I want to believe in God, but it doesn't work?

[SarcasticIndeed]

Hello, I'm new and all, and I consider myself an Agnostic Atheist, but I've always wanted to be a theist.

I was born in an Orthodox Christian family, but we weren't especially religious. Still, I went to church for a period of my childhood very often, and considered myself as a Christian. However, as time passed, from my 8-10th year, or even earlier, I began to doubt things. I started asking "Does this make sense?" and "Could that really happen?" My mind always rejected religion as someting irrational.


At the time, I watched the Discovery, History and NG chanells which didn't help my theistic side to prevail over the atheistic. It talked about how everything in the bible would be explained with science, the contradictions, false beliefs etc. etc. The last one I saw said how, based on the evidence, Izrael people didn't attack the land (I forgot its name) like the bible says, but they lived there as peasants, and then probably built a new identity. They passed through a town which has a very similar name to the God in bible and probably got their belief from it. At that point, I would still answer I'm a theist when someone asked me, but deep inside, I knew it wasn't true. I guess I was just scared of hell or something.


One day, I just realized that this "hiding from the truth" cannot continue. If God exists, he knows I don't believe in him and this false Christianity makes little to no sense to me. From that point on, I considered myself an atheist.


Life of an atheist (which I added the tag of "nihilist" later) was okay. I thought everything was created in the Big Bang, evolution happened and we appeared; there is no purpose to our existence and there is no morale. I felt I was free. I immediately joined the Religion discussion on Yahoo! Answers on the side of a sarcastic atheists. And I felt good, but then again, I didn't really like it. I don't want just to "perish from existence" when I die. I want someone to be up there, this world would be better then! I don't want to rot in heaven.


In this "search" for God, I met quite a few people. None would make me believe in God. One of them was incredibly smart, and I liked what he told me, but I still didn't become an atheist.


Please help me...

 

[SDvisions]

I want someone to be up there, this world would be better then! I don't want to rot in heaven.

You certainly will not rot in heaven. I understand it is hard to believe when you are unable to see something visually, but you have to open yourself up to really see what awaits you.

 

[swamplizard]

Hi Sarcastic Indeed,

Willingness, I think, is the key. That includes a willingness to dismiss as well as to accept.

best regards,
swampy

 

[illykitty]

Well ask yourself, what caused the Big Bang? Do you think it just made itself happen? How is that possible? It's perfectly plausible that a higher power, or many divinities are the cause of it. That it was set in motion by them.

You don't need to be Christian or have their views to believe in a God, heck you don't need to believe in anything really! Make your own theories. Read about various religions and try to see things from different angles.

If you're really not religious, you could just think that a higher power has set things in motion. It doesn't go against science at all (in fact did science answer what made the Big Bang happen?). And I think personally that everyone who has been as good as they could, and that learned from their mistakes will be rewarded. So don't worry too much!

But again, perhaps after some research you'll find yourself more comfortable with being an Atheist (have you checked they Agnostic approach too?) and there's nothing wrong with that too! The contrary happened to me. I used to be a hardcore atheist but since I've opened my mind and read about various religions, I've come to believe in a God, not an Abrahamic God, but nonetheless, a divine higher being.

You just need to open your mind and remember that there is more than just two options out there (Atheist vs Christian) and you can even make up your own option! Hope this helped a bit!

 

[InChrist]

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8

 

[Green Kepi]

What doesn't work? Having faith?


The atheist, Richard Dawkins states that faith is "blind trust, in the absence of evidence, even in the teeth of evidence." This is ‘hogwash’…because the simple truth is that belief is just a normal human way of making sense of a complex world.

You may have faith that God doesn’t exist. I have faith He does. Neither of us can be 100% sure which one is correct or not. Neither of us is blind – we are just trying to make the best sense of things on the basis of the available evidence.

To myself, I have proved that He is real. Hopefully, by now…you have proved to yourself, He is not.

The late, atheist Christopher Hitchens, declared that atheists such as himself do not hold any beliefs. "Our belief is not a belief." This is another crazy statement! This is one of the best examples of blind faith I have come across - a delusion that makes his whole approach so puzzling!

 

[Vinayaka]

Hello, I'm new and all, and I consider myself an Agnostic Atheist, but I've always wanted to be a theist.

Why would it matter much? I think its very hard to change your belief intentionally.

