LawfulGood's Journal: Sham from beginning to end

In response to:

sham from beginning to end

Thanks for the response.

Christianity is a sham from beginning to end. Jesus was at best a "Vegas Act"... a hoax, a showman, a "magician". He was fully aware of the Jewish prophecies and used it to it's fullest effect.
I'm afraid that's the bias you're bringing to the text. You assume that there is nothing supernatural going on, so you only have natural explanations for the events. If that is the case, than the most likely explanation is that Jesus was intentionally trying to fulfill the prophecies as you describe. However, if you are open minded enough to allow for the supernatural, it allows for the explanation that he actually did fulfill them and that the prophecies are real.

If you'll forgive me an observation, I think this is the fundamental area where we disagree. You seem to latch onto one or two passages in the Bible and then start building elaborate theoretical constructs on what "really happened" from a very naturalistic, skeptical point of reference. I would also observe that you seem to have completely disregarded any possibility of the divine guiding the events in question. So, our disagreement really isn't about these passages. It's about the existence of God and his relationship with history. His existence has been adequately proven to me, and it hasn't to you. Therefore we look at things from entirely different points of view. And we're not going to make any progress because of that vastly perspective.

Basically, you've been fed a lie, and in order to cover it up, and to perpetuate it, everything said and written is twisted and misinterpreted in order to serve that lie.
I would like to give this advice back to you. I accepted Christianity through reason and argument. It took about a year of near full time study, before I really dared accept that Christianity may be true. The lie that you've been fed is that materialism is all that's true or "provable" and that Christianity is illogical and for simpletons. I've been on both sides of the argument, and I can tell you for an absolute fact that this is a lie. I still have atheistic friends. The smartest among them have a deep respect for Christianity due to it's contributions to philosophy, literature, poetics and as the foundation for western culture. I don't mean this as a personal insult, but I'll be honest. Your obvious destain for Christianity leads me to believe that you really haven't studied it fairly.

I agree

[Orion Blastar]

many Critics of Christianity have not studied enough of it to give a good judgement.

While many people discount Jesus from a religious perspective, they ignore the philisophical perspective of Jesus' teachings. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, Love your enemies, etc.

Following the philosphy of Jesus can lead to a more peaceful existance. I eqate it with the teachings of Budda and others.