Why Do You Remain A Christian?

[JayL]

JayL: Would you do me the favor of answering a question? What convinces you that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God?

 

 

I became firmly convinced that the Bible is a supernatural book when I became born again. When I had my 'born again experience', one of several strange things that happened was that the Bible 'became open' to me. All of sudden, the Bible started to make sense! I simply could not believe what I had missed before - even though I made some serious attempts to read the Bible when I attended churches. ( When I was born again, I had not set foot in a church for 8 years. )

 

Now I was going thru the Bible with excitement and thinking, 'Wow I had no clue that these incredible ideas were in there!!! ' In fact I could not stop reading the Bible. This continued on for several days. This was a huge, huge change from before I had this born again experience. Before, I was getting bored by the Bible, keep falling asleep when I read the Bible. It is like before I was not able to connect the dots. And now, the whole picture seemed to open up and the Bible became understandable.

 

The change was so big, I HAD conclude that the Bible is no ordinary book. It IS a supernatural book. I believe God can speak through the Bible If one wants to encounter God, one good way may be to open up the Bible and start meditating and praying.

 

Translation: There's no proof that it's true, it's just a matter of feeling.

 

Jay, I had pretty much the same experience. I was "born again," felt God speak to me through the Bible, saw it all seeming to make sense and fitting together nicely.

 

 

 

 

Did anything else happen when you were 'born again'???

[mymistake]

There are some good things in the Bible.

 

And some evil things, and some stupid things, and some dishonest things, and a lot of nonsense.

 

Don't complain about getting abused when you will not respect us or our wishes.

[JayL]

JayL: Would you do me the favor of answering a question? What convinces you that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God?

 

 

I became firmly convinced that the Bible is a supernatural book when I became born again. When I had my 'born again experience', one of several strange things that happened was that the Bible 'became open' to me. All of sudden, the Bible started to make sense! I simply could not believe what I had missed before - even though I made some serious attempts to read the Bible when I attended churches. ( When I was born again, I had not set foot in a church for 8 years. )

 

Now I was going thru the Bible with excitement and thinking, 'Wow I had no clue that these incredible ideas were in there!!! ' In fact I could not stop reading the Bible. This continued on for several days. This was a huge, huge change from before I had this born again experience. Before, I was getting bored by the Bible, keep falling asleep when I read the Bible. It is like before I was not able to connect the dots. And now, the whole picture seemed to open up and the Bible became understandable.

 

The change was so big, I HAD conclude that the Bible is no ordinary book. It IS a supernatural book. I believe God can speak through the Bible If one wants to encounter God, one good way may be to open up the Bible and start meditating and praying.

 

I had just the same experience when I came born again, Jay. The Bible leaped into focus. Meaningful things, huge changes. I saw answers to prayer. Years later, enough examples of God's failure to live up to his promises made me question enough that I started to notice the immoral, unjust and contradictory things in the bible, which I had glossed over or explained away before.

 

 

 

What meaningful things or huge changes happen to you?? Can you share with us here?

[JayL]

The change was so big, I HAD conclude that the Bible is no ordinary book. It IS a supernatural book. I believe God can speak through the Bible If one wants to encounter God, one good way may be to open up the Bible and start meditating and praying.

 

I wasted twenty years asking God to reveal himself to me, and I heard exactly jack shit from him. I guess I just didn't pray hard enough, huh? Or maybe I didn't say exactly the right magic words, so it didn't work? Or maybe I tried reading the wrong translation? Or maybe I just wasn't "open" enough? Or maybe... maybe it's all just a bunch of bullshit.

 

So, why doesn't God do one of the following things, instead?

1. Write his book in a way that we can understand so that ALL people can clearly see his true nature.
    
   
2. Give everyone the same "born again" fluffy warm fuzzy experience that you had so that we can experience the same thing as you.
   

If he's allowing some people the warm fuzzies and denying others the same experience, EVEN WHEN THEY BEG TO HEAR FROM HIM, then HE'S A DICK.

The change was so big, I HAD conclude that the Bible is no ordinary book. It IS a supernatural book. I believe God can speak through the Bible If one wants to encounter God, one good way may be to open up the Bible and start meditating and praying.

 

I wasted twenty years asking God to reveal himself to me, and I heard exactly jack shit from him. I guess I just didn't pray hard enough, huh?

 

 

 

I believe the best way to see God's revelations of himself is by reading and meditating on the Bible. I doubt that you read the Bible for 20 years.

