Why christainity is a real religion
-
The world celebrates Jesus birthday on christmas and the day that Jesus rose from his grave on good friday. This shows that the world has acknowldeged that Jesus Christ is the real God. No other religious leaders or founder birthday is being celebrated in the world.
Jesus Christ was able to perform miracles. No other religious leaders and founders was able to perform miracles. They are only able to peach and ask you to do good deeds.
Everything mentioned in the bible is and has come true.
A patient certified by doctors to have cancer in the last stage and is only given 6 more months to live can walk into a church and after the pastor prayed for him, his cancer is gone and he becomes a healthy person. No buddhist temples, mosques etc can do this.
-
http://uqconnect.net/slsoc/bsq/budchr0.htm#cont
Chapter 2:
Christian Arguments
for God's Existence
Christians claim that there is an all-knowing, all-loving God who created and who controls the universe. Several arguments are used to prove this idea. We will examine each of these arguments and give the Buddhist objections to them.The Authority of the Bible
When asked to prove God's existence, the Christian will often open the Bible and say "The Bible says God exists, so he must." The problem is that if we ask a Hindu, a Muslim, a Sikh or a Jew the same question they too will point to their respective holy books as proof of the existence of their Gods. Why should we believe the Bible but not the holy books of all the other religions? Using the Bible to prove God's existence is only valid if we already accept that it alone contains God's words. However, we have no evidence that this is so. In fact, as we will demonstrate later, there is strong evidence that the Bible is a highly unreliable document.
The Existence of the Universe
In their attempts to prove God's existence, Christians will sometimes say "The universe didn't just happen, someone must have made it and therefore there must be a creator God." There is a major flaw in this argument. When it starts to rain ~e do not ask "Who is making it rain?" because we know that rain is caused not by someone but by something - natural phenomena like heat, evaporation, precipitation, etc. When we see smooth stones in a river, we do not ask "Who polished those stones?" because we know that the smooth surface of the stones was caused not by someone but by something - natural causes like the abrasive action of water and sand.
All of these things have a cause (or causes) but this need not be a being. It is the same with the universe - it was not brought into being by a God but by natural phenomena like nuclear fission, gravity, inertia, etc. However, even if we believe that a divine being is needed to explain how the universe came into existence, what proof is there that it was the Christian God? Perhaps it was created by the Hindu God, the God of Islam or one of the gods worshipped by tribal religions. After all most religions, not only Christianity, claim that their God or gods created the universe.
The Argument from Design
In response to the above refutation, the Christian will maintain that the universe does not merely exist but its existence shows perfect design. There is, a Christian might say, an order and balance which point to its having been designed by a higher intelligence, and that this higher intelligence is God. But as before, there are some problems with this argument.
Firstly, how does the Christian know that it was his God who is behind creation? Perhaps it was the gods of non-Christian religions who designed and created the universe.
Secondly, how does the Christian know that only one God designed everything? In fact, as the universe is so intricate and complex we could expect it to need the intelligence of several, perhaps dozens, of gods to design it. So if anything the argument from design proves that there are many gods, not one as Christians claim.
Next, we would have to ask, is the universe perfectly designed? We must ask this because if a perfect God designed and created the universe, then that universe should be perfect. Let us first look at inanimate phenomena to see whether they show perfect design. Rain gives us pure water to drink but sometimes it rains too much and people lose their lives, their homes and their means of livelihood in floods. At other times it doesn't rain at all and millions die in drought and famine. Is this perfect design? The mountains give us joy as we see them reaching up into the sky. But landslides ~nd volcanic eruptions have for centuries caused havoc and death. Is this perfect design? The gentle breezes cool us but storms and tornadoes repeatedly cause death and destruction. Is this perfect design? These and other natural calamities prove that inanimate phenomena do not exhibit perfect design and therefore that they were not created by a perfect God.
Now let us look at animate phenomena to see whether they reveal perfect design. At a superficial glance, nature seems to be beautiful and harmonious; all creatures are provided for and each has its task to perform. However, as any biologist will confirm, nature is utterly ruthless. To live, each creature has to feed on other creatures and struggle to avoid being eaten by other creatures. In nature, there is no time for pity, love or mercy. If a loving God designed everything, why did such a cruel design result? The animal kingdom is not only imperfect in the ethical sense, it is also imperfect in that it often goes wrong. Every year ~lions of babies are born with physical or mental disabilities, or are stillborn or die soon after birth. Why would a perfect creator God design such terrible things?
So if there is design in the universe, much of it is faulty and cruel. This would seem to indicate that the universe was not created by a perfect all-loving God.
