I am a Christian, and I think that nonbelievers have a very tainted view of us. The general idea of Christianity by nonbelievers is mostly obtained through the media (politics, films, tv) and bad experiences with those trying to convert by the “chopping block” method. However, the chopping block is against the very core of Christianity: the Bible.

My notion of Christianity was that its core was Christ, not the Bible. And maybe that is the problem. Fitting it all into what I said earlier about example vs perseuction, Christ would be the ultimate example to model after, and the Bible is the cannon of persecution and death.

The Bible can be a pretty nasty book, last I read it. You can use metaphor and say god wrote it, but he didn't: people did, people who were "inspired" by god. Other people "inspired" by god include those who fought in the crusades, murderers of Protestants, and people who fly airplanes into skyscrapers.

Putting faith in the Bible has nothing to do in god. You're not believing in god, you're believing in the testimony that the people who wrote it were actually "inspired" by god. The New Testament, all we know of Jesus, was selectively created by the Catholic church, whose past of blood, conspiracy, and hypocrisy can be found in any history book. Why are we believing them?

P.S. I removed your e-mail address from your posting. If you want people to contact you, please enter the URL for your website.