[JayL]

Anyhow thank you all for replying to my posts.

 

Have a nice Labor Day weekend.

[★ Citsonga ★]

Jay I remember you had a lot of positive responses before you tried to jam your religion down the throats of those who are not interested. If you don't like the negative responses you can always talk about something else. Agree to disagree regarding religion. We have been Christian. We know all about it. We are not going back. We are not interested. Accept this and we can all move on to other things.

 

Oh come on. Give another shot for Jesus! There are some good things in the Bible.

 

Oh come on. Give a shot for Mohammed! There are some good things in the Koran.

 

 

 

JayL: Would you do me the favor of answering a question? What convinces you that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God?

 

I became firmly convinced that the Bible is a supernatural book when I became born again. When I had my 'born again experience', one of several strange things that happened was that the Bible 'became open' to me. All of sudden, the Bible started to make sense! I simply could not believe what I had missed before - even though I made some serious attempts to read the Bible when I attended churches. ( When I was born again, I had not set foot in a church for 8 years. )

 

Now I was going thru the Bible with excitement and thinking, 'Wow I had no clue that these incredible ideas were in there!!! ' In fact I could not stop reading the Bible. This continued on for several days. This was a huge, huge change from before I had this born again experience. Before, I was getting bored by the Bible, keep falling asleep when I read the Bible. It is like before I was not able to connect the dots. And now, the whole picture seemed to open up and the Bible became understandable.

 

The change was so big, I HAD conclude that the Bible is no ordinary book. It IS a supernatural book. I believe God can speak through the Bible If one wants to encounter God, one good way may be to open up the Bible and start meditating and praying.

 

Translation: There's no proof that it's true, it's just a matter of feeling.

 

Jay, I had pretty much the same experience. I was "born again," felt God speak to me through the Bible, saw it all seeming to make sense and fitting together nicely.

 

Did anything else happen when you were 'born again'???

 

Sure. In 14 years' time as a "born again" believer, plenty happened. Nothing that can't be explained by natural means, though, just like nothing you've mentioned from your experience can't be explained by natural means. It's all in the head, Jay.

[Ouroboros]

Isn't it fascinating that God, The Creator™ of Reality, Existence, Truth, Morality, Universe, Life, Spirits, Math, Physics, ... can only prove himself in a 2,000 year old book that is up for interpretation and internal feelings rather than everyday smack-in-your-face enormous presences and activity? Does rain need to prove its own existence? No. It only needs to exist and we can see it, feel it, experience it... everyone, every time it happens. We know rain happens. And we know rain exists. And we can explain rain. But God? Who made rain can't do the same? No. God who made the rain only works mysteriously on people's emotions and delusions, very much the same way as all the other made-up imaginary gods in history.

 

The simple explanation is that God is a Spirit being. He has only limited impacts on this material world. His greatest impacts are in the realm of information.

Then he's not much of a creator or god and doesn't really deserve our praise or worship.

[Astreja]

The simple explanation is that God is a Spirit being. He has only limited impacts on this material world. His greatest impacts are in the realm of information.

 

What kind of "explanation" is that, Jay? Most of the "information" in the Bible is wrong. It talks about an exodus which never happened, a flood that never happened, and a frightening amount of supernatural woo-woo.

 

Unless your god is actually in charge of disinformation...

[♦ ficino ♦]

JayL: Would you do me the favor of answering a question? What convinces you that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God?

 

 

I became firmly convinced that the Bible is a supernatural book when I became born again. When I had my 'born again experience', one of several strange things that happened was that the Bible 'became open' to me. All of sudden, the Bible started to make sense! I simply could not believe what I had missed before - even though I made some serious attempts to read the Bible when I attended churches. ( When I was born again, I had not set foot in a church for 8 years. )

 

Now I was going thru the Bible with excitement and thinking, 'Wow I had no clue that these incredible ideas were in there!!! ' In fact I could not stop reading the Bible. This continued on for several days. This was a huge, huge change from before I had this born again experience. Before, I was getting bored by the Bible, keep falling asleep when I read the Bible. It is like before I was not able to connect the dots. And now, the whole picture seemed to open up and the Bible became understandable.

 

The change was so big, I HAD conclude that the Bible is no ordinary book. It IS a supernatural book. I believe God can speak through the Bible If one wants to encounter God, one good way may be to open up the Bible and start meditating and praying.

