> Most serious historians that have researched the subject beleive that Christ was a real man that lived where Christian history said he did.
Yes... but *no* serious historian doubts that Muhammad or Elron Hubbard lived when they were supposed to. Heck, we even have photos, recordings and film of the latter.
> There is a significant difference then between Allah and Christ.
Yes, but is there a significat difference between Allah, Xenu and *Jehovah?* (Apart from the decribed characteristics, of course) I suspect the big difference is you believe in one but not the others.
I'm not sure I understand your point. Is it that different men of different cultures at different times describe the divine in different ways and therefore the divine does not exist?
Or is your point that because Elron Hubbard started a religion and he was something, I guess, of a charlatan, then Christ is equally a charlatan because he also started a religion?
While I am certainly not a scholared apologist I'll attempt to answer these two rather simple points;
In the first case, I believe that men are born w/ what Pascal described as a God shaped vacuum and that they have always sought to fill that vacuum. Naturally, this effort is expressed in the multitude of idioms reflecting diffrences in time and culture. Some are more articulate, some more honest, some more profound. What I find amazing is not the diffrences but the similarities, for example if you took a Buddist holyman and a Christian holyman (not to be confused w/ a TV evangelist) and sat them side by side you would witness a remakable harmony between the two.
Why I am a Christian and not a Buddist is point 2:
As Christians we are taught to test all spiritual claims using reason and logic. And to further test these claims against the witness of Holy Scripture. In this way we come to a better more perfect understanding of Christ and the Trinity. Its not hocus pocus, but rather the teachings of some of the wisest and greatest thinkers of history.
Ulimately, of course, the decision to give one's life to Christ is a personal one; it cannot be otherwise. There is a great gulf of difference between Muhammad and Hubbard and Christ, it is up to the honest man to discover that for himself.
However, if your point is that all religion is bunk, then you are a fool and we really have nothing to discuss.