Don't Blame Me For Not Accepting Jesus

[It Aint Necessarily So]

The idea behind the topic of this thread seems to want to pass the blame for our lack of understanding onto to God because he somehow failed to make things clearer to everyone. But the simple truth is, we are all here because God told the first humans to 'multiply and fill the earth'...which they did. He did not foreordain who would respond to him as a deity or who would obey him as such...he left that up to us. Free will.

One thing that I've noticed about this god is that whenever given a choice, He chooses to do what would happen if he didn't exist. Where he could make us all only want to do good, or to know without doubt that He exists, or have us understand scripture meaning that we all understood it the same and correct way, He does none of those things.

Why do you suppose that a god that wants to be known, loved, and worshiped and wants us to avoid sin makes such decisions?

 

[DavidFirth]

Christians often resort to 'lack' of receiving Holy Spirit, as a reason for unbelievers not understanding things like:

1 How God could be a man
2 The Trinity
3 Original Sin
4 Preservation of the NT from 1st Century to 21st C.

The fact as you say, no 2 Christians can agree on core Doctrines 1-3, simply proves there is no such thing as a 'holy spirit' residing within. It is simply a conviction of belief people hold, just like any other person might be sure (convicted) of their religion/belief whether that be Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam etc

You have no idea what Christians think or how they think. You are not qualified to discuss the Holy Spirit logically.

You've got a lot of nerve discussing scriptural related things. Muhammed just took the Old Testament and changed the parts he didn't agree with.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

Christians often resort to 'lack' of receiving Holy Spirit, as a reason for unbelievers not understanding things like:

1 How God could be a man
2 The Trinity
3 Original Sin
4 Preservation of the NT from 1st Century to 21st C.

The fact as you say, no 2 Christians can agree on core Doctrines 1-3, simply proves there is no such thing as a 'holy spirit' residing within. It is simply a conviction of belief people hold, just like any other person might be sure (convicted) of their religion/belief whether that be Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam etc

Agreed. Common ground at last.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

You have no idea what Christians think or how they think.

Of course we do. You tell us what you think.

You are not qualified to discuss the Holy Spirit logically.

Here's an example of you telling us what you think.

You've got a lot of nerve discussing scriptural related things. Muhammed just took the Old Testament and changed the parts he didn't agree with.

And another.

 

[DavidFirth]

Of course we do. You tell us what you think.



Here's an example of you telling us what you think.



And another.

So you can tell exactly what a person thinks just by reading a few posts. Wow, you must be a hit at parties.

 

[Kenny]

So how many people do you know who set out to purposely make irrational decisions?

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If you go to church and know that you have enough gas to get there and not enough to get back home... is that rational or irrational?

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

If you go to church and know that you have enough gas to get there and not enough to get back home... is that rational or irrational?

I'd say rational if you knew the risks and consequences of your decision and decided that going to church was important enough to justify the drive.

Of course, the risk of running out of gas is reduced if you leave five minutes earlier and fill up on the way, or happen to go to a church close enough to a gas station to gas up after church to gas up after church.

But even at the risk of running out of gas, it may be worth your while to go anyway. Maybe your daughter is getting married there, and running out of gas on the drive is more acceptable to you than being late.

 

[Skwim]

If you go to church and know that you have enough gas to get there and not enough to get back home... is that rational or irrational?

OMG, you actually know of such people, or have done it yourself?

.

 

[Kenny]

OMG, you actually know of such people, or have done it yourself?

.

There's more of us than what you think - faith can be irrational yet very real

 

[Kenny]

I'd say rational if you knew the risks and consequences of your decision and decided that going to church was important enough to justify the drive.
.

I call that rationalization.

But, yes, the irrational thought was because we wanted to go to church and it was important enough to go to church and not rationally think about"how are we going to get home"

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Of course, the risk of running out of gas is reduced if you leave five minutes earlier and fill up on the way, or happen to go to a church close enough to a gas station to gas up after church to gas up after church.
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Not an option... no money

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But even at the risk of running out of gas, it may be worth your while to go anyway. Maybe your daughter is getting married there, and running out of gas on the drive is more acceptable to you than being late.

Since it was actual events... no. My children were small.

 

[Ponder This]

And if the lack of element e did make you erroneously decide A made more sense than B, you can't be held accountable for it.

Since you are smart enough to account for a variable, e, that you are unaware of, it follows that you can makes decisions with the consideration of the possibility of e.

So how many people do you know who set out to purposely make irrational decisions?

