Why is the Christian God the only God?

[EveryTongueConfess]

Name a point where the Bible is/can be false please

I believe the Bible may very well be wrong, though it is called faith and that is why I believe in God

Jesus left no text, but rather he left his disciples. They devoted their lives to spreading the message of Jesus and most of them were killed for it. Logically if you were being tortured and knew Jesus was not who you are saying he was, and could spare yourself this punishment by admitting what you know to be truth - all sane people would.

Jesus also would do this too, unless he falsely believed in himself as God and caused the disciples to falsely believe in him also - which is extremely unlikely.
All of the disciples hallucinating the ressurection or turning away when Jesus sinned is highly improbable.

Though I know of the above, I still often doubt and that is natural. It is really hard to prove Christianity correct - as if we ever do it many will come to Christ, but I rather think in the more negative - what other viable option is there?

What other viable religion is there to follow?

 

[Criada]

Mod Hat On​

This thread has been moved to Exploring Christianity.
Please remember that this is a no debate area.
A few posts have been removed to avoid violating the guidelines of this area.

Mod Hat Off​

 

[Jennifer1]

You're right - just follow nothing, you have it all worked out.
Me, I just looked into the other religions and picked the one
whose leader died to put it in to play. I've never been disappointed
since.

 

[Key]

"You will know by the actions of my followers what is the true path to God."

-God

So, knowing that, Stop looking at a book for validity.

God Bless

 

[Alive_Again]

<Jesus also would do this too, unless he falsely believed in himself as God and caused the disciples to falsely believe in him also - which is extremely unlikely.
Though I know of the above, I still often doubt and that is natural. It is really hard to prove Christianity correct

Christianity is meant to be experienced as a believer. When you seek for God with all of your heart, you find Him. Meditate on the Words of Jesus with a seeking heart. If you want to know His will, you will know of the doctrine.

Jesus said He'd come to live inside of you and that in the new covenant, you would all know God from the greatest to the least. Don't accept anything less. You've got to want it with all of your heart. Ask God to show you. Read the gospels with a seeking heart and let God compel you to come to Jesus.

When you get to the point where you know Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, and know that He was risen from the dead for your justification, make Him your Lord by asking Him into your heart and forgive you of your sin and call Him Lord out loud with your lips. See what happens!

You've got to want Him with all of your heart.

 

[jonathan180iq]

Do you believe in love?
Why do you believe in love?
Without quoting from a book about love, explain to me what love is.
If you say love is real, why can't hate also be just as real?
But hate is real, you say....

Ahh, therein lies the whole sheboigan.

Other gods, the one's that men have created, are gods, indeed. You can even call them real gods if you like. Just look at the Bible itself. It's full of the mention of any number of other gods out there. The problem is that these gods are all false. Everyone of them is a false god created in the mind of humanity. They exist only in the statues and objects created by human hands. God, the God of the Bible, preexists all of those gods. They are not the gods of creation.

God, the God that I worship, is a trandscendent and preexisting God that is the genesis of the whole of creation...the entirety of the universe is but a spec of dust to Him.

You can call God any number of different names, and you can follow false understandings of God's character for your whole life. You can maintain false theologies and even practice things that are totally contradictory to what God wants. You are allowed to do so because you are a flawed being and making mistakes is part of what you do. Hey, I do it too. But at the end of the day, Jesus is the only person in History to be predicted about 300 something times by a people and by prophets who lives hundreds and maybe even thousands of years before he actually was born. He fulfilled everyone of those prophesies and even uttered some prophecies of his own, which, by the way, also all came true.

If you want proof that there is something special about the Bible and that Jesus was something more than just a wandering luncatic in Israel who had some crazy ideas about himself, look at the prophecies fulfilled by Jesus and the prophecies that have been fulfilled since he left this Earth... Remember for example that Jesus foresaw the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem almost 40 years before it was destroyed. The writings of some of the Gospels also predate the destruction... little did the writers know that they were writing the prediciton of the destruction by the Romans. Also, there are several times where Jesus looks out over Israel and weeps and asks why they didn't realize who he was when he was with them. He foretells of their being surrounded on all sides by their enemies and never again gaining the prominence that they once held in the world because of their rejection of the savior... What do you see in the Middle East today?

You are choosing to attack the line of reasoning that sees God in all things. Why not turn that same argument around and ask why you blingly accept certain parts of your own worldview? Why reject the idea of God but accept other impossible-to-prove-beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt concepts?

 

[LifeToTheFullest!]

Do you believe in love?
Why do you believe in love?
Without quoting from a book about love, explain to me what love is.
If you say love is real, why can't hate also be just as real?
But hate is real, you say....

Ahh, therein lies the whole sheboigan.

