Axeman: ""I contend that we are both atheists: I just believe in one god less than you. When you understand why you choose not to believe in all the other available gods, you will understand why I choose not to believe in yours." -Robert Stephens
You want me to directly address the quote? Fair enough.
If I say Christianity is true and you say Islam is true, it does NOT NECESSARILY MEAN BOTH OF US ARE RIGHT. Christianity could be true, or Islam could be true, or both Christianity and Islam could be false, or Christianity and Islam could both be true but only if Christianity and Islam both say the same thing.
All religions are NOT the same, therefore not all religions cannot be true.
It would not do justice to describe the differences between major religions in a short paragraph. But I will try to simplify it
First of all, I would like to immediately dismiss the Greek and Roman Gods. There is no evidence for them.
There were witnesses + archeological evidence that supports Buddha, Allah, and Christ so I will limit this discussion to Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. The fact that Christ lived on Earth is A FACT. The dispute is whether Christ was really 'the son of God.'
Interestingly enough, all 3 religions deal with this concept of 'sin'.
Buddhism labled 'sin' as 'delusions.' In other words, there is right and wrong but because we are often deluded, we cannot make the right decision. So how do we solve this problem? WE TURN INWARD TO OURSELVES and meditate and clear our minds.
Christianity deals with 'sin' BY TURNING TO GOD instead of turning to ourselves. We cannot deal with the problem of 'sin' on our own, if we could, we wouldn't need Christ.
Islam also deals with 'sin' by turning to God. But Islam tries to 'instill a fear of God' to get you to do the right thing.
Christianity tries to get you to understand God and understand love. You do the right thing not because you are afraid, but out of love.
That's why I find it funny when people talk about 'wanting to get into heaven.' This is not a game where you try to rack up as many points as necessary to get into heaven. When you love God and love others, you will naturally do the right thing. And you aren't thinking about Heaven directly. Going to Heaven is simply a by-product of doing good things.
-----------------------
Gordon Gekko: " hey listen..... i am OPEN TO BELIEVING ANYTHING!! i'll praise the lord today if he shows himself and does some tricks for me."
I had the same issue when I was an atheist. And I challenged my Christian friends: "If God wants me to believe, just let him reveal himself. After all, he is the 'all mighty' right?"
They pointed to the bible: many times people personally saw signs from God but ended up NOT believing. Many personally saw Jesus heal people and they believed for a while. But then they went back to their old ways. And when God led people out of slavery in Egypt he gave them many signs along the way but later they forgot about God again.
If God wrote in the sky in such an unmistakenable way "I am God." Sure people would be talking about for perhaps a week, but they would forget about it and go back to their own ways. Don't believe me?
Take 9/11. I was on the Berkeley campus when it happened and many students vowed to re-evaluate their lives and focus more on building relationships and not on material things.
On 9/12: A frat party was having this huge party the day after. Yup, I'm sure they did some deep introspection, for about 12 hours. Then they went back to drinking and partying.
---------------------------------
aphexcoil: "However, the great thing about *MY* belief is that I don't feel the need to convert anyone, and my belief structure works very well for my life."
Many people simply cannot understand why Christians go around trying to convert people.
Think about what being a Christian means: you have accepted Christ, you have meaning and purpose in your life, you know that death does not have the final say, there is life after death. And that there is hope for this world.
It's like in HS when you get a girlfriend and call up your friends excitedly, or when you sing karaoke with friends to celebrate getting into a good college, or spending all the time and money to make the perfect wedding invitation.
Christ is good news and like any good news (getting gf, getting in good college, getting married) you want to share it with everyone! =)
