Modern man thought that in throwing off God, he had freed himself from all that stifled and repressed him. Instead, he discovered that in rejecting

God, he had only succeeded in orphaning himself. For if there is no God, then man's life becomes ultimately absurd. It is without ultimate meaning, without ultimate value, without ultimate purpose.

If each individual person passes out of existence when he dies, then what ultimate meaning can be given to his life? Does it really matter whether he ever existed or not? Now, it might be said that his life was important because it influenced others or affected the course of history. But that shows only a relative significance to his life, not an ultimate significance. If all of the events are ultimately meaningless, then what significance is there in influencing any of them?

Mankind is destined only to perish in the eventual heat death of the universe. Thus, the contributions of the scientist to the advance of human knowledge, the efforts of the doctor to alleviate pain and suffering, the efforts of the diplomat to secure peace in the world, the sacrifices of good people everywhere to better the lot of the human race. In the end, all of these come to nothing. They don’t make one bit of difference, not one bit. Therefore, each person’s life is without ultimate significance and because our lives are ultimately meaningless the activities that we fill our lives with are also in the final analysis meaningless. The long hours spent in study at the university, our friendships, our interests, our jobs, our relationships – all of these are, in the final analysis, ultimately meaningless. This is the horror of modern man. Because he ends in nothing, he ultimately is nothing.

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ElwoodBlues · M

Let us assume there are people who, based on a fear of "the horror of modern man" choose to believe in a God. They are still faced with an equally tough question: which God??

Ra? Osiris? Horus?
Manitou? Tsohanoai?
Fujin? Amaterasu-Ōmikami?
Shangdi? Zhongli Quan?
Odin? Frigg? Thor?
Zeus? Hera? Apollo? Artemis?

Or one of the literally THOUSANDS of other Gods who have been worshiped in human history. Heck, it's all so confusing! Maybe I'll become Buddhist so I can get reincarnated and have more lifetimes to choose!!

TommyDeZinna · 31-35, MNew

@ElwoodBlues Firstly, none of those false gods you mention rose from the dead. Jesus Christ is the only one to rise from the dead. I serve a risen savior. None of those false gods you listed ever died for our sins. Jesus Christ loved you and me and everyone so much that he died for us.

Luke 18:32-33 - For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.

Acts 2:23-24 - Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

1 Peter 2:24 - Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Those false gods you listed never claimed to be the one and only true God and they didn't claim to be the only way to Heaven. Jesus Christ did and He is.

John 8:58 - Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

John 14:6 - Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Secondly, there is no book, religious or secular, that predicts the future like the Bible. There is no man who foretells the future like the Prophet of God, Jesus Christ. This unique power is limited to the God of the Bible.

The Bible is unlike all other 'sacred books' in that it bases its authenticity and authority on prophecy. All other 'sacred books' contain no predictions as to the future. If their authors had attempted to foretell future events, their non-fulfillment would discredit their writings and they would be classed as liars and fraudsters. Fulfilled prophecy is stronger evidence for the inspiration and authenticity of the scriptures than miracles. Prophecy is not a haphazard guess, nor a probability made up on uncertain data, prophecy is history written in advance. Two-thirds of the scriptures are prophetic, either in type, symbol, or direct statement; and more than one-half of the OT prophecies, and nearly all of the NT, points to events that are future.

The requirements for a genuine prediction i.e. prophecy are five in number...

1) It must have been made known prior to its fulfillment.
2) It must be beyond all human foresight.
3) It must give details - specific.
4) A sufficient time must elapse between its publication and fulfillment to exclude the prophet, or any interested party, from fulfilling it.
5) There must be a clear and evident fulfillment of the prophecy.

There were many specific predictions made by the OT prophets regarding the betrayal, trial, death and burial of the Lord Jesus. These were uttered by different prophets during the period from 1000 BC to 500 BC, yet they were all literally fulfilled in 24 hours in one person. Like I say, there is no book like the Bible. It has been said that there were 109 predictions literally fulfilled at Christ’s first Advent in the flesh. One verse in every 30 in the NT refers to Christ’s second Coming. There are 20 times as many references in the OT to Christ’s second Coming as there are to His first Coming.