Other gods, the one's that men have created, are gods, indeed. You can even call them real gods if you like. Just look at the Bible itself. It's full of the mention of any number of other gods out there. The problem is that these gods are all false. Everyone of them is a false god created in the mind of humanity. They exist only in the statues and objects created by human hands. God, the God of the Bible, preexists all of those gods. They are not the gods of creation.

God, the God that I worship, is a trandscendent and preexisting God that is the genesis of the whole of creation...the entirety of the universe is but a spec of dust to Him.

You can call God any number of different names, and you can follow false understandings of God's character for your whole life. You can maintain false theologies and even practice things that are totally contradictory to what God wants. You are allowed to do so because you are a flawed being and making mistakes is part of what you do. Hey, I do it too. But at the end of the day, Jesus is the only person in History to be predicted about 300 something times by a people and by prophets who lives hundreds and maybe even thousands of years before he actually was born. He fulfilled everyone of those prophesies and even uttered some prophecies of his own, which, by the way, also all came true.

If you want proof that there is something special about the Bible and that Jesus was something more than just a wandering luncatic in Israel who had some crazy ideas about himself, look at the prophecies fulfilled by Jesus and the prophecies that have been fulfilled since he left this Earth... Remember for example that Jesus foresaw the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem almost 40 years before it was destroyed. The writings of some of the Gospels also predate the destruction... little did the writers know that they were writing the prediciton of the destruction by the Romans. Also, there are several times where Jesus looks out over Israel and weeps and asks why they didn't realize who he was when he was with them. He foretells of their being surrounded on all sides by their enemies and never again gaining the prominence that they once held in the world because of their rejection of the savior... What do you see in the Middle East today?

You are choosing to attack the line of reasoning that sees God in all things. Why not turn that same argument around and ask why you blingly accept certain parts of your own worldview? Why reject the idea of God but accept other impossible-to-prove-beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt concepts?

Our earliest existing NT gospel manuscripts are dated to when?

 

[Harfelugan]

Our earliest existing NT gospel manuscripts are dated to when?

Portions of Pauls writings have claims to 15 years from the death of Christ. Conservative scholars dont need an existing manuscript if they have qoutations of these texts within the writings of the anti-nicean Fathers. That the earliest fathers were qouting them they can be concluded to pre-exist those Fathers. Oral tradition predates the texts and the texts were just written versions of the oral traditions for the most part. This give us potentials as stated among conservative scholars of at most 40 A.D. to pre-70 A.D. This is with the extra biblical evidences and literary criticism. They could have arrived earlier. The absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence.

 

[JasperJackson]

This question has been bugging me for a long time and until I receive a good answer, that doesn't shove the bible in my face I will probably never be religious.


Why is the Christian God the only God? what makes him real and Jesus his son but makes such deities as Thor, Negral, Odin, Isis, Ra, Allah, Sheba, Great Spirit, even Xenu and The Flying Spaghetti Monster?

How can you possibly claim, without use of the Bible that these are all false deities and your God is the only God?

why I forbid use of the Bible, or any other religious text:

Q: Why is God real?

A: Because it says so in the bible?

Q:How do we know the Bible is true?

A: (I get a few different answers here)
1. Because God wrote it.
2. Because Various archeological evidence supports it.
3. Because I've had legitimate spiritual experiences whilst reading it.

ANSWER 1

I don't even think i need to point out the circular logic and the extreme fallacy of this argument.

ANSWER 2

probably the most reasonable yet, just because the Bible references a real place doesn't mean it's spiritual message is true now does it? How does Sodom being a real city somehow prove God is real and that he Destroyed it?

If I wrote a book that said a Great Sea Beast named Sherbas sent a great and powerful storm that destroyed the wicked people of New Orleans because they partied rather than give thanks to Sherbas would that mean Sherbas is real? I mean a Storm did in fact destroy new Orleans and I do mention Sherbas is my book, therefore he is real?

I think you would agree with me, Sherbas is not real.

ANSWER 3

Yeah? And I've had a legitimate religious experience telling me Odin is alive and well. This answer makes me laugh. How is your religious experience somehow tangible proof of your God being the only god?

I'm sure millions of Muslims have had "legitimate religious experience" about Allah. So what makes you right and them wrong?



If Anyone can clarify for me how the Bible somehow proves the Christian GOd the one and only God I would be much obliged.

I tend to go for "ANSWER 4" (the historical argument for Jesus). And for that, I'll hand over to someone who can explain better than me.
YouTube - Habermas " Historicity of Resurrection 1of 11 Apologetics

 

[marktheblake]

If Anyone can clarify for me how the Bible somehow proves the Christian GOd the one and only God I would be much obliged.

Nobody can, revelation is something that needs to come from within.

