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Title: Answering Atheism


1
Answering Atheism
  • Understanding and responding to those that reject
    God with all their heart, mind, soul and
    strength.

Adult Sunday School a ministry of Holland
Congregational Church Jan-March 2007
2
Why Study Atheism?
Indeed, the atheists are now looking to turn the
tables They want to make belief itself not
simply an object of intellectual derision but a
cause for personal embarrassment. A new
generation of publicists for atheism has emerged
to tell Americans in particular that we should be
ashamed to retain a majority of religious
believers, that in this way we resemble the
benighted, primitive peoples of the Middle East,
Africa and South America instead of the
enlightened citizens of Western Europe.
Sam Schulman, Wall Street Journal Opinion Column
1/5/07
The new atheists fail too often simply for want
of charm or skill. Twenty-first century atheism
hasn't found its H.G. Wells or its George Bernard
Shaw, men who flattered their audiences, excited
them and persuaded them by making them feel
intelligent. Here is Sam Harris, for instance,
addressing those who wonder if destroying human
embryos in the process of stem cell research
might be morally dicey Your qualms . . . are
obscene.
3
The question of whether there exists a
supernatural creator, a God, is one of the most
important that we have to answer. I think that it
is a scientific question. My answer is no.
Richard Dawkins (Atheist and author of The God
Delusion)
Dawkins is riding the crest of an atheist
literary wave. Brad Holland (Time Article)
If ever there was a slamming of the door in the
face of constructive investigation, it is the
word miracle. Richard Dawkins
4
  • Atheism
  • affirms the nonexistence of God. God does not
    exist.
  • Positive disbelief, not merely withholding
    belief (agnosticism, skepticism)
  • Traditional arguments for belief in God (theism)
    are inadequate
  • Amount and severity of evil inconsistent with
    good and sovereign being

