Why I am not a Christian, Part 1: The Bible
Believe the earth is flat, or I'll kill you. Are you able to ignore the evidence that says otherwise?
Eternal bliss or eternal suffering, each at a level so profound that we cannot begin to imagine the plenary ecstasy of heaven or the relentless horror of hell. This, Christians contend, is what is at stake as we try to decide whether or not to believe in Jesus as God.
But even this “choice” misunderstands the concept of belief. Belief is not a decision, but rather an intellectual position to which we are taken by evidence (evidence which can include, I am told, personal revelations from God, a courtesy not yet extended to me). We can’t believe the earth is flat, even if threatened with death for that disbelief, because the evidence tells us it’s spherical.
Yet according to the Christian proposition, we must believe certain things to avoid damnation. What are they? Besides the…