 

[gospelsaves]

I can only tell you my personal story.....

For me personally I don't base my happiness on my family. As much as I loved them I learned the hard way that family can be taken away from you. You know I was one of those people who thought "the meaning to life is just love family, and friends". I personally went on a journey that led me to faith in Jesus. You certainly don't think one day your entire family will be gone, but it happened to me.

With in just a few years everyone I knew and loved as my family died. I was raised by my grandparents, and in 91' my grandfather died, in 98' my grandmother died, in 02' my aunt died, in 04' my mom died, in 06' my uncle died. And I can keep going... I slipped into severe depression because I thought surely there has got to be more to life than this. We can't just be here for a short part of time, and then just die. Really there has got to be more to life than this! Most of those few people I mentioned died what I consider young, like well under the age of 75'.

I slipped into a severe depression for obvious reasons. Then I got a bad report from the doctor and thought I was about to die. And I literally remember being in a room crying over the fact that I knew IF I died there would be 2 people at my funeral. I had two people I was living with at the time because I had just moved, and most everyone else I knew and loved was already dead! That would slip anyone into depression.

That got me to seeking to find out what in the world is the purpose of me being here. I remember praying something like "God if you are really real, you need to show me because I don't really see the purpose of living anymore, most everyone I know and love is dead. What do I have to live for? to work? to find some more people to love who could just die too?...what really is the point?"

God really showed up in my life cuz who knows what would have happened if he didn't. Within days of me praying that someone invited me to church. I was really reluctant. But I went and there people were soooooo happy and I just couldn't understand it. I remember trying to figure out asking questions like why are they so happy. I found out they had love from God, and love of God that just made them unconditionally happy. I found stories of people who had been in worse circumstances than me and were still happy despite that. I needed that. I needed to have joy not based upon my circumstances, which can obviously change. I needed to find Joy based upon something that would NEVER change. And that is God.

Now I'm truly happy. If God can get me through what happened, I know he can get me though anything! That’s why nobody can tell me God doesn't exist, cuz I living proof of that. If Jesus didn't save me from that, I know for a fact that I wouldn't be here. If everything is taken away from you, money, health, everyone you love....what do you have left? I mean what do you say to someone who has lost everything? I mean everything. I can tell you for a fact that everyone who didn't believe in God...didn't have a clue of what to say to me to make me feel any better except some nonsense of "try keep busy", "try to make new friends", "try to find new hobbies you like to do", "try to go be with nature". I'm sorry to say but you lose everyone you love, your health, and your finances...no amount at looking at some pretty scenery is going to change how you feel. Been there done that. The only people that could console me where people who talked about God and this not being his final plan, and that there IS something better to hope for.

I saying this so that in case someone is going through the same thing I went through they know that there is hope in God. There are some people out there with some REALLY BIG voids in their life, and they don't have a family, or friends. I'm here to tell someone who has lost everything that they can hope in God.

I see people on TV that are soooo much worse than I can imagine. People who been abused and tortured, and whole family died, people starving to death. For some people this Earth is literally hell. They have horrible things happen to them. Can you imagine people like this you tell them there is no hope, that this is it....there is no heaven. Can you imagine looking at some child who was abused and mistreated and tell them that this is all you have of life..and after this you just die? I can't. There is more to life than this!!!

 

[ShareTheWord]

I wouldn't base belief or non belief in things based on television programs that "reveal the truth" in anything...whether pro or anti religion.

In the end, if there were easy hard facts in either direction completely and utterly refuting anything, there wouldn't be believers and unbelievers...just one or the other.

 

[DandyAndy]

Hello, I'm new and all, and I consider myself an Agnostic Atheist, but I've always wanted to be a theist.

I was born in an Orthodox Christian family, but we weren't especially religious. Still, I went to church for a period of my childhood very often, and considered myself as a Christian. However, as time passed, from my 8-10th year, or even earlier, I began to doubt things. I started asking "Does this make sense?" and "Could that really happen?" My mind always rejected religion as someting irrational.


At the time, I watched the Discovery, History and NG chanells which didn't help my theistic side to prevail over the atheistic. It talked about how everything in the bible would be explained with science, the contradictions, false beliefs etc. etc. The last one I saw said how, based on the evidence, Izrael people didn't attack the land (I forgot its name) like the bible says, but they lived there as peasants, and then probably built a new identity. They passed through a town which has a very similar name to the God in bible and probably got their belief from it. At that point, I would still answer I'm a theist when someone asked me, but deep inside, I knew it wasn't true. I guess I was just scared of hell or something.


