Other than mythology, which are stories of how things came to be, not religions that sane people follow: name some. There is no major religion that makes such a statement. There are only three world religions that teach faith in one supreme God -- Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Talking of any other "minor" religion is pointless.
You're using a logical fallacy by appealing to popularity here to make your case. Just because a lot of people believe something, doesn't make it true. Therefore minor religions are just as valid as large religions in the possible truth-value of their claims.
The idea of a god or deity that died and rose from the dead were common in ancient middle-eastern religions, Osiris and Baal are examples of that. Likewise in the religion of Ancient Greece, Achilles, Asclepius and many others also died and were resurrected by Zeus. Asclepius in fact went on to become the god of medicine to the ancient Greeks.
Needless to say, Christianity is far from the only religion (including major religions) in history to have claimed the death and resurrection of a god figure.
Of the world religions some (like Hinduism) teach reincarnation -- the process by which a person will return to life in a future embodiment. But that is not resurrection. And none of these religions, esp. the three world religions mentioned, except for Chrisitanity, that teach not only that their founder died, was buried, and rose again from the dead with claims that people saw Him and interacted with Him after His resurrection (and not only that but people who were not intimate in writing the actual "stories").
There is absolutely no extra-biblical evidence that shows Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to anyone. Likewise, the zombie invasion of Jerusalem following Christ's crucifixion mentioned in the book of Matthew is also not backed up.
Given the fairly extensive Roman records of the period... don't you think someone might have thought to write down the fact that all the dead people in the area suddenly came back to life and decided to wander through the city? Also, I'm sure they would also notice that the guy they nailed to a cross last week and died, was now walking down main street.
It's absolutely insane to assume that the Romans would simply not have noticed, or thought it important enough to record. There are no written texts or accounts of Jesus written until decades after he was supposedly crucified. There's just simply no solid evidence to back up anything in your argument and plenty of reason to doubt it's historical accuracy.
So, mythology aside, I'd like to know of any major, practiced religion that teaches this. Mind you, this alone does not prove Christianity correct -- but rather it only shows it to be unique.
Scientology is also unique... that's no reason to give it any credibility. However, as stated above, many religions have had resurrection myths.
Again, the correctness of what I wrote is encompassed within the Christian belief system. You may certainly decide not to believe that system but it does not make it go away if it is true.
Sure, but that's assuming it's true. What reasoning to you use to assume that it is in fact true?
Well, if you place biblical record in with superstition then we waste time here talking. Again, discussion must have some basis. The Christian basis is the Bible and within that construct (you may call it fiction) demons and God and the devil and angels all exist. I would not call all the Christians in the world irrational, would you? Sure, some (perhaps many) believe from some form of mere superstition, but that is not what the belief is based upon.
I would not call all Christians irrational overall, but I would say all of them share one common irrational belief.
When you say "same goes for Jesus" what do you mean? You are not one of those who claim that Jesus never existed, are you? For there is extra-biblical record of His existence. There are records that are not kind to Christianity, as well as records by some who converted later, like Josephus (oh the disparaged Josephus), who record facts of Jesus' life or the accounts of Chrisitans shortly after His life and death and resurrection.
I'm not willing to rule out the possibility that there was a preacher in 1st century Israel that all the stories and myths are based on. I view it much the same way that the legend of Robin Hood may have been based on a real man as well. We have no evidence to confirm he existed, but it's not unreasonable to grant the stories may have been based on a real guy.
However, whether he existed or not is not the important question. The important question is are all the miracle claims and supernatural claims in fact true.
As for your extra biblical evidence, Josephus (And Tacitus for that matter) was not a contemporary historian of Jesus's era, he was born after Jesus's supposed crucifixion, and his writings date from the late 1st century. He never talked to an eyewitness and only reported on hearsay. For that matter, as Josephus was not a Christian (he was a Hellenistic Jew), he obviously didn't think Jesus was all that special either.
Dave, there are great institutions of learning that study Christianity and study the Bible in its original languages so that they may form an orthodox understanding of the doctrines and theology taught within. If you think these learned men are irrational, then why are you here? Why are you not on some site where geeks seeks after the powers of Zeus or try to prove the reality of Hercules? Why do you not debate them? I venture it is because you know they are mythology, but you fear that Christianity is truth.
