Is Christianity a Myth

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If I heard a bang, I would wonder what caused the noise–however, I would allow for the possible explanation that the bang was random and spontaneous. I am more convinced in Christianity by the witness of the apostles then any rational argument. My faith will always be based upon the traditions handed down from Christ to the apostles: the Church is one, holy, apostolic Church–I submit to the Pope and Bishops.
 
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Charbrah:
If I heard a bang, I would wonder what caused the noise–however, I would allow for the possible explanation that the bang was random and spontaneous. I am more convinced in Christianity by the witness of the apostles then any rational argument. My faith will always be based upon the traditions handed down from Christ to the apostles: the Church is one, holy, apostolic Church–I submit to the Pope and Bishops.
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Ah, but you have postulated an empty universe. What was it that is there to be randomly causing it again?
 
HI,

I have gone through what you are going through. Just from experience I can say that God WANTS to reveal Himself to you and He is showing you the areas in your heart, in your thinking that you have to deal with, the answers are there for you and they will take time as well.

Doubting your faith is frightening and usually riddled with guilt for doing so.

The funny thing with that is that pride shows its ugly head. Put simply, God already knows our thoughts and doubts, why are we guilty about admitting it but usually perfectly willing to hide it? So we dont hurt our pride, so you are right about needing humility, I battle with it all the time

Mostly its just frightening…you are seeking God and you want answers and you are being proposed with a thousand different reasons why you cant believe in Jesus or why you cant trust the Bible, or (what I am dealing with now) why you cant be Roman Catholic or why you cant be Orthodox, the confusion never seems to end.

Maybe the Lord will grant you a special blessing and a comfort from His holy angels or some other wondeful thing out of His mercy.

All in all youre supposed to have questions until you are mature enough in the faith to go on to the next level where you no longer have to battle with certain questions because you are fully persuaded of the truth, how else would you grow unless you asked questions?

If you want to, you can private message me, Im new to the forum and dont know how that works, but I can learn.
 
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Charbrah:
I used to think that Christianity could not be a myth…
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This atheist wonders, why do you care?

If your doubt concerns your religious faith as such, you have a deeper issue to sort out than the historical accuracy of the Bible. If you doubt the historical accuracy only, this isn’t a real problem unless you also believe the Bible to be literally true. In that case, the historical accuracy is the least of your concerns…
 
the big-bang provides an adequate scientific explanation that seems suffice that the universe and all that is in it was contained in an infinitly dense point of space, the point exploded, and the universe has been expanding ever since.
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The Big Bang theory was developed by a Catholic priest, George Lemaître. It is not atheistic at all. In fact, despite it being one of the best supported theories regarding the origin of the universe, I’ve heard it attacked for being too Theistic!

You can read about the Big Bang theory at:
ask.yahoo.com/ask/20001027.html
 
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Ghosty:
The Big Bang theory was developed by a Catholic priest, George Lemaître. It is not atheistic at all. In fact, despite it being one of the best supported theories regarding the origin of the universe, I’ve heard it attacked for being too Theistic!

You can read about the Big Bang theory at:
ask.yahoo.com/ask/20001027.html
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Indeed, in fact it was preciesly because it was so theistic that many scientists refused to take the theory seriously for a long time. Some still dismiss it today.
 
If your “to read” list grows at a faster pace than your “read” list, this tape set may be helpful – particularly the last tape in this set which describes various resurrection conspiracy theories and explains why those theories really don’t make sense. Good to listen to while commuting to work.

I have also had those doubts before as well – what if it was some sort of conspiracy? But I always come back to the same question, why? What would be gained? As mentioned previously, nearly all the apostles were martyred. And why would the Gospel writers write things such as “get behind me Satan” or describe St. Peter’s denial of Jesus, or the confrontation between St. Paul and St. Peter in Galations 2? Seems like there’s at least some minimal whitewashing that could’ve been done if it were all a hoax.

If it was all a hoax it was the most elaborate, master-minded hoax ever and no other hoax in human history has come even close – unless the earth really is flat. The most plausible explanation is that it really happened.
 
Indeed, in fact it was preciesly because it was so theistic that many scientists refused to take the theory seriously for a long time. Some still dismiss it today.
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Too true. I find it funny that the most scientifically supported origin theory is a Theistic one, and that despite it’s scientific weight, some deny it because of its pedigree alone 😛
 
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Charbrah:
I used to think that Christianity could not be a myth–that in no way could a group of people create such an intricate and elaborate story about a messiah. Now I am of the persuasion that a group of people, learned in Jewish scripture, could have fabricated a messiah out of events which reflected Old Testament prophecies about the messiah.
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I don’t quite see how. The whole scam would have had to have been developed in time for the tearing of the veil, and completed by then. Josephus and other reporters would have had to have been “taken in” by the scam. The scam would have had to have been perfect, in order that the heresies not bring it down and that there not be the consistency and harmony in the writings that would withstand thousands of years.

