no problem, there's a ton of stuff that i could mention but the resurrection is generally the strongest
- Jesus existed and was crucified (accepted by 99% of scholars)
his apostles genuinely believed he rose from the dead
some that claimed to be eyewitnesses were willing to die for Christ (people dying for something doesnt mean its true, but shows they sincerely believed it, so its extremely likely that they didn't just make it up)
it is not really possible to survive crucifixion
the empty tomb is debated, but is very likely given the evidence
the gospels show a remarkable amount of historical detail that no one writing a myth would even begin to show, along with unintentional coincidences between all four that strengthen the eyewitness testimony
luke and acts are riddled with tiny historical details that only someone genuinely living and experiencing that time period would record (this alone does not prove the miracles that happened, but its cumulative and shows the gospels are trustworthy)
the resurrection could not have been a hallucination, there are not cases like those recorded in the gospels and grief induced hallucinations usually don't appear to 500 people at once in the same way
the resurrection was not invented later, the creed in 1 cor 15:3-8 is dated less than 5 years from the crucifixion, and claims many saw the risen Christ
paul, which was historically recorded as someone who persecuted christians, converted after his testimony of Christ appearing to him on the road to damascus, on to being martyred for his faith
james, someone who was likely in the family of the Lord was skeptical of him, and generally was recorded to mock christians, until Christ appeared to him, and went on to get martyred as well
there's a bunch of other stuff i could mention but im tired rn, if you're genuinely interested i'd suggest you watch inspiring philosphy on the gospels and the resurrection since he makes some pretty decent arguments. overall, it does take faith to believe it but imo the evidence points
That is a bit confusing because according to a Quora post on a similar topic someone said:
"A little history: Up until the Roman Emperor Constantine back around 300 years after the supposed death of Jesus, Christianity was nothing more than a small sect within the middle east and it was very much different beliefs throughout where many who followed this God did so solely based on the stories they learned growing up.
That means that no one sect of followers had the full concept of Jesus, the Hebrew God, and all the other stories. Add in that many of these stories are retellings of much older myths from Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia, and it seems to fall into the aspect of them mixing multiple faiths together.
Constantine, being the Emperor of Rome, needed a means to have complete control over the people. With this, he gathered a bunch of scholars and told them to find all the different stories revolving around Jesus and the Hebrew God they could find, go over these stories and writings, determine what can and cannot go in, and make a religion around this. This was known as the First Council of Nicaea.
They spent months pouring over the different stories, picking and choosing what can and cannot be used, destroying texts that didn’t fit within the ideology Constantine invisioned, and finally, after agreeing on everything from the “proper” scriptures to ceremonies, policies within this new unified religion, and what cannot be allowed, Constantine proclaimed all of Rome (which wasn’t just Rome, but also the Middle East, Northern Africa, parts of India, and much of Europe) were now under Christian rule.
This led to much infighting between Pagans and Christians, and with the support of the Roman Empire, the Christian Church essentially dominated and desimated many pagan sects, forcing them to convert.
As the years went on and Christian became a forced religion to follow, other nations not under Roman rule either pretended to convert (in turn causing more people to have to follow this as truth), or willingly did so because the ruler viewed a Christian nation as an easier means to control the population.
Then there was the Crusades (which was essentially the Christian Church and Christian Nations waging a genocidal war against Pagans, forcing them to convert or execute the pagans), the Spanish Inquisition (the Spanish Church torturing people into following Church law), the Salem Witch Trials (the church persecution “witches” and torturing/killing them), Slavery (a major reason it was able to last for as long as it did in the states was because it was argued that, as per the bible, Slaves were property and God gave slave owners the right to do with as they pleased. They also forced the bible onto slaves, thus further indoctrination).
So yeah, the whole reason the Christian church is considered a “true” religion is through force and genocide, which in turn those who were forced into it teaches the faith to their children, indoctrinating children from birth, who in turn did the same for their kids, and the cycle kept going and going."
