Christianity The Logical Choice?

[Brother Jeff]

Boanerges316 left the following comment on YouTube in response to my Blasphemy Challenge video. It’s not showing up there for some reason, but I’d like to respond to it here anyway.

 

“We have only TWO real choices: 1) Believe in something that is (granted) hard to believe- a Creator who is unseen, or 2) Believe in the IMPOSSIBLE- that life, the universe and its complexity came from nothing all on its own. Given those two choices, the intelligent, rational person MUST opt for the thing that is “hard to believe”.

 

Atheism explains nothing. Christianity explains everything. What is the LOGICAL choice between those two?

 

The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.”

 

My response is as follows:

 

Brother Boanerges:We have only TWO real choices:

 

Brother Jeff: We actually have thousands of choices! How many thousands of gods has mankind dreamed up over the years? If we are going to say that “goddidit”, then we have not just two, but thousands of choices for which god is responsible for creating the universe.

 

Brother Boanerges: 1) Believe in something that is (granted) hard to believe- a Creator who is unseen

 

Brother Jeff: Not only is your god unseen, he is absolutely undetectable, leaving no good reason at all to believe in his existence.

 

Brother Boanerges: 2) Believe in the IMPOSSIBLE- that life, the universe and its complexity came from nothing all on its own

 

Brother Jeff: You are revealing your sadly typical ignorance. The universe came into being as a result of a vacuum fluctuation, not the magical actions of a god. Atheists don’t believe in the impossible, or even in the improbable. We believe that everything came into being via entirely natural processes. The universe is beautifully explained by the Big Bang theory, and the complexity of life on this planet is beautifully explained by the Theory of Evolution.

 

Brother Boanerges: Given those two choices, the intelligent, rational person MUST opt for the thing that is “hard to believe”.

 

Brother Jeff: You set up a false dichotomy, which I have already addressed. The intelligent, rational person MUST opt for the thing that is rational to believe. Accepting the findings of science is rational. Believing in magic and gods is not.

 

Brother Boanerges: Atheism explains nothing.

 

Brother Jeff: Atheism is a lack of belief in a god or gods, nothing more. It doesn’t need to explain anything since science already does.

 

Brother Boanerges: Christianity explains everything.

 

Brother Jeff: Christianity actually doesn’t explain anything very well. Christianity has no demonstrable basis in reality. Christianity, like all religions, explains things in mythological terms, and it reflects the time in which it was created.

 

Brother Boanerges: What is the LOGICAL choice between those two?

 

Brother Jeff: Your false dichotomy aside, the only logical choice is to accept reality as it is, not as we might wish for it to be. I like reality. Why don’t you join us here in the real world? It’s okay. Jump on in. The water is fine. Glory!

 

Brother Boanerges: The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.

 

Brother Jeff: The wisdom of this world makes believing in god appear to be very foolish. Glory!

 

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UPDATE: Brother Boanerges wrote me back and had this to say:

 

“Vacuum fluctuation??? LOL Please reread the verse I put at the end of my post.

 

Then, post YOUR explanation of how every element of the periodic table came into existence. Did you hear the “joke” about how the scientist told God that he could now make man using the same elements He did? God said “Great, but first, make your own elements!”

 

You appear to know nothing that can support your deception, Brother Jeff.”

 

My response:

 

Brother Boanerges: Vacuum fluctuation??? LOL Please reread the verse I put at the end of my post.

 

Brother Jeff: Yes, a vacuum fluctuation (do you even know what one is? I rather doubt it.) is responsible for creating our universe. That makes much more sense to me than believing what your ancient Book of Myths claims - that a Magical Being magically spoke the universe into existence from Nowhere approximately 6000 years ago, speaking in Hebrew, presumably. If you want to reject the findings of science in favor of ancient fairy tales then be my guest… just don’t expect me or other educated, rational, thinking people to join you.

 

Brother Boanerges: Then, post YOUR explanation of how every element of the periodic table came into existence.

 

Brother Jeff: They came into existence through entirely natural processes. What’s YOUR explanation? The magical acts of a god?

 

Brother Boanerges: You appear to know nothing that can support your deception, Brother Jeff.

 

Brother Jeff: What deception? I’m not the one who is deceived, YOU are! You have offered absolutely nothing in support of your position, and the reason why is simple - you have nothing! Glory!

[Guest Zenobia]

BJ You did a great job of dealing with him. You were friendly, courteous, civilized... he lost his cool and became insulting. Glory! And I think YOUR logic was perfectly sound - whereas blowgrass, or boneurges or whatever his name was - had no logic at all, just the same tired, worn out arguements that xians everywhere regurgitate over and over like cows chewing their cud. The difference is that cows produce milk from chewing cud, whereas xians just produce pablum.

[MonolithTMA]

People like Boanerges316 are one of the reasons that I don't get into this debate. The cognitive dissonance shield employed by most fundamentalist believers is nearly impossible to crack. I tell them I'm open to a god, and they keep telling me I'm rejecting him. As open as I am, I simply do not experience anything in my life that I would identify as God. Science had nothing to do with my deconversion, so I really don't argue about it.

[OnceConvinced]

Preach it Brother Jeff!