In my mind there are two camps, 1) Those who have decided upon God's existence and 2) those that are still undecided. I completely identify with those that are undecided. I can understand in the day in age when we have people like Benny Hinn, Joel Olsteen, and Maryln Hickey that claim to be Christians so that they can profit from this decision. You then have a whole other group which proclaim they are Christians that seem to think that there is nothing wrong with the other religions.
Let me clear on one point, as a Christian, I do believe that there is only one way to salvation. I do not think that all religions are right. Most of the major religions teach exclusivity (Christianity, Judaism, Islam). Therefore if we believe, I believe we have a mandate from Christ to go and preach the gospel to the ends of the earth. This means that we should preach his name at every given opportunity. Not everyone goes to heaven. We need to reach the rest of the planet out of love for mankind. This does sometimes mean picking up a shovel to help neighbor.
Back to the topic at hand, for those that have decided on God's non existence please stop interfering with my beliefs. Please at least respect my dedication to my beliefs. When a man goes in the North Korea to preach the gospel please refrain from making comments about how he deserves it because he knew what he was getting into. (http://digg.com/world_news/N_Korea_arrests_US_man_bringing_God_s_love) While in principle I agree with you, I disagree with your conclusion. I do not believe in relativistic truth. I believe there is absolute truth. The truth does not change because you find it inconvenient. When is it ever okay to rape a child?
Should one have less respect for Rev. King or Ghandi since they were both "religious"?
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
As an American I realize that this country was founded on the principles of absolute truth. If we did not we would have no rights to break away from the British.
I keep hearing the argument that religion has killed more people that any other cause. While there may be some element of truth to this, religion is not the only cause of war or death. North Korea and China are two prime examples of this. If we peer just a little bit back in history and look at Marxism or the rise of Communism in China you will see these two movements were based on an intolerance of religion. So please stop using the excuse that religion kills people to "prove" that it is false.
A couple other thoughts, when was the last time you saw an atheist start a homeless shelter? Adoption agency? Atheist claim that morality is somehow bound to a social contract and not religion. So where were the Atheist's when Katrina came? I am sure there is an example of an atheist organization that has done good somewhere, I was just unable to find any.
Second article (very quick synopsis), ( see article http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/80244642.html?storySection=story) a mom goes into Cardiac arrest when attempting to deliver her child. The doctor declares her dead. They do an emergency c-section to deliver the baby. The baby is not breathing when he/she is delivered, they revive her. The mom's heart comes back to life and she winds up living. Someone decides to post a "praise god" article and everyone on the thread starts saying that it was the medical doctors and science that brought her back to life and not "God". This is just stupid, if you want to put a "praise science" comment then feel free. Those of us that believe in God find those comments offensive. I know we are supposed to live in this age where it is not popular to preach absolute truth.
One more comment, most of the atheists (not agnostics) I know have the same basic proof for determining if god exists. I have thought about it for a while; there is something about
A long time ago someone told me this saying:
"There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of us have to pee on the electric fence for ourselves.
Will Rodgers"
My hope is that we can have more people that learn by reading.
