Hmm… some good points, yes even justin’s have been good as well. But about brainwashed, how exactly do you think people are “brainwashed?” There is a high level of conscious choice. If there wasn’t, then why do you not believe? It is nearly impossible for someone who is brainwashed to actually “see the error of their ways.” If there is a choice to stop believing at any time, then I don’t think it qualifies at brainwashing.

As for delusional, that is a possibility as well? I think not. Read a psychology book. Delusional people don’t just stop believing (on their own) that the imaginary thing stop existing. It requires years of therapy from a psychologist, and possibly some medication. However, people on medication for things that treat the same symptoms still believe in God. Why? If they are delusional, then why would they still believe in something that doesn’t exist if they are on meds that keep them from those beliefs?

Plus, delusions don’t stop at believing in things that others can’t see. They actually see things that don’t exist, or hallucinate. Then, there are a bunch of other things that accompany those symptoms I can’t remember. And not all are the same, some can have one set of symptoms while another has a completely different set. One thing does hold true, they do not have rational thoughts, ever.

If Christians were truly delusional, then they couldn’t hold normal jobs, if any at all. They wouldn’t be able to take care of themselves or other people (children, family members, etc.)

It is possible to be very wrong about a belief without being brainwashed or delusional.

Christianity is not easy to believe. I admit, it takes a lot to believe in something that “might” not exist. There are a lot of choices out there. The choices that are made are made in faith. One has faith in many gods, while others may believe in just one, others have faith in no god and some have faith that they are a god. Believing there is no god still requires some faith, faith that you are correct in assuming there is no god.

Evidence is not in favor of belief. Belief requires much more than evidence. Like I said before, you believe in things that might not be true everyday. For instance, your car starting. You believe that when you turn the switch it will start. There is no evidence that the car will start today just because it did yesterday. There is a possiblity that the starter went out, or the battery died. I realize that it is easily remedied but it still requires a system of beliefs.

I am sure my arguements mean little here but I am trying my best for the analogy that fits with your mind that things you take for granted everyday still have some level of belief behind them. Though those beliefs seem concrete on the surface, there is truly no evidence that can prove that things as they exist today will be the same tomorrow.

There is no scientific proof that God exists. I’m not sure there ever will be if you rely on a scientific answer. One cannot put a god inside a box to find out if it is real or the only one. People believe what they believe for a reason. They don’t need science to confirm what they believe.

One thing I notice of my faith versus scientists, I don’t care how much they prove their beliefs, in my mind I have a sense of what is right and wrong and I believe what I believe without need to litmus test everything in sight. If that makes me more gullible, fine. I cannot say that what they prove is wrong. I support their effort for finding out where we come from. I hope that they are satisfied with what they believe, and I hope they realize that I am satisfied with what I believe.

I cannot discount or retort their evidences. It is quite possible that the Bible does not give a full picture of creation but does that mean I should stop believing in it? As far as I know we both could be right. Does it mean I am decieved if God made man by way of the scientific method, I’m not sure it does. It only means that someone could not put into words something that did not exist at the time.

But can science prove God does not exsist if they can’t prove He does? They can find evidence of the Bible being wrong through its entirety, but they cannot prove God does not exist; they can only prove that a bunch of people wrote some really good stories that aren’t true.

There is however evidence that things form the Bible do exist. At least, Josephus thought that a man named Jesus, who claimed to be the Messiah existed, that he did die exactly the way it is presented in the Bible, and also that His body disappeared after His death. But can one prove whether Jesus was right or wrong?

It is much more difficult to test beliefs. There is no evidence that those beliefs even exist unless they are mentioned. Yet, you don’t question whether or not people can have beliefs. Maybe that’s because you have beliefs also and thus require no proof that others have them when they tell you they do. But how do you know for sure? I could tell you that I believe aliens exist, and you could not test whether or not I have that belief. There is no evidence except my statement. It would not hold up in court that I made that statement if all you had was your word against mine.

You could test me on how much I believe that statment. But the degree to which I believe the statement is a dependant variable. The independant variable would be the test; how the questions are phrased, what questions you ask, how many questions you ask, what scale you use, all of that will determine the outcome of the test. But the simple fact remains that the belief itself cannot be tested, therefore it can either exist or not exist.