Why I can't accept Christianity

[W2L]

Is God more wonderful, less wonderful or equally as wonderful as Creation?

I would say more wonderful.

 

[redleghunter]

The claims are made in the Bible, a book with numerous inconsistencies. Witnesses in court are often discredited due to inconsistencies in their testimony. Therefore, the Bible loses much of its credibility due to the inconsistencies.

Asserted inconsistencies based on what premise?

I seek things which are true. If Christianity can be shown to be true, then I am interested in it.

If this is the case then start with Jesus as He said:

For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” (John 18:37)

Notice there is a distinction between seeking the truth and being of the truth that Jesus makes here.

Please provide something from an unbiased source and I'll watch. J. Warner Wallace is clearly a biased source - meaning the book is only going to be useful to help cement the belief of Christians who already believe. Examples of unbiased would be things like National Geographic, PBS, etc.

This is not high school debate club. If you truly seek Christ and hear the Voice of the Good Shepherd (John 10) then start with what Jesus said. Archeologists dig to find answers. They go to the source to dig. If you are truly seeking then dig at the source which would be the words, deeds and actions of Christ Jesus.

It seems you are looking for proof and not interested in examining evidence.

J. Warner Wallace is a cold-case homicide detective, popular national speaker and best-selling author. He continues to consult on cold-case investigations while serving as a Senior Fellow at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. He is also an adjunct professor of apologetics at Biola University and a faculty member at Summit Ministries. J. Warner was a conscientious and vocal atheist until the age of thirty-five, when he took a serious and expansive look at the evidence for the Christian Worldview and determined that Christianity was demonstrably true. After becoming a Christ follower in 1996, Jim continued to take an evidential approach to truth as he examined the Christian worldview. He eventually earned a Master’s Degree in Theological Studies from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.

Well he was an atheist when he set out to investigate the Gospels. Lee Strobel (Chicago Tribune journalist and author) was an atheist too when he investigated the New Testament and the claims of the apostles (The Case for Christ). Sounds like these two men are exactly what you are looking for. They were atheists who investigated Christ and found the evidence convincing.

Conversion to Christianity[edit]
In 1996, Wallace became a Christian (previously having been an atheist) at the age of 35, after investigating the gospels as potential eyewitness accounts to the life of Jesus.[5] Wallace joined the staff of Saddleback Church, while continuing to serve as a cold-case homicide detective. He later enrolled in Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, earning a master’s degree in theological studies.[1] J. Warner Wallace - Wikipedia​

 

[redleghunter]

Is God more wonderful, less wonderful or equally as wonderful as Creation?

As the uncreated Creator, God is the Wonderful maker of all things.

 

[Phil 1:21]

It seems you are looking for proof and not interested in examining evidence.

I suspect some (maybe not this poster, don't know) purposely set the bar of "proof" so high as to intentionally not reach it.

 

[Kim7229]

Well Kim after reading your responses I have to conclude that your thread is not motivated by a genuine desire for answers or counsel. You are not struggling... you are simply rejecting by a quality decision. If you applied this approach in all areas of life, including science, you would reject everything. Personally I think you are just looking for attention and/or attempting to show off how smart you (think) you are. Because of this I will no longer respond and give you the attention and ego-petting words you desire.
Good luck... if you ever do enter into the attitude of a seeker rather than a doubter... come back.

I'm open to evidence if you have any - and will change my belief if you provide sufficient evidence. Do you have any?

 

[Kim7229]

As the uncreated Creator, God is the Wonderful maker of all things.

Would you say that creation is too wonderful for it to be caused by accident?

 

[Nayte]

sorry

 

[Nayte]

You obviously did not listen to anything I said, and are making extremely lame excuses. Now you just are getting silly.

