Well, reasonable people could disagree whether saying "before Abraham was born, I am" (whatever that means) is "as blatant a claim to being God as one could make" as simply saying "I am god". But you make a good point - better than the second respondent. But then why did Jesus run out of the temple and hide? I mean, if he's God...

I never meant to imply that Jesus did not exist, I simply want the archaeological evidence. There is none. There is good evidence in the literature that Jesus existed. But that's a far cry from an archaeological record, still less 'volumes' filled that prove Jesus lived.

As to the second claim, I appreciate you answering it. I hadn't ever thought of that passage, but I'm afraid you or your translation is mistaken. The text of Jesus' reply in Greek does *not* say "Yes, it is as you say". What Jesus says is (greek: su eipas), "You are the one who say [that I am the messiah]." In fact Jesus is saying *exactly the opposite* of what you made him say! And that of course accords with his failure to say nothing at all the first time.

For those who don't believe me, the Greek text can be seen here: http://www.greekbible.com/index.php. The accents and breathing marks are missing. It doesn't matter.

If your translation really says that, and you aren't simply misquoting, I urge you to get a reliable translation or, better yet, learn Greek. It's not a very hard language to learn as far as the bible is concerned.

I'm a little concerned about what translation you're using. Looking at the John passage again that you translate 'You are right in saying I am,' I can assure you that the Greek does not say that at all. In fact it says (cutting and pasting the text): eipan de panteV, su oun ei o uioV tou qeou; o de proV autouV efh, umeiV legete oti egw eimi. , literally "All (of them) said, 'so, are you the son of god?' but/and he said to them, '*You* are saying that I am'", i.e. Jesus is saying, I refuse to answer (as he has been refusing all along): You guys are saying I'm the son of God.

This is, by the way, the same interrogation scene as in Matthew, the meaning of which I already discussed above. Why does Jesus keep refusing to answer at all (all the authors say this) prior to suddenly declaring that he is god? Furthermore, "the son of god" is not, I think you'll agree, the same as saying "I am god". In a sense all people are children of god, right?

*

Thanks for still reading - I just checked the passage of Mark. Now that passage *does* unequivocally contain the answer 'I am' to the question 'are you the christos (= messiah), the son of the *eulogetos* (I don't have a dictionary but that means something like 'blessed'). So I would say, without further checking, that this passage *is* a pretty good candidate for a direct declaration of divinity. The weird thing is, then, since this is the same scene as the others, why the other gospels contradict this answer. (Trust me, I'm not special pleading - the Greek in those other two does say what I said it means).

My comment refers to a trend in the Sun to publish pro-Christian articles. In general, people with advanced degrees from prestigious institutions are far less religious than the general population. This is a fact that can't be argued (at least not legitimately). My comment suggests that you would not be able to infer this fact from the biased sample of contributors to the Cornell Sun. If anti-atheist articles received half as much critical attention as racist articles, the Cornell Sun would have been out of business by now.

Anonymous, read above, some people have already answered that question.

the kind of humility that jesus talks about in the Bible is pretty much the opposite of pride (pride says i am good and i can do it myself! it is self-seeking and self-reaffirming).

it is demonstrated most powerfully in what Christ did by stepping down from heaven and coming into the world, not to be a king like he really is, but to be a poor man, enslaved, ridiculed, tortured, killed on a cross though he was innocent. when a person is humble in the Biblical sense, they find joy (not obligation) in serving other people, denying themselves their own self-seeking pleasures, they are praying, loving, and serving other people who even are their enemies and hate them.

the Bible says "what good is it if we repay our own friends good to us with good back to them? does not even the Devil, the evil one, an evil person do that?" instead, we are called to repay good with evil so that we can be an example of the one who abides in us, that is Christ. humility says get off your own high chair, take off your crown, and accept others better than yourselves, and love others despite how they treat you, to look out for the needs of others first. this is what it means to be humble. to not make yourself the center of your own world. to put others first. namely God.

pride: as long as we are beings that think we aren't here to serve and love others, that we are actually able to be self-sufficient, that we can do things on our own, then what happens is we measure ourselves and others by our actions. the bible says all have sinned and are internally sinful and thus have fallen short of the glory of God and need God to make us become healed, become righteous.

mankind says no, i don't need God, i can do it myself, i can find happiness purpose meaning without an imaginary "God" ... thus we have turned away from God and sinned and his face is hidden from us. why? because he is Light, in Him dwells every good thing, in Him dwells no Sin, so that he cannot accept sin at all, meaning he cannot accept ANY of us (without Jesus!!) ... but Jesus humbled himself by coming to earth and bearing God's wrath for us, living the sinless life we owed to God, and by faith in Christ, our deserved punishment was payed for by Jesus and Jesus' perfect life is imputed onto us. this is God's for the redemption of mankind - this is the biggest news in the world, ever. you just read it right here.

and sure this sounds crazy (!!!), but the Bible also says that the Gospel is foolishness to those who don't believe, but the best news in the world to those that do.

when you come to know the Gospel as true, it is the news ever, to know that our sins are paid for and we can live at peace with God, who made us to live at peace with Him (but first we have to be humble and know that mankind's current path is a destructive one and that we need help, we can't 'get there' on our own). and since the Gospel is such foolishness (to you and non-believers) by design, you can't believe it any other way other than faith! no ration! not about wisdom and evidence! so that one needs to be HUMBLE and accepting of being in need of help, in need of something more than he can do on his own, in need of a savior ... and put faith in Jesus. you can't know until it happens. but when it does, it is the best thing in your life, and you will understand. i pray you will look past all this other stuff, the preconceptions in your own mind, the unbelief, other people's opinions, etc... and seek Christ on your own, in your own secret time and place, and will judge all based on Christ. and pray and ask God to reveal himself to you. this isn't crazy, it is the best thing in the world.

this isn't lunacy brother. this is the real deal. this isn't all random. God doesn't reveal himself on earth for you or I to believe based on evidence. but on faith. it is the truth. and i hope and pray with every fiber of my soul that you will find it, and you will come to know it as truth as well...