5
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6
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7
1 Peter 313-16 Now who is there to harm you if
you are zealous for what is good? But even if you
should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will
be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be
troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ the
Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a
defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for
the hope that is in you yet do it with
gentleness and respect, having a good conscience,
so that, when you are slandered, those who revile
your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
2 Corinthians 103-5 For though we walk in the
flesh, we are not waging war according to the
flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of
the flesh but have divine power to destroy
strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty
opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and
take every thought captive to obey Christ
The fool has said in his heart, "there is no God"
2 Timothy 223-26 Have nothing to do with
foolish, ignorant controversies you know that
they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must
not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to
teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his
opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant
them repentance leading to a knowledge of the
truth, and they may escape from the snare of the
devil, after being captured by him to do his
will.
8
Sam Harris atheist. Author of "The End of
Faith Religion, Terror, and the Future of
Reason" and "Letter to a Christian
Nation." Opinion Column in LA Times. Dec. 24 ,
2006 10 myths -- and 10 truths -- about atheism
Excerpt several quotes from the article
Understand the main arguments
What is the underlying assumption in the statement
Articulate good clarifying questions about the
authors statements
What is the underlying assumption in the statement
Develop a response to each of the ten points
Sneaking God in the back door
9
Introductory Quotes
According to a recent Newsweek poll, only 37 of
Americans would vote for an otherwise qualified
atheist for president.
Atheists are often imagined to be intolerant,
immoral, depressed, blind to the beauty of nature
and dogmatically closed to evidence of the
supernatural.
Given that we know that atheists are often among
the most intelligent and scientifically literate
people in any society, it seems important to
deflate the myths that prevent them from playing
a larger role in our national discourse.
10
Myth/Truth 1 Atheists believe that life is
meaningless.
On the contrary, religious people often worry
that life is meaningless and imagine that it can
only be redeemed by the promise of eternal
happiness beyond the grave. Atheists tend to be
quite sure that life is precious.
Life is imbued with meaning by being really and
fully lived. Our relationships with those we love
are meaningful now they need not last forever to
be made so.
So if God does not exist, that means that man
and the universe exist to no purpose since the
end of everything id death and that they came
to be for no purpose, since they are only blind
products of chance. In short, life is utterly
without reason. William Lane Craig,
Reasonable Faith
Francis Schaeffer Two Story Universe lower
no God, life absurd Upper Value, meaning and
purpose
What is "meaning"?
11
Myth/Truth 2 Atheism is responsible for the
greatest crimes in human history
People of faith often claim that the crimes of
Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot were the
inevitable product of unbelief.
The problem with fascism and communism, however,
is not that they are too critical of religion
the problem is that they are too much like
religions. Such regimes are dogmatic to the core
and generally give rise to personality cults that
are indistinguishable from cults of religious
hero worship.
Atheists are also dogmatic though! They hold
their thoughts about reality to be true they
are dogmatic about it!
The issue isnt dogmatism per se. The question
is, what are you dogmatic about?
Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot all acted in a
manner consistent with the dogma that they held
their actions proceeded logically from what they
believed.
12
Islam
Christianity
Atheism
Communism
Naturalism
13
Myth/Truth 3 Atheism is dogmatic
Jews, Christians and Muslims claim that their
scriptures are so prescient of humanity's needs
that they could only have been written under the
direction of an omniscient deity.
An atheist is simply a person who has considered
this claim, read the books and found the claim to
be ridiculous.
On what basis are the claims ridiculous? How many
atheists have read all of these books? Simplistic
argument.
One doesn't have to take anything on faith, or
be otherwise dogmatic, to reject unjustified
religious beliefs
Atheists assume that God does not exist and
demand that theists prove God does. But atheists
bear the burden of proof for their claims also.
Which is more reasonable given the evidence?
14
Myth/Truth 4 Atheists think everything in the
universe arose by chance
No one knows why the universe came into being.
In fact, it is not entirely clear that we can
coherently speak about the "beginning" or
"creation" of the universe at all, as these ideas
invoke the concept of time, and here we are
talking about the origin of space-time itself.
First statement assumes what the author needs to
prove, and the statement is not provable.
We do not need to know why the universe had a
beginning to know that it had a beginning. Here
science and scripture agree - the universe had a
beginning.
2nd Law of Thermodynamics the universe is
cooling off from a very hot beginning and losing
available energy. If universe is infinite, it
should have used up all its energy infinite
amount of time ago.
Problem of passing through an infinite succession
of moments. Dominoes need a first one to get
to the present one!
15
Present moment
20 minutes ago
20 years ago
2,000 years ago 70 AD
Beginning of time
16
Myth/Truth 4 continued
Although we don't know precisely how the Earth's
early chemistry begat biology, we know that the
diversity and complexity we see in the living
world is not a product of mere chance. Evolution
is a combination of chance mutation and natural
selection. Darwin arrived at the phrase "natural
selection" by analogy to the "artificial
selection" performed by breeders of livestock. In
both cases, selection exerts a highly non-random
effect on the development of any species.
Even if this were true, it would represent a
fixed law. Where did the law come from? Might
that law also mutate at some point and no longer
apply?
What begat early chemistry?
Author seems to indicate that natural selection
is not random, but intentional. How is that
possible? Over time, would not nature itself, by
his definition, be something different than it is
now due to (among other influences) mutation?
17
Myth/Truth 5 Atheism has no connection to
science.
Although it is possible to be a scientist and
