An Open Letter to All Young Christians - Please Convince Me.

Tl; Dr
1) Create huge wall of text
2) Use fancy words
3) Reject all people that can pertinently reply to OP ( to all of you YOUNG christians)
4) Debate won, gg.
Liek if you cri everytiem

In all seriousness, religion is an idea. Some people may agree with it. Others may not.
Any wise man would understand that going beyond that is simply impossible and completely useless. Both sides can easily spew out thousands of arguments, all of them legitimate.

 

If you're looking for a well educated debate between your beliefs and religious ones, you are looking in the wrong place. If you really want quality answers for your questions that are thought provoking and educational as well, I'd suggest reading or listening some of Ravi Zacharias' work, as he is one of the more well respected apologists of this day. I am not a Christian but his lectures are very well thought out and entertaining. He is a gifted speaker with lot's of experience.

 

Religion was made for man, man wasn't made for religion. If people understood this fact there wouldn't be so many religious conflicts in the world.

 

Very well spoken.

 

Disprove a God/Religion without using Science or another religion.

Guess what? You can't just like you cannot use Religion to disprove science. You simply cannot. There are no other outside sources to disprove either.

--- Double Post Merged, Mar 10, 2015, Original Post Date: Mar 10, 2015 ---

His whole Profile is just begging for hate/flame.

 

i don't mean to necro this thread and idk if this has been responded to but

If God killed a person he would've committed a sin... which cannot enter the kingdom of heaven so that wouldn't make sense.

I don't know what story you're talking about, link me to it? Is it in the bible? Idk

Technically God can't show himself to any mortal being, so he really didn't "kill" them if you're referring to something physical.

God wouldn't kill someone directly.. the "42 boys" you're referring to must've been killed by something on earth

How do you know God killed them? If there wasn't a witness, you couldn't know.

 

oh, I thought I linked it oops
The story states that they teased him, then a bear came and killed them, but that can be interpreted as the bear just coincidentally decided to kill 42 boys. Pretty sure there are other stories I could link, but for now;
http://biblehub.com/2_kings/2-24.htm
Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, "Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!" When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number. He went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

 

What a coincidence.. lol

I don't know why I found this funny... Not that they died but that two bears would coincidentally come out no where and managed to kill 42 people...

Anyway, I see what you mean now,

I don't really know what to say.. I don't wanna question the Lord but I must admit that's pretty grotesque

 

This is still being debated?
Oh my...

 

Funny how those people die anyway gfg.

 

This is one of the best quotes I've ever read.

 

Thanks man. Everytime some conflict over religion comes up i just think of this quote

 

I identify as being Jewish, however, I have my own philosophy on things I'd like to share.

I believe that it dosent matter what religion, or a lack of religion, someone has. I believe we are judged for what we do in life, how hard we work in life, and for what purpose we work for. Religion is just something that binds people and family together, and to be honest, I am completely ok with that.

 

I feel like this 100% exemplifies my thoughts on Christianity. I do have a lot of odd belief's; But I agree that Christianity should be based on the Life and Teachings of Jesus first and foremost. Thank you for pointing that out Kari

EDIT* Idk how to quote someone with the name attached.. lame

 

