Dear Bob,

This is neither love nor hate mail. This letter is just to make u think. I am not a Christian, mainly because of the ridicule it would cause given the fact im only 15, I've been raised in a Christian home. I would like you to take this seriously as I have an IQ greater than that of most adults

Question: Have you ever seen the wind?
Answer: No.
Question: So how do you know that there is such a thing as wind?
Answer: You can feel it.

God is much like the wind. You're probably thinking"Well, yeah but wind you can feel physically, this god of yours, you can't." You see, the thing is in order to believe in God you must have some faith. You must believe that there is another world aside from the one we live in. A spirit world. That is where God resides, not in the clouds or up in the sky. Thus the reason you have no physical evidence God exists.

Fact one: People die. This is unavoidable, but with the technology now and days, people have been revived. When this happens it is called a near death experience. So whats my point? Why do all the stories sound the same? Is it a hormone or is it God? OK, wait, if there is no brain activity (clinically dead) then how could it be a hormone?

Fact two: The earth. What are the chances of a planet forming exactly at a 23 1/2 degree angle? Just enough to allow seasons? What are the cahnces of the exact mixture of nitrogen and oxygen needed to sustain life forming on this 231/2 degree angled planet? What are the chances that this planet is the perfect distance from the Sun? Any closer to the sun, we'd disintegrate, any farther away, we'd freeze.

Fact three: Unexplained situations. What about the miraculous healings that take place each year? Are all these people just faking illness? Is it just the power of suggestion? Or maybe it is God.

OK. Lets take you for an example. You were once a Christian were you not? Why? Why did you becaome a Christian? My guess is either you were raised a Christian or you were missing something in your life. So why did you stp believing? You didnt just wake up one morning and think "Hey, God isn't real." Something had to have happened. Maybe it was the death of your high school friend or some other tragedy. Maybe it was influence from other people. Now let us exam each of those reasons.

Reason one: Tragedy. We all deal with tragedy in different ways. We all deal with pain in diffrent ways. Could it be that you blamed God for your pain? Then you questioned Him. And finally denied him. All because someone died. You say that that friend of yours is going to burn in hell. How do you know? Is it up to you to decide? No. The bible does say that only those that belive will be let into heaven but Mormons do belive in Jesus. And that guy who was molested by a priest and died of a drug overdose? The bible says that God is a just God. If I am to believe the bible and iterpet it correctly, it would mean that God would understand the hurt and the problems that that young man had to go up against and that priest would be the one burning in hell.

Reason two: Influence. Simple, can't you make up your own mind?

Now lets take a look at the bible. This book of tall tales and fiction. Yeah, some of the things seem a little unbelieveable but take a look at things today. Things like cars and TV's and matches and lighters. In the 1800's if you light a match, you would probably be deemed a witch and burned at the stake. People in biblical times believed in nd were used to happenings like what is recalled in the bible. As for Noah, he didn't fit every animal in the world on one boat, you would have to be a complete idiot to think so. Evolution happens you know. Darwin wasn't stupid. I don't believe that we evolved from apes. In fact it was probably the other way around. Remember Caine?

Let us use you as an example again for a minute. Lt us say you are right and there is no God Or Lucipher or Heaven or Hell. So when we die we just go to non-existence anway right? So either way you and the common Christian would be at the same point when you die. But what if God does exist? What if you are wrong? Eternity is a long time to be wrong.

I have more reasons and facts but due to time and since i know you dont want to spend too long reading what you probably deem to be foolish gibberish i will end this. I would apreciate it if you responded to me if possible.

Thank you for your time
Sincerley,
Tim
Icemancometh187@cs.com

PS Please be respectful when responding, as in don't tell me how much of an idiot I am or that I don't deserve to live. This letter wasn't to knock what you believe or don't believe but to make you think for a minute.

Tim,

I am going to take a guess and say that I bet you are a Christian for the same reason that I was. Our parents raised us that way. And coincidentally, the facts that you've listed for why you believe were the "facts" that I based my beliefs on as well, although your God-is-like-the-wind analogy is a new one. You do realize that the wind can be measured scientifically, don't you? God doesn't effect weathervanes... unless of course it's with wind. A dream is like the wind too. So is the Blair Witch, the Tidy Bowl Man and the rock band Creed. All effecting people's feelings, yet all fake.

But back to your facts. One of the undeniable facts of life is that usually the most obvious answer is the correct one. It makes for a pretty dull finally to most stories but sticking with this philosophy is a safe bet 99% of the time.

Your fact one: Ah yes, the near death experience (or as I like to refer to it: fooling God). "Come to the light Tim, come to the light... Hey! What the...? Adrenaline shot? Where's Tim going? Dammit, I can't believe that I fell for it again!"
If someone dies, and is revived, the brain is dramatically effected and that effects everything about you. Your emotions, vision, hearing, all heading towards death... then saved from it. It must be breathtaking. Did you know that they can simulate this experience with electrodes? (Click here & read the side panel)
There are also those who've had no experience whatsoever from their near death. This is a case where the most obvious answer is the correct one. People's brains are easily manipulated and a person's fear of death can contrive almost any immortal fantasy, especially when they're dying.

Your fact two: Did you know that there are millions, if not an infinity of planets in the universe? That fits into your statistics on the chances of a life sustaining planet existing. And what are the chances of life on a life sustaining planet? Pretty probable. A lot more probable than the existence of a supreme being (heck, we're hardly probable, why is God more so?).

Your fact three: "Miraculous healings" are one of two things.

#1. If you're talkin' Faith Healers, then there is NO documentable case one of these people being real. They have all been attributed to the "healed" wanting it to be real, then when there are no cameras around, being wheeled out in the wheelchairs they came in on. If one of these Faith Healers was real, they'd be walking through this world's hospitals fixing everyone, and I promise you it'd be the cover story on every newspaper.

#2. The body's ability to heal itself. We've evolved over millions of years. The bodies that don't heal, die. The bodies that survive pass on their strengths to the next generation... and so on. And now with all of our medicines, doctors, scientists and experience, there will be many more "miraculous" healings to come... without any help from God.

Only a truly ignorant person would deny the existence of God for the reason of spite, resentment, or blame. I have written as much as I have in hopes to show people that I am not ignorant and I've thought about what I truly believe, past any petty emotions I might have on the subject.

Honestly Tim, there is no Jason. I made up the character to prove the point that I was making at the time. He was a hypothesis. I've never had a death happen near me that affected me strongly. Just lucky I guess (knock on wood). I am also not an emotional guy (as anyone who knows me will attest to). There's a common assumption among Christians that non Christians are full of pain and emptiness inside. I won't speak for anyone else, but this isn't the case for me. I have many things in my life that bring me happiness and fulfillment (my art, my writings, my family, my friends, women, music, sex, the list goes on and on). When I am unhappy or feeling unfulfilled, I don't attribute it to not having a belief in God (obviously). People who do are short changing themselves on an important motivating factor to do better. It's the thing that keeps me trying to top myself instead of putting faith in God to do it for me.

Comparing mankind's inability to comprehend a TV two hundred years ago to not being able to believe outlandish stories from the Bible is ludicrous. It's like saying "Look at all the stupid stuff we've believed, why don't we believe this stupid thing too."
A TV can be proved. The Bible can not.

Tim, the god that you're worshipping is fooled by man's lifesaving technology, accidentally making people sick then healing them, and allowing people into Heaven for pretending to believe as a safeguard... just in case.

However I must tell you that I am glad you told me in your own words why you believe what you do. I wish more people would do that.

Bob