still believe in God as some scientists seem to
manage it there is no question that an
engagement with scientific thinking tends to
erode, rather than support, religious faith
This is an entirely philosophical statement, one
which cannot be proven by the rules of science.
Most polls show that about 90 of the general
public believes in a personal God yet 93 of the
members of the National Academy of Sciences do
not. This suggests that there are few modes of
thinking less congenial to religious faith than
science is.
The early scientists also shared the outlook of
Christianity in believing that there is a
reasonable God, who has created a reasonable
universe, and thus man, by use of his reason,
could find out the universes form Francis
Schaeffer, Escape from Reason
18
George W. Carver
Blaise Pascal
Francis Collins
Galileo
Isaac Newton
19
Myth/Truth 6 Atheists are arrogant.
When scientists don't know something like why
the universe came into being or how the first
self-replicating molecules formed they admit
it.
20
Natural selection is the blind watchmaker, blind
because it does not see ahead, does not plan
consequences, has no purpose in view. Yet the
living results of natural selection
overwhelmingly impress us with the illusion of
design and planning Richard Dawkins, The Blind
Watchmaker, 1986
21
Pretending to know things one doesn't know is a
profound liability in science. And yet it is the
life-blood of faith-based religion.
In other words, religious claims are not
scientific claims and therefore do not count as
knowledge. God is merely a product of our
imagination and pretension. There is no God to
tell us anything.
22
Logically flawed statement. One could think she
actually knows something, when indeed she is in
error. That is not the same as pretending to know
something. The same applies to science. Neither
is it the life-blood of religion. It is a claim
to know something beyond what science can tell us
but then so is much of the philosophy of many
scientists!
23
One of the monumental ironies of religious
discourse can be found in the frequency with
which people of faith praise themselves for their
humility, while claiming to know facts about
cosmology, chemistry and biology that no
scientist knows.
24
When considering questions about the nature of
the cosmos and our place within it, atheists tend
to draw their opinions from science. This isn't
arrogance it is intellectual honesty.
25
This is loaded language intended to ridicule
while misrepresenting. Author also equivocates on
the term humility. One could humbly assert
facts, or what he believes to be facts. Author
also seems to be suggesting that if science has
not affirmed it, then it cannot be affirmed. But
this is question begging. What constitutes
knowledge?
26
Empiricism we can only have knowledge via the
five senses.
But what sense perception leads us to that
conclusion? If empiricism is true, we could never
know it! Again, this is an assumption based on a
naturalistic worldview.
27
Reason and logic are non physical rules and are
necessary for us to know anything.
In denying God, atheists deny the possibility of
knowing reality and leave themselves without the
necessary tools to present an argument. Rather,
they sneak God in the back door.
28
Atheistic/Naturalistic scientists also have
attempted to define science in such a way as to
determine before hand that science can only reach
naturalist conclusions.
The battle has been won in the definitions
before the empirical testing even gets
started. Phillip E . Johnson, Reason in the
Balance
29
Theistic Science
Intelligent design Information, complexity!
Aiief riotreb8734 werhj 79230 we 889
Turn the key to start the car
Using the tools of science, theists are
challenging the presuppositions and conclusions
of naturalists and atheists
30
Myth/Truth 7 Atheists are closed to spiritual
experience.
There is nothing that prevents an atheist from
experiencing love, ecstasy, rapture and awe
atheists can value these experiences and seek
them regularly. What atheists don't tend to do is
make unjustified (and unjustifiable) claims about
the nature of reality on the basis of such
experiences.
31
Watch for the setup here! Experiences are not the
arbiter of reality but they are of course a
crucial dimension in discerning reality
experiences can affirm and or deny certain
realities. For example, we feel guilt when
committing a moral wrong, or feel joy when
helping someone in need. The non-physical is
consistent with the physical.
32
Why would an atheist admit to any type of
spiritual experience, unless of course he
interprets these experiences merely as biological
phenomena? In which case though, this would be
merely physical and not spiritual.
Who left that back door open for God?
33
There is no question that some Christians have
transformed their lives for the better by reading
the Bible and praying to Jesus. What does this
prove? It proves that certain disciplines of
attention and codes of conduct can have a
profound effect upon the human mind. Do the
positive experiences of Christians suggest that
Jesus is the sole savior of humanity? Not even
remotely because Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and
even atheists regularly have similar experiences.
34
This statement is entirely inconsistent with
Atheism.
If we are merely biological processes, then how
can we intentionally act to transform ourselves?
How does one account for intention in a closed,
physical atheistic system?
35
Christians do not maintain that our spiritual
experiences suggest that Jesus is the sole savior
of humanity. Christianity is a world view that is
historical and evidential and faith is trust
based on reason, experience and hope.
36
X
37
Myth/Truth 7 Atheists are closed to spiritual
experience - continued.
There is, in fact, not a Christian on this Earth
who can be certain that Jesus even wore a beard,
much less that he was born of a virgin or rose
from the dead. These are just not the sort of
claims that spiritual experience can
authenticate.
Experiences are not merely spiritual!
38
The claim that Jesus had a beard proceeds from an
historical understanding of 1st century
Palestinian culture and Judaism. So Jesus very
likely had a beard, and the biblical texts concur.
39
Mary was certain that Jesus was born of a virgin.
Giotto di BondoneMadonna Enthroned, 1310
Images of Mary enthroned as the heavenly mother
of Christ was another popular icon. She is always
the center of the composition, and hierarchic
scale also makes sure that she is the focus of
attention. The gold background reinforces her
divine status, as do the surrounding angels.
http//www.eyeconart.net/history/medieval.htm
40
Myth/Truth 7 Atheists are closed to spiritual
experience - continued.
The Resurrection
The best explanation of the evidence!
www.garyhabermas.com
41
  • Nearly all scholars (conservative,
  • critical, liberal and conservative) in this
  • area of historical inquiry agree to the
  • following minimal facts.
  • Jesus died by crucifixion.
  • The disciples had experiences that they were
    convinced were actual appearances of Jesus.

