Probably one of the most familiar passages in the New Testament is the Lord' s Prayer which can be found in the gospels of Matthew (Matthew 6:9-13) and Luke (Luke 11:1-4). Jesus provides his disciples with a blueprint for proper prayer, contrasting the attention grabbing prayers of those who prayed in public with the humble and private petition with which we are all familiar. But hidden within the lines of that memorable prayer is a doctrine that proves problematic for the Christian. In short, Jesus is asking God not to steer the believer into a situation where they would undergo a temptation. The problem is obvious. Why would God actually lead anyone to be tempted to sin? The whole thrust of the Bible is a plea for the believer to avoid sin. The notion that God, perfect in his knowledge and incapable of sinning, would actually allow someone to be tempted is understandable if you believe 1st Corinthians 10:13 which says that God will not allow you to be tempted beyond your abi...

By Wm. F. Henness Chapter Jesus Defiled 1 Jesus' Third Passover 2 Building the Prophet's Tombs 3 You Fool! 4 Fear Not To Die 5 A Historical Lie 6 "I Am... The Truth" 7 False Prophecies 8 Then Shal...

by Dan Barker Dear Believer, — You asked me to consider Christianity as the answer for my life. I have done that. I consider it untrue, repugnant, and harmful. You expect me to believe Jesus was born of a virgin impregnated by a ghost? Do you believe all the crazy tales of ancient religions? Julius Caesar was reportedly born of a virgin; Roman historian Seutonius said Augustus bodily rose to heaven when he died; and Buddha was supposedly born speaking. You don’t believe all that, do you? Why do you expect me to swallow the fables of Christianity? I find it incredible that you ask me to believe that the earth was created in six literal days; women come from a man’s rib; a snake, a donkey, and a burning bush spoke human language; the entire world was flooded, covering the mountains to drown evil; all animal species, millions of them, rode on one boat; language variations stem from the tower of Babel; Moses had a magic wand; the Nile turned to blood; a stick turned into a snake; witches, ...

Q: What's the difference between a Christian and a paranoid schizophrenic? A: One person hears voices, is convinced his thoughts and actions are known to some outside power, thinks the world was designed and created for him and that he is central to everything that goes on, is sure he's part of a special divine mission, believes that ordinary everyday events have some special transcendent meaning visible only to him, sometimes speaks in incoherent babbling voices, and believes supernatural forces are at work to influence his actions. And the other one, of course, is a paranoid schizophrenic...

One must double check on what the translators of the Bible did in their translating. I read a list of errors in numbers and disregarded a few that had, what I thought, was a logical explanation. The two verses in question are: "And it (the brass lavior) was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths." ((1 Kings 7:26) "And the thickness of it was an handbreadth, and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies; and it received and held three thousand baths." (11 Chron. 4:5) The explanation given by bibleists was that when the brass lavior was filled the way it was normally used, it contained 2,000 baths, but if it was filled completely full, to the brim, it received and held 3,000 baths. This sounded reasonable to me, however I wondered if the translators really did their job right. I checked, and guess what? Th...

I would just like to commend all the patriotic Christian citizens of this great nation for making their outrage over the pledge known . Our country is under attack by other U.S. citizens who believe they are our equals ! They have come under the notion that this nation was founded on the desire to be free from tyranny . Freedom that would allow them to believe what they conclude from objective reasoning based upon evidence at hand and to hell with majority ! Well we know better because this country was settled by God fearing Christians . We were the ones who tamed the savage Indians . Thanks to the efforts of good Christian men slaughtering , enslaving and later confining the heathen Indians to the meager reservations of their once vast homelands . If not for loving Christians we'd have loincloth wearing heathens corrupting our great nation with their crazy beliefs . I ask you where were all those atheists then ? Did the atheists feel they had a right to believe what they did back ...