Christians cant handle the harsh realities of life and the universe.

Thats right ,you christians are scared of life and death.You need comforting fairytales to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.Its ok because when you die you have a nice little paradise to go live in for eternity.And your daddy god will be there to tuck you in every night.You cant handle the fact that we inhabit one anonymous little blue speck in the vastness of the universe so you think that earth is gods special planet.In reality its just one world out countless trillions.

And Christians are labelled intolerant and hateful?

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7 lights--Would you like to blame me for the crusades as well? Or maybe for the construction of the creationist museums? That's like me blaming you for Bush's screw ups because you're an american.

My belief has nothing to do with a fear of death.

TD--if you're into the space stuff, you ought to read the first two books of CS Lewis' space trilogy (out of the silent planet and prelandra).

The bible was never intended to be the defining textbook for the universe.

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Seven lights is right on.A christians whole life is centered around his religious beliefs.Take that away and you people will be hopeless and lost.Of course its fear of death.You dont want to accept the possibility of eternally rotting so you believe in a little paradise to live out your eternity.I dont like the thought of dying either but when my time does come I will face it without the comfort of a fairytale.

This is an old cliche, but it fits here so well:
"I would rather believe what I believe and be wrong, than believe what you believe (bnash, Seven Lights, TD) and be wrong"

So your christianty is a just in case insurance policy.You just proved my point.And by the way your dead wrong,your religion is so obviously a fairytale that Im not worried about going to your fictional hell.

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Good show Boba.
There is a wonderful essay by C.S. Lewis called "De Futilitate." He tells the story of a discussion between him and a friend that is overheard by a simple man...well, I'll just quote him!
"Now in one way, I am the worst person in the world to address you on this subject [i.e., the futility of life and purposelessness of existence]. Perhaps because I had a not very happy boyhood, or perhaps because of some peculiarity in my glands, I am too familiar with the idea of futility to feel the shock of it so sharply as a good speaker on the subject ought to. Early in this war [WWII] a labouring man who was doing a midnight Home Guard Patrol with another educated man and myself, discovered from our conversation that we did not expect that this war would end wars, or, in general, that human misery would ever be abolished. I shall never forget that man standing still there in the moonlight for at least a whole minute, as this entirely novel idea sank in and at last breaking out 'Then what's the good of the ruddy world going on?' What astonished me--for I was as much astonished as the workman--was the fact that this misgiving was wholly new to him. How, I wondered, could a man have reached the middle forties without ever before doubting whether there WAS any good in the ruddy world going on? Such security was to me unimaginable."
C.S. Lewis, "De Futilitate," Christian Reflections, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980, p.57ff
As to being afraid of death...you other boys are whistling in the dark. We Christians know that there is good death and bad death. We are all born with the bad death built in. We didn't ask for it and denying it won't make it disappear. You think you are all manned up because you are not being taken in by children's fairy tales? Well, have you given up eating bread because you are big boys now? Boys and adolescents are concerned with whether or not they are grown up, we adults don't worry about it, we just move forward with the responsibilities we have. One responsibility is to have adequate insurance. Look around you and you will find that a large part of the infrastructue of your life is built on the principle of "fail-safe." It's wise to do so. A weir separates the front brake fluid compartment from the rear...just in case you rupture a brake line, you won't lose it all. Or do you think it is wise to defy the designers of automobiles by using your feet to stop the car like Fred Flintstone? Do you think I should apologize to you for being prepared to meet my creator? You think it bothers me that you call that fire insurance? You think I am not concerned that you have a trifling idea of what evil and hell are and that you want to argue about it with people you can get spun up rather than devoting your life to honestly studying everything you can on the subject(s) so you can serve mankind. Oh, wait, serving mankind...that would be what people in fairy tales do!

"The Bible is clearly not full of fantasy, just open it up and start reading. Start in Genesis, go all the way through, discover for yourself that its record is 100% non-fiction."

So you are saying Jesus was crucified four times and Mary was a virgin and gave birth two times around? That is how it would have to be if all 4 Gospels are 100% true.

100 percent nonficton huh.Christians never seize to amaze me with their blind ignorance.The bible is more far fetched than the lord of the rings could ever hope to be.The matrix has you boba.

Brian K. Jones says:
The bible was never intended to be the defining textbook for the universe.

Then what was it intended to be? If the bible is earth-specific, then are there other holy texts for other planets? If the bible was inspired/authored by a divine being, why not tell us a bit about what the universe is like? God should have known we'd want to know...he did create us, after all.

Tero said "Jesus was crucified four times and Mary was a virgin and gave birth two times around?"

No.

If there are 4 witnesses to an accident, does it mean there were really 4 accidents?
(rhetorical, no need for response)

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T.J. Gates said: "why not tell us a bit about what the universe is like?"

I believe those discoveries are left for eternity, I really don't believe that we will just be sitting around in Heaven eating & drinking from the Tree of Life and River of Life, respectively, forever and ever.

God doesn't want for us to be bored, He is leaving many discoveries for us to occupy our eternal existence.

Don't miss out :o)

Buba believer says: "I discovered that God's Word gives us a full account of real history from the time of Adam & Eve to New Testament times"

Oh my....

coloryst says" "We Christians know that there is good death and bad death"

My oh my....

Buba says: "If there are 4 witnesses to an accident, does it mean there were really 4 accidents?"

My my...

You do realize that none of the gospel writers was actually a witness. And that most theologens and scholars believe the latter three to be based pretty much entirely upon Mark's account and that the editorial differences are really quite telling in terms of the political message each was striving for (incl in this was to emphasise certain points dependent on the audience - more gentile/roman as time went on - also apealing to different/differently accepted prophecies and also to cover up certain aspects of the earlier text and explain it differently...ie these were deliberate changes (of specifics and perspective)...and there were some more not ultimatly accepted for inclusion by the religious political bodies in the suceeding centuries. And it is clear that Mark was a literary exercise - not an actual eyewitness account nor even any collection of oral tradition per se (though perhaps in part - though clearly not for the whole). And in regards to the old testament....as true history...(choke)...what can I say....

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Seven Lights: "Studied it for years, hon, and it truly is one of the biggest pieces of crap I've ever seen. Allegedly, something wirtten in collaboration with a perfect, universe-creating being, yet chalk full of contradictions and errors."

Could you elaborate on that?

I disagree. I am an atheist, but I think you are in error here. I find it far, far easier to believe in a world without god than to believe that a god could exist when the world is such a vicious, savage place. Believing in a good god seems idiotic in the face of such pain. There is very real comfort in atheism. At least by not believing, I do not have to accept that the creator of the world is also a heartless monster, but that rather we are all the results of indifferent, amoral forces.

THOTH pbuh said: "You do realize..."

You help to prove my point, the Bible does not record 4 separate crucifictions and 2 virgin births, no matter <i>when</i> the accounts were written, they record of single events multiple times.

Seven Lights said "Cultism for fire insurance, "just in case"..."

Asked and answered.