Answering Atheist Objections – Part 3

[Part 3 of a 3-part series]

This concludes a response to an article that appeared in mid-July of 2024, titled “18 Uncomfortable Questions Atheists WANT Religious People to Address.” It was posted on the “Grace for Single Parents.com” website. The author was Lily Blackwood.

We looked at the first eight of the eighteen “uncomfortable questions” in Parts 1 and 2. According to the author of the original article, atheists want to ask Christians …
9)  Can Morals Exist Without Religion?

A few years ago in the debate between what were called the New Atheists and Christian Apologists, the most heat came from this question. Christians pointed out that if atheism is true and there’s no God, that we’re all just biological machines with no souls, then there’s no objective right and wrong, good and evil. There are just choices over which there can be no REAL, binding rule. There are only preferences. That means, at best, the Law is merely the collective whim of individuals who force their will on others. Justice is a mirage. Virtue and Vice are a fiction.

Atheists pushed back on that, saying that morality is real. They attempted to concoct an evolutionary origin of morality, a secular reason for it. But there wasn’t a shred of evidence for, nor consistency to, their explanations. They ended up with the debate version of egg on their faces.

As for the basic question, “Can morals exist without religion?” Sure. There are millions of generally moral people who aren’t Christians. Their morality may be due to their upbringing in a principled family. They may have the kind of personality with a strong moral compass.

The Bible acknowledges that the lost can be moral. The Apostle Paul talks about so-called “good people” in his letter to the Romans. But “being a good person” isn’t the issue. Good people are only good when compared to other people. That’s not God’s standard. Heaven isn’t a prize for good people. It’s a gift to forgiven people – those who realize no matter how they may stack up compared to others, they come short of God’s standard, and throw themselves on His mercy, receiving the gift of forgiveness He offers through the work of Jesus Christ.

10)  How Can Science and Religion Co-Exist?

While the answer to this could be a book – and there are volumes that deal with this – I’ll keep this short. There’s no problem between Christianity and real science. Some of history’s greatest scientists were and are Christians.

11)  Why Does the Bible Contain Harmful Teachings?

Like?

Seriously, what harmful teachings are in the Bible? Name one.

I love history and have studied it a fair bit. I can say that anyone who poses this challenge only reveals their lack of historical perspective.

I believe it was CS Lewis who referred to the problem of “chronological snobbery” – the idea that because we live now, at this end of a ceaseless line of progress, more evolved – that we’re better and smarter – than those poor schlubs of yesteryear.

Hardly!

It’s a mistake to take the values of today and layer them back onto past ages. When we listen to the voices of the past, letting them explain why they did what they did – seeing the reasons for their actions, it’s almost always hard to fault them.

Far and away, the Bible prescribed a path of life and living for the ancients far superior to the pagan alternative.

There are no harmful teachings in the Bible. What there is, is a prescription for flourishing.

12)  Why Does Religion Seem to Play a Part in War?

Speaking of history – Religion often did play a part in armed conflict. It’s more accurate to say, in the ancient world, it always played a part because everyone was religious. Being irreligious was not an option for the ancients. There were no atheists because if caught, they were executed as a threat to the community. This god or that goddess was offended by the irreligious. They’d cause a drought or some calamity till the unbeliever was executed for blasphemy.

Warfare was regarded as a contest of gods. Whoever’s deity was bigger and better won. Rulers gathered support from their people for war by stirring people to fight for their patron god or goddess.

The difference between Christianity and other religions is that armed conflict is not only not a part of the obligations of The Faith, it’s contrary to it. It’s not wrong for Christians to be in the military or law enforcement, but there’s nothing in Christianity that bears the obligation to take up the sword in its cause.

I’m doing an entire video series on Church history on the Enduring Word YouTube channel where we’ll be looking at the Crusades. While a bad time for the Church, it’s not nearly as bad as skeptics make out.

If the Church is to be blamed for fomenting war, then what are we to say of the atheistic ideologies and fascism and socialism that are responsible for more death, in a single century, than all previous centuries combined?!

