Saturday, February 20, 2010

YouTube - Morality Without God - A Response

Torah inside of the former Glockengasse synago...Image via Wikipedia
I found a suggested video from a tweeter who goes by Cherokee_autumn who suggested this video from the ThinkingAtheist.com as proof that you can can Morality without God. The video says that atheists are often asked where there morality comes from. I was expecting a compelling argument and was disappointed. Instead of giving an answer to how you can have Morality without God it attempts a red hering argument trying to show that God is not moral. The video doesn't even make an attempt to use any new arguments. I'm going to put my responses in red and list the points I understood being made in the video .

1. Provides proof that God endorses Rape because Lot offered up his virgin daughters to a mob rather than allow them to rape his male guests that were really angels. Genesis 19:6
2. Argue that God condones rape and incest because Lot's daughters got Lot drunk and used him to impregnate themselves. Genesis 19:33-34
3. Argue that God endorses human sacrifice because Jephthah sacrificed his daughter because He won a battle. Judges 11:30-39

Points 1 -3 have the same answer. In trying to make it appear that God is immoral because these acts really took place in the Bible, the video is not being honest. If you agree that the Bible is true then you must agree that these things happened. It's not a translation issue or a mistake.  Check the scriptural references for yourself and you will see that God had nothing to do with what Lot did,  or what his daughters did, or Jephthah did. God did not command them to do any of it. In Jephthah's case God never asked for a sacrifice...he wanted to make sure and thought a vow would make a difference and he never thought he would have to sacrifice someone he loved. In that day it was their culture that you can't break a vow when you make one - to anyone especially God.

4. Argue that God condoned slavery because guidelines were given in Exodus 21:20-21

This one I actually find insulting.  First the video uses one of the worst images of an American black man bearing the scars of a scourging he had gotten while he was a slave. The video attempts to imply that the treatment the man had experienced is the same kind of treatment prescribed in the Bible for slaves. Several errors here. First and foremost the slavery that is prescribed in the Bible for ancient Israel is nothing at all like the slavery my forebearers endured in America. To equate them is an insult to my ancestors and to Israel and to God. Go ahead and look at the laws in the Bible. If the white slave holders had followed them, the man in the picture would never had been beaten like that.  Those laws in the Bible restricted and defined the rights of slaves which were more  fair and kind than any other civilization's slave laws that I have studied. In ancient Israel, as much as it pains me to admit it, slavery allowed people who would have otherwise been destitute to still earn a living. Also don't forget that slaves in ancient Israel had to be free every 70 years and there are so many other ways they could be freed. Not like my ancestors who were freed through a civil war that killed thousands and we still live with the repercussions today. The slave system as defined in the Bible is not immoral and does not legitimate slavery anywhere at any time because it's not the same thing..

5. Argue that God endorses Kidnapping because God rewarded the Israelites with 32,000 virgin women. Numbers 31:35
6. Argue that God condoned stealing plunder including women. Deuteronomy 20:10-13
7. Argue that God condoned animal abuse because Joshua hamstrung horses Joshua 11:6
8. Argue that God condoned killing babies because all of enemies including Babies were slaughtered. Joshua 6:21-27; 1 Samuel 15:2

 Numbers 5-6, and 8 go together also. The idea is that all these things are immoral and God is immoral because he commanded Israel to do these things. The interesting thing is that what is not discussed in the video is the reason behind the command. One of the best examples of how to discuss this can be found from William Lane Craig and I discussed an article in which he discussed this at this link

As for number 7, the Joshua hamstrung the horses because God directed him to do so. Don't forget that in context, this was an act of war. Horses were a weapon being using in a war with Israel in which they were outnumbered and outgunned. The only way I can explain Israel victory is the God handed their enemies over to Joshua on a platter. Of course Joshua obeyed God. It was an accepted war tactic not immorality.

One more comment about number 8 - the "What about the poor babies" argument. It crack me up. Many Atheists are "pro-choice" when it comes to abortion but when God does it it's immoral.

9. Argue that God is immoral because he executes people for making innocent mistakes - referring to Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6:6-7

This point assumes that God was just being a bully, picking on Uzzah who was innocent of wrong doing. But go back and look at the context. The only ones who were authorized to touch the Ark were priests who were of the Levi tribe. At this point, Israel was trying to move the Ark of the Covenant but they weren't doing it the way their law prescribed. Although Uzzah was only trying to keep the Ark from falling, he was wrong and knew he was wrong to touch the Ark because he was not a priest. God chose to bring justice and send a message to everyone. That was God's sovereign right - not immorality.

10. Claim that God is immoral because the Bible says he is responsible for people dying followed by a laundry list (Ex 12:29;37:27;Numbers 16:35;16:49;21:3;31:17-18;Deu 2:33-34; Joshua 10:10-28;30;32-37; Judges 1:4; 3:29;7:19-25;20:43-45; 2 Kings 19:25;Revelation 6:8

This point tries to make it appear that God is responsible of killing innocent people out of spite or selfishness or some immorality in God. There is no context given. There is no discussion of why these things happened. So I will give a summary answer: They deserved it. And as much we do not want to hear it...so do we.  Like them and every human being we are sinners deserving of death. And most of the examples cited were people being executed for something they specifically did and for the others, they like us deserved to die just on principle. As for the last reference from Revelations - that one is yet to come. When something bad happens to us - that is justice. When something good happens - that is mercy

What Jesus said in Luke 13:1-5 applies!

 1Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."


11. The the video offers the three basic surface level most-used Christian responses.
a. The passages are being taken out of context.
b. It was a "different time"
c. They are using the wrong translation
d. The rules are different for God.

I agree that these answers are not satisfying and only surface level. They really don't answer the question fully. So let me blunt:
Is God better than you so much that He is not beholden or accountable to you for anything he does? Yes. It's a good thing that He loves us because if He treated us like we treat ourselves we would have nothing to go back to...no recourse. Nothing.

