Honest Question to Atheists - Best Argument?

[Fidel_Castronaut]

No, nothing (for every theist, not just Christians).

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

No to all three.

That being said, I can envision an argument which might sway me:  Point to a phenomenon that is not at least potentially explicable without invoking godism. 

Boru

[SamS]

How about you, has there ever been something [insert competing religion here] said that made you doubt your "current theistic stance"?

No other religion has ever made me ever doubt Christianity. I view Judaism as incomplete Christianity; ending with the Old Testament is just a huge cliffhanger because so many of the prophecies stated in it are fulfilled by Jesus Christ (Deuteronomy 18:15, as one example). OT ends with promises of great things to come, yet for Judeo-believers, never will. Islam is a corrupted extension of Christianity, whose denial of fundamental Christian doctrine (Resurrection, Christ's Deity, etc) leave the same OT prophecies unfulfilled and therefore incomplete ("pierce my hands and feet" in Psalm 22:16, yet Muslims don't even think Jesus was crucified).

What about Buddhism, Hinduism, New Age spirituality? They may have had an appeal when I was agnostic, but they don't affect me anymore partly because the Bible frequently criticizes all other gods. Even the 10 plagues were largely an attack on Egypt's false gods (Numbers 33:4). It denounces those who worship "wooden and metal statues and idols", which can do nothing for us. "Saying...Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth" (Jer. 2:27). I can't trust a religion that allows for many gods and acceptance of other religious beliefs. It's paramount to saying there are multiple truths, and "ways to your inner self, mannn", or whatever spiritual nonsense buzzwords they spout. Does the Bible make us narrow-minded? Yes, only so far as the Bible is exclusive itself.

Atheism? How about contradictions in the Bible? Those affected when I had a weaker faith, but I have never found one that cannot be resolved in context, or by the right verse sometimes in another book entirely. The Bible is not a weapon against itself. Mythology, other Christ figures in older religions? That was another good one. I've heard it repeatedly mentioned that the god Horus was also born on December 25th, even though no where in the Bible or any historic writings does it say Jesus was born on December 25th, so it's becomes a lie more than anything. In fact, most claims of similarities to other gods are made up in attempts to debunk Christianity (Source). It should be remembered that OT prophecies of Jesus are older than many of supposed Christ clones; take that as you will. The Bible doesn't stop at other religions, it has quite a bit to say about atheism, especially in the Book of Ecclesiastes.

But best argument against Christianity? Making the Bible seem fallible was a pretty big one for me, though a friend of mine once told me he was too far "into science" to believe anything. I'd say scientific arguments can be made to work against any religion.

Seriously, to Christians, the Bible is the best proof of itself. Want physical evidence of God? Have a Bible, it is both the claim and the proof of the claim. May seem absolutely stupid, but the age of OT compared to the NT, how one reveals every little secret of the other (especially if you study it), makes the entire thing completely believable. If we only had the NT, I wouldn't believe it either.

extraordinary claim and all.

[lifeskyblue]

No argument from a Christian or any other Theist has made me question. But what does occasionally make me stop and think are those people who I respect and love, who don't proselytise, but act always with compassion and care but who are committed believers of one faith or another. Are their 'Saint' like qualities part of their personality or do they stem from their beliefs ie were they born that way or have they developed a 'goodness'. Either way it has never made me question my Atheism

[robvalue]

No, nothing has ever come close. I'm a very logical person and I'm really good at spotting flaws in arguments (even if I say so myself ).

For most people at least, I don't believe that the arguments people generally put forward are why they really believe in their religion. For one thing, most of the arguments apply equally to all religions, or could easily be modified to do so. I believe people are religious due to a mixture of emotional reasons and indoctrination, but they may well not even be aware of this. They may genuinely think they believe because of these arguments.

That's just my opinion based on my experience. My evidence is that I can beat the shit out of all these arguments all day long and it makes no difference to the believer. They'll often just repeat them later as well as if I hadn't said anything. I think they are psychological defences and rationalisations. Like I said, I'm not accusing people of doing this deliberately. The mind is a complex thing.

[rexbeccarox]

Every once in awhile, if someone brings forth a new way of looking at their religious beliefs, which is extremely rare, I've found myself questioning what I (dis)believe, but then it's always been ripped to shreds, either by my own logic, or that of someone else I respect. It's never been anything other than fleeting.

[Homeless Nutter]

Well, there's this one argument, that's been quite difficult to counter. It goes something like this:

"If you don't bend over for our glorious, merciful Lord, Jesus Christ, we're going to f*** you up."

Historically - that's pretty much the main reason, why there are so many Christians around.

[Longhorn]

Oh, so your defense against logic is circular reasoning and your evidence is your claim.


Right. Praise Odin.

[robvalue]

If I had to pick an argument which is the nearest thing to convincing, I'd go with the fine tuning argument. It's about 0.01% convincing, whereas every other argument I've ever heard is firmly at 0%.

And it still only points to a deistic God, which I couldn't care less about. That's the thing. Even if any religion is "true", whatever that means, I don't care. I'll carry on as I do now. I'm happy with how I live my life. I'm confident a good God would be happy with me, and any other God can fuck off. There seems to be a general assumption that if someone could convince me of their God, I'd worship it. Not so.

[rado84]

Has there ever been a Christian argument, or something a Christian said, that made you, for even a split second, question whether your current atheistic stance is right?
Even if the argument turned out to be completely fabricated or disprovable, did it at the very least draw you closer to believing the Bible is God's Word and all that such a belief entails?
If not, has there ever been an argument that you didn't know how to answer, or that surprised you  against your expectations?

No.
No.
No.