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| A child with his imaginary friend |
A young child suffers a psychological trauma. His psyche is highly traumatized. He is anxious and fearful. To cope with his anxiety and fear, he invents an imaginary friend; a very powerful, very wise friend. The child comes to believe that his imaginary friend will keep him safe. His imaginary friend is always with him; always available to talk to.
The child learns not to be too demanding of his imaginary friend. He doesn’t ask for a new bicycle on the doorstep everyday, only the basics: that the imaginary friend will keep him and his family safe and that he will have a good day. However, once in a great while something very unexpected, very extra-ordinary happens that the child attributes to the kindness and powers of his imaginary friend. These extra-ordinary events reinforce the child’s belief in the reality of his imaginary friend.
Rarely some children are able to convince other children of the reality of their imaginary friend. The child promises the other children that his invisible friend will protect them; will help them have “good days”, and will occasionally do something for them that is really extra-ordinary, kind of like a miracle.
All the children who believe in the imaginary friend derive a great deal of psychological and emotional comfort from their belief in the existence of the imaginary friend. However, is it healthy for the children to maintain this belief system? Some child psychologists might say that for the emotionally traumatized child, allowing them to maintain their belief in their imaginary friend is ok…for a while. But would any professional mental health care provider recommend allowing a child to continue to believe in an imaginary friend for the rest of his life? I don’t think so.
So when a grown adult claims to have a “relationship” with an imaginary friend; a friend whom they believe talks to them in their heart in a still, small voice; who “leads” them and “moves” them to do this and that, and from whom they derive considerable psychological and emotional comfort, should we shatter the illusion of the benevolent, imaginary friend by demonstrating to the adult that his friend is not real?
Yes. I believe we should.
Dear Christians,
I challenge you to prove that your invisible friend Jesus is any more real than the invisible, imaginary friend of a child. I challenge you to prove that your invisible friend Jesus is responsible for extra-ordinary events that you refer to as “miracles”. Remember, I have shown in previous posts that there is no statistical difference in the “cure” rates of Christians than any other group of people. So you may believe that some particular “cure” was due to Jesus, but statistically it is much, much more probable that the “cure” was just an extra-ordinary event, a rare coincidence, and extra-ordinary events/rare coincidences happen to people of all religions and even to atheists.
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| An adult and his imaginary friend |
Escaping Christian Fundamentalism 
congratulation in escaping charismatic-ism.
and i can tell you they are not fundamentalism, far from it. and they do not even know the real Jesus.
(mat 7:22)
if you want to know the real historically proven Jesus, do check coldcasechristianity.com or case for Christ by lee strobel
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Lee Strobel is not a scholar. I have read a long list of New Testament scholars, including conservative Christian scholars William Lane Craig, Gary Habermas, Michael Licona, and Richard Bauckham. How many scholars have you read? Lee Strobel, like most conservative Christians, bases his arguments on the assumption that the Gospels are eyewitness testimony. Problem is, the majority of New Testament scholars say they are not. Even renowned New Testament scholar NT Wright has said, “I don’t know who the authors of the Gospels were, nor does anyone else.”
If NT Wright does not know who wrote the Gospels, then Lee Strobel certainly does not know either.
My extensive review of New Testament scholarship has revealed that conservative Christianity is based on many unfounded assumptions. Open your eyes, my friend. Escape this ancient superstition.
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i read some and i know why those ‘scholars’ cant know the writers, because they have made up their own assumption.
lee strobel was an atheis and certainly did not have assumption that the writers was reliable until it is proven.
he might even have the same assumption that you and those scholars have right now.
i was agnostic and
i did research before i accept the truth. i was ready to dump religion before i accept biblical truth. i read about big bang and evolution etc all those unreliable baseless faith that atheist choose to accept because their assumption
coldcasechristianity.com/?s=evidence
http://www.icr.org/article/splendid-faith-evolutionist
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What assumption has NT Wright (a preeminent Christian scholar who believes in the literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus) made for him to say that he does not know who the authors of the Gospels were and that neither does anyone else?