 

I had just the same experience when I came born again, Jay. The Bible leaped into focus. Meaningful things, huge changes. I saw answers to prayer. Years later, enough examples of God's failure to live up to his promises made me question enough that I started to notice the immoral, unjust and contradictory things in the bible, which I had glossed over or explained away before.

 

 

 

What meaningful things or huge changes happen to you?? Can you share with us here?

My first thought for a response was to say that really, the "changes" were all in my head. Then I saw that Citsonga already gave that answer to your same question to him. But that's what they were. The most concrete thing was that when I became Catholic, I stopped masturbating completely. I did love things like reciting the Divine Office and praying the Rosary. It was a little like meditation, though not as far as Antlerman goes with that.

Editing to add: at the beginning I was thrilled at many events that I took to be answers to prayer. I also "got the Baptism." These things were cool. I made a lot of friends at college who were having the same experiences. It seemed to all of us that "the Lord is moving," etc. It was also comforting to think that someone was watching over me/us and that heaven awaited. Later I realized that all of these things looked rosy because I had rose colored glasses on - it was all in my head, and in our collective heads.

 

I hope you don't say I was never truly born again, Jay, because that would just be the No True Scotsman fallacy all over again.

[lunaticheathen]

Perhaps the key to successful relationship is to constantly affirm the other partner. For example, with my wife, I try to remember to say positive things to her whenever chance arises. In the same way, I am always saying, Praise God! Thank you Jesus! etc. That way, I do not feel like I am in an abusive relationship.

 

 

This kind of reminds me of 'Animal House' movie from late 70's. ( I think it was that movie.) These two guys are trying to join fraternity. And the initiation is to get whacked on their butts. But whenever they get hit, they have to swallow their pain and say, 'Thank you, sir. May I have another?'

 

Hey, if you can do that to join a worthless fraternity, why can't I do that to make it Heaven?

 

I guess this may a poor analogy...

 

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS???

 

This just proves it's an abusive belief, you whacktard.

[mcdaddy]

This shit-for-braIns needs to be ignored completely.

[Thought2Much]

I wasted twenty years asking God to reveal himself to me, and I heard exactly jack shit from him. I guess I just didn't pray hard enough, huh?

 

I believe the best way to see God's revelations of himself is by reading and meditating on the Bible. I doubt that you read the Bible for 20 years.

 

Ah, yes, the "you just didn't do it right" Christian meme for explaining lack of evidence of God in my life. How... original. So, JayL, since I guess I didn't do it enough, exactly how much do you need to read the Bible before God gets off his ass and comes and talks to you? Hmmm? And where is that written down by God so that I would have known that while I was a Christian? Or is that just something you pulled out of your own ass?

 

And it's funny, because I know people that read the Bible less than I did, yet they still claimed to have heard from God regularly. Go figure.

[Akheia]

Perhaps the key to successful relationship is to constantly affirm the other partner. For example, with my wife, I try to remember to say positive things to her whenever chance arises. In the same way, I am always saying, Praise God! Thank you Jesus! etc. That way, I do not feel like I am in an abusive relationship.

 

Of course you don't. Abused people often don't recognize the signs until they're well out of it. I didn't realize my last relationship was with a Grade-A controller until we'd broken up and my best friend told me how worried she'd been for me. I'd thought he was kind of a mama's boy, honestly, up till then. For me, I didn't realize how abusive the religion was until I'd deconverted; I deconverted on the basis of seeing that the Bible's promises were all smoke and lies, not on the abusiveness of it, though that abusiveness is what I object to most now.

 

Also, you are a real person. Your wife is also a real person. When you affirm her, she hears you, sees you, can touch you. You cannot hear, see, or touch Jesus, for all your posturing otherwise. We have, every one of us, been there, where we must say we felt or heard or saw him, when really we didn't do anything of the sort. You are imagining Jesus talking to you. And by wild coincidence, he's saying the things to you that you imagine he *would* say. That's the key, Jay: when your imaginary voices coincide completely with your own opinions, that's when you know you're not talking to a real person. I feel safe in saying that these imaginary voices have ever, even once, said something that you couldn't figure out for yourself with intuition or knowledge. Nor do I think Jesus, if he were real, would say the things to you you have written here. I don't honestly think he'd approve at all of you wasting time online when you should be out doing miracles and healing amputees in his name. Yet here you are sitting on your ass wasting precious minutes. We're apostates. We've all blasphemed the Holy Spirit. We're going to hell. Why aren't you feeding the hungry or washing the feet of lepers or something? Or is a nice cushy online "witnessing field" what you imagine Jesus wanted for you when tens of millions are starving and suffering while you wheedle and snivel and parrot apologetics about imaginary friends?

