I am writing this as a direct response to what I found to be a very curious list of questions located, ironically enough, on ChristianAnswers.net (which provides no answers). The original article is called "44 Questions for Skeptics" and can be located here: http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aiia/questions-for-skeptics.html Overall, it really isn't a bad list of questions, if you're asking somebody who is already a Christian and needs to bolster their ideas. However, as I read through it I found many of the questions very easy to answer. So, here's what I came up with.
1: How do you explain the high degree of design and order in the universe?
A: This makes an assumption of "design" in the question. There is a lot of order in the universe, but there is also a striking amount of chaos. While I find the mechanisms of physics to be amazing in and of their own right, I don't see anything that doesn't appear to be a natural process.
2: How do you account for the vast archaeological documentation of Biblical stories, places, and people?
A: The reference of actual places in any story does not make the events that are said to take place there true. For example, in the movie Independence Day we see entire cities, like L.A. destroyed. These are actual places but offer no legitimacy to the fictional events.
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?
A: The Biblical prophecies of the Old Testament were numerous, to say the least. But the explanation for their fulfillment in the New Testament is found in the New Testament itself. Matthew 21:4 says "This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet ". Now, I am not a scholar, but a man doing things in order to fulfill a prophecy is not at all miraculous or unusual to me.
As for the birth of Christ, none of his disciples were present and therefore cannot be trusted as eyewitnesses to the events that are alleged to have happened. I do not believe in the unusual circumstances of Christ's birth any more than I do those of Kim Il Sung of North Korea, who's birth was announced by birds speaking in human tongues.
4: How can anyone doubt the reliability of Scripture considering the number and proximity to originals of its many copied manuscripts?
A: This I thought was an odd question. ChristianAnswers.net cites the Dead Sea Scrolls as evidence for the reliability of early texts. Having read the translations that have been made available I was stunned. There are different versions of the book of James, for example. There were many Gnostic Gospels discovered with the Dead Sea Scrolls, and certainly these are now considered inspired by their reasoning.
5: Are you able to live consistently with your present worldview?
A: No. One's choice of how to live is influenced by their experiences. Over time our worldview changes, as does our lifestyle.
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?
A: This question clearly has nothing to do with the accuracy of the Bible either way. It seems to be an argument to cover your bases, so to speak. In my opinion it clearly would not be better to live my life as though God were real if I don't believe he does. As we saw in a recent case involving an evangelical church in London that was advising members with HIV that they would be cured through Christ and to stop taking their medication. 6 people died as a result. Clearly it would have been better for them to not trust in God.
7: In what sense was Jesus a 'Good Man' if He was lying in His claim to be God?
A: Here is an assumption that Jesus may have been lying by making his claims combined with an assumption that he was "good". Frankly, I don't think Jesus was a "good man" at all, but it is easily possible that he was simply wrong if he was not intentionally misleading his followers.
8: Do you think that Jesus was misguided in affirming the truthfulness of Scripture, i.e. John 10:35, Matthew 24, Luke 24:44?
A: Yes.
9: If the Bible is not true, why is it so universally regarded as the 'Good Book'?
A: The Bible is not universally accepted as the Good Book. A minority of the world's population believe it is true.Also, I should ask, which Bible? Browse a Christian book store sometime and point out the one true word of God to me, ok?
10: From whence comes humanity's universal moral sense?
A: Humanity does not have a universal moral sense. See this post for more information:
11: If man is nothing but the random arrangement of molecules, what motivates you to care and to live honorably in the world?
A: This displays a blatant misunderstanding of what humanity is. Nobody has ever claimed that humans are a result of anything random. Richard Dawkins addresses this very clearly in the God Delusion and you should read it for yourself as I can't do it justice. In summary, our sense of caring about one another and responsibility are a result of our evolution and need to care for one another in family groups. And as should go without saying, we do not all behave honorably.
12: Explain how personality could have ever evolved from the impersonal, or how order could have ever resulted from chaos.
A: This is an extension of question 11 so I won't address personality. The question of order relates back to question 1 and is equally repetitive.
13: If Jesus' resurrection was faked, why would twelve intelligent men (Jesus' disciples) have died for what they knew to be a lie?
A: Not to put too fine a point on it, but 12 men did not die for what they knew to be a lie. At the minimum, Judas wasn't executed for it seeing as he killed himself before the resurrection. The other 11's fates are not at all clear since it would not have been possible for them to document their own executions. If they are documented, it should lend some doubt to the validity of the story, should it not?
