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Atheism
Atheism is the lack of belief in God. Implicit, or weak Atheism, does not accept God because it sees no evidence of God. Explicit, or strong, Atheism states that the existence of God is impossible. Many Christians believe that atheist are doomed to go to Hell, although some, such as Universalists and Jehovah's Witnesses take different stances.
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The Bible warns against Atheism
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Psalm 14:1 states, "The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none who does good."
There's also a footnote:
Moral deficiencyEdit
Psalm 14:1 The Hebrew words rendered fool in Psalms denote one who is morally deficient.
The Bible says atheists are morally deficientEdit
Therefore, the Bible states that an Atheist is morally deficient. While all people are morally deficient, the Bible specifically condemns Atheism. Of course, the typical atheist believes that this was put in here by primitive men and is not the word of God, so although this argument is sufficient, they believe that it is simply worthless.
Atheists may say the Bible is morally deficientEdit
- Genocide was required.
Deuteronomy 20:14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. 20:15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. 20:16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: [1]
- Christians' Response: The fact is, some of them were heathen, ungodly people. In addition, some were guilty of practicing abominable religious ceremonies, such as throwing their sons and daughters into bonfires for sacrifices to gods like Molech.
- Rape victims were required to marry the rapist.
Deuteronomy 22:28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; 22:29 Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days[2]
- Christians' Response: Um, who says this is referring to rape? This just sounds like a prohibition of consensual sex outside of marriage, with the punishment that those who commit fornication must marry one another.
Atheist objections and the Christian responseEdit
- God can't exist because the universe isn't infinite, therefore an infinitely powerful being couldn't exist here!
The Bible tells us that not even the entire universe can contain God, rendering this argument null and void [1]. Besides, it isn't proven that the universe is finite.
- How can God exist when there is so much evil in the world?
In theology and philosophy, the problem of evil is known as theodicy. When God created the universe, evil did not exist. Evil began when God created it as in Isaiah 45:7 "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." If evil had not been made by God, there would not have been Sin. Knowing in advance that his creation would sin and even commit more sin after the Flood makes the omniptoent characteristic of God seem flawed. Why would he set everything im motion if he knew the outcome in advance? Sin began when Satan rebelled because he wanted to be exalted, then Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil against God's express command (see original sin, condemning mankind to death. (Note: I think that Augustine of Hippo expounded on this idea. Always good to cite the church fathers).
- If there must be a first cause for the universe to exist, what caused that first cause? If that first cause did not need to be caused, why did the universe?
For this, an understanding of the Cosmological argument is in order, which proposes the uncaused cause thesis in the first place. The Cosmological argument depends on the "first cause" of the universe to have existed for all of eternity, since there cannot logically be a chain of finite causes without something at the beginning to start it all. Therefore, this first cause was not caused, since it exists for all eternity. As for the need for the universe to be created, this gets far more into a Christian point of view of God, which can be quite a more complicated debate in its own right, but does not necessarily need to be argued, since knowing why God would make the universe isn't necessary to know that both God and reality exists.
- The argument that the first cause exists eternally merely pushes the mystery back another step, and then question becomes: why does eternity (with stuff in it) exist?
- How can you be sure that your religion (Christianity, although others, like Islam and Hinduism may be tested) is the true one
Christians have faith in their holy books. They have grown up with their religion and that is what they are happy with. Furthermore, the Gospels and certain old testament books can be seen as historical evidence for Christianity.
(Insert here other arguments for Atheism, and the Christian response)
See alsoEdit
- Arguments for the existence of God
- Agnosticism (neutrality on the question of the existence of God)
- Cosmological argument
External LinksEdit
- Militant Atheism Exposed
- Reasons that God must exist from a former mislead atheist who was later able to renounce her ways and prove that God is very much real.
- The atheist viewpoint and 50 reasons why they believe God cannot exist (Note that this site selectively quotes. It might be useful to be aware of the context of the bible verses it uses to justify its views.)
- Atheism Wiki
NotesEdit
- ↑ 1 Kings 8:27: But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee.