Darwin Awards

The rest of your remarks show a lack of having grasped the essences of what I have said and I have no desire to spend the time explaining. So have a good day.

Fair enough. Maybe I missed something you tried to explain. My bad or... is it?

I can't choose to believe or disbelieve. I think that I probably could as a child, but not any more. My mind tells me what's believable, not the other way around.

There's this incredible thing people do when they sit down and read a good book: they suspend disbelief. It means you have the ability to override your supposedly rational critically thinking mind to believe things that would not otherwise be believable. The only thing getting in your way is a lack of imagination.

He probably is an exception. There are many exceptions.

An interesting thought. I find it hard to believe, but I'll entertain the possibility.

That's a nice example of why one shouldn't believe without a rational reason to believe. You're probably referring to the Heaven's Gate cult, all dead as a result of believing without sufficient evidence.

I don't know what evidence they may have thought existed. Rational or not, they bear the consequences.

There are cases where you need to maintain a belief in the face of evidence against it because the act of believing keeps you looking for the possibility. Once you decide that something cannot be the case, there is a tendency to stop looking for evidence to support it. For example: in war, you must maintain the belief that you will survive. It doesn't matter how terrible things look from the point of view of your rational mind; you maintain your belief and remain alert to anything that supports this notion and, consequently, any opportunity to make it a reality. You are simply more likely to die if you believe that you will.

 

[The Holy Bottom Burp]

I must admit, that is one of the primary reasons why I left Christendom. Who could love a deity who delighted in the torture of anyone....(Jeremiah 32:35) but I saw "the church" emulate this god in their treatment of those who failed the accusations of the Grand Inquisitor.
When this kind of unchristian conduct entered "the church"....Christ left the building and never returned. Christendom became a mish-mash of bickering denominations, all teaching different doctrines, yet still somehow claiming to be united as Christ's disciples. It will not end well for those who misrepresent the Christ and his Father. (Matthew 7:21-23)

After my own investigation into "Christianity" as represented by their teachings, I soon came to realize that none of what they taught was true. Most of their doctrines were the result of Roman Catholic dogma 'adopted' long after Christ left the earthly scene. It was foretold to happen, but Christendom seems to want to ignore that warning. They did exactly what Judaism did before them, following exactly the same path.....mirror images of one another.....accepting the 'traditions of men' over the word of God. (Matthew 15:7-9)

The Bible is true, but Christendom's interpretation is skewed towards pagan beliefs that infiltrated the "church" long after the Bible was written. (2 Peter 2:1)

When I dig into the Bible, I like to take my information from a variety of sources, but almost never from those who adhere to Christendom's version of events. A thorough understanding of the scriptures means investigating the meanings of words in their original languages....taking all verses in context.....comparing translations.....and understanding God's original purpose in putting material beings on a material planet in the first place.

Starting with a bigger picture allows us to fit everything into it, rather than having random pieces of a puzzle and not knowing where to put them. That leads to the big questions going unanswered, causing frustration and having to rely on blind faith. No one's faith should be blind. Whenever Jesus was questioned, he referred to God's word as his authority in all things. We need to do the same....but the leaders of Christendom have no idea how to answer the tough questions. No wonder her numbers are dwindling.

The idea behind the topic of this thread seems to want to pass the blame for our lack of understanding onto to God because he somehow failed to make things clearer to everyone. But the simple truth is, we are all here because God told the first humans to 'multiply and fill the earth'...which they did. He did not foreordain who would respond to him as a deity or who would obey him as such...he left that up to us. Free will.

The events in Eden explain why we are in this sad predicament in the first place....humans wanted to make their own decisions about what was 'good and evil'......so he let them, knowing that that this kind of freedom would prove that we can't do that successfully on our own. (Jeremiah 10:23) How long have we been trying to do it "our way" and failing at every kind of self rule? How many religions can we choose from? How many life styles are open to us? Our choices in all these things tell God who we are and what we really desire in life. That will be the basis for his judgment of us. We actually determine our own destiny by the choices we make.

Some will keep wanting to prove that they can do it 'their way', but others will see the folly of it and humbly submit to the authority of the Creator. In that humble submission, is an avenue for God to "draw" that individual to his truth (John 6:44).....something that is not revealed to the ones intent on proving that they don't need Him.