The originals of the books of the bible no longer exist. These institutions study what are the earliest known copies, most of which date from centuries after the originals would have been written.
Secondly, the amount of people that worship Zeus are an incredibly small minority. There may be a message board out there of worshipers of ancient Greek gods, but they do not pose nearly as large a threat to society as Christianity and Islam do. In essence, they're harmless.
Christians are the main target, as there is strong political influence on the part of Christian organizations. They are constantly trying to repress science, education and civil rights though legislation and other means.
The second the Zeus worshippers start trying to suppress the rights of non-believers and other people, and try to get the story of Nyx creating the world taught in science classes... I will be right there to fight them too. Until then, the Christians are the threat that needs attention.
Ahh. Now we get to the real issue. I do find that most people who give up on Christianity do so for this very reason, although they fail to admit it. I was raised in a Christian (albeit Catholic) household. I went through my stage of atheism and agnosticism. I know the reasons why I fell out -- it was the fairness of God and the pain He would bring. I remember well all my atheist friends at the time (and now, today) and the discussions that were had. Rejection centered around "God's sadistic side." Then, because we were "rational" we had to shift: we had to move from this banal rejection to a more formal, and austere position of logic and science. God being nothing more than superstition.
That is not the reason why I don't believe God exists. I simply showed an example of how his supposedly perfectly moral god was anything but. If his assertion was correct that I would burn in hell for not believing in God, it's ultimately God's responsibility for creating me that way. To argue that point would be to admit your god is not omniscient or omnipotent... it's a contradiction in your own doctrine.
It was an illogical shift, really a reason to rebel against my parents, my community, even society at large. I didn't (and so far most everyone I know who moved from religion to "unbelief") reject God because I no longer felt He existed; I rejected Him because I didn't like Him anymore. That dislike grew into a vision that He simply must not exist. He couldn't.
But He did. And He kept on calling me in that small, still voice. And even as an atheist I would find myself making deals with this "non-existent God". Prove yourself to me! I cried out. And you know what: He did. Not in gigantic, recordable miracles and flashes of light, but rather in my knowledge that, yes, He exists. Ok, enough of my sap....
God does not torture someone. God simply gave man a choice.
Deuteronomy 30:15-19
See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
(Again, if we were going to debate Huckleberry Finn, we would do so around Mark Twain's book. We are debating the Christian God here, so we do so around the biblical record.)
Inherent here is that God has created everything. Nothing exists without God creating it (and all George Carlin jokes aside). So, set before you (and all mankind) is Life and Death, Blessing and Cursing.
Then God gives a clue: choose Life!
Two things are immediately apparent here: (1)
you get to choose; (2) you
should choose Life.
But what is important is that you get to choose
[1]. If you choose Heaven, it is your choice; if you choose Hell, it is your choice (some actively choose this). If you choose to not believe, you have not followed His command to walk in His ways and to love Him. Therefore you have chosen to reject the Life that He offers.
So if you end up in an eternal Hell, then it is not a sadistic God who put you there, but it is you who put you there.
And as a final, short add-on: Hell (Hades) will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:14). It is not an eternal place. There is no biblical record of eternal "torturing" as in the image of a black-hooded, WWF wrestler type with a whip and a scourge, beating you and tearing your flesh.... No, the lake of fire is likely an idiom that simply means an eternity without God. You have chosen seperation from Him -- you would have chosen Death. And within the Christian construct, God is Love. He is all that is Good. He is Blessing. So when you (your choice) go to where there is no God, you go to where there is no Love, no Good, no Blessing. You go to where there is only despair, hatred, curse, emptiness, loneliness. And that existence is akin to being put into a fire, and that pain will last for eternity, for your soul never ceases to exist.
Quoting bible passages is meaningless. I have no desire to rebel against my parents, in fact they raised me well. Likewise, while society is not perfect, I also see no reason to rebel against it.
Furthermore, there is no reason to rebel against a God I see no reason to assume even exists. That's like choosing to get angry or rebel against Santa Claus because you didn't get what you wanted for Christmas. It's completely senseless.
The contradiction stands, if God created you exactly as you are, then he must know that you would go on to not believe in his existence. That means he is condemning you to eternal torture before you are even born. That is not moral in any sense, it's insane.
