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Your lack of knowledge of Christian doctrine, and the new testament in general, is quite telling.

Christ's comments are meant to communicate to his followers that they will be despised, harassed, spit upon and disowned by those they believe that love them. He was telling us that there is only one truth, and it is in complete contradiction to man's morality and laws. He was telling them that following God's wishes will be very difficult in the world we live in.

Again, you confuse the Church corrupted by man, with the pureness as dictated by God. Yes the Church has it failings, but the dictates, as stated in the Bible, are unwavering. Those that attempt to use it, or abuse it for their own selfish desires, are not following Christian doctrine. Where in the new testament does it condone murder, genocide, the beating of women and children? Again, please don't confuse other religions and church dark ages as examples of Christian doctrine.

As to what is to come of those who do not wish to believe in God, that is not up to me to decide. It is up to you make the decision on what you do and don't believe. I will only tell you what is written, you will have to settle that with God. We as Christians are not to force or coerce others to believe, it must be voluntary and heartfelt. We are also not to hate others based on non-belief. It is not up to us to decide the fate of non-believers during our time in this world. That is not what we are here for.

Soul, define it to what extent, so science can measure it? What is the difference, I cannot prove that God exists, how can I prove that a soul exists. My beliefs are a matter of faith, based partly on how I have seen God transform lives for the better. Can you prove God does not exist? As to our soul, at least to me, is a representation of our immortal being blessed upon man by God. Where in science is a soul defined in the animal world, again, what purpose would it serve?

Irregardless of how I believe man came to be the dominant species, if there is no God we are just animals. Albeit we have greater intelligence that allows us to transcend animal behavior, in the end we are just animals sharing this planet with other less intelligent creatures. Without God we are not special, unless you count us being special using our own contrived sense of value.

And you are wrong with regard to the animal kingdom....Murder, rape, and other forms of heinous actions are also found in the lower intelligent animals. It is consider a natural part of their being. Again, why not in man....just because man says it is wrong now doesn't mean that it will be in the future.

Finally you asked "honestly do you think you'd be fine with rape and murder? Is your faith the only thing holding you back". Knowing what I know today, no. Again, I still must tell you that I don't know given other circumstances. Ultimately, it would depend on the society I was raised in, the number of alternative belief systems I was exposed to, and how acceptable it was to the society I was living under. That is being honest. You are deceiving yourself if you believe, without any other defined sense of values being made available to you, you would be able to discern it as being wrong. We see today, many of these same crimes are acceptable in other societies and cultures. The same can be said of the past as well. To say it could not happen in the future is just basing one's belief in folly.

If morality is to based on man's thinking, it will be ever changing...not necessarily evolving into something acceptable today. God's way does not change, what is wrong today, will be wrong until the end of time.

I do not base my belief in God on fear of retribution. I base on what I see around me. I believe we are special and there is a reason we have transcended the other creatures on this earth. I see a complex and beautiful world, I see what man has done to it when left to his own devices. I have studied many faiths, and have voluntarily chosen to follow Christ. I believe we are here on this earth to serve each other; because if we are not stewards in this world, we will eventually destroy it and all that lives upon it.

> Your lack of knowledge of Christian doctrine, and the new testament in general, is quite telling.

Silly me, for actually quoting the thing.

> you confuse the Church corrupted by man, with the pureness as dictated by God.

Considering that you yourself just got done interpretting the Bible for me, it's clear that the Bible itself is muddled. And thus who are you to ever say the Church is wrong? Woudl you have told the Israelites not to slaughter the Canaanites?

> Where in the new testament does it condone murder, genocide, the beating of women and children?

Huh. So, suddenly the Old Testament is to be ignored. I guess all evidence of morality changing gets covered up...

> We as Christians are not to force or coerce others to believe, it must be voluntary and heartfelt.

Or else our women will be ripped asunder and our babies smashed into rocks. Nice.

> What is the difference, I cannot prove that God exists, how can I prove that a soul exists.

Fair enough. Now, continue that line of thought: if you cannot even defien these concepts, how do you know that a soul is impossible without a god?

> Where in science is a soul defined in the animal world, again, what purpose would it serve?

A soul is not defiend, because there's no proof of one. As to what value a soul would have in the animal world... what value would it have for *you*? If you had a soul or didn't have one, how would you know? How would you prove it to someone else? How would you demonstrate that someone else did or didn't have a soul?

> Without God we are not special, unless you count us being special using our own contrived sense of value.

BINGO! It is we ourselves who give ourselves value and worth and purpose. If you need to go to some external source for that validation, oh well, too bad for you.

> Murder, rape, and other forms of heinous actions are also found in the lower intelligent animals.

Evidence, please. Remember, there's a difference between killing and murder.

> Ultimately, it would depend on the society I was raised in, the number of alternative belief systems I was exposed to, and how acceptable it was to the society I was living under.

Curious thing, that. The societies we remember as being particularly nasty are the exceptions. Humans have proven quite capable of determining right from wrong without benefit of your Bible. And yet, even with the Bible, we find particularly nasty societies. Our own, for instance. The Bible was used by both sides of the slavery debate.

>We see today, many of these same crimes are acceptable in other societies and cultures.

And are these societies successful? Will they last?

> God's way does not change, what is wrong today, will be wrong until the end of time.

So you are comfortable with genocide in the name of religion. Check.

> I do not base my belief in God on fear of retribution. I base on what I see around me.

Others look aroung and find evidence of Allah, Zeus, Brahma, nothing at all.