To give a modern example: the followers of David Koresh believe he was the Christ, attest to miracles and believe he his still alive despite his shotgun-shell-riddled skull being found in his burned compound. The survivors of the Waco event are going to spend life in prison for what they believe to be true even though we know it is not.
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: It could easily be argued that Jesus did very little to change lives and society. His followers and the religious governmental institutions that grew to power in the centuries after his death can be credited with changing, or ending, many lives.
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?
A: It should be noted that for much of history, to not be a "believer" was a death sentence. Even persons who made great claims of faith were brutally persecuted for offering scientific explanations that the church did not approve of. Professing belief was a matter of survival and was done by the educated and the uneducated alike.
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?
A: Isn't it somewhat arrogant to suggest that countless people should not question what they are told from the pulpit? Only by examining claims of truth do we ever discover those things that are accurate.
17: How do you account for the origin of life considering the irreducible complexity of its essential components?
A: Irreducible Complexity has never been demonstrated. Professor Behe, the primary warrior for this line of argument, has consistently failed to actually provide an example that biologists have not been able to refute.See also my post on this: http://devoutapostate.blogspot.com/2012/05/demanding-evidence-isnt-demanding-at.html
18: How can the Second Law of Thermodynamics be reconciled with progressive, naturalistic evolutionary theory?
A: The 2nd Law is frequently misunderstood by creationists. The Law applies to "closed" systems and does not apply to Earth, a system that is powered by the sun.
19: Why does the Bible alone, of all of the world's 'holy' books, contain such detailed prophecies of future events?
A: I assume the questioner is referring to the book of Revelation. If that's detailed, well, we're playing a totally different game here.
20: On what basis can the Bible (interpreted as per historic Christian orthodoxy) be challenged as a sole, final truth-standard
A: I suppose if you interpret the Bible from a Christian point of view in order to challenge the Bible, you're not going to get very far. However, the circular logic here should be obvious.
21: Is it absolutely true that "truth is not absolute" or only relatively true that "all things are relative?"
A: That's a clever word game, but not an actual question. Besides, we talked about this in Question 10.
22: Is it possible that your unbelief in God is actually an unwillingness to submit to Him?
A: This type of question implies that a non-believer is actually a rebellious believer. In order for us to make any real headway in a talk like this it must be understood that non-believers honestly don't believe. Really people. We're just not convinced. So.. basically the answer to this question is no.
23: Does your present worldview provide you with an adequate sense of meaning and purpose?
A: Yes. (I should note here how the religious attempt to use questions like this to prey on those who are lost, depressed or otherwise needing more in their lives)
24: How do you explain the radically changed lives of so many Christian believers down through history?
A: As I mentioned before, this still wouldn't speak to the accuracy of theistic belief. But in considering the lives changed of those who believed it might be wise to consider the lives destroyed of those who didn't believe or who believed the wrong thing. I don't deny that Christianity has changed lives. But so has Islam, Yoga and the Food Network.
25: Are you aware that every alleged Bible contradiction has been answered in an intelligible and credible manner?
A: Well, that's not true. In 1992 Jim Meritt did a better job than I can explaining why. Have at it. http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html
26: What do you say about the hundreds of scholarly books that carefully document the veracity and reliability of the Bible?
A: ChristianAnswers.net didn't cite what any of these books are so this is difficult to refute. I would direct you to books like God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens and A History of God by Karen Armstrong that I feel do an excellent job of proving the Bible and all monotheisms wrong (though Karen appears to wish it were true).
27: Why and how has the Bible survived and even flourished in spite of centuries of worldwide attempts to destroy and ban its message?
A: I admit an ignorance to what is being referred to here. The history I am familiar with is of a powerful Christian church banning the message of the Bible even among its own people. People were executed for even owning a Bible in their common language. So I guess if Christians were trying to keep Christians from hearing the message of the Bible, this question should be referred back to the questioner.
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?
A: I can only assume that this is a reference of St. Anselm of Canterbury's ontological argument. I grant that a real God would be pretty awesome, but that does not make the conception of a non-existent God absurd. I can imagine a great many things that do not exist. Because I am able to imagine them does not make them real.
29: Have you ever considered the fact that Christianity is the only religion whose leader is said to have risen from the dead?
