Face it, there were no video cameras back then, no cameras, no recording devices, no printing presses, no paper like we have today and no ballpoint pens. If anything is to be believed that happened 2000 years you're going to have to accept the written eyewitness testimony. Too bad it's not in the format you will accept, but nonetheless it's all we got. The archaeological record has proven it, the historical record has proven it and the written testimonies have been preserved for all this time. Not only that, we have the witness of the very lives of the Apostles and disciples from the first century both in the Bible and in extraneous writings of early church fathers. Just as Abraham told the guy in Hades, if they won't believe Moses and the prophets - and we also have the NT - then neither will they believe if someone comes back from the dead. To disregard it all as prejudiced or biased is to ignore that not all of those writers started out as believers.
An honest, sincere study of the accuracy of the Bible and the beginnings of the Christian faith will reward the honest seeker with the undeniable truth he is searching for. I know it is true and I am not alone. That leap that you fear is not such a huge chasm as you imagine.
To the contrary, boatbums, on all accounts.
An honest, sincere study of the accuracy of the Bible and the beginnings of the Christian faith will reward the honest seeker with the undeniable truth he is searching for. I know it is true and I am not alone. That leap that you fear is not such a huge chasm as you imagine.
A Muslim would have said nothing different. Maybe he or she would be willing to strap some dynamite and become "martyred" for that faith. What does that "prove"? That their faith is "true"? Hardly! Dying for one's beliefs does no such thing.
Nor does personal testimony. Just because you believe something doesn't mean it's true. How do we know if something is "true" or "real"? For real things you don't need a leap of faith. It affects everyone, and not just the "elect" few: if you jump you will fall, if you try to walk on water you will sink, if you touch a hot stove top you will be hurt, etc.
Reality does not distinguish between believers and nonbelievers, nor does it require—never mind demand!—that you believe in it a priori in order to effect you!
That's rich coming from folks who deny that the Early Christians even knew what they themselves believed in.
Why do the BAers think that just song and dance and trying desperately to ignore the abyss will help them forget?
Why try so desperately to ignore God's word?
Why does your group treats the inexorable much like naga or tantic worshippers or the worshippers of Bhavani or Ayyappa -- sing and dance and ignore the horror awaiting or just let's play with the theological construct?
Your sects fail because Tt be just song and dance without detailed, deep study is as bad as to be dry text without the joy. The balance is lost, the tying force that brings the loss of fear of the inexorable abyss is gone in both of these extremes and they lead to despair in one and delusion in the other.
The main problem in the BAers is the separation or compartmentalisation of God and of His worship -- it is not this OR that, but this AND that.