Some atheists can't help but get into the holiday mocking
spirit. An atheist group set up a large billboard In Time Square comparing
Santa and Jesus Christ. The caption says, "Keep the MERRY! Dump the
MYTH!" This sort of objection to God's existence is a favorite for
atheists that manifests itself in various ways. God is often compared to the
many pagan gods of the past, an invisible pink unicorn, or a flying spaghetti
monster that benevolently extends its noodily appendages to bless the
inhabitants of earth (yes, atheist geeks apparently laugh at the words noodle
and appendage).
This “God is like any other myth” objection fails because it
is a faulty analogy. While all analogies limp in some way, this one fails for a
couple of reasons. God is in a different category than Santa or spaghetti. One
is physical and the other is not. One is contingent on something else while the
other is not. If we are to compare God and pasta we would have to lower God to
the physical realm in order to make the comparison – thus debunking him. The
common question of "Who created God?" is another example of this
category mistake. Asking who created God actually redefines God into a being
that needs creation. This is sort of like denying the existence of Shakespeare
for the same reason that someone may deny the existence of Hamlet or Othello.
The other main failure of this argument is that it gives an
excuse to not examine the evidence for God. A person can indeed compare the God
of the Bible to the mythical gods of history. There is a reason why one has
lived on while the others have not. The reason is evidence and the convincing
power of that evidence. There are various arguments for the existence of God
but more specifically, for the Christian God there is the prophetic Scripture.
The Bible is a collection of testimonies that give a great amount of historical
and prophetic evidence of God. The prophet Isaiah often challenged skeptics to
consider their mute gods to the God of Judah who alone is able to predict the
future. Consider also the resurrection of Jesus Christ – without which
Christianity would never have started. The evidence for the event is
compelling: multiple trustworthy witnesses, an empty tomb, transformation of
the disciples, etc. Alternative evidence for the non-resurrection of Jesus is
lacking.
An atheist may think they are being rational by dismissing Jesus as a
myth but they are actually being very irrational by ignoring the evidence. What
is the evidence for a pink unicorn, Santa, or a Flying Spaghetti Monster? What
is the evidence against such things? An
atheist must admit that there is evidence for the Christian God and for the
person of Jesus Christ. At best they can say that there is no convincing
evidence for God, which says more about their bias than it does about God.
Religion is a matter of faith. I have faith in Jesus Christ
for the same reason that I have faith in my spouse and the chair that I’m
sitting on. I trust those things because they all convince me of their
trustworthy nature and there’s a pile of evidence that supports my trust.
No comments:
Post a Comment