Answers to an Apologist

[Rev. Rye]

Many years ago, I stumbled upon this website called ChristianAnswers.com. One part I specifically found interesting was a section called "Questions For Not-Yet-Believers," where they ask questions that are supposed to speak to percieved flaws in a secular worldview. Here, I will post the questions with my answers.

1.How do you explain the high degree of design and order in the universe?

I'll leave this one up to actual scientists, but I'll say that it is best to not anthropomorphise design, as Christians seem to inevitably do.

2. How do you account for the vast archaeological documentation of Biblical stories, places, and people?

Have you ever heard of Historical fiction? At any rate, there isn't that much archaeological documentation of the Bible to be found.

3. Since absolutely no Bible prophecy has ever failed (and there are hundreds), how can one realistically remain unconvinced that the Bible is of Divine origin?

Is there any evidence of a Bible prophecy being fulfilled outside of the Bible? For that matter, none of Oswald Spengler's predictions failed and we actually have evidence of his predictions coming to pass.

a. Explain David's graphic portrayal of Jesus' death by crucifixion (Psalm 22) 1000 years previous to crucifixion being established as a form of capital punishment?

Unfortunately, this isn't a portrayal of death by crucifixion, but many elements seem to have been written into the crucifixion narrative. So, I'd have to say that due to its allusive quality, it points more to the Bible being fiction than fact.

b. How could any mere human pinpoint the birth town of the Messiah seven full centuries before the fact, as did the prophet Micah?

Oddly enough, there is actually some debate as to whether he was really supposed to be from Bethlehem or Nazareth. Interestingly, nobody ever mentions his being from Bethlehem after the infancy narratives, they always refer to him as being from Nazareth before going to Galilee.

c. Account for the odds (1 in 10 to the 157th power) that even just 48 (of 300) Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in one person, i.e Jesus.

See answer for main question.

d. How was it possible for the Old Testament prophet Isaiah to have predicted the virgin birth of Jesus (Isaiah 7:14) 700 years before it occurred?

There is also a lot of debate here, as the word that is often translated "Virgin" ("Almah") is usually better-rendered as "young woman."

4. How can anyone doubt the reliability of Scripture considering the number and proximity to originals of its many copied manuscripts?

The fact is, that the many manuscripts aren't close to each other. Read Bart Ehrman's "Misquoting Jesus" for more.

5. Are you able to live consistently with your present worldview?

Are you?

6. Wouldn't it make better sense, even pragmatically, to live as though the God of the Bible does exist than as though He doesn't?

Pascal's Wager. The biggest problem with it is that it fails to account for a construct of God that's different from Yahweh/Jealous who punishes those who don't kiss his ass. For instance: What if Ba'al turned out to be the one true God and he was just as jealous as Yahweh?

7. In what sense was Jesus a 'Good Man' if He was lying in His claim to be God?

Are those really the only two options? I suppose the idea that claims to be God were later interpolations or that Jesus was actually mad are out of the question? Indeed, as George Bernard Shaw wrote in his preface to Androcles and the Lion, if Jesus actually was mad, it only makes the story of his life more compelling (paraphrased).

8. Do you think that Jesus was misguided in affirming the truthfulness of Scripture, i.e. John 10:35, Matthew 24, Luke 24:44?

Ya Think?

9. If the Bible is not true, why is it so universally regarded as the 'Good Book'?

I suppose a lot of it comes from not reading the whole thing, or at least, reading the whole thing, and ignoring parts of it (The Sermon on the Mount, for Instance), and possibly twisting beyond recognition parts that weren't ignored.

Are you aware that the Old Testament alone claims to be God's inspired word at least 2600 times?

Isn't that circular reasoning?

Did you know that the Bible has been the number one best-seller every year since the 1436 invention of the Gutenberg printing press?

First off, the printing press was invented in 1454, and for a while, it was one of the only works out there. Besides, if any other book had armies of people putting it into every hotel room on the planet, it's be the number one best seller of all time. Speaking of which, for a while Mein Kampf and Quotations from Chairman Mao were poised to beat that record. Does this mean that they're almost as valid?

10. From whence comes humanity's universal moral sense?

It is likely a social construct of some basic axioms that people decided were necessary for order, and eventually, it spiralled out of control. At any rate, it does not come from a book that favors rape (in both sexual and classical sense), and genocide written by a being who is driven by Jealousy, and whose name is even Jealous (Ex. 34:10)

11. If man is nothing but the random arrangement of molecules, what motivates you to care and to live honorably in the world?

The hope that others will someday do so for me. Read some of Dawkins' more science-oriented works for more information.

12. Explain how personality could have ever evolved from the impersonal, or how order could have ever resulted from chaos.

Order from disorder happens all the time. Since you repeat this question later, I will elaborate there.