One day, I just realized that this "hiding from the truth" cannot continue. If God exists, he knows I don't believe in him and this false Christianity makes little to no sense to me. From that point on, I considered myself an atheist.


Life of an atheist (which I added the tag of "nihilist" later) was okay. I thought everything was created in the Big Bang, evolution happened and we appeared; there is no purpose to our existence and there is no morale. I felt I was free. I immediately joined the Religion discussion on Yahoo! Answers on the side of a sarcastic atheists. And I felt good, but then again, I didn't really like it. I don't want just to "perish from existence" when I die. I want someone to be up there, this world would be better then! I don't want to rot in heaven.


In this "search" for God, I met quite a few people. None would make me believe in God. One of them was incredibly smart, and I liked what he told me, but I still didn't become an atheist.


Please help me...

I would love to help. Can you elaborate further? I went through a period of doubt and disbelief. I too grew up in a very Christian home.

You can't base your belief off of TV shows or your parents. It's a personal thing and until you make it a personal thing it won't mean anything - my earlier faith was built upon my parents and that's why it fell through - it wasn't my own.

Now I have made it my own and it is stronger than anything. GOD will honor your search and your questions and your journey if you make them your own. My prayer is that you will find a way to make it your own.

 

[jasonwill2]

Hello, I'm new and all, and I consider myself an Agnostic Atheist, but I've always wanted to be a theist.

I was born in an Orthodox Christian family, but we weren't especially religious. Still, I went to church for a period of my childhood very often, and considered myself as a Christian. However, as time passed, from my 8-10th year, or even earlier, I began to doubt things. I started asking "Does this make sense?" and "Could that really happen?" My mind always rejected religion as someting irrational.


At the time, I watched the Discovery, History and NG chanells which didn't help my theistic side to prevail over the atheistic. It talked about how everything in the bible would be explained with science, the contradictions, false beliefs etc. etc. The last one I saw said how, based on the evidence, Izrael people didn't attack the land (I forgot its name) like the bible says, but they lived there as peasants, and then probably built a new identity. They passed through a town which has a very similar name to the God in bible and probably got their belief from it. At that point, I would still answer I'm a theist when someone asked me, but deep inside, I knew it wasn't true. I guess I was just scared of hell or something.


One day, I just realized that this "hiding from the truth" cannot continue. If God exists, he knows I don't believe in him and this false Christianity makes little to no sense to me. From that point on, I considered myself an atheist.


Life of an atheist (which I added the tag of "nihilist" later) was okay. I thought everything was created in the Big Bang, evolution happened and we appeared; there is no purpose to our existence and there is no morale. I felt I was free. I immediately joined the Religion discussion on Yahoo! Answers on the side of a sarcastic atheists. And I felt good, but then again, I didn't really like it. I don't want just to "perish from existence" when I die. I want someone to be up there, this world would be better then! I don't want to rot in heaven.


In this "search" for God, I met quite a few people. None would make me believe in God. One of them was incredibly smart, and I liked what he told me, but I still didn't become an atheist.


Please help me...

Perhaps neither atheism or Christianity is for you? You might want to explore other religious ideas if the two you had experience with (atheism and Christianity) didn't seem right. The best advice one can give is to just try and find what you think is right.

 

[The Peacekeeper]

I advise as well to read about many beliefs and religions. Then as well, ask yourself questions and seek answers... See if what people discovered as the Big Bang and evolution theories really work for you. If they don't then you can consider there's more to this world than our reality.

You can't suddenly force yourself to believe in something... you can't force yourself to believe in God, even if your family did. You have to obtain some personal proof for that.

Wish you luck!

 

[Drake]

I can only tell you my personal story.....

For me personally I don't base my happiness on my family. As much as I loved them I learned the hard way that family can be taken away from you. You know I was one of those people who thought "the meaning to life is just love family, and friends". I personally went on a journey that led me to faith in Jesus. You certainly don't think one day your entire family will be gone, but it happened to me.

