Subject: The Crucifixion Date: Sun, 5 Apr 98 22:46:01 Your article had more holes in it than the titanic! I just have one question..... What did God do to you (or you perceive God did to you) that makes you hate him so much? Why do so many people equate lack of belief with hatred?

Subject: thanks Date: Wed, 1 Apr 98 20:54:01 Adrian, I am a youth minister working on Christian "youth talks" for young people and it is always good to know the opposing arguments. Although I obviously disagree with you, I can't very well do my job without knowing the opposition. Thank you for your thorough analysis and I will counteract some of your points to the young people in my group. Should you wish to discuss, you can email me or let me know where I can get a good debate -- Not bible thumping. Believe me, I understand some of your "Don't email about (fill in blank) "comments. Peace, Eric

Subject: Omniscient Date: Fri, 3 Apr 98 07:56:00 I believe that God doesn't exist outside of time. God and time have always existed. God does not know the future. God plans the future. God is omniscient. God knows all things that can be known, not that which cannot be known. God is omnipotent, yet he cannot create an object so heavy he cannot lift it. daniel Daniel K. Hedrick GODISNOWHERE

Subject: A novice stab at free will and God Date: Thu, 26 Mar 98 20:20:00 I believe in free will. And I believe in God. God knows everything. Even the free choices I will make. If this sounds like a contradiction, it is because God's knowledge doesn't remove my freedom. Let's use the hall analogy you posted. I'm going down a room and I had chosen the door to the left. But just before I make it there some guy who doesn't believe in free will came running down the hall and pushed me into the door on the right (I'm being a bit facetious). The point is I had the free will to go into the left door, but in reality I never had the free CHOICE to do my own will. I believe people confuse WILL with CHOICE. We may not have a free choice, strictly speaking, since God knows everything (like the guy who's going to run out and push me). God may even send the guy who pushes me. But he does not destroy my free WILL, in fact He gave it to me. This was just a novice stab at explaining how I can have a free will and believe in God. Let me know where the argument fails. (I'm sure it does because if it didn't then there wouldn't really be such a thing as faith, which is something we believe without necessarily understand).

Subject: just saying Hello. And nice story for you. Date: Mon, 16 Mar 98 01:08:01 To Adrian: Your homepage is outstanding and I am glad there a place that can help other free thinkers win their battles against the false premise of religion. Most of my family are Christian Baptists and very conservative my brother and I are the only openly known heretics of the family. I would like to share an incident that happened to me a few years ago in my gym class in college. There was a woman in my class who was and perhaps still is a deeply devout Baptist one day she found out that I do not believe in God and so she began to follow me all over the gym telling me how wrong I was not to believe and that I had better repent my sin and that there is a God. She followed me for a better part of the hour and I kept politely telling her that I did not want to discuss religion and that I would very much like to continue and finish my workout, however she continued to bother me. Finally, my patience was gone and I told her "Fine! You want to talk about religion? That's fine with me." I decided to use the tale of Noah's ark to deliver my point. I asked her "Is it not true that in the Holy Bible it says that Noah was commanded by God to make a ship and put one male and female species of all the animals of the Earth and the reason why God commanded Noah to do this was that he wanted to destroy all the sin that there was to that point and to start anew." She replied "That's correct." I then continued to ask her "Is it not true that when the rain began to flood the entire world it rained for forty days and forty nights?" She replied "That's Correct" I asked her "After those forty days and nights and when the waters began to recede the Ark came to rest on the worlds tallest peak Mt. Arat?" She replies "That's correct." Finally here is the punch line "Is it not correct that the worlds tallest peak is not Mt. Arat, but in fact is Mt. Everest? Now we have a problem here, if God had created the world and the entire universe why would he not know that fact. And secondly is it not true that in your bible it says god is all knowing and never lies? Now if this is true he either has not taken Basic Geography or he lied to you. Please explain this?" During this time the entire class was well aware of the debate and as soon as I reached my final conclusion the whole class laughed at her and she had no response to counter. Sincerely David Figueroa

