Defend Your Faith
Posted in spirituality on 05. Aug, 2008
One day while I was trolling through the bowels of the Internet I came upon a Website that said that Christianity is a delusion. It also said rather boldly, I might add, that their 15 minute video would completely shatter my delusional beliefs. Being intrigued by the prospect that my whole world view could be shattered in 15 minutes, I accepted the challenge.
Here is their argument:
[…If you knew an adult who still believed in Santa Claus you would think that they were delusional and indeed they would be. It is cute if a child does but if an adult does it is a delusion. Next they say that of the five billion people in the world only one billion are Christian, perhaps the rest of the world knows something that the Christian does not. Other religions are delusional too; Mormons claim that Joseph Smith was magically visited by an angel who gave him golden tablets. Those who are not Mormon know that they are delusional.
Muslims believes Mohammed was visited by an angel who magically dictated the Koran and took Mohammed on a magical journey into heaven. Those who are not Muslim know that they are delusional. Finally, Christians believe Jesus was magically conceived, magically fed thousands and healed many, and finally, magically was raised from the dead. Do you see a pattern here?
They then go on to say that they all are delusional and that the only ones that are not are those that know that there is no God. There is no evidence to support a God and people who claim to have a faith act out in ways that is contrary to that faith all the time. Finally, if such a God did exist why does He not show himself and rid the planet of all the evil that is in it? The answer is because He is not real just like Santa is not real.]
This concludes the argument; we will resume our regular scheduled blogging already in progress.
This website was designed to be an interactive one and many Christians had voiced their displeasure with the arguments that were made. Many of them would quote from the Bible to prove their point which I found ironic being as they are atheist, they will not care what the Bible says. If you are a Christian do you care what the Book of Mormon or the Gnostic books say?
Being someone who loves to talk about politics and religion I decided that I would weigh in. The problem with most people when it comes to talking about either politics or religion is that they get too emotional with their argument. When I write a blog about any subject my objective is not to convert you to my way of thinking (however, the world would be a much better place if we all did) but rather it is to entertain and to make you think.
The lone exception would be when it comes to my love of Def Leppard, then my mission is clear, to make you into a full blown, “Hysteria” record loving, Def Leppard believer. “Songs From The Sparkle Lounge” is a fantastic album and I have not heard a single song on the radio, this is unacceptable, but I digress.
I worry when I hear people refer to themselves as a “Ditto Head” on the Rush Limbaugh show. My goal is not to create a Ditto Head but rather to explain an issue from a perceptive and then make you question if I am right or not and why. It was with that spirit that I crafted my careful reply and submitted it to the website.
I can tell you that they never posted my reply even though I submitted it twice just to be sure it went through. I checked back in latter and saw that they did post other “crazy” replies but not mine. That by itself shows the hypocrisy of their view, however, that is neither here nor there. So, without further ad due, he is my response:
[…You bring up some solid points, ones that a religious person has to answer and few can. Most people of faith, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or any other can not really articulate why they believe what they believe and when you question them they get angry. If God is who he says He is then why doesn’t He make himself more known?
Many people say, if God were to pull back the clouds and show his face then they would believe. Short of that they will say that there is no proof that He exists. Of course, to bolster their argument the atheist will point out the inconsistencies of the religious person’s beliefs and then compare that to their actions and few can stand up to that test.
However, neither can the atheist. The atheist will say that they are respectful and enlightened, yet when dealing with a religious person they will be rude, condescending, and down right mean. Also, the atheist will say that the religious person is acting off of irrational faith. Well, guess what, so are you.
While there is no evidence that you can point to that God exists, you also have no evidence to say that He does not. Have you been anywhere in this vast Universe other then this small rock known as Earth? Do you know all the mysteries of the Universe and how we began?
The fact is you do not, all you know is the little piece of it that you have experienced in your small life time. Based on this extremely limited knowledge and with no evidence other then the absence of evidence, you are able to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that there is no God. You are making this choice using an irrational faith based on what little you have seen or experienced.
You bring up that there are four billion people who are not Christian and use that as evidence that the Christian argument is false. I would argue that of the five billion people (give or take a few) that over 90% believe in a god of some kind. If you want to talk about numbers, the numbers that believe in a god far out weigh those that do not, maybe the religious person knows something that the atheist does not.
Finally, the burden of proof is not on the religious person anyway. You bring up the story of Santa to show how naïve the religious person is. Santa can be proven to not exist because the presents that show up on this magic day did not come from him at all, they came from the children’s parents.
If I want proof all I need to do is look at the Visa bill come January. If you have a “Visa bill” type of evidence that shows that there is no god I would like to see it. If the religious person is wrong and dies a religious person they have lost nothing, they are still dead. If however, the religious person is right and you go through your whole life saying that there is not a god, then the non-religious person will be in grave danger. You are going to have offer a lot more proof before I would be willing to make that choice.]
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