Not I. I was born a Catholic, but have attended Lutheran, Anglican and United schools. My father is what you'd call less than Christian, but my mother wanted me to have a private school education. In my later teen years, I have been to Baptist, AOG, and Catholic services, and enjoy them all for their own unique merits. I made and make my own decisions.People who believe in God are normally weak minded or have been forced upon as a child thus not being able to remove it from the mind.
This is true in some respects, although God is technically not the one doing "the beating". While it is true he knew the child would have an existance filled with pain and suffering, this world is not perfect. He did not create Earth as a perfect world. And the argument of "If he's perfect, why did he make suffering?", is countered by the following argument: God wanted humans to have a choice. Otherwise, it's like saying to your kid "Love Me!"Tell me if God is perfect why does he allow the creation of the imperfect or such human beings that are evil minded, thus leading to their fate in eternal hell? If God can foresee the future of these people why create them in the first place? Why create a suffering human that will go to hell? It can be compared to a father having a child for the purpose of beating him up until he dies.
The love of one being, to love someone so much to ALLOW them that choice, proves the perfectness of God. Do you think he's happy that people chose an existance that they are doomed into? Of course not! But the love he showed in giving human beings that choice, is, in my opinion, astronomical. Ever heard the saying "If you love something, let it go - if it comes back, it was always meant to be yours?" He loved enough to let us go, and make the choice of whether to come back and love Him, or to chose their own existance.
The Universe was created, Christianity explains, as an outlet for the love of God. This can not be proved or disproved, as with the entire argument: It is a matter for belief.And why did God create the universe? Was he just bored and one day decided to create the universe for the sake of it?
Dude, almost everybody in Jesus' time thought he was a nutcase. That's why he got crucified. He performed miracles to prove his Messiahness, along with incredible teachings that can be found in the Gospels. Also, if you took the time to actually read the Bible for a little while, you'd see that in the Old Testament, things were prophesised about the coming of the Messiah that came true in Jesus. See this website: http://biblia.com/jesusbible/prophecies.htmRealistically is Jesus the son of God? Or was he just a crazy man who thought he was the son of God? Why is it that Jesus suddenly claimed to be the son of God when he was an adult and not a child? If some dude popped out of nowhere today and claimed to be the son/daughter of God would you think this person is a nutcase? I think so... I mean those people are normally the idiots that commit pedophilia, "Ohh God has umm... told me... that you will be the savior of me so suck me off now".
People will believe, what people will believe. I believe that the Bible's explanation for the earth being created in seven days, is wrong. However I believe that the Bible was not created for a literal scientific purpose to describe "how", rather, to describe "why". That, plus during the 7 days of creation written about in Genesis, the concept of "days" or even "time" did not exist, so 7 days could have been millions of years. The Intelligent Design theory is a way people have tried to comprehend the reasoning of God, but, nobody is saying with logical reasoning that it is true or not. It is just a theory. Chose to believe it, or parts of it, or make your own beliefs, or don't. Simple. But don't take away somebody elses faith because of your own opinions.Doesn't the discovery of dinosaurs/evolution render the existence of God? Oh yeah I forgot... this new bullshit "Intelligent design" concept tells how God created the Big Bang and caused evolution... oh right in the 20th century God came back down to Earth and told the people "Sorry for not showing up in 2000 years but I'd like to inform you all that I created the big bang" then he suddenly pops back into the universal plains right? Oh wait no... God didn't do that because he doesn't exist, it must be the humans on Earth that are making the decisions for God...
It is my belief that God wants Christianity spread to all, and the easiest way to do that in the early years of the faith was by finding the way it would catch on the quickest - the greatest Civilization of the time - The Romans. Missionaries have gone out to the Africas and the Orient, and to all parts of the globe since then. It is also my belief that, anybody who has not had the choice laid in front of them, Christianity or not, will not be condemned. That is to say, everybody who existed before the concept of Christianity, in my belief, would not be condemned to the second death (Including newborn babies that die). This is entirely a matter of personal opinion, and I am simply sharing with you my views.If God created Earth, why are there religions and beliefs that were created before the existence of the concept of a God? Did God create Asians and Black people for the sake of sending them to hell? Let's face it, Christianity is only big because of the European sea navigation power, brainwashing all the cultures they colonise.
Look, I am happy to let you believe or not believe whatever you want. But don't go criticizing my faith. By all means, question it, but don't start calling it "Bullshit" or any other unintelligent phrase. I will not force anything on you, I'm not a crazy extremist. I'm going to believe what I'll believe, and you can believe what you'll believe. The fact of the matter is, we can argue about whether God exists or not until the end of this Earth, and still get nowhere. The argument will backwards-forwards with the same calls. I have now made my beliefs, and I am glad to let you make yours. The argument is truly a case for faith; nothing more, nothing less.