+302 I'm an atheist. That's OK. I also think that Jesus was a real person, and he had some great ideas. Like loving your fellow man. You can believe he was an ordinary person and still follow his teachings, amirite?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

i dont know whether to YYA or NW this post, because a am an agnostic atheist.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

...so am I. Jesus was obvioulsy a real person and most would agree that at least some of his ideas were good.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

unless one can provide legit proof of his former existence, i will not think that.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

....seriously? There's a difference between not believing in God and "LOL EVERYTHING ABOUT RELIJUN IS RONG". There's plenty of archaeological evidence for his existence. I mean if you don't beleive that Jesus, the most influential person in world history, is real then why not apply it to all other people? Who's to say that Alexander the Great or Ghengis Khan or even George Washington aren't also fake?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

i dont know who they are, and if he was real, then where is his grave? or why arent there any sorts of monuments dedicated to him?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Troll is successful.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yeah I was on the fence before, but that last comment was too obvious

by Anonymous 12 years ago

ah, now i realize what you were saying, i totally agree with you now.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I believe Jesus was Gods prophet, and not his son, and the Virgin Mary was indeed a Virgin.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You're Islamic, amirite?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yea :) you know your stuff

by Anonymous 12 years ago

athiest r freaks. and if u r loving ur fellow man does that mean ur gay?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I give you a one star. You put little effort into this troll post and it could have been great. One way you could improve it is by saying. "Atheist have no idea what they're doing. One second they hate everything then next they follow Jesus. Also, if you love you fellow man that sounds like you might love them too much." If you're going to troll, at least try.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

srry i havent done it very much but thank you for the instructive critism without it i would probally never have a good troll. I'll try again on a different post. Thanks :{) (theres me with my awsome mustache)

by Anonymous 12 years ago

*reply button*

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Jesus was a real person, there's historical proof. Whether or not he was god's son, was born of a virgin, did miracles, came back to life, etc, is not known, but he was a real dude and he did have some good ideas

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Actually Jesus taught that he was the son of God. So really you can't believe that he was an ordinary person and follow his teachings. Just putting that out there.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Thank you.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

That's what i was gonna say...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Exactly. Thank you. You can be a good person with good morals and believe whatever you want. But it's kind of ridiculous to try to follow Jesus's teachings and not believe that he was who he said he was. Who he proved he was. For one, if you're an Athiest, what are you going to do about the part where Jesus says the most important comandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind? It just doesn't make sense.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

yeah but being an Atheist doesn't really make sense at all. If there is no God then worshipping one In life makes no difference, but if there is a God then being an Atheist is just sentencing yourself to eternal punishment. It is actually quite a poor decision to become an Atheist in the first place.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

well think about it from their point. they're not saying they don't believe in god/a deity to spite that deity, it's because they legitimately believe in no afterlife or all-powerful being. they just cant see why they should "waste" their life believing in something illogical. just for the record, though, I'm not athiest.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Living your life in fear of a divine being is no way to live at all.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I don't live my life in fear of anything, my god loves all people. he forgives anyone of anything the very second they ask forgiveness. I have a wonderful life and knowing that I walk in the light of the lord just makes it that much better. I know I am saved, what reason do I have to fear anything? I am not of this world and what lies beyond is much greater than anything I could ever imagine.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You're saying you wouldn't be Atheist because you're afraid of what a god might do to you in the afterlife. That is living in fear, even though he loves you and all.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I am saying that being Atheist is a bad choice because it does absolutely nothing for you. and that there is no reason not to take up a religion because it does nothing but benefit you (at least some religions). I believe that there is a god and I accept his son as my savior. but even if there wasn't then living in the light of the lord in this life does nothing but make me a better person.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Sorry, having a religion doesn't guarantee that you're a better person. How are you so certain atheism does nothing for you? It could open your mind to new possibilities, don't make ignorant statements like that.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

(Foodums):Folowing the word of Christ makes you a better person, that's basically what this whole discussion is about. So then educate me, what benefits does Aethism give you? What are these new possibilities you speak of?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

"Aethism" doesn't promise me false hope of a giant man in the sky judging me and separating me into one of two completely black and white groups of what is "right" and what is "wrong". I'm able to define my own morals without the tethers of some blasphemus book written 2000 years ago that has been translated and mistranslated over and over for centuries.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Think of it like this. When you were a child you lived in fear of disobeying your parents because they would punish you. You're life wasn't horrible as a child (probably) because of fearing your parents, you were taught not to put yourself in dangerous situations.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I don't know about you but I did not live my childhood in fear. I knew right from wrong, the punishments were merely the icing on the cake. I'm able to discern right from wrong without being raised Christian, despite his assertions.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You missed the point of what I said. I didn't mean you literally were terrified of your parents, I meant that because you knew you would be in trouble if you did something wrong, you were less likely to do it. It's like that with God. That's what I meant to say. And I personally think you probably can tell right from wrong, I was just making a point about the whole living in fear thing.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

