I just saw this tread today and I must say first of all that we really have a very good write ups here,I am personally impressed, I see people really writing out their hearts out, some, trying to show how weak and fake religion is and some also making sure they counter it lest it derails people, I must also appreciate the OP(dalaham) who was later turned into an atheist: His first write up and others are really wonderful, it shows quite a heavy weight of knowledge, can I beg on his behalf, that he is only pouring out his mind, he has seen things and experienced things that really puts him off in religion, or do you think that all his reasons are nonsense, no he is making a lot of sense, so if you want to win him back to religion you don't just start fighting his points because he is well equipped to defend Himself, you have to understand him and understand from the point he is coming from.

I am a Christian, and I am so proud of being one, all of these questions between atheist and religion comes from just one matter(issue), so that is why I am not bordered about answering or responding to questions or issue raised in this tread, I will only like to answer it from its root and I believe that will suffice.

The atheist believe there is no God, this is were the matter is and you will notice that almost all treads created by atheist on the issue of religion springs out of this, so they keep creating treads all over the places and Christians are running helter skelter trying to respond to the very intelligent issue, and the more we respond, the more we find out that we are not answering well, so I will recommend, don't keep responding to an atheist, if you keep on you yourself will be derailed and may even become an atheist, just try as much as you can to prove to them that "GOD EXISTS" and go your own way, praying for them to one day see the light of the Gospel, once you can primarily deal with that primary question (Does God exist), every other thing takes its place. let me just try to deal with it to the best of my knowledge.

The first thing I would like to say is this, no one can perfectly prove the existence of God because Christianity or religion is by faith (believe) not by prove or sight(what you can see, feel or touch) you just know deep inside of you that there is God, this has really been a matter to the scientists because their own method of knowledge is through experiments, tests and proves, then why should some foolish individuals just stand up to say that there is God, this is what they keep asking themselves.

The second thing I would like to say is this, Signs and wonders also proves there is God, one atheist told me that they are not real that they are just "wise magic/tricks" then I told him to go to our tick villages and search out for very strong Juju shrines and just enter and lie down in the shrine and see what will happen, if he doesn't search them out he will probably not see anything, in miracle crusades signs and wonders happen, well I know all may not really be correct but it doesn't mean all are FAKE, THAT IS WHY THEY ARE CALLED SIGNS

The third reason is that some early Christian theologians have already dealt with the issue of the existence of God(this topic is not a 21century topic), take a look at these from saint Thomas:


http://people.uncw.edu/stanleym/bewitch/17.html
Aquinas' Five Proofs

What real evidence can be supplied for God's existence? St. Thomas,
in his Summa Theologica, sets forth five separate proofs for the
existence of God, Unlike St. Anselm's proof, which deals with pure
concepts, St. Thomas' proofs rely on the world of our experience-what
we can see around us. In these proofs we can easily see the influence
of Aristotle and his doctrine of the Four Causes.
l) The Proof from Motion. We observe motion all around us. Whatever
is in motion now was at rest until moved by something else, and that
by something else, and so on. But if there were an infinite series of
movers, all waiting to be moved by something else, then actual motion
could never have got started, and there would be no motion now. But
there is motion now. So there must be a First Mover which is itself
unmoved. This First Mover we call God.
2) The Proof from Efficient Cause. Everything in the world has its
efficient cause--its maker--and that maker has its maker, and so on.
The coffee table was made by the carpenter, the carpenter by his or
her parents, and on and on. But if there were just an infinite series of
such makers, the series could never have got started, and therefore be
nothing now. But there is something everything there is! So there must
have been a First Maker, that was not itself made, and that First Maker
we call God.
3) The Proof from Necessary vs. Possible Being. Possible, or
contingent, beings are those, such as cars and trees and you and I,
whose existence is not necessary. For all such beings there is a time
before they come to be when they are not yet, and a time after they
cease to be when they are no more. If everything were merely possible,
there would have been a time, long ago, when nothing had yet come
to be. Nothing comes from nothing, so in that case there would be
nothing now! But there is something now-the world and everything in
it-so there must be at least one necessary being. This Necessary
Being we call God.
4) The Proof from Degrees of Perfection. We all evaluate things and
people in terms of their being more or less perfectly true, good, noble
and so on. We have certain standards of how things and people should
be. But we would have no such standards unless there were some
being that is perfect in every way, something that is the truest,
noblest, and best. That Most Perfect Being we call God.
5) The Proof from Design. As we look at the world around us, and
ourselves, we see ample evidence of design--the bird's wing,
designed for the purpose of flight; the human ear, designed for the
purpose of hearing; the natural environment, designed to support life;
and on and on. If there is design, there must be a designer. That
Designer we call God
triskelion, I interpret proof #3 as talking about the creation of the
elements; proof #2 as talking about the forming of the elements into
creation; and proof #1 as creation being put into motion.
The irony of proving God exists is, to a non-believer it can never be
proven, but to a believer, proof of God can be seen just about
everywhere.
Of course, if you need to see it to believe it, do you really have faith?


I will like to stop here for now.
thank you for the time taken to read all of these, I am not here to criticize Dalaham for the tread but to see things from his point of view, please sir, understand me.

happy Sunday everyone