There’s a night and day difference between dying for what you think was the truth and dying for what you know is a lie. These monks wouldn’t have died if they knew their religion was a lie.
- The apostles were eyewitnesses. Aside from Jesus, they were in the best position to determine whether it was all just a fairytale.
- They would not die for something that was demonstrably false.
- Every one of them died horrible deaths because they refused to stop proclaiming Jesus’s death and resurrection.
Certainly suggests that Jesus’s resurrection was true.
So nothing is good and nothing is evil. Everything just “is,” and everything is permissible?
There is no difference ultimately between Hitler who killed indiscriminately, and Mother Teresa, who served the poor all her life?
Or can you say that Hitler was evil because there is a standard outside of one’s own subjective opinion that everyone must be judged against?
Doesn’t take a genius to figure out which position is the more rational one.
@naryamie9@reddit_lies I’m living proof.
I was this type of anti-theist for more than 20 years. Jesus found me in university. I’m the only Christian in my family. Since then, persecution has been worse, but life has been immeasurably better. God is gracious.
Not I, but Christ in me. Solo Dei Gloria
Regarding the picture, if these poor people were told they were listening to a liar and fraud, bet you a lot less of them would have drunk the cyanide.
Not to belittle the tragic incident, but death by cyanide is a lot less gruesome than, say, being crucified upside down, as Peter was.
He even denied Christ three times already, it was clearly not a new concept to him, and yet he proclaimed Christ all the way up to his own crucification. What reason would there be to do this if it was all a made up fairytale because he was afraid of death?
@Bob086282267346@coffeebreak_YT They would willingly die for something they knew was a lie? How many people would die horribly for a confirmed lie?
They were eyewitnesses. If it was just “a made up fairytale” as you described, you’d conclude logically that one or more would have denied Jesus to live.
John 15:18-19
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
The same message of Christ produce very different responses: some hear it and reject it, resulting in judgment; others receive it and find eternal life. Remember they hate you because they first hated him.
The apostles each died horrible deaths because they could not help but proclaim Jesus's death and resurrection.
They were eyewitnesses. They were there. They weren't afraid of dying, they died precisely because they refused to renounce their faith.
Many are willing to die for their beliefs, it is true, but ask yourself, how many people would suffer horrific deaths for something they knew was a lie?
Ultimately this is but one reason to suggest that what Jesus said was indeed the truth. Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ is a good starting point for learning more.
No one said you did.
But you said there is good and evil, so there must be a standard to define what is good and what is evil, otherwise it is just a matter of opinion. You cannot know a line is crooked unless you have a straight line to compare against.
Jesus is that standard. He is the straight line. He lived a sinless life. He died on the cross for you. The very fact you know the very difference between good and evil without needing to be told points to the existence of God. You might not believe it yet, I don't blame you. It took me 24 years to reason it through.
I invite you to prove it. You are a scientist. Pray earnestly and ask if Jesus is there, that He will reveal himself to you. Matthew 7:7-8 says "7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."
Worked for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