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All the attacks on Christianity I’ve seen on these forums boil down to ridicule: This doctrine or that doctrine is impossible for an intelligent, rational person to believe. The God of the OT is a moral monster unworthy of belief and worship. People don’t perform miracles or rise from the dead. The Bible is riddled with inconsistencies and contradictions. The whole package simply makes no logical sense. You’d have to be delusional to believe it.
These attacks are fundamentally misguided. They reflect a misunderstanding of the nature of Christian belief.
Christian belief isn’t the end result of an analytical process, such as we might follow in deciding which economic system is best or which car to buy. Belief or nonbelief in a supreme intelligence may be approached analytically, and even atheists such as Laurence Krauss acknowledge that deism has explanatory power and certainly isn’t irrational. But mere analytical reasoning will never get you to genuine Christian belief.
Christians believe that God calls those whom he saves. We may spread the gospel, but if someone responds positively this will be the result of the work of the Holy Spirit on that person’s heart. As in my own case, the positive response is often astonishing to the new believer, completely contrary to what he or she believed up to that point. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, the gospel message resonates at a level that transcends intellect or emotion.
The Bible makes clear in many places that the gospel will seem to be foolishness to those whose hearts have not been prepared by the Holy Spirit:
“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 2:14.
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18.
“For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 21-24.
Jesus understood that only those with ears to hear would respond positively to his message. When asked by his disciples why he taught only in parables, he responded: “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ‘Though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’” Luke 8:10.
We Christians didn’t become Christians because we found it intellectually convincing (even if we actually do find it intellectually convincing). We haven’t been “reasoned into” Christianity (even if we actually do find it reasonable). We’ve been called into Christianity by the Holy Spirit. We know God through the indwelling of the Spirit and the daily experience of him in our lives.
We accept that much of Christianity is counterintuitive. We accept that there are seeming incongruities and unfathomable mysteries. We accept that a logically flawless connect-the-dots theology is impossible. None of this makes any difference, however, because we’ve been called by God and sealed by his Spirit. We know the Truth in a way that nonbelievers simply don’t. This reality overshadows the “foolishness” on which atheists love to focus. Because we know God, we trust that all the “foolishness” will be resolved in a manner worthy of the God we worship when we’re in his eternal kingdom.
The fact that nonbelievers will find the gospel to be “foolishness” is clearly anticipated in the Bible and well-understood by Christians. It’s water off a duck’s back to us. It’s “foolishness” to them for one reason only: they are lost souls. They haven't been called, at least not yet. The Holy Spirt hasn’t prepared their hearts, at least not yet.
An interesting and debated question is whether God calls everyone or only a predestined elect. Is it possible that some people really are “vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction” (Romans 9:22) and will never respond positively no matter how many times they hear the gospel? As much as I’d like to believe otherwise (i.e., that God does call everyone), the Bible and my own experience convince me that God calls only a predestined elect, that the ability to believe is a gift from God, and that many who lodge the sorts of attacks we see on these forums will remain lost. As with all the other “foolishness,” I trust that what may now seem unfair from my human perspective (although it didn't from Paul's or Calvin's) will ultimately be seen to be worthy of the God I know.
All the attacks on Christianity I’ve seen on these forums boil down to ridicule: This doctrine or that doctrine is impossible for an intelligent, rational person to believe. The God of the OT is a moral monster unworthy of belief and worship. People don’t perform miracles or rise from the dead. The Bible is riddled with inconsistencies and contradictions. The whole package simply makes no logical sense. You’d have to be delusional to believe it.
These attacks are fundamentally misguided. They reflect a misunderstanding of the nature of Christian belief.
Christian belief isn’t the end result of an analytical process, such as we might follow in deciding which economic system is best or which car to buy. Belief or nonbelief in a supreme intelligence may be approached analytically, and even atheists such as Laurence Krauss acknowledge that deism has explanatory power and certainly isn’t irrational. But mere analytical reasoning will never get you to genuine Christian belief.
