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Author Topic:   The only difference between suicide and martyrdom is press coverage.
Brian
Member (Idle past 4959 days)
Posts: 4659
From: Scotland
Joined: 10-22-2002


Message 2 of 37 (43542)
06-21-2003 2:12 PM


hi Loaded,
I'll answer your questions from what I imagine a Bible beleiver's viewpoint to be.
if Jesus had died in prison would we be saved?
Yes, because the crucifixion event itself doesnt really mean anything, it was the sacrifice that mattered, he could have died in any fashion, as long as he died for our wicked evil disgusting sins that we commit freely every minute of the day!
This makes a lot of sense to me. I mean would Christianity be the largest religion on the planet if Jesus wasn't crucified?
Yes it would be, thanks to Constantine, who couldnt really care less how Jesus died, it would still be the largest faith. But only for the next few years, Islam will rapidly pass it by in terms of number of followers quite soon.
Where would Jesus be without the disciples?
Well still festering in his grave of course lol. Oh this isnt a xian answer. Well since Jesus is God then the disciples have no bearing on where he is today, he is still seated at the right hand of the gracious loving father. A father who demanded that we murder his son, how loving can you get ?
Actually the disciples are an interesting lot, they witnessed numerous miracles and were still stupid enough not to believe. Which sort of undermines the authorship of the books/letter associated with them. The new testament is a complex collection of books, how could people who were portrayed as relatively dense have composed such a thing?
Brian.

Replies to this message:
 Message 4 by is this thing loaded, posted 06-21-2003 5:41 PM Brian has not replied
 Message 5 by Rrhain, posted 06-22-2003 4:53 AM Brian has replied

  
Brian
Member (Idle past 4959 days)
Posts: 4659
From: Scotland
Joined: 10-22-2002


Message 8 of 37 (43650)
06-22-2003 3:17 PM
Reply to: Message 5 by Rrhain
06-22-2003 4:53 AM


HI,
I agree that various sources give differing figures, and then there's the added problem of is everyone who says they are Muslim or Christian really what they say they are. I have witnessed many debates on and off-line between christian who end up declaring that the other one isnt really a christian at all!
Anyway, I remember discussing this when I was studying an ‘Introduction to Islam’ course at Stirling University in 1996. I don’t have the notes, or remember references off-hand, but I had a quick look around the Net. Here's some links with an abstract from each.
muslim-canada.org - This website is for sale! - muslim canada Resources and Information.
Christian Muslim
1900 world population 26.9% 12.4%
1980 world population 30% 16.5%
2000 world population 29.9% 19.2%
2025 world population 25% 30%
(PROJECTED)
http://www.emagazine.com/...december_2002/1102feat1_sb3.html
In addition, demographics show that in several years Islam will be the largest religion in the world. Already the majority of Muslims are from outside the Arab world. Likewise, the majority of Christians are located in Asia, Africa and Latin America
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/3755589.htm
Samuel Huntington, a Harvard University professor of international relations, says Islam will be the largest religion by 2025 -- 30 percent of the world's people, compared to 25 percent for Christianity.
Of course, the majority does't always equal accuracy.
I will not be in University until a week on Wednesday, if you would like me to look for some more credible sources then just let me know.
Brian.
------------------
Remembering events that never happened is a dangerous thing!

This message is a reply to:
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