 

This kind of reminds me of 'Animal House' movie from late 70's. ( I think it was that movie.) These two guys are trying to join fraternity. And the initiation is to get whacked on their butts. But whenever they get hit, they have to swallow their pain and say, 'Thank you, sir. May I have another?'

 

Hey, if you can do that to join a worthless fraternity, why can't I do that to make it Heaven?

 

I guess this may a poor analogy...

 

Yes, it was Animal House. One of my favorite movies, really. But it's a perfectly awful analogy, Jay. Here is why:

 

1) If God is hitting me on the ass with a stick, that's not very loving, and he never explains why he's doing it or what I can do to avoid getting more of it. He never gives me even the chance to refuse to join his frat or to refuse to get hit on the ass with a stick; either I submit to humiliating torture and join, or when I leave the building I'm going to get tortured to death. If this is your analogy for heaven, then I'm not exactly unhappy to be going elsewhere. Your god is a fucking DICK.

 

2) I can see the fraternity. It has a letterhead, a website, and members I can see and touch and talk to. I can knock on the frat's door and I can walk into their living room and drink beer with the members. I know the fraternity exists. They throw wild parties and I can see beer bottles on their lawn afterwards (I used to live directly across the street from a TKE house in Kansas, so I know whereof I speak). I see them walking past and I can wave to them and ask how their day went, and what classes they're taking, and they can answer (or call me names, whatever). None of these things apply to your deity or religion. You don't know what's going to happen after death any more than we do; we're just honest enough to say we don't know, and we're honest enough not to want comforting lies as we navigate our lives.

 

Until you have evidence of your claims, I don't see why I should give them a single jot of credence.

[TrueFreedom]

So, Jay thinks that for a chance at heaven after we die we should spend enough time reading (not studying) the Bible to start believing it (brainwashing) and agree to be spanked by God, thank him for it, and ask for more. Sounds like a wonderful life!

 

No need trying to improve anyone's lives down here. Just get everyone to get spanked and pretend to enjoy it! It'll get better when we die!

[Akheia]

I believe the best way to see God's revelations of himself is by reading and meditating on the Bible. I doubt that you read the Bible for 20 years.

 

Ah, the No True Scotsman fallacy. I wondered when you'd pull that out of your ass. Obviously, we didn't know God "enough" so we fell away. I was a minister's wife who regularly talked theology with the greatest minds of my denomination. Others here attended seminary or were actually ministers themselves. Others faithfully prayed and attended church and read their Bibles religiously. But none of us did enough to justify ourselves to you. My goodness, you're an proud, arrogant prick, aren't you?

 

So you're saying that Paul's conversion wasn't valid because he hadn't read and meditated on the Bible enough? Most converts don't study the Bible that long either, but you don't have objections to them not having spent enough time meditating on its blatant lies. Nor do I believe you've spent all that much time really studying it, because you have a shocking lack of understanding for someone who is claiming to be an expert. Jesus said it was supposed to be simple and easy to understand, you dim bulb (except for when he was insinuating mystery-religion stuff to his closest followers). If it takes that long to understand it, I would posit that nobody, not even you, know enough to consider yourself a TRUE CHRISTIAN.

 

So much much does someone need to study this book before you can say they are well and truly educated enough to understand it? You see, I see why you're so insistent that we didn't do enough. You need to believe that the problem is us, not with your religion. If we did do enough, and we still left, then the real and pressing threat exists that the problem isn't us, but the message itself. What a scary notion that must be! So please entertain for a moment the idea, Jay. Think about it. What if we did do enough? What if we did read enough, pray enough, study enough? What if we knew more about the Bible than you do and what if we saw more and did more than you've ever done.... and we still left and are completely confident it's all just a big con? What if the problem isn't us?

[mcdaddy]

I wouldnt expect a response for a while. This is the typical act Jay engages in. Shows up, takes a verbal shit to get everybody that allows it all riled up, then leaves without aptly answering any questions.

 

Typical shtick.

[midniterider]

 

Perhaps the key to successful relationship is to constantly affirm the other partner. For example, with my wife, I try to remember to say positive things to her whenever chance arises. In the same way, I am always saying, Praise God! Thank you Jesus! etc. That way, I do not feel like I am in an abusive relationship.

 

 

Yes, Xians are always saying things like 'praise god.' Hare Krishnas like to bang on a tambourine and say, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna...." over and over again.