42
  • The disciples were entirely transformed as result
    of that conviction, from frightened and
    disappointed followers, to bold witnesses of
    Jesus death, burial and resurrection even to
    the point of death
  • The apostles immediately began to proclaim Jesus
    resurrection.

43
  • James, the brother of Jesus and himself a
    skeptic, became a Christian as result of the
    experience he believed was an appearance of
    Jesus, his own brother, after his death.
  • Saul (Paul), who persecuted Christians unto
    death, became a follower of Jesus based on what
    he believed to be an appearance of Jesus.

44
Myth/Truth 8 Atheists believe that there is
nothing beyond human life and human understanding.
Atheists are free to admit the limits of human
understanding in a way that religious people are
not.
 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his
judgments, and his ways past finding out! Romans
1133 (KJV)
45
Atheists feel free to impose limits on human
understanding when that understanding is not
arrived at via the scientific method.
It is obvious that we do not fully understand
the universe but it is even more obvious that
neither the Bible nor the Koran reflects our best
understanding of it.
46
Both the Bible and the Qur'an speak of a
beginning of the material universe.
"Verily! Your Lord is Allah Who created the
heavens and the earth in six days" Surah 754
In the beginning, God created the heavens and
the earth. Gen. 11 (ESV)
47
Both the Bible and the Quran are entirely
consistent with contemporary, widely accepted big
bang cosmology models.
We do not know whether there is complex life
elsewhere in the cosmos, but there might be. If
there is, such beings could have developed an
understanding of nature's laws that vastly
exceeds our own.
48
The 2nd law of thermodynamics is fixed. Is the
author of the article suggesting that any of our
knowledge about the laws of nature could be wrong
and subject to change?
There would still be a need to explain the origin
of the universe.
49
Alien of the Gaps!
50
From the atheist point of view, the world's
religions utterly trivialize the real beauty and
immensity of the universe.
Psalm 104
Job 38
When atheists appreciate beauty, they are aliens
to their own worldview
51
Myth/Truth 9 Atheists ignore the fact that
religion is extremely beneficial to society .
Those who emphasize the good effects of religion
never seem to realize that such effects fail to
demonstrate the truth of any religious doctrine.
This is why we have terms such as "wishful
thinking" and "self-deception." There is a
profound distinction between a consoling delusion
and the truth.
effects fail to demonstrate the truth
52
The theist may just as easily respond that
atheism represents a delusion that is profoundly
different than the truth.
There are atheist philanthropists they are
living off the moral capital of theism, for
atheism has no rational basis for giving to
anyone, if Atheism is true.
Charity recognizes the intrinsic worth of
persons, even if selfish.
53
In any case, the good effects of religion can
surely be disputed. In most cases, it seems that
religion gives people bad reasons to behave well,
when good reasons are actually available. Ask
yourself, which is more moral, helping the poor
out of concern for their suffering, or doing so
because you think the creator of the universe
wants you to do it, will reward you for doing it
or will punish you for not doing it?
54
The plea is an appeal to reason, and so fails to
satisfy the necessary precondition if Atheism is
true we are purely material beings without
purpose and are biologically determined.
If atheism is true, why would anyone care for any
elses suffering? Where does moral obligation
come from?
55
Some positive benefits to society
56
Myth/Truth 10 Atheism provides no basis for
morality.
If a person doesn't already understand that
cruelty is wrong, he won't discover this by
reading the Bible or the Koran as these books
are bursting with celebrations of cruelty, both
human and divine.
57
Mr. Harris makes a good point we know cruelty
is wrong intuitively it is self evident.
Does the bible celebrate cruelty? Does the Quran
celebrate cruelty?
What is meant by celebrate? Are the cruel acts
themselves celebrated? Or is the celebrating an
outward expression of satisfaction at having done
what one supposes is Gods will?
58
Cruelty is wrong, but what constitutes cruelty
(what acts are objectively cruel)?
Genocide Darfur and the Canaanites
Regarding genocide in the OT, R. Scott Smith
writes, It is important that we appreciate the
rationale for Gods judgment up these nations,
which may seem to us today as genocide, and thus
clearly wrong. Did God therefore instruct Israel
to do evil?
59
Genesis 18 God responds to Abrahams concern for
the justice of God when he appeals to God to
spare the city if ten righteous are found there
(and we may presume even one). God will not treat
the wicked and the righteous in the same way.
But what about the children in the nations God
commanded the Israelites to destroy? Was that
cruel and unjust?
60
Dr. Clay Jones Suppose that the children are
saved if they die before they have had the
ability to understand the gospelGod chooses to
shorten their lives so that they can enjoy
eternity
since we know the Lord does not destroy the
righteous with the wicked, we assume He knew
these children would grow up to indulge in the
same practices as their families. (ctd.)
61
Would God be unjust for killing those whose only
reason for not practicing wickedness was they
hadnt yet had the opportunity?
Of course, the argument assumes the attribute of
omniscience, such that God accurately knows all
future acts by all persons. Humans would lack
this ability in most cases.
62
NOTE The argument does not prove that God exists.
It demonstrates that it is possible that an omni
benevolent (always and maximally good) God can
wipe out an entire nation without compromising
His omni benevolence. Only such a God could carry
that out.
63
Myth/Truth 10 Atheism provides no basis for
morality.
We do not get our morality from religion. We
decide what is good in our good books by recourse
to moral intuitions that are (at some level)
hard-wired in us and that have been refined by
thousands of years of thinking about the causes
and possibilities of human happiness. Emphasis
added
64
The author is basically saying that our common
goal in understanding good and bad is
happiness. What we do we do with a view to
happiness.
What does the author mean by happiness? This
is very subjective and relativistic. What if
being cruel makes me happy?
65
Goals and thinking about causes and
possibilities are inconsistent with what must be
true about atheism.
Remember that if there is no ultimate uncaused
being, there is no real purpose to life, there
just is we are nothing but the results of
chance and purposelessness.
66
Also, by the authors definition, good and bad are
only means to something else (e.g. happiness),
they have no other value. Good and bad are
relative to the goal in mind the tail is wagging
the dog.
Christianity understands good as an expression of
Gods character. When we say God is good, we are
not appealing to some other standard outside of
God.
67
Both books Bible and Qur'an condone the
practice of slavery and yet every civilized
human being now recognizes that slavery is an
abomination.
Simplistic statement which makes all forms of
slavery equivalent, ignoring crucial
distinctions. At the same time, Christianity is
guilty of offense here in the past, yet was the
driving force in abolition.
68
But the authors main point is that the bible
condones slavery. What does slavery look like in
scripture?
  • Old Testament Lev. 2548-49, Ex. 212, Deut.
    1512-17.
  • Israelite slaves to other Israelites. Freedom in
    the year of Jubilee. Relative could redeem a
    slave.
  • Slave could chose to remain permanently.