With in just a few years everyone I knew and loved as my family died. I was raised by my grandparents, and in 91' my grandfather died, in 98' my grandmother died, in 02' my aunt died, in 04' my mom died, in 06' my uncle died. And I can keep going... I slipped into severe depression because I thought surely there has got to be more to life than this. We can't just be here for a short part of time, and then just die. Really there has got to be more to life than this! Most of those few people I mentioned died what I consider young, like well under the age of 75'.

I slipped into a severe depression for obvious reasons. Then I got a bad report from the doctor and thought I was about to die. And I literally remember being in a room crying over the fact that I knew IF I died there would be 2 people at my funeral. I had two people I was living with at the time because I had just moved, and most everyone else I knew and loved was already dead! That would slip anyone into depression.

That got me to seeking to find out what in the world is the purpose of me being here. I remember praying something like "God if you are really real, you need to show me because I don't really see the purpose of living anymore, most everyone I know and love is dead. What do I have to live for? to work? to find some more people to love who could just die too?...what really is the point?"

God really showed up in my life cuz who knows what would have happened if he didn't. Within days of me praying that someone invited me to church. I was really reluctant. But I went and there people were soooooo happy and I just couldn't understand it. I remember trying to figure out asking questions like why are they so happy. I found out they had love from God, and love of God that just made them unconditionally happy. I found stories of people who had been in worse circumstances than me and were still happy despite that. I needed that. I needed to have joy not based upon my circumstances, which can obviously change. I needed to find Joy based upon something that would NEVER change. And that is God.

Now I'm truly happy. If God can get me through what happened, I know he can get me though anything! That’s why nobody can tell me God doesn't exist, cuz I living proof of that. If Jesus didn't save me from that, I know for a fact that I wouldn't be here. If everything is taken away from you, money, health, everyone you love....what do you have left? I mean what do you say to someone who has lost everything? I mean everything. I can tell you for a fact that everyone who didn't believe in God...didn't have a clue of what to say to me to make me feel any better except some nonsense of "try keep busy", "try to make new friends", "try to find new hobbies you like to do", "try to go be with nature". I'm sorry to say but you lose everyone you love, your health, and your finances...no amount at looking at some pretty scenery is going to change how you feel. Been there done that. The only people that could console me where people who talked about God and this not being his final plan, and that there IS something better to hope for.

I saying this so that in case someone is going through the same thing I went through they know that there is hope in God. There are some people out there with some REALLY BIG voids in their life, and they don't have a family, or friends. I'm here to tell someone who has lost everything that they can hope in God.

I see people on TV that are soooo much worse than I can imagine. People who been abused and tortured, and whole family died, people starving to death. For some people this Earth is literally hell. They have horrible things happen to them. Can you imagine people like this you tell them there is no hope, that this is it....there is no heaven. Can you imagine looking at some child who was abused and mistreated and tell them that this is all you have of life..and after this you just die? I can't. There is more to life than this!!!

HI there gospelsaves. Looks like this is an old thread -I don't know if you still come on this forum. So who knows if you will read this reply or not. Anyway, I am in this situation now and completely identify with your reasoning and the situation you described. I don't know why I didn't see the full terror and tragedy of life until now. I did know once I lost faith, that not being able to truthfully convince myself that there might be a God, would probably make for some hard times to come. Now, with nobody, and nothing, middle age upon me, and no God in sight .. I have unexpectedly arrived at a very frightening place. terrifying. Basically I am being scared to death. I was just doing random searching for a reason to live, some meaning, a purpose, something that gives a sliver of hope that this isn't the cold, horrible, cruel joke of existence that it looks like it very well could be.

She's right everybody, just wait until you lose your family. I pray you have somebody when you lose family. I don't know why I thought Id never get old and this time wouldn't come. I guess the horrific nature of reality made me push it away. I haven't established much off anything, and pretty late in the game to be realizing this. Perhaps your post saved my life gospelslave. If I can find any evidence, soon, that there is more meaning to reality than what I'm seeing, I will reverse course. We're all dead soon enough, and if there's no God nor heaven, there's really almost nothing., Thank you for your post.

 

[Susanpalli,JW]

Hi
I understand exactly how you feel! I searched many many religions and found that Jehovah's Witnesses are best equipped to help you build faith in the God of the Bible, Jehovah (Yahweh). They also fully explain Jesus' teachings and what being Christian really means. Check out the official website if you wish. JW.ORG

 

[jidex]

Hello, I'm new and all, and I consider myself an Agnostic Atheist, but I've always wanted to be a theist.