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well honestly i dont know.
one thing for sure i will not trust any ‘scholar’ who blindly believe something he do not know
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I think the real problem is that you have a bias against any expert who holds a position that contradicts yours. You are the problem, my friend, not the experts.
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yes i have bias against all ‘expert’ with blind faith just believe something he cannot know.
if you read my links or lee strobel’s book they will explain the evidences and why we believe
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Your holy book states that true belief comes by faith, which is a gift from your god. Therefore your belief is not based on reason or rational decision making. Your belief is based on wishful thinking that your invisible god really exists.
THAT is blind faith.
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that’s calvinist heresy. please study the true christianity.
my God Jesus will guide everyone. He promise if you seek then you will find.
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The evidence indicates that your “god” is simply you talking to yourself in your head.
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Romans 10:17 (KJV) So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
hear > understand > believe
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How do you know that the alleged word of your alleged god, allegedly written in the Christian holy book, the Bible, is true? Answer: wishful thinking.
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if you read the links or book i offer, they will give you evidences
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I am a primary care doctor. If you had questions regarding brain cancer, how would you feel if I referred you to a plumber who spends a lot of his free time reading articles on the internet, studying brain cancer. Do you believe our plumber friend would be the best source for accurate, up-to-date information on brain cancer?
Of course not!
So why should I read books by an attorney (Lee Strobel) just because he spends a lot of his free time studying the New Testament?
I shouldn’t.
If you want to know the latest, most accurate information in New Testament studies, ask a New Testament scholar. Don’t ask a plumber or an attorney.
That is what educated people all over the world do. They don’t ask non-experts for expert advice.
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alkitabiah,
Both theories are accepted by the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, the Big Bang Theory originated with Monseigneur Georges Lemaître — a Belgian Catholic Priest. 🙂
Evolution: The change in genetic composition of a population over successive generations, which may be caused by natural selection, inbreeding, hybridization, or mutation.
On what basis do you deny this fact?
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do read the book “a women rides the beast” by dave hunt and these articles
https://answersingenesis.org/evolution
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alkitabiah,
Asking me to read a book and linking to a website that misrepresents the scientific meaning of the word evolution does not give me much to work with. Is there something in particular you would like me to address?
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here are some experts for your consideration:
https://truelyfanatic.wordpress.com/tag/evolutionism/ (experts on videos)
http://defendinginerrancy.com/who-we-are/
there’re certainly lots more if you care to seek
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ow, i just remember the book ‘I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist’ is written by two experts doctors, please do research. tq.
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What role do reason and scientific evidence play in your approach to life? What evidence is there for the existence of invisible beings? I take it that you don’t believe in the existence of fairies because you have no evidence for their existence and are very unlikely ever to have such evidence. But, as a Fundamentalist, I take it that you believe in the existence of demons and angels. But there is no empirical evidence for their existence. Why should you believe in their existence and not in the existence of fairies?
Similarly, humans have believed in many invisible beings called gods? What evidence do you have that Yahweh exists and not Zeus or Thor? And what evidence is there for the belief that a god exists but fairies do not?
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fundamentaly, the question is what is the fundamental bases for believe in x and not y.
we bases our believe on the bible and bible only.
bible tell us there’s angels and demons.
bible tell us, unlike animals, we have soul and spirit. and when our body die our soul will be taken responsible for everything we did.
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And children’s books tell us there are talking elephants and rabbits and cows and cats and dogs and all sorts of other things. They even contain some creatures that have never been seen in real life (kinda’ like “angels and demons”). Does the existence of these books mean such things are real?
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everyone study things from someone else’s books somewhere.
we accept the bible as sole authority for faith because of evidences, unlike other human books, bible is proven to be reliable, trustworthy, inspired, inerrant, infallible
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bible is proven to be reliable, trustworthy, inspired, inerrant, infallible
Yep! And children’s books have a lot of the same qualities. The bible is just a book. Period. The only thing that makes it “special” is what human beings have assigned to it.
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You are living in a bubble, my friend.
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