How dare I demand that God gives me what I need to believe? How dare I tell him how he should reveal himself to me? How dare I question the reasonableness of revealing himself in the pre-scientific past such that I must accept what ancient people claimed to have seen in a remote part of the world, or be condemned to hell if I don't? How dare I disbelieve because of the so-called mysteries of an eternal three-in-one God, who became incarnate, and who died for my sins, even though none of these doctrines make any rational sense at all.
It's always funny to me when Loftus makes such accusations against Christianity. He's making Paul's points for him.
18 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. 19 For it is written:
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 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. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. - 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
God knows that to the untouched mind and heart, it is not possible to believe it. But not because the message is illogical or unreasonable.
The problem isn't with God. The problem is us. No one can boast. No one was born saved.
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. - John 3:19-21
Well I do dare to demand better of God, if he exists. That's the point. How am I to know he exists when his lack of divine forethought led to massive slaughter among Christians themselves over the stupidest of doctrinal trifles that if he had foreseen them and had even average communication skills he could have averted? Or, he could have told us more important things than what to do with our penises and vaginas, by giving us the knowledge to make vaccines and anesthesia for surgeries?
The Bible is clear. There is no passage you can honestly use for killing another person in the context of today because of doctrinal differences. Again the problem is explained throughout scripture (John 2:19-21 is only one example). Unfortunately, John Loftus has that problem and so does everyone who is not born-again. And God tells us what to do with our penises and vaginas because we are too stupid to know what to do otherwise. Obviously we don't know if we can't see why it would be important to God for us to know. I am amazed at the hubris to suggest that the science and technologies (i.e. vaccines, anesthesia, and ect.) did not come as a direct blessing from God! And don't forget that so-called "pre-scientific" people had anesthesia and did perform surgeries. They just weren't dumb enough to take credit for themselves.
Why do I demand better things? It's simple:
If God created me as a reasonable human being, then I can doubt the reasonableness of a God who fails to give me what I need to believe as a reasonable human being.
Loftus forgets that God created Adam and Eve as reasonable human beings. Because of Sin we are not reasonable. It takes God to make us reasonable. God has given us what we need to believe.
If God created me as human being who seeks sufficient evidence to believe, then I can demand that he gives me the sufficient evidence I need to believe.
Loftus has admitted on several occasions that people have failed faculties and can't see and understand anything perfectly. We have several blind spots. Given that, why would anyone of us pretend we know what "sufficent evidence" is and what it isn't. The more about science we unlock and discover, the more we (at least the honest people) realize that we know very little. More questions are asked and we end up knowing less than what we knew before we learned the fact we just discovered. That is why science and obtaining more knowledge is so beautiful. Wisdom would lead to humility as knowledge increases.
Connect the dots.
And they make the picture God has said that they make. Without God you don't know what the dots are.
Of course, maybe he doesn't want reasonable people? Who knew? ;-) But then, why am I who I am? Still, if that's the case then he could snap his omnipotent fingers and take away my critical thinking skills so I would believe as others do. I did at one time. Then I grew a brain, just as ex-Mormons, ex-Muslims, ex-Orthodox Jews, ex-Scientologists and others did. ;-)
I don't know John Loftus personally, but I don't think his blog posts lead me to conclude that he is reasonable. Realizing the limitations of your intellect and yet trusting in that intellect to determine the reasonableness of a being so much ahead and so far above of you doesn't seem very rational to me. The best you have is to seek God with all of your being and trust that God will reveal God's self to you on God's own terms in God's own way. The Bible is one of these ways. John Loftus is an apostate. And like all apostates who leave God, it's not that he lost his mind or gained his brain or gained critical thinking skills - he never had it to begin with because he was never born again. He never knew God. I only hope that grants him and others mercy and gives Loftus the greatest of all gifts - salvation through Jesus Christ.
Debunking Christianity: Why I Am Justified in Telling God What To Do?
