Atheism pre-servants class 2010-2011 fadi.gabriel@gmail.com
Atheism A to Z
A-Theism What s the meaning? A-Chromatic (Without Colour) A-Sexual A-Theist (Without Sex) (Without Theos =without God)
Oxford dictionary Atheist A person who does not believe in the existence of God or gods Richard Dawkins, leading atheist, author of the New York Times Bestseller, The GOD Delusion A-Theist (Without Theos =without God)
A brief history of Atheism The whole story started in the garden of Eden, For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. -Satan, Genesis.
Eating from the forbidden tree = breaking God s commandment. Your eyes shall be opened = A false premise of eternal independent knowledge. You shall be as Gods = You will be your own God. Which is what atheism is all about.
The atheists have faith too, but as a double standard
First thing that came into my head...
If God does not exist... (...) then Satan also does not exist. then temptation does not exist then Sin (as defined by God) does not exist. then the notion of sin gets twisted in various ways among the atheists! And ultimately, there is no Judgement.
You christians talk about Hate, envy, lust, premarital sex, homosexuality, as sins, but they re all part of our animal nature, what s the big deal? -An Atheist From an Atheistic Internet Forum: The Greatest trick the devil has ever done was to convince the world that He did not exist.
An Atheist responds to a christian.
Questions atheists often ask Can you prove that Jesus Christ actually existed as a historical figure (sources other than the gospels)? because after all, we reject their authority! How come the God of the Old Testament commanded the israelites to kill every man, woman and child from the canaanites in the Old Testament, isn t he supposed to be the God of Love? What is your best naturalistic argument that points to the existence of God?
Know your opponent, but more important, know your faith!
1. Can you prove that Jesus Christ actually existed as a historical figure?
Roman, jewish historians such as Tacitus Josephus Flavius Pliny Thellus Lucian The Talmud (oral jewish tradition)
Note that the Bible itself did not exist at the time when the gospels were written, the gospels were a form of letters sent from the writer (i.e. St.Luke) to another person (Theophilus) History Bible
2. How come the God of the Old Testament commanded the israelites to kill every man, woman and child from the canaanites in the Old Testament, isn t he supposed to be the God of Love? God is the same. Loving & Just. WHY & Doesn t Exist at all.
Was God cruel in the Old Testament? God cares about ALL of his creation "And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you." (Genesis 6:19) "Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may have relief." (Exodus 23:12; cf. Deuteronomy 5:14) "You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." (Deuteronomy 25:4) "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God's sight." (Luke 12:6; cf. Matthew 10:29) Old & New
Abraham & God Prior to the judgement of Sodom and Gomorrah. 50 40 10
Jonah & Ninevah
The scripture that caused all the trouble... In the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites as the LORD your God has commanded you.
Why? God told Abraham about the 400 years of slavery (in Egypt). In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. God gave the Canaanites 400 years while Israel was in Egypt. After Israel passed through the Red Sea, He waited 40 more years while Israel wandered in the wilderness. The people knew Israel was coming, and that God had given the land to them, according to the Canaanite Rahab in Joshua 2:9: I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you."
What was so special about the canaanites sins? Child sacrifice No grief Prostitution as a way of worship Leviticus and Archaeology
Remember... These people heard about the God of Israel. God gave these people more than 400 years to repent. They witnessed the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. They knew the Israelites were coming. Yet, they continued in their sins.
What about the children? Either these children will live or would be killed. If they lived, they would someday grow up in the same sinful entourage of the canaanites and eventually their fate would be an eternal separation from God. If they died young, innocent, as children, then maybe God will have a better place for them in eternity, so death was a way of saving them eventually.
God did not take sides... God warned Israel in Leviticus, that if they copied the acts and the practices of the canaanites, the same fate would happen to them. And that really happened, Israel went into Idolatry, witchcraft, paganism, and the violation of all of the Ten Commandments. They were exiled in the Land of Babylon.
The Atheist will tell you : If there is a God, why is he allowing evil in the world? therefore God does not exist! When God judges evil (as in the old testament) the Atheist will say : If there is a God, How can he be so cruel on people? Therefore God does not Exist!
Can science point to a designer of the universe? "The laws of science, as we know them at present, contain many fundamental numbers, like the size of the electric charge of the electron and the ratio of the masses of the proton and the electron.... The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life." Stephen Hawking, 1988. A Brief History of Time, Bantam Books, p. 125.
The fine tuned universe N = ratio of the strength of electromagnetism to that of gravity; Epsilon (ε) = strength of the force binding nucleons into nuclei; Omega (ω) = relative importance of gravity and expansion energy in the universe; Lambda (λ) = cosmological constant; Q = ratio of the gravitational energy required to pull a large galaxy apart to the energy equivalent of its mass; D = number of spatial dimensions in spacetime. Martin Rees, 1999. Just Six Numbers
How will the Atheist try to respond to this?
What if you are wrong?
Q & A Q: On morality, atheists too can be moral, which proves that you don t need God or the commandments to be a good person! A: Of course atheists can be moral, and of course you don t need a commandment to be a good person, because atheists are human beings too, and God wrote his moral law in every human s heart, Joseph did not have Moses law, yet he refused to sin with the evil woman. Yet, according to God s standard, no one is good enough on his own, the need for redemption! I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. Jer 31.
Q: Believers use God to fill in the gaps of science, which is intellectually lazy, instead of searching, you say : Oh! God did it. A: Believers are not against science. (Newton, Francis Collins, Galileo, Pascal), science treats the question How and God answers the question why. There is no contradiction. Do we see because we have eyes? OR do we have eyes to see?
Q: If God exists, why doesn t he appear to me, heal an amputee, remove all evil from the world? A: Matthew 13:58, Jesus did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. Sickness, disease, and death are a direct result of Sin. Nevertheless, everything shall be restored when Jesus comes back. If you are God, then descend from the cross...
Q: Who created God? A: The term creation apply ONLY to the observable things within our Universe, including (space & time) which are also both created. Now in order to create the universe, The creator has to be OUTSIDE of the universe, space and time. Therefore, the question itself is selfcontradicting because the term creation cannot be applied to the creator!
Questions?