Archive for the ‘atheism’ Category

The Maranatha Manuscripts

Posted: 02/06/2017 in Absolute Truth, atheism, Christian Doctrine, Christlike living, Creation vs. Evolution, Defending the Faith, Defense of Doctrine, Divine Revelation, folly of atheism, irrefutable truth, Jesus Christ, Justified Faith, Natural Revelation, presuppositional apologetics, presuppositions, self-deception, special revelation, The Bible, Ultimate Authority, Witnessing, worldviews
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(A series of scripted correspondences from a ‘Heavenly helper’ to a Christian Soldier)

[Letter 16]:

Greetings Soldier,

Yes, I can definitely see that your unbelieving opponents are not very happy with your challenges to their professed worldview (in fact, ‘unhappy’ would be quite the understatement to describe the nature of their most recent remarks). Remember, the unbeliever has much to lose in these types of discussions, once it is exposed what their worldview truly amounts to, since they often enjoy being viewed as ‘intellectuals’ on internet forums and loathe the idea that their position is really just one of blind, irrational faith. Therefore, you should expect open hostility such as the name calling being engaged in as of late, since it is no doubt very uncomfortable (think glass palace during an earthquake) to have one’s most fundamental beliefs challenged and then demonstrated to be undeniably false.

As a positive, this is one crystal clear way of demonstrating that the unbeliever is indeed engaging in suppression of the truth (just as the Bible states in Romans 1:18)—that is, they are not continuing to hold to their current professed position BECAUSE of rational reasons, but IN SPITE OF them–simply because they happen to dislike the alternative (i.e. bowing the knee to God). The purely emotional nature of the objections at this point are really exactly what one would expect from someone with simply a personal ‘ax to grind’ and nothing more. Sure, the unbeliever may not like the God of the Bible, but that is definitely not a rational basis for their rejection of Christianity and/or the truth of the Bible. At this point, you’ve done your job and it’s probably just best to politely thank them for sharing their opinions with you and invite them to return to the discussion when they have something rational to contribute. Oh, and do not cease to pray for these individuals–that they might come to their senses, cease their suppression of the Truth, and repent. Here to serve,

Your Heavenly ‘Angent’

The Maranatha Manuscripts

Posted: 02/05/2017 in Absolute certainty, Absolute Truth, atheism, Christian Doctrine, Creation vs. Evolution, Defending the Faith, Defense of Doctrine, Divine Revelation, folly of atheism, irrefutable truth, Justified Faith, Laws of logic, presuppositional apologetics, presuppositions, self-deception, special revelation, Ultimate Authority, Witnessing, worldviews
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(A series of scripted correspondences from a ‘Heavenly helper’ to a Christian Soldier)

[Letter 17: The Impossibility of the Contrary]

Greetings Soldier,

Indeed, I did see the latest remarks from the unbeliever who continues to assert that you are engaging in fallacious reasoning (i.e. an argument from ignorance) by claiming that Christianity is true by the impossibility of the contrary. It is important to remember two things when dealing with this type of objection from a professed unbeliever:

1.  The unbeliever has no basis whatsoever for attempting to impose any sort of meaningful logical standard upon your (or any) arguments, since he professes to believe in a universe in which abstract, invariant, universal standards could not possibly exist if his worldview were true (which, it isn’t). Therefore, when he makes such a claim, just simply ask him by what absolute standard he deems your argument fallacious, how he arrives at such standards in his worldview, and why that standard must necessarily apply to anyone or anything. Of course, he will not be able to sufficiently answer these questions, but it may be helpful for aiding him in honestly thinking through this issue (if he is willing to do so, of course).

2.  The argument is NOT that Christianity is true BECAUSE the unbeliever’s position is false (since all non-Christian worldviews ultimately undermine the existence of logic, knowledge, truth, etc.).  The argument IS that Christianity is true AND their position is false–big difference.

Remember, according to the professed unbeliever, ANY standard that they seek to impose on someone else would necessarily be a purely arbitrary one if their position were really true. This reduces their complaints against other people’s behaviors and/or reasoning to that of mere opinion and leaves them with no real objective, rational reasons for attempting to impose those standards upon anyone else. Feel free to gently make them aware of this fact and also point out that rational people have good reasons for the things they believe in and act upon. Therefore, the unbeliever is behaving irrationally when they behave the way they are behaving. In reality, they have no choice given what they profess to believe, as no one cannot possibly live consistently with the profession that God does not exist and the Bible is not true (since everyone lives in God’s universe and is inescapably forced to ultimately rely upon Him and abide by his rules, whether they want to or not). As such, the unbeliever plays the hypocrite since they professes to believe one thing, but do not (and cannot) really live according to their professed beliefs. You will do well to keep this is mind as you continue to evaluate the arguments/objections from them. Here to serve,

Your Heavenly ‘Angent’

