I want to suggest a book for… you to get and read. It is very dense (meaning a very slow read) but it is excellent and by a “real” scientist. It’s called Genetic Entropy and is written by Dr. John Sanford, a researcher at Cornell University. I am about 1/2 way through it, and am very impressed with the solid scientific findings. I don’t just say this to try to “convince” you, but rather, you had said you would be interested in reading some solid scientific things, and this is the best I’ve found so far. Here it is on Amazon.com in the U.S.

So, I only have a little time this morning, but will try to answer one of your questions. First, let me address this comment from you: t he stuff you say about islam is the exact same thing the christian church has been doing for hund…reds of years: regression of humanity in every possible way. i know that the institution itself has nothing to do with having a relationship with Jesus in your opinion, and i couldn’t agree more, but this shows that there might also be muslims who don’t believe in the jihad and the similar violent stuff, but only in the “peaceful parts” of their religion, just like you do. a same “kill the infidels” case can be made against christianity just as against muslims, christianity just did that a while back, not today. This is simply not true at the root of each religion. The Koran teaches that infidels must be destroyed. The Bible teaches that we are to love, bless and forgive our enemies.

Therefore, there is a clear, basic difference at the core level of each faith. Now the way people have chosen to “live out” their supposed Christian faith by killing others in the name of Jesus is quite different than what Jesus Himself taught and the core of the faith itself. Truly, only Jesus can live out “Christianity” perfectly, and that’s what makes Christianity (that personal relationship I’ve been talking about that I have) impossible outside of a living, active relationship with Jesus Himself. If you read the Gospel of John in chapter 17, you will see Jesus’ desire and prayer to God the Father where He speaks about His desire that all would be one, in unity, God in Jesus and Jesus in humans that they would know the love of the Father. So, it is Jesus IN me, through the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus talks about all through the Gospel of John and especially in chapter 4 when He says true worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth…it is Jesus IN me that lives out the “Christian life”. Yes, I still live, make choices, and am still fully Arden, but my spirit-man is alive in God’s spirit. (and this is something that can really only be understood and discerned in the spirit and seen in the fruit of one’s life, not proven scientifically….except that maybe the fruit of my life could be that scientific proof). Am I perfect like God?

ha ha ha, absolutely not, and that’s the beauty of Jesus and of forgiveness, which, I don’t know if you know, but there is NO forgiveness in Islam…there is no concept of forgiveness…it’s ALL based on good deeds and being “good enough”. So, what is “good enough”? I digress….I just wanted to address that assertion you made about Islam and Christianity being “the same” because they are not at all. Looking at each of them “from the outside” like you are, I can see, sort of, why you might make that assertion, but when one has the mind of Christ, which a spirit-filled, born-again believer does, then one can understand on a spiritual level and discern truth from error. As I believe I’ve said in the past, Islam is a religion, whereas true Christianity is a relationship. Islam, like other religions, is man’s attempt to try to reach God and do enough “good” to earn His favor, but true Christianity is all about a God who reached out to man in relationship, to restore that which was lost long ago. Enough said on this.

The stuff you say about islam is the exact same thing the christian church has been doing for hundreds of years: regression of humanity in every possible way. i know that the institution itself has nothing to do with having a relationship with Jesus in your opinion, and i couldn’t agree more, but this shows that there might also be muslims who don’t believe in the jihad and the similar violent stuff, but only in the “peaceful parts” of their religion, just like you do. a same “kill the infidels” case can be made against christianity just as against muslims, christianity just did that a while back, not today.

i have a bit of time now, so i’ll collect a couple of issues i mentioned which you have yet to address:

can you specify even a bit of supporting evidence-like anything, that goes towards showing that the christian god himself is the true god / creator? the sole existence of Jesus is not valid, because he was a prophet just like countless others, and was in no way special. of course he was special for *you*, because you’re a christian, but try to see yourself from the perspective of someone who is outside of all religions. how would you convince, or just show the true nature of your religion, AND the fabricated nature of the others at the same time? your answer to this will basically supply the sole reason why you are a christian and not of some other faith, so make it a good one.
put a bit differently, could you convince a muslim for example that his religion is wrong without mentioning anything christian-related, so not using your own religion in your process of reasoning?

do you think that something that cannot be explained or disproved by science automatically becomes the evidence of god? if yes, and that way of thinking is how religions are supposed to be dealt with, do you think you could make a successful case against the existence of santa claus, if i were to believe in him?

why do you have any more reason to believe that the 500 witnesses of the ascension were actual witnesses, that to believe their stories were lies/fabrications/tales/exaggerations, without having anything to support the former idea other than the bible, which, and i think we can agree on this, is not god’s work, thus not infallibe, thus not reliable.

you assume that god doesn’t want to be hidden. then why is he communicating his existence solely through obscure concepts, and not obvious ones? if that would take away our free will, how do you explain Jesus’ and other biblical figures’ obvious miracles, which, by definition, should have taken away people’s free will to believe in god?

concerning abortion: because you clearly disagree with my idea on the beginning of the human life being subjective, i assume you possess (or at least there is) an objective, ultimate standpoint on that. what is it, why is it absolute, and what is it based on? also, why did you call doctors performing abortion delusional?

based on your reasonings, i am led to believe that you think that if today we didn’t have religion, the world would be a much worse place to live in. why?

concerning morality: what do you make of the dilemma that i described twice through our discussion, namely that if human beings are not in fact able to discern right from wrong themselves, then how could they choose between the two poles of morality presented to them by either god or the bible?
(the last time i could word this better, so i’ll just copypaste:
your ultimate standard for morality is the creator, aka the christian god. why him? who told you that his way should be the ultimate morality? he himself, didn’t he. how do you know that he possesses true morality? how do you know it is not for example satan who does? well, based on what god says of course, because you have no other point of reference. can you be sure that god’s morality is indeed the right one? what if satan’s morality is the right one, god just makes us believe that he is good and satan is evil? what if it’s the other way around? we have to decide somehow. what is a valid way of figuring out which one of them to pick? on our own. there is no other way. “yes there is! god tells us directly!” sure, but how do you know that he possesses the true morality? a vicious, self-contradicting circle. the only way of figuring out which one of them to pick is to figure it out on our own. but if we can do that, we eliminate the need for a creator in the first place.)

gotta go, maybe i missed a couple of things, but this is it for now. i’ll address “belief in god by the population of a country more or less equals the prosperity of said country” later.

However, I did meet many “religious” people….they went to church and “did all the religious duties”, however, much of what the followers of Jesus “should” demonstrate, was somewhat lacking, shall we say. Anyway, I think one must be very careful with statistics, myself included. I’m just letting you know, based on my personal experience of having been away from my home nation for 11 years and not being back, that there are fewer followers of Jesus than ever in our history, and we are witnessing the fruit of that abandonment of faith. That said, I believe we can look at any nation in history which abandoned faith in who I say is the true God, and look at the fruit of their nation across every part of their society. When Russia adopted Marxism and then atheism, their people were driven into poverty, despair and a lower standard of living all the way around, including tremendous hopelessness. If you look at the majority of nations touting islam, they are largely 2nd or 3rd world nations and desire not progress but regression when it comes to economic and social prosperity and advancement, and that’s not even addressing the way they oppress women and consider them less than men. The historical reality of nations who have not honored God is something very objectively measurable. I know, I know, you will argue that it’s not objective enough…oh well. Again, we differ.