Yeah, nice try at responding to my post with some not too subtle proselytising my friend, but as this is a religious forum I'm not going to beat you up about it! What you wrote falls into the "No true Scotsman" category, Christians from other traditions would point the finger at the Watchtower's 'erroneous' interpretation of the bible and say you have been deceived by Satan (I really think Jehovah needs to brush up on his communication skills!). I'm not saying "Christendom" has twisted the "true" meaning of the gospel, almost from the very beginning of Christianity there was discord and dispute about who Jesus was and what his death and resurrection meant (I'd recommend "Lost Christianities" by Bart Ehrman if you want some further reading, he is a bona fide professor of biblical studies but the book is very accessible to anyone interested). What I'm saying is there is seriously good reasons to doubt the historicity of the gospels, and the epistles as well while we are about it. There were Christian groups in the 1st and 2nd centuries who denied the divinity of Jesus like your group does today, but they had different ideas (they didn't think Jesus was the archangel Michael for example). They faded away as the "orthodox" theology prevailed, I guess in some sense the Watchtower has picked up the baton left by those early groups who denied the divinity of Jesus. All that is by the by, my question is can you be sure any of this ever happened?
So thanks for the proselytising, don't think I'll be a JW anytime soon, but I do have a question for you. It has been a long time since I had a JW knock on my door, but I notice a lot of them standing around the city with their stands full of religious pamphlets. Has the Watchtower given up on the 'door to door' approach?

 

[Bob the Unbeliever]

I believe they will really enjoy thinking that while they are in hell,

Sorry? If you are content to be in heaven, knowing that most of the world is being tortured in hell because your god made the universe that way?

Well... that is rather a failure as an empathetic human being.

No ethical person could stand the idea of people being tortured forever, for the very finite actions of a mortal life.

The punishment is too over-the-top. Any being who created things such that hell even exists?

Is morally bankrupt, and capable of infinite evil-- since hell is infinite? It is infinitely evil.

The god you believe in? Is not good...

 

[Kelly of the Phoenix]

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(John 3:16)

Which is weird considering there are no immortal Christians we know of.

Christians say that if I don't accept Jesus as my savior it's my own darn fault.

I wouldn't. If the message fails, we should look at the (M)essenger. Think about it this way: God is a language arts student, giving a persuasive speech to His class. Nobody is convinced. Does the class get the F or the Speaker?

So, whose fault is it that I don't? Is it my fault that my mind has been so constructed that it rejects the argument of "people down through the ages have believed"? Hardly. Other than perhaps exercising the mind to work a bit better, none of us chooses how it accepts or rejects information. So what I believe is dependent on the information making its impression on my mind. I don't choose how information X is going to be processed.

Jesus said to judge a tree by its fruit. The problem, I think, is that the authors didn't realize you could do that to JESUS as well ...

Lets look at it this way. What if I fail to accept Donald Trump as my president. I didn't vote for him. I don't believe he is qualified. I don't believe he has my best interests at heart. If he creates a law that I don't agree with, what happens if I break that law and get caught. He failed to persuade me that I should follow any thing he says or does. Those that present his case are as idiotic as he is. The only case they have is a piece of paper written over 200 years ago that has no connection to me. Why should I be penalized for ignoring him.

Immoral laws can be challenged in court. If God does something bad, where do you turn?

They dogmatically believe the "science" they are fed without investigating any of the data themselves and trusting various authorities.

And I take it all bible-believing people have earned theology degrees and can properly read ancient texts?

I've said this before, Skwim. To me, this is a strange thread. Maybe it's your subconscious telling you to do the right thing since you know and understand. If you accept it, then embrace it. Tattoo "I rather rule in hell than serve in heaven" and buy a Harley. Vroom. Vroom. Roooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! How cool will you look? Chicks dig the bad boys.

If there are Harleys, it must be heaven, not hell. I work nights. I forgive my neighbor for roaring his hog because, dang it, I love the sound.

They have stopped believing what the Bible teaches and have started believing false teachings.

"Started"? Jesus complains the men surrounding him right then and there aren't really listening to him.

This is based on when Jesus said when you pray to do it in a closet, and when you fast to not look or act like you are fasting. It seems very much so Jesus does not approve of public displays of faith, as their admiration then is their reward.

If you have to brag, there's hardly any substance in the bag.

Not really. Real christians woudnt take up pentagrams and thor symbols, etc, unless they already werent real christians.

Real Christians wouldn't bother with cross necklaces and fish magnets either, but here we are.

What the Spirit tells me is not to put too much Faith in the writings and ideas of humans. They are very fallible.

Indeed. That's what God told me, too. I feel it blasphemous and idolatrous to act like God must be slave to the bible and not the other way around.

You do not know the Spirit. The Spirit inspired the scriptures therefore I know that you do not know Him.

