Agnosticism is the most logical perspective on religion and spirituality

Introduction I see that my opponent sees himself as a “hopeful agnostic”, and I thoroughly respect and understand his position. As with my metaphor in my opening argument, there are many different religions with even more disagreements as to what spiritual truth is. I hope to present an adequate argument for Christianity to sever his doubts of religion. Rebuttals Why are there natural disasters? “[I]n various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. ” Jesus, as quoted in Matthew 24. Natural disasters are not only mentioned in the Bible, but as shown, they seem to be in God's control. Now, there are many positive aspects to natural disasters, as they bring people together and allow for people to show their love by helping to support the victims of natural disasters. However, it is also noted that they cause collateral damage- the deaths of innocent people. If God truly does exist, this is not entirely a bad thing. Even though the innocent die, they are free of guilt and sin, and their reward is eternal life. It should also be noted that Scripture depicts God as the cause of the greatest natural disaster of all- the flood of Noah's day. The story leaves us to believe that God willingly destroyed every human being except Noah's family. God gives and takes away, seemingly making no exception whether the person be guilty or innocent. But the innocent are those who will be rewarded, so integrity is what we must maintain. Why are there genetic defects? Genetic defects exist because of mutations. As Christians, we believe that Adam and Eve were created perfectly, but because of sin, we opened ourselves up to mortality and an imperfection of life. It is agreed that children should not have to suffer, but as already stated, the innocent who maintain integrity are those who are rewarded. All humans are born with defects in one way or another, and we all have our own battles to deal with. If a god exists, he should look upon with favor those who won those personal battles. Religious Books One must understand that, yes, religious books are numerous and written by ancient men, but that does not necessarily lead to them having no benefits to the current generation of humanity. Religious books reflect the philosophies of various cultures and provide an insight on what life's meaning may be. Religion itself is man-made, and all religious thought seeks to bridge the gap between the ignorance of man and the knowledge of the divine. When it comes to the Bible, there are three ways to understand it: Everything in it is completely accurate history; Everything in it is true history with ancient people ascribing certain things to what they thought was supernatural; or it is mostly allegorical. The allegorical method helps to explain why there aren't modern revelations of God, although I understand this isn't a convincing argument. To truly give an adequate answer, one must realize that if the Bible is historically accurate, revelations from God only came once every few centuries to certain people, which may be a phenomenon that continues to happen today. The belief in Christianity is that there will be a second coming of Jesus, which everyone will see, and will finally provide the evidence requested. Christianity has become a religion that claims Jesus as the Messiah, and should anyone not adhere to some fundamental beliefs like the one just presented, they are prescribed to burn in an everlasting torment. However, this 'good news' of the gospel was not the original intention. Before Judaism, there were no creeds of faith, mankind's purpose was to live a righteous life while acknowledging their Creator. This is what Jesus came to re-establish- the Jews were set out to be a priestly nation of the world, and that is why the Messiah came through them. A true Christian lives to spread the good news- that there will be a resurrection, that life does not end with death. The way to this gift relies on how a person treats his life- not to what particular religion or creed he adheres to, and those who choose not to live righteously simply will not be resurrected (as opposed to burning for eternity). There is no need to worry about choosing the wrong religions, so long as you choose to live for the Creator of the universe. Many religions disagree on the semantics of which man-made creeds bring us closer to the Creator, but these disagreements do not negate the idea of God, they are merely what we would expect should a God exist- people will disagree about what His truth is. Intelligence My opponent tries to argue that the more intelligent a person is, the less likely he is to believe in God. With the separation of church and state and the overarching plea for naturalistic explanations for everything, one should expect scientists to be generally atheistic or agnostic. Should scientists publish articles that include any reference to Intelligent Design, they are usually forced out of their position. When one is forced not to believe in God, then yes, we should expect them to more than likely be atheist. (See the documentary “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” for source) (I could make a list of many scientists who made some of the biggest contributions to science and were also superbly religious, like Sir Isaac Newton, but appealing to authority is a fallacy that I will avoid. The point is, the case can be made for both sides, that either the more intelligent, they will be more atheistic/theistic. ) Closing Statements There are many methods to increase the length of life, as my opponent has mentioned, but the point is to give life quality, not quantity. My stance allows both: life having great meaning with spirituality while a likely increased length of years because of that. I can have my cake and eat it too. We are endowed with the ability to reason and speculate. This was not so we could remain in ignorance, but so that we could make conclusions that should ultimately lead to seeing a world that appears in every way designed. Affirming that God exists provides more fulfillment in life than would living in an indefinitely questioning state.