Just imagine for a moment you are in a war. All of the sudden, an enemy soldier appears, and offers you valuable information if you will let him return to his regiment. You agree. He hands you a piece of paper and takes off. That piece of paper is a map of the enemy camp with spots labeled "our weak points" circled in unmistakable red. And here's the kicker - upon further surveillance, the map is correct. Well, here's your map. And I even tell you why the weak spots are weak! :-) Care to take a stab at any of these big 7? Leave a comment - I'd love to hear from you once I get back to a free Internet connection :-).
In roughly chronological order...
1. Prove God doesn't exist
Obviously, if God doesn't exist, there is no God for us to believe in. Case closed. Interestingly enough, I have found it notoriously difficult to prove this point either way - there is evidence God exists, no doubt, but it is not conclusive; there is, perhaps, evidence God doesn't exist, but I haven't (obviously) heard anything conclusive that way either :-)
2. Prove God did not create the world (universe)
Also notoriously difficult to prove either way - assuming only natural, historical evidences, of course
Why is this so important to Christianity? If God did not create the world, He has no jurisdiction over it. With no soveriegnty over the world, He has no prerogative to dictate our obedience or to punish our disobedience. We are not His.
3. Prove that man is perfect
If man were perfect, we would not need to be saved. If we do not need to be saved, the linchpin of Christianity - Jesus' death & resurrection which save us from our sins - is voided.
If you want to try this angle, I wish you good luck! :-) Good luck! :-) In all the history of Christianity, many have attempted to disprove it. Many, many many! But no one has ever tried to prove we are perfect (in my experience). They have, however, attempted all the rest!
What many have, however, attempted to prove is that man is not incapable. Christianity, to be Christianity, must believe that humans are fundamentally incapable of obedience to God's commands, of attaining righteousness, of achieving heaven, however you wish to put it.
(and no, for you who know what I am talking about, I am not saying the only true Christians are Calvinists. Even Arminians believe we need a "leg up" from God somewhere along the way. Otherwise, Jesus was nothing but a moral teacher, and that is not Christianity at all) End sidenote :-)
Anyhow, if it could be proven that man is capable of pleasing and obeying God, perfecting themselves, etc. Christianity would be useless.
4. Prove that God did not communicate with the world
(i.e. disprove the Bible)
If the Bible is not God's Word, we have no way of truly knowing Who God is, what He has done, or what He requires of us. Christianity would have no basis.
5. Prove that Jesus did not exist
No Jesus, no Christianity. Simple ;-) Why? ........ keep reading :-)
6. Prove that Jesus was not God
LONG story here. I won't tell it all - that's not the point of this post, though I'd be happy to share for sure! :-) - but here's the point as short as I can make it (you'll definitely recognize previous points!): humans are not perfect and unable to become perfect. God, who created the world & therefore rules over it, demands perfection. The punishment for imperfection (sin) is death. God in mercy devised a strategy whereby our imperfections may be covered: by causing another (an animal, sorry to any PETA people out there ;-) ) to die (pay the penalty) for our sin (imperfection). But animal sacrifice was only a temporary solution. To truly satisfy God's perfect justice (which demanded our death for our sin, payment in kind, you could say) we needed a perfect human sacrifice. But perfect and human is an oxymoron :-). Only God is perfect. Hence, only God can satisfy God's demands. Enter Jesus, God/man - Immanuel, God with us
So if Jesus was not God, He was not perfect, and was therefore unable to satisfy God's righteous demand for our obedience (and of course, if He was not man, He would be unable to satisfy God's righteous demand for our obedience; He wouldn't be part of "us". But only really wild, random "Christian" sects have ever said that!)
7. Prove that Jesus did not rise from the dead
To be our Savior, to as God, satisfy God's just demands, Jesus had to do two things: live a perfect life, in our place, and die on the Cross, in our place. The Resurrection is vindication of both. It is proof God accepted Jesus' life and death. (NOTE: I am not talking about two different gods when I say "God" and "Jesus", both were one in the same God, yet different Persons, a concept we call the Trinity. And I never thought I'd use this phrase, but I gotta say - that concept is beyond the scope of this "course" :-) Happy to elaborate, though! :-) )
2 comments:
I'll comment on your first point =)
1. "Prove God doesn't exist" - Well this is my take on it: Let me break down this sentence. First let's state "God doesn't exist". This statement is legitimate because [I go back to the scientific method on this] the results obtained using the scientific method are repeatable. In fact, most experiments and observations are repeated many times. If the original claims are not replicated, the discovered discrepancies are hunted down and exhaustively studied. There is a very important characteristic of a scientific theory or hypothesis which differentiates it from an act of faith. A theory [hope you can track with me] must be 'falsifiable'. This means that there must be some experiment or possible discovery that could prove the theory untrue. Now I get back to topic. The statement that "God does not exist" is falsifiable, because someone may eventually "prove" his existence. However, the term "God does exist" is not falsifiable because there is no human way to prove that He /does/ exist.
Now we get to the main sentence. Prove God does not exist. Yes, it can get pretty complex; if "God does not exist" is falsifiable sooo "Falsifiable=God does not exist", then trying to /prove/ some thing falsifiable is a joke. Unless there is clear data, it cannot be done.
So those are my thoughts.
Actually, amusingly enough, I think that this could be shortened into 2 easy(?) steps. ;-) Now granted, my second step more or less envelops your steps 2-7, but ah well. =)
1) Prove God does not exist, and
2) prove the Bible is not true.
Of course, the opposite is also true--if God exists and the Bible is true, Christianity is also true. =)
But, to play devil's advocate for a bit(tackling some of the "easier" ones I guess--I find it hilariously hard to think of arguments against Christianity, since every time one comes to mind a counter-argument beats it down ^_^) :
4) The Bible was written by men, and any amount of them could have claimed to come from God. Like Muhammad--he wrote several things and claimed it was from God--what extra evidence does the Bible have to prove its divine origin that the Qu'ran does not?
6) God is immortal, and cannot die. Jesus died. Therefore, he was not God.
7) There are Roman tablets(written by the emperor, I think) dating around that time stating that the disciples made up Jesus' resurrection. If it was made up by traumatized devout followers, it could be explained away.
Just to make it clear: I do not hold any of the beliefs mentioned in those arguments. =)
--Josiah C.
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