Religion - a respectful discussion, for those interested

Thank you for your respectful and well thought out reply. You explain the Agnostic viewpoint very well.

I have used my extensive scientific background to support my religious beliefs. I was in the top 5% of my high school class academically, in a big public high school in NY. I took A.P. classes in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, and later got a bachelors degree in Biology. I've used this extensive science background, along with reason and common sense, to come to the conclusion that a supernatural creator must exist. Basically, nothing comes from nothing. It is a scientific law that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, they can only change form. In a purely physical, natural universe, there could have been no creation event out of nothingness, even the Big Bang would have had to have had an origin outside of the physical. There was no universe before the big bang, no time and space even, so the tiny dense singularity that gave rise to the big bang could not have existed. In other words, something outside of the universe must have given rise to the universe, and atheists believe that there is nothing outside the universe. So the whole argument of the atheist breaks down at this point and makes no sense. .... I can explain this in greater depth if you'd like.

So, scientifically (and philosophically) speaking, a supernatural creator must exist.

As for Christianity, the miracles of Jesus Christ were witnessed by hundreds, many of whom were willing to die for what they obviously knew was not a hoax. Nobody in their right mind would willingly give their life for a hoax, and there were far too many martyrs for them all to have been crazy, or delusional, or whatever else you want to suggest. According to historical records, Jesus was crucified, his body placed in a tomb sealed by a huge rock, and guards kept watch to make sure that his disciples did not try to steal the body and claim he was resurrected. And yet the body was indeed found missing, and many witnesses told of how they spent time with the risen Christ, putting their hands in his wounds, speaking with him, and eating with him. They watched the risen Jesus consume the food that was prepared for him. A ghost or spirit could not eat real food. There were many eyewitness reports of the many miraculous events of Jesus' life, the kind of first hand testimony that would stand up in court even today.

Even secular, non-religious sources acknowledge the historical accuracy of much of the New Testament.
"According to the majority viewpoint, the Synoptic Gospels are the primary sources of historical information about Jesus and of the religious movement he founded."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicity_of_Jesus

I could go on and on, and there is a ton of evidence for the authenticity of Christianity and the Catholic Church in particular, but those who simply don't want to acknowledge the Truth, for various reasons, will always concoct objections. There are people out there who try to claim the Holocaust never happened, or that Elvis is still alive....there will always be these minority opinions and conspiracy theories. But the vast majority of people in the world understand that God exists, and there are more Christians in the world than any other organized group of people.

But I am happy to keep discussing these things with people who are serious about an open-minded search for the truth of history.

 

You seem like a very intelligent, thoughtful person. Thank you for your replies, I appreciate reading differing opinions from people who take the time to articulate themselves well. I am truly interested in what you have to say.

If you would like to believe, my suggestion would be to research the topic on your own, as well as to discuss it with people you respect in your life, and toss around the ideas you come up with here. Whatever you choose to believe has to make sense to you. I would not believe what I believe unless I did my homework first, and unless it all made perfect sense to me. I don't believe what I do just because someone told me to believe in it. As a child, my parents raised me Catholic and I attended Catholic school for awhile, but I didn't really believe for myself until adulthood. I didn't believe in God either at one time, but the more I studied religion, and science, the more it just started to make sense for me. And today I can honestly say that I fully understand and believe everything the Catholic Church teaches. It just makes perfect sense to me, from an historical, scientific, and just common sense perspective. I went to public junior high, high school, and college, and I was always a top student. I learned a lot about a wide variety of things. But nothing caused me to abandon my Catholic Faith. If anything, all of that education only strengthened my convictions.

 

I don't know where to start....there's a wealth of information out there. We have to narrow it down...what specific topic are you interested in? Scientific evidence for the existence of God? Information on the Catholic Church, the reasons for the Protestant Reformation, world religion in general, ....... there are so many good sources out there it's hard to pick just 1 or 2. If you tell me what specifically you are interested in exploring, I can give you some ideas...

 

Thinking about it for a bit, I just remembered this book I read awhile back....it's written by a Presbyterian minister and head of a popular NYC church. He has engaged in discussion with skeptical New Yorkers in his ministry, and he wrote an insightful and respectful book in defense of Christianity, aimed at the nonbeliever or the skeptic. It's very informative, insightful, and easy to read. It was a NY Times bestseller. (there's a video of the author discussing the book on the website)

http://www.timothykeller.com/books/the-reason-for-god

 

You really don't need to know all of the technical terms; religion, and Christianity in particular, boiled down to its essence it really pretty simple. That's the beauty of it ....simple, timeless truths and wisdom, supported by over 2000 years, billions of people have lived their lives by it and found it to be life-affirming, joy-producing, and just leading to supreme peace and happiness. This stuff really works, I can personally attest to it, and there are millions of people in the world today who will tell you the same thing. There's a reason that even today, over 90% of the world's population is still religious. Even when they are being persecuted for it in some parts of the world.

Discover it for yourself, just like I did. Once you do, you will wonder how you ever lived without it. It's like the difference between living your life in black and white, and then stepping into a full color, HDTV world!

 

Here's another, written by one of the world's top scientists, but written in a clear easy to understand way, for the average lay person (ie. you don't need a science degree to understand it)



And another good one, albeit a little more technical.





All 3 are great, but this one might be the best. It's also by far the most technical....written by a physicist and full of complex theories, like quantum mechanics, you probably need some kind of science background to fully understand it. But it's so well written you might want to try it, check it out at your local library.


All written by top scientists, Ph.D.'s in their respective fields.