I can't honestly say I'll ever get over the doubt. I have to many questions to be answered. Also, I need to always be working toward something.
I know I am not a Christian, but I have been reading this thread and wanted to drop something in if it is OK. Thubten Chodron (a US nun following the Tibetan branch of Buddhism) was asked "How do you know the Buddha really said that?" and her answer was "Does it really matter? If he didn't say it, then someone equally as wise did, so it is irrelevant."
It's corny, but I can't help to believe. There are times I'd much rather not believe, but end up being drawn to it. Hokey, corny, I know, but it's the truth. There's something to be said about why 12 men would turn their lives upside down and dgo through what they did if something wasn't true. And it's not like all these men were poor lepers with nothing at all. Peter was probably decently wealthy. Paul was well on his way when he converted. SOMETHING has to happen. And then the way it spread. The initial spread like wildfire wasn't through force or anything else. And from there, if that happened, and if Jesus is true, then why would I believe that is true and parts of it a lie. That's not to say I don't even doubt or scratch my head, but at some point I just said if God is a loving, gracious Father who wants to be in fellowship with me, then why would He lie about some of it? My 2 cents.
I had a predicament in my struggle in that I never doubted the Bible was the infallable Word of God, written by divinely inspired men. Some of you believe differently and I'll go ahead and say now, it's not a topic I'm interested in debating. I'm no theologian, and it might be naive but even in my deepest times of doubt in my mind, my soul knew the truth.
I often laugh at this. The distance from where they started to final destination can be driven today in less than a day.
I feel an All Powerful God can direct a man to write what He wanted written down. Never bothered me. I do stick to the KJV though.
Interesting thread with lots good points of view. I wrestled with evangelical points of view for the last twenty years....in terms os shaping my own systematic theological point of view, I can say that reading "The Great Divorce" really helped me to understand what I think the true nature of God to be. Something cannot come from nothing...but God. Christianity in its purest form (absent the money/denominational cannons/nation building) rings truest of all to me. The Apostles Creed wraps it up in a nice package.
I've spent the majority of my life outside. I've been on boats or in the woods as the sun starts coming up and everything is coming to life. I have no doubt God created this earth. As far as Jesus, I was ignorant to him growing up. I found Jesus, gave my life over to him (still struggling at times) and have found a sense of peace I have never known.
If I can't attest to anything else, today, I can to intercessory prayer. I've been burdened for months about my ministry. Yesterday I was able to talk to two pastor's daughters (mother/daughter)who are in full-time ministry and they prayed with/for me. I have had such peace in the last 27 hours.
A lot of good responses. Thanks to everyone. I wrestled with the logic of whether the story was made up and fluorished because of the Romans, but found some things that eased my mind the last 24 hours. It makes more sense to me that we have a Creator (God). I also find it hard to believe that people would go through what they went through in the first century in Rome (and elsewhere) without having a strong conviction, especially with what's recorded in 64 AD at the hands of Nero and the Diocletianic Persecution (though much later). What they were doing was in direct conflict with the norms at the time. I also find it hard to believe that people would face such things in Rome without certain knowledge of Jesus doing what He did, considering Nero's reign and persecuting Christians was within 30 or so years of His death.
I feel like - and this is just my opinion - we all go through seasons where things may or may not happen that may cause us to wonder. I've not had a hard case of this yet, personally, but I've had my share of seasons. I have just remained in my faith and reminded myself that I'm not the one with the final say - God is. Let me also note that I'm far from a perfect Christian.
This was a hard season for me. I never thought I would go through something like that, but I feel much better saying that I believe now.
If you have an iPhone or iTunes, I recommend Joel Osteen's latest podcast "Use your pain." I listen to his podcasts every day or few days. They're very uplifting and encouraging. I listened to "Use your pain" yesterday, and Joel talked about seasons and why we go through seasons. Very good stuff.
I do not believe he walked on water. I do not believe he fed thousands with a small bowl of fish. I do not believe he turned water into wine. And I kinda really don't believe he rose from the dead, but then if I don't believe that then I'm probably just not a christian, so I try to make myself believe that part. I struggled with the idea of having to believe shit I didn't believe at a pretty young age. Like, I never ever believed the Noah's Ark story. I don't know exactly how old I was when I heard it, but I was calling BS on it from the word go internally. I actually sent my old youth director an email like two years ago that basically said "I don't believe any of the old testament happened, and I never have. Can I still be a christian?" He said yes. I didn't mention my doubts about the Jesus stuff. I didn't wanna break his heart.
I find it encouraging that a guy like Joel Osteen can pass off motivational speeches as sermons as a career and make about fourteen kajillion dollars doing it. The American Dream, baby.
my point of view is that i'm not going to pretend I know everything about the existence of god and i'm not going to begrudge anyone that thinks they know better and finds peace and direction through religion, but under no circumstances am I going to waste 3 hours a week of my time going to church. if the new testament Christian god exists, I refuse to believe he gives two ****s about church or anyone worshiping him and spending time thinking about him and simply wants you to be a good person because anything else isn't a truly loving god, but hey that's just my opinion man.
As to the original question, i'm fairly sure jesus existed. i'm not convinced he did or said everything in the bible though.
