Now i will demonstrate why Christianity is logical.
IF it was man made, and God did not exist, then man certainly would not have made his rules so difficult to follow.
On the contrary, yes he would, and we can prove this by looking at known man-made systems: finance, politics, etc. These are phenomenally complex, for good or ill, because that is the nature of the system. Similarly, if a religion has complex rules to follow, that's simply the nature of the system, and neither proves nor disproves the system.
The average person would like to experiment and fornicate. They would like to be angry when they want and how much they want. Grudges are certainly easier than forgiveness. Marital fidelity and monogamy are not really as easy as it looks either.
Nonetheless, people know why fornication has its downsides, people know why monogamy is lauded, people know why forgiveness is preferable to vindication. They may be
easier, but anyone who's not a child quickly learns the value of being forgiving, etc. This doesn't come from religion, but sheer life experience.
In fact - every Christian law did not come from one person, but 40 authors - numbers of prophets, and several prophesies being fulfilled.
Christ fulfilled the OT - and if you are a mathematician you would know the improbability of fulfilling 300 prophesies - most of which pertain to His death which He did not control.
Is it possible? The probabilities say not. For someone to accidentally or deliberately do that, it wouldn't work out. Something to ponder.
Not really. First, you're assuming the prophecies were fulfilled at all - since there's little to no evidence that Jesus ever existed, let alone did the things he was alleged to have done, you're jumping the shark somewhat.
Second, the 'prophecies' largely fall into one of three categories:
- 'Self-fulfilling'. That people believe in a prophecy causes it to be fulfilled, rather than any supernatural effect. For instance, Matthew states that Jesus is the prophecised Immanuel, and this is used to tick off the 'Immanuel' prophecy - but Matthew only called Jesus that because it was prophesied. Matthew orchestrates events so that Jesus fulfils the prophecy - it is self-fulfilling. Another clear example is modern Israel - the prophecy of the Jews returning to Israel is what led to the creation of Israel in the modern era.
- 'Unfulfilled'. Of the various prophecies attributed to Jesus, a large chunk of them have yet to be fulfilled.
- 'Fake'. This includes things Jesus referring to a scriptural prophecy in the Old Testament so that he can fulfil it - yet the prophecy doesn't exist. It also includes prophecies that preachers claim to be another ticked box for Jesus - but actually were events relating to someone else entirely (for instance, Matthew in Matthew 27 claims Psalm 22 refers to Jesus, yet it a) refers to David, and b) was never meant to be a prophecy at all).
Essentially, you have a book called "Porky tries to fly". In Chapter One, it says "... and later we shall see that the Porky the Pig did indeed succeed in flying". In Chapter Two, Porky the Pig flies. Does this qualify as a supernatural prophecy? No, of course not - the 'prophecy' is fulfilled in the second chapter, not because it was ordained by God, but because the book is a work of fiction, with the writer(s) making it up as they go along.
If you want to go down the prophecy route, fine, but there is a wealth of material to discuss, and I predict it won't end well for you.
So if there is no God and all these men created the Judaic - Christian religion since the beginning - you would think they would have completely messed up the prophesies...and well, they would not have been completed. Not only that - but please explain HOW any man - anyone would derive any power or mind control over making others better towards their neighbors?
Not all religious values are abhorrent. The Qu'ran says mercy and love are traits of Allah, the Bible says to love one's neighbour, etc. Nonetheless, these are firmly embedded in a tyrannical system - in Christianity, one must love one's neighbour
or burn in Hell! One must love God with all your heart
or burn in Hell! It's certainly nice advice to love one's neighbour, but it loses all virtue when you force people to love one another at gunpoint.
Saying religion - Christianity specifically or solely - is transient, it would have long ago been left behind with so many other false practices. If there was no visual of Christ - and the law coming to fruition - it would have been impossible again - to convert anyone - let alone 3000 the first day the Apostles went out to speak and not in one language but each person heard - in their own language. The impossibility was the miracle that converted 3000. Think about that.
Even if we assume that that event took place (and I'd like to see proof that it did), you're presupposing that there's not a natural explanation, that the
only explanation is "Goddidit". Sadly, no: people are gullible, even moreso 2000 years ago. People saw famine and volcanoes and thunder as clear and obvious proof of the gods, people weren't sceptical or critical - missionaries had a much easier time back then, don't you think? In any case, a good missionary, a charismatic and enthusiastic man, could convince people back then of
anything - they just didn't know better.
Nowadays, we scoff at televangelists and their blatant falsehoods, at psychics and mediums and their obvious cold reading, but that's because we're so much more well-informed nowadays. Back then, I'm not surprised 3000 people could be converted on the spot. The whole of the Middle-East was converted to Islam in short order. Whole countries could change religious allegiance depending on who was King or Queen.
3000 people? Not impressive, and more easily and more likely explained by natural causes.
The laws of Christianity are so difficult, if it were not, everyone would be Christian. Easy is the typical desire - which Christianity is not.
If it were easy, i daresay we would have no atheists.
If your only argument for the truth of a religion is, "Its rules are
hard", then Judaism and Islam blow Christianity out of the water - Christianity is
easy, all you have to do is love God and your neighbour.
But this is a moot point, since, as discussed above, the difficulty of following a religion is utterly irrelevant to its veracity. I've seen a lot of daft arguments in my time, and, well, this is in the top 10.
