[Part 2 of a 3-part series]
This continues 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 four of the eighteen “uncomfortable questions” in Part 1. According to the author of the original article, atheists want to ask Christians …
5) Do You Ever Have Doubts About Your Faith?
Again, is this really something atheists want to ask people of faith? I doubt it.
Of course, we have doubts. Some are easily dismissed. Others are stubborn. But let’s make a distinction between honest & dishonest doubt. Honest doubts find answers. Dishonest doubts are just excuses to do what one wants.
I’ve seen this in conversations with critics many times. They pose what they consider to be some damning challenge, then when it’s answered, instead of discarding it and moving toward faith, they just move to the next, what they think is a slam-dunk challenge. What I’ve found helpful is to not let them just move on, but to press in and ask them what they’re going to do with the answer to their empty challenge. I ask something like, “Let’s say I give good answers to ALL your questions and challenges. Will you then admit the Gospel is true and put your faith in Jesus?”
Almost always, their answer is “No way.” When I ask why, they will often admit because they don’t want to be a Christian.
At that point, I usually just smile and say – “Well, there it is. Thanks for being honest. There’s no point, is there, in you continuing to make your objections and issue your challenges since the problem is not that you can’t believe but that you won’t? Your unbelief is more about your heart than your head.”
6) Why Is Christianity the ‘True’ Religion?
Here’s another query I doubt skeptical atheists ask. They’ve decided Christianity isn’t true. That’s why they’re atheists.
It’s really a rather pointless question as well. Of course Christians believe the their Faith is true! Why would they adhere to it if they thought it wasn’t? The Truth of the Christian Faith is validated by many things. A few of those are …
- It’s entirely internally consistent. That is, the multitude of factors that frame it all complement each other seamlessly. There’s no disharmony between the parts, which can’t be said for other ideologies and religions.
- The Bible, its authoritative tome, has been shown to be historically accurate and prophetically prescient.
- Jesus, the foundation and fountainhead of the Faith, made the august claim that He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life and that no one obtains salvation except through Him. Either that’s the raving of a megalomaniac, or it’s true. Jesus’ historically verifiable resurrection from the dead moves the pointer to the second option. He IS Who He claimed to be.
- There’s a profound self-validating test for the truth of Christianity in the lives of those who come to Faith in Jesus that is more than merely subjective. While there are many exceptions, the reality is – the change that takes place in Christians points to something having happened to and in them. They become what the Bible says they are – New people. It’s that change that stands as the single greatest impetus for non-Christians to consider The Gospel. They see the impact following Jesus has on a friend or loved one and are attracted to Him.
7) How Can the Miracles of Jesus Be Explained?
Atheists eschew the existence of any realm besides the physical. Therefore, miracles cannot exist. Any unexplained phenomenon that occurs must simply be due to physical laws acting in a heretofore unknown way. But the atheist’s refusal to acknowledge the spiritual realm does not mean it does not exist.
The skeptic begins with a presupposition that the only reality is what the five senses of sight, sound, touch, scent, and taste are able to perceive.
Hold on. That’s a presupposition – a mental starting point. On what basis is it a valid starting place? Only the basis of a mental position – a belief – an activity of the mind. Press the skeptic to define the mind and you’ll find an inability to do so. There is no universally accepted definition of the mind.
When I say “mind” don’t assume that’s the brain. The brain is a physical organ we know is the biological center of thinking. But the process of thought is still a mystery. That process is the mind, an immaterial “ghost in the machine” that is the brain.
Consider this – our five senses send stimulus to the brain which interprets them as images, sounds, smells, etc.. The language center of the brain attaches labels to them – identifies them. We see a furry four-legged creature and say – “cat.” We smell something delicious and say, “tacos.” We hear a series of melodic sounds and say, “Pachelbel’s Canon in D.” But we do more; much more. Some smells and sounds evoke memories and powerful emotions that send us off into a season of deep nostalgia. That nostalgia prompts us to attempt to get in touch with an old friend or return to a favorite place of our past. That’s the working of the mind, something far more complex than the firing of electrical signals across the synapses of the brain.
So there IS an actual immaterial thing in humans called “the mind.” It’s not physical, but no less real. The existence of the mind means there IS a reality beyond the limits of physicality. Precisely what the Bible says. There’s a spiritual realm. It’s the realm God inhabits and existed before the physical universe came into existence.
That means miracles are not just possible, they’re probable – since the biggest miracle of all WAS the creation of the physical universe out of nothing. The universe IS a miracle since its existence requires a reality above it. A lesser cannot do a greater, but a Greater can certainly do a lesser. The universe could not create God, but God could and DID – create the universe.
Miracles are only impossible to the person who decides they are. They are not impossible because they are necessarily so.
8) What Does RELIGION Have to Say About Evolution?
Some “religions” have no problem with evolution – but we’re not talking about generic religion. We’re talking about Christianity.
While I do NOT believe in Darwinism, that is, the kind of evolution where over long stretches of time, one species gives rise to another, to be fair – it must be said that there are Christians who do believe in it. It isn’t necessary to disavow evolution to be a Christian. There’s going to be challenges to how one understands the Bible if someone clings to Darwinism, but the Question of Origins isn’t an essential of the Faith.
This is a subject that’s near and dear to me since I originally wanted to be a geologist and spent my early years in college headed in that direction. There’s no time to go into details now. Suffice it to say — I’ve spent many hours over the last 50 years comparing the best evidence and arguments for both current models of Evolutionism and Creationism. Without question – Creationism wins. The work of the relatively new field of Intelligent Design has put the nails in the coffin of Darwinism and Neo-Darwinism. So much so, a growing list of scientists have moved from agnosticism and atheism to Theism – a kind of generic belief in God.
[This ends part 2 of a 3-part series]
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.
