5 Questions? How About 10? Or 100?

A recent commenter here, Justin, got me to finally register with YouTube, though he won’t know it until he reads this. I clicked back on his name in my comments last week, and found he was in the process of an anticipated series of posts at his blog 100 Treatises,  responding to a Christian YouTube video entitled, 5 Questions every intelligent atheist MUST answer. He’s completed them, addressing each question seriatum in five posts, in the process smashing the premise of the video to little tiny bits. Take a look at them here, here, here, here and here. As a read these, I thought “It would be so simple to create a video in response that asked 5 questions Christians MUST answer.” If only I had the technical capability. Then I looked in the list of suggested similar videos in the right column on YouTube, and saw that someone beat me to it. Not only that, but the response was 10 questions every intelligent Christian MUST answer.

In addition to these questions, there are so many more that one could ask. For instance, why is the universe, supposedly created just for us, totally and practically unreachable by humans due to its sheer size? Was something so immense created as a mere backdrop so that we could enjoy an infinitesimally small portion of it as pretty twinkling night lights, never having any experience of the rest until science invented the telescope?

Or, how about, if god took the time and trouble to send his “only begotten son” to Earth to save us from the sins he created and subsequently duped us into committing, why didn’t he leave a better, more obvious means of explaining it? Why didn’t Jesus, while he was here, dictate or write something himself? Maye even create a video we could watch knowing in his omniscience that we would invent it?

The list could go on and on, but the theist will simply create rationalization after rationalization amounting to a whole body of apologetics to explain away all the inconsistencies, conundrums and sheer nonsense the questions raise. Clearly when someone wants to believe something irrational, there is nothing – evidence, logic, facts – that will stand in the way of waving away any and all inconvenient questions.

All we can do is keep asking them and hope the intelligent ones out there – the ones who really want to know the truth – will honestly answer them, instead of grasping at every rationalization offered by religion.

So. What other questions could we ask?

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10 thoughts on “5 Questions? How About 10? Or 100?

  1. Thanks for the mention, Spanish Inquisitor. There are definitely some good videos on this topic, but I thought I would add my 2 cents.

    “Jesus is all-powerful and timeless, but if you pray for Jesus to appear nothing happens.” That line is hilarious to me for some reason. He says it in such a perplexed manner.

    Although it may seem ridiculous to people like us, this kind of video is actually EXTREMELY useful because it’s straightforward, and asks simple questions that an intelligent Christian indeed must wonder about. It also helps to dispel the notion that all atheists “hate god” and “don’t want to be judged” and all that.

    I am reminded of a devout believer friend I knew in college. She was clearly very intelligent, hard-working and had good critical thinking skills, and yet when I asked her where’s the proof for God, she replied (eyes widening, shocked and surprised) “It’s in the Bible!!”

    Just 4 little words to explain the most profound and mysterious aspects of reality. Amazing what indoctrination can do.

    • I think back on when I believed in god. It was not a thinking process, it was a visceral process, like breathing. I just assumed it was true. That’s what indoctrination does. It’s virtually imprinted, hard-wired (as scientists like to metaphorically describe it) into the brain. It is very hard to break through, psychologically speaking.

      It seems that first you have to do a study of, and actively acknowledge the value of, critical thinking, logic and reason in your life. Belief is passive. It assumes things we’ve always known to be true are still true. Since we were indoctrinated with the truth of religion, we don’t feel the need to actively re-examine it. But once we’ve acknowledged that we have to do that in other areas of our life, and actually do it every day, then it’s not so hard to go back and open up that Pandora’s box of religion we stored away in our brain. And once it’s open…

  2. For instance, why is the universe, supposedly created just for us, totally and practically unreachable by humans due to its sheer size?

    I once asked a Christian with a PhD (in computers) if he believed that there could be extra-terrestrial life. He said, “No, because then Jesus would have to die at each of those places.”

    I was a Christian at the time, and when he responded so categorically, I was surprised at his thoughtlessness. I didn’t express my disappointment, but my mind was racing,

    “So, how does he know that Jesus doesn’t make it a career of going around the universe dying for sins all over the place?”

    “Has it occurred to him that the idea that Jesus would have to die again and again makes the whole concept of dying for sins absolutely ridiculous and unbelievable?”

  3. then Jesus would have to die at each of those places

    Why? If his death at one time and place in the universe covered all humankind all over the earth throughout all time, why couldn’t it have covered all life forms throughout the universe at all times? Also, is the assumption that all sentient beings throughout the universe would require salvation from sins?

    And people think this stuff makes more sense than atheism.

  4. I know I’m late to the party, but my question is usually “Why did Jesus just randomly heal rather then teaching people the germ theory of disease and encouraging handwashing?”

    • Because if you teach someone to fish, they’ll be self sufficient and you’ll be forgotten, but if you make a show of giving someone a fish, then everyone will remember and follow you looking for free fish.

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