No Subject
5 billion was an exaggeration, as I clearly expressed. It sounds more interesting than five hundred and nine thousand. Don't you know what an exaggeration is? Look it up in the dictionary.
Thanks for listing the top 10 sites. I'm too lazy to do that, you saved me the effort. Hopefully somebody else will come along to this forum and actually visit those sites.
I didn't come here to start a debate, I simply came here to express my opinion. You guys are the one's who are so insecure that as soon as somebody says something which goes against your beliefs you have to start arguing.
The point about the Crusades, the Inquistion and the troubles in Ireland is that these people were/are supposed to be Christians, and Christians don't kill each other, they love their enemies! Maybe they love each other as they kill? You try to worm your way out this by saying they weren't real Christians. Aren't Christians sinners? Christians can justify doing anything they want, since the Bible teaches that we're all sinners.
Do you think I'm angry? Because you posted a URL that doesn't support my views? On the contrary, I'm a little bit bemused, slightly entertained. I'm on holidays at the moment, and I'm doing this now for fun. Fun and anger are pretty far removed.
You keep prattling on about good scholarship, I haven't seen any good scholarship to support your arguments either. The number of references a person lists doesn't make for good scholarship. If the work is original, there may not be anybody to quote. Where's the list of references in the Bible? Is the Bible good scholarship?
According to my dictionary, love is a deep-seated affection for a person (Heinemann Australian Dictionary, 4th Edition). Like means to be fond of. I'd say being fond of and feeling affection for are pretty similar. I'd say if you love terrorists, you'd have to like them as well. But you wouldn't necessarily have to agree that what they do is right.
I'm not trying to appeal to atheists, get it right. I'm an agnostic. I believe that human beings have no way of knowing whether God exists or not. Stating that Jesus didn't exist is not an appeal to atheists, it's an appeal to rational-minded people.
I suppose you could say I came to this forum out of love. I would love for people to know the truth, that Jesus didn't exist. I have enough respect for other people to recognize that they should be allowed to see both sides of the argument. Admit it, this forum would be pretty biased if it was just a big Christian love-fest. People like me have to express our opinions to keep this forum balanced.