God is who He is. And when you seek Him you find, either you are going to seek Him or you are not, if you seek 'thor' you will not be answered , if you seek any of those you will find nothing, no answer. If you seek God, if you seek Christ, you will be answered, you will be shown, you will be revealed the good things of God and the mysteries, You cannot see it right now because you have not been shown, you have not been shown because you have not sought, you have not sought because you are blinded, you are blinded because of your sins.
Call out to Christ, accept Him into your heart, confess that He came into the flesh and lived among us, and died for your/our sins on the cross, and rose from the dead on the third day and lives again. Ask for forgiveness, ask to be saved, ask to be shown who He is. Genuinely seek Him, and you will find. Do not remain in sin, do not remain blind, you do not have to be, you do not even see it, just like anyone else, but once you receive Christ, you see it. He shows you so much, all of it, you did not see before. Like looking at something and zoning out, or looking upon something and not actually seeing it for what it is. People can look at the same exact thing, yet see two different things, one true, one not true.
See things as they are, accept Christ and live. He suffered so that all of us could be saved from the death we brought on ourselves, it is not His fault, it is our fault that we suffer, and Christ took that suffering on Himself , God gave His only Son so that we could no longer suffer, but so we can live. If you truly want joy, happiness, peace, forgiveness, love, painlessness, and comfort and all, then seek God. Have faith, believe in Him. Would you not want it to be true? Would you not want joy and love and comfort, to be complete?

Seek Him while He may be found. You are alive for a reason, do not be deceived, no one here is arguing on our own behalf, we are arguing for YOU. We are not puffing up and being prideful, saying words to prove you wrong so that we can feel better , we are trying to get through to you out of love, because although you may not see it, we know it is true that Christ is our only chance at everlasting life, to be free of our sins and sufferings. If I told you there was a volcano about to erupt over the mountain, but you could not see it, but I walked over miles to see it and came back to tell you, would you ignore it, or would you go seek out for yourself whether it was true or not? Well for you, it is time to seek , and to find the truth, that is what you want after all is it not? Well you will not be disappointed if you seek Christ, as He will accept you with open arms, and forgive you, and love you, and transform you. When you accept Him and are forgiven, you get the Holy Spirit, it guides you, you get discernment, and many other gifts all by the same Spirit. All you have to do is accept Him, go read some scripture too it will help. Do you not want to be saved? Because, we all have sinned, we all need saved, we all fall short of the glory of God, and Jesus the Christ saved us, do not be confused by all of the noise around you and the people in their formal churches and all the other things going on around you, or all the conditioning you have received about followers of Christ.
You have this certain view, that has stuck with you, but it is wrong, it is not the truth. Do not see God from another mans eyes, see Him for yourself. The only way to God, is through Christ. You can do this, just seek Him out, you are on here for a reason, whether you know it or not, do not let it pass in vain. You can be happy, you can be wise, you can be righteous, loving and loved, content, free, yes freee! All the pain and suffering that weighs you down, just get rid of it, accept Christ as your Lord and savior, and live.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

I'm open to evidence if you have any - and will change my belief if you provide sufficient evidence. Do you have any?

There will never be enough evidence. Even if there was, faith is evidence of things NOT seen.
It is also true that evidence does not produce belief. It merely satisfies curiosity. This is true of all science and law. You choose to believe and you choose to doubt. Has nothing to do with evidence.

 

[chuckpeterson]

I have had doubts as well, but when i look at creation in all its wonder, i know God is real. This is good because God is my hope. Without Him i would have nothing but regret and sorrow. I patiently wait till i meet HIm and enter into eternal life.

He knows you, He sees you & he likes what he sees. There is time for you to do good & carrying to your fellow man & He is patiently waiting for you to be the true caring one you truly are.

I know because He told me -

 

[W2L]

He knows you, He sees you & he likes what he sees. There is time for you to do good & carrying to your fellow man & He is patiently waiting for you to be the true caring one you truly are.

I know because He told me -

Interesting, thank you.

 

[W2L]

Would you say that creation is too wonderful for it to be caused by accident?

I would say that.

 

[Kim7229]

Creation is too wonderful for it to be an accident. It was surely created by God.

Is God more wonderful, less wonderful or equally as wonderful as Creation?

I would say more wonderful.

By that logic, God is also too wonderful to be an accident. What then surely created God?

 

[W2L]

By that logic, God is also too wonderful to be an accident. What then surely created God?

I cant imagine a world without a creator. We were made for a reason. Im no accident. Anyway, have a nice day.

 

[Robert65]

Those who place fact over faith will never believe.

 

[DarkSoul999]

Also, we can talk more about the Lord's attributes if you'd like to, but here's something to consider in the meantime, can you imagine what God would be like if He was just like us (IOW, not omnipotent, not omniscient, and not omnipresent)?.

Holy = power

He still looks at us all with harshness and is taking notes on everything that we do. He is basically your boss at work but a thousand times scarier. He doesn't care if your pathetic brain is made of mush. He hates your animal nature and basically everything that you are.

