Happy birthday! may all your desires come true and, if not, may all your desires become wise.
Thanks! That's the most creative new year's wish I've seen in a long time. I can't think that creatively, so....same to you, Josef!
Well, ... have a creative new year, full of answers and -more important!- full of new questions. Peace to the world, love, happiness, liberty, justice... If only sth could change! Happy new year...
I know how that is; well, have a good semester or whatever you have in Greece, and enjoy your vacation when you get it. thanks, same to you.
I was talking about the restrictions which I put in myself (I make them seem strict). Anyway, I'm sorry for my delayed answer, but university obligations (two papers) and a couple (or more) of unexpectedly full of activities -of all kind- weeks made it difficult to access the web. This will probably continue, so all I can say is this: merry christmas!...
I think your English is very good; you use some words I don't know once in a while. Do you mean the restrictions on grammar and such are so strict?
I don't think Newton believed in resurrection, but perhaps I 'm wrong. I 've posted only this much because my use of english isn' t perfect, and the very strict limits are driving me crazy (if you 've learnt to write really well in your language, your inability to write at the same level in a foregn one is quite annoying).
Sorry I took so long to respond to you. I've been really busy with college and everything else in my life; in addition, during the past week or so, I've come to question what I believe. Colleges here, as they must all over the world, oppose the Christian faith, and since starting college, I've had to admit that what you say is true: I do tend to make the mistake of confusing subjective beliefs with objective existense. And you are right: my faith (not what I believe, but how I believe it) was bad faith. I needed to be firmly convinced in my own mind that I believed what I did because I chose it, not because I was told to and had no alternative. It is frightening to doubt what you have all along believed to be absolute truth, so I went back to the basics of the Christian faith and examined them again. In the end, I determined that Christ is all I need. After having tasted living water, it would be foolish for me to go to athiesm or relativism for peace and answers to life, since I had examined them--and had them explained to me--and I did not find in them what I looked for (after I had examined them like an adult, not a child). I still cannot say that I am 100% convinced in my own mind. But I know it is possible, because some of the most intelligent scientists and inventors were: Newton, Boyle and Faraday are just a few scientists who were devoted Christians. I won't argue with you about God's Word, or about anything else so fundamental, because we could discuss and debate until the world ends (however that happens), but we would never come to a conclusion. Because it is not just the mind that is convinced or skeptical, but also the heart. The mind may be convinced, but the heart does not have to believe. The heart may believe, but the mind may still be skeptical. I choose the latter; because peace at heart is more important to me than being the smartest person around and knowing all the answers to every other smart person who doesn't agree with me. <--there he is I see you have only posted 6 times. I'm sure the other members would welcome intelligent discussions with you (as I have), especially in the philosophy threads. I promise every post of yours won't turn into a long discussion like this one.
I 've heard about some dead sea scrolls which included some gnostic gospels - not exactly what the original bible was showing- that mentioned stories about jesus's childhood, a possible relationship with mary magdalene etc. These gospels inspired a number of novels including The Da Vinci code, a book I didn' t read because fantasy literature makes me bored, but I saw and enjoyed the film - I guess I'm a fan of Tom Hanks. Anyway, what seems to have happened here is a struggle between two christian groups. On the one side, the gnostics used to give emphasis on direct communication with god -a very remarkable belief, to my opinion-, tended to see Jesus as one of many great saints that intervene to history and also supported a dualistic ontology (good-evil, spiritual-material). On the other side (which finally won), there were what someone could describe as "orthodox" christians: churches that used the four gospels and believed that Jesus was god who carried the sins of the world in order to save mankind and reconcile creation with creator. In what has to do with martyrs of Christianity and people who find help in religion, you are making a mistake: you tend to confuse subjective beliefs with objective existence: by beholding a numbers of similar facts you assume that there is a necessary relation between them. But the fact that people deeply believe in sth (and even give their life for it) doesn' t mean that it exists. People might give their lives for different religious -and maybe not religious at all- ideas: the huge impact christianity has on "sinners" could be also explained through the fact that it gives meaning (noema) to their ruined lives and heals the existential agony: one thing is for god's idea to be functional and another god to be actually real. Additionally, your attempt to accept god's existence from the passion or inspiration its idea gives to men could be seen as a symptom of what is called "bad faith" (in brief: the making of decisions through accepting others moral authority and following inherited rules). God is love and liberty, or nothing. PS. What happened? Am I not going to see any purple face?
I do believe the Bible is fact. Here is one reason: in 1947, the Dead Sea scrolls, written around 100 AD were found in a cave in the West Bank. They were copies several Old Testament books. It is often said that the Bible has been changed so many times that we can't know for sure that what we read today is the original Bible. It is also said that different sects changed the Bible to fit their own ideas, and we are all deceived today. But what the Dead Sea scrolls said is practically the same as what the Bible we have today says. I am not a scholar on such things, but that is one example. But besides observable proof (science), faith has other evidence in its favor. You've already stated that you are satisfied with the effect accepting life has had on you, and I respect that. But how can Christianity be just one way of understanding life, if it has had such profound effects on ruined lives? Drug addicts, drunkards, the worst criminals, have responded to God's love and have been changed from the inside out: into people so much better than recovery programs could have made them. And do you think that persecuted Christians would give their lives, and endure torture, for the sake of a doubtful faith, a discredited Bible, a human God? I know I would demand more than I have just listed to endure what so many have joyfully endured--because they were assured of eternal life.
