Talking about the apostles someone said: Weird how we only supposedly hear from two out of twelve.
... and I answered:
That is funny. How do you know there were 12 if you say you "only supposedly hear from two"?
You did hear about the twelve ... but you don't believe.

If the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, would its authenticity be more widely accepted? I think it would.

Then, what is the criterion by which the testimony of first-century Christians who wrote the...

In John 1:18, it says, 'No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him'.

If John is correct, as I believe he is, then we need to understand more about the 'face' of God. For the 'face' and 'countenance' of the LORD appears numerous times in scripture. Here's a taster:

Genesis 32:30. 'And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face [Heb. panim], and my life is preserved'.

Exodus 33:11. 'And...

For the purposes of discussion imagine that God is someday going to somehow put an end to the world.....

According to your religious beliefs what exactly do you expect to happen?

Eschatology is not one of my strong points and I'm more than a little confused about Christian teachings on the matter and as far as I can see there are many different and conflicting views within Christianity as to what exactly will happen

But how do you (no matter what your religion is) think God will end the...

Church attendance has been dropping and it seems religion is losing a little ground every year.

Thousands of churches are closing across the U.S.

Churches are closing at an alarming rate in the United States, according to researchers, as congregations shrink across the country and a younger generation of Americans abandon Christianity entirely – even as faith continues to dominate American politics.

As the United States adjusts to an increasingly non-religious population, thousands of...

People are happy in childhood because they are most far from dying.
Angel of Death will die as well. According to Holy Bible. It is very good. Let the Death taste the taste of its own "medicine".

if jesus were god and jesus prayed, isn't that bizarre that jesus prayed to himself, asked himself for something he could give himself as god?

"we need not think alike to love alike" - Francis Dávid

However:

Do you think your religious beliefs are correct and that other religious beliefs are wrong?

Or do you see all such beliefs as being equally valid?

I do but it doesn't offend me if someone thinks the same about my beliefs, that's a part of life, different people will hold different opinions

But I do feel considerable social pressure to keep this from others, to not say this in public

But yes, I freely admit that I believe...

Via a WaPo article I read this morning, I came across this paper: Complementary evolution of coding and noncoding sequence underlies mammalian hairlessness | eLife (elifesciences.org).

The gist of the paper is an exploration of the genetic basis for, and evolutionary history of, hair loss in some mammals. Now, like most scientific papers that are about prehistoric events, the paper uses words such as "likely", "possibly", "putative", etc. But I don't want this thread to turn into yet...

Was watching a debate between a Muslim and an atheist. And the Muslim make the argument that people that believe in subjective morality have no foundation for making moral judgements and are therefore not valid. Whereas people with a foundation in objective morality, meaning God as the moral judge are because this gives them a foundation for their morality.

Do you agree with this, that without God there is no moral foundation for judging right from wrong? And therefore people not believing...

A report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom describes persecution of [Jehovah's] Witnesses as a global phenomenon

In Eritrea, if you are a member of a certain religion you will be stripped of citizenship, lose all your civil rights, and probably end up in jail. If you try to practice the same religion in Tajikistan or Singapore, you may be arrested. In Russia, your religion is banned and, if taken to jail, you may even be tortured. Even in some democratic countries,...