I was born in an Orthodox Christian family, but we weren't especially religious. Still, I went to church for a period of my childhood very often, and considered myself as a Christian. However, as time passed, from my 8-10th year, or even earlier, I began to doubt things. I started asking "Does this make sense?" and "Could that really happen?" My mind always rejected religion as someting irrational.


At the time, I watched the Discovery, History and NG chanells which didn't help my theistic side to prevail over the atheistic. It talked about how everything in the bible would be explained with science, the contradictions, false beliefs etc. etc. The last one I saw said how, based on the evidence, Izrael people didn't attack the land (I forgot its name) like the bible says, but they lived there as peasants, and then probably built a new identity. They passed through a town which has a very similar name to the God in bible and probably got their belief from it. At that point, I would still answer I'm a theist when someone asked me, but deep inside, I knew it wasn't true. I guess I was just scared of hell or something.


One day, I just realized that this "hiding from the truth" cannot continue. If God exists, he knows I don't believe in him and this false Christianity makes little to no sense to me. From that point on, I considered myself an atheist.


Life of an atheist (which I added the tag of "nihilist" later) was okay. I thought everything was created in the Big Bang, evolution happened and we appeared; there is no purpose to our existence and there is no morale. I felt I was free. I immediately joined the Religion discussion on Yahoo! Answers on the side of a sarcastic atheists. And I felt good, but then again, I didn't really like it. I don't want just to "perish from existence" when I die. I want someone to be up there, this world would be better then! I don't want to rot in heaven.


In this "search" for God, I met quite a few people. None would make me believe in God. One of them was incredibly smart, and I liked what he told me, but I still didn't become an atheist.


Please help me...

Simple.
Quitely pray to God using his preferred mode of communication your mouth from your heart and ask Him to reveal himself to you in the name of His Son Jesus and I assure you He will speak to you.
Simply pray this
Dear Lord in the name of Jesus Christ please reveal yourself to me, speak to my heart and show yourself. I am ready to listen to you. In Jesus Christs name I pray AMEN!!!

No different than dialing friend but using the correct telephone number.
If you dot make the call How can he Prove to you He exists as no explanation will satisfy yoo.

 

[theistboy]

Hello, I'm new and all, and I consider myself an Agnostic Atheist, but I've always wanted to be a theist.

I was born in an Orthodox Christian family, but we weren't especially religious. Still, I went to church for a period of my childhood very often, and considered myself as a Christian. However, as time passed, from my 8-10th year, or even earlier, I began to doubt things. I started asking "Does this make sense?" and "Could that really happen?" My mind always rejected religion as someting irrational.


At the time, I watched the Discovery, History and NG chanells which didn't help my theistic side to prevail over the atheistic. It talked about how everything in the bible would be explained with science, the contradictions, false beliefs etc. etc. The last one I saw said how, based on the evidence, Izrael people didn't attack the land (I forgot its name) like the bible says, but they lived there as peasants, and then probably built a new identity. They passed through a town which has a very similar name to the God in bible and probably got their belief from it. At that point, I would still answer I'm a theist when someone asked me, but deep inside, I knew it wasn't true. I guess I was just scared of hell or something.


One day, I just realized that this "hiding from the truth" cannot continue. If God exists, he knows I don't believe in him and this false Christianity makes little to no sense to me. From that point on, I considered myself an atheist.


Life of an atheist (which I added the tag of "nihilist" later) was okay. I thought everything was created in the Big Bang, evolution happened and we appeared; there is no purpose to our existence and there is no morale. I felt I was free. I immediately joined the Religion discussion on Yahoo! Answers on the side of a sarcastic atheists. And I felt good, but then again, I didn't really like it. I don't want just to "perish from existence" when I die. I want someone to be up there, this world would be better then! I don't want to rot in heaven.


In this "search" for God, I met quite a few people. None would make me believe in God. One of them was incredibly smart, and I liked what he told me, but I still didn't become an atheist.


Please help me...

