Image via Wikipedia By Kris Komarnitsky, author of Doubting Jesus' Resurrection: What Happened in the Black Box? (also available in the UK and as an ebook ). A ccording to well-known proponent of Jesus’ resurrection Dr. N.T. Wright , “The empty tomb and the ‘meetings’ with Jesus, when combined, present us with not only a sufficient condition for the rise of early Christian belief, but also, it seems, a necessary one. Nothing else historians have been able to come up with has the power to explain the phenomena before us.” 1 This view – which is really the idea that Jesus’ resurrection is the only plausible explanation for the Christian origins evidence before us – has been popularized by lay authors like JP Holding ( The Impossible Faith ) and Lee Strobel : “I had seen defendants carted off to the death chamber on much less convincing proof!” 2 It has also filtered down to the lay blogosphere : “The evidence is simply overwhelming. If you believe in gravity, you have to beli...

by Fatalotti H ave you ever heard of someone who's yelled fire in a crowded room in which there was no fire, needlessly causing extreme levels of panic? These people are generally arrested for disturbing the peace. If someone were to get injured during the ensuing chaos, the charges levied against the perpetrator could be even greater, including reckless endangerment, and should someone be killed, it could extend to manslaughter. It goes without saying that the law considers this to be a serious offense because of the great damage it can cause. But what if the perp claiming that there was a fire actually believed that there was fire? And, I don't mean he smelled smoke in the air, or felt intense warmth beneath his feet. I mean, he had had a vision, or believed that a supernatural power had warned him about this fire, and that it was his duty to proclaim in this crowded room about the imminent fire. But, there was no such fire. Would he still be held accountable for his ...

by Neal Stone Image by . SantiMB . via Flickr A ccording to the Bible and Christians, God created the earth and universe in just six days. Let us take a good look at this. Let's assume that this god did indeed create the universe. Then he would have to have extremely advanced knowledge and skill in physics, mathematics, engineering and so on. On top of that he would require an immense power source beyond imagination. So we are talking about someone with incredible power, knowledge and skill. So herein lies the problem. With all this power, knowledge and skill god seems to have a few issues regarding a couple of other skills. Communication and planning. Communication. Given all his wisdom, power and ability to see the future as well as the past god's only communication to us is a book so confusing, convoluted and riddle with mistakes (he can create the universe, but not handle a handful of authors and document copiers????) called the Bible. On top of that those that claim ...

by WizenedSage Image by arti47 via Flickr F or those believers and fence-sitters who occasionally visit this site, I offer the following for your consideration. The following passage is the very foundation statement of Christianity, so what it means is very, very important. John 3:16: “ For God so loved the world , that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life .” So, god is making a really big sacrifice for us, right? Well, that depends on your point of view. Here’s what I see in that passage. “Your birth offends me. I can forgive you, but someone has to die.” Once we scrape off the sticky sweet frosting of words like “love” and “gave,” isn’t that the real message of that passage? You may think god is doing the sacrificing here, but isn’t he also the one demanding the sacrifice, and rather arbitrarily, since he makes the rules? And, like any good TV huckster, god adds, “But that’s not all! If you worship me, I’ll let y...

by Luna Image by Stephen Poff via Flickr My story might be different from others on this site. It hasn't ended in atheism, or even agnosticism, though maybe that to a degree. I'm always willing to learn, anyway. I am now a rather confirmed mystic/pagan type, but my experience with Christianity was a rough one, and I thought I'd share, however it may be received. I was raised in a pretty lax household religiously, my father only really bothering to take us to the church down the road for major holidays, and whenever he was afraid the marriage was failing. My mother was always pretty liberal, having gay friends, sending me to a gay dance teacher, but she was a huge problem later on (which I'll get to). I was a very imaginative kid, believing in Jesus because that's what Sunday school was about, but also seeing/believing in fairies and that there really was a world where the wild things roamed, and looked forward to seeing it someday. One interesting thing that never ...

