From the Introduction of My Book.

Since here at DC our posts are brief and haphazard, let me challenge people who visit to seriously consider getting my book to read one single cumulative case against the Christian faith. In it you won't find a piecemeal argument like you find here on a daily basis. Consider reading it. Here's a selection from my introduction explaining what I aim to do in the book:

In this book I’m writing to explain why I rejected Christianity. It’s sincere, and it’s honest. In it I present a cumulative case argument against Christianity. It includes my own personal experiences with the Christian faith, along with the arguments that I find persuasive enough for me to reject that faith. I consider this book to be one single argument against Christianity, and as such it should be evaluated as a whole. My claim is that the Christian faith should be rejected by modern, educated people, even if I know many of them will still disagree. I’m just sharing the reasons that convinced me, and I think they should convince others. If someone is persuaded by the same reasons I argue for in this book, then I’m pleased.

My method is explained in more detail later in this book, but let me introduce it here. I consider the most significant sections (or subsets) of my argument to be

1) Sociological, in “The Outsider Test For Faith…”;

2) Philosophical, in "Does God Exist?," and "Do Miracles Take Place?”;

3) Scientific, in “The Lessons of Galileo, Science and Religion”;

4) Biblical, in “The Strange and Superstitious World of the Bible”;

5) Historical, in “Historical Evidence and Christianity”; and,

6) Empirical in “The Problem of Evil.” All of these sections are partially summed up in “The Achilles’ Heel of Christianity.”

These sections provide me with the control beliefs for rejecting Christianity’s specific foundational miracle/doctrinal claims.

Since having control beliefs don’t by themselves tell me what to believe about the evidence of a specific miracle claim, I will also examine the evidence for the foundational miracle claims of Christianity. I will consider them as the historical claims they are. I will examine them by looking at the internal evidence found within the Biblical texts themselves. I’ll consider what these texts actually say and scrutinize their internal consistency. Wherever relevant, I’ll also consider whether the Old Testament actually predicts some of these events. Then I will examine these claims by looking at the external evidence. I’ll consider any independent confirmation of these events outside of the texts. Lastly I will subject these claims to the canons of reason using the control beliefs I have previously argued for. I will conclude from all of this that Christianity should be rejected.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey John. I Got your book. I haven't read the whole thing yet though. I flipped through it. I completely understand what your saying about the superstitious world of the Bible. There's been times in my own life when I've been at church and I watch those people and I say to myself man this is just a bunch of crap. What started it off for me was Genesis chapter one and then I ran into the the prophecy that Jesus was going to return in the generation of the disciples. I have found satisfactory explanations to those problems although you wouldn't accept them. I have a modified version of John Sailhammer's interpretation of Genesis that I think might work. I won't go into the details though because you would probably just see it as a compromise and me just trying to make the Bible agree with science. I think it's correct though. Anyway....

Anonymous said...

Thanks Calvin. Let me know as you work through it.

Regarding Sailhamer's book. He says that Genesis 1:1 describes the creation of the universe during an indeterminate amount of time, while Genesis 1:2-2:4a describes the preparation of the land (the Garden of Eden/Promised Land) over six literal days.

Sailhamer claims that ancient Jewish readers would naturally understand the land of Genesis 1 as referring to the Promised Land (p. 52). This is a implausible claim indeed, considering that none of the Talmudic writers understood Genesis 1 in this way. Sailhamer’s interpretation involves many other far-fetched ideas, such as a belief that the sky was still empty of life on Day 2 (p. 122). But this is preposterous if birds had been flying around for millions of years as he previously claimed. Since Sailhamer believes the universe, including the sun, was created “in the beginning” (verse 1), when God said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3) it refers to the advent of sunrise. But if the sun had been continuously rising every day for billions of years prior to that day, then what is so noteworthy about this particular sunrise such that it deserves any mention at all? The Biblical text is against this model in so many ways.

Anonymous said...

I'm reading and enjoying the book also, John. I'm getting a little bogged down in some of the scriptural dissection in the middle of the book, but I attribute that to a Catholic upbring, which only hit those parts of the scriptures that were read in church, which means only about 1% of the Bible. I'm amazed at the other stuff that's in there.

The arguments are eye-opening though.

I hope to finish it this week.

Anonymous said...

I think SnapShots are a real good argument against the existence of God. What kind of loving God would allow a programmer to create such an annoying widget? Am I supposed to be thankful for that? Not that I am judging the script kiddy - I thought a little preview window of the page beyond the link was a great idea back in 1998. Of course I also believed in Hell in '98. Turns out I was believing in the same thing.

Otherwise, thanks for the site from an ex-pentecostal, ex-apologist, ex-missionary, ex-believer. It has been quite a journey. The psychological impact, and therefore the day-to-day life impact, of these beliefs have been devestating to me personally.

I began dismantling my faith about 10 years ago during my missionary years after a gung-ho spiritual giant recruited me and my wife to join them on a mission to reach a people group half way around the world in a very dangerous place, then he (in)explicably discovered a new leading from the Lord to go back to the cozy US just a few months after arriving in said location, and left us there. (Don't accuse me of bitterness, I'm not. I still love the guy and consider him a friend. Just human like me.)

I had seen this kind of convienient "leading" for years in the mission, but this instance gave me serious pause. I had already long before jettisoned my Pentecostalism, and End-Times theology, and Young Earth creationism which put me in a no-mans land of belief/non-belief.

I still held to the core of the faith: Hebrew God, Jesus, Hell, Salvation. That began to unravel back in 2001 during the breakup of my marriage (which has since reconciled as is better than ever thank you - despite the fact that one of my personal therapies was to "pray" in the "F"-word, and call that diety I had served every vile name in the book).

The real tipping point was when I realized that "The God I Knew" as I began to call him, was destroying my life. In short I discovered that I was unable to find success or achieve in anything because that meant aspiring or wanting something more than I had, and that, the God-I-Knew, told me was ungodly. So to even strive to have anything beyond mere survival was FIGHTING against his will. I was in a no win situation.

I realized that this deep mental programming was a problem and began an aggressive campaign to silence the voice of the "God I knew". I still held to the hope of a God who really is God, asked him to show up. He didn't. Which left me pretty much godless - and able to think critically about the whole god idea.

Finding sites like yours is helpful, not only reading others who have traveled similar paths, but also finding the tools to strip away the intricate layers of belief that still infuse and influence my thinking. The journey continues, but now it is turning from purging false beliefs into, to borrow from a Believer..... How Should We then Live?

Anonymous said...

Just a question: "what do you mean by show up?" Do you expect the creator of the universe who, sent his only son to die for us so that we might live, make some miracle so that you can decide if he is real or not? I know I will never leave the faith, for once you have felt true love, true peace, there is nothing like it. I just don't know what you experienced as a pentacostal.

Anonymous said...

i wore no God glasses for 28 years. ever since i put God-glasss on i see the world more clearly. ;)

Anonymous said...

If something is plainly wrong, then it's wrong. Slavery is one of those "wrong" things. We do not need to "interpret" some ancient script to
weave our way through what is right and what is wrong.- Kevin