 

 

Same kinda nonsense.

[midniterider]

JayL: Would you do me the favor of answering a question? What convinces you that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God?

 

 

I became firmly convinced that the Bible is a supernatural book when I became born again. When I had my 'born again experience', one of several strange things that happened was that the Bible 'became open' to me. All of sudden, the Bible started to make sense! I simply could not believe what I had missed before - even though I made some serious attempts to read the Bible when I attended churches. ( When I was born again, I had not set foot in a church for 8 years. )

 

Now I was going thru the Bible with excitement and thinking, 'Wow I had no clue that these incredible ideas were in there!!! ' In fact I could not stop reading the Bible. This continued on for several days. This was a huge, huge change from before I had this born again experience. Before, I was getting bored by the Bible, keep falling asleep when I read the Bible. It is like before I was not able to connect the dots. And now, the whole picture seemed to open up and the Bible became understandable.

 

The change was so big, I HAD conclude that the Bible is no ordinary book. It IS a supernatural book. I believe God can speak through the Bible If one wants to encounter God, one good way may be to open up the Bible and start meditating and praying.

 

I had just the same experience when I came born again, Jay. The Bible leaped into focus. Meaningful things, huge changes. I saw answers to prayer. Years later, enough examples of God's failure to live up to his promises made me question enough that I started to notice the immoral, unjust and contradictory things in the bible, which I had glossed over or explained away before.

 

 

 

What meaningful things or huge changes happen to you?? Can you share with us here?

My first thought for a response was to say that really, the "changes" were all in my head. Then I saw that Citsonga already gave that answer to your same question to him. But that's what they were. The most concrete thing was that when I became Catholic, I stopped masturbating completely. I did love things like reciting the Divine Office and praying the Rosary. It was a little like meditation, though not as far as Antlerman goes with that.

Editing to add: at the beginning I was thrilled at many events that I took to be answers to prayer. I also "got the Baptism." These things were cool. I made a lot of friends at college who were having the same experiences. It seemed to all of us that "the Lord is moving," etc. It was also comforting to think that someone was watching over me/us and that heaven awaited. Later I realized that all of these things looked rosy because I had rose colored glasses on - it was all in my head, and in our collective heads.

 

I hope you don't say I was never truly born again, Jay, because that would just be the No True Scotsman fallacy all over again.

 

The power of group think is amazing.

[midniterider]

The change was so big, I HAD conclude that the Bible is no ordinary book. It IS a supernatural book. I believe God can speak through the Bible If one wants to encounter God, one good way may be to open up the Bible and start meditating and praying.

 

I wasted twenty years asking God to reveal himself to me, and I heard exactly jack shit from him. I guess I just didn't pray hard enough, huh? Or maybe I didn't say exactly the right magic words, so it didn't work? Or maybe I tried reading the wrong translation? Or maybe I just wasn't "open" enough? Or maybe... maybe it's all just a bunch of bullshit.

 

So, why doesn't God do one of the following things, instead?

1. Write his book in a way that we can understand so that ALL people can clearly see his true nature.
    
   
2. Give everyone the same "born again" fluffy warm fuzzy experience that you had so that we can experience the same thing as you.
   

If he's allowing some people the warm fuzzies and denying others the same experience, EVEN WHEN THEY BEG TO HEAR FROM HIM, then HE'S A DICK.

The change was so big, I HAD conclude that the Bible is no ordinary book. It IS a supernatural book. I believe God can speak through the Bible If one wants to encounter God, one good way may be to open up the Bible and start meditating and praying.

 

I wasted twenty years asking God to reveal himself to me, and I heard exactly jack shit from him. I guess I just didn't pray hard enough, huh?

 

 

 

I believe the best way to see God's revelations of himself is by reading and meditating on the Bible. I doubt that you read the Bible for 20 years.

 

I tried meditating on the bible. My ass got sore after a few minutes so I replaced the bible with a cushion and it worked much better. Reading the same book over and over or reinforcing the same scriptural ideas over and over isn't meditation, it's programming. A revelation would bring some 'new' idea, would it not? Yet, xianity is the same old shit yesterday, today and forever. Heb 13:8. Why does your god not reveal anything new? Just the same old regurgitated crap every other fucking xian spouts. Your religion has zero originality. Zero creativity. You are not a human being. You are a computer program. You don't 'think', you execute program instructions from the xian program.

[Thought2Much]

You are not a human being. You are a computer program. You don't 'think', you execute program instructions from the xian program.

