What a tough question..

I used to be a firm believer, but after looking at other religions I came to a faith of my own. Which is, I just believe in God.

I think believing in the horrible sacrifice of someone else for your selfishness is a catch.. what I think needs to be done to be saved, is to justify your life by doing good. Most Christians only think believing in Jesus is enough, and I have severe doubts about that..

Not that the teachings of Jesus weren't great, but a little something extra is necessary now I think..Also, there are billions of people on the planet that don't believe in Jesus, many of which are great human beings, and you believe all of them are going to hell for eternity? What about the animals? That doesn't sit well with me..

Believe whatever nonsense you like just don't persecute other's who don't believe in that nonsense.

It's your life and lying to yourself may make you feel better about your existence. Ignorance can be bliss.

I stopped believing when I was about 13 but I can't say it improved my life, made the world a little darker I feel. Sort of jealous of people that can believe what they want rather than what evidence dictates. Also the culture and stories of religion are pretty amazing, fantastic insight into past lives and their mindset.

You have forgotten the other son. The lightbearer.

Fairy tale like thousands out there. This one happened to be one of the most popular, because it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Anyways, the story doesn't even make sense. If God's all knowing and Jesus is his son, they both knew what's going to happen. They knew that he's going to spend 30-odd years on Earth, he's going to be tortured, killed and eventually return home because, you know, immortality and stuff. Hardly a sacrifice, if you ask me. In fact, after thousands (or even billions) of years living in the same place, it must've sounded like fun activity for Jesus, if BDSM was his thing.

What is interesting to me is the line people form to create "personal faith" meaning where do they say "Yes, I believe that despite no evidence" and then say "No, I don't believe that".

To me this shows how the individual forms an identity and then conforms the concept of faith around it.

"I think in a general sense there is a higher power"
"I think a god exists, but does not interfere"
"I think the stories are not literal, but morality tales"
"I think everything in the texts occurred"
"I think this particular passage or book is the most important"
"I think god or angels shape every event in my life"

It's the same concept, the same canonized text, and yet people seem to be able to read it that it agrees with their own worldview. I'm not sure our species with modern influences of freedom can experience religion in the same monolithic fashion our ancestors may have. If you have a pastor that says LGBT members are vile and evil, part of the congregation will just leave, and others will stay. Who is correct given cannot ask a god for reference? What if a god showed themselves and picked a side, what would the other side do? Conform or resist?

As a Christian yeah I believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

The existence of a *historical person* Jesus *does* make a lot of sense, within the context, so I don't really see reason to deny that, either. Jerusalem was searching for godly intervention at the time, to repel the roman invaders. A lot of their collective history stems from stories about messiahs leading the Israelites to unlikely victories, so it's natural for them to seek another one, and equally natural for him to garner collective anger, by preaching peace (Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's...). Though, in this case, that was probably the right choice, as the revolt that followed shortly after was one of the most brutal massacres in Roman history.

I believe in God = I don't believe in God. Think about it.

There's no reason a person like Jesus couldn't exist (without the supernatural baggage).  I'm sure that today you can find people claiming to be the son of god or something like that.  But there is a big difference between something making sense, and something actually being confirmed.  

Considering the importance some people wish us to place on this figure, there needs to be something better than, "a guy like this could've existed".