Re: Evidences of God

"stoney" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Mon, 6 Oct 2003 22:00:07 +0200, "Chain Smoker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> Message ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in alt.atheism;
>
> >"stoney" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> >news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >> On Sat, 4 Oct 2003 23:34:40 +0200, "Chain Smoker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> >> Message ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in alt.atheism;
> >>
> >> >"stoney" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> >> >news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >> >> On Sat, 4 Oct 2003 00:21:27 +0200, "Chain Smoker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> >> >> Message ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in
alt.atheism;

<much snipped>

There is a lot in your response that was interesting to me, but I thought
I'd restrict this post to a smaller set of topic, particularly those not
snipped below.

> >I believe God, the Father of Christ, supercedes any and all other things.
> >Christ's teachings seem to me the best thing I've ever encountered.  I
> >think, even if a person thought he was not the Son of God, that they
should
> >appreciate him for those.
>
> The teachings didn't originate with Christianity.

Where did they originate?  This issue has come up in other discussions I've
read and participated in on Usenet, but I've never seen specifics.  I've
seen claims that Mithraism and (I think) Zoroastrianism are the sources of
Christian beliefs such as virgin birth, water baptism, salvation by proxy,
resurrection.  But none of these are specifically taught by Christ except
water baptism.  The rest are said about Christ, but that's another thing
entirely.

Christ's teachings include, among other things, that we should love even our
enemies, that we should not judge one another (often misinterpreted to mean
that we should not try and point out one another's mistakes for correction),
and that we should not pray or fast in a manner that broadcasts our piety
for recognition and reward by our fellows.  This last item, you included in
part of the text I snipped, and is among my favorite passages in the
Gospels.  I have not seen specifics about where Christ supposedly derived
these teachings if he did not come up with them independently.  If you know
where, please, do tell.

> I don't consider the glorification of lies, deceptions, discourtesy,
> pride, and malevolence as things to be 'appreciated.'

Please ask yourself if these are really the teachings of Christ.  Likely,
you will realise they are inventions of men who twist Christ's words to suit
their own positions (and I know I may be accused of doing the same).  I you
feel Christ himself actually glorified lies, decpetions, discourtesy, pride,
and malevolence, please cite chapter and verse and how you see the cited
passage as being one of the above.



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