6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;
       call on him while he is near.
 7 Let the wicked forsake his way
       and the evil man his thoughts.
       Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
       and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
 8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
       neither are your ways my ways,"
       declares the LORD.
 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
       so are my ways higher than your ways
       and my thoughts than your thoughts.
 10 As the rain and the snow
       come down from heaven,
       and do not return to it
       without watering the earth
       and making it bud and flourish,
       so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
       It will not return to me empty,
       but will accomplish what I desire
       and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
 12 You will go out in joy
       and be led forth in peace;
       the mountains and hills
       will burst into song before you,
       and all the trees of the field
       will clap their hands.
 13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
       and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
       This will be for the LORD's renown,
       for an everlasting sign,
       which will not be destroyed." - Isaiah 55:6-13

12. Then the video gives one of the most famous quotes of Richard Dawkins.

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
Dawkins should stick to Biology and stay out of exegeting scripture because he is better at reading in his own fears and bias into scripture. The video attempts to use this as a capstone to the dilapidated edifice that it tries to build against God. Utter failure. Only serves to show that Dawkins knows nothing about God.


13. The video then ends with the mantra "Morality is a choice...not a church".

Is that it? Dodging the question. Hem and hawing. Real pathetic. No explanation as to where an atheistic's worldview's moral authority comes from or how an atheist proves  his/her morality is objectively true and has a right to insist on it. If "morality is a choice", then who makes the choices? Based on what? I don't want it based on my thinking or any other human being's to be honest. Look at Jeremiah 17:5-11

5 This is what the LORD says:
       "Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
       who depends on flesh for his strength
       and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
 6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
       he will not see prosperity when it comes.
       He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
       in a salt land where no one lives.
 7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
       whose confidence is in him.
 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water
       that sends out its roots by the stream.
       It does not fear when heat comes;
       its leaves are always green.
       It has no worries in a year of drought
       and never fails to bear fruit."
 9 The heart is deceitful above all things
       and beyond cure.
       Who can understand it?
 10 "I the LORD search the heart
       and examine the mind,
       to reward a man according to his conduct,
       according to what his deeds deserve."
 11 Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay
       is the man who gains riches by unjust means.
       When his life is half gone, they will desert him,
       and in the end he will prove to be a fool.



Here is the video



It's a well done video - tugs at the heart strings but in the end it's empty of any real value. A subjective, relative morality is no morality at all.


YouTube - Morality Without God

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YouTube - 'A Universe From Nothing' by Lawrence Krauss, AAI 2009

NEW YORK - JANUARY 14:   (R-L) Lawrence Krauss...Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I found this great lecture on the Internet from Dr. Lawrence Krauss whom I respect as a physicist and his ability to explain Physics to the general public. He is a gifted scholar and writer. I agreed with all the evidence and numbers and math he provided it all made sense. When he talked about the time in the early 20th century when it was proved that the Universe is not eternal and that there was a beginning and all the galaxies are rapidly expanding from each other, he pointed out that many religious people took it as proof that Genesis 1:1 is correct. He correctly points out that how you come to conclusion can be influenced by what you believe. During the course of the lecture, he stated that although it has been evidenced that the universe came from nothing, quantum mechanical pertubations (matter and energy spontaneously jumping in and out of existence) makes the creation of matter inevitable if there is truly a multiverse and we just just happen to live in the Universe where everything is optimum for our existence at the right time in the right place in our galaxy where we can actually measure and do all the science - collecting the evidence he presented. Therefore, according to him, there is no need for a creator because what we observe was inevitable. I find it interesting that through out the talk a lot of presuppositions were made that reflect his bias against religion.

1. There is a multiverse - multiple universes where the laws of physics are different in each one. And as yet we can't prove that.
2. He argues that there is no design because all possible realities exist but can't prove it.
3. He assumes that because so much of our observable universe is inhospitable to our form of life, we are anomaly and not special or favored or purposed in any way.
4. He also stated twice that we live in a universe where rare things happen often including life. If something happen rarely it can't happen often And where else in the universe is there any life at all?

As I said I agree with all of the evidence, math, and observable science that Dr. Krauss presented but it's his conclusions and his bias against the very thought of God that he is accountable to taints his conclusions. He neglected to mention why theists who understand Genesis 1:1 have no problem with the thought that the reality of space and time and everything in our universe came from nothing. Genesis 1:1 says exactly that but say that God caused it...he forced it. Krauss seemed to imply an eternal state of nothing that gave rise to the universe, but says nothing about where that singularity in fact came from.



YouTube - 'A Universe From Nothing' by Lawrence Krauss, AAI 2009

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MythBusters Superhero Special Episode Goes Online - ComicsAlliance | Comics culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews

Comics Alliance has published a very interesting article on an episode of MythBusters in which several aspects of Superhero fiction was examined. It is a great article to read and has the episode embedded in it. Extremely cool! IT reminds me of when I was in my first Physics class in college and a friend pointed out to me that it makes no sense that Superman was able to move the earth by pushing it. And we both remembered that they showed him do it twice in two different episodes of Superfriends.

MythBusters Superhero Special Episode Goes Online - ComicsAlliance | Comics culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews

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Friday, February 19, 2010

Kent Hovind v Hugh Ross (disc 1 of 2)


Kent HovindI found a great debate on the Internet between Astronomer Hugh Ross and Dr. Kent Hovind. Both believe the Bible. Both believe that God created the Universe. They disagree on the age of the earth and how God did it. Hovind believes that we should understand the Bible is claiming that the days of creation were six twenty-four hour days while Dr. Ross believes that the Bible, in context, was actually talking about six periods of time that could have been millions of years. I enjoyed the debate. I think Hovind lost big while Ross did a better job of arguing his points from scripture and science. The best feature of the debate is that they stepped through the days of creation (didn't make it through all of them) and talked about what happened from their different points of view.

1. I agree with Ross that you can't use the genealogy in Genesis to calculate the age of the earth because we don't know if everyone who lived is listed in that. Genealogies in the Hebrew culture don't list everyone. This is what Hovind does to find the age of the earth.
2. I'm not too sure I agree with Ross on his interpretation that Day 2 was the water cycle but I admit that there is room for further discussion.
3. I did not like the way Hovind seemed to look down his nose at Ross.
4. I've studied physics at the college level and done a considerable amount of research I found nothing wrong with anything Ross said from the astronomical point of view. I admit that I have a problem with anyone who tries to argue that the speed of light is not constant. Most our technology based on quantum mechanics rely in that fact. I've measured the speed of light myself in a lab and got the same thing the texts say it should be. Yes, it's constant everywhere and no reason to think it isn't. Not good at all, Hovind.
5. The other offputting thing about Hovind's performance was instead of really interacting with Ross he seemed to just throw out all of his evidence. In my opinion the Big Bang - all Matter & Energy - all dimensions of Space and Time - simultaneously exploding together into existence is what Genesis 1:1 says!




