Gott Mit Uns: Open Letter to Atheists and Theists

[Thorne]

However, a great many religions don't actually hold that you won't go to Heaven unless you "believe" right; their position is that what matters is that you lived a virtuous life, who you prayed to is a secondary or even lower matter.

Obviously you are unfamiliar with the American Southern Baptists. As near as I can tell, you are either a born again Christian who may make it to heaven, or you are the spawn of Satan trying to lure others to hell. There seems to be very little middle ground.

Are you aware that some of the "things that can be checked" are the Roman records of the history of Judea, and they show no record of, among other things, the census that supposedly took Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, or the Massacre of Innocents? (To name only the events large enough, from the point of view of the Imperial government, to have certainly been worth recording.)

I've heard similar reports, many dealing with events which should have been recorded. There are, supposedly, records from the Roman government in Judea from the time of the crucifixion, many dealing with criminals and executions, but to my (admittedly uncertain) knowledge there is absolutely no historical evidence of the existence of Jesus Christ outside of the New Testament.
Add to this the fact that even among the four Gospels which the Church deemed worthy of inclusion in the Bible, there is a plethora of contradiction and disagreement dealing with something so important to the Church as the life of Christ. Much of the early life of Christ, as related by the Gospels, seems to have been edited to conform to the Hebrew prophecies dealing with the coming of the Messiah.

[leo9]

Obviously you are unfamiliar with the American Southern Baptists. As near as I can tell, you are either a born again Christian who may make it to heaven, or you are the spawn of Satan trying to lure others to hell. There seems to be very little middle ground.

That particular faction isn't found in this country, but we have our own versions. I'll never forget an interfaith forum I once attended which was all friendly and ecumenical until the two Christian ministers fell out over the question of whether unbelievers could be saved. I can still hear the Protestant minister getting more Irish by the moment as he shouted "I don't care what the Pope says, the Bible says..."