A: This would make for a curious argument if it were true. As I noted before, David Koresh's followers believed he rose from the dead. Here's a list of other religious figures that followers believed had died and risen from the dead: Osiris, Baal, Adonis, Melqart, Dumuzi, Eshmun, Asclepius/Achilles, Aristeas of Proconnesus, Castor, Heracles, Alcmene, Melicertes, Krishna, Romulus, Zoroaster and Horus.
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?
A: I admit, this one stumped me for a while. The main reason was that I couldn't find all this "evidence" that they were talking about. CSI: Israel reruns are notoriously rare. What they really mean is "assertions" not "evidence".
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?
A: If Jesus' "condition" was being dead, then he could not. And I don't think he did.
32: If the authorities stole Jesus' body, why? Why would they have perpetrated the very scenario that they most wanted to prevent?
A: I don't see why the authorities would have to steal Jesus' body when they were already in possession of it, so this makes little sense. If one is wondering why there was an apparently empty tomb, I am far more likely to question if there was an empty tomb at all.
33: If Jesus merely resuscitated in the tomb, how did He deal with the Roman guard posted just outside its entrance?
A: Sorry, but he was dead. And so is Elvis. Let it go.
34: How can one realistically discount the testimony of over 500 witnesses to a living Jesus following His crucifixion.
A: If all 500 of those witnesses had left testimony, that would be one thing, but they did not. To the contrary, one person wrote down that 500 people witnessed something. If the single source is unreliable then what it claims is irrelevant.
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?
A: He did. His own family said so and surprisingly enough, these statements were left in the Bible. John 7:5 and Mark 3:20-21.
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?
A: Agreed. Jesus wasn't God.
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
A: Similar to Question 22. We honestly don't believe it. Please stop looking for some bizarre psychological reasoning.
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?
A: Similar to question 3. Give me a couple thousand years to edit a book and I can make it pretty unified too.
39: Would you charge the Declaration of Independence with error in affirming that "all men are endowed by their Creator..."?
A: Yes, but this is a case of metaphor.
40: Because life origins are not observable, verifiable, or falsifiable, how does historical 'science' amount to anything more than just another faith system?
A: This is a blatant demonstration of a misunderstanding of science. While the very origin of life is not observable, verifiable, or falsifiable, science does not make claims as to what that origin was. Biological science is exploring many options but is unafraid of saying "I don't know". It is exactly the opposite of a faith system.
41: What do you make of all the anthropological studies indicating that even the most remote tribes show some sort of theological awareness?
A: Unless the questioner wishes to impart theological accuracy on other cultures, this is a straw man argument. All cultures use religion and mythology to explain the world around them.
42: Why subscribe to the incredible odds that the tilt and position of our planet relative to the sun are merely coincidental?
A: Seeing as there are hundreds of billions of stars making up each of hundreds of billions of galaxies I don't see why this is an issue. There were a lot of chances for a planet to sit in the zone of orbit that Earth does. Lots of planets are tilted. So?
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?
A: Again, this would imply accuracy to a non-Christian religion and I'm not positive the questioner wants to do that. But, I'll bite. If God is the universe and the universe needs a cause then God needs a cause, so the question falls back to the questioner. I have addressed this issue here though if you wish to read something in more detail: http://devoutapostate.blogspot.com/2011/11/creation-revisited.html
44: What would be required to persuade you to become a believer?
A: An act of God.
Whew, so that's all done with. Now, to cap it all off, ChristianAnswers.net adds this at the bottom of the page:
"A college student attended a philosophy class which held a discussion about God's existence. The professor presented the following logic: “Has anyone in this class ever heard God?” No one spoke. “Has anyone in this class ever touched God?” Again, no one spoke. “Has anyone in this class ever seen God?” When no one spoke for the third time, he said, “Then there is no God.”
One student thought for a second and then asked for permission to reply. Curious to hear this bold student's response, the professor agreed. The student stood up and asked the following: “Has anyone in this class ever heard our professor's brain?” Silence. “Has anyone in this class ever touched our professor's brain?” Absolute silence. “Has anyone in this class ever seen our professor's brain?” When no one in the class dared to speak, the student concluded, “Then, according to our professor's logic, it must be true that our professor has no brain!”The student received an 'A' in the class."
Clearly this is yet another invented story that attempts to prove a point, but does so poorly. If we really really doubted the existence of a brain, we could crack open the student's skull and find one. Or not
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