Subject: Date: Thu, 19 Mar 98 19:54:00 Remarkable. Absolutely remarkable. Since I've become more and more adept and comfortable with my atheism, I've started poking around on the Internet, looking for folks with similar feelings. Why? Not out of some desperate need to belong; it's more of quest to assure myself that other folks out there have thought through the same processes and dilemmas. I've been disappointed in finding either only anti-atheist sites or sites by folks that give atheists as bad a name as evangelicals give Christians. Until I found this site-you've quite eloquently and succinctly summed up most of what I've come to determine for myself. It is good to know that other folks are out there. Perhaps some of my language ('comfortable', 'dilemmas', etc.) sounds melodramatic-but in my life, the journey to atheism has been quite a trip indeed. A little over a decade ago, I was all set to become an evangelical, fundamentalist preacher-the absolute stereotype. I'd preached as a teenager in front of full congregations; I'd received a scholarship to a Bible College; and I was out weekly trying to convert the damned. Going from that point to the point of comfortable atheism (and all points in between) has been quite the journey: full of doubt, loneliness, research and anger. After all that, I'm happy. I'm satisfied with life. I continue to learn. I continue to respect people who do need to believe-so long as they don't require my respect for their beliefs. Why am I telling all this to you? Good question. I'm just very impressed with your essays-they break down nearly precisely what I feel. Congratulations. Take care, D. Eric Carpenter Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Subject: Crucifixion Date: Mon, 16 Mar 98 11:44:00 Just a few points on your apparent tearing to pieces of the truth surrounding the crucifixion: a.. you say Jesus couldn't have drawn air for his final words because crucifixion causes asphyxiation, but Jesus died within a few hours, not a few days, and so did not die of asphyxiation ( I know you don't believe he died at all, right, but we're working in the framework of the same story) b.. what's the no rope point all about? who says there was no rope just because it doesn't get into all the pictures. I have never heard a sermon on the importance of what was physically holding Jesus onto the cross, it's basically irrelevant. c.. the point about Jesus being forced to the cross by Roman centurions: yes, at this point he could not have gotten away, but in his trials before Herod and Pilate (who, by the way, I am curious to know if you believe never existed) he had the chance to defend himself and declined, other than to say things he knew would provoke them. Also, having lived a perfect and sinless life, he was not condemned to suffer death as are the rest of us, but sacrificed himself in our place. As a man, he had the same free will we all have, but his love for us all led him to the cross, rather than any attempt to escape his fate. Now, I know you don't believe that he lived such a life and then died, but again we must work within the framework of the same story, and in this framework your question over how it was a selfless sacrifice has no validity. You can't twist the story to suit your own purposes. d.. Jesus' death was not about ending sin - quite the opposite, as it acknowledged the fact that sin would continue and therefore a sacrifice was needed to bring us into a right relationship with God. His death freed us from sin because he lived a perfect sinless life, and thus was able to conquer death, as his resurrection showed. By putting our faith in his death and resuurection and asking for forgiveness, we are therefore no longer condemned to suffer eternal death. I'm sure to you this is not an adequate explanation, but to believers it's more than adequate, it's amazing. e.. I must admit that I've had similar thoughts at times to the ones you outline in point 4. I mean, is it really such a big ask to save all of humanity by dying and spending a few days in hell if you know you're going to be raised to glory? But that attitude is missing the point. God never had to send Jesus at all, but he loved US enough to send his son to not only die, but suffer (and make no mistake, he suffered enormously, having done nothing to deserve this suffering). The suffering Christ endured cannot be understood in physical terms, even though he did endure unthinkable punishment from the Romans. Remember he was bearing the burden for all the sins of humanity, and with sin being the very thing that causes death, it is impossible to imagine the cumulative effect that must have had on him during his last hours. Now try and grasp Christ's love for us in that while he endured all of this, he never backed out of what he knew was his purpose, but followed it through to the end. He didn't deserve an ounce of pain, yet he bore all this. Surely this is an amazing sacrifice. f.. Suicide? Sorry, but did he nail himself to the cross? Did he issue the decree that he be crucified?, etc. etc. No, he didn't. You're defining suicide wrongly. It's not the act of willingly going to death, it's the act of intentionally taking your own life - two very different things. So Congragulations, another fine point! g.. Judas is one in a long line of people through whom God worked his purpose, but that doesn't mean we have to like the fact that he rejected his Lord. If I can ask you to further suspend disbelief for a moment and consider the story of Moses freeing the Israelites, would you suggest that we adore Ramases, because he happened to be the evil source through which God worked his purpose? h.. "why do we still get all the sermons about sin, heaven and hell? If we are all going to Heaven anyway, why do priests keep pestering us?" - we're not all going to Heaven, only those who accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour are going to Heaven, so the sermons are intended to not only convert people to this belief, but to strengthen us in our faith so we can spread the gospel and grow closer to God, and so we can try and be the best people we can be - we'll never be perfect, but we can be better. i.. "If our afterlife still depends on living a good christian life then what difference did Jesus' death make? How did it change anything?" It changed everything because without Jesus' death we could not be reconciled to God and we would all be condemned, not just those who fail to accept Jesus. Come on, these last two points are very basic elements of Christianity. You set yourself up as being very well equipped to argue your point of view, but to do this you really need to learn what you are arguing against. Aah, that feels better. Thanks for taking the time to read, please take the time to actually consider. Geoff R.