The boss's son offers you a legal loophole....but only if you get on his good side.

One of the big reasons that I finally decided to trust Him/surrender the reins of my life to Him and become a Christian was because of those attributes of His, because I realized that He could see the big picture about my present and my future life that I could not, and because I knew I could trust all of the wondrous promises that He made to us (~because~ He is all-powerful, all-knowing, present everywhere and at every moment in time, and eternal, and as such, knows the end of everything from the very beginning).

So you believe because your life is pleasant and everything worked out great for you? Isn't that lovely!

I had exactly the opposite experience with God. I decided to put all my trust in him with a major risk/sacrifice. It wasn't even his will. My stupid mush brain failed to get it right and now God is laughing. He just happens to hate certain people and has plans to destroy them no matter what.

The fact that He proved how much He loves and cares for us by sending His Son here to die for us and save us played a big part in my decision as well, of course

How do you know that you are saved? Maybe Jesus is very displeased with something you aren't even aware of. Maybe he will say to you "get away from me you accursed I never knew you!" just like he will do to countless others.

Finally, while Mafia bosses may send their sons out to kill people, they'd never send their sons to die in their victims places and save them instead. Also, when have you ever heard of Mafia bosses warning people about the age to come, and what eternity will be like for them apart from Jesus?

Well technically Jesus is the boss even though he is also the son....but yea...you have a point there.

It is still highly likely that Jesus came only to save a few lucky people who passed a nearly impossible test. His death increased your odds of making it into heaven from 0.0% to somewhere around 0.00001X10-9%

If what the Bible tells us about life beyond the grave is true, and we have every reason to believe that it is (since much of what is said about eternity in the Bible comes directly from God Himself), wouldn't you rather know the truth about it now while there's still time to do something about it, rather than when you are standing before Him at the Judgment when it's too late? In fact, if you did end up at the Judgment not knowing the truth, wouldn't you complain bitterly and ask Him why He didn't bother to warn you? I know I would!

Thanks!

Yours and His,
David

John 3:16
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.​

.

Your "life beyond the grave" will only be good if your neurons are firing in exactly the correct pattern before your death. Nobody can even agree on what the truth is and yet they all think that they have it. This tells me that very very few people will enter heaven. Basically nobody has any hope. Life is a GAME and God hates the losers....LOTS of losers.

 

[DarkSoul999]

I cant imagine a world without a creator. We were made for a reason. Im no accident. Anyway, have a nice day.

The Fall of Adam and Eve canceled out the evidence of goodness in creation.

If you can't imagine a better world then you must have an astonishingly easy privileged life...

 

[W2L]

If you can't imagine a better world then you must have an astonishingly easy privileged life...

Reread my post, thats not what i said.

 

[DarkSoul999]

Those who place fact over faith will never believe.

So faith is not a fact? Just a feeling that may or may not be true?

Words mean things...

 

[redleghunter]

Holy = power

He still looks at us all with harshness and is taking notes on everything that we do. He is basically your boss at work but a thousand times scarier. He doesn't care if your pathetic brain is made of mush. He hates your animal nature and basically everything that you are.

The boss's son offers you a legal loophole....but only if you get on his good side.



So you believe because your life is pleasant and everything worked out great for you? Isn't that lovely!

I had exactly the opposite experience with God. I decided to put all my trust in him with a major risk/sacrifice. It wasn't even his will. My stupid mush brain failed to get it right and now God is laughing. He just happens to hate certain people and has plans to destroy them no matter what.



How do you know that you are saved? Maybe Jesus is very displeased with something you aren't even aware of. Maybe he will say to you "get away from me you accursed I never knew you!" just like he will do to countless others.



Well technically Jesus is the boss even though he is also the son....but yea...you have a point there.

It is still highly likely that Jesus came only to save a few lucky people who passed a nearly impossible test. His death increased your odds of making it into heaven from 0.0% to somewhere around 0.00001X10-9%



Your "life beyond the grave" will only be good if your neurons are firing in exactly the correct pattern before your death. Nobody can even agree on what the truth is and yet they all think that they have it. This tells me that very very few people will enter heaven. Basically nobody has any hope. Life is a GAME and God hates the losers....LOTS of losers.

Have you shared your observations and feelings about Christ with your pastoral team?