I can appreciate the difficulty of needing to “know.” I’d suggest a reading of Warren H. Carroll’s “The Founding of Christendom.” He deals with a lot of the “newly thought up” challenges and misunderstandings of the Bible and shows how ongoing archaeology and careful analysis brings us back to a very contemporary orthodox Catholic understanding (very nearly identical to classical orthodox Catholic understanding) of the Bible. Of course “having it in writing” is a relatively modern concept of evidence.
 
I haven’t seen this entire thread, so maybe someone already suggested this, but a great book for a person who is stuggling with doubts such as yours is Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis. He was an atheist who discovered faith, and helped opthers to discover it with this sensible, logical, and moving book. Its really a wonderful book - one that strengthened my faith considerably, and one that might help you!

I will keep you in my prayers!
 
Charbrah,

Thank you for asking your question so well. This is one of the questions that has been haunting me as well, and the replies in this thread have been very helpful.

You mentioned science explaining life, but science cannot explain why *anything at all is existence. *Try looking up information on the search for Higg’s Boson, (aka the “God Particle”). The current, most accepted theory in particle physics, the Standard Model, needs this particle and its corresponding field in order to explain why *any particle has mass, and what holds them all together. * Without it, according to the widely accepted Standard Model, all particles would fly apart at the speed of light. Scientists have been searching for this particle for years, and have not found it. So, recently they recalculated the mass of the theoretical particle, and are continuing the search. Also, there’s String Theory, that goes another level deeper than the particles of the Standard Theory, and says that everything is made of massless strings, like rubber bands, and that theory requires the existence of several additional spacial dimensions… It all makes me smile.

Thank you again for your questions and all of the thoughtful replies.
 
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Charbrah:
Uncertainty is my heaviest cross to bear, I want to be certain in my faith–and as Thomas doubted, I doubt.
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Saving faith is a gift from God; it is not something that we generate by force of will.

"Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
Matt. 7:7-8

God gives all men the grace sufficient for their salvation, but it is possible to resist saving grace. The gift of faith can be refused, and God will not force this gift upon a man that chooses not to believe.

“I believe; help my unbelief!”
Mark 9:24
 
Rudolf Bultmann is the theologian who has sparked a lot of debate and discussion on mythology in Christianity.

Do a google search on Bultmann and you will find a treasure of references. Searching on “Bultman” gives a different list.

Here’s a link I found about 25 pages of hits into the google search

biblicaltheology.com/Research/CarterJ05.html

that may give a flavor of the debate. The issue is whether the gospels contain the historical Jesus. Current Catholic scholarship says “no” (1) – so we’re off and running into the myths of scripture.

(1) see the section on the historical Jesus in the New Jerome Biblical Commentary. This is not for the faint of heart.
 
The event was something like this.

Sir Isaac newton had an artist build a working mechanical model of the known Solar System. It was awesome: moving gears etc.

A friend of Newton’s, an atheist, on entering the building and seeing this marvel asked, “Who built this?”

Newton: " No one."

Atheist.“What are you saying? Who built this wonderful model?”

Newton: “I told you. No one built it.”

Atheist: “Why do you not tell me the artist’s name?”

Newton: “Why do you insist that someone made this working model, this representation, when you say that no one made the reality that it is based on?”
 
“I have heard that matter at the sub-atomic level pops in and out of existence–and I know a little bit about matter and anti-matter.”
The problem with this is that it assumes that space-time and the Laws of Physics, in some form or another, have existed since all eternity. How and why? Where did the singularity that began the Universe come from? An eternal cycle, as some scientists propogate, has no beginning nor end, and also makes no sense…where did the order come from and why does it exist?
I also have a very hard time accepting that the earliest life could arise without God. A primitive semi-living proto-organism would not have the capability to reporduce, as it would have been formed by the random interaction of chemicals…and there is NO WAY that, by random chance, the mechanisms necessary for DNA or RNA (or even a more primitive pre-RNA system) could arise on their own. The machinery of a cell is far to complex. Evolution would not be possible before the mechanisms necessary for evolution were in place. How did life get to the point in which it could start to evolve? (I have reservations regarding the idea that God used evolution, at this point, by the way…but for the sake of an argument…).

Anyway, I highly recommend The Case for Christ as well. The historical evidence for Christ is overwhelming. (Mind you, it is a Protestant book).
 
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