From: joyce@meaddata.com
Subject: FOR WHATEVER IT'S WORTH
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 20:10:52 GMT

I am convinced that people will believe what they want to believe so I
could argue all I want until I'm blue in the face and people will
still believe what they want. I respect that and hopefully, you'll
respect my right to do the same. It's the first (and last) time I will
ever be in this newsgroup but if the following is true from FAQ and I
quote: "Many atheists would be happy to believe in the existence of a
God; all that they ask is that he provide convincing direct evidence
of his existence." then maybe it's worth it to put my 2-cents' piece
in.

It seems like a good number have had very unfortunate experiences with
"organized religion" and so-called "Christians". I have too but I
cannot use those as a basis for my belief in God since all humans are
fallible and will always fail me at one time or another. Sad also, is
the fact that too many people are masquerading as Christians when they
really are not, based on the criteria that Jesus Christ himself, the
center person in Christianity, has put forth. As a result, people like
Mahatma Gandhi, for example, got turned off by "Christians" even
though he said he liked Jesus Christ.

I have to admit, I am not here to convince you all that there is a
God. There will always be arguments in people's minds for and against
it, it's what people choose to believe. I just ask that you consider
the person of Jesus Christ, the most loved and most hated person who
ever lived, all because He claimed to be God. There are 3 possibilities to His
claim, 1) He was not telling the truth and He knew it which makes Him
a liar; 2) He was not telling the truth and He did not know it which
makes Him a lunatic; and 3) He was telling the truth. Other people
more knowledgeable that I am can give dissertation-like arguments to
the above but I just present mine simply: 1) If He was lying, then He
chose to suffer and die for a lie, which makes Him really stupid and
all His followers nuts; for a lie, Paul was beheaded, Peter was sawed
in two, Stephen was stoned, etc. A study of these people's lives show
quite a transformation after they had seen Jesus rise from the dead;
2) A lunatic could not possibly give a message
like the Sermon on the Mount and would be illogical in speech and
thought; a study on Jesus` life could easily refute this; 3) He must
be then telling the truth and all of us either reject or accept Him
for what He claimed to be and the consequence of our choice. It is
a moot point for me to argue about whether God exists or not; there
are too many people who already believe God exists and yet has chosen
to ignore the person of Jesus Christ. To those who are interested, I
suggest studying the lives of your ex-contemporaries: Dr. Charles
Joad, Josh McDowell, and C.S. Lewis. At least 2 of these people have
started to write books that have sought to destroy the "myth of Christianity".

To those who seem to blame God for every vile thing that happens in
this world and asks why He does not fix it, I would just like to say
that He will, He is just being patient because He is not willing that
any should perish. He gave us free will, and we all have chosen to
make a mess of our world by doing as we pleased yet we blame Him for
it. I hope I don't sound like I`m preaching but whatever y'all choose
to believe, mark God's Word on this that one day:  ".. EVERY knee shall bow and
EVERY tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." See y'all there!

Newsgroups: alt.atheism