Humans said that and they idiotically caused a logic paradox by claiming you can't trust humans. The Spirit told me God didn't say half that stuff. Now what? I can even read evidence about the history of the bible, its (supposed) authors, and the historical/cultural backgrounds of all of the above and determine what the Spirit told me. Do I believe God or some people I never met, much less believe?

I have very little self esteem.

Then God has failed you and should be ashamed of Himself.

The heavens and the Earth will pass away but the word of God stands forever.

That's why a New Testament was needed? Because the Old one should last forever?

IF by some miracle I end up facing a creator God after I die, I'm not worried in the least that I'll be punished for failing to believe in Him. In fact, I expect that I'll be praised for having used the rational logical thinking mind that He created me with, instead of turning my rational logical thinking brain off in order to accommodate my blind faith.

John the Baptist notes that God can make "children of Abraham" out of rocks. We should never equate blind allegiance to a specific group to salvation. In the NT, Jesus berates his own apostles for not understanding him, whereas plenty outside the "inner circle" seem to manage just fine, even gentiles. Group labels are meaningless drivel and detract from salvation.

Do you believe that Jesus is God in human form (John 1:1, 14)? Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins (1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21), for which you deserve eternal separation from God (Romans 6:23)? Do you believe that the sacrifice of Jesus, God incarnate, is the only adequate payment for your sins (1 John 2:2; John 14:6; Acts 4:12)?

Do you have anything by people I don't consider blasphemous?

Since you are not of the Spirit you and I cannot possibly see anything on the same level.

Does the Spirit tell you this or Paul?

Muhammed just took the Old Testament and changed the parts he didn't agree with.

Ladies and gentlemen, the ENTIRE point of having an NT....

If you go to church and know that you have enough gas to get there and not enough to get back home... is that rational or irrational?

Do you expect Jesus to take the wheel?

 

[Deeje]

Yeah, nice try at responding to my post with some not too subtle proselytising my friend, but as this is a religious forum I'm not going to beat you up about it!

It was my own story....but thanks for not beating me up.

What you wrote falls into the "No true Scotsman" category, Christians from other traditions would point the finger at the Watchtower's 'erroneous' interpretation of the bible and say you have been deceived by Satan

"Christians" need credentials, not labels.....the major ones being to imitate Christ in his conduct and follow his teachings closely. At the time when he judges mankind he will say to "many" who claim to be his disciples....
“Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of the heavens, but only the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will. 22 Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them: ‘I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!’" (Matthew 7:21-23)

I guess we will have to wait and see who gets the boot.

Who really are "doing the will of the Father "by obeying his son and who are not? God knows.

I really think Jehovah needs to brush up on his communication skills!.

His communication skills are excellent....its just that a lot of people have their fingers in their ears.

I'm not saying "Christendom" has twisted the "true" meaning of the gospel, almost from the very beginning of Christianity there was discord and dispute about who Jesus was and what his death and resurrection meant

The apostles knew and taught the truth, but once they passed away, the "weeds" took over....I see Christendom as the "weeds" of Jesus' parable. (Matthew 13:24-30)

What I'm saying is there is seriously good reasons to doubt the historicity of the gospels, and the epistles as well while we are about it. There were Christian groups in the 1st and 2nd centuries who denied the divinity of Jesus like your group does today, but they had different ideas (they didn't think Jesus was the archangel Michael for example). They faded away as the "orthodox" theology prevailed, I guess in some sense the Watchtower has picked up the baton left by those early groups who denied the divinity of Jesus. All that is by the by, my question is can you be sure any of this ever happened?

The divine origin of the Christ was never in question.....it was the deification of Jesus that presented a problem. He never once referred to himself as Almighty God. He only ever called himself "God's son". We "picked up the baton" left by Jesus. Christendom adopted many pagan traditions and customs that are still held today.

"Orthodoxy" is no guarantee of authenticity.....In view of Jesus' parable, it was foretold that the "weeds" would dominate for a time. It wasn't until the "time of the end" that God would reveal the truth about everything. (Daniel 12:9-10) After the judgment, the angels are then dispatched and the weeds are completely eliminated. (Matthew 13:36-43)

don't think I'll be a JW anytime soon,

Yeah, I said that once. Never thought it would ever happen.....

but I do have a question for you. It has been a long time since I had a JW knock on my door, but I notice a lot of them standing around the city with their stands full of religious pamphlets. Has the Watchtower given up on the 'door to door' approach?

