108: The Case for Faith (Part One)
By Christopher Thielen on March 17, 2014
Tom, Chris Lazare, and Christopher Thielen discuss Lee Strobel’s book The Case For Faith, dissecting the eight objections Strobel believes every person of faith should be able to comprehend.
References:
- Sam Harris debates William Lane Craig [anamericanatheist.org]
- Lee Strobel [wikipedia.org]
Corrections:
- David Hume lived in the 18th, not 19th, century.
- It is estimated that billions of humans, not trillions, have ever lived.
Regarding the claim that god is “testing” you with pain, suffering, poverty, hard times, etc.:
How does one decipher if it is actually god testing you? Couldn’t one also say that it is in fact the devil is who is wreaking such strife? For example, if one goes bankrupt, who gets the credit for that - god or the devil? One could say god is merely testing your faith, and he will eventually lead you out of financial despair when god determines is the right time. It is also valid to claim the devil has been up to his old tricks, stole your financial assets, and caused the unlucky person a whole lot of trouble. One cannot say with any certainty, and it’s essentially left to speculation. It would be an act of futility to ask the devil to play nice, because he doesn’t care about feelings or quality of life - his modus operandi is Schadenfreude. God has his own agenda and “works in mysterious ways,” as the trope goes. It would also be futile to argue with the omnipotent megalomaniac god is (yet people continue to pray to him like it will change anything).
If we can’t determine which being is causing us strife, what’s the point in giving it any thought to the “who-dun-it” debate? Great stuff happens. Bad stuff happens. Random stuff happens. It’s part of being alive.
Regarding the bit where the author talks about oxygen and potassium don’t explode in your body: if you want to call that a miracle, that drastically dilutes the meaning of the word. That would be like saying, “I took another breath! It’s a miracle! Oh, I just took another breath! Wow, god is sure great!” That’s not a miracle; that’s a bodily function. I don’t know what specifically could be construed as a miracle, seeing as that random things happen ALL THE TIME. Calling things that don’t seem likely to happen a miraculous event is ignorant and myopic.
I think my points are nothing new to the atheist argument, but I thought I’d share my bit with you fine folks. The AAA podcast is great; I listen to every episode.