 

And this is yet another reason why The Matrix resonates the way it does with many ex-christians.

[mcdaddy]

The change was so big, I HAD conclude that the Bible is no ordinary book. It IS a supernatural book. I believe God can speak through the Bible If one wants to encounter God, one good way may be to open up the Bible and start meditating and praying.

 

I wasted twenty years asking God to reveal himself to me, and I heard exactly jack shit from him. I guess I just didn't pray hard enough, huh? Or maybe I didn't say exactly the right magic words, so it didn't work? Or maybe I tried reading the wrong translation? Or maybe I just wasn't "open" enough? Or maybe... maybe it's all just a bunch of bullshit.

 

So, why doesn't God do one of the following things, instead?

1. Write his book in a way that we can understand so that ALL people can clearly see his true nature.
    
   
2. Give everyone the same "born again" fluffy warm fuzzy experience that you had so that we can experience the same thing as you.
   

If he's allowing some people the warm fuzzies and denying others the same experience, EVEN WHEN THEY BEG TO HEAR FROM HIM, then HE'S A DICK.

The change was so big, I HAD conclude that the Bible is no ordinary book. It IS a supernatural book. I believe God can speak through the Bible If one wants to encounter God, one good way may be to open up the Bible and start meditating and praying.

 

I wasted twenty years asking God to reveal himself to me, and I heard exactly jack shit from him. I guess I just didn't pray hard enough, huh?

 

 

 

I believe the best way to see God's revelations of himself is by reading and meditating on the Bible. I doubt that you read the Bible for 20 years.

 

I tried meditating on the bible. My ass got sore after a few minutes so I replaced the bible with a cushion and it worked much better. Reading the same book over and over or reinforcing the same scriptural ideas over and over isn't meditation, it's programming. A revelation would bring some 'new' idea, would it not? Yet, xianity is the same old shit yesterday, today and forever. Heb 13:8. Why does your god not reveal anything new? Just the same old regurgitated crap every other fucking xian spouts. Your religion has zero originality. Zero creativity. You are not a human being. You are a computer program. You don't 'think', you execute program instructions from the xian program.

 

I like this.

 

I like it a lot.

[Akheia]

MR, that made me simply swoon. Good work.

 

You know, there's a reason why Christian music is either poorly-filked secular stuff or hugely schlocky, unoriginal crap. There's a reason why Christian movies are so horrible that only Christians would ever like them. There's a reason why Christian apologetics all say the same old stuff in newly-packaged ways. Christians not only have inadequate critical thinking skills, but precious little memory for what's gone before. But far worse than all of this, it has as its "source material" one mythological book compiled thousands years ago. There's been no new source material since what, 30ish CE? So they have to keep going back to a well that went dry long, long ago. The packaging and excuses are getting slicker, but the stuff in the box is still the same old stinking refuse.

[Thought2Much]

MR, that made me simply swoon. Good work.

 

You know, there's a reason why Christian music is either poorly-filked secular stuff or hugely schlocky, unoriginal crap. There's a reason why Christian movies are so horrible that only Christians would ever like them. There's a reason why Christian apologetics all say the same old stuff in newly-packaged ways. Christians not only have inadequate critical thinking skills, but precious little memory for what's gone before. But far worse than all of this, it has as its "source material" one mythological book compiled thousands years ago. There's been no new source material since what, 30ish CE? So they have to keep going back to a well that went dry long, long ago. The packaging and excuses are getting slicker, but the stuff in the box is still the same old stinking refuse.

 

You poor, poor person. I will pray for you. Why, oh why, would you need more evidence than an empty tomb? The tomb is empty! Don't you know what that means? It means that Christ isn't in it! He rose again, so now it's empty! There is no other way a tomb could conceivably be empty, except Jesus rose from the dead and left! That's the only way you get an empty tomb! What possible new evidence could you need? That's the problem with you atheists: you all set the bar way too high for the burden of proof!

 

I mean, really — the tomb is empty. Case closed. Show's over. We're done here. There is no further proof or source material needed.

[mcdaddy]

And it doesn't matter that there was no tomb veneration until 400 years later. That is irrelevant.

[Akheia]

Shh. Don't get everybody all confused, McDaddy. Everything in Christianity sprang fully-formed from God's brow like grey-eyed Athena from Zeus', with absolutely no changes or redefinitions anywhere in it. It's infallible, and infallibility means it can't change ever because change would mean moving from perfection to perfection, and it's always perfect. Don't look behind the curtain! No, don't!