1. The Bible: An Exposé: Introduction
2. The Bible: An Exposé: A Brief History
3. The Bible: An Exposé: Scriptures Galore
4. The Bible: An Exposé: Myth or History?
5. The Bible: An Exposé: Superstition and Myth in the Bible
6. The Bible: An Exposé: The Bible and Science
7. The Bible: An Exposé: Eyewitness Testimony?
8. The Bible: An Exposé: The Bible and Morality
9. The Bible: An Exposé: Biblical Inerrancy
Dear "Arizona Atheist"
ReplyDeleteI am sure that no-one could argue you into belief, and I won't try. However, you might benefit from reading with an open mind Corrie Ten Boom's "The Hiding Place" and David Wilkerson's "The Cross and the Switchblade".
St Thomas Aquinas taught that God permits evil so that good may come of it. So may it be, with your misfortunes.
Hi Mr./Ms. Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the offer but I've read many religious books dealing with apologetics and theology in general but I have no interest in the books you recommended. Biographies and religious novels to me are pointless since the very premises they're based on have never been proven.
I'm not certain what you're referring to regarding my “misfortunes” but I'm assuming you're talking about my my deconversion story. I've been told many rationalizations by numerous religious friends about why god didn't answer my prayers and none of them made the least amount of sense. They're essentially all variations of the same excuse you gave. God is said to be loving and caring but allows evil and pain to exist and he fails to help those in need.
That's like saying that your parents love you and would do whatever they could to help you because they love you so much. Then let's say you get into some trouble and contract a horrible disease. A truly loving parent, you'd think, would do whatever they could to help you recover and not just ignore you. If your parents ignored you, when you knew they could help you, I doubt you'd believe your parents truly loved you. Of course this is the absurd rationalization that all theists give for their gods' negligence.
These are two entirely contradictory ideas. Either god loves us and will help his creations or he is evil and doesn't care. Or, there is no god. This third conclusion actually makes more sense than an evil god in light of the failure of any Christian at any point in time to provide any definitive proof of god's existence. Based on all of the evidence it's more likely that there is no god than trying to rationalize all of these contradictory beliefs.