SLD
Contributor
So now that we can pray at school - sort of - I thought I’d make a hand out for high schoolers with the top 10 reasons for rejecting Christianity. I thought I’d start out like this:
You don’t have to believe Christianity. Just because your community is a majority of Christians doesn’t make it true and you shouldn’t believe anything because everyone is telling you it’s true. You should only believe in things after rational investigation into the facts. So here are 10 reasons (of many) not to believe in Christianity:
1) It’s been 2000 years, Jesus is obviously not coming back. He said he’d be back soon. He’s dead. Like everyone else from that time period.
2) There are many other similar myths of dying and rising savior gods from that time frame. Osiris, Asclepius, Dionysus, Tammuz and many others. Jesus is a myth just like they are.
3) The gospels contradict each other. John is completely different from the other three with different stories and completely different character. In Mark 10:18 Jesus explicitly denies being god. In John he says he at one with god. There are many others that you can find at skepticsannotatedbible.com.
4) The gospels were written decades after the events described and none are first hand accounts.
5) The epistles also contradict the gospels. See Corinthians description of the crucifixion and compare it to the gospels.
6) To save the entire world, Christ only appears to a few hundred people at most and reveals his risen self to even less. This makes no sense in a world population of several hundred million at that time. This makes no sense for a god to do this to the people of earth.
7) extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. And there simply isn’t for the events described in the Bible. If there is a god and he is Christian he could have easily left sufficient and indisputable evidence for the resurrection. But he didn’t. We are forced to rely on ancient texts of dubious sources. We shouldn’t believe them anymore than many other myths out there in ancient texts.
8) Jesus made no significant prophecies that could undeniably prove he knew the future. He showed us no scientific advancement whatsoever that could have alleviated many from suffering over the last 2000 years.
9) There are many other gospels about Jesus that never made it into the Bible. The Bible has also changed. Some parts do not appear in earlier versions such as the story of the women taken in adultery. The earliest versions of Mark do not talk about the resurrrection, ending with the women running away from the apparently empty tomb.
10) Science doesn’t lie. The Bible just isn’t scientifically accurate. The earth is 4.6 billion years old. We evolved from other creatures over billions of years. Science has given us a modern technological world and has advanced medicine far more than prayer or religion ever dreamed. Religion has only given us wars and suppressed our freedoms.
If you don’t believe, know that you are not alone. There are many resources on the web for support. Iidb.org, the freedom from religion foundation and many others.
If you still believe great. But study. Read the Bible but don’t stop there. Read history, science, biblical criticism, and philosophy. At least you won’t be ignorant.
Ok. That’s it so far. Add others and I’ll probably change it. Maybe I’ll take the pamphlet to one of those rally at the flag events or onto the football field right after the game and start to distribute it to all those praying. Hopefully I won’t be killed.
You don’t have to believe Christianity. Just because your community is a majority of Christians doesn’t make it true and you shouldn’t believe anything because everyone is telling you it’s true. You should only believe in things after rational investigation into the facts. So here are 10 reasons (of many) not to believe in Christianity:
1) It’s been 2000 years, Jesus is obviously not coming back. He said he’d be back soon. He’s dead. Like everyone else from that time period.
2) There are many other similar myths of dying and rising savior gods from that time frame. Osiris, Asclepius, Dionysus, Tammuz and many others. Jesus is a myth just like they are.
3) The gospels contradict each other. John is completely different from the other three with different stories and completely different character. In Mark 10:18 Jesus explicitly denies being god. In John he says he at one with god. There are many others that you can find at skepticsannotatedbible.com.
4) The gospels were written decades after the events described and none are first hand accounts.
5) The epistles also contradict the gospels. See Corinthians description of the crucifixion and compare it to the gospels.
6) To save the entire world, Christ only appears to a few hundred people at most and reveals his risen self to even less. This makes no sense in a world population of several hundred million at that time. This makes no sense for a god to do this to the people of earth.
7) extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. And there simply isn’t for the events described in the Bible. If there is a god and he is Christian he could have easily left sufficient and indisputable evidence for the resurrection. But he didn’t. We are forced to rely on ancient texts of dubious sources. We shouldn’t believe them anymore than many other myths out there in ancient texts.
8) Jesus made no significant prophecies that could undeniably prove he knew the future. He showed us no scientific advancement whatsoever that could have alleviated many from suffering over the last 2000 years.
9) There are many other gospels about Jesus that never made it into the Bible. The Bible has also changed. Some parts do not appear in earlier versions such as the story of the women taken in adultery. The earliest versions of Mark do not talk about the resurrrection, ending with the women running away from the apparently empty tomb.
10) Science doesn’t lie. The Bible just isn’t scientifically accurate. The earth is 4.6 billion years old. We evolved from other creatures over billions of years. Science has given us a modern technological world and has advanced medicine far more than prayer or religion ever dreamed. Religion has only given us wars and suppressed our freedoms.
If you don’t believe, know that you are not alone. There are many resources on the web for support. Iidb.org, the freedom from religion foundation and many others.
If you still believe great. But study. Read the Bible but don’t stop there. Read history, science, biblical criticism, and philosophy. At least you won’t be ignorant.
Ok. That’s it so far. Add others and I’ll probably change it. Maybe I’ll take the pamphlet to one of those rally at the flag events or onto the football field right after the game and start to distribute it to all those praying. Hopefully I won’t be killed.