Watch Kent Hovind v Hugh Ross (disc 1 of 2) in Educational & How-To  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com


Kent Hovind v Hugh Ross (disc 1 of 2) | Free Educational & How-To Videos - Watch Educational & How-To Videos Online | Veoh




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Sam Harris | Author | Big Think - What Is Faith?

Sam HarrisImage via Wikipedia
Here is the next part of my series on responding to video comments from atheist Sam Harris. In this particular video he gives his view on what "faith" is.





Samuel Harris describes "faith" as believing something that you have no evidence for. I disagree. Harris admits that people have different definitions of "faith".  So why don't we go and see what the Bible definition for faith is. Hebrews 11 defines what faith is. Here are the first 10 verses:

1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for.
 3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 4By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
 5By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
 7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
 8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 

Just because you hope for something or can't see something that does not mean there is no evidence. There are plenty of things that are real that no one has seen but we know exists. For example, you can't see gravity but you know it exists. You can't see magnetic fields, but you know it exists. You can't see these things but like God, you can see their effects affecting you and other physical objects.

Regardless of if you reject the Bible or not, you cannot deny that it and Harris are talking about two different things that Harris is erroneously calling "faith".


Sam Harris | Author | Big Think

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Thursday, February 18, 2010

What Jesus & Frankenstein Have In Common - Venn Diagram on Twitpic

This is picture that was tweeted today on Twitter. It's a Venn Diagram the suggests that Jesus has somethings in common with Zombies, Frankenstein, and vampires. To make the alleged parallels clear
let me summarize them.

Assertion: Jesus and Zombies share resurrection .and convert many mindless followers as possible.

Zombies are not resurrected from the dead. They rise from the grave in the same decaying bodies that were buried. Jesus was raised in a glorified body and will never ever die again. Zombies convert people by infection and people become mindless after infection. When you follow Jesus Christ you find your mind - not loose it.

Assertion: Jesus is like Frankenstein  because both were resurrected from the dead and townspeople feared and revered him.

The problem with Frakenstein's rising from the dead was that he was no raised but multiple bodies dug up and stitched together. Just which person's soul did the monster get from the people stitched together? No like Jesus at all. Yes the villagers feared Frankenstein  but they wanted to kill him not worship him. Common folks  loved and worshiped Jesus throughout his ministry. It was the religious leaders who feared and hated Jesus.

Assertion: Jesus is like Dracula because they both convert mindless followers and towns people feared and revered them, and they resurrected from the dead.

There are several problems with this logic. First vampires are undead - soul-less - and not alive. Jesus was dead and then he is alive. Again vampires gain followers by taking their minds. Jesus gives us a mind better that the one we had. Third, townfolks in the vampire myths don't love or worship Dracula - he is hated. The common people revered Jesus it was the religious leaders that hated Jesus.

What Jesus & Frankenstein Have In Common - Venn Diagram on Twitpic
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YouTube - Atheist Experience - Matt destroys a Christian

The Return of Jephtha (painting by Giovanni An...Image via Wikipedia
 I received the following tweet from Beechbum

.@mmcelhaney http://tinyurl.com/yf9hyz8 and part 1 http://tinyurl.com/ydhd8po Watch and grow wiser.

I noticed that it was two YouTube videos from a show called Atheist Experience. I am grateful to get that videos for I did indeed learn a lot. I'd like to share the insights I have gained. First Ecclesiastes in the Bible is correct there really isn't anything new under the sun. None of the arguments that the atheists used were new. I've heard them all before. It's been 2000 years. Does anyone really think that they are going to come up with a new objection that no Christian has heard before or rebutted? The reason why I think these arguments don't go away but keep getting trotted out is because they are effective when Christians don't know what the Bible says or have thought through the issues that are brought up. I have compiled a list of things that stuck out to me. I will provide each point and then comment on why Christians don't buy the argument.




1.  Matt Accuses God of having bad moral standards:
   a. Slavery
   b. Genocide
   c. Human Sacrifice

 Let's define terms. Slavery - means one person owning another person as property.
Genocide - the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.
Human Sacrifice  - ritual killing a person to please a deity. 

In order for Matt's accusation to stand he has to prove that the Bible tells people to commit these acts. I don't think he can do it. He tried for a couple of them.. So for now I will focus on those.

2. Asks if the Bible is an accurate representing God

This is a trap that many Christians stand for. We say "yes" it is and it sets us up for  next point:
 
3. Insinuates that God commands/condones/endorses a-c

The idea is that to catch the Christian flat-footed because many don't know what the Bible says about these subjects and attempts to make a Christian question what the Bible says.

4. Atheist said that 10 commandments enbdorses slavery but when asked where he corrects himself and says the law gives rules and laws concerning slavery and he gives the example of Jepthah offering a human sacrifice.

If you listen to what an atheist says carefully, he will invariably make a mistake on what the Bible says somewhere in misspeaking something but will rake you over the coals if you make a similar mistake. Matt insinuates that Jephthah won his war on his enemies because he promised to sacrifice the first things that comes out of his house when he gets home if he wins. The story is found in Judges 11. When you look at the story you can see that Matt is less than accurate. I agree that when Jephthah made that oath knowing that he was going to sacrifice a person, he just never thought it was going to be his daughter.  Jephthah opened his mouth in verse 30 but God did not ask for a burnt offering or a human sacrifice of any kind. Jephthah made a vow and in his cultur e he had to keep it. God was innocent of all of that. Leviticus 18:21 tells us what God really think about human sacrifice:

 Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

5. The Christian did not seem to know this or have an answer to the challenge that there is a human sacrifice in the Bible. This is because a lot people don't read the Old Testament.