Subject: wondering Date: Mon, 9 Mar 98 00:27:00 Arian, Have you ever considered the possibility that you DONT know more about Christianity than other religions? The only way a person can truly know what it's about is to experience it. I have seen many people that wear the label and don't have a clue. Perhaps these are the people you've gotten your ideas from. And have you stopped to think that Christianity is NOT the only religion you bang around because it's the only one you know about? The other religions you named are so far off the mark that no one really need be concerned about them. They are fairy tales. So the only one that Satan (I know you don't believe in him) is worried about is Christianity. Funny don't you think? Be open minded and really ask yourself why. And as for Satan....the best trick he's got up his sleeve is to make people believe he doesn't even exist. How clever. Worked with you. Works for the Wiccans, works for the communists. He believes in you, Adrian. He KNOWS you. I understand you are used to hate mail, I understand your e-mail is swamped, I understand you think I'm nuts. If you are right..what do I have to lose? If I'm right---uh oh!

Subject: My oppinion Date: Wed, 11 Mar 98 22:11:00 Greetings I was reading some of the information on your web page and I thought I would comment. I only have two points, so don't worry. 1. If you are right, and there is no God, then we both end up dead, no big deal. But if the Bible is right then it's quite a different story. I don't know about you, but I would rather play things safe, then sorry. 2. I have debated people from the American Athiest Association (AAA), and they all say the same things. Eg. The Bible has so many holes. They don't have faith in evolution, but "knowledge", etc etc. The facts are that the only holes in the the Bible are just bad interperatations, which can be easily pointed out, and corrected. Also there are far more holes or improbabilities in any athiestic, or evolutionary theory I have ever come across. The following is a letter I wrote someone from the AAA. It only points out one of the reasons why I believe the Bible to be true. So if you want to stop reading my main points have been made. All the major religions in the world are based on holy books. When compared to the facts of history, and nature, all but one of these books fall short. The one book is the Bible. Each of the other books ("scriptures"), have MANY human errors which would indicate human origin, not divine. eg. the Hindu scriptures state their are cities on the back of the moon, and sun. This is the total opposite to what we find in the Bible. I have never found, and don't believe there ever will be found, a provable error, or contradiction. I am not saying I understand everything in the Bible, or can resolve all the problems one might run into. Although, like the world around us there will always be things we can't explain, or understand. So this is of little concern, and doesn't change the point of this letter. Unlike the other religious books, which each have prophecies, or predictions of the future, the prophecies in the Bible are clear, scientific, and not generalized. It is because of these predictions, I chose to write you. There are about 35 000 predictions for the future in the Bible. Some giving names, and places, in which people where to be born, and other's like the examples below. eg.