Many people have attempted reveal God to us, Jesus , Mohammad, the Hindus, and even Tom Cruise!

They all contradict, so that they cant be all correct, either only one is right, or all are wrong. If you are sincere in finding out who God is, it would be wise to study all the claims, then It all comes down to who you can trust to reveal God accurately.

Jesus Christ says "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." This is not proof, nor evidence, it is a Truth Claim that he has made. Therefore if you consider Jesus to be reliable it goes without saying that the others were not.

 

[jonathan180iq]

Our earliest existing NT gospel manuscripts are dated to when?

Existing would be the early 200s AD.
But the earliest copies were probably written around 50 AD.

[EDIT]: Actually, I just same across some other sections, none of them complete works, that are dated to around 130AD. (Like the John Ryland Fragment)

Also, some of the letters of Clement and Ignatuis, which quote from some books of the NT, are dated between 90AD and 115AD... Since they are quoting from those books, it means those books had to be written..... before 90AD. I also think it's interesting that the NT itself does not specificially mention the sacking of Jerusalem. That would be a pretty big deal, yet it is not mentioned anywhere except for Jesus' prophecy. And if you wanted to prove that the guy you were following was the real deal, wouldn't you bring that up? I know this last part is simply circumstancial evidence, but it is interesting.

So you better answer your question, there is concrete proof that the "earliest existing manuscripts" were written no later than 90AD, and it seems like at least some of those works existed well before that.

Maybe this will help you out: http://www.ccel.org/contrib/exec_outlines/ca/ca_04.htm

 

[LifeToTheFullest!]

Existing would be the early 200s AD.
But the earliest copies were probably written around 50 AD.

Actually, Paul wrote most of his letters in the 50s CE, while the earliest gospel, Mark, was written about 10-15 years after that. Matthew and Luke sourced Mark heavily (i.e. copied), tweaking events so as to suite their 'intended audience.' John came later, and is completely different in style and content than the first three gospels (most notably, John does not mention Jesus' imminent return, for obvious reasons).

 

[jonathan180iq]

^^

Well, then why bother asking? And I don't mean that in a jerk sort of way

You have the Gospel of Mark written before the sacking of Jerusalem...And Mark 13 has the prediction... point proven.

PS: The Braves should have been 3 and out in the Giants series. Reagular season play and we own you guys. Thanks for helping us win the wild-card though

 

[LifeToTheFullest!]

^^

Well, then why bother asking? And I don't mean that in a jerk sort of way

You have the Gospel of Mark written before the sacking of Jerusalem...And Mark 13 has the prediction... point proven.

PS: The Braves should have been 3 and out in the Giants series. Reagular season play and we own you guys. Thanks for helping us win the wild-card though

YouTube - Cher - If I Could Turn Back Time [Official Music Video] [HQ]

BTW, wasn't trying to be a donkey, my question was rhetorical.

 

[jonathan180iq]

... It would be more funny if it wasn't so true.

 

[FutureAndAHope]

Hi,

Your question is an impossible one to answer. Even the bible says that there will be false prophets that can do great miracles. So as a Christian I can at least say you are correct in assuming that other religions will have some magical experiences. But God is greater than those things he can make even you aware of his reality, and the reality of the word of God the bible. Which I pray he does.

But I do know of one man who works in Mexico, and South America spreading the gospel, he challenges the Warlocks to heal the sickest person in the village, when they can't then he does, to prove God is greater. He also has raised the dead back to life, which no other religion apart from Christianity has done. Let them prove it.

 

[razeontherock]

I wanted to see how Christians rationalize their beliefs and by what I've seen so far its built on a premise that their beliefs could never possibly fail them and they are always right no matter what they say.

You're actually not seeing what it's BASED on. Instead, you're engaging very mature Christians who have had these basic issues settled for so long they may have forgotten the struggles you're facing now. This is because Faith is not static, but always developing because it's ALIVE!

 

[Christian-Catholic]

This question has been bugging me for a long time and until I receive a good answer, that doesn't shove the bible in my face I will probably never be religious.


Why is the Christian God the only God? what makes him real and Jesus his son but makes such deities as Thor, Negral, Odin, Isis, Ra, Allah, Sheba, Great Spirit, even Xenu and The Flying Spaghetti Monster?

How can you possibly claim, without use of the Bible that these are all false deities and your God is the only God?

why I forbid use of the Bible, or any other religious text:

Q: Why is God real?

A: Because it says so in the bible?

Q:How do we know the Bible is true?

A: (I get a few different answers here)
1. Because God wrote it.
2. Because Various archeological evidence supports it.
3. Because I've had legitimate spiritual experiences whilst reading it.

ANSWER 1

I don't even think i need to point out the circular logic and the extreme fallacy of this argument.

