All you have to do to become a Christian/be saved from sin/gain eternal life is to accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.
Except, it isn’t.
You’ve also to put your faith in the Bible, acknowledging it’s God’s word in some form or other. It would be impossible to be a Christian without it; you’re required to read it, let the Holy Spirit or one of God’s chosen instruments here on Earth interpret it for you and you’ve to live by it.
And this, in turn, entails believing in the menagerie of supernatural creatures and invisible realms the Bible assumes exist. Angels and demons we considered last time, and then there’s –
The Risen Christ who sits at the hand of the Father. He sits? He’s like a real body, but at the same time not a real body? A spiritual body, then, who metaphorically ‘sits’ next to –
God the Father, whom no human has ever seen (confirmed by John 1.18 but contradicted by Genesis 32.20) who abides in –
Heaven, a place no-one has ever seen. No, really, no-one. Not even those people who have hallucinated about being there. Hallucinations, dreams, visions, even so-called out of body experiences, are not evidence Heaven exists. They’re evidence that people sometimes hallucinate, dream and have visions and out of body experiences. The same is true of ‘sightings’ of God himself and of –
The Holy Spirit. That’s the part of God Christians dupe themselves into thinking has moved in inside them to guide them through their Christian life. That’s the same Holy Spirit who’s guided God’s Chosen to create 34,000 different distinct interpretations of the Truth. Even now, the Spirit is leading church after church down the road of apostasy, according to those he also leads to condemn them. Confused yet? It all makes sense if you recognise that it’s all imaginary, created by human beings who didn’t and don’t know any better. Like –
Satan is. He’s the character who evolves during the course of Bible until he’s a cross between Lex Luthor and the Joker; God’s arch-enemy. He only ‘exists’ to get God off the hook. All the bad in the word can’t be God’s fault now, can it? Somebody’s got to carry the can and it sure isn’t YHWH. So Satan, the devil, gets to be the embodiment of evil. Which isn’t to say evil doesn’t exist because it does, but it’s not caused by this third-rate Dick Dastardly. Nor is –
The Anti-Christ. This is the guy Christians believe will appear at the end of the age, some time around AD 100 according to Revelation 14.9-10. Never mind his creator there calls him something else entirely (‘the Beast’ as it happens); unless he’s finally arrived in the shape of Donald J. Trump, he’s no more real than –
Those who’ve died (‘the saints’ according to Catholics) and have been given new, magic bodies in Heaven or –
Those who’ve died and have gone to Hell to be tortured forever. That’s because –
Hell doesn’t exist either.
Nor do seraphim (Isaiah 6.2), cherubim (Hebrews 9.5), dragons (Psalm 148.7), satyrs (Isaiah 13.21) or unicorns (Numbers 23.22 etc) .
How do we know these beings, places and states don’t exist? Well, they’re all invisible, intangible, undetectable, unverifiable, supernatural (literally, ‘outside nature’), and, ultimately, unconvincing. They’re rejects from far more interesting mythologies that abounded in the ancient world. Today’s mythologies – of Middle Earth, Game of Thrones and the innumerable virtual worlds of computer games – are far more plausible (and even then, not very).
The supernatural doesn’t exist; everything we know is part of a physical universe. There is no evidence anything exists outside, alongside or in addition to that universe. (Though if you think there is evidence for the supernatural – and I mean evidence, not ‘feelings’, personal experiences or ancient texts – then please make it known in the comments).
There is an abundance of evidence, however, that –
Human beings are rather good at inventing stories and mythologies;
Their psychology inclines them to inner imaginings;
They are largely irrational and with a tendency to attribute agency to inanimate objects, phenomena and the chimera of their own imagining;
They have a fear of death and their own personal extinction.
How could religion, with all of its make-believe, not fail to materialise under such conditions? And how can anyone in this day and age take it seriously, knowing what we do now?
I know I can’t.
rejectingjesus, 
And to be an atheist, all you have to believe is that everything just happened all by itself.