6. The atheist does not accurately explain the Bible or God's character

7. Accuses God of not caring about what you do but only what you believe.

This is not true. Look at James 2:19-27

19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
 20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[a]? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,"[b] and he was called God's friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
 25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

I know whar rhe objection is: "But Paul wrote that we are saved by faith not by works!" Such an easy non-contradiction! Paul was talking about ceremonial traditions like circumcision or not eating meat on Tuesdays and Fridays. James was referring to doing good and helping people and stop sinning. Look up the Greek words in the lexicon and you will find the word Paul used for "works" is different than the word James used although  the King James Version translates both words "works".

8. Accuses no good Moral standard in the Bible.

This is a straw man. The question is by what standard is Matt measuring morality? And what make his standard better? He shares many of the same moral standards that the Bible calls good. For example, he thinks murder is wrong. He agrees that lying is bad.  So unless he wants to argue that this is bad morality, he can't say that there is no good moral standard in the Bible.

9. Lists genocide, slavery, infinite punishment and rewards for finite beings is a sin

I sure would like to understand how Matt comes up with the idea that the Bible teaches all of that as being good. He also throws in a major objection against Hell in that he does not believe the punishment fits the crime and even denies that a crime has been committed. He does not believe that any of our sins are really that bad. I'm sure he would agree that executing an innocent man is infinitely unfailr. That tells us how bad our sins really are. Our sins are so bad that it equals the need of an innocent man to be tortured to death to balance the debt. Our sins are not finite. Besides who says that people stop sinning in hell. They will be sinning forever. 

10 Lists failure in creating a system with standard that no one can hold

Again, Matt is making a mistake in thinking that we are anywhere close what God is. God is so much more Holy than us that there can be no relationship because he cannot lower the standard and still be Who He is!

11.Butchers the Trinity

Matt shows not understand on what the Trinity is. He said that God had to sacrifice himself to himself.  He is confusing Jesus' personhood with God's being.  I've written heavily on this and have linked many great articles to this blog if you need more information.

12. Accusses God of being evil because he won't get rid of the devil

I'm amazed that Matt thinks that getting rid of the devil would get rid of evil. Nope. In order to get rid of sin and evil he would have to wipe out every man, woman, and child off the face of the earth. 

13. Children analogy comparing hell to locking your children in the basement, torturing them forever

A better analogy is not children being locked away being tortured but muderous, raping , thieves with no redeeming qualities. This better describes the kind of soul buning in hell. I know what you are thinking: I haven't raped or killed anyone. Under God's standard the thought is just as bad as doing it yourself. But you have coveted another person's possession - theft. You have hated someone - murder. You have lusted after another person who does not belong to you as a spouse - adultery/rape.

14. Claims morally superiority

Given the comment above about how sinful we are from a Biblical viewpoint, who still wants to claim to morally superior to the God of the Bible? Not me...and in all honesty not you.








YouTube - Atheist Experience - Matt destroys a Christian (Part 1)



15. Tries to use guilt that we don't want to tell people that if they deny Christ that they will go to hell.

 No compassionate person really likes the thought that people, some of whom they like as people, will be going to hell because they deny Christ. That is what the Bible says. Christians need to tell people the truth and not try to sugar coat it. Yes, you deserve to go to Hell. We all do! The thing is you have a way out. God has provided a passover lamb to take your place on the altar - Jesus. And because He rose from the dead, you too can rise...if you trust him and put your faith in him. This is what is in the Bible. Like it or lump it. 

16. Defines Apostasy as the unforgivable sin.

The unforgivable sin is not apostasy it's blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Biblically speaking a born again Christian cannot die an apostate. If someone turns away from God, they were never saved in the first place.

17. Claims that we are saying that exercising free will or having a conscious is what send you to hell

No, failing to accept Jesus is what keeps you on your way to hell. 

18. Rejects sin except voluntary willfull ignorance, creduality, limiting the rights and freedoms of anyone to your standards, sacrificing the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of a child in deference to your religion, wasting yor life worrying about and working for an after-life that some told you about

Matt claimed Christianity does all these things but he provided no proof that the Bible says anything like these things.  The Bible does not condone any of the things that he says is a sin. I'd like to see him prove that it does.

19. Accuse Christians of not thinking for themselves

Matt expects people to take his word for it that God told Jephthah to sacrifice his daughter, but the Bible says no such thing,. So who is not thinking for themselves?

20. Accuse the Bible of being outdated and irrevalent

Many of the laws and civil codes we live by today were first established in the Mosaic Laws. More universities and hospitals have been founded and established because of Biblical inspiration. I'll take that statement back if someone can show more charitable Atheist organizations than Christian onea.

21. The Bible degrades the value of the human being

I think Matt forgot about Genesis 1:26

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth,  and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

The Bible claims that we are in God's image. How much degradation is that? None look at Genesis 9:6

"Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.

22. Christians do not answer questions honestly

Okay let us be blunt. Without Jesus you are going to Hell because you deserve it.  That is the bad news. The good news is that you can be saved by faith in Jesus Christ.

23. God wants bootlickers

God loves us. He deserves our love and our obedience in the same way an archetict deserves praise for a skyscraper or a potter for beautiful clay pot. God deserves honor and praise .  It's stupid to praise a house or a book without respecting the one who made it.

24. Most people are basically good.


If people are basically good, then why do we have to learn not to lie, steal, cheat but have to be taught to be compassionate and kind even when we don't want to?
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Sam Harris | Author | Big Think - On Interpreting Scripture

Sam HarrisImage via Wikipedia
Here is the next part of my series on responding to video comments from atheist Sam Harris. In this particular video he gives his view on Christian and Muslim scriptures.








I have several problems with Sam Harris' approach. Second He makes no difference between the Bible and the Koran. You can't equate them. When you have two sources that conflict with one another you are left with one of three possibilities:

a. They are both false.
b. The Bible is true.
c. The Koran is true.

However the possibility that they are both true are off the table. Harris immediately concludes that they are both false but he gives no reason for coming to that conclusion.

Harris makes several assertions without proof. He makes it seem like the The Bible and the Koran are both from the Bronze Age. This is not true. It took over 40 authors writing over a 1500 year-period on three continents from various cultures in three different languages telling a single story which we call the Bible. If you disagree all you have to do is provide evidence that the Bible has conflicts and contradictions - which Harris does not do. As for the Koran it dates no earlier than 500 AD - a lot later than the Bronze Age.