- stating : - the earth is spherical - the stars exceed the billions - how star clusters are gravitationally bound. Astrophysicist Hugh Ross calculated the probability of just 13 of these (now fulfilled) prophecies coming true. Their is less than a 1 in 10 to the 138 chance, of a person (or writer's of the Bible) getting this wright, with out God's help. I don't know if you are very mathematically minded, but I hope you understand it's significance. The probability of the second law of thermodynamics, reversing is 1 in 10 to the 80. Instead of hot bodies (molecules), moving to cold bodies the process would reverse. So imagine all the hot and cold air particles in the room you are in, all of a sudden separating. Then (you being the hot body) having all the cold particles freezing you right on the spot. I some how don't believe to many people are very concerned about this happening. Yet the Bible based on only 13 of it's predictions, is 10 to the 58 times more reliable. I realize that this does not prove the God of the Bible is real, but it has convince many other's. If you would like any of my references on the information, I will gladly give them to you. Thanks for listening. I look forward to hearing your response. Andrew Ward <><

Subject: (no subject) Date: Wed, 4 Mar 98 00:08:01 Your quiz thing isn't even amusing. I have no objection to a bunch of disillusioned atheist theories of they at least porvide a little amusement but it is boring. Rhonda.

Subject: your web page Date: Tue, 10 Mar 98 05:56:00 the united states of america is the only nation to have been started on the basic principles of christianity.and what nation serving what god can boast the benefits and accomplishments of a nation so young.none i would dare say.i know this doesnt prove to you that god and jesus exist,but look at what we as a nation believing in god has accomplishedthrough faith in god.

Subject: white Jesus Date: Mon, 23 Feb 98 22:33:00 Adrian.Hi,My name is Sheila, as to my religion I would say I'm a Christian but, not as you would know a Christian. I`m the most un-relgious Christian you would ever meet.As for the color of The Lord he was from the offspring of Adam.And there were many races in the area....at that time.......But, God kept the one white family line as pure as snow until Christ`s birth,,,,Unspotted, But, after the birth, death, and ressurection,that part of God`s plan was fullfilled.....There is now available salvation to all Gods children........All races were created on the sixth day they were hunters and gatherers .and on the seventh day God rested.Then on the eigth day God saw He had no man to till the earth and care for the garden.So He formed The Adam................By the way see if Cain is listed in Adams genealogy...Cain this the offspring of satan........The English sucks you really need to check out The Word in the Hebrew and Greek to fully understand.........`You will be fine stay asleep God must want you there..........It won`t be long now anyway all truth will be known.....[One day to us =One Thousand years to God].............nice to express myself......to someone..........all my kids think I'm nuts........But,I now that I was born in an hostile environment..............thanks Sheila...........sending you one of my fractals they make real nice backgrounds..........

Subject: Your site Date: Wed, 25 Feb 98 00:45:00 Just wanted to say hello, and compliment you on your message. I now live in the USA but came over from England in 1963. I became an atheist when I was 16, and nothing has convinced me that religion is any more than superstition. Good luck. I will check in every now and then. No response needed I am sure you are busy anough. Christopher Hosking

Subject: free will / predestination Date: Sun, 1 Mar 98 02:02:01 Good evening Adrian, Interesting site. Yes, I'm a Christian. No, you haven't offended me. Just thought you might find this site interesting. This link contains the chapter from Dr. Ross's book Beyond the Cosmos that deals with Extra-Dimensionality and the Battle of Wills. Have you ever considered this perspective before?

