I'm an evangelical Christian - ask me anything

[Insieme]

I'm happy to answer questions, though I'm not interested if people just come on to be insulting.

I can only give my views and talk about what I believe - evangelicalism covers a broad spectrum of beliefs and I can only speak for myself.

Ask away!

Ok, just one more question then, do you agree with religion being linked to the government, schools etc or do you think that we should be a secular country?

I'm an American, so I live in a secular country, with church and state clearly separated in our constitution. That's one reason why so many different faiths flourish here.

If God is non Gendered than could or would people refer to 'God' in church services as her?

In my denomination we have the option of a gender neutral liturgy, which my parish uses. I use "Her" all the time in discussion, as I've done on this thread, and so does our pastor.

Hmm you've got more company than me.

That might have been true a hundred years ago, but not today.

Less than 20 percent of Americans regularly attend church—half of what the pollsters report.

Thank you. I have never heard god described in church as a mother. In my opinion a mother makes much more sense in terms of birthing a world.

You're most welcome.

One reason I attend a church with a woman rector is that i get to call her Mother Jan.

By the way, I think church attendance is much lower in the UK than it is in the US.

I didn't specifically mean church attendance, but more generally most people identify with a religion on the census. Last I heard around 85% of the world was religious, Christianity being the biggest, then Islam.

I wish the UK was also a secular country.

I think it is the only explanation

And other claims from different beliefs that have been made by groups of people? Is the only explanation then that what they're saying happened? No chance of gossip snowballing and turning into a allegory, much like you concede happened with the creation story now that we know it's not true?

different from any other because of that very well documented historicity

Other than bible what are your sources?

different from any other because of that very well documented historicity

The census that Joseph and Mary attended that never happened?

How is this not historically valuable

A piece of written history would need to be verified by other contemporary sources. And the larger the claims it makes the more it would need that wealth of external and unbiased sources. The bible doesn't have this. It's really quite alarming that you're touting it as a watertight document. It isn't by any stretch of what's agreed as verification.

I could tell you so much more, but I know they are not enough for you

I can listen to as many accounts of peoples similar experiences that they would attribute to a different god or no god. If I see your examples as proof then I have to see EVERYONES accounts as evidence and will then have to simultaneously believe in numerous gods and no gods. It's silly isn't it.

history of the important people, not the gossipy reports of the people.

So f all the people buried were climbing out of graves in your local cemetery and presumably turning up back at their homes, that would be gossip? You don't think it would be world news?

which could be verified by eyewitnesses

My mate saw a unicorn last week. There. It's been verified by an eyewitness.

They couldn't have dreamed up the idea of a dying

You have to be kidding me right. You don't think people are capable of imagining wild crazy things? Sheesh, you only have to look about at all the religions/beliefs to see how psychedelic the human imagination is!

it's the massive numbers which are more convincing in this case

Sadly we know from history that the numbers of people adopting a ideology says absolutely zilch about how true it is.

Anyhoo I thought the bible said that 'the path is narrow and not many people find it'. With Christianity being the worlds largest religion what's gone wrong?

Yes, but whatever you'd be writing about from five years ago wouldn't have been kept live in a rigorous oral history passed down and told from one generation to the next, with stringent checks in place to ensure things are not twisted and exaggerated.

And you'd extend this to all other oral histories from other religions/beliefs. Or just the one you believe in?

It's a lovely day at the beach.

Just because naturalism doesn't seem to support things like miracles and resurrection doesn't mean it is impossible. I think that we can so easily close our minds to these things because we are too reliant on what is seen (a mindset we've inherited from the ancient stoics, in fact.)

Out of interest, if someone told you today that they met a talking snake, would you believe them? If someone told you that their uncle died and came back as a zombie three days later, would you believe them? If someone told you that she got pregnant without having sex (or using IVF or artificial insemination) would you believe her?

If you wouldn't believe any of the stories if someone told you them today, you'll understand why I don't believe the same stories from thousands of years ago.

OP, are you back from your holidays yet? I'd be interested in your answer to my question about why heterosexual couples complement each other and gay couples can't. Thank you.

Also why nothing is recorded outside of the bible of loads of dead people coming back to life during the crucifixion

51At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection ande went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

That's Matthew chapter 27. Why don't the other gospels mention it let alone any other sources? It's pretty big news no? If it happened now it would be on every single news station.

An interesting thread and a credit to the OP for sticking with it. Delusion comes in many forms, from very benign and kindly, to wacky and hyper judgemental. Trying to answer life's questions based on other worldly beings is kind of a cop out because there is always a fall back position. What's wrong with the answer 'I don't know' instead?