I also must point out that his arguments against the Bible concerning it's content being outdated holds no weight. Most of his complaints center around things like the Mosaic laws requiring women to be virgins when they get married seems to be forgetting details. For example in a society where prostitution is prohibitted (as in the Laws of Moses) then everyone men and women would be virgins when they marry. On top of that how can anyone who has seen the devastation caused by adultery not understand why its death penalty offense? Also how can anyone doubt that our society would not be better if these laws were lived out. Thank God for grace. It is because of grace than many of these crimes no longer have a death penalty.

Another insult that shows little knowledge of the Bible and history is when Harris said that there is nothing of consequence in the Bible and no moral attitude or thought that a man could have come up with. It's one of Christopher Hitchens' favorite challenges. The thing is, I know of a moral command that no human would ever come up with - Jesus said:
43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. - Matthew 5:43-45
And the first century church was taught:

1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. - Philippians 2:1-4
The one guilty of cherry-picking and taking scripture out of context are not just some Christians but atheists like Sam Harris. Don't take me at face value. Read the Bible for yourself and consider the culture and history and see how truly relevant they are today. I've just documented several errors that Harris makes, can you really afford to blindly accept everything he said? I can't. Can you?

Sam Harris | Author | Big Think

































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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Ebon Musings: Infinite Punishment for Finite Sins

Fallen angels in HellImage via Wikipedia
Here is a  an article   I found in a tweet from godlessgirl. She suggests that this is a ninteresting article about hell. I think it would be fun to interact with it. My comments will be red.

The doctrine of Hell

"So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
--The Bible, Matthew 13:40-50 (KJV)

"The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night..."
--The Bible, Revelation 14:10-11 (KJV)

"But as for those who disbelieve, garments of fire will be cut out for them; boiling fluid will be poured down on their heads, whereby that which is in their bellies, and their skins too, will be melted; and for them are hooked rods of iron. Whenever, in their anguish, they would go forth from thence they are driven back therein and (it is said unto them): Taste the doom of burning."
--The Qur'an, sura 22:19-22

"Those who disbelieve Our revelations, We shall expose them to the Fire. As often as their skins are consumed We shall exchange them for fresh skins that they may taste the torment."
--The Qur'an, sura 4:56

"O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment."
--The Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 9:19

"Depart, ye cursed, to whom everlasting wrath and ruin belong, who are by your own wickedness prepared for nothing else, but to be firebrands of hell, who are the fit objects and vessels of the vengeance and fury of the Almighty, into fire. He will not send them away merely into a loathsome prison, the receptacle of the filth and rubbish of the universe, but into a furnace of fire. That must be their dwelling-place, there they must be tormented with the most racking pain and anguish. It is everlasting fire. There is eternity in the sentence, which infinitely aggravates the doom, and will make every word of it immensely more dreadful, sinking, and amazing to the souls that receive it."
--Jonathan Edwards, "The Final Judgment"

"You are going to see again the child about which you read in the Terrible Judgement, that it was condemned to hell. See! It is a pitiful sight. The little child is in this red hot oven. Hear how it screams to come out. See how it turns and twists itself about in the fire. It beats its head against the roof of the oven. It stamps its little feet on the floor of the oven. You can see on the face of this little child what you see on the faces of all in hell - despair, desperate and horrible!"
--John Furniss, "The Sight of Hell"

"At certain revolutions all the damned
Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change
Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce,
From beds of raging fire to starve in ice
Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine
Immovable, infixed, and frozen round
Periods of time, - thence hurried back to fire."
--John Milton, Paradise Lost, book 2

At least the author of the article is trying to cover Christianity, Mormons, and the thoughts of people concerning hell,.

Before the advent of Christianity, Judaism was vague on the notion of what awaited us after death. Some verses in the Old Testament seem to teach annihilation, non-existence for good and evil alike. Others imply that we will all experience temporary oblivion, but the righteous will be resurrected by God on Judgment Day, while everyone else will stay dead. Yet others point to the existence of some shadowy realm called Sheol from which the spirits of the dead could be summoned and contacted. The doctrine of Hell first began to arise near the end of the Old Testament era, but it took Jesus Christ to fully codify and formalize it as a part of Christian doctrine, from which it migrated into monotheistic religions in general. As this great moral teacher explained it, Hell is a dreadful lake of fire where all those who disobey God will go when they die, to suffer and be tormented eternally with no hope of escape.

I think the article could have been strengthened if the author had given scriptural references of the Old Testament references that imply all these various notions, but since he seems to want to focus on the New Testament, I will too.

It is difficult to keep a clear head and not get angry when discussing this doctrine. Hell is by far the worst religious idea that human beings have ever invented; certainly, in terms of the sheer amount of cruelty one person can wish inflicted on another, it is by definition unsurpassed. Nor are the effects of this belief limited to theists passively wishing this fate upon their enemies regardless of what happens in this world. As Thomas Paine said, belief in a cruel god makes a cruel man, and many religious atrocities committed through the centuries can, directly or indirectly, be traced to belief in Hell. (For examples, see this post from Positive Liberty.) Thus, it is for the sake of this life - the only one anyone can ever know for certain that they have - that it is important to expose this vicious falsehood for what it is. By accepting this doctrine for the sake of argument, this essay will show that it collapses under the weight of its own absurdity.

What amazes me is the anger the idea of hell brings. I mean why get angry? Disagree all you want, but why should you get angry about it? I'll save my answer for this for later.

Before going any further, it should be pointed out that this essay will only address the conception of Hell as eternal torment. Views of Hell which depict it as a temporary state will not be addressed here. This is not unfair or a straw man for the simple reason that a great many believers in multiple religious traditions specifically do claim that Hell is eternal, and are supported by their own sacred texts in this. This is shown by several of the quotes above. The Christian Bible depicts the damned as having "no rest day or night". The Islamic Qur'an says that inhabitants of Hell are driven back into the fire whenever they would seek reprieve, and further reinforces this with verses such as 2:162 and 2:167, which specifically deny that Hell is temporary. The Book of Mormon describes Hell as "endless torment". In light of these verses, adherents of these traditions who deny that Hell is eternal must first deal with the evidence from their own holy scriptures. Conversely, theists who do not believe that there is a Hell, or that God would send anyone there permanently if there was, are encouraged to read "God Is Love" rather than this essay.

