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Skippy14 -> RE: Help please...I do not believe anymore (3/27/2008 12:02:21 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: rcjames
My point in case you missed it is that a person who is a Christian for nearly 20 years (serving God, believeing the the Scripture are the very Word of God and there is no error in them, accecpting of the forgiveness for all sins, being ministered to by the Holy Ghost) you know a standard run of the mill Christian; cannot have their faith shipwrecked and bankrupt by watching a movie or reading a book. Just cannot happen.
So I suggest that a person that a movie or a book can pull away from God was never his to begin with. That person was something, but was not a Child of God. And that that person was soon going to run into this passage;
(Mat 7:21) Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
(Mat 7:22) Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
(Mat 7:23) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
So praise God that maybe, just maybe you can now come to the knowledge of the truth before it is too late.
Thanks
RC
It seems to me that if someone is struggling with their faith and is willing to reach out for help to re-establish it, the last thing you want to do is to tell them that their life up to this point has been wasteful and that something horrible may come of all of this. To me, it's pretty obvious that Zion is struggling here. It's obvious to me that the willingness to believe still exists and that he understands the turmoil that comes from disbelief. I think I agree with Zion that you would be better off not saying anything here, as I find this comment in particular doing nothing more than upsetting him.
Zion, the "make or break" event of Christianity is the resurrection of Jesus. It is the very foundation of Christianity and although it is a single event, its truthfulness would prove Christianity to be true. Jesus' resurrection was the greatest miracle of all the miracles that reportedly happened in his life.
Consider these facts. I call them facts because almost all historians, even those who don't believe in Christianity, know them to be true.
- Jesus died on the cross by crucifixion.
- (I suppose I should also mention that Jesus was, for sure, 100%, a real guy. I don't know where you got the idea that he might just be made up out of thin air, but you'd be going against the opinion of critical scholars, believers and unbelievers alike, who have studied this. He lived!)
- All 12 disciples believed that Jesus rose from the dead.
- Paul, once a non-believer, was converted to Christianity as a result of the resurrection.
- James, Jesus' brother, was a skeptic before the resurrection and a believer after it.
- The tomb in which Jesus was placed was empty.
Diving into this last fact a little more, let me explain why it should be considered a fact. The enemies of Jesus should have been able to do something quite simple to prove that he wasn't resurrected: they could show the public Jesus' body, especially his body in the tomb! What reason would Jesus' enemies have for removing his body and destroying it? Remember, almost all critical scholars, Christian and un-Christian alike, say that it's 100% fact that Jesus lived and was crucified on the cross, so we shouldn't even consider the possibility that there wasn't a tomb where a guy named Jesus would have been. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that the enemies of Jesus ever tried to quell the uprising of Christianity by showing his body or showing a full tomb.
What historians have found is accusations against the disciples that they stole the body. An interesting accusation to make if that tomb had been full, eh?
As for whether the disciples DID steal the body, well then explain how all 12 disciples spent the rest of their days attesting to the truthfulness of Christianity and even went to their deaths (excruciating deaths, in most cases!) without ever saying "ok ok ok, I stole the body, I'm making this up!" It was reported that some disciples, even after being crucified themselves, were still preaching while suffering their extremely torturous death!
And if Paul, who was an opponent of the church AFTER Christ's death and resurrection, converted to Christianity on the basis of some clever ploy by the disciples, does that really strike you as a great way to motivate someone to write half of the New Testament, much of which is jaw-droppingly stunning and life-changing if you ask me? Paul's writings are AMAZING. This is a man who once hated and persecuted Christians, but we are supposed to believe that he converted into a man who understood Christian faith extremely well on the basis of a conspiracy? I wouldn't believe it.
There is lots of evidence out there to back up the truthfulness of the New Testament, Jesus' life, etc etc etc. In particular, I would recommend The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas and Michael Licona, a book that helped me when I too thought that Christianity could be a big lie. I had no idea that I was in the total scholastic minority when I thought that Jesus might not even be for real. Put to bed any notion that he didn't live. Because he did. He did for sure.
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