In Points 13 and 14, the author poses questions less at people of faith and more at skeptics which I’ll just read.

13)  How Important is the Community Among Christians?

The author says it’s very important.

14)  How Does Your Belief in God Affect the Way You Live Your Life?  

Blackwood says many Christians are greatly helped by their faith in God.

Then she gets back to the challenges …

15)  If God is All-Perfect, Why Do So Many Imperfect Human Beings Occupy the World?

What’s He supposed to do – Nuke ‘em? People are imperfect because they’re free to choose. And they’re free to choose because love simply isn’t real unless it’s free.

There’s a classic answer to this challenge every Christian ought to know. This is not the best of all possible worlds. If there was one less crime, one less sin, it would be a better world. But – the Gospel is the best way to the best of all possible worlds.
Simply put, the way God has done things makes the very best pathway to the best of all possible worlds.

16)  What Do You Think About Trying to Convert People?

The author says, “Humanists object to people trying to convert them.”

And they are perfectly free to do so – just as the believer is free to share their faith. It’s called free speech. But more than that, it’s obedience to Jesus Who told us to go into all the world and make disciples. At the end of Mark’s Gospel, we’re told to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.

Our secular age hears this challenge this way – “It’s weong to tell people that they have to believe The Gospel or they are going to hell. That’s intolerant and judgmental.”

But here’s how the Biblically consistent Christian processes this challenge – Heaven and hell are real. Jesus said the only way to heaven is by trusting in Him and that as His follower, I need to tell others.

It’s not intolerant and judgmental to tell others they need to trust in Jesus. It’s the only consistent act of someone who cares!

Imagine you’re walking down the street and see the second story of a neighbor’s house on fire. You look in through the front window and see the family watching TV in the living room, unaware of the fire over their heads. Should you just walk on, not wanting to upset their nice night of family time in front of the tube – or should you pound on the front door, calling them to get out of there?

The world’s on fire, yet people go about their lives, blissfully unaware of the issues of eternity. Love, let alone common decency, demands we tell them Jesus is the door that leads to life.

17)  Why Did Moses Write the First Five Books of the Old Testament in the Third Person?

Maybe because he did?? Why is this in any way something that causes people to doubt the veracity of the record?

Authors regularly put themselves in the third person or otherwise refer to themselves obliquely. Especially when what they’re recording is a narrative whose object or subject is something other than themselves. If anyone knew he wasn’t the subject of the story, it was Moses.

And may I say, if someone stumbles at the veracity of the text over this, they are looking for reason not to believe.

18)  Do Disagreements with the Message of the Bible or the Christian Faith Give You Cause for Concern About the Accuracy of the Gospels?

No. Not even for a second.

I understand why someone who’s new to the faith and hasn’t had a chance to learn some basic apologetics might be shaken by the unbelief of a scholar or someone who claims to have examined Christianity. But anyone who’s investigated the Faith and researched answers to challenges such as these in the article I’m responding to, has their confidence in the truthfulness of The Gospel bolstered rather than diminished.

This is one of the hallmarks OF the Christian Faith. It is so internally consistent that challenges end up increasing the awareness of its reasonableness. And that’s why people who come with honest doubts, genuine seekers after truth, consistently end up coming to Faith in Christ.

Lance Ralston

Lance is the founding and lead pastor of Calvary Chapel Oxnard where he has served since 1982. Lance & David Guzik co-pastored the church for six years before David planted a church in a nearby community.

Lance & his wife Lynn were married in 1980 and have three adult children and five grandchildren. Lance loves teaching the Bible, History, and Leadership. He holds Masters-of-Arts in Biblical Studies and Ministry.
Lance serves as a chaplain for both the Oxnard and Port Hueneme Police Departments and enjoys backpacking, wood-working, working out, gardening, home improvement projects, reading, and graphic design.

The popular Communio Sanctorum: History of the Christian Church podcast can be found in both audio and video at the Into His Image website along with a growing inventory of Lances teaching.