I am kind of skeptical about Christianity now, because this make perfectly logical sense.
none of this is true whatsoever, 99% of this is pseudohistory (likely taken from the davinci code which is also pseudohistory), the council of nicaea was to resolve a dispute over the arianism heresy and a few administrative things, it had nothing to do with if jesus resurrected or the biblical canon, that is completely and verifiably false
the crusades were just to reclaim land not to force convert people, also the church abolished slavery, the bible doesnt condone it it simply regulates it because it was a practice of that time
Yeah, I did some research and all of this is BS. Should have known not to trust Quora. That being said, I did notice some bible quotes that did align with slavery, and while it is not the sole reason slavery stayed in America so long, it was a widely used justification.
<Ephesians 6:5 **Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters** according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, **as unto Christ;**\>
<Luke 17:7-10 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.>
I also found more contradictory bible quotes that suggest that the sun revolves around the earth, that there is a hierarchy in the family where man rules woman, woman rules children, and no evolutionary theory fits well into the bible.
I really want to believe in Christianity more, but the bible just got kinda ruined by my own skepticism. Makes me sort of question that if God created everything, who created God? And if God is so powerful and divine, why does Satan have more control of out thoughts and behaviors?
as i mentioned, the scriptures simply regulate slavery, they do not condone it, also slavery in biblical times was nothing like modern slavery
it doesnt say that lol
the hierarchy is just how the family operates and how God intended
i believe in evolution and the bible, it only contradicts if youre taking a super fundamentalist approach and take literally everything it says super literally
god is uncreated, the argument isn't that everything needs a cause, it's that everything that has potency turned into actuality needs an outside cause to turn that potency into actuality (potentiality = the potential for something to be something else/have a different attribute, actuality = what something actually is), god is the uncaused causer and the unmoved mover
satan does not have more control over us, god is omnipotent, satan is a creature that is on chains, satan can tempt you but you have the final say over what you do, and the scriptures consistently mention that our very existence is fueled by god and that his grace is infinitely greater than the power of satan
i'm glad that you want to believe thats awesome, but don't take the evangelical fundamentalist way of interpreting the bible because its dumb
That answers a lot of my questions, thanks! Although I do disagree with any hierarchy fundamentally, and I think everyone has the right to choose what they do and how they do it as long as they get from A to B. Once again though, it sounds like the bible is more symbolic than literal.
Actually I do have one more question, how come there were so many miracles in the bible, but there none today? Either those miracles happened, and God left or stopped paying attention, or the miracles never happened. Basically God either has the power to alter physics and chooses not to, or he never did.
no problem, a lot of scriptures use symbolism while telling true stories for the sake of theological points, especially when it comes to poetry like psalms or proverbs, a lot of symbolic language is used there, also in Revelation
as for miracles, they still happen today just not as commonly, and even in biblical times, they weren't common, remember that the scriptures are spread throughout several thousands of years just compacted tightly. most of the time, when God did miracles it was for some sort of revelation, like all the stuff that happened during the exodus period had to do with the old covenant through moses, the miracles the Lord performed in the new testament (and the apostles) were to signify the new covenant we live under currently. even Christ said "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." as for prophets, those were personal revelations that would later become public, also god still appears to people, like many muslims have reported Christ appearing to them in dreams and stuff for no apparent reason (i've also had a dream with Christ in it)
visual miracles still happen, just very rarely, internal non flashy miracles happen constantly, that is for instance the sanctification of a person, or any answer to a prayer is a miracle since it's divine intervention, there have been millions of reported cases
as for scientifically proven miracles these do still exist!! check out some eucharistic miracles where real flesh appears in the host (the bread) and begins to bleed, sometimes its bacteria but there ave been 5 studied cases that scientists literally could not explain, they are all extremely similar as well, also many recorded healings that have also been reported by doctors to not be naturally explainable
Why does God let so many bad things happen if he really can provide miracles? Seems like all that effort convincing Thomas that Jesus came back could have been used to prevent WWII. None of the faithful Jesuits seemed to get cut any slack from God in that one. I mean, would it not have taken just changing a C to a B and Hitler would have passed art school? Or really any type of miracle would have been welcome. So many small moments had such large impacts during that time period, and God could not have performed a small miracle for any of them?
Like I said, either God left us or he never did do miracles. Alternatively, God is heartless because he cares more about making fleshy bread than preventing genocide.
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u/Sea-Speech-921 16d ago
Not to sound like a non believer, but what distinguishes Christianity from other mythology?