Thursday, July 5, 2018

Email to Jerry A. Coyne about Atheism vs. Religion

This email was sent to Jerry A. Coyne on 7/5/18 
 

 
 
Hello sir. I read with interest your article entitled “Atheists could learn a lot from religious people about how to win debates” from 2014. I was particularly interested in the part about religious gaps and the following quote:

“... religion, despite centuries of theologizing, hasn’t begun to provide credible answers to the goddy puzzles above.”

In my mind, having read your list of gaps, I’m thinking “Most of these have been explained numerous times (credible answers) by my pastors, my father, in my own mind, and in Christian apologetic writings.” I saw it as relatively simple. So, I figured I’d write you and explain them to you. If you will be so kind as to indulge me, here we go..

1. Why would God allow natural evils to torment and kill people? Examples given: tsunamis, and cancer.

We as humans exist in the natural world. We cannot be immune to nature, illness, disease, calamity, and tragedy simply because God exists. The natural order on Earth demands dichotomy. Good/bad, hot/cold, up/down, light/dark, happy/sad, sick/healthy, etc. It is simply the way it is. It is this way because of sin. Sin brought this dichotomy to nature. Before sin entered the world all was good, and ONLY good (Eden). Once sin entered the world there was now holy/evil. There was also God/Satan. Into this bifurcated world we are born. Subject to the choices we make as individuals, communities, Societies, and cultures. Subject also to the dichotomies of nature. Some areas flood, some don’t, for instance. God provides us inner peace to cope with the bad things and be thankful for the good. God allows us to experience the bad things so we can appreciate the blessings of the good things. Let’s be honest, many bad things occur because of our choices. We are seldom truly victimized. On those occasions where we suffer through no fault of our own, or otherwise, we provide an opportunity to display our trust in the sovereign goodness of God. We then become the good that counter-balances whatever evil it is we faced.

2. If God wants us to know him why does he hide from humanity? Why did he wait so long to reveal himself?

Just as oxygen is essential to our life, faith is essential to spirituality. God requires faith. It is his greatest requirement. A suspension of disbelief, along with acceptance and adherence to His teachings are paramount to salvation. Thus God has revealed enough of himself to allow this. If he revealed too much of himself faith would no longer be necessary. Besides he DID walk among us, taught us, did miracles, and displayed His holiness (Jesus), and left us a guide-book to study, yet many people STILL do not believe. Only those with faith join God. Faith (in Christ) is the path to Heaven. As for His timing, who are we to determine the “right time”? It seems it was perfect timing as here we are in 2018 and the whole Earth knows about Jesus of Nazareth.

3. Why would an omnibenevolent God consign sinners to an eternity of horrible torment for crimes that don’t warrant such punishment?

First of all “omnibenevolent”, meaning all-good, God certainly is. But He is also righteous, all-knowing, ever-present, loving, and all-powerful. Like all beings, God has many facets to his personality. Make no mistake. The ONLY way we bring damnation on ourselves is by refusing to accept and follow the teachings of God through Christ. We must accept Jesus as Lord and savior and keep his commandments. Doing this, by God’s grace, through faith, gains us access to Heaven. Period. Rejecting God therefore, upon death, gets the unbeliever exactly what he asked for. Separation from God. This time though, it is complete and permanent separation. i.e Hell. In short God doesn’t send or “consign” anyone anywhere. We choose where we go through our own free will. For instance Christopher Hitchens, a man I greatly admired, spent the majority of his adult life teaching people to reject religion in general and God specifically. He knew the choices, he knew the stakes, and he made his decision. No one MADE him reject God. Upon death, I believe, Mr. Hitchens was provided with that which he so greatly desired in life. Namely to be away from God. I believe he now is apart from God. In a place of torment where he can no longer gain access to God and his mercy. A place he worked so tirelessly to get to. A dimension where God isn't. He made his choice and so be it. He was not forced. This will be the fate of all who reject God.

4. Why is God in the Old Testament such a narcissistic bully, toying with people for his amusement, ordering genocides in which innocent women and children are killed en masse, and demanding the death of those
who work on the Sabbath? How does that comport with the God that Christians and Jews worship today?

This is a loaded question! You imply in your question that God toys with people for his own amusement. I utterly reject that notion. I think it is clear that God did what he had to do in spite of it grieving him. Much like a father disciplines his child, punishing and correcting him in spite of how unpleasant it might be. The Old Testament is a record of how God preserved his people (the Jews) and separated them out from the world so as to bring into the world through them the Messiah. Along the way he corrected, protected, punished, and preserved them. The Old Testament is a record of these events.

The Old Testament is all about (among other things) the creation of the world and the rise of the Jews as God's chosen people. It also contains much prophecy about the coming Messiah that would later be fulfilled in the New Testament. The Old Testament also contains wisdom about life in general.

We no longer live in the Old Testament era. That time is gone. That is history. We live in the New Testament era. We live in the age of grace. We live under what is called the new covenant. Jesus came to fulfill the old covenant by becoming the new covenant. That is why there is a seeming difference to the God of the Old Testament versus the God of the New Testament. It is because The two Testaments or two covenants portray God doing very different tasks. The first covenant portrays God preserving and separating the Jews using what we might call "tough love". The New Testament is about salvation and God’s plan for the salvation of the human race through his Son. So in essence the Bible is a two act play that reveals God's masterplan to save humanity from damnation and allow us to access, through grace,eternal paradise through his son.

5. Why didn’t Jesus return during his followers’ lifetime, as he said?

He never said he would return in their lifetime. Allow me to contextualize what Jesus said. Your question is no-doubt based on the following scripture Matthew 16:28...

“Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

One often mentioned explanation is his transfiguration when he was seen in his glorified body by Peter, James, and John. This was all part of it. Later, the apostle John had a clear revelation presented to him where he saw, in a vision, Jesus return “in his kingdom”. I think this is part of it.

I think, more to the point though, the disciples and many others witnessed him personally usher in an entire religion, based solely on himself. They saw him in all his glory, divine, powerful, and Holy. They quite literally saw him "in his kingdom" (i.e. the Kingdom of God).

Additionally, consider this point. We don’t know every single thing that was revealed and shown to the disciples during Jesus time with them. It is possible he showed them other things that simply were not recorded in the scriptures. After all John 21:25 says:  “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” God did not reveal everything to us. He revealed what He thought was sufficient to lead us to Him.

In my mind, the fact that many of the people he spoke this to did have an opportunity to see the rise of Christianity on Earth where Jesus was worshiped as God, makes this passage easy to understand. After all he did NOT say that some will not taste death *until I return*. It is clear he was talking about many of them seeing the rise of the Christian religion in their lifetime (Christ essentially brought the Kingdom of God down to Earth and made it accessible to us through Him).

6. How do any believers know for sure that their faith is the right one, especially given the presumed penalty for guessing wrong?

The same question could be asked of the atheist. After all if the atheist is right nothing happens after death. But if the believer is right there will be Hell to pay (literally) for choosing wrong.

I am a Christian because:

  1. It is unique among all religions.
  2. The scriptures have a distinct ring of truth.
  3. There is bountiful historical evidence Jesus lived as the Bible says.
  4. The Bible has uniquely transforming powers.
  5. Devotion to Jesus provides joy, compassion, love, and hope.
  6. I wish to dwell in Heaven with God upon death, not in Hell.

I hope this answers your questions. I encourage you to open-mindedly seek to know God through Christ.

Thanks!

-Mike Walk