We still go door to door, but since lots of people in many developed nations are not at home during the day, (both partners working usually) our mobile literature trolly is a good way to catch them on their way to and from work or when they are out and about. We have had enormous success with our multi-lingual website too, (JW.ORG) attracting thousands of visitors every day, many asking for Bible studies. Its not the method so much as being able to speak to people....but door to door is still our favorite method.

When emergency services want to warn people of an impending disaster, they usually go door to door to make sure no one is missed. We see our work as life saving....but like those ES volunteers, we can't make people listen or act on the warning. All we can do is tell them and hope that they respond.....either way, we have done what was required of us. (Ezekiel 3:17-21)

 

[Deeje]

One thing that I've noticed about this god is that whenever given a choice, He chooses to do what would happen if he didn't exist.

If that is what you think, then you have never really understood why we are subjected to this troubled world. God has stepped out of the picture because humans said they wanted to do things "their way". Give a man enough rope......the best lessons are those where we find out the hard way. Humans chose it....and God let them, knowing that they would only learn by their mistakes. Telling them didn't do much...did it?

Where he could make us all only want to do good, or to know without doubt that He exists, or have us understand scripture meaning that we all understood it the same and correct way, He does none of those things.

Originally, there was not a sinful bone in the human body.....what was put on trial was free will. Without free will we may as well be cattle mindlessly grazing in a field.

Is that what you want to be?

In order for free will to be free...it has to have choices....right and wrong. Only the wrong one had a penalty. What do you suppose would have happened if no one had eaten the fruit and unleashed a knowledge of good and evil? That was something God said he would be the judge of.....he did not give us the right to decide for ourselves what was good and what wasn't. It was a simple test of obedience with a penalty so huge that only a fool would disobey......and a fool did, suffering the penalty and passing on his defective genes to all his children.

Why do you suppose that a god that wants to be known, loved, and worshiped and wants us to avoid sin makes such decisions?

Because he wants the genuine ones to know him, not the ones who go along just for the benefits but have no real love or appreciation for the Creator or his laws and standards. He wants our love and loyalty demonstrated by our obedience to his reasonable commands, which were all put in place for our good. The more I get to know this God, the more I am in awe of him.

 

[The Holy Bottom Burp]

It was my own story....but thanks for not beating me up.

No worries, I always prefer discussion to squabble!

I guess we will have to wait and see who gets the boot.

Who really are "doing the will of the Father "by obeying his son and who are not? God knows.

The mystery and hiddenness of God again? Funny, that one always seems to come up when the really interesting questions are being asked!

His communication skills are excellent....its just that a lot of people have their fingers in their ears.

I think my experience of reality contradicts that, literally millions of people believe in Jesus, a fair chunk are probably just nominal Christians (they were brought up in the faith and never really give it much thought), but I'd contend that a larger chunk are sincere and devout believers. They don't go around with their fingers in their ears they are "seekers", but in your world they don't qualify as Christians? Catholics, Protestants, LDS, Greek Orthodox, etc. all going to be pointed out as 'goats' by Jesus? Despite their willingness and desire to know God? What about the devout Muslims, of which there are a couple of billion? This is what I mean by Jehovah's poor communication skills. His voice seems very small in the great scheme of things, the devil has it in the bag!

The apostles knew and taught the truth, but once they passed away, the "weeds" took over....I see Christendom as the "weeds" of Jesus' parable. (Matthew 13:24-30)

Right, but a Baptist might accuse the Watchtower as being one of the false prophets Jesus talked about. Back to No True Scotsman!

The divine origin of the Christ was never in question.....it was the deification of Jesus that presented a problem. He never once referred to himself as Almighty God. He only ever called himself "God's son". We "picked up the baton" left by Jesus. Christendom adopted many pagan traditions and customs that are still held today.

The gospel of John is very strong on the divinity of Jesus, but of course the Watchtower translation says the "Word was with God, the Word was a god" a rather convenient "a" for a group that denies the divinity of Jesus! The credentials of the translators of the Watchtower bible? Anonymous right? Not good enough Deeje!
Anyhow, I don't really care tbh, textual criticism of the bible points to later additions being made to some verses, questionable authorship of a number of the epistles, (6 of the 13 Pauline letters are recognised as forgeries or wrongly attributed to Paul), and of course the authors of the gospels are anonymous. What do we know about them, how can we tell they were men of integrity? We cant. I don't accept extraordinary information I read about without knowing the credentials of the author in my everyday life (I feel I can readily dismiss headlines about aliens landing in the National Inquirer because of the reputation of the authors) and nor do you I suspect. So why accept anonymous authorship as credible when you are wearing your religious hat?