The four gospels contain no less than 48 fulfilled prophecies about one man, and every single prophecy was recorded more than 400 years before He was born. Not even the dates set by higher critics of the Scripture can change the fact that the Old Testament was completed years before the events of the New Testament took place. The mathematical laws of probability prove this phenomenon to be true. Peter Stone, a professor in mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College and Westmount College, demonstrated (through statistical probability) that the odds of any man besides Jesus of Nazareth fulfilling these Old Testament prophecies are not only astronomical, they are statistically impossible. In his book Science Speaks, Dr. Stoner determined that the chance of any one fulfilling the 48 prophecies that Christ fulfilled in the Gospels was one out of ten with 157 zeros after it. The total number of electrons in the known universe is estimated at 10 with 52 zeros after it. In other words, the chance of Jesus Christ fulfilling all 48 prophecies lies outside of science and nature. This isn't all. Not only 48 prophecies, but 500 more that have not been fulfilled yet, that will be fulfilled in the near future.

As Keith Green stated, "The religions always gave some credit to Jesus Christ. The Muslims say that he was a prophet. The Krishnas say that he was an incarnation of the Godhead in his age. Yogananda and all these different eastern teachers said that he had Christ consciousness. The Buddhists would even say that he was a buddha, they say that he was another incarnation of God like Buddha was. And in all my searchings I saw that all these people were pointing to Jesus, they're going, "well yeah Jesus is one of the ways. but we're one of the ways" and they wouldn't all agree on anything except that Jesus was one of the ways. And then I looked into the Bible in John 14:6 where it says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." So they all gave him credit and he only gave himself credit. And I went well that kind of eliminates everybody. They all say he's cool and he says that he's the only one that's gonna get you to Heaven, so I guess I'm safe. So I started praying to Jesus. I did this all through intellectual reasoning and laid it out on the table and figured it out that if they all gave him credit and he only gave himself credit and they all agreed on one thing that he was one of the ways and he only agreed that he was the only way. So I figured I had no choice but to go with him."

Philippians 2:10-11 - That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

NOT at the name of Ra, NOT at the name of Osiris, NOT at the name of Horus, NOT at the name of Manitou, NOT at the name of Tsohanoai, NOT at the name of Fujin, NOT at the name of Amaterasu-Ōmikami, NOT at the name of Shangdi, NOT at the name of Zhongli Quan, NOT at the name of Odin, NOT at the name of Frigg, NOT at the name of Thor, NOT at the name of Zeus, NOT at the name of Hera, NOT at the name of Apollo, NOT at the name of Artemis, NOT at the name of Muhammed, NOT at the name of Buddha.

AT THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW.

ElwoodBlues · M

@TommyDeZinna False Gods, huh? Every one of the thousands of Gods that have been worshiped has had devout believers who have had real events in the real world confirm their beliefs. A cynic would say they were self-fulfilling prophecies or coincidences, but the cynic could say the same about you and your beliefs. Many religions and many Gods have their holy books; the existence of another holy book doesn't prove anything.

Tell us how you know Ahora Mazda doesn't exist.
Tell us how you know Amaterasu doesn't exist.
Tell us how you know Fujin doesn't exist.
Tell us how you know Eight Immortals don't exist.
Tell us how you know Athena doesn't exist.
Tell us how you know Aries doesn't exist.
Tell us how you know Apollo doesn't exist.
Tell us how you know Estsanatlehi doesn't exist.
Tell us how you know Tsohanoai doesn't exist.
Tell us how you know Odin doesn't exist.
Tell us how you know Thor doesn't exist.
Tell us how you know Ra doesn't exist.
Tell us how you know Osiris doesn't exist.
Tell us how you know Gitche Manitou doesn't exist.
Tell us how you know Zeus doesn't exist.
Tell us how you know the other 5000+ gods and goddesses and spirits humans have worshiped don't exist.
Now tell us why the same reasoning doesn't apply to your favorite deity.

TommyDeZinna · 31-35, MNew

@ElwoodBlues You have evaded the content of my comment. Actually read it. Simply saying that they are self-fulfilling prophecies and coincidences is not an argument. And I have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are not self-fulfilling prophecies or coincidences. It is mathematical and scientific fact. Read it again and address the actual content.