@@theminutemen1275 I appreciate ya!

It’s true!

Ha ha, no, that would simply show that this is all pretty meaningless.

@@theriveroffaith852 yes! I was raised in a methodist church that I was bored with. I got confirmed, never really being interested in what I was learning about, and I didn't believe in Jesus for many years after that. I then became interested in Buddhism and eastern religion during college, which led me down a very trippy road. For 3 years I became a new ager, thinking my life purpose was to be a shaman or spiritual leader; this road ended when I realized I needed to start examining Jesus. I realized that He makes sense historically, logically and experientially in my life. I began researching Jesus and developing a personal relationship with Him through prayer. Over the next month or two, Jesus brought my mind back from a mystical/agnostic and a rather reckless path to a rational one. It didn't take long before I threw away my tarot cards and other divination tools... praying alone with Yeshua was turning out to be more powerful anyways... I also burned some literature written by some very deceptive and even evil people (I had no idea but it was crazy finding that out). Jesus teaches us be skeptical and test the spirits. In spite of the territory I was entering in my spiritual practices, I still had no real understanding of how to do this, and how important testing the spirits would be in the months and years ahead. That is why now I know its important to demand evidence before I or anyone else believes in anything or adopts anything new into our worldview. Jesus Christ is literally the reason I can think logically and have a foundation for my understanding of our Creator. I have a belief founded on the historical fact that our Creator actually loves and cares for His Creation as shown in the life of the historical man Jesus Christ.

@@ericjohnson6665 the Urantia book is clearly not written by eyewitnesses and it tells of a Jesus that is contrary to the historical Jesus who claimed to be God. The gospels are the source documents we need to go to and the New Testament is the only reliable source from the 1st century to form accurate conclusions about the historical Jesus.

@@anewwaywithnoah1132 - (Eric here, alternate label) Actually, the Urantia Book was written by eyewitnesses. They're called midwayers (being mid way between men and angels), who are immortal, were there then and are still around today. [The military discovered them when they were doing Remote Viewing.] And they add a lot of flesh to the bones of Jesus' assertion that he is the Son of God. (If you'll recall, he began his prayers with "Our Father...", a clear indication that there was one greater than himself to whom we should be conversing.) I was fine with Jesus with just the information in the Bible, and I loved him very much as a result of it. I also read The Last Temptation of Christ, and the Passover Plot, along with Jesus, Man of Genius by J. Middleton Murray. Each had their own perspectives, and had some valuable points to make, but the version of his life in the UB really drove home his divinity in a way I could understand.

Yes! Minimal facts argument is pretty amazing!

@@colinpierre3441 okay I see you’re claiming something that literally billions of people disagree with including myself. My question to you is this, why did Jesus get crucified? Was it for blasphemy (making Himself equal with God) or not?

@@anewwaywithnoah1132 Well to be fair the majority of people in Jesus' days on earth didn't believe he was the Messiah... people tend to accept something to fit in with the crowd, but not necessarily because it's true. To answer the question... Jesus was crucified for blasphemy, but he was wrongly accused. The Jews did accuse him, but Jesus clarified what he meant at John 10:36 where he said "Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?". Hence, Jesus reveals that he was using figurative speech [in John 10:30] where he said "I and the Father are one", in the sense that he is working in cooperation with his Father.

@@colinpierre3441 calling yourself the Son of God was equivalent with calling yourself equal with God. Jesus claimed to be the eternal creator. He said He was before Abraham. It’s very clear and I don’t understand why people have such a tough time seeing it. Isaiah 9:6.

@@anewwaywithnoah1132 If it was that clear people wouldn't still be debating it lol. He is the eternal creator because he created all things... except God. Colossians 1:15 says "[Jesus] is an image of the unseen God, Firstborn of all creation". This means Jesus was created... however, God has no beginning and end (Psalm 90:2). Regarding Isaiah 9:6, Jesus Christ is prophetically called ʼEl Gib·bohrʹ, “Mighty God” (not ʼEl Shad·daiʹ [God Almighty], which is applied to Yahweh at Genesis 17:1). When Christ returns, all earth’s inhabitants who receive everlasting life will gain it because they exercise faith in Jesus’ ransom sacrifice, and thus he will become their "Eternal Father".

@@colinpierre3441 billions of people have been convinced, but miraculous things aren’t easily accepted by many people. Firstborn of all creation is referring to inheritance such as when David is called the firstborn even though He wasn’t the oldest son.

They were killed painfully and persecuted for what they claimed to have seen. I highly doubt they did it for pleasure.

the Gospels are written like ancient greco-roman biographies. They are not claiming the events are made up, and they were killed for claiming they saw Jesus risen from the dead. People do not die for what they know to be a lie. That is why the scholarly consensus among both atheist and theist scholars alike is that the disciples "believed they had seen Christ risen from the dead in some form" after His death. Go look into the evidence more, I'm getting tired of hearing claims that hold no weight in light of the historical evidence.

