible itself seems like a tangled, disjointed collection of works that give us no complete history, no comprehensive guide to living, or even a complete account of Jesus's life. When one beholds the other side of the tapestry, however, revelations of how God is weaving perfections out of our imperfections (including the Gospel author's) come to light, and harmony is restored to our minds & souls.
You are in a bad place now, lacking inner peace & full of unrest. I've been there. If you are looking for intelligent scholarship to articulate matters of faith, I would suggest that you read the works of Karl Barth. If you want peace of mind, I suggest you keep searching for Jesus until you find him, or he finds you at your rope's end, when reason has failed you (more likely).
Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. I wish you well on your faith journey and will pray for the light of Christ to shine your way.
I seem to be misunderstood here. I see absolutely no problem with believing a man named Jesus lived and went around preaching to be kind to people. I don't think I have ever pointed out flaws in his character, and I don't think I need to. There is nothing in my reasoning that says a man such as this can't exist, and the character of a man in no way shows them to be divine.
The questions I come to these boards all involve God, not the man Jesus, because all of my reasoning says a God as described by this religion cannot exist. I question the miracles, and the supernatural because my understanding of science, my reason, and my logic all say they cannot be. For example, the Christian God cannot exist in my mind because He is omnipotent, and omnipotence creates paradoxes and cannot exist.
You are right in that I seem to question and attack the Bible a lot. I do this because I do not understand the reasoning of basing your entire life around a two thousand year old book. To me, there is absolutely no reason to oppose homosexual marriage, and it seems the Bible and church is the only reason a majority of (Christian) people do. I also despise double standards, and it irks me when people pick and choose parts of the Bible when it is convenient for them. The best example I've found of this is the 10 Commandments. Everyone wants them posted everywhere, but whenever I remind them of the commanded punishments (usually stoning to death) for breaking them which are listed in the same book and chapter range, somehow those no longer apply. I mean, if you can pick out the good parts and ignore the bad parts, why do you need the book in the first place?
I would disagree with you that I lack inner peace. I reached my personal center years ago, probably earlier than I should have, but I was pushed toward it by personal happenings. Christians always talk about the peace that follows after accepting Jesus, but without a belief in a God, I have complete and utter personal freedom, and that generates and ever greater peace within me.
I'm not looking for "intelligent scholarship to articulate matters of faith" when I come here. I personally see "faith" as a flawed concept because believing in something without any evidence, and often in spite of evidence is just something I can't agree with. I come here not seeking anything for my religious beliefs. I'm here because I live in America, and everywhere I look I see people basing politics around this ancient and demonstratively flawed book, and I want to understand why. I want to understand why someone can base their entire life around that which reason says cannot exist, and why they somehow believe bigotry is justified just because the god in one of the ancient books says it is. I want to understand why they feel I should hang their beliefs in public buildings, beliefs a large number of people disagree with. I want to understand why Christians claim America is a "Christian Nation" when the Treaty of Tripoli directly says it is not.
I'm not here to convert, I'm here to understand what I see as a flawed an ignorant lifestyle.
Upvote
0