The Heart of the Matter

Posted: 05/15/2015 in Absolute Truth, atheism, Biblical inerrancy, Christian Doctrine, Creation vs. Evolution, Defending the Faith, Defense of Doctrine, Divine Revelation, evolution, folly of atheism, Jesus Christ, Justified Faith, Moral absolutes, presuppositions, secular humanism, worldviews
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Some time ago I was engaged in a very lively debate, regarding the validity of the Christian worldview vs. non-Christian worldviews, over at Debate.org. Believe it or not, a very simple challenge, put forth to those who hold to worldviews which deny the God of the Bible, turned into a discussion thread of over 800 comments (well above the norm)! I have included the link to the discussion for anyone who is interested in seeing how non-Christians fared when asked to account for the most basic, fundamental concepts (i.e. logic, truth, knowledge, the foundation of the scientific method, etc.), required for making sense of the world around us, in their worldview. Warning: it ain’t pretty!

http://www.debate.org/forums/Religion/topic/55783/

NOTE: What you’ll notice in these types of discussions is that those who deny God and the truth of the Bible will always ultimately be reduced to ‘vain and foolish’ reasoning, just like Scripture states (Romans 1:18-22, I Corinthians 1:19-20). In particular, notice how the unbelievers’ positions are always shown to be based upon nothing more than blind-faith and mere opinion, having no logical foundation whatsoever upon which to rest. As I always enjoy pointing out, that is the very definition of an irrational (and, therefore, untrue) position. The more familiar Christians become with these arguments, the easier it is to then (hopefully gently) expose the errors in the unbeliever’s reasoning and to pull down the ‘intellectual strongholds’ that prevent them from considering and, subsequently, receiving the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Remember, no one will receive with their heart what their mind rejects as false, making the mandate of 2 Corinthians 10:5 especially relevant to us today:

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

I welcome your thoughts.

Interesting Discussions

Posted: 07/21/2014 in atheism, bias, Creation vs. Evolution, Defending the Faith, Divine Revelation, folly of atheism, irrefutable truth, presuppositions, subjective morality, Ultimate Authority
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For anyone who’s interested, here are the links to a few recent online discussions/debates I’ve had with professing atheists that you may find informative (WARNING:  A few instances of profanity and rude language from the atheists):

http://amusingnonsense.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/this-is-awkward/#comments

 

http://hessianwithteeth.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/why-christians-need-to-stop-telling-atheists-to-read-the-bible/#comments

 

http://hessianwithteeth.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/why-i-cant-agree-with-the-bible-leviticus-part-2/#comments

 

https://christianammunition.com/2014/06/25/how-to-be-an-atheist/#comments

 

https://christianammunition.com/2014/05/07/questions-for-the-evolutionist/#comments

 

http://agnophilo.wordpress.com/2014/05/24/questions-for-the-evolutionist/#comments

 

How to be an Atheist

Posted: 06/25/2014 in Absolute Truth, atheism, Defending the Faith, folly of atheism, presuppositions, worldviews
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This was compiled by a former atheist who is now a Christian.  Very accurate from my experience debating atheists online.

 

How to be an Atheist:

 

1)  Dismiss everything in the Bible because men wrote it.


2)  Believe and quote other writings of men to prove that the Bible is wrong.


3)  Completely ignore the inconsistency between steps 1 & 2.


4)  Call yourself a “freethinker” and “open minded” but don’t practice such virtues when it comes to Christianity.


5)  Try to laugh out loud every time a Christian makes a statement about what they believe even if you don’t think it’s really that funny. This helps avoid a “serious” conversation.


6)  Always bring up Zeus, Allah, and Santa Claus to prove that if you must believe in one God then you have to believe in all of them otherwise it’s just not fair.


7)  When referring to the Bible use the word “myth” as often as possible and call believers whatever names you want because the goal is to frustrate the Christian so that his sinful nature comes out and he gets angry and then you can call him a hypocrite.


8)  Set your own moral standards very very very low so that you’ll never look like a hypocrite yourself. The lower the better.


9)  Never answer a question directly but quickly change the subject to make a completely different point. If you’re asked why you keep changing the subject just repeat this step as necessary.


10)  Be as argumentative, sarcastic and verbal as possible – there is no need to make sense or use logic in your arguments – just keep arguing.


11)  Use words like “strawman,” “ad hominem,” “fallacy,” “red herring” and non sequiturs” against every argument whether you understand those terms or not.


12)  Claim that atheism is rooted in “common sense” even though less than 10% of the human population claim to be atheists.


13)  Reject all notions of faith even though you must put your faith in pilots, cars, food, doctors, evolution, and the next chair that you sit in.


14)  Always ask for evidence for God but never accept anything presented to you. At the end of a discussion remind them that all you needed was some evidence for God.


15)  Quote only the Bible verses that make God look mean and unfair.


16)  Talk about being a good person remembering that you are allowed to define good however you would like because there is no objective moral standard.


17)  Say that you have read the Bible and that you understand what it teaches whether this is true or not.


18)  Only pick on Christians – you don’t want to get killed in a Jihad. However, be sure to say that there is no difference between Radical Muslims and Fundamentalist Christians.


19)  Always use the crusades to make the point above.


20)  Remember that you are looking for faults in other worldviews not trying to defend your own – do not try to prove atheism! Remember, it’s much easier to destroy than build up.


21)  Make the claim that you only have one life and don’t want to waste it on religion.


22)  If your conscience begins to bother you because of moral guilt you can numb it with drugs, alcohol, sex, or pride. You can give up the first three but never give up your pride.


 

 

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