Subject: How does your soul fit into your brain? reply Date: Sat, 21 Feb 98 08:12:00 Adrian, I don't believe in God or theism but reason. When the brain is damaged, either the soul(self)is also damaged(the soul or self then is intimately connected with the brain) or a different soul may be in charged. That would mean that if a soul survived after death of the body it would be very impaired. It's not born very smart if it is reincarnated. But most people sell their souls (honesty, compassion, truth) and don't have much left anyway. Don't assume that the only description of the soul is from the organized religions. When you dream you may be in the land of the dead. The dead may be so impaired that they just act out the images in your memories. Things are crippled all the time. The real question is how are you going to develop your soul or intelligence. And if you believe that the universe is made of matter than you are not very reasonable. Quantum mechanics and relativity imply that the universe is information and observation. The question is not whether humans have a soul but how does the universe develop. We may simply be one of many variations of observation and information that is all around. Human beings are so stupid that they arrogantly believe that they are higher intelligence. The real question is whether or not there is intelligent life on earth.

Subject: copout Date: Mon, 23 Feb 98 23:53:00 i had rather be a cop out with god than a winner with your theory and demonic mind

Subject: the earth is flat Date: Wed, 25 Feb 98 16:38:00 In The Name Of Allaah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy. "The earth is flat, and anyone who disputes this claim is an atheist who deserves to be punished." [Muslim religious edict, 1993, Sheik Abdel-Aziz Ibn Baaz, Supreme religious authority, Saudi Arabia] Ibn Baaz has been corrected regarding his above statement. May Allaah guide you to the straight path. More on this later...

Subject: Yummma Yummma Yammmma Date: Wed, 18 Feb 98 07:03:00 Adrian, I always get a kick out of some of the funny web pages out on the net. I used to be an atheist myself. But, it is my belief that if you don't believe in God, then you don't believe in God. So what? Who cares? But to have a webpage reinforcing it? That is the funny thing. You might as well create a webpage denouncing your belief in unicorns as well. It is the same logic. Know what I mean? I don't believe in Hitler coming back from the dead, but I am not going to devote countless hours running a webpage, collect articles, and so on to reinforce my belief to the public. Do you have a webpage dedicated to each and every thing that you don't believe in? You should. The world I am sure is really interested. BTW, do you believe that Professional Wrestling is fake? If so I would put out a webpage on it ASAP. Take Care, Amadeus

Subject: Thanks!!! Date: Wed, 18 Feb 98 03:03:01 You have an excellent website!! I have just recently rejected my belief in god (by the way, I reached this decision philosophically, on my own). Even though I am confident that this choice was the right one, it was still reassuring to see my "thoughts" displayed so eloquently on your site. Keep up the good work!

Subject: My Question to the Theists Date: Sun, 15 Feb 98 17:09:00 One of my many questions that haunts me about religious beliefs is the question on all the different races. If the human race started with Adam and Eve alone, and presumably by Christian they were white (very self-righteous), or at least the same race, how did all these other races spawn? I know in my caucasian family, we have never produced another race out of the blue. Will some believer please produce an answer !!!! The only answer I can get out of them is that any race other than white is cursed by God! Who comes up with this nonsense? And what about the incest issue? Which of course would have had to happen at least twice, first with Adam and Eve and then again with the great flood. If this is against the beliefs of the Bible, why would the all-powerful and creating God choose not to create more people so as to alleviate this problem? The fact that people actually belief this rational is beyond me! Carrie Nichols