13. If Jesus' resurrection was faked, why would twelve intelligent men (Jesus' disciples) have died for what they knew to be a lie?

PErhaps the disciples faked the resurrection in order to keep the cult alive. Of course, where did you get the idea that the disciples were intelligent? Throughout the gospels, (see Mark 4, for instance) they don't even know what the Jesus is talking about.

14. How do you explain the fact that a single, relatively uneducated and virtually untraveled man, dead at age 33, radically changed lives and society to this day?

A lot of what you just said could apply to William Shakespeare, but nobody really believes he is God, now, do they?

15. Why have so many of history's greatest thinkers been believers? Have you ever wondered why thousands of intelligent scientists, living and dead, have been men and women of great faith?

For a long time, giving the wrong answer to the God question would be grounds for a death sentence.

16. Isn't it somewhat arrogant to suggest that countless churches and people (including men like Abraham Lincoln) are all radically in error in their view of the Bible?

No, I don't think that the Authority Fallacy works. And don't even get me started on Abe Lincoln....

17. How do you account for the origin of life considering the irreducible complexity of its essential components?

Irreducible Complexity has never been demonstrated, and is most likely a myth created by people who don't want to either do research or listen to the results.

18. How can the Second Law of Thermodynamics be reconciled with progressive, naturalistic evolutionary theory?

See Here. If that's too much for you, I will simply quote Samuel Johnson and say, "I Disprove it Thus!"

19. Why does the Bible alone, of all of the world's 'holy' books, contain such detailed prophecies of future events?

Because you read detailed prophecies of future events into it.

20. On what basis can the Bible (interpreted as per historic Christian orthodoxy) be challenged as a sole, final truth-standard (Galatians 1:8)?

common sense?

21. Is it absolutely true that "truth is not absolute" or only relatively true that "all things are relative?"

There are some absolutes (like math). Unfortunately, it seems that there is a lot more that is relative than fundamentalists take for granted.
At any rate, what does this have to do with the Bible, God, and faith?

22. Is it possible that your unbelief in God is actually an unwillingness to submit to Him?

If that were true, I'd be a high priest in the Church of Satan by now.

23. Does your present worldview provide you with an adequate sense of meaning and purpose?

More now than when I did believe.

24. How do you explain the radically changed lives of so many Christian believers down through history?

How can you expect this argument to stand when any sort of religion changes lives radically? Hell, if Islam didn't change lives, Cat Stevens wouldn't have waited a quarter-century to create another pop album.

25. Are you aware that every alleged Bible contradiction has been answered in an intelligible and credible manner?

If this is true, then with those answers in mind, write me an account of all of the details of the post-resurrection life of Jesus from the gospels, Acts 1, and 1 Corinthians 15. The story should be totally coherent, but not lacking a single detail from any account.

26. What do you say about the hundreds of scholarly books that carefully document the veracity and reliability of the Bible?

Just because lots of people have written many volumes on something doesn't make it factual. Indeed, I'm sure that just as many have done so for the koran.

27. Why and how has the Bible survived and even flourished in spite of centuries of worldwide attempts to destroy and ban its message?

Some people disobey orders.

28. Why isn't it absurd to try to speak or even conceive of a non-existent 'God' when an existing God would, by definition, be greater?

Hadn't Kant pretty much destroyed the ontological argument centuries ago? Existence is not something you can predict from definitions. I mean, I know that Apologetics is basically the branch of philosophy that got stuck in Aquinas' era, but come on.

29. Have you ever considered the fact that Christianity is the only religion whose leader is said to have risen from the dead?

Why would that make any difference?

30. How do you explain the empty tomb of Jesus in light of all the evidence that has now proven essentially irrefutable for twenty centuries?
31. If Jesus did not actually die and rise from the dead, how could He (in His condition) have circumvented all of the security measures in place at His tomb?
32. If the authorities stole Jesus' body, why? Why would they have perpetrated the very scenario that they most wanted to prevent?
33. If Jesus merely resuscitated in the tomb, how did He deal with the Roman guard posted just outside its entrance?

The fact is that there is none. No real extrabiblical evidence that there was an empty tomb has really come to light in the past 2 millenia. So, it's hardly irrefutable. Indeed, the evidence for the existence of Jesus himself is sketchy at best.

34. How can one realistically discount the testimony of over 500 witnesses to a living Jesus following His crucifixion (see 1 Corinthians 15:6)?

We don't have the testimony of 500 witnesses. What we have is a statement that 500 people saw Jesus. Indeed, there's likely as many people who've seen Elvis alive in the past 30 years.

35. If all of Jesus' claims to be God were the result of His own self-delusion, why didn't He evidence lunacy in any other areas of His life?