No I understood what you said just fine. My point was that fear was only a small part of what dictated my actions, if you think hard enough you can find fear motivates you for almost anything in one way or another. I didn't do those things because I felt bad inside, my main motivator was my own personal morals that I defined.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Well whatever floats your boat I guess.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

...so you either have to agree with every single thing a person ever said or agree with none of it?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I guess you don't have to. But if you don't believe All of his teaching, it would be incorrect to say that you follow his teachings.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I don't follow *all* of his teachings. If I did that I wouldn't be an atheists. But I follow quite a few of his moral principles, which in my opinion are not inextricably predicated on his claims of divinity.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

The basic reason that he did the things he did was because he (claimed he) was the son of God. I understand that you may feel differently, but truthfully his moral principles Are predicated on his claims of divinity. If you read what he taught (I mean everything he taught regardless of your beliefs), I would think you would come to this conclusion.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Smart atheists understand that Jesus was in fact a real person. That part is indisputable. Agnostics believe that there might be a god out there he might be doing all this stuff but Jesus didn't have all the magic powers people say he did. Atheists deny the existence of any god but that does not mean that we have to be immoral beasts. The rules and guidelines in books like the bible, the quaran, and the Torah are all good and at the heart of it all are almost the same rules.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

:{)

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Let's not turn this into a religious debate. The whole point I'm making is that we can all agree that Jesus had some great ideas. Let's not focus on the tiny differences.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

If Jesus was just a moral teacher, then he was a liar and a hypocrite. He claimed to be the Son of God, and be God himself. He was either telling the truth, or he was cruelly misleading thousands, and eventually billions of people.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

So I'm not allowed to love my neighbor or turn the other cheek? Is that what you're trying to say? Maybe Jesus was just a really nice guy. Some of his ideas were good. In my opinion, some of his ideas weren't so good. I can choose to keep the good ones in mind.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

The only reason Jesus's teachings are worth anything was because he claimed to have divine authority. Otherwise, his teachings are no better than Osama Bin Laden's, because without a God, there are no moral absolutes.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I wouldn't call pretending to be God's son a lie, I'd call it clever advertising.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

How is that anything but a lie?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

We'll for one thing, I'm pretty sure Jesus really did believe he was the son of God so he was just saying what he thought was true. Even if he didn't have magical powers and wasn't the son of God, he was still one of the wisest and most revolutionary people in history. If I could meet anyone from history, I'd choose him because he could teach us so much.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I disagree. I think he either knew he was the Son of God or he was lying. If he had no divine authority like he claimed, than his teachings are meaningless. They are simply an opinion, because without a God, there are no moral absolutes.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

From the day he was born, people were telling him he was the son of God (at least, that's what I'm told). You can't blame him for believing it. Even if he was lying, his teaching are far from meaningless. He was a visionary and an amazing leader. He completely transformed the way people saw God and his teaching, I believe, had more of an impact on western civilization than any person in history.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yes, but who is to say that his teachings were good teachings if they weren't divinely inspired?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I think they're good teachings. I don't mind that YOU have to believe in God and Jesus' divinity in order to accept his message of peace and love, but I don't. I can feel peace and love without needing to attach it to any religion.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

But peace and love are not meaningful if there is no God, because there are no moral absolutes, nor is there meaning to the universe. We are just on an infinitesimally small piece of dust floating throughout a universe that just so happened to be perfectly fitted to support life, and we are just accidents of nature.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I don't believe that peace and love are contingent on God. You can. I don't. Let's agree to disagree, shall we?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I'm not really sure what you are trying to say here. Lots of non-holy people have great ideas and good teachings. Even if Jesus was just as human as we are, there is no denying he had a good message. I don't think you need magical powers or a virgin mother to come up with sensible ideas about the way people should live.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I disagree. I reject any moral authority he had, but accept the moral guidance. I can accept moral guidance from anyone, without taking an absolutist view. Thinkers on morality like Bentham or Hick do not claim to divinity, but they can still present moral teachings. Why is Jesus any different?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

He's different because he claimed divine authority.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Loads of people claim divine authority, even today (the Pope, the Supreme leader of Iran, Scientologists etc.). Joan of Arc also claimed divine authority and she was a total bad ass. The Egyptian Pharaohs claimed to be gods sort of like Jesus and many of them were awesome people too.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

C.S. Lewis quote (: Ya can't be a great teacher if you're either a liar or a lunatic! If he truly thought he was the son of god... but you don't believe him, he must be craaaaazy! But if he knew he wasn't and claimed to be the son of god, he's a liar! You can't be all inclusive with stuff like that.

by Anonymous 12 years ago