Here friend Imma answer not to spark a debate but as clarification because it seems we have a lot of cafeteria Christians and hypocritical, not very well formed arguments. We're all imperfect though so its cool <3
1. The Bible should be believed entirely. You can't pick and choose the ones you like and leave out the ones you don't. Read Revelations 22:18-19
2. This is a very broad point but the best way to answer it is that Religion and Science aren't enemies. The Big Bang Theory for instance was made by a Catholic. Also, God like Pope Francis put it is not "A magician with a magic wand". A lot of the things we have like Evolution I believe were done by God and the theories that we have simply explain what happened for instance when God said "Let there be light" I believe in Evolution and the Big Bang and I believe God made these processes and set them into motion. On the things that they do disagree on I would believe the way the Bible tells it since I'm Christian and I believe the word of the Bible (NABRE by the way)
3. You don't have to suspend critical thinking to believe in God. A divine being isn't illogical and I wouldn't even say more improbable than not having one. I use critical thinking every time I read the Bible and I concur with what it says. However, I also have something else guiding me in the way of the Lord, The Holy Spirit. Atheists don't believe and this is it so this is where things get tricky but along with it making sense there is the Holy Spirit guiding me to believe and be faithful. I guess you guys just see him as your conscience.
4. Yes the Christian belief has a literal hell. People who don't believe in Hell or the Devil cannot truthfully be seen as part of the Christian church. As far as morality goes things like this are again where you must have faith to understand fully. The people that God had wiped away from the Earth were people who had turned away from him entirely and no longer served any purpose besides being a bad example of humanity and a demonstration of all of God's power. He does these things fairly however he doesn't go around smiting people willy-nilly. For instance, in the town of Sodom God agreed to spare the entire town if Abraham could find just 10 righteous people in it.
5. I do believe in the power of prayer. This question is interesting and a little hard to answer in an easy to understand paragraph but basically God knows all that is going to happen and we all have our destinies but we have to live our life still. Sometimes we pray for something unjust and God doesn't grant us our prayer and we learn from that or we say it with bad intentions and so he doesn't listen to us (John 9:31). Other times when we pray out of love for something good God grants it to us.
6. I do believe that God is perfectly just and is merciful. I don't see why this doesn't compute for you since you haven't stated any reasons as for why you say it is impossible
7. He doesn't physically show himself to us because he needs us to show him faith too. Thomas was one of the apostles and because of the many times that he had shown faith and so that he could serve as an example Jesus revealed himself to him and said "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." (John 20:29)
8. I pray to God and praying is your direct way of communicating with him, your way of having a conversation with the creator. I don't audibly hear him because I'm not there yet but there are some people more pure than me who do. I have only gotten signs through dreams after months of faith and becoming closer to him. Use your judgement when people say things about having heard him or about miracles. For instance, a lady at my church said she'd lost her keys and that when she asked she found them and called it a miracle. This is no miracle. It is just a coincidence that happened and she found her keys because she probably remembered in her subconscious. Many people will try and trick you. Use good judgement and read Matthew 7:15
9. Not unless you think of a series of events leading to belief coincidence. People come to the faith in many different ways. Some are lucky enough to be born in a supportive believing family and others have to walk miles just to read the Bible. Just depends on the situation. People convert to Christianity and also lose faith every day its part of the world we live in so I guess I both agree and disagree.
10. Your reasoning for the crucifixion differs from how it actually is. Jesus sacrificed himself because he was the only one who is perfect and who's sinless and pure blood could result in forgiveness for our imperfect and sinful ways. This isn't to make some loophole its to show us the love he has for us, set an example, show mercy and last but not least, save us. His death led to our new life and it gives us a shot at an eternal one with him because the law and power of sin no longer has power over us because he paid for our punishment. The cross is an ancient torture device but we use it as a symbol for Jesus's love for us. We no longer see it as an ancient torture device but instead as the place where Jesus saved his all with his divine ways and holiness

Hope this clears a lot of that misinformation up and I hope this can be helpful for any Christians trying to better understand there own faith which obviously I'm not totally perfect in knowing just as no atheist knows everything about Science.
I love you all and God bless you!

 

I've already posted this video before but I would find it rather hard to believe the bible completely

 

Guys OP hasn't been on since February can we not

 

Many of those were either not meant literally or said in the bible that many accounts of the story have been made and it might have been either one

 

Where in the bible does it say they were not meant literally. Or are you just saying they're taken literally because that's the only way you can hold on to your belief.

 

A lot of bible passages and verses aren't said literally. It doesn't have to say in the verse after it "^^jk thats a metaphor" for us to see that. There are parables and examples and such. God says a lot of things to certain people. Some are literal, some are specifically in that situation, others are supposed to explain to us somethings