Subject: I enjoyed your write up on Free-will Date: Mon, 17 Feb 98 13:00:00 It was very thought provoking. I am hopeful that maybe my ideas will do the same for you. I feel that you really didn't explore fully what an all knowing God would know. You have put limits on an all knowing God by saying he knows what is going to happen in the future. An all knowing God would know not just what is going to happen, but also, and even more importantly, what could happen. God does not just know what is going to happen. God knows what could happen. Everyday we are faced with a shit load of decisions. Some are very small like what we are going to wear to work, which route we are going to drive, which radio station to listen to, etc... Then there are the big ones like who you marry, whether or not to have child, what career we choose. An all knowing God would know every decision we could ever make and every possible outcome of each and every decision. Considering that each decision has several different possible outcomes and each outcome opens up new possiblities for future decisions, we are talking about trillions upon trillions upon trillions of possible outcomes for just one person. An all knowing God, knows them all. He knows every decision that we will ever be faced with. He knows all possible outcomes of each and every decision. He knows the new questions that we will be faced with after making a decision and the outcomes of each and every possible choice we could make and on and on and on. He knows what we can be. He knows everything about what we can do with ourlives. He knows every possible outcome that could ever happen to us, but he leaves it up to us to chose our own outcome. He gives us guidance and encouragment to follow the path he wishes for us, but it is up to us to follow. We have the free-will to chose what our lifes will be. God knows everything that our life could be. tom eishen He knows ahead of time all that we can be. It is up to us to decide what we are going to be.

Subject: re: flat earth Date: Mon, 2 Mar 98 12:30:01 In The Name Of Allaah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy. I was wrong about sheikh Ibn Baz being corrected about his belief that the earth is flat. May Allaah guide you to the straight path.

Subject: Just a suggestion Date: Tue, 10 Feb 98 00:39:00 Hi Adrian, I like your web-page. You sound like a good guy. As a Christian I think the things you are saying are fair and sincere; and browsing through your site I think we would agree on most issues of right and wrong and so forth... The best attribute of your site is that it exemplifies the fact that a person does not need religion in their lives in order to be a decent person. Nevertheless I think your site has a weakness in that it does not address the issue of defining morality. As a Christian I am constantly asked questions like "if there's a God, then why do bad things happen to good people," and "how can you believe in a book that is full of errors and inconsistencies?" These can be annoying sometimes, but (when the person is sincerely asking) they're decent questions so I accept them as part and parcel of being a Christian. Likewise a person with an atheist position should be expected to answer the question "how is right and wrong determined?" During WWII, the Germans defined "right" as "that which benefited the third reich." Today, many Americans define "right" as "whatever pleases me, or fills my needs." Now I am not suggesting that you hold to either of these views, I don't think that you do. I sense a far nobler heart; however the problem remains, "How do you determine right from wrong?" Humbly, Leo.

Subject: Re: EVOLUTION ??? Date: Mon, 2 Feb 98 18:08:00 You wrote: >Irrefutable evidence. So far, all the evidence I have seen (of any god) >is refutable. A book, describing God, is not evidence of that God. How can you say this when you have not even read the Qur'an! I have already said if you want proof of God's existence then just read the Qur'an. You cannot tell me if the book has contridictions in it or not until you open the book! I will get a hold of the Darwin's book. And by the way evolution is not a *fact* it is a theory (Richard Darwin's assumption or an idea). It is only you who is trying to make a fiction into fact but this is reality we are talking about not about someone's idea. A fact is a fact - the world is round is a fact. We are all witnesses to this. I can tell you no one lived a billion years ago (another assumption - no solid evidence). So where are the witnesses to this man made theory - evolution? Have you got Richard Darwin's e-mail, if you have then please let me know? Because I want to email him and tell him to stop wasting his time on irrelevant material, when the problem to his solution is in the Qur'an. For now though don't tell me that the Quran is not the Word of God when you have not even read it? No disrespect, but aren't you talking in ignorance without opening the book? How can you make judgements on something which you have not even looked into? I want you to prove to me that the Qur'an is written by a man? If you wish I can give you an e-mail or a telephone number where you can get a copy of the Qur'an for FREE. May Allah guide us to the truth... keep in touch. ash...