Final Challenge

What do you believe?

You take a very comfortable position. You just nitpick everything and say they are all liars. You do not risk anything. Your beliefs do not come under scrutiny. You just sit in your arm chairs in your ivory towers and pontificate. I minister to people in legal detention facilities and behavioral health institutions where I see the fruits of your world view. I believe something, that, when I tell them about it; it gives them hope, and encourages them try to better themselves. You believe nothing, and it helps no one. What I believe works. What you believe is an unknown vacuum apparently useful only to those who have comfortable lives already. You expect me to take responsibility for every way anyone has ever twisted God's truth. You take responsibility for nothing.

I met a woman the other day who could not stop weeping for hours at a time. You could tell her about the pottery they found in Palestine that does not match some archeologists' expectations.

I met a widow recently, who is dying of cancer. Her only living relatives are three young children. You could explain to her that Mithraism is similar to Christianity, and therefore neither is credible.

I met a man in jail this week. All that remained of his dreams were painful memories. You could remark to him that Luke was a plagiarist.

I talked with a lady last week on the verge of suicide. You could tell her that some scribes may have made some mistakes several centuries ago.

I know a man whose only hope is that maybe instead of being killed in the electric chair, he will be allowed to live in prison the rest of his life. You could explain to him that God is immoral.

You have nothing to offer anyone who is suffering. You have nothing to offer anyone who is rejoicing. You have nothing.

You have insulted me in every conceivable way. You have called me cowardly, ignorant, stupid, lazy, insane, and a liar, all without reason or evidence. And yet it is you who do not know where you came from, and do not know where you are going. You snatch the flame of hope from the hearts of your fellow creatures and offer them nothing to replace it. You go through life blindly like Mr. McGoo, with a trail of death and destruction behind you. You are like the Charlie Brown character, Pig Pen. Everywhere you go there is a little dusty cloud of despair behind you, but you are blissfully unaware of it. You are like Wiley Coyote. You stand on nothing, a 1,000 feet above a flaming pit of destruction, but have not yet looked down to notice it. God gave you fine brains, which could be of great help to others, but you use them only to sow the seeds of doubt, which in the minds of those less able than yourselves, lead to ruined lives and broken hearts. I will not be answering any more of your e-mails unless you step up to the plate with your beliefs. (Titus 3:9-10) Until you are ready to answer this question, which I have asked repetitively for three months, unanswered, please, leave me alone:

What is the truth and how do you know? (September, 2007)

This was responded to in various irrational, even angry, ways. I posed the question several different ways to no avail. The simple fact is that people have in their minds a model they believe corresponds to reality. They use it to filter incoming information, make decisions, and form outgoing information. A couple of them are in private discussion with me about this. The rest are unwilling or afraid to discuss it or so lacking in introspection they can not articulate what theirs is like. (November, 2007)

Eventually these discussions petered out as well, albeit I had to end them. The atheists were repetitive, redundant, and said the same thing over and over again, without ever addressing my points. It was a waste of time. Even at that, I invited them to continue if they had something new to offer. Their arguments boiled down to two things.
(1) God is evil, so therefore He does not exist.
(2) There are ways to construe some Bible passages so that it can be understood as contradictory, therefore God does not exist.

My answers to (1) were
   (A) Which is it? Is He evil or not existent?
      (A1) If the former then, without God, what is your basis for deciding was is evil, and what is not?
      (A2) If the latter, what is your evidence that He does not exist?
   (B) Where did the universe come from?
   (C) If the universe is evil, how is it you are so good?

My answers to (2) were
   (A) There are ways to construe the Bible so that it can be understood as non-contradictory. Why don't you believe it?
   (B) Can you name one other book that matches all its attributes?
      (B1) Ancient
      (B2) Written by many authors over a period of more than 1,600 years and yet non-contradictory to self or reality
      (B3) Claims to be God's word
      (B4) Accurately foretells the future
      (B5) Upholds righteousness
      (B6) Amazingly preserved
      (B7) Widely available and widely believed
         See Bible details.
   (C) How do you know what kind of book God should, could, and would write?

Still no rational or valid response to any of my points above, or on any of these web pages on these sites here or here. (March, 2008)