You have basically proven my point that Jesus never claimed to be THE GOD. Notice these scriptural verses you cited (MARK 14:60-62, MATT. 26:63-65, LUKE 22:67-70 also LUKE 8:28)all point to Jesus as the SON of GOD and NOT THE GOD(aka the FATHER{JEHOVAH}). Jesus is consistently distinguished from the FATHER explicitly in the Bible and is shown to have a GOD over him that he is submissive to(John 20:17, 1COR 11:3). Jesus is NEVER referred to in the Bible as GOD the Son. In addition, to use JOHN 8:58 as a proof text is based on a flawed, forced translation that incorrectly alludes us to EXODUS 3:14. How is it that the verb "to be" (I AM) suddenly becomes a noun (GOD)? To believe Jesus is GOD is to already have a presupposed notion that he is GOD based on implicit understanding of scripture.

Thank you Matthew for your comments

Christianity, the truth about our world and the condition of our souls, is an absolute. How do you expect Behzad to make anything but absolute statements about an absolute thing? Should he make relative statements about an absolute thing? That wouldn’t be too clear.

Christianity isn’t scholarly, it isn’t common sense, it is not what we would have predicted, it is not how man probably would have 'designed' God if he could (and tries to do in his mind). It isn’t about how much you know or study. It isn’t about evidence. I thought this article made that clear?

Is all we have in this world man-made opinions? Or theories based on facts and evidence? Neither of those will lead us to God.

The truth of this world will be revealed to all those who seek out Jesus. To those who do not seek Jesus, it will not and cannot make sense and is foolishness and is a bunch of parables and opinions. Even the Bible says that the Gospel if foolishness to those who don’t believe. Why? Because it is foolish! It requires faith to believe.

And when you do truly believe, put down your telescope and microscope and doubts and pride, and give it all to Christ, He will perform a transforming work in you. You can’t measure it. It is supernatural. It is crazy, man. You probably think I am crazy as you are reading this right now. But it is the most real, deep, joyous, satisfying, fulfilling thing EVER. Then, your eyes will be opened, your heart will be softened, and you will *know* Christ as Lord like you never knew *anything else in your life*. You don't think it is real, you don't think you want it, but you want it, if you had any idea how good and deep and real it was compared to everything else, you would want it immediately.

But not through evidence. Only through faith. So put everything else down man. Pray and seek Christ. If you seek him truly, humbly, patiently, he will answer you, and change you, and then you will know Him with a depth and certainty more deeper and certain than you have ever known anything else.

You say "blind faith that is not questioned with any kind of legitimate scientific method."

First, faith (in this context) is by definition "blind." The point of it is that it is belief in something which cannot be proved. However, this is not the same as belief in something for which there is no evidence. According to sincere Christians (or believers in other religions/theories/ideals), there is plentiful evidence for their faith.

Second, I'm not sure what gave you the idea that religion in any way requires faith that is not questioned. There is no inconsistency in believing in something without proof and simultaneously questioning that belief. Nor is there any reason why questioning religious faith of a particular variety should cause one to lose faith in religion qua religion. I realize that this doesn't directly address your qualifying "with any kind of legitimate scientific method." One means of questioning faith is certainly by comparison with scientific knowledge, but it is by no means the only way, nor even the best way. Religion is, by definition, belief in something beyond our physical senses. Science, by definition, is knowledge gained by observation and through reasoning about those observations. Any predictions or claims about observable phenomena made by a religion can certainly be tested scientifically, but ultimately religion is beyond scientific testing. You can reason methodically (or "scientifically") about your religious beliefs, but, if you find something unreasonable in your religion, you have to weigh your faith in your religion against your faith in your reason. Reason, unfortunately, has its limits. (It cannot prove or disprove the existence of a god or gods, for example.)

On a related note, evolution and religion (even Christianity) are not mutually exclusive. A proof of evolution would not also prove the nonexistence of any deity, nor would a proof of the existence of a deity or deities disprove evolution. In a general sense, there is no reason to believe that an all-powerful being could not have formed the world in any way he/she/it pleased. Furthermore, many Christians believe in evolution, to varying degrees. Nowhere does the Bible say that God created animals fully formed, nor does it say that the earth is young. The Genesis account of creation does imply a young earth in the English translation, but the original Hebrew doesn't. (From what I have heard in many places, though I can't read Hebrew myself.) The word translated "day" could also be translated "age," without any specific length of time implied. There are various ways of understanding Genesis, given this alternate translation. The most popular are that each "age" refers to a specific period of time during which God brought about the events that characterize them, and that the Genesis account is primarily a poetic way of describing God's formation of the world. Some believe that God created animals at specific moments over a long period of time, without directly employing evolution. Others believe that God actually used evolution to create life on earth. However, the point of all this is not to promote one view over another, but merely to show that evolution and religion are not inherently at odds.

Finally, you say that Behzad's faith is "merely an opinion." As I said at first, faith is an "opinion" of sorts, but that does not intrinsically imply that it is less valuable than any more-verifiable sort of belief (e.g., that the earth is approximately spherical). It is merely your opinion that it does, and it is akin to the opinion expressed above dismissing evolution as "a theory." Behzad believes it to be fact, it changes his life significantly, and it directly affects his actions and words. People's beliefs conflict with each other all the time; tolerance is recognizing another's right to hold his belief even when it directly conflicts with your own.