Jim Colyer
I have tried Christianity at different times. It always causes me psychological problems. It goes without saying that we should not kill and likewise treat others with respect. The problems I have are with supernatural things like the virgin birth, miracles of Jesus, and Jesus coming back from the dead and walking around for 40 days before ascending into heaven. It sounds ridiculous, a combination of mythology and lies, not something we would accept as fact. I tried the Bible and church again when my mother passed away two years ago. I basically laid in bed and drank for a year. I prayed her soul was in heaven. At the same time, I cannot say there is any kind of afterlife or such a thing as the soul. When I pray, I feel schizophrenic. I feel like I am talking or thinking to myself. It seems obvious that when we are dead, we are dead. Yet, there is something in humans that yearns for immortality. I am not sure what it is. Perhaps it is an indication that there really is a "God" and some kind of eternal existence. Apparently animals do not have religion or any longing for immortality. People now say that humans are animals. I recoil from that idea. We differ from animals, but that is still not proof of any kind of Godhead or Creator. It seems that all religions are wrong. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism all embrace outmoded thinking. I cannot say I am an atheist because I am not. Nor can I say I am a believer or an agnostic. These are categories that no longer apply. One thing I know is if there is a heaven and hell, I do not want to go to hell. No consciousness of any kind beats a hypothetical lake of fire.
Creationists offer no proof of any kind. The Bible is all subjective. It is mythology, stories made up by men. Ancient Jews had their mythology as did the ancient Greeks and Romans. Science is objective. It deals with nature and physical reality. "The flood story" of Genesis is fiction and fantasy. The idea that Noah built a boat and put all the animals in the world in it is preposterous. Science sets the date of the earth at 4.6 billion years. All the continents have been under water at different times. Fossils of marine animals can be found in some of the highest mountains. But there was no "Biblical flood" as such that killed all the people of the world except Noah and his family. This is ancient folklore. Charles Darwin started out as a "believer." His "faith" was no doubt shaken by his voyage and his findings in the Galapagos Islands. But in the 1830s and in the company Darwin kept, it was downright dangerous to contest scripture.
Creationists offer no proof of any kind. The Bible is all subjective. It is mythology, stories made up by men. Ancient Jews had their mythology as did the ancient Greeks and Romans. Science is objective. It deals with nature and physical reality. "The flood story" of Genesis is fiction and fantasy. The idea that Noah built a boat and put all the animals in the world in it is preposterous. Science sets the date of the earth at 4.6 billion years. All the continents have been under water at different times. Fossils of marine animals can be found in some of the highest mountains. But there was no "Biblical flood" as such that killed all the people of the world except Noah and his family. This is ancient folklore. Charles Darwin started out as a "believer." His "faith" was no doubt shaken by his voyage and his findings in the Galapagos Islands. But in the 1830s and in the company Darwin kept, it was downright dangerous to contest scripture.