"Christianity Defined" (According to Non-Believers)

Christians, have no doubt about the existence of our Lord and God. Now we can assume then that non-believers have doubt about our Creator's existence.

Personally, I try to live my life according to what God/Christ has commanded me. Of course I still sin, but the difference is that I know what I do is wrong, whereas non-Christians don't realize they are doing wrong.

Now when I encounter times of hardship, I turn to God for support and hope. I have experienced non-believers doing this as well (I'm not sure if I could refer to them as "non-believers" then?). To me, it is almost certain that everybody believes that there is some supreme being, they only choose to "believe" in him during hard times. I could classify this as hypocritical, but by the same token, I am being hypocritical when I sin as well.

Anyways, here is my point: I think that most non-Christians are actually closer than we think to understanding the Truth of Life.

Here are some quotes from Non-Christians about our religion, God, and Jesus:

Isaac Asimov, Author/Biochemist:

"If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul."

Mahatma Gandhi, Indian Philosopher:

"Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, Conquer him with love." "There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever.”

Voltaire, French Philosopher/Atheist:

"If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him."

George Santayana, Atheist/US Philosopher:

"The Bible is a wonderful source of inspiration for those who don’t understand it."

Blaise Pascal, French Philosopher/Mathematician/Converted Christian after near-death experience and heavenly vision:

"There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”

“Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair.”

Napoleon I, Emperor Of France/Atheist or Deist:

"Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.”

Bob Dylan, American Songwriter:

"I don't go to church or to a synagogue. I don't kneel beside my bed at night. I don't think I will. I have yet to face the terror I read about in all the great literature. But, since politics, economics and war have failed to make us feel any better—as individuals or as a nation—and we look back at long years of disrepair, then maybe the time for religion has come again, and rather too suddenly—'like a thief in the night.'"

Thomas Paine, American revolutionary&political writer:

“Is it a fact that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, and how is it proved? If a God, he could not die, and as a man he could not redeem.”

Mahatma Gandhi, Hindu Follower:

"I consider Western Christianity in its practical working a negation of Christ’s Christianity."

"A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act."

H G Wells, British Writer/Historian:

"I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history."

Unknown:

"Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, and Jesus for only 3. Yet the influence of Christ's 3-year ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men who were among the greatest philosophers of all antiquity."

"Buddha never claimed to be God. Moses never claimed to be Jehovah. Mohammed never claimed to be Allah. Yet Jesus Christ claimed to be the true and living God. Buddha simply said, "I am a teacher in search of the truth." Jesus said, "I am the Truth." Confucius said, "I never claimed to be holy." Jesus said, "Who convicts me of sin?" Mohammed said, "Unless God throws his cloak of mercy over me, I have no hope." Jesus said, "Unless you believe in me, you will die in your sins."

Albert Einstein, Physicist/Time Magazine's "Greatest Person Of 20th Century":

"As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene....No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life."

Pinchas Lapide, German Jewish Orthodox Scholoar:

"I accept the resurrection of Easter Sunday not as an invention of the community of disciples, but as a historical event. If the resurrection of Jesus from the dead on that Easter Sunday were a public event which had been made known...not only to the 530 Jewish witnesses but to the entire population, all Jews would have become followers of Jesus."

Mike Tyson, American Boxer:

“I'm a Muslim, but do you think Jesus would love me? I think Jesus would have a drink with me and discuss why are you acting like that? Now, he would be cool. He would talk to me. No Christian ever did that and said in the name of Jesus even. They'd throw me in jail and write bad articles about me and then go to church on Sunday and say Jesus is a wonderful man and he's coming back to save us. But they don't understand that when he comes back, that these crazy greedy capitalistic men are gonna kill him again.”

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French Philosopher:

“Socrates died like a philosopher; Jesus Christ died like a god.”

Larry King, US Telivision Personality:

"I would like to ask Him if He was indeed virgin-born. The answer to that question would define history."

Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior, on himself:

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of Life."

Written by: Tyler Bancoft