genius6 wrote:And when did these events supposedly take place place? 2000 years ago. Who witnessed them? People who are long dead.
Pretty much anything that happened in antiquty we have to go on the eyewitness testimony of individuals at the time. No reason to disbelieve everything that happenend in ancient times. Roman historians frequently use graffitti as evidence to support their histories. Fact is there just isn't that much to go on.
genius6 wrote:We're supposed to just take the Church's word for it that everything in the Bible is right and true, even though it is to their direct advantage to lie through their teeth about anything and everything to do with "God"?.
Ah yes, those Christians and that book of lies! Um.... actually no. I've read "Beowulf" four times, and it's a different story with just about every version. Even one particular travesty in which Beowulf defeats the dragon by setting bees loose on him (Really, it's "Beowulf" by Robert NYE). By contrast to the Bible "Beowulf" is probably only about 1,000 to 1,500 years old. The stories we have in the Bible are not messed with. We even have the dead sea scrolls, hidden for two thousand years. The stories present in them are very similar to the ones in the Old Testament. Samuel has some more detail and I think Jonah is missing some parts, but the essence of the stories are not changed. You can make a claim that the Bible must have been falsified, but I'll warrant you cannot prove it. Perhaps you can come up with five lines of Mark (which is clearly marked as a different ending in my NIV), or a word here or there which one translator took to mean A and another B. I would really like to see you prove this stance, though. Rather than just making an accusation.
genius6 wrote:I mean, where does their power come from? Believers like you who blindly follow. Like sheep.
What power? Influence certainly, representative governments tend to represent their populations. When all goes well that is. So with a largely Christian population you tend to get Christian interests coming to the fore. Where, however, are the Christian theocracies? My Roman History professor (who made no bones about her antipathy for Christians) complained that Christians brought down the Roman empire. Her argument, "The best and brightest Romans started becoming Christians and lost interest in governing". Some monarchs have claimed divine right sure, but the Church really governing? It isn't there. The only exception that comes to mind is Vatican City. I'll grant that there were certainly countries in which churches held a lot of influence, but The Protestant Reformation really broke a lot of that. With the infallibility of the Pope gone for a lot of Europe there was never any real attempt for the Church to supplant the states.
genius6 wrote:If the church told you to walk off a cliff because God willed it I'm sure you wouldn't hesitate to do so.