The First Cause Argument
Christians will sometimes say that everything has a cause, that there must be a first cause, and that God is the first cause. This old argument contains its own refutation, for if everything has a first cause then the first cause must also have a cause.
There is another problem with the first cause argument. Logically there is no good reason to assume that everything had a single first cause. Perhaps six, ten or three hundred causes occurring simultaneously caused everything.
Miracles
Christians claim that miracles are sometimes performed in God's name and that the fact that this happens proves that God exists. This is an appealing argument until it is looked at a little more closely.
While Christians are quick to claim that because of their prayers the blind could see, the deaf could hear and crooked limbs were straightened, they are very slow in producing evidence to back up their claims. In fact, some Christians are so anxious to prove that miracles have occurred at their prayer meetings that the truth often gets lost in a flood of wild claims, extravagant boasts, and sometimes even conscious lies.
It is true that things which are unusual and difficult to explain do sometimes happen during religious events - but not just for Christians. Hindus, Muslims, Taoists, etc. all claim that their God or gods sometimes perform miracles. Christianity certainly does not have a monopoly on miracles. So, if miracles performed in God's name prove the existence of the Christian God, then miracles performed in the name of numerous other gods must likewise prove that they too exist.
Christians may try to overcome this fact by claiming that, when miracles occur in other religions, they are done through the power of the Devil. Perhaps the best way to counter this claim is to quote the Bible. When Jesus healed the sick, his enemies accused him of doing this through the power of the Devil. He answered that healing the sick results in good and if the Devil went around doing good he would destroy himself (Mk 3:22-26). Therefore the same could be said for the miracles performed by Hindus, Jews or Sikhs. If these miracles result in good, how can they be the work of the Devil?
The Argument for God's Necessity
Christians will often claim that only by believing in God will people have the strength to deal with life's problems, and therefore that belief in God is necessary. This claim is apparently supported by numerous books written by Christians who have endured and overcome various crises through the power of God. Some of these books make highly inspiring reading, so the claim that one can cope with problems only with God's help sounds rather convincing - until we look a little more deeply.
If this claim is true, we would expect most of the non-Christian people of the world to lead lives of emotional distress, confusion and hopelessness while most Christians through their faith in God would be able to unfailingly deal with their problems and to never need to seek help from counsellors or psychiatrists. It is clear, however, that people from non-Christian religions and even those with no religion are just as capable of dealing with life's crises as Christians are sometimes even better. It is also sometimes the case that people who are devout Christians lose their faith in God after being confronted with serious personal problems. Consequently, the claim that belief in God is necessary to cope with and overcome problems is baseless.
The "Try and Disprove" Argument
When Christians find they cannot prove God's existence with doubtful facts or logic, they may switch tactics and say "Perhaps it can't be proved that God exists, but neither can you disprove it". This of course is quite true. You cannot prove that God doesn't exist - but neither can you prove that the gods of Taoism, Hinduism and a dozen other religions do not exist. In other words, despite all the hyperbole, the extravagant claims and the confident proclamations, there is no more evidence for the existence of the Christian God than there is for the gods worshipped in other religions.
The Testimony
After everything else has failed, the Christian may finally try to convince us that God exists by appealing to the emotions. Such a person will say, perhaps quite truthfully, "I used to be unhappy and discontented but after giving myself to God I am happy and at peace with myself." Such testimonies can be deeply moving, but what do they prove? There are millions of people whose lives became equally happy and meaningful after they embraced Buddhism, Hinduism or Islam. Likewise, there are no doubt many people whose lives have not changed for the better after they became Christians - the same weaknesses and problems sometimes remain. So this argument, like all the others, does not prove the existence of the Christian God.
-
Originally posted by martial:
The world celebrates Jesus birthday on christmas and the day that Jesus rose from his grave on good friday. This shows that the world has acknowldeged that Jesus Christ is the real God. No other religious leaders or founder birthday is being celebrated in the world.
Christmas is only celebrated by Christians.
Buddhist countries celebrate Vesak.
Muslim countries celebrate their own festival, and not Christmas. The list goes on.
-
FYI....jesus was actually a teacher...=.=
-
god created BOOMZ through ris low.
-
Hi dear forumers,
I haven't been reading the posts here for a long time. Today I had the luxury to read some recent ones. I was wondering if there are like minded friends here that have have interest in amicable inter-faith dialogues to share what they can about their faith to others. Putting the best gifts of your faith into such a project, to share and listen and understand others'.
-
not to be disrespectful
where is our God now?
