Does God Exist? (Part 2)

Before I start, I’d like to respectfully correct your assumption that religious people are blind, dumb, and simple. You’ve made several statements such as Christians having “simple minds, who don’t bother to ask questions.” This is really offensive and wrong. There are lots of brilliant, creative religious people who love asking questions. Please stop assuming this. I’d like to respond to your belief that I have never studied or do not understand evolution. I actually have studied it. I have a college degree and I’ve taken numerous classes on biology, chemistry, and physics. I understand that evolution is the process by which all life diversity emerged from small changes within species over billions of years. I admit I gave a very simple and silly example of evolution in the first round, but that is because you told me you have trouble understanding complex sentences in English. If you’d like, I’d be happy to write more complex versions of my arguments. I had to laugh a little after seeing that your recommended reading was from Wikipedia and YouTube. These are not reliable or scientific sources. I am not trying to be rude, I’m just trying to be honest – please provide better sources. 1) Atheism/evolution DOES say everything is essentially an accident. According to evolution, those fish you mention developed gills because some fish, by complete chance of genetic mutation, developed gills which by accident turned out to be better adapted to their environment. According to natural selection, the fish with gills survived better than those without them, and so all the fish without gills eventually died off. According to natural selection, this all happens by genetic mutation, which is another way of saying genetic accident. You claim that modern humanity is smarter. People like Aristotle, Sir Isaac Newton, and Leonardo DiVinci are no less brilliant than our modern thinkers. Having better technology does not mean we are smarter. Our “dumb” ancestors somehow figured out how to build the Great Pyramids to mathematical precision without power tools and invented calculus without calculators. It is wrong to believe we are smarter than these people – most everything we know today is BECAUSE of the work and discoveries they made. 2) You bring up a good point about music creating emotion, but you miss the deeper issue. Under your worldview these emotions are not real, they are just chemical reactions to vibrating sound waves in our ears. That’s it. If you are ok with accepting that, then there is not much more I can say. I believe there must be something deeper to human emotion and desire. I will answer your questions about Christianity in the next section. 3) Saying “the purpose of life is a life with purpose” is meaningless. It is a circular statement. You might as well say “the answer to the question is the question’s answer.” While these statements may be true, they do not help us understand exactly what the purpose or answer is. You basically suggest life’s meaning is just made up. This thinking goes along the lines of Viktor Frankl and other existentialist philosophers, but it makes no sense to me. If the meaning of life is just made up – then that is not real meaning. I believe you are wrong by saying people are encouraged to live better lives if they know death is the end. This would make people live more selfish lives. It means your own life is the most valuable thing you own. What would motivate soldiers to face death for the innocent, or for someone to run into a burning building to save a stranger? If your life is all you have, you would be stupid to risk losing it. As far as science goes, simply living longer is not a good option. I refuse to believe that just making myself comfortable and healthy for 80 or so years is the best thing I can hope for. That’s a very depressing thought in my opinion. 4) I watched your videos, and they still do not answer the central problem I see in your view. The man in the video says himself, “you kind of shape your own morality.” If you make up your own morality, then that is not morality - it is an opinion! If each person has the right to “kind of shape their own morality” then how do we have the right to say someone else’s moral code is wrong? By what authority do we claim that our morals are better than someone else’s? We as humans lose the ability to judge someone else’s actions as “good” or “bad” if there is no higher judge to appeal to. Those definitions are purely subjective if humans are the highest authority. Now, on to your questions about Christianity: 1) I came to the conclusion God is real at age 19 because I was not satisfied with atheism’s explanations of morality, life origins, death, and purpose. I chose Christianity over other religions because all other religions focus on man – pray here, wear this, eat that – Christianity is the only religion I found that actually puts the focus on God. A pastor I listen to said it best, “Religion is about what we do for God, Christianity is about what God did for us.” It is also the only religion whose god conquered death and has some kind of historical/eyewitness evidence for doing so other than mere legend. Yes, there were many teachers, friends, mentors, and books who influenced me during this process. 2) Yes, I believe we have limited logic. This goes together with Christianity for me because we believe God is all wise and powerful. I would have to be all wise and powerful myself to fully understand something like that. Because I obviously am not, it makes sense that I cannot fully understand everything about god. If I could, He would not be a god worth worshipping. Not fully understanding and not making sense are two different things. God can still make sense even though I don’t fully understand him – just like quantum physics can still make sense even if we don’t fully understand it. 3) I do accept all CENTRAL aspects of Christianity. I say central because there are many side aspects that Christians debate about such as how old the Earth is and stuff. I also believe in evolution, which I can explain later if you want. 4) Judgment – No, god does not judge based on actions or “pure goodness.” The Bible is clear that god judges based on faith alone. That is what makes Christianity unique. 5) Heaven – no, the Bible teaches we do not keep our human imperfections in heaven. Everything is perfect, there are no more mistakes. 6) Creating men – the Bible is very clear that God created man for his own glory. Yes, this is “selfish.” The Bible often describes God as a “jealous” God. What makes selfishness wrong however is demanding attention when you don’t deserve it. Demanding attention when you DO deserve it is called respect. If God is perfect and holy, then he DOES deserve attention and His “selfishness” is not wrong. 7) Yes, hell is the same according to Christianity. But the Bible says any and all bad actions are erased as if they never even happened through true faith. 8) I am 27 years old.