UnaffiliatedOld

I found this on christiananswers.net and while they clearly don't expect anyone to respond I did. I am posting their questions and my answers to see if anyone has anything they think I should add or modify. (sorry it's very long)

1. How do you explain the high degree of design and order in the universe?

A?There is no design, there only appears to be order because of the frame of reference. What I mean by this is that because this is how it is, it appears orderly; however, if it were different, that would appear orderly also because we have nothing to compare it to. On another line of thought how orderly does it even appear when the earth takes 365.25 days to circle the sun, wouldn?t it make more sense and be more orderly if it took exactly 365 days or 366 days? If your response is that God knew what he was doing we just don?t understand then why should anyone try to understand anything, why not live in caves and stare in wonder at the world around us, or is that Christianity?s intention

2. How do you account for the vast archaeological documentation of Biblical stories, places, and people?

A?I don?t deny there were Jews, I do however deny, talking serpents, the fact that rebellious children should be stoned, incest is acceptable, and all the other superstitious bunk of the bible.

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 prophecies were written after the event supposedly prophesized happened.

4. Explain David's graphic portrayal of Jesus' death by crucifixion (Psalm 22) 1000 years previous to crucifixion being established as a form of capital punishment?

A?Psalm 22 says nothing about crucifixion.

5. How could any mere human pinpoint the birth town of the Messiah seven full centuries before the fact, as did the prophet Micah?

A?I admittedly did not read (it was late and I was tired) this so this is the only thing I am unsure of.

6. Account for the odds (1 in 10 to the 157th power) that even just 48 (of 300) Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in one person, i.e. Jesus.

A?I read your section on prophecies and your math is not backed up anywhere, and in any case the prophecies were written after the fact

7. How was it possible for the Old Testament prophet Isaiah to have predicted the virgin birth of Jesus (Isaiah 7:14) 700 years before it occurred?

A?Isaiah 7:14 only says that there would be a virgin birth (which Jesus could have said happened to further his cause) but gives no date, place or any other information, and says his name shall be Immanuel.

8. How can anyone doubt the reliability of Scripture considering the number and proximity to originals of its many copied manuscripts?

A?Good copies are proof? I can copy the words Jim is God 40,000 times and it still wouldn?t be true.

9. Are you able to live consistently with your present worldview?

A?Yes

10. 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?Pascals wager fails for two reasons. First it implies equal likelihood of two outcomes, which clearly is not the case here. Second, wouldn?t an all-knowing god know if I were just going through the motions and didn?t really believe?

11. In what sense was Jesus a 'Good Man' if He was lying in His claim to be God?

A?I never said Jesus was a good man.

12. 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

13. If the Bible is not true, why is it so universally regarded as the 'Good Book'?

A?In the twelfth century it was universally regarded that the earth was flat, that didn?t make that any less false.

14. Are you aware that the Old Testament alone claims to be God's inspired word at least 2600 times?

A?Again I can claim to be god 2600 times, it still is not true.

15. Did you know that the Bible has been the number one best-seller every year since the 1436 invention of the Gutenberg printing press?

A?I don?t see any relevance to this

16. From whence comes humanity's universal moral sense?

A?I don?t believe there is a universal moral sense. What is considered right in one place is considered evil in another. Moral sense is based on societal needs and norms.

17. If man is nothing but the random arrangement of molecules, what motivates you to care and to live honorably in the world?

A?Living well is it?s own reward.

18. Explain how personality could have ever evolved from the impersonal, or how order could have ever resulted from chaos.

A?Personality traits are beneficial to survival and therefore develop.

19. If Jesus' resurrection was faked, why would twelve intelligent men (Jesus' disciples) have died for what they knew to be a lie?

A?They didn?t know it was a lie. People dying for a belief proves nothing. Nineteen men died for their belief on September 11th does that mean Islam is correct?

20. 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?Charisma. A relatively uneducated untraveled man from Austria also changed the world, but not many people believe he was god.

21. 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?Far more are Atheists, which also proves nothing.

22. 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?It is not arrogant to say that human knowledge grows, and old myths are discarded, as they are proven false.

23. How do you account for the origin of life considering the irreducible complexity of its essential components?


A?Extremely large numbers make the most improbable event become likely. For example the odds may be incredibly tiny of life developing on earth when it did; however out of trillions and trillions of stars and 4.5 billion years it is unavoidable it would develop somewhere, sometime.

