Quath said:
I am not sure how you want this answered. As an atheist, I think that Christianity piggybacked onto Judiasm like islam piggy backed on Christianity. I see Christianity as the merging of Jewish beliefs with pagan beliefs of the time, with heavy emphasis on the Egyptian God Horus and also on the main competitor for Christianity: Mithraism. But that is the secular version.
Christianity does not need any outside influence to derive any of its doctrines. All the doctrines of Christianity exists in the Old Testament where we can see the prophetic teachings of Jesus as the son of God (Zech. 12:10), born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), was crucified (Psalm 22), the blood atonement (Lev. 17:11), rose from the dead (Psalm 16:10), and salvation by faith (Hab. 2:4). Also, the writers of the gospels were eyewitnesses (or directed by eyewitnesses as were Mark and Luke) who accurately represented the life of Christ. So, what they did was write what Jesus taught as well as record the events of His life, death, and resurrection. In other words, they recorded history, actual events and had no need of fabrication or borrowing.
There will undoubtedly be similarities in religious themes given the agrarian culture. Remember, an agriculturally based society, as was the people of the ancient Mediterranean area, will undoubtedly develop theological themes based upon observable events, i.e., the life, death, and seeming resurrection of life found in crops, in cattle, and in human life. It would only be natural for similar themes to unfold since they are observed in nature and since people created gods related to nature. But, any reading of the Old Testament results in observing the intrusion of God into Jewish history as is recorded in miracles and prophetic utterances. Add to that the incredible archaeological evidence verifying Old Testament cities and events and you have a document based on historical fact instead of mythical fabrication. Furthermore, it is from these Old Testament writings that the New Testament themes were developed
Quath said:
If you try to follow the story, it is hard. Basically, God sees the world filled with wicked people. OT God kills everyone but one family. NT God kills His son. It makes little sense to me as a story. After all, God could have had Jesus die after Adam's fall and everyone would have known Jesus.
Jesus existed before the creation of the world, The sacrifice did happened before the creation , All the OT sacrifices are shadows of Jesus sacrifices
If you see the verses God would demand that the sacrifice should be First Born (as Jesus is first born) and wit out blemish (Sin less)
Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."
Revelation 13:8 "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."
1 Peter 1:18-20 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. (NIV)
Quath said:
For example, there are no records of the world going dark or the dead walking when Jesus died
"Circa AD 52, Thallus wrote a history of the Eastern Mediterranean world from the Trojan War to his own time. This work itself has been lost and only fragments of it exist in the citations of others. One such scholar who knew and spoke of it was Julius Africanus, who wrote about AD 221...In speaking of Jesus’ crucifixion and the darkness that covered the land during this event, Africanus found a reference in the writings of Thallus that dealt with this cosmic report. Africanus asserts: 'On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.'"1
If you ought to dismiss above as a proof then give me a proof for the existence of Alexander the Great or Aristotle, I can dismiss that with the same logic you have used
BTW do you have proof for the Origin of the world or First Life from lifeless matter ??
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Quath said:
I don't think you can. You can always find evidence if you want it to be true. Anything can be justified that way. I would say that if God is real and if your soul is on the line and if He cares, He would show you proof He exists. After all, it costs Him nothing and saves you for eternity. So without that happening, I doubt the Christian God is real.â€Â
Well I am living in India, I need a proof that a person called “George W Bush†exists ! , I won’t take photo or Video as it was a mere image not actual person, Remember that I will not come to Washington and ask for appointment, I will simply do nothing bush but he has to come and meet me
Your expression is same as above, You need to bend down your knees and ask for forgiveness , There are more than 90% people believing some kind of Transcendences (That itself a Good proof for His existence) so you cannot escape by saying that God is not possible ,
“I STRONGLY BELIVE THAT THE STRUGGLE OF ATHEIST IS NOT INTELLECTUAL BUT MORAL†ask your heart the same question!
Romans 1:19 “because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.â€Â
Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has ben made, so that they are without excuseâ€Â
And now to your responses.