-
Originally posted by martial:
The world celebrates Jesus birthday on christmas and the day that Jesus rose from his grave on good friday. This shows that the world has acknowldeged that Jesus Christ is the real God. No other religious leaders or founder birthday is being celebrated in the world.
Jesus Christ was able to perform miracles. No other religious leaders and founders was able to perform miracles. They are only able to peach and ask you to do good deeds.
Everything mentioned in the bible is and has come true.
A patient certified by doctors to have cancer in the last stage and is only given 6 more months to live can walk into a church and after the pastor prayed for him, his cancer is gone and he becomes a healthy person. No buddhist temples, mosques etc can do this.
No offense to you my dear friend but,
1) You are quite stupid to blatantly declare such statements.
2) You are ignorant of the world around you.
3) Your complete lack of general knowledge puzzles me.
4) You can be classified as an extremist.
5) You have no respect for other religions and as such other human beings which means you practically failed living a good life.
6) I really pity you.
-
even the religion is spelt incorrectly
-
*facepalms*
-
martial, where is ur logic of what u had posted?
"A patient certified by doctors to have cancer in the last stage and is only given 6 more months to live can walk into a church and after the pastor prayed for him, his cancer is gone and he becomes a healthy person. No buddhist temples, mosques etc can do this."
Are u sure about it? I had heard of miracles from other religions too, I dare to say u did not find out about them from other religions and just assumed it. It would be better for u to find out more about other religions and study them before u make these types of statements.
Maybe u can find out from doctors that there are many miracles happening through the support of their loved and family too. Are u going to say they are all christians?
"Everything mentioned in the bible is and has come true."
Have u read and find out about other religions? Is Bible the only " is and has come true"?
I do believe Christainity is a real religion, but what u had stated is simply baised and showed that u make statements with no knowledge of other religions.
-
what has the bible said that came true?
-
Originally posted by martial:
The world celebrates Jesus birthday on christmas and the day that Jesus rose from his grave on good friday. This shows that the world has acknowldeged that Jesus Christ is the real God. No other religious leaders or founder birthday is being celebrated in the world.
Jesus Christ was able to perform miracles. No other religious leaders and founders was able to perform miracles. They are only able to peach and ask you to do good deeds.
Everything mentioned in the bible is and has come true.
A patient certified by doctors to have cancer in the last stage and is only given 6 more months to live can walk into a church and after the pastor prayed for him, his cancer is gone and he becomes a healthy person. No buddhist temples, mosques etc can do this.
hi. Jesus Christ was crucified on Good Friday. He rose from the grave on Easter Sunday. Good Friday is not celebrated, its supposed to be solemn. Easter Sunday is celebrated with parties and bunnies.
-
as a christian here, i feel so sorry over what martial said. Well, i believe in my god because the bible really backs it up. Many archeological findings, though not made public, actually confirms the bible's words. These findings, though info can be found on the internet, were not on the news because it would cause quite a stir as it effects the theory of evolution and common scientific aspects. Giants mentioned in the bible have been found mummified in the dessert. the dimensions of those bodies match those given in the bible. Not only that, the bible also supports many facts of the universe (roundness of the earth) and a near infinite universe. I am not lying, as lying would not help but give a bad name. Also, if any of you here realised, jews,muslims, and christians worship the same God. Islam and christ came out after Jesus. But although I respect my own religion, we also need to respect buddhists and hindus. Buddha deserves respect for his words and teachings , which is very inspiring also.Another thing supporting the the bible is its code and phrophecy. Many of the prophecies have actually come true, and the birth place of jesus christ was actually even pin pointed accurately a few hundred years in advance before it happened. The people who wrote the bible were scattered across 3 continents and they do not know each other. neither do they know the books they wrote will be combined into one , and even fit together as one "story". All in all, just respect each other.
-
so you mean that all christian whose pastor prayed for him will survive through cancer? Then doctors can go and die already la.. we all convert to christian then get a pastor to pray for us whenever we are sick then we will live through.. come on, i just got a friend's mum passed away from cancer and yes the pastor did pray for her.. where is your so called GOD then? damn extremist... go burn yourself
-
Originally posted by martial:
The world celebrates Jesus birthday on christmas and the day that Jesus rose from his grave on good friday. This shows that the world has acknowldeged that Jesus Christ is the real God. No other religious leaders or founder birthday is being celebrated in the world.
Jesus Christ was able to perform miracles. No other religious leaders and founders was able to perform miracles. They are only able to peach and ask you to do good deeds.
