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I would like to say that I am definitely not against religion at all. I have met some really nice people who are religious and some, not so nice. I do, though, have some difficulties with the Christian position. What is a Christian? My answer is "a person whose faith is based on a book, the Bible". But how do you know the Bible is truth? Some historical landmarks can probably be found but how much does that prove? Only that the places did exist, not really the stories that were supposed to have taken place. Do you really know that the Bible you read today is the same Bible 400 years ago? What has been lost in translations or left out completely because some monk in the 12th century didn't feel it would reinforce faith? The King James version is what is accepted today but why are the lost books of the Bible left out? Was it not all written about the same time as the New Testament? How is it possible to believe one book and not another because it doesn't reinforce faith?
We know today that almost all ancient cultures wrote stories to explain things that they did not understand. I think human nature must have a way to explain things in order to have some sort of civilization. Can you imagine if there were no morality today? No reason to do right or wrong? There would be no laws, no religion, and no unification of anyone. I'm sure it was the same situation then. No one person was important enough to unify their people so something was needed that was more than man, something so great that held power over death itself and, beyond that, all creation that was known.
According to the Bible, God created man in His own image. But is it possible that man created God in his own image in order to better associate with Him or to feel closer to their belief in something greater? Why couldn't God be a camel or a big yellow chicken? Because man is the most versatile creature on the planet and nothing else would have been believable. But, really, if you think about it, why would God need to be made like us? Does He need legs to walk around on or hands to write letters? God's form serves to unify the people in belief.
How do you know you are serving the right God? How do you know you are serving God right? Most people here are Christians but what if we were not here? What if we were living in China or India or Egypt? How do we know that Buddhism is not the true religion or even Wicca, which has been around, supposedly, the longest. If you did not live here, how would you believe? Any representative of their own religion will tell you that they know the true way to your salvation. With so many different ways to believe, should you join the Catholic church or the Indian pow-wow? All that we know is what other people believe in and they could be just as right or wrong as anybody. Is there really a right way to serve any God? How do you know what it is?
Jesus - who was he? Was he really the son of God sent to the earth to open the eyes of all generations to the glory of heaven or was he merely a man brought up in religious background who saw it was time for the laws of Moses to be updated? I'm sure he probably did exist and was a great teacher of morality and hope for people that considered themselves lost or hopeless and is, no doubt, why religion is still alive today. But was he really as great as believed today? If he walked down the street and healed someone with a terminal disease, would we not call him a doctor or, if he walked on the water, a magician? Some miracles may not have been miracles at all. Maybe someone just perceived them that way. Again, we could be writing for all generations to come so it must be something that will leave an impact. I guess with the intelligence level of the people of those times, situations could not more easily be understood or believed.
And, finally, to the pillar of faith for Christians, the resurrection. Is it possible that Jesus did not really die on the cross? Maybe, the centurion misdiagnosed him or maybe he did not want to see Jesus suffer anymore so pronounced him dead. Possibly, the disciples removed his body from the tomb to preserve faith in his teachings to their followers. There are a million maybes that we could go through but the only story we have is from the gospels, written by men who already had faith in the works. It seems like you need to have faith to believe and believe to have faith. That leaves you in quite a spot when only faith can answer your questions.
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