Christians believe that God calls those whom he saves. We may spread the gospel, but if someone responds positively this will be the result of the work of the Holy Spirit on that person’s heart. As in my own case, the positive response is often astonishing to the new believer, completely contrary to what he or she believed up to that point. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, the gospel message resonates at a level that transcends intellect or emotion.
The Bible makes clear in many places that the gospel will seem to be foolishness to those whose hearts have not been prepared by the Holy Spirit:
“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 2:14.
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18.
“For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 21-24.
Jesus understood that only those with ears to hear would respond positively to his message. When asked by his disciples why he taught only in parables, he responded: “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ‘Though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’” Luke 8:10.
We Christians didn’t become Christians because we found it intellectually convincing (even if we actually do find it intellectually convincing). We haven’t been “reasoned into” Christianity (even if we actually do find it reasonable). We’ve been called into Christianity by the Holy Spirit. We know God through the indwelling of the Spirit and the daily experience of him in our lives.
We accept that much of Christianity is counterintuitive. We accept that there are seeming incongruities and unfathomable mysteries. We accept that a logically flawless connect-the-dots theology is impossible. None of this makes any difference, however, because we’ve been called by God and sealed by his Spirit. We know the Truth in a way that nonbelievers simply don’t. This reality overshadows the “foolishness” on which atheists love to focus. Because we know God, we trust that all the “foolishness” will be resolved in a manner worthy of the God we worship when we’re in his eternal kingdom.
The fact that nonbelievers will find the gospel to be “foolishness” is clearly anticipated in the Bible and well-understood by Christians. It’s water off a duck’s back to us. It’s “foolishness” to them for one reason only: they are lost souls. They haven't been called, at least not yet. The Holy Spirt hasn’t prepared their hearts, at least not yet.
An interesting and debated question is whether God calls everyone or only a predestined elect. Is it possible that some people really are “vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction” (Romans 9:22) and will never respond positively no matter how many times they hear the gospel? As much as I’d like to believe otherwise (i.e., that God does call everyone), the Bible and my own experience convince me that God calls only a predestined elect, that the ability to believe is a gift from God, and that many who lodge the sorts of attacks we see on these forums will remain lost. As with all the other “foolishness,” I trust that what may now seem unfair from my human perspective (although it didn't from Paul's or Calvin's) will ultimately be seen to be worthy of the God I know.
Since you made an issue out of atheist's arguments against Christianity, you really should have posted this in the religion forum so that they can respond. It's not allowed to debate the existence of God on this forum.
With regard to your belief in limited atonement and possibly 'double predestination,' while it's true that according to the Bible not all men will be saved, it is also true that the Bible says that God desires that all men be saved and that He desires that no man perish (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). The Bible also says that Jesus tasted death for all men which indicates unlimited atonement (Hebrews 2:9).
Any time the Gospel message is given, the Holy Spirit calls the one hearing the message. But the Holy Spirit can be resisted (Acts 7:51) and a person can refuse to come to Christ so that he might be saved (John 5:40).
Nor is the ability to believe a gift from God. That is not what Paul was saying in Ephesians 2:8. Textually, noun/pronoun antecedence in Ephesians 2:8 argues against that interpretation.
All I'm seeing in the OP is waving away the fact that we Pwn Christian apologetics every time and it just pushes Faith, really. We can ignore the Good Old 'Who made everything, then?' gambit with the leap of Faith to Bible -based Christianity (which does NOT Follow from First Cause, even if that has credibility -which is debatable) and get to the claims of Christianity. They do Not stand up to scrutiny, and while the OP could be dissected and debunked bit by bit, it is overall, appeal to faith, quoting from a Bible as though it was evidence, and the really impudent claim that people showing that the Bible is not true is somehow evidence that it is, and is simply an ill -informed and clumsy attempt at a hatchet -job on atheism.
The OP doesn't realize that if he had been born in ______________ (fill in Thailand, Sri Lanka, etc.) he would have been Buddhist, or _______________ (fill in Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc.) he would have been Muslim.
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