For a good number of weeks, a discussion about the existence of God has been going on Twitter with Mr. David Obie,
@DavetheAtheist, from Houston, TX, allegedly. Of course, he asserts that God does not exist.
I say allegedly because I don't know more about him than Twitter. As I mentioned to him, I have more assurance that God is real than I have that Mr. Obie is real. After all, as I asserted to his complete lack of understanding, I get understandable electronic communications
from robots every day of the week.
At Switchboard, I am presented with this information when a search is done: We did not find any directory results for D Obie in Houston, Texas. Could this be evidence that Mr. Obie does not exist?
While he won't tell me which version of god he says does not exist, I am believing all the others are false except for the One True God, the Creator of the Universe.
For our so-called "atheist" readers, why do you allow yourselves to be called that? When you dissect the root word in the original,
a means "without" while
theo is the root word for God. If God does not exist, how can you be without that which you say does not exist? Seems like that would be something like saying you are going to get a root canal on a tooth that does not exist.
As I explained to the mythical Mr. Obie, being called an
agnostic would be more accurate verbiage, since you can't
know (ágnōtos
) there is no god, since you have not experienced all there is to experience in life nor traveled to furtherest reaches of the universe to uncover any of the life forms there.
Now
Clinton Richard Dawkins ran a campaign in the United Kingdom. The thing is interesting in that the campaign got translated into the King's English that
there's PROBABLY no god. Did you notice the amazing gap between probably and no god? How is it possible to claim there IS no god and quantify the claim as probable?
IF, there is no god and I choose to believe, as I explained to Mr. Obie, then I have harmed no one. IF, however, there IS a God and I have rejected His Son, then there's hell to pay. It's a gamble. For what are you, Reader, prepared to wager your soul?
Mr. Obie, if indeed he does exist, has been a good sport, for the most part. Unlike some of his cohorts, he only resorted to name-calling a handful of times. I have
occasionally noted that name-calling does not win debates, much less friends, ex. unsportsmanlike conduct.
So, he won't read "
Evidence that Demands a Verdict". He is aware of "
A Case for Christ". I have told him
Don't Check your Brain at the Door.
Reader, I challenge you to know what you believe and be capable of
always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. In the Greek,
defense is martyr, i.e. be a witness. In some versions, it reads
to give a reason. Obviously, the word has quite a different meaning in the Church today. More obviously, one can not be a witness to what they have not experienced.
He has stated time and again that the Bible is false, but offers no evidence. Since he rejects the Bible, I will resume my discussion by
noting extra-Biblical evidence of Jesus. After all, he admits that Jesus was a real person.
So, outside the Bible, what evidence can one glean that God does exist? One of my favorite is
Does God Exist? Mr. Clayton has
taught in the public schools for 41 years and has been doing presentations on the compatibility of science and faith for 41 years. I have found his material quite challenging mentally and accurate factually.
Mr. Obie has been, on no less than three occasions, challenged with
Pick the date. I will pick the place. We can have a lively discussion. His lack of faith has resulted in no debate on any evidence he may present regarding the existence of God. There are so many variations of the solution to the challenge that the reader can only conclude it lacks substance to his belief in nothing. Perhaps, Reader, this is additional evidence that Mr. Obie does not exist.
Reader, if Mr. Obie could not read the books to which I have directed his attention, I wonder why I should take my time to give MY reasons for accepting the One True God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, His Son Jesus, my Lord, and the Holy Spirit.
The summary of this discussion would naturally be the workings of the
witnesses described by Jesus as He prays in the garden before His crucifixion.
Extra-Biblical evidence of Jesus would be found in the writings of
Josephus, Oregin, and Pliny the Younger, just to name a few. Had Mr. Obie read any of the references above, he would have known this.
Additionally,
Galen and the Talmud mention Jesus.
Lucien, Thallus, and Flavius record, for posterity, the reality of Jesus. This is not hard to find.
Even Islam mentions
Jesus and Mary in the Qur'an.
As mentioned, the early
Church fathers wrote about Jesus. Their writings are not recorded in the Bible but they are the writings of the disciples of the Apostles. It appears, Mr. Obie bases his discounting of God on just a small portion of the evidence a Christian would use to determine the validity of Faith.
The Bible mentions over
500 witnesses of the risen Christ. These people are now dead. The reader, at this point, should ask "Why did they die?" History records that the majority of believers in the first 300 years of the Church believed under the peril of death. Indeed, there
remain today societies that have serious penalties for believers.
In other words, Reader, why would someone believe, if as a result of that believing, they would be torn asunder, drawn and quartered, crucified, burned at the stake, and a plethora of other methods the ancients used to kill, as described in
Foxes Book of Martyrs?
These believers were not stupid, ignorant people. They could think and write. They could and did attend schools. Many of their writings remain, yet are not included in the Bible.
Mr. Obie, whoever he is, would say that miracles produced by God are not possible because they can not be reproduced. To this, Reader, can we consider two thoughts?
When someone sets a record, are they able to reproduce the same effort consistently again and again? For example, does the person who broke the four-minute mile continue to this day maintain a four-minute mile? Because of the aging process, it is quite certain that the four-minute mile runner 30 years ago may, today, do good to walk a mile. Yet, history has recorded the record as broken. Such is it with the history of the Church. Because God exists, the Church continues to run and history continues to record her action.
Set against that, Reader, is the documentation of the miracles that witnesses observed. Because the miracle can not be reproduced in a laboratory should, in no way, obliterate the fact that the miracle occurred. In other words, witnesses can record the event, based on their viewpoint. For example, the auto accident at Main and Broadway could have four witnesses on the four corners of the intersection record different details of the accident but, the fact that they recorded differing facts does not obliterate the fact that the wreck happened.
There must be a body of Jesus to be produced for the Resurrection and Ascension to be false. Produce the body. Show that He did not resurrect. Show that He did not ascend. The lie is made known to the world. End of Christianity. In the mean time,
there's the empty tomb against which Mr. Obie may have you believe
the Body was stolen or
Jesus passed out.
Next, Reader, why would the Church spend so much time in evangelistic and humanitarian work, if it was for a lie? The discovery of the New World was, in SO many cases, ex. Christopher Columbus, not for the work of man but to further the reach of the Church. If it were for riches, Columbus died penniless. There is, however, no record of him being disappointed in the outcome of his work.
The early church spent time rescuing the discards of society. It is no secret that unwanted babies, discarded on the trash heap, were rescued to nurtured to life. That continues today in Christians being pro-life and while the world is pro-death.
It's no secret the the
first hospitals were religious operations. In Mr. Obie's home town, if indeed that is where he lives, there are three hospitals, i.e. St. Luke's, St. Joseph, and the Methodist Health Care system still bear witness of the faith upon which they were founded.
Reader, please don't believe Mr. Obie. There's no evidence he or his unbeliefs are real. Your faith does not need to rest on feelings. There's plenty of evidence to show that Jesus is real, that He died for your sins, He presented Himself to many witnesses (the least of which was me), He ascended into Heaven where He patiently sits at the right hand of Father God waiting to return to redeem His Church.
In other words, I have experience with Jesus, the Son of God, and Father God. I found the belief in nothing wanting. Jesus has the power to change the lives of people. Over the years, He has proven that power to be real to those witnesses, real people, in the first century and today and every day in between.