Yeah, I said that once. Never thought it would ever happen.....

There is still time to change your mind dude, all the different Christian groups cant all be right, but they can all be wrong.....come on in the atheist water is fine!

When emergency services want to warn people of an impending disaster, they usually go door to door to make sure no one is missed. We see our work as life saving....but like those ES volunteers, we can't make people listen or act on the warning. All we can do is tell them and hope that they respond.....either way, we have done what was required of us. (Ezekiel 3:17-21)

Yeah right, JWs as an emergency service? Not if you've lost a lot of blood and need a transfusion to keep you alive dude!

 

[bobhikes]

Immoral laws can be challenged in court. If God does something bad, where do you turn?

Quite a few things wrong with this statement, no law in the US can be challenged because of morality. If we look at the world dictator's can not be challenged period and religious governments use their religious morals.

If God is infinite and created everything and is going to make a home for those that he likes and punish those he doesn't then god can not do anything bad only those he punishes can do bad. If God exists much like a Dictator on earth what God says is Good whether you like it or not.

Perhaps God is not a Dictator but the premise of the OP is that God is a dictator and his followers are the equivalent of Gods marketing division at least that's how I read the OP.

 

[Kenny]

Do you expect Jesus to take the wheel?

Yes, I looked at my life with me at the wheel and it was going from bad to worse. Having Him at the wheel as Lord made all the difference in the world.

How are you doing with you at the wheel of your life?

 

[David T]

According to Christian theology if I don't accept Jesus as my savior I will never make it into heaven and could likely end up in hell.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(John 3:16)​

Christians say that if I don't accept Jesus as my savior it's my own darn fault. Okay, but consider. Why do we accept something or reject it? We do so because we're convinced it makes sense. I accept the fact that evolution is true because to me it makes sense. I reject creationism because to me it doesn't make sense. So, if I'm to accept Jesus as my savior, above all else it has to make sense that I do so. There has to be some kind of compelling rational, and without this rational it would be unreasonable to agree to the proposition. I certainly wouldn't find believing in faeries and gnomes to be sensible if the only reason given is that this is what many people down through the ages have believed. People down through the ages also believed the earth was flat. I would need a more compelling rational to accept faeries and gnomes as a reasonable belief.

So, whose fault is it that I don't? Is it my fault that my mind has been so constructed that it rejects the argument of "people down through the ages have believed"? Hardly. Other than perhaps exercising the mind to work a bit better, none of us chooses how it accepts or rejects information. So what I believe is dependent on the information making its impression on my mind. I don't choose how information X is going to be processed. This process is an automatic one. Perhaps fear is a huge motivating factor within the processing operation. No matter how outlandish a proposition may be, scare me enough and I'll believe it. Or perhaps reason is thee controlling factor within the processing operation. Proposition XYZ has to make sense or I'll reject it. The thing is, we don't choose how these factors weigh in on our conclusions. Just as one doesn't choose what they find attractive about other people. What we find attractive and don't find attractive depends on how our minds have been configured. And this configuration is not something we choose. In effect, our mind is compelled to operate in a certain manner.

Therefore, we can't be held responsible for how our mind processes information. So, if I'm to find believing in faeries and gnomes sensible, where would the responsibility have to lie? What's left are those influences outside myself. If I'm to believe in faeries and gnomes then someone or something is going to have to persuade those deciding factors in my mind that it makes sense, and it's what I should do. Now, I have very little influence over what kind of evidence or argument I'm presented. It might even be a case of GIGO. If the ICFB, the International Council of Faerie Belief, fails to scare me into believing in faeries and gnomes, that's their fault, not mine. If the ICFB, fails to present a persuasive enough case to accept faeries and gnomes, that's their fault, not mine. And this goes right down to those individual representatives of the ICFB. If my neighbor down the block comes knocking on my door trying to get me to accept faeries and gnomes and fails, it's his fault, not mine. Or, if no one presents any information on faeries and gnomes for me to consider, it isn't my fault either.

So, In as much as I can't help how my mind processes information, and I can't help if the tactics of Christians fail to persuade me that believing in the Son is the way to an everlasting life, why should I perish because of it? If any blame is to be laid it has to be on those presenting, or failing to present, the case for Jesus.

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Well consider yourself lucky you dont have an obsessive unhealthy understanding of death that so many do!!! The particular view you quoted is a specific view, not a general view in the christian world appealing to those who have a rather naive understanding of death and themselves for that matter. But hell, thats "normal".