@@anewwaywithnoah1132 hold zero weight because they are not eye witness accounts, and this god doesnt exist, and I can logically prove it. And if your God is so perfect how come he can't keep his own word straight? This isn't a claim, this is fact, and until you or anyone else can actually.prove this god exists without the writings of humans, then and only then will this god exist. Until then all you have are the writings of men long dead that claimed God told then to do it, today we put thise people in psychiatric facilities

@@anewwaywithnoah1132 and you still can't answer the question, like most Christians can't just say you don't know, instead you put it on something else! There is a truth in what I stated, and just like I stated you ignore it! Thought Christians were to be truthful, oh that's right your God is a God of lies, from the beginning to the end, and at one point even bragged about lieing, so your sole source of a perfect god not only.lies, but can't keep his story straight! And you still can't honestly answer my question, be because to do so would negate your gods existence!

God’s never lied name one account where God lies in the Bible.

The Jewish Talmud claims Jesus was a sorcerer who led the people of Israel astray.

@@anewwaywithnoah1132 "The Jewish Talmud claims Jesus was a sorcerer who led the people of Israel astray." Sorry - that is NOT evidence. That's just another unsupported book. Anyone (like me) can write a book about magic. I am concerned that your answer is so far off base.

@@darz3829 You asked for evidence. The jewish talmud doesnt say Jesus didnt exist, it says He was a sorcerer. This insinuates that they believed and knew that He performed miracles. Just because you don't like the evidence I provide in answer to your Q doesnt mean its invalid. Have some integrity. Claiming the talmud is just another book is so far off base it concerns me, because it sounds like you don't think the bible is able to be cited as valid evidence either. Which of course would be intellectually dishonest and silly in light of the fact that the biblical scriptures are the most valuable source of evidence for the ancient world that we have.

@@anewwaywithnoah1132 "The jewish talmud doesnt say Jesus didnt exist, it says He was a sorcerer. This insinuates that they believed and knew that He performed miracles." Yes, and for thousands of years early civilizations believed comets were devils. They believed the sun orbited around the earth. They believed in multiple gods who controlled the heavens and their crops. Beliefs don't require any evidence. And to be clear, evidence is mostly physical proof that is as real today as it was in ancient times. Although, it is not necessarily true evidence either. If you search You Tube under magicians, levitating, walking on water, and turning water into wine you'll see what Jesus' miracles must have looked liked. Of course, today's modern audiences would never be fooled by magic tricks as easily as in biblical times.

How do you prove something spiritual? I don’t believe you can, the individual has to open themselves up to what is in the Bible and find out. One thing I will say helped my early days was knowing that many of Jesus’ followers died horrible deaths after witnessing about Jesus. I know that I would not do that over some fraudster, but for the real deal, yes.

I havent claimed the bible is the infallible and I would not try to claim that because there is no way to prove that. That being said the New Testament is the most scrutinized text to be examined by the fields of academia and it has passed the tests of historical validity with flying colors. I am not sure how you've reached your conclusions that it is so corrupted. Can you please give me any verses specifically that you think have been corrupted, and any evidence that this "corruption" has changed the context or meaning of the text? This is called textual criticism.

@@anewwaywithnoah1132 As far as the New Testament goes, the story of Jesus' birth seems to be fabricated. It's not even mentioned in Mark, and a census that requires you to travel back to your hometown in an era where travel was dangerous and expensive makes no sense. There is also the question as to where Jesus' Y chromosome came from if Mary was truly a virgin. I'm pretty sure this story was made up so Jesus would qualify as the "messiah". But, it's the Old Testament that did it for me. There was no global flood. There was a flood but it was local and happened in 2900 BC in what is now Iraq. Basically, the Bible is a book of myths. Like all myths there is a kernel of truth in there, but it becomes exaggerated and embellished over time. The Bible is not unique in this. Homer's epics speak of Troy which was thought to be mythical until relatively recently. There is no evidence for the Exodus yet but I imagine something like it happened, just not in the way the Bible describes. Moses is thought by most scholars to be mythical, probably based on Sargon of Akkad, because they share a similar story, kind of like some folks (I am not one of them) think that Jesus is based on the Hindu God Krishna for the same reason. Personally, I thing that there, indeed, was a guy named Jesus who was executed for insurrection around 30 AD, but beyond that who knows. Jesus (Yeshua or Yehoshua in Hebrew. Josh in modern English) was also a a common name in Judea at the time. The fabricated story of his birth actually strengthens the case that he was a real guy, in my opinion, because if he wasn't then why the need to 'retcon' him into the prophecy?

The Garden of Eden is also a real place. Nowadays we call it the Persian Gulf. Until about 7500 years ago it was dry land, and as long as you replace "source" with confluence, it was very similar to what the Bible describes. It would have seemed a "paradise" to the hunter gatherers who first settled the area about 100,000 years ago. But then they were forced out due to rising sea levels. Not a catastrophic flood by just slowly rising sea levels. Once they were forced out of the oasis life got much harder. They had to learn to irrigate their "crops' which grew wild in the oasis. They probably thought they pissed off the gods (the original version of the myth was before the advent of monotheism.). Even the strait leading out of the Gulf today is called "The Strait of Aden". Aden, Eden basically the same thing.....