24. How can the Second Law of Thermodynamics be reconciled with progressive, naturalistic evolutionary theory?

A?No process is possible in which the sole result is the transfer of energy from a cooler body to a hotter body. I don?t see the relevance of this to anything.

25. How do you reconcile the existence of human intelligence with naturalism and the Law of Entropy?

A?The Entropy of a closed system cannot decrease. Entropy refers only to usable energy. Again no relevance

26. Why does the Bible alone, of all of the world's 'holy' books, contain such detailed prophecies of future events?

A?Again what is the relevance?

27. On what basis can the Bible (interpreted as per historic Christian orthodoxy) be challenged as a sole, final truth-standard (Galatians 1:8)?

A?Logic, Science, Common Sense

28. Is it absolutely true that "truth is not absolute" or only relatively true that "all things are relative?"

A?Is this supposed to be some kind of paradox? I have another one for you. Can God make a rock so big that even he can?t move it? All paradoxes (including yours and mine) are just silly wastes of time that prove nothing.

29. Is it possible that your unbelief in God is actually an unwillingness to submit to Him?

A?No

30. Does your present worldview provide you with an adequate sense of meaning and purpose?

A?Yes

31. How do you explain the radically changed lives of so many Christian believers down through history?

A?First change is not always for the better. Second a lot of things have changed a lot of lives, so this proves nothing.

32. Are you aware that every alleged Bible contradiction has been answered in an intelligible and credible manner?


A?I read your section on bible contradictions, it is inadequate and incomplete.

33. What do you say about the hundreds of scholarly books that carefully document the veracity and reliability of the Bible?

A?Simply calling something scholarly doesn?t make it a fact; you have to back it up with evidence.

34. Why and how has the Bible survived and even flourished in spite of centuries of worldwide attempts to destroy and ban its message?

A?This, yet again, proves nothing, there have simply been stronger efforts to preserve it than destroy it because it is useful for controlling people

35. 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?That question makes absolutely no sense whatsoever

36. Have you ever considered the fact that Christianity is the only religion whose leader is said to have risen from the dead?

A?First this has no relevance, because something simply states about itself without evidence is worthless. Second, while I haven?t studied every religion I know that ancient Egyptian mythology (which pre-dates Christianity) describes Horus rising from the dead

37. 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?Questions 37, 38, 39, and 40 are really one question. So that you don?t see any blank answers I will copy this beneath each one.
Jesus most likely didn?t die on the cross but was drugged with opium, and then later aided in escape

38. 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?Questions 37, 38, 39, and 40 are really one question. So that you don?t see any blank answers I will copy this beneath each one.
Jesus most likely didn?t die on the cross but was drugged with opium, and then later aided in escape

39. If the authorities stole Jesus' body, why? Why would they have perpetrated the very scenario that they most wanted to prevent?

A?Questions 37, 38, 39, and 40 are really one question. So that you don?t see any blank answers I will copy this beneath each one.
Jesus most likely didn?t die on the cross but was drugged with opium, and then later aided in escape

40. If Jesus merely resuscitated in the tomb, how did He deal with the Roman guard posted just outside its entrance?

A?Questions 37, 38, 39, and 40 are really one question. So that you don?t see any blank answers I will copy this beneath each one.
Jesus most likely didn?t die on the cross but was drugged with opium, and then later aided in escape

41. How can one realistically discount the testimony of over 500 witnesses to a living Jesus following His crucifixion (see 1 Corinthians 15:6)?

A?We don?t have the testimony of 500 witnesses!! We have one passage stating that 500 unnamed people saw something. This is hearsay.

42. 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. He talked to Satan, thought he went to the top of the world, made contradictory incoherent statements, and in general acted like an irritating loon.

43. 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?Yes

44. 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?No

45. 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?The Bible is anything but unified, which is what we would expect of something written by different people copying down an oral history

46. Would you charge the Declaration of Independence with error in affirming that "all men are endowed by their Creator..."?

A?No. Creator is left very open and does not necessarily mean a Christian god, which, considering Jefferson was a Deist; it seems fairly likely it was not.

47. Because life origins are not observable, verifiable, or falsifiable, how does historical 'science' amount to anything more than just another faith system?

A?There is evidence, go look it up.

48. What do you make of all the anthropological studies indicating that even the most remote tribes show some sort of theological awareness?

