Using rationality, we should weigh our beliefs so as to make them proportional to the evidence at hand. If there is no evidence that someone existed, than we have no reason that he or she did indeed exist. Thus, if we wish to be reasonable and rationable human beings, we should not believe that...
Well I've been doing it for years and if you went there and maintained your belief that there was a loving, compassionate god, I would consider you sick!
Reading through this thread, I have been amazed by the stuff you religious people come up with. You all talk about What God thinks, intends, does do, doesn't do, why he does, why he doesn't and none of you have any first hand knowledge of this entity's existence. You only have faith. So with the...
The Bible misinterprets its own prophecies. Read Isaiah 7 and compare it to Matthew 1 to find but one of many misinterpreted prophecies of which Christians are either passively or willfully ignorant.
In the UK you may choose whether you swear an oath on the bible or take what I think is called a 'civil oath'. This means that you just say "I promise to tell the truth".