by Rita D'Alvarez Image by HORIZON via Flickr Beliefs, personal truths and comprehending the world around us is a life long journey. Where we start may not have any relation to where we finish, and as long as we live the journey continues. I think there are signaling events that trigger decisions which are in turn influenced by countless factors. Am I allowed go where my thoughts lead me? Can I say what I really think? What will those important to me think? Will I be accepted? Am I the only one? How will this effect everything else? Where will this lead to? I think that, while there are common journeys and similar roads, each of us ultimately walks our own path, one that is solely ours, responding to information, influences, thoughts and inner promptings unique to ourselves. While my journey began in childhood, it was in high school that I began to, as adolescents do, think for myself. By the time I was in high school life at home was chaotic and deteriorating. Feeling God’s love ...

by Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899), from The Works of Robert Green Ingersoll Vol IV W hen I became convinced that the universe is natural — that all the ghosts and gods are myths , there entered into my brain , into my soul , into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf or a slave. There was for me no master in all the world — not even infinite space. I was free: Free to think, to express my thoughts Free to live my own ideal Fee to live for myself and those I loved Free to use all my faculties, all my senses Free to spread imagination’s wings Free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope Free to judge and determine for myself Free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the “inspired” books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past Free from popes and...

by Lauren I have been reading stories on this website for about the last month or so and have found immense comfort in the words of people with similar experiences. I have a story to share: I have spent the last year and a half in the worst depression of my life because of my spontaneous loss of faith. I was raised in a church and joined a pretty liberal one in Seattle -- a church with a strong commitment to social justice and no focus on judgment and sin. I felt like I was in a pretty good place, but even there I'd had ups and downs of not "feeling" god, or having doubts. Fortunately, I wasn't brainwashed in any of the crazy fundamentalist communities I know exist, but I was encouraged to embrace questions, and in a post-modern fashion, critically evaluate Christianity. So when this current catastrophe started -- feeling numb about God, questioning prayer/the bible, etc. -- I wasn't too worried, because I didn't feel ashamed about these thoughts. I contin...

by Valerie Tarico It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. – Charles Darwin L ast week, as I was driving a carload of middle-schoolers to a movie, the kids started talking about their teachers. I couldn’t help overhearing, “ . . . He’s a great science teacher, but he doesn’t believe in evolution.” Two days later, a friend reported that her 15-year-old daughter had just returned from at a junior government retreat. “They argued the pros and cons of teaching intelligent design in schools, and she said there were some very compelling arguments on the pro side.” When I repeated the story at the dinner table later, my own daughter mentioned a school mate who feels conflicted about his biology curriculum because his family doesn’t believe in evolution. Charles Darwin published his world-changing work, On the Origin of Species , 150 years ago this week. What he proposed was breathtakingly simple. It can be re...

by David J Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty " You Can Be Healed: How to Believe God for Your Healing " is a book by Billy Joe Daughtery , founder of Victory Christian Center (VCC), Victory Christian School (VCS), and Victory Bible Institute (VBI). Daughtery was also the interim president at Oral Roberts University (ORU) of which he and I are both alumni. In addition to being a graduate of VBI and ORU, I am also a founding member of VCC and a former student of VCS. In VBI, we had a class that was so important to him that he taught it himself. It was on healing. To summerize a semester in a few words, the premise was that Christ died for our sins and also our healing. Not only is salvation a free gift for all who accept it, healing is also a free gift for anyone who believes. I won't claim to know who wrote the various parts of the bible or why, but a plain text reading of several of the authors would lead to this interpretation. Last month, Billy Joe Daughtery was dia...

by Carl S Image by bondidwhat via Flickr F irst off, for any Christian reading this, what do the words “Lead us not into temptation” mean? I know that’s from the Lord’s Prayer, the Perfect prayer, of which there are two versions. It means that, out of all those fruits in Eden, the lord deliberately pointed out that you shouldn’t eat those of that particular tree he deliberately planted there, according to your beliefs. It also means that the hands placed so close to certain organs are not allowed to touch and play with them. In fact, there are many examples of the lord’s tempting. You can blame Eve and the serpent all you want, but guess who put the boiling pot of water just where the child would tip it over onto himself? There is a line in the movie “The Princess Bride”, where the serf tells the padre, “I’m not buying what you’re selling.” All those reverends, popes, rabbis, imams, seers, etc. are selling. In a free market for religion they’re out with sales pitches, putting up adver...