69
  • Old Testament
  • Slaves could be set free and stay free.
  • Slave treatment was prescribed. Ex 2126-27. A
    slave could be set free if his master knocked out
    his tooth or eye.
  • Non Israelites
  • Slaves for life unless set free, but had to be
    treated like Israelite slaves in conduct.

70
  • New Testament (from the Wycliffe Bible
    Dictionary)
  • Roman and Greek economy was dependent on slave
    labor. Benevolent requirements of the Mosaic law
    prevented profitable large scale dealing in
    slaves.
  • Gal. 338 neither slave nor free economic
    condition only.

71
  • Col. 41 Masters must treat slaves fairly.
  • 1 Cor. 721-23. Paul encourages Christians to
    gain freedom if they can.
  • 1 Tim. 110 Slave traders condemned.
  • Phm. 16 Paul encourage Philemon to treat
    Onesimus as brother.

72
Whatever is good in scripture like the golden
rule can be valued for its ethical wisdom
without our believing that it was handed down to
us by the creator of the universe.
Without appeal to a transcendent moral law giver,
this is merely a subjective opinion. Indeed, we
may agree on certain intuitions, but morality
remains relativistic.
73
For without anything transcending the material,
the love ethic is without foundation. The action
that despises the external restraint of law in
favor of self-determination is one of self
deification. We can expect nothing from such a
position but brutality Herbert Schlossberg,
Idols for Destruction
No God nothing to base love on. No moral law
every man does what is right on his own eyes.
With self as god, there is no limit to brutality.
74
Final thoughts on morality Imagine committing
some act for which you feel a sense of moral
guilt. Suppose also that you could erase other
peoples knowledge of your having committed the
act. Would you still feel guilty? If so, to whom?
Atheists can be good, but they cannot claim to
know good, and have nothing to ground morality.
75
Conclusion
The generation now alive has remined true to
many vestiges of biblical faith. These remnants
are the smile of the Cheshire cat, remaining for
a time after the disappearance of the entity in
which it was incarnated Herbert Schlossberg,
Idols for Destruction
76
1. If Atheism is true, life is meaningless
2. If Atheism is true, there are no crimes.
3. Atheists and Theists may be dogmatic
4. Atheism offers no scientifically plausible
explanation for the origin of space, time and
matter.
5. Atheism neuters scientific inquiry by
limiting it to strictly naturalistic theory.
77
6. Atheists can be very arrogant.
7. If Atheism is true, there are no spiritual
experiences to be had.
8. If Atheism is true, nothing beyond this life
and understanding matters.
9. If Atheism us true, religion has no benefits.
10. If atheism is true, there is no right or
wrong.
78
If atheism is true, we would have no way of
knowing it, and no reason for caring that it was
so. We not be having this discussion, as there
would be nothing to disagree about. We could
never know if two plus two is always four. If
atheism is true, I cannot know for sure that I am
even here.
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