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No you don’t. You don’t have to have any beliefs whatsoever about the origins of anything. I strongly suggest, if you want to know what atheists actually believe, you ask them–instead of listening to hackneyed Christian stereotypes which have no basis in fact.
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So provide evidence it didn’t.
Provide evidence a supernatural being created everything.
Then prove it was your own pet supernatural being, as opposed to any of the others..
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Neil,
Modern science has not only provided evidence of God’s existence, but conclusive proof.
Alas, for the atheist, one who believes everything just happened all by itself, no amount of evidence will ever do.
Besides, it is obvious that everything just can’t happen all by itself.
Consequently, it is obvious that atheism is a scam.
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More unsupported assertion (not argument and certainly not evidence):
SoM: “Modern science has not only provided evidence of God’s existence, but conclusive proof.”
So where is it? Direct us to it. Shouldn’t be difficult if it’s so apparent. Oh but wait, science doesn’t deal in ‘proofs’, nor has it any interest in the supernatural – so could this just be an idle, empty boast of yours? Sure it could.
SoM: “Alas, for the atheist, one who believes everything just happened all by itself, no amount of evidence will ever do.”
And that’s precisely what you’ve provided – no amount.
SoM: “Besides, it is obvious that everything just can’t happen all by itself.”
You’ve not demonstrated (again) that anything is ‘obvious’. In quantum mechanics it is common place for phenomena to happen ‘by themselves’. So it’s equally ‘obvious’ events can arise from nothing.
SoM: “Consequently, it is obvious that atheism is a scam.”
There’s no ‘consequently’ about it. Your three fallacious assertions do not lead to this conclusion. So I repeat: provide evidence of your God and maybe I’ll consider that my lack of belief in a made-up cast of characters is in some way a ‘scam’.
Until then, start working on those debating skills and maybe, I dunno, try a little honesty?
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Neil,
You can come to my blog any time and read about the scientific proofs of God’s existence.
At the time I spelled out the proofs I was a student of biotechnology.
I have found that atheists are not interested in science, reason or anything else that disproves atheism.
Atheists tend to be cloistered, provincial and extremely, dangerously ignorant.
So I won’t hold my breath you’ll get out a little and take a walk on the wild side of modern science.
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Sorry, I thought for a minute there you said the scientific evidence for God was on your blog!
Oh. That is what you said. I think you might be ever so slightly over-estimating it.
Still, thank you for keeping us all so royally entertained.
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Neil,
I said scientific proof of God’s existence was on my blog.
Instead of thinking I “might be ever so slightly over-estimating it,” why not find out for yourself?
You just hallucinated an excuse to remain cloistered and ignorant.
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You did say this and I acknowledged it. You’re wrong, however, on two grounds:
1. Science doesn’t deal in proofs but in evidence and demonstration. If you were a scientist you’d know this.
2. There is no evidence for God’s existence on your blog, just a lot of assertions about how ‘obvious’ it is that your favoured deity must have started the whole shebang – making, incidentally, something from nothing, which you say is impossible. There’s also a lot of slagging off of atheists, without any consideration of what we do and don’t believe. What I’ve said of your ungrounded assertion is also true of your abuse; it’s neither evidence nor argument.
So you see I have visited your site before now. I’ve even left an occasional comment. I find it rather shallow, shrill and wholly unconvincing.
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I see SoM is at his usual ‘magic is provable!’ line of reasoning on your blog, too, Neil. He does everything but think, does SoM. One must give him points for consistency.
Consistently deluded, that is. (the fog hasn’t lifted yet)
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Yes. He’s achieved what no-one else in the history of the world has done and has ‘proven’ the impossible. There’s no dissuading him. The delusion is strong in this one.
What is your blog called, Carmen? I’d be interested in reading it (I don’t have a Gravatar account to access it directly.)
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Do you have an address, rather than me putting my blog on here? I don’t want any religious zealots (i.e. NUTS) having access to it.
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