I agree that the Bible teaches that hell is eternal. So at least we can agree on that. I am going to further restrict myself to only Biblical Christianity for my comments.

The first argument against the existence of Hell is the simplest and most effective: Where is the proof that there is such a place? Until theists produce the evidence, there is no reason whatsoever to believe anyone who claims it exists. The mere fact that a large number of people believe in such a place proves precisely nothing if those people cannot point to the empirical evidence that convinced them in the first place, nor do hallucinations occasionally experienced by people in near-death states indicate the existence of anything outside the mind. In addition, there is positive evidence against the existence of such a place: as neurological evidence suggests, the best explanation for the functioning of the mind requires only the physical structure of the brain. It is highly unlikely that the source of consciousness is an immaterial soul, and thus it is highly unlikely that there is any part of us that survives our physical death and goes on to an afterlife, hellish or otherwise. Until theists who believe in such a state can supply the hard evidence to back up their claims, we can and should feel free to dismiss them as utterly without foundation.

What about the assertion that "It is highly unlikely that the source of consciousness is an immaterial soul, and thus it is highly unlikely that there is any part of us that survives our physical death and goes on to an afterlife, hellish or otherwise." Where is the proof? It's just stuck out there. My point is that the structure of the brain does not tell us why a human is conscious. We are not even really sure what consciousness or self-awareness really is aside from the fact that merely posing the question means we have it. Does one really want to argue that human personality and consciousness are just a function of neural chemical processes? How? Why? Therefore denying the existence of the human spirit/soul seems silly. As for asking for proof that hell exists as a physical place, let's assume it does exist for the purpose of continuing the discussion. A more formal proof will require arguing for the validity of the Bible as a trustworthy source, and I'll save that for later.

Although there is absolutely no evidence to support the existence of such a place as Hell, that has not stopped fundamentalists from appealing to it in an attempt to frighten people into converting. In fact, rather than present a reasoned argument, they often go to great lengths to describe it in terms as horrible and terrifying as possible, in an attempt to provoke an emotional response rather than a rational one - to override reason with unreasoning fear. Fire-and-brimstone sermonizing such as the passages quoted at the beginning of this essay has been used for this purpose since the inception of the doctrine of Hell, as religious fanatics throughout history have delighted in imagining ever more grotesque and horrible tortures for those they view as God's enemies. While the Bible only alludes to furnaces of fire, outer darkness, undying worms and wailing and gnashing of teeth, the Qur'an adds many gruesome details to its much more explicit depiction of Hell. In the Islamic conception of the underworld, the damned are forced to wear garments of fire, boiling water as hot as molten brass is poured on their heads, their skin is melted and burned off, and they are beaten with iron hooks. Not to be outdone, Christian poets such as Dante Alighieri (author of the Inferno) pictured a Hell where the condemned are boiled in excrement or blood, where demons continually hack their bodies into pieces, where they are imprisoned in blazing sepulchres or frozen up to their necks in ice gnawing on each other's skulls. An English clergyman named John Furniss penned an even more horribly graphic pamphlet, quoted above, in which he depicted even children and unbaptized infants as suffering every manner of agonizing torture. Across the Atlantic, American evangelists such as Jonathan Edwards terrified audiences with vivid descriptions of the torments of hellfire.

All these gory descriptions of the suffering of the damned lead to an obvious question: Why would God ever create such a place? What purpose does it serve? How can Hell possibly be compatible with God's attributes, which all the major monotheistic religions insist on, of benevolence, justice and mercy?

I think that here is were the crux of the disconnect is. The argument is that a benevolent, just, and merciful God would not send people to such a terrible place as hell. The thought is that I, nor anyone is that bad as to deserve to be punished for eternity. The thought is that every human being is basically "good"...we just sometimes do bad things.

Imagine how much hatred you would have to have for another person to take his hand and press it against a hot stove, and hold it there while he struggles and screams in pain. Now imagine, not just burning a person's hand, but setting his entire body on fire; and now imagine doing it not just for a few moments, not for hours or days or years or millennia, but forever; and now imagine tormenting not just one, but thousands, millions, billions of people like this, inflicting on each and every one of them a suffering beyond imagination or description, for every single instant without rest or relief throughout all the endless span of eternity. And this is the work of a good god?

This is a poor analogy to hell. To make it more like what Christianity actually holds what should have been written is that a person - of his own free will - is given the choice to not step in the fire but just submit to God and serve him or walk into the fire. Those who go to hell chose to walk into the fire.

Some theists say that God loves us and cares about us more deeply than we can imagine; and then turn around and say that he is ready at a moment's notice to hurl into endless agony anyone who did not worship him exactly as he directed. This is a hopelessly self-contradictory set of beliefs. If there is such a place as Hell, it could not possibly be the creation of any being worthy of the appellations "loving" or "caring"; it could only be the work of an evil, sadistic monster. Theists who are unwilling to grant that there could be such a being are therefore faced with a choice: give up belief in Hell, or give up belief in God altogether.

Huge problem with this thought. God has a standard. You can't be on the fence.  You are either in His will or out of his will. If you are out of his will you are going to hell. If you are in his will you are going to heaven. It's an absolute. How is it self-contradictory that if you don't meet the standard? How is that unfair? It's like gravity on a certain level. If you step off a cliff  is it gravity's fault when you fall off the cliff?  No it's not. However God loves us so much that he has given us a way to avoid walking off that cliff and because we can't fly he will carry us to safety. This is what salvation is about. No one can meet that standard on his/her own. This is why Jesus came and died in our place..

