Convince is his word not mine, does this suggest somethin about the way he is approaching this?\nHe is very clever but also open minded, and he understands that it is ok to question god, but would like more 'proof'.
209732
Just pray for your brother. Sooner or later he'll figure it out for himself.
124954
If your being an honest skeptic, you would have to include the Bible as a possible source of information that God exists. Actually the proof is all around you. Think about it, how could everything (with even just a single cell being very very complex) just be here out of chance? I sugggest watching the DVD "Where does the Evidence Lead?". It's really good and explains well the case for or against intellegent design. It's very well done and helped me a lot. I also suggest reading "the Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. It's really good about showing evidence for or against whether Jesus was God and it really makes sense. Actually, Strobel was an aithiest when he conducted the research and by the time he was done, his view was completely the opposite.
100907
good point you make...i agree...keep questioning God...don't let these so called christians tell you that you will "go to hell" for asking...  God wants us to find him however we can...don't be a follower but a leader and ask ask away....
24437
Listen, don't get me wrong, I disagree almost 100% with almost every aspect of Schneb's worldview.\n\nHowever, I like the guy. Unlike many Christians he has come to where he is after a tremendous amount of study and reflection. I think that this is admirable.\n\nI've got a lot of respect for Schneb. I think he came up with the wrong solution, but he sure worked hard on the problem. He thinks that I have come up with the wrong solution, but so it goes.\n\nI have a problem with the people who blindly accept what they read or hear, taking the easy way out, and letting someone else do all that hard stuff, like "coming to your own conclusions."\n\nI often feel that it's not so much what you know, but how you think.
44662
I think he meant he dont PRE-judge anyone.  Yes I am getting stirred up over Jesus!  Look at the world and the extremely elevated debate over Christianity, if that isnt proof that the Bible is accurate, non-believers will NEVER be convinced. I am amazed at how many people I am seeing converting to Christianity.  I have even seen in the last few days people here go from anti-christ, to believer- God is amazing!\n\nNOTE: Before anyone else says he didnt ask a question, read it again- the bold highlited part.  "Getting stirred up over Jesus?"  - that looks like a question to me so,,, are you???
67934
Awesome! I respect you, alot, because of this statement. I agree that God should not be brought into alot of things. Alot of these people make such statements blindly as they've yet to receive any ACTUAL experience in the type of situation of which the person you're talking to has gone through, but they feel it necessary to enforce (selfishly, I might add.) that they are a Christian and that by saying this they gain points with God. It doesnt. Why would god want to enstill so much trauma on a person? Common sense doesnt react well with fear, and in this case it is the fear that God is abit shakey about their loyalty to him (Which if they were a true Christian then they would probably come to the conclusion that as long as you build good karma selflessly, then their diety would be happy.).\n\nNow the subject about people preaching their beliefs and then sinning out their asses, I believe you're right. In the Bible, it says that God'll cleanse your sins (NOTE: I am an Athiest and do not believe this, but this is for the sake of argument) but that doesnt mean you should rack up as much negative points while you can. A quote from an AWESOME Scream Christian Band (Hardcore True Christians, mind you.)-\n\n"...Christ is not a Fashion..." - Memphis Will Be Layed To Waste by Norma Jean.
318248
Dear Gino...\n   I'm a big, BIG fan of your work on Yahoo Q&A...and I'm a Christian!!! I agree with you on some things and others, I could understand. I hope this answer provides some kind of logical explanation.\n\nThe proof of God's existance is not in the air or in the miracles, it's in the hearts of the people who believe. You're right about one thing, if I prayed in the almighty rock to help me get through my depression, it's most likely to happen because I truly have faith in that rocks capabilities to heal me. We as people have to have that leader to turn to just in case something goes wrong or there is something that we can't handle, someone has to take that burden from us. For politians, there's President Bush; for kids, it's their parents; for those who don't believe, there's someone else who was involved; and for us Christians, there's God or Satan (depending on the problem). \n\nThere is no great amount of evidence in the world that can prove to you that prayer works unless that belief is in your own heart.\n\nI'm not one of those crazed Christians who is trying to get you to convert and believe, in fact I hope you stay the way you are...I would date you and have your babies before we even get married (HA HA). \n\nP.S Society is a load of crap sometimes...if anyones see you worshiping a rock or tree, they would have you committed to a mental institution. You have to go with the crowd to be "normal".
638749
You've just pointed out the biggest contradiction in a belief in god.  Religious people answer this (it isn't really an answer) by usually saying, "we can't understand god's will" or some such response.  But the truth is, it's contradictory and illogical.  Same thing for prayer -- if god's got a plan and it's already all laid out, why bother to pray to him for anything, since he's apparently already decided if you'll get it or not? \n\nAnd, apparently, if god has a plan, then me not believing in him is all part of his plan, and I'm just fulfilling his wishes by not believing in him -- so christians, stop trying to convert me!\n\n:)
360146
I've learned lots of things from Jim_Darwin, although sometimes he says he's Atheist and sometimes he says he's Agnostic. \n\nI guess it's that Atheists can be spiritual. The concept never occurred to me until someone (not Jim_Darwin) explained an experience he had. I would reference it, but the question was deleted for chatting. Had this person not been adamant that he was Atheist, I would have pegged him as a Pagan because of some Norse mythology he talked about. \n\nI've also learned a lot from the different questions I've answered from Atheists. Not all Atheists are belligerent, and a lot of the questions I've answered have caused me to really think, which has caused me to firm up my beliefs. Prior to coming here, I knew what I believed, but had never really put a lot of it into words. Thanks to a lot of the early questions I answered, who I later found out were Atheist/Agnostic or at least not Christian, I was able to put words to my feelings.
206292
You don't "get" a non-believer to become a believer - that implies you want control of his mind, lending credence to the idea of brainwashing. Instead, you calmly present your opinions (*IF* asked for them), and you have the courtesy and respect for the "non-believer" that you'd wish him to have of you, and allow him to make up his *own* mind *without* any undue outside pressure to "see the truth."
639556
hi..just want to share this which i faithfully believe in..and a promise he gave to us.. in (Rev. 22:1-7).. hope it helps.. thx have a good day..
612297
Damn you and your Vulcan logic.  Don't you see.... uhm it's parables, or... something... I mean... you can't... it's ....uhm....\n\nGod works in mysterious ways, and I have my faith!\n\n\nPhew... I have dodged your logic torpedoes yet again, knave!
655922
No, you're correct. Many believers can't seem to grasp this simple concept.\n\nIn the following argument (which is the same as yours, just more in depth) the author does not assign god a gender, therefor god is referred to as "it", instead of "he" or "she".\n\n"The problem here is that God knows everything that has happened and everything that will happen. Its knowledge cannot be wrong. There is not a single event that it has not foresaw. Given that it created the Universe the way it did, do we have free will? Consider that when God made the Universe it could see every possible result of what it was doing. Which means: it could not create something without knowing what the results would be, and without knowing how it would be affected (and effect) the things around it.\n\nLet's say that Fred has a choice that will save his life, to accept God or not to accept God and the final choice is to be made tomorrow. God knows already what choice he will make - God cannot be wrong therefore Fred cannot choose otherwise to what God has predicted. When God created the chain of events that made Fred it also knew that it was making Fred's choice for him, and knew how the various circumstances and character would make him choose either right or wrong. Fred would go forth and make that very decision that God knew he would make, and by virtue that God knowingly set up all the factors that affected his decision, it was not up to Fred but to God to decide how Fred would fare.\n\nThis argument does not imply that God does not exist. It leaves us with three results, two of which have to be wrong.\n\n   1. God created everything with full knowledge and we have no free will to change it\n   2. God does not have full knowledge\n   3. God did not make the Universe or there is no God"\n\n - Written by Vexen Crabtree
455291
It's interesting because I use the same thought process as you to arrive at a totally different conclusion.  For me it is like, God doesn't fit into my "nice neat little box" so he can't exist.  That might sound close-minded so I'll elaborate.  In my eyes, science is beginning to understand more and more of the world and our origins.  Now when I look at the overwhelming evidence of evolution and even just the happenings around me, I form a general understanding of the world that I am comfortable with.  Now when something enters my world view (God) I have to examine the evidence and tinker with the idea to see if it fits.  The problem with God is, I've seen no evidence and he just plain does not fit.  With science, no matter what your mindset, the evidence is right there for you to see regardless of your bias or what conclusions you draw from it.  Basically, if I saw real evidence of God, I could attempt to rearrange the rules and see if he fits, but I don't believe I should have to break the rules to even see evidence of him.  That makes it sound like the first step to becoming a Christian is to delude yourself.
286323
Well I already thought that he might not exist, but I was proven wrong by God himself as he came into my life answering my prayeri nstantly showing me the way, as I asked of him.Therefore I know  there is no way it could bre proven in any way that he didn't exist only to the contrary that he doesYou can't prove what isn't true terefore you can't prove He is not existing! Otherwise it would have been proven by now seing there are so many!trying to disprove His existance.
168940
The Christian answer is that he does try to save you. That’s what Jesus was all about. And all you have to do is have faith, which pretty much amounts to believing for the sake of believing or because you’re afraid of what will happen if you don’t. The problem with citing the bible as evidence is that the entire book amounts to nothing more than hearsay from people who barely understood the world around them. God is all-powerful, yet somehow he can’t seem to provide adequate proof that the bible is anything more than mythology. And every piece of “proof” that has been presented is flawed and the result of desperately wanting a given belief to be true.\n\nWhat I’ve seen here, so far, in the way of answers, amazes me. It’s so simple, right? Just put all of your faith into a book written 2000 years ago by people who believed, among other things, that the Earth was flat. Never doubt it, and close your mind to all logic. Just ignore the fact that logic has a MUCH better track record than tales of magic and miracles, and that stories we now know to be fictional were once accepted as fact the same way some people seem to be accepting this as fact. Just look around you. There are things we can’t understand. Pay no attention to the fact that as we gain knowledge, we learn and understand things that were once considered mysteries. That the same way some people point to life and marvel at its complexity, and claim that it MUST have been deisgned, people used to speak the same way about something as simple as a thunderstorm. We don’t understand it now, so it is impossible to understand, and therefore God must exist. Do you people see the flaw in this reasoning?!\n\nSearching with an open mind raises the kinds of questions you have just asked. Closing your mind is what provides the answers, and the fact is, it only makes sense because they want it to. I believe that the Christian answer IS possible. THAT is keeping an open mind. Insisting that it absolutely is the truth is just plain ignorant.\n\nLet me say that what so many have said, here, is possible. But it is only one of nearly infinite possibilities. Some people refuse to acknowledge that. My advice to you is this, don’t do the same. Accept that for the time being, we cannot know, and be open to all possibilities.
320378
My views will change whether Jesus comes in my lifetime or not.\n\nI know that's not what you mean, but bear with me.\n\nMy views have changed over the years and I hope to have a much deeper understanding of God and how to apply His word to my life as time goes by.  \n\nI'm not afraid of the changes and I'm not afraid to examine new evidence.  I'm not going to jump ship every time some new fad, theory, book or movie comes along.\n\nJesus didn't condemn "doubting" Thomas for wanting to see His hands and feet.  He held them out for Thomas to see.  \n\nRumors, theories, elaborate stories are not going to persuade me.  If "proof" I'm wrong ever comes along, I want to see it.  I want to inspect it for myself.  \n\nUntil then, I know Whom I have believed.