ANSWER 2

probably the most reasonable yet, just because the Bible references a real place doesn't mean it's spiritual message is true now does it? How does Sodom being a real city somehow prove God is real and that he Destroyed it?

If I wrote a book that said a Great Sea Beast named Sherbas sent a great and powerful storm that destroyed the wicked people of New Orleans because they partied rather than give thanks to Sherbas would that mean Sherbas is real? I mean a Storm did in fact destroy new Orleans and I do mention Sherbas is my book, therefore he is real?

I think you would agree with me, Sherbas is not real.

ANSWER 3

Yeah? And I've had a legitimate religious experience telling me Odin is alive and well. This answer makes me laugh. How is your religious experience somehow tangible proof of your God being the only god?

I'm sure millions of Muslims have had "legitimate religious experience" about Allah. So what makes you right and them wrong?



If Anyone can clarify for me how the Bible somehow proves the Christian GOd the one and only God I would be much obliged.

One of the best physical arguments that the Christian God is the true God is the theory of Information itself. The book of Genesis describes it to a tee. In it it says there was the word and the word was with God and the word is God. This is the only religion that claims that God spoke us into existence.

Perrymarshall describes it beautifully in his site www.cosmicfingerprints.com
Dna is a language and is information. Information has never been shown to arise from anything else other than an intelligent mind . Since the DNA combinations within even the simplest of one celled organisms contain 10 to the 200,000th power combinationsthere simply wasnt enough time for life to have evolved by random chance. There simply wasnt enough time in the universe to allow this remote chance to happen. Also Perry theorizes that if life did evolve. This information theory describe the Our Lord (teh christian God) perfectly.

http://www.cosmicfingerprints.com/blog/infinite-chasm/ this article by Perry himself will explain it in a much more thgorough way than I can. Read through it and you will understand alot more . He went on the biggest atheist forum and for 3 years they couldnt put a dent into this theory and it got so rediculous that they started to propose that DNA wasnt a language or code and that scientists only defined it that way as an abstract, he went on to show that science does define DNA as a language-code and not in an abstract way but in a literal way. In essence atheists are so narrow minded and pig headed in their dogmatic beliefs that they started to argue against a standard scientific definition of DNA that has been defined thsi way for 40 years.

No other religion describes God in this way.
Hope this helps

 

[mulimulix]

Hello, friend. I must tell you I have often been put off by some of the answers I have heard for the question you pose, and I am a believer. The issue is that most people who attempt to defend the Bible have not had a background in critical thinking, and thus provide answers that seem soft to those who are looking for a critical answer.

If you are looking for a critical answer, then I do not have enough room here to provide the answer. And, with any answer I give, it, just like any belief whether scientific or philosophical, will include an aspect of faith. For instance, even those who have worked out the most difficult or ueful scientific discoveries have built a case for their discovery that took a long period of time and relied heavily on circumstantial evidence. Once a certain probability is reached, as al discovery is a probability, then they put their faith in their answer's correctness. Now, in our place divorced from the experience of the scientist, we put our faith not in the probability, but in the scientist or the organization that is putting forth the case. What I am getting at is that we are very far removed from the bare evidence, yet we take their statements on...faith.

For the ciritical thinker, as I said, there is not enough room here to put forth a viable case. But, there are works in the public sector that you can access that will help you make a decision on whether you believe or not. There are some works that I find less helpful for critical thinkers. Most of these are the novel-like cases for a Christian aspect. I will list here a few works that I think promote a good case for God that may help. What I ask is that you not drop the book at the first sign of disagreement. You seem to already have a firm idea in your head that the Christian claim of God is false. If you drop your search at the first sign of disagreement, you will not really do any searching because you already have a preconceived idea in your head for works to clash against. I ask that you give at least 1/4 of any work a try before you drop it. Using this technique will help you get a viable overview of the work's reliability before you cast it off.

There are different approaches to apologetics, with some relying primarily on the Bible. (ie, the Bible tells us in Matthew that Jesus did x, and therefore...) I understand that this form of apologetic is not effective for you. Therefore, I will focus primarily on works that rely on external logic or on external evidence. But know that any apologetic is going to eventually bring you to the Bible because of its centrality to Christian belief.

Christian Apologetics - by Norman Geisler
Prepared to Answer: A Guide to Christian Evidences - Rob Vander Weghe
Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome - John Sanford

The third work is specific to Creation/Evolution debate, and even more specialized on the genetic aspect of this debate, but this is one of the most cogent arguments for God for me, a scientist by trade.

I hope this helps in some small way.

Blessings,
Dave

*applauds*

You have found probably the best argument which cannot be refuted.

Well done

 

[razeontherock]

So if that argument can't be refuted what is it, can anybody give a summary of the direction it goes?