Dear sarcastic indeed.

i can see that you are seeking the "true religion"
my advice to you is to "truly" seek guidance to God, but you must ask
God sincere to guide you to the true religion. I suggest you go to
"the source" which is God. You dont need Jesus for guidance, just ask
God directly to guide you to the true religion, but again you must ask God
sincerely and with you heart. I suggest you ask God to guide you in a humble way, ex. by putting you head on the ground and pray to God, because it was the same way Jesus prayed to God(matthew 26:39), and Moses and Abraham also prayed the same way to God by putting the head on the ground(Numbers 20:6) (Genesis 17:3). And of course the final prophet Muhammed also prayed to God by putting his head on the ground.
So again my advice to you is to ask God sincerely to guide you to the true religion, and the best way is to humble yourself to God by praying to him.
And if you truly seek God, im sure you will find him, because God will open you heart to have faith in him.

 

[Apple Sugar]

I don't think anyone can present an intellectual argument that makes you believe in God.

Maybe what you're having a hard time with is letting your personal intellect be confined to the box that is religious ideology as pertains to something that religion identifies as, 'god'.

God is a word used to constrict to our feeble understanding what is otherwise insurmountable because it is truly infinite. So we reach out with our imagination and put a three letter word on eternity. Then we compartmentalize eternity into an anthropomorphic reflection of ourselves. We create subjective rules for worshiping it and in turn reflect on what we'd expect to be if we in our deeper selves, as we understand self, would want to be, expect to be, if we were truly moral and of good character. Then we enthrone those two lists of rules as one that comprises god. And one that commands us.
Then, because all of this is self-serving and self-absorbed in the first place because human nature is selfish, we feel we've now got a handle on how to live human. And being we're egoists, because that is a human characteristic that insures we survive ourselves on this planet amid all the competition that otherwise might put our lights out, we argue our creation is the only one that has it right. About god and how to live by "his" (some worship a "her" but it's the same formula of creation), rules.

And then we die.


And we're likely not surprised at all that we were wrong the whole time we were alive.

Amen.

:bow::run:

Hello, I'm new and all, and I consider myself an Agnostic Atheist, but I've always wanted to be a theist.

I was born in an Orthodox Christian family, but we weren't especially religious. Still, I went to church for a period of my childhood very often, and considered myself as a Christian. However, as time passed, from my 8-10th year, or even earlier, I began to doubt things. I started asking "Does this make sense?" and "Could that really happen?" My mind always rejected religion as someting irrational.


At the time, I watched the Discovery, History and NG chanells which didn't help my theistic side to prevail over the atheistic. It talked about how everything in the bible would be explained with science, the contradictions, false beliefs etc. etc. The last one I saw said how, based on the evidence, Izrael people didn't attack the land (I forgot its name) like the bible says, but they lived there as peasants, and then probably built a new identity. They passed through a town which has a very similar name to the God in bible and probably got their belief from it. At that point, I would still answer I'm a theist when someone asked me, but deep inside, I knew it wasn't true. I guess I was just scared of hell or something.


One day, I just realized that this "hiding from the truth" cannot continue. If God exists, he knows I don't believe in him and this false Christianity makes little to no sense to me. From that point on, I considered myself an atheist.


Life of an atheist (which I added the tag of "nihilist" later) was okay. I thought everything was created in the Big Bang, evolution happened and we appeared; there is no purpose to our existence and there is no morale. I felt I was free. I immediately joined the Religion discussion on Yahoo! Answers on the side of a sarcastic atheists. And I felt good, but then again, I didn't really like it. I don't want just to "perish from existence" when I die. I want someone to be up there, this world would be better then! I don't want to rot in heaven.


In this "search" for God, I met quite a few people. None would make me believe in God. One of them was incredibly smart, and I liked what he told me, but I still didn't become an atheist.


Please help me...

 

[Thruve]

I find the more I search for God, the more I lose myself and things are taken away lol. Idk if that applies to some other of you Christians. I wonder if it's psychologically better that some remain Christian but give up the search for God.

 

[Deadtroopers]

That does not make sense; if you are a christian, you are not looking for god; if you are looking for god you are not a christian. Neither are you a hindu or a muslim. If you have already found Jesus, Brahman, or Allah, you are hardly likely to still be looking for any one of them are you?

 

[Simplelogic]

This website may be of value. It was made by a close friend of mine who asks some of the toughest questions about his own faith. Maybe you will find logic in it that you appreciate:

Yeshua/Jesus and Judaism versus Paul and Christianity