There is another problem with the doctrine of Hell, which is as follows: No deed that a human being could possibly commit merits such a punishment. It is stressed by virtually all religions that God is just, but it is a fundamental part of justice that the punishment must be proportionate to the crime, and Hell is, by definition, infinitely disproportionate when compared to any human act. No matter how monstrous a person was in life, no matter how evil their crimes, they can only have inflicted a finite amount of harm, and no finite sin can deserve an infinite amount of punishment. Even when a damned soul has suffered as much pain as they inflicted on others during their life, we are told, the torture continues. Even when that soul has been paid back, pain for pain, a hundred times over, or a thousand times, or a million, they continue to suffer. Every damned soul will eventually suffer as much pain as every innocent victim of every evil act in the entire history of the Earth combined, and still their punishment will continue without end. This is not fair - this is an outrageous injustice. Again, believers in a just and fair god cannot hold this belief alongside belief in an afterlife of eternal torment, not without contradicting themselves. The only intellectually consistent route is to deny that there is such a realm, or such a being, or both.

Actually that article is being intellectually inconsistent. The argument is made that our sins are finite therefore we don't deserve infinite punishment. Only a mind who does not understand how truly horrific sin is contrasted with God's holiness could possibly make such an argument. The Biblical position holds that you and I deserve to go to hell. We sin continually. We sin constantly sometimes without even realizing. Forget the times we sin  on purpose. Therefore an infinite punishment is deserved should we find ourselves in hell. Also why would you think that sins stop in hell? Does it make sense that everyone in hell will stop being evil just because they are in hell? I don't think  so. Hell will be full of people eternally quarantined from God and His people. The people in hell did not want God and then they will get their desire fulfilled.

Some apologists have put forth a defense against this argument, claiming that because God is infinitely good, a person who chooses to defy him is committing an "infinite crime" and therefore deserves an infinity of suffering as punishment. But consider: What does it mean to commit a crime against someone? Does the essence of a crime not lie in harm? Not all harm done to a person rises to the standard of a crime, but it cannot be said that you have committed a crime against someone if they have not been harmed in any way. But God, by his nature, can never be harmed. According to the monotheistic religions, God is omniscient, omnipotent, and perfect; he lacks nothing, he needs nothing, and certainly he cannot be injured or diminished in any way by anything a human being could ever do. Therefore, it is impossible to commit any crime against him at all, much less an infinite one. We may harm ourselves, or other people, but we can never harm God, and it defies justice to pay back an act that causes zero harm with an act that causes infinite harm.

The Bible teaches that all sin is against God. It's not about harming God it's about disobeying and disrespecting him. Sinners going to hell is not pay back for sins against God it's justice because it is an affront to His nature. It's like how light encroaches and vanquishes darkness. They cannot coexist forever. Light will overwhelm the darkness.

The apologist argument of disbelief as an infinite crime can be refuted in another way. For justice to be served, the punishment for a crime should be set not only by considering the consequences of the act, but also by considering the intent and level of understanding of the person who commits it. This is why, for example, most societies punish minors less harshly than they would adults who committed the same crime, or why they generally treat rather than punish people who commit a crime while operating under a sense of diminished capacity that makes them less able to tell right from wrong.

The relevance is this. In God's sight, compared to God's mind, are we adults or are we minors? Do theists believe that people who reject God understand exactly what they are doing? Is it possible for anyone with a finite mind to fully comprehend the repercussions of such an act? It is said that rejection of God is an infinite crime, but can a human being really commit a crime that great even if they want to, even if they think they mean it at the time? While Hell-believing theists will undoubtedly answer "yes" to these latter three questions, I suggest that those answers arise from their a priori beliefs rather than a rational and objective evaluation of the situation. Such an evaluation is far more likely to come to the opposite answer.

There are degrees of punishments in hell. Someone who sinned in ignorance and did not know as much as another will not experience that same torment as one who knew and understood better.

 47"That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. - :Luke 12: 47-48

Fair enough? Good!

This becomes even more acute when one considers that the length of the afterlife, in most major religious traditions, is believed to be eternity. The human mind is finite and thus, by definition, cannot fully comprehend such a span of time. How can it be fair to force beings as limited as us to make decisions that will influence our fate for an infinity thereafter and only allow us an infinitesimally short length of time to choose? This would be analogous to parents deciding how they will relate to their child for the rest of his life based on his behavior up until the age of two years old. If at some point during those first two years the child threw a tantrum and screamed "I hate you" at his parents, would the appropriate response be for them to throw him out of the house, disown him completely and never speak to him again for the rest of his life? Just as no two-year-old child could possibly be expected to have the perspective to make decisions that would be best for the rest of his finite life, so too could no finite human being be fairly expected to be able to make the best decisions for the rest of an infinite life. The conclusion remains the same: only an infinite being can commit an infinite crime.

Again a bad analogy. God does not write you off after one sin but you don't know how much time you have before you run out of opportunities to accept God'a offer of salvation.

Even assuming none of the preceding holds true, another question remains to be answered: Why can't you repent in Hell and be released? What happens if one of the damned says, "I can't take this anymore. I understand now that I sinned and I'm sorry. God, please forgive me and let me out of here"? Will this work? If not, why not? If there's a rule that says it's too late to repent once you're in Hell, who made that rule and why?

God made that rule and by definition no one in hell would repent and worship God even if they could get out. They wouldn't do it before they went to hell why would they change. If you end up in hell it is because you rejected God.  Now that you have what you want why belly ache? Yes, you could argue that you didn't understand the repercussions of the decisions they made in life, but does that matter? Anyone reading this has made up their minds. They understand that the Bible teaches that rejecting Jesus means they are going to hell. They have no excuse. Believe or don't believe. The consequences are on your head. I hope you choose to believe and put your faith in Jesus that way you don't have to worry about going to hell because then you can repair your relationship with God.

Some theists might say that God does not allow this because, in this case, people would be repenting just to escape further punishment, not because they were genuinely sorry. If this is the case, then shouldn't he also condemn people who repented on Earth only because they were afraid of Hell? Shouldn't he also condemn people who repented on Earth because of some personal tragedy or catastrophe that befell them? Yet no religions I am aware of teach that God will do this; if anything, most monotheistic religions teach that such occurrences are very salutary in bringing people closer to God and making them realize their dependence on him. If God wants everyone to be saved, if he accepts repentance motivated by personal catastrophe on Earth, and if he accepts repentance motivated by fear of Hell while on Earth, then a declaration that God will not forgive anyone once they are in Hell cannot be seen as anything other than arbitrary and irrational. Such a declaration would be motivated not by any real reason or logical necessity, but by the desire of that religion to secure earthly power by coercing and frightening people into allegiance.

