I have taken the liberty to post a comment from “Gary” here. He had posted it somewhere else, where not many people would see it. So I post here his argument against the existence of God. He states that coincidences are usually natural phenomena, not interventions of God in answer to prayer or the providence of God. He then mentions some of the answers that evangelicals typically give. He numbered them (1) to (5). These are answers I would possibly give too. If you wish to elaborate, explain, or add to the reasons for your hope in Christ, please drop a comment to help “Gary”.
This is what “Gary” wrote in the comment page:
“A primitive farmer in a primitive land suffers two consecutive bad harvests. The following spring, he
sacrifices a chicken to the rain god hoping to change his fortunes. That year, the rain fall is steady and just right: not too much and not too little. His crops grow tall and strong. He has an excellent harvest. “The rain god answered my prayers because I offered a chicken sacrifice to him,” the farmer says to
himself. For the next four years the farmer offers a chicken sacrifice and each year the rain fall is just right and his harvests are green and bountiful. His life changes dramatically. He is incredibly happy. Once angry and short-tempered, he is now kind and generous. He experiences incredible peace and a profound sense of security knowing that he has pleased his god and is now reaping the benefits of his god’s good favor.
Question: Do you believe that the chicken sacrifices had anything to do with this man’s five consecutive good harvests and his change in character and demeanor? Of course you don’t. The five consecutive good harvests were simply a rare but very natural phenomenon. Statistical variation perfectly explains this man’s good fortune.
As an evangelical Christian, you believe that a spirit lives inside you; a spirit who has unlimited knowledge and powers; a spirit who answers your prayer requests and performs miracles for
you. However, if you can’t see, hear, or touch this spirit how do you know this spirit is really there? How do you know that your perception of a spirit dwelling within you is not just your mind playing tricks on you? I have asked many evangelical apologists this question and the response I usually receive involves one or more of these statements:
1.) My personal experiences prove His presence: Unusual events have occurred in my life which I am certain were due to the intervention of Jesus/the Holy Ghost.
2.) Answered prayers: I ask Jesus/the Holy Ghost for something and the requested action or event occurs. This has occurred multiple times in my life. They cannot all be coincidences or
statistical random chance.
3.) Dramatic change in my life: Since becoming a Christian, my life has changed dramatically. I am a new person. I left behind (drugs, alcohol, crime, etc.) and have become a good, loving, upstanding person.
4.) Incredible feelings of peace, comfort, and happiness: Since I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and asked him into my heart I have experienced the most incredible joy, peace, and
sense of security, knowing that He is always with me, guiding me in every step
of my life.
Question: How are your perceived experiences with your spirit (Jesus/the Holy Ghost) any different than the perceived experiences of our primitive farmer with his spirit (the god of rain)? There is no difference, my evangelical Christian friend! All your perceived answered prayers and perceived miracles
have involved natural events. Some of them may have been very rare natural events, but they were still natural. None of you has witnessed Jesus/the Holy Ghost move a mountain or even levitate your kitchen table after requesting that action in your prayers. Those types of answered prayers never occur, do they? Answered prayers always involve events which could have a natural explanation, even if a very, very rare natural explanation.
A fifth reason I sometimes hear is this: 5.) The Bible tells me that Jesus/the Holy Ghost dwells within me and the Bible has proven itself to be true and trustworthy.
Question: Would you accept such “evidence” from any non-Christian on the planet touting the veracity of his religion’s holy book? Of course you wouldn’t. You and your fellow Christians may believe that the Bible is reliable but most of the world’s population disagrees with you. Jewish Bible scholars reject Christian claims that Jesus fulfilled OT prophecy. Jews, Muslims, and non-supernaturalists (agnostics and atheists) reject as insufficient and weak apologists’ evidence for the alleged resurrection of Jesus. The authorship and eyewitness status of the Gospels, the best evidence Christianity possesses, is disputed, even among Christian scholars, for goodness sakes! So appealing to the Bible as proof of the
existence of a spirit living inside your body is a real stretch, friends.
Final question. Dear Evangelical Christian: Are you being rational in your belief that a spirit dwells within
you? Or, are you being as irrational as our primitive farmer, who experiences statistical anomalies and attributes them to the actions of his culture’s gods and devils? Invisible spirits and ghosts are not
real. There is no good evidence they exist. Step out of the darkness of superstition and into the light of reason and rational thinking.”
I would appreciate any response from readers to “Gary” that will help him see the hope we have in Christ. “Gary’s” worldview is rationalistic-scientific which is understandable because we are all children of modernity. Such a worldview leaves no room for miracles and divine intervention – even if there are no natural phenomena to explain them, like the healing of a person born blind, or the miracle of a deaf man enabled to hear after being prayed for.
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