Everything mentioned in the bible is and has come true.
A patient certified by doctors to have cancer in the last stage and is only given 6 more months to live can walk into a church and after the pastor prayed for him, his cancer is gone and he becomes a healthy person. No buddhist temples, mosques etc can do this.
Why Won't God Heal The Amputees?
Religious people always pray that someone who is cancer/disease stricken, be cured by supernatural power. When it is finally cured, they claimed god's power.
Why don't they pray that a follow church goer, who has his arm/leg amputated, to have a new limb growth ?
-
actually the main thing about god is faith. If you do not believe that he will help you, he will not even if you pray hard. there are people who still doubt god in their minds when they claim they are christian. ironic.
-
God is fake and GOD IS A IMAGINARY FRIEND FOR ADULTS. stop preaching such stupid stuff unless people want to hear. go say such stuff at churches. I believe in evolution , not in stupid gods who "magically created rivers and humans"
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y3vke6uznw
-
Originally posted by JDGao:
so you mean that all christian whose pastor prayed for him will survive through cancer? Then doctors can go and die already la.. we all convert to christian then get a pastor to pray for us whenever we are sick then we will live through.. come on, i just got a friend's mum passed away from cancer and yes the pastor did pray for her.. where is your so called GOD then? damn extremist... go burn yourself
Don't ask someone to go burn himself because you're not happy. If there's no answer in Christianity, go find the answer somewhere else.
Everybody has to die some day. Just a matter of time. You too will get barberqued some day.
-
the thing about god religion is that, their teachings centred on god being the creator of the universe and all things. salvation is thru him only. the book or bible has written prophesies, so the religion is sort of a revelation.
the cons of this teaching is that you cant change your fate, but to accept your fate. it will reveal to you, but cant teach or tell you how to change it. example if it revealed that on a certain date in future, the meteor will crash onto earth, but didnt tell you how to change the course or tell you what action to take to prevent the meteor from slamming onto earth. end result, you have to accept god's fate for you.
so what if the prophesies are true. you cant do anything about it or avoid an impending diaster cos its god's fate or idea. you just have to accept and embrace it. when you die, you will go to his heaven and enjoy eternal bliss.
-
Originally posted by laffin123:
Why Won't God Heal The Amputees?
Religious people always pray that someone who is cancer/disease stricken, be cured by supernatural power. When it is finally cured, they claimed god's power.
Why don't they pray that a follow church goer, who has his arm/leg amputated, to have a new limb growth ?
Why is the limb amputated? Run over by car, blown off by landmine or caused by frostbite while trying to conquer Mt Everest?
Don't blame the maker for the cause.
If man longs for amputated limbs to regrow, there's the salamander, the newt and the starfish to learn from.
By then, someone might ask why God didn't heal (reassemble) the body parts and bring Liu Hongmei back to life.
God's plan for salvation is for the man's spirit to return to Him. The body becomes fertilizer when the man dies. It doesn't matter that I die with a broken body and you die with a pretty face.
Most tragedies can be prevented if everyone has love for humanity. Human beings have not express enough love for humanity.
I find the doctrine of sin makes sense.
-
This religion is between master and servant. I prefer to be my master of my own destiny, thank you. everything uses creator to explain all things is a bit tad too simple and naivety.
-
its useless debating with god followers, because they are living in their own paradigm and world. I know where you stand and you know where I stand. you believe in god and I dun. I am not going to hell when I die, thank you.
-
Originally posted by Rooney9:
the thing about god religion is that, their teachings centred on god being the creator of the universe and all things. salvation is thru him only. the book or bible has written prophesies, so the religion is sort of a revelation.
the cons of this teaching is that you cant change your fate, but to accept your fate. it will reveal to you, but cant teach or tell you how to change it. example if it revealed that on a certain date in future, the meteor will crash onto earth, but didnt tell you how to change the course or tell you what action to take to prevent the meteor from slamming onto earth. end result, you have to accept god's fate for you.
so what if the prophesies are true. you cant do anything about it or avoid an impending diaster cos its god's fate or idea. you just have to accept and embrace it. when you die, you will go to his heaven and enjoy eternal bliss.
1. So far, no one can explain origins of life because it's God creation. Are you sure that "bible has written prophesies, so the religion is sort of a revelation" and what do you mean by that?
2. God does not teach about fate.....He teaches about Love. How do you change your "fate" and what are you doing to "to change the course" and "what action to take to prevent the meteor from slamming onto earth" ??
3. Which "prophesies" are true and which are untrue? And how do you avoid diaster?
Mind sharing with us?