People who repent and follow Christ only to escape hell may never develop a true heart and love for God. These people become apostates and never really were saved. Given enough time no one remains a Christian just because they are afraid of going to hell.

In the preceding paragraphs of this essay, I have argued that the doctrine of Hell is, in multiple aspects, starkly incompatible with the attributes of benevolence, justice, love, mercy and rationality attributed to God by mainstream monotheistic religions. It cannot logically be a part of a system that includes belief in such a god. This will, of course, not affect those theists who believe in an irrational or evil god; to these, I simply reiterate my argument that there is no evidence whatsoever for the existence of either such a place or such a being. In either case, the doctrine of Hell must be rejected.

The author's definitions for "benevolence, justice, love, mercy and rationality" are not consistent given what the Bible says about  God's benevolence, justice, love, mercy and rationality.

In light of these arguments, I will again raise the question asked earlier. Since the doctrine of Hell, as it is formulated in monotheistic religions, defies so many of God's attributes, one must ask why these religions believe in it at all. Why is there any need for such a place?

The most common apologist reply to this is that God has "no choice". To refuse to worship him is to sin, and loving though he may be he cannot allow sin into Heaven; therefore, he had no choice but to create a Hell where he could send those who die in their sins. This argument, however, is plainly ridiculous. Of course God, if there is such a being, would have a choice - he is all-powerful, is he not? He can do anything he wants. If he wanted to, he could choose to forgive all people of sin unconditionally and let everyone into Heaven. He could reincarnate people until they get it right, so no one has to be condemned. He could make the people who refuse to worship him cease to exist. Even assuming he could not do any of these things and there must be such a place as Hell where nonbelievers go, there is no reason why it has to be a pit of torture - it could just be a limbo, or a realm basically like Earth, where unbelievers could simply go their own way. But, if we are to believe many theists, despite having all these other options God chose none of them, and instead decreed that those who die without believing in him are condemned, with no forgiveness and no second chance, and made a place of endless torture for them to go to. This idea is such a grotesque absurdity it hardly needs refutation; it is in blatant contradiction to everything else we are supposed to believe about God. Again, if there was such a place as Hell, it could never be the creation of a merciful, loving or just deity, but only of an evil sadist. Only a god who enjoys the torment and suffering of others would create such a place or allow it to exist, yet both atheists and monotheists agree that there is no such god.

I agree that it's a silly argument that God had no choice but to make hell. But it is equally silly to assert that God could not be loving or merciful because Hell exists. The Bible says that God's plan for everything glorifies Himself. If there was no hell we would not be able to observe God's justice in punishing sin or his mercy in saving some of us from hell. The bottom line is if you don't wanna go to hell you don't have to go. All you have to do is submit to Jesus as Lord and Savior -  believe the Word of God and live that way. 

When all the arguments are considered, the true purpose of the doctrine of Hell becomes clear, and it is not a theological but rather a thoroughly practical and earthly one. Hell is, and has never been anything other than, a fiction invented by religions in an attempt to gain power and followers by bludgeoning people into line through threats and fear. As an atheist, I reject this tactic; it is nothing but empty words. Without evidence to back it up, the tattered specter of eternal torment should not sway a rational mind in the least. No one has anything to fear from this myth. The doctrine of Hell is constructed to appeal to the emotions, but collapses when examined by simple conscience or logic.

The doctrine hell is based on pure logic not emotion. If you are not born-again you are going to hell. Pure and simple. Everyone is hellbound from the moment we exist. God provided for us a gift - payment for the debt of sin that we can't pay. Jesus picked up our bill on his tab. The question becomes do you want stand before God on your own merits -  with a heart full of lust and greed -  or to be judged in light of the sinless perfection of  Jesus Christ. Personally, I'll choose the later.

Ebon Musings: Infinite Punishment for Finite Sins
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Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament: “Black and Beautiful” or “Black but Beautiful”?

Dr. Mariottini has done it again! This is an awesome post explaining the Song of Songs. It is one of the books of the Old Testament that is discussed the least! This article puts it in its historical and cultural context and tackles one of its most controversial verses. This is simply an article that everyone should read!

Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament: “Black and Beautiful” or “Black but Beautiful”?
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Ergun Caner and the Jerry Springer Show

James White posted a video regarding Ergun Caner. Caner has made terrible assertions about Calvinism in general and James White in particular. The truth is I disagree with Caner and James White has been able to not just explain why Caner is wrong in his assertions but sets the record straight. I hope Caner will honestly think about the remarks White makes and apologizes.







Ergun Caner and the Jerry Springer Show

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Hugh Ross and Kent Hovind radio debate

Kent HovindImage via Wikipedia
I have to admit that I enjoy Kent Hovind's debates against atheists a lot more than when he debates other Christians that disagree with him. This particular debate he had against Hugh Ross on the Radio about 10 years ago illustrates this point. I think this debate displays flaws in Hovind's character and theology. Disrespecting Hugh Ross' credentials and scholarship is very regrettable. It all stems from the idea of Hovind's unwillingness to look at scripture objectively and science objectively. and to really listen to what some of his Christian brothers and sisters are really saying. Anyone who has truly studied the Bible knows that you can't just pick up the King James Version and read it and get every nugget in the text without consulting other translations and the original language as well as science and history. Hovind does not really do this unless it supports what he thinks the Bible says. I think Ross does not do this and is more fair and balance.



I've been looking for something like this debate. A full on discussion concerning does science and the Bible really conflict on the age of the earth. I would have liked to heard more science but it was still good to hear them go toe-to-toe on scripture. One thing that I think was missing was that if Noah's flood was a global flood then it could have been also local because at the time of Noah's flood all the continents were gathered in one place. This one is really worth listening to!


Hugh Ross and Kent Hovind radio debate
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Englishing the Bible

Jeff Downs posted the following article:

Dr. Benjamin Shaw is professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He answers the question "Why a conference on scripture in the 21st Century" and also gives a brief word on his particular session "Englishing the Bible"




Englishing the Bible
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