Call me and other Christians narrow-minded, if you will. My God said he'd condemn non-believers to eternal separation from Him for disbelief. The gods of other religions don't punish non-believers. I can only gain by belief in the Christian God, and if I'm wrong, I'll die unpunished, but ignorant.

I read my Bible frequently, though not often enough. I've read the King James Version, beginning to end. With other readings, I'm sure I've read the Bible another time, if not more. I still have many questions. One excuse for not understanding it all is that I don't have the mind of God.

I don't think the Bible is a science book, so I don't shake it at people saying "survival of the fittest and geologic time is bunk!" The first bit of matter in the universe did, however, come from somewhere. The Bible says, and I believe, God created all things. He also gave us choice, and that's where "evil" came from. Yeah, He created viruses and bacteria and all that stuff we call "nasty." What gives us the right to say those lifeforms are "bad?" Sure, they can hurt humans, but humans hurt humans too. We've got a right to defend ourselves. Science helps us there.

I guess I need to get to my point. I've got nothing to lose, and everything to gain by believing in God. Some may think belief in a higher power is childish and that's a choice you may have made. I believe the Bible, and in it, Jesus says, "No one comes to the Father except by Me." For the longest time, I thought that God wouldn't condemn anyone if they led a good life. He won't, but you have to accept His free gift of salvation. And that gift can't be accepted without accepting His Son, Jesus.

Jesus is an historic figure. He's mentioned in lots of places other than the Bible. The books of the Bible were written close enough to the time of the actual events that they would have readily been refuted. They weren't. Four different authors wrote the Gospels, and no Gospel contradicts another. For Christianity to be a lie would go against its Foundation of Christ. Nobody had anything to gain by lying, but salvation to gain by its Truth. The earliest extant manuscripts on which our translations of the Bible are based are also far more contemporary than any of the other ancient writings leaving much less room for translation error. I'd like to go on and on, but won't. Other authors have covered the topic quite effectively. To reject the Bible as made-up fiction would require you to also reject ALL ancient texts as false. That'd include the Greek philosophers, Caesar, Cicero, Pliny, Homer, and so on.

For some Bible-study guides that will let you come to your own conclusions, rather than those of another author, see my book list.

I've got lots of other thoughts and opinions. If you want to get deeper into my thoughts on Christianity, click here. For thoughts and opinions of others on religious topics, find other links here. If you want to talk, please send me an E-mail.

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