Political Crossfire Forums

1 - My parents were Baptist, then Methodist, then Presbyterian. I went to a Catholic school. I am all of those religions, and none of them. I have my own beliefs.

2 - They are the same voice. God is everything.

3 - Because they are wrong. Books are written by people who want to make a point. Then, individual books were collected and arranged by even more powerful people who wanted to consolidate power and control. Thus, the Bible.

4 - Humans fear death because we fear all things unknown. God is all-knowing, and so is Jesus, so He knew what death is/was, and didn't fear it.

5 - Because Churches are no better or worse than most organizations of people.

If I might add a 6th question:

If God is all-knowing, and He is "love", why would he create us as imperfect creatures who are going to do bad things, and then punish us for those things?

To me, it's like a parent giving a lighter to a child and telling them not to set anything on fire. Can you really get mad when they burn the house down? Personally, I think that everyone goes to the same place (heaven, into the dirt, wherever - it doesn't matter, because it doesn't change anything) regardless of how they live their lives. Frankly, if God's love is conditional upon us "doing the right things and asking His forgiveness", then I'm better than Him (I love my children, even when they do wrong and don't think they are wrong) and could care less about going to Heaven after death.

I dug the Crusade bit.

like war fought between the French, Greek and Turks over control of the Eastern Mediterranean 900 years ago has an impact on my faith.

I have a question to add though. When I told people that my grandma became a Christian without any prior exposure to Christianity people always doubt my claim. They kept saying that there must have been a missionary or another Christian that exposed her to it. And I asked why. If God speaks to people why can't there by spontaneous conversions?