Hello Derek,

Yes, I do like an argument that makes sense....one that's reasonable, logical, and sound.

Regarding my desire to believe in the notion of eternal life in paradise, it certainly feels better to believe, but that alone is not proof of anything except that humans have deep-rooted insecurities about death and that believing in an afterlife in paradise helps to ease our fear and makes us more emotionally secure.  And you don't have to be a Christian to get this security blanket either, all religions offer the promise of a better existence in the afterlife if one is worthy.  People who worship other gods get the same feeling of peace and hope that Christians get.  If you had been born in China or India you would most likely have a different religion and a different god, and yet you would surely feel the same fulfillment and security in whichever god you believed in.  It's all because the human mind needs an emotional crutch when it comes to death.

Regarding your evidences for the existence of a man named Jesus, I am very interested in whether a man named Jesus actually existed.  I wish I had time to thoroughly research all of the sources you listed.  By the way, what do these authors say about the more incredible accounts found in the New Testament about Jesus, such as....walking on water, raising the dead, turning water into wine and bread into fish, healing the sick, and rising from the dead.  I'm sure that these authors would feel the need to mention these wonderous happenings even if they were not convinced of their truth....because after all, people like a good story. However, even if a man named Jesus did walk the earth and believe himself to be divine and start his own cult...much like David Koresh....would that prove that everything in the Holy Bible is true?

Regarding your explanation of the verse in which Jesus basically sanctions the Pentacostal churches....You must admit that this statement by Jesus does require a lot of apologizing (apologetics).   I was raised as a Baptist and I'm sure that I never heard a sermon on that verse.....yet that was the last thing Jesus said to his disciples before he disapeared into the clouds....strange huh.  I've often been tempted to ask Christians to demonstrate their faith in Jesus by drinking a concoction of poisons...but I'm not the kind of person who likes to see people suffer (or die) because of their ignorance.

For my question to you, I simply ask you to consider this week's Bible riddle, which you should have already received.

One of the oldest arguments for the existence of God as the Creator of all things is the claim that "nothing can make itself."  This intelligent designer hypothesis has been debated many times.  The creationists list intricate devices such as a fine watch, an automobile, a computer, etc., and ask if anyone thinks that such a complicated machine could just "evolve" out of nothing.  The answer: of course not, someone had to design and build all of these things.  Next, they describe the complexity of the human body and other wonders of the natural world and then claim that there must have been an intelligent designer (God) that planned and made humans and the universe....since nothing can make itself.   Riddle:  If nothing can make itself, and must require an intelligent designer and builder, then who, dear friends,   WHO MADE GOD? 

Sincerely, 

Gregory H.