Well, in Mark, it was mentioned that Jesus' own family thought he was insane. Of course, madness is not necessarily a negation of Greatness. Indeed, John Nash had paranoid schizophrenia, but that didn't stop him from winning the Nobel Prize for his work in Game Theory.

36. If God is unchanging, wouldn't it be true that one who changes by suddenly “realizing” that he/she is “God” therefore isn't God?

Explain.

37. Is your unbelief in a perfect God possibly the result of a bad experience with an imperfect Church or a misunderstanding of the facts, and therefore an unfair rejection of God Himself?

I was raised in a Lutheran church and went to Lutheran school for years. One of the few examples of history outside of The Bible and American History was the story of Martin Luther, who eventually founded his own church. Why do you think that if it was just a matter of an imperfect church, I wouldn't just start my own?

38. How did 35-40 men, spanning 1500 years and living on three separate continents, ever manage to author one unified message, i.e. the Bible?

(In his best Ray McCooney voice) Have ye ever heard of a thing called an editorrrrrrrr?

39. Would you charge the Declaration of Independence with error in affirming that "all men are endowed by their Creator..."?

I've lost my opportunity to change it. Besides, at any rate, other references to God in the Declaration point it to being a deistic construct. Have you ever heard a Christian refer to Yahweh as "Nature's God?"

40. Because life origins are not observable, verifiable, or falsifiable, how does historical 'science' amount to anything more than just another faith system?

They are based on more evidence than has been presented for your faith system, which I may add, is based upon a book which claims (among other things) that rabbits chew cud (Dt. 14:7)

41. What do you make of all the anthropological studies indicating that even the most remote tribes show some sort of theological awareness?

From the play "Inherit the Wind," "When [man] first achieved the upright position he took a look at the stars... thought they were something to eat. When he couldn't reach them, he thought they were groceries belonging to a bigger creature... that's how Jehovah was born. "

42. Why subscribe to the incredible odds that the tilt and position of our planet relative to the sun are merely coincidental?

Just because something has incredible odds against it doesn't mean it hasn't happened. It just so happens that we lucked out.

43. If every effect has a cause, and if God Himself is the universe (i.e. is one with the universe, as some non-Christians suggest), what or who then caused the universe?

If the answer "who/what caused the universe" needs an answer, so does "who/what created God?" And why does the first cause have to be God? Why can it not be the subatomic particles that the universe is made of?

44. What would be required to persuade you to become a believer?

Blow me. If you're shocked by this, I must ask; Doth the Vernacular offend thee, Sire/Milady?

Well, some of them are good questions, and a lot of them have been pretty much discredited to the extent that it's incredible that people still ask them.

[downbeatplumb]

Yes and they will have answers for your answers because we wont be the first atheist encountered.
These simple guides would only work on the feeble minded and easily swayed.

Our minds are too highly trained for this Magicthighs.

[LEDO]

Rye, too much to read. After a paragraph I skim, after two I stop reading. Psalm 22, the correct translation is [like a lion] they mauled my hands and feet. I don't think that is how Jesus died.

[Violet]

It's very good, but it would be much easier to read if you were to use quote tags around the questions

Code:

[quote]Leik dis[/quote]

Or perhaps otherwise separate the questions in design from the answers At least: I would be more able to read it

[Zagreus]

2. How do you account for the vast archaeological documentation of Biblical stories, places, and people?
Have you ever heard of Historical fiction? At any rate, there isn't that much archaeological documentation of the Bible to be found.

This one's quite interesting. You are right, there is some documentation, but a lot of the Bible archaeology doesn't add up. Examples from the source would have been nice to examine. The comment could be as wide as saying there is archaeological evidence that ancient Egypt existed, therefore the exodus occured. In that case, a does not equal b.

[Rev. Rye]

2. How do you account for the vast archaeological documentation of Biblical stories, places, and people?
Have you ever heard of Historical fiction? At any rate, there isn't that much archaeological documentation of the Bible to be found.

This one's quite interesting. You are right, there is some documentation, but a lot of the Bible archaeology doesn't add up. Examples from the source would have been nice to examine. The comment could be as wide as saying there is archaeological evidence that ancient Egypt existed, therefore the exodus occured. In that case, a does not equal b.

Well, I was unable to post the link to the site (I did not have enough posts to be able to do links yet), but here's the host site. http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aiia/q...ptics.html
And yes, Saerules, I will put the questions in Quotes. EDIT: It is finished.

[Dotard]

What would be required to persuade you to become a believer?

Blow me.


Brilliant!

[Violet]

Although the only thing it would convince me of is that they are as desperate as hell...

[KichigaiNeko]

Although the only thing it would convince me of is that they are as desperate as hell...

+1 on that score Saerules!

What a joke!! This quiz is serious??hock: