Arguments for and Against Christianity!

Alright....before I start here, I want to make one thing clear. This is not a thread designed to start a jihad on ATS. The purpose of this thread is as follows:

The purpose of this thread is to present a well thought out, intelligent source for the arguments for and against Christianity. I am not attempting to convert ones faith, or push my views on anyone. I am merely presenting this information as a third party and would like to see intelligent and non flaming point of views from both sides on this issue.

So don't shoot the messenger....

And before you get your feathers ruffled, take a deep breath, check out the website and post your thoughts. If you think the website is incorrect or has fallacies, please state your thoughts. Do not flame them.

FYI, this is not my website, this is something I found online and thought was interesting. All thoughts are welcomed here.

That being said, here is an excerpt from the first page of the site and the link:

Debunking Christianity

This Blog has been created for the purpose of debunking Evangelical Christianity. We are ex-Christians, ex-ministers, and even ex-apologists for the Christian faith. We are now freethinkers, skeptics, agnostics, and atheists. With the diversity of our combined strengths we seek to debunk Christianity.

Link: debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com...

Thoughts?

[edit on 6/22/2008 by Mad_Hatter]

[edit on 6/22/2008 by Mad_Hatter]

Eh, I glanced over it, looks like the typical athiest debunking christianity thing, nothing spectacular or new, just the same old same.

Hey I got to give you credit for this find though, at least it's not that tired old Zietgiest crap. I'll look over this a bit more tomorrow though and disect it.

One thing I have found since I've joined this forum is every debate I get into with an Atheist only strengthens my faith more and more, simply because I am connecting dots that baffle them. This site shows me pieces more and more every day of what I like to call "The Great Conspiracy".
I believe we are near the ending time of the fith church spoken of in the book of revelation, either that or it's the fourth.

-Jimmy

reply to post by jimmyjackblack


Cool, thanks for your input. I am not an atheist at all. I do believe in God. Just not in the sense that most religious people do. I do not consider myself religious, merely spiritual.

I have presented this site to give Christians a chance here to stand by their religion and defend it. I am honestly interested in what you guys have to say.
Feel free to debunk the debunking. That's what its there for.

Think of it as me submitting this site to ATS for review.

Here are some questions I would like to submit for Christians to answer, as I would like to know the answer to them myself from someone more knowledgeable on the subject than myself. These are just "problems" and inconsistencies in Christianity that I have come across:

(Burdman30ott6 touched on a few of these in a previous thread but I would like more inputs also.......and burdman..feel free to join the discussion, I would like you to.)

1. Contemporaries of Jesus didn't know him: Philo was a Jewish writer that was born before the Christian era and died after Jesus. He lived near Jerusalem, but never mentioned Jesus in his account of the Jews. Josephus' "The Antiquities of the Jews" never mentioned Jesus until the fourth edition had a forged passage inserted.

2. Why is Jesus called "Jesus of Nazareth" when he was supposed to be born in Bethlehem? The census spoken of in the Bible is not mentioned in history (but this may not be something that would have been recorded by historians). Even if the census happened, it was not Roman custom that the wife accompany the husband to his place of residence. Instead, the head of the household could report, alone, to the authorities.

3. If Christ was surrounded by disciples and enthusiastic people, and was asked questions constantly by the Pharisees, why did anyone have to betray him? He wasn't in hiding...

4. Why didn't the disciples invite people to come and talk to Jesus during the forty days that he spent with them (Acts 1:3)?

5. Christ was a Jew, and his disciples were also. Why then were the gospels written in Greek? Most Biblical scholars agree that the gospels were originally written in Greek and not translated from Aramaic.

Just a few good points (in my opinion) that I think merit some good answers.

Disclaimer: I'm a theist but not of the Abrahamic faiths. I have minor biblical scholar and scriptural skills. Also I am not a scientific/legal or medical expert in any field. Beware of my Contagious Memes! & watch out that you don't get cut on my Occams razor.All of this is my personal conjecture and should not be considered the absolute or most definitive state of things as they really are. Use this information at your own risk! I accept no liability if your ideology comes crashing down around you with accompanying consequences!

Explanation: I believe a central core tenet of Christianity is that he is "the only begotten son of God" and I have recently posted a thread (here ) about debunking this using the KJV bible against itself.

Personal Disclosure: Thanks for the heads up on the website Mad_Hatter and
I love your username and Your Mad Hatter Avatar( well done Undo!). I too look forward to any Christians input into this thread and hope they can clear up any ambiguity and debunk any of our or the websites ignorances!

Become totally disillusioned and finally see everything for real. Think Globally Act Locally Feel Internally.DENY IGNORANCE 1st.

reply to post by Mad_Hatter


Christianity was considered a sect, by contemporaries of the founders.
They were known mainly for their outreach to the poor of Jerusalem, not for creating a new religion.
Josephus dealt with the three major sects of the Jews.
Christians were not well established in Josephus’ time and even if they were, he would not have gone into much detail.
Philo was a Greek Alexandrian and did not have anything to do with the Palestinian Jews and did not speak their language.
It is no surprise that Philo does not mention Jesus.
Jesus lived in the Area of Capernaum and would have been known for that, and not where he was born.
Jesus was in hiding.
He entered Jerusalem as its King and drew the hostility of the powerful people of that city.
He all of a sudden became a dangerous opponent and they had to deal with him quickly and in private to prevent an uprising.
Thousands of people saw Jesus after his crucifixion.
The Gospels were not written by the people who they were named after, but by disciples of the Apostles, who were familiar with their teachings.
They wrote in Greek and that is what survived to be handed down to us.

reply to post by Mad_Hatter


I would like to shoot the messenger.
Not really but I would like to have something to say.
My above post was written before looking at the "site" that you linked to.
Luckily you had a few questions to pose.
They seem like ordinary and legitimate questions, to me.
What is going on at this "site" is not normal.
First off, it looks like a way to sell books.
They have a way of going on and on, sounding vaguely intellectual, because they use nice sentence structure.
But, they really do not say anything.
It is more just a teaser to get you to buy books.
I, personally, find this to be the type of "site" that is the most annoying to read.
Take the challenge!
How much time and mental energy are you willing to waste, to learn absolutely nothing.


[edit on 23-6-2008 by jmdewey60]

reply to post by jmdewey60


Hmm... I agree with you, it does seem like a site that is just trying to sell some books.

-Jimmy

reply to post by Mad_Hatter


um...there are a helluva lot of arguments against christianity...they're called other religions.

but i'll just throw in one

...there's not enough evidence to support the claims made by christianity.