Why do atheists spend so much of their valuable time and energy trying to shout down something they claim to not believe??? Like 6 year olds...

Nope! I was raised in a methodist church that I was bored with. I got confirmed, never really being interested in what I was learning about, and I didn't believe in Jesus for many years after that. I then became interested in Buddhism and eastern religion during college, which led me down a very trippy road. For 3 years I became a new ager, thinking my life purpose was to be a shaman or spiritual leader; this road ended when I realized I needed to start examining Jesus. I realized that He makes sense historically, logically and experientially in my life. I began researching Jesus and developing a personal relationship with Him through prayer. Over the next month or two, Jesus brought my mind back from a mystical/agnostic and a rather reckless path to a rational one. It didn't take long before I threw away my tarot cards and other divination tools... praying along with Yeshua was turning out to be more powerful anyways... I also burned some literature written by some very deceptive and even evil people (I had no idea but it was crazy finding that out). Jesus teaches us be skeptical and test the spirits. In spite of the territory I was entering in my spiritual practices, I still had no real understanding of how to do this, and how important testing the spirits would be in the months and years ahead. That is why now I know its important to demand evidence before I or anyone else believes in anything or adopts anything new into our worldview. Jesus Christ is literally the reason I can think logically and have a foundation for my understanding of our Creator. I have a belief founded on the historical fact that our Creator actually loves and cares for His Creation as shown in the life of the historical man Jesus Christ.

@@anewwaywithnoah1132 Lots to unpack. First, we share a similar background. Attended the Methodist church with my family, joined the church, became disillusioned with the church, became interested in Buddhism (Zen). No one knows for sure if Jesus existed. I tend to think he did and was one of several apocalyptic traveling preachers during that time (and today!). I am convinced that there is no god, never was. People have had 3,000 or 4,000 years (if you include the writings of the Old Testament) to prove his existence and have not done so yet. You said it is important to demand evidence before believing in anything. I completely agree! So, where's the evidence? Saying 'because the bible tells me so' is not evidence. If you, Noah, can prove it, you will win the Nobel Prize. Good luck. You don't need Jesus or a god to think logically. In fact, belief in religion is illogical. You said you burned some literature? You actually burned books? Why? What did that accomplish? There are lots of books I disagree with (including the bible) but I don't go around burning them. I hope you were being figurative. This message is too long already. I'll close by encouraging you to watch some of Kristi Burke's KZfaq videos. She is wise beyond her years. Try to keep an open mind. Peace.

@@baronvontollbooth484 I burned the books because I did not want the techniques taught in the literature which was openly satanic to cause anyone else harm. The point is not me going to the Bible to tell me so, the point is it’s been 2,000 years and the biblical account becomes more and more solidified as a historical fact, and the resurrection of Jesus does not have any refutation that makes as much sense logically as the resurrection having actually happened. That is cool we share a few similarities. Please be less prone to assuming you know a person’s walk with God. Also please examine the logical evidence for a Creator shown in the intricacy of nature down to irreducible complex dna, the mystery of a singularity in consciousness (the soul), and the existence of moral absolutes.

@@anewwaywithnoah1132 Care to share the titles of the books you burned? That's crazy. Certainly there are other copies available so I don't know what you think you accomplished. So you believe in satan. Who do you think made satan? Your god. Why doesn't he destroy satan? For that matter, who or what made your god? I disagree that the various accounts in the bible - with the possible exception of some place names and a few people who existed - comes anywhere near historical fact. That includes the 'resurrection,' the details of which Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John don't even agree on. So, you think that if something is not refuted, it must be true? Santa Claus exists and lives at the North Pole. Prove he doesn't. Doesn't work that way. You claim the 'resurrection' happened therefore the burden of proof is on you. Same with the existence of god. What is logical about believing that someone rose from the dead and physically flew up into the sky as your bible says? You think that the complexity of nature is logical evidence of god. Call up a biology professor at your local university (not a religious pseudo-university) and ask that professor to explain evolution to you. Moral absolutes. Do you think that morality did not exist before the invention of christianity? Of course it did. You don't need religion to lead a moral life.

@@StudentDad-mc3pu nope, but the accumulated evidence all points to that being the case. If you have any better explanation for the resurrection, you can share it, but there hasn’t been a great argument in 2,000 years.

@@anewwaywithnoah1132 There is not a single scrap of evidence for the resurrection!

@@StudentDad-mc3pu You clearly haven't studied the subject if you think there is no evidence. Here is a playlist to get you started, and sources are included too. kzfaq.info/sun/PL1mr9ZTZb3TUYymBPce08oyuhnHLLkR_B&si=auL7GnvkMEjF0RvE

​@anewwaywithnoah1132 He won't check it out, they never do.

@@user-qe1qt7pk8m Lets not be cynical now! Pray and have hope!