Terry wrote: I see no reason to believe anything written in any scripture unless it can be independently verified as true or makes sense to me, which the Christian religion definitely does not - even without your pointless overuse of -ation words. No original record of Jesus' words exists, there is no eyewitness testimony to his life and works, and his purported message has evolved so much over the last two millennia that there seems to be no way of determining what he really said or meant, although Thomas Jefferson tried. Since various Christian denominations have come up with contradictory interpretations of the Bible (they can't even agree on which books to include), how do we know which (if any) of them are correct?
Most Christian denominations have no idea who or what they worship. They haven't even grasped the concept of Jesus. Therefore there are plenty of records and eyewitness testimonies dealing with his life and works
Terry wrote:If there were a God who required everyone on earth to believe something, why would he only send one messenger to one group of people? Why did he fail to present his message clearly and concisely to each person, in his/her own language, on imperishable media, in a way that could not be altered or misinterpreted? (Yes, the bible has been translated into most languages now, but surely God cannot expect most people to deny the teachings of their own culture/religion in favor of the illogical and contradictory tenets of Christianity!) Why doesn't God set the record straight and put an end to religious conflicts?
Well he didn't send just one messenger. Secondly, God doesn't require everyone on earth to believe. It is your choice if you want to believe or not. The message is presented correctly but it is for those who are alive. The messsge is a method of weeding out those who do not have a heightened awareness. Kind of like an evolutionary process on a spiritual level. Those who do not understand the message are wiped out while those who do prepare and continue to live.
Terry wrote: Why did Jesus fail to write anything down? Why did Jesus fail to return within his disciples' lifetime as he promised? Why didn't he heal more people when he had the opportunity? Why is he considered sinless even though he broke several commandments? And why did God need to have his son killed as a human sacrifice to himself in order to forgive us for having the flaws that he gave us in the first place?
He did write things down. And he is continuously writing things down.
He did return, he always returns.
You can't force someone to be healed if the knowledge of that disease is not known at that time.
Everyone who is in the physical universe is born in corruption or sin.
Sacrifice is a part of life.
In order to understand all these things you will have to understand the concept of Jesus and the inner workings of the life that you occupy
Terry wrote: Here is a challenge for you: I know places in the Bible where God lied or misled people, but I am not aware of any actual lies that Satan told. Please search your Bible and tell me exactly what Satan said that was untruthful. I know that he was often CALLED a liar, but do not know if there was any basis for it or he was just being cast as a scapegoat for all of the evil in God's creation.
Well bring your examples and let us see if God lied or if Satan lied.