A?I would be more surprised if they didn?t. Humans have a need to explain things around them, when they are unable to scientifically they make up myths, legends, and superstitions.

49. Why subscribe to the incredible odds that the tilt and position of our planet relative to the sun are merely coincidental?

A?See my answer to 1

50. 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?I don?t believe every effect has a cause, read Stephen Hawking

51. What would be required to persuade you to become a believer?

A?One piece of empirical evidence

blame_the_gods

Kudos to you! However, I feel it is just another fruitless effort... When you tell a smoker/christian/heroin-addict that what they are doing is KILLING them, they will most likely react like CHILDREN and do it even more, just to be "tough". Classic reaction of Human Ignorance.

Besides, they probably wont read your answers (beyond the first few, if at all). This was obviously written to shore-up their bizzare little "world-view", not to solicit thoughtful responses. Although, as with all things of this nature, it does present an interesting image of their tiny, little minds and how they function.

(*I, however, did enjoy your evolving sense of exasperation skillfully tempered by the guiding principles of REALITY)

Martin Gibbs

5. How could Micah pinpoint the birth place.


He didn't. He was referring to the TRIBE of Bethlehem, the family line, not a town.

Clarice

Love it! I particularly liked these answers.

As for number 35, it may be a garbled attempt at Anselm's Ontological Argument, which in itself is nonsense:

"I conceive of a being than which no greater can be conceived. If a being than which no greater can be conceived does not exist, then I can conceive of a being greater than a being than which no greater can be conceived -- namely, a being than which no greater can be conceived that exists. I cannot conceive of a being greater than a being than which no greater can be conceived. Hence, a being than which no greater can be conceived exists." - <a href="http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/ontological-arguments/" target="_blank">http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/ontological-arguments/</a>

Draygomb

10 What if God only likes Atheists (For their intellectual honesty).

GunnerJ

Pretty good. I have already done a reply to them, and while I didn't answer every question, I think I answered them in a bit more depth ( ). But that's up to you to decide:

<a href="http://iidb.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=4&t=002392" target="_blank">Playing "Devil's Advocate"</a>

I would like to comment to your answers to their questions abotu the ressurection. No one needs to invent stories to explain away the ressurection, because their premise, that it is a "proven" event, is bullplop. In fact, there is serious doubt about the existance of Jesus.

FreeToThink

It has been said that all ontological arguments are a case of bad grammar.

karlvonl

I like it! Just a few suggestions, though:

24. How can the Second Law of Thermodynamics be reconciled with progressive, naturalistic evolutionary theory?

My A: The Second Law applies only to closed systems. The Earth is not a closed system. The Earth, the sun, and the moon together form a closed system (or near enough to one for this discussion). The sun is constantly feeding the Earth with its energy, which is why life was able to come about.

25. How do you reconcile the existence of human intelligence with naturalism and the Law of Entropy?

My A: The Entropy of a closed system cannot decrease. In our sun-Earth-moon closed system, the sun is burning out, like a giant battery. One day it will be dead, producing no more energy.

29. Is it possible that your unbelief in God is actually an unwillingness to submit to Him?

My A: No. Is it possible that your unbelief in Zeus is actually an unwillingness to submit to Him?

41. How can one realistically discount the testimony of over 500 witnesses to a living Jesus following His crucifixion (see 1 Corinthians 15:6)?

Your A: We don't have the testimony of 500 witnesses!! We have one passage stating that 500 unnamed people saw something. This is hearsay.

(I would just change the exclamation marks to a period. You sound very calm and well reasoned in all of your other respones, and that is good. You don't want to appear emotional and defensive.)


50. 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?

My A: If every effect doesn't have a cause, then maybe the universe doesn't need one any more than God does.

Grumpy

In addition to being a "prophecy" of questionable relevance, it is also retroactively applied. Christians believe Jesus was the Messiah; Jesus was born in Bethlehem; thus, a statement about the greatness of Bethlehem becomes a Messianic prophecy.

This connects to the next question, about the odds of one person "fulfilling" the multitude of Messianic prophecies. If you examine each alleged prophecy, you'll see they are either non-prophecies, or else they could be fulfilled by anyone who was familiar with them (i.e. the triumphal entry in Matthew 21).

UnaffiliatedOld

I just wanted to say thanks to those who have replied. I appreciate it