Atheism vs. Christianity, A Response to Unanswered Questions
Christian--Dr William Lane Craig
Atheist--Frank Zindler
1. Today's Christians have narrowed the definition of "Christian" so much that it excludes everything and everyone embarrassing to Christianity. Hitler was baptized a Christian and said he was promoting "Positive Christianity." David Koresh and Jim Jones were Christians. You Christians try to avoid responsibility for all these evil Christians by arbitrarily excluding them by definition.
A: This is an equivocation fallacy. While atheists often accuse Christians of limiting the definition of Christianity, they expand it to the extent that it is meaningless - such as calling Hitler a Christian when his definition of "Positive Christianity" was "Positive Christianity is National Socialism . . . . The Fuehrer is the herald of a new revelation" . To indict Christianity because of evil people who attempt to identify themselves as Christians, the atheist must first establish that the leader of Christianity (Jesus Christ) and his teachings (as found in the New Testament) condone, command, or encourage such evil. They don't. This is reviewed succinctly
2. Jesus was a man and needed to breathe to live. How, for example, according to Acts, could he have "ascended" into space, which has too little oxygen to support human life?
A: Atheists who attempt to ridicule the Bible by ignoring normal rules of literary interpretation and usage end up ridiculing themselves. Abundant general literary precedent, as well as specific Hebrew and Greek literary techniques, affirm that phrases including geographical references to non-geographical states such as heaven, hell, death, and despair are not meant to refer to actual geographic or spatial locations. Jesus didn't need to find oxygen to breathe in space because he didn't go into space. Heaven is a different dimension, not some place past the galaxy! A contemporary example would be the common phrase, "You're driving me crazy," which no one should interpret to mean that you are physically restraining me in your vehicle as you transport me to the geographical location of lunacy (probably California!).
3. The Bible teaches that there is a flat earth. For example, Satan couldn't have shown Jesus all the kingdoms of the world at once if the world weren't flat. Also, if "every eye shall see him" refers to Jesus' Second Coming, the Bible must assume the earth is flat.
A: Neither passage cited can be used to infer a flat earth assumption on the part of the Bible. Even if the earth were flat, the distances involved would preclude both Jesus' human eyes seeing far enough to see all kingdoms and also each human seeing far enough to see Jesus at His Second Coming. The verses have nothing to do with any assumptions about the shape of the earth. Additionally, neither passage says how either all the kingdoms could be seen at once, or Jesus could be seen by everyone at once. If man, in the relative infancy of his technological creativity, can "show" a football game in Florida to an audience in Oregon via satellite, surely it wouldn't be hard to believe that an evil angel in the one example, or God Himself in the second example, could reveal either the kingdoms of the world to one person, or one person to the entire world. Again, the atheist must accord the same literary sophistication to the Bible as he would to any other literary work, including the figurative "four corners of the earth" (a Greek idiom) in Revelation 20:8 and the "circle of the earth" in Isaiah 40:22. Frankly, if the atheist is willing to believe Satan and Jesus talked, and that Jesus is coming again, he doesn't have far to go to believe that one can see either the kingdoms of the world or the Son of God.
4. The Greek word for "breath" is pneuma, and is used to refer to the Holy Spirit and/or the human spirit or life force. The Bible compounds its ignorance by ascribing physical breath to God, who is allegedly non-physical, and then calling that physical breath the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit!
A: Atheists who dogmatically assert that biblical words such as "spirit" can have only one meaning (are univocal) betray their ignorance of common word usage. Any good biblical language aid recognizes the variety of terms used to refer to the immaterial part of man (his spirit) and the variety of uses for the one word pneuma. For example, generally when pneuma refers to the third person of the Trinity, it is used with the definite article (a definite article is like "the").
5. The Bible is not only internally inconsistent, but also medically ridiculous. The Old Testament says "the life is in the blood" (Lev. 17:11), and New Testament verses ascribe life to "breath." Neither ignorant biblical view recognizes the facts of modern medical science, which understands animal life as ending with brain death and/or heart failure.
A: Both "blood" and "breath" are used metaphorically to refer to one's life. This is common in many other cultural traditions and ages as well as in the biblical world. In this kind of metaphor, called synechdoche, "the whole is named by the part," as in the common nautical designation of "the fleet is in" when we mean to include the personnel as well as the vessels. Use of various kinds of metaphors is in Ryken's Words of Delight. Additionally, the plain sense of the passage is an indisputable "medical" observation - those with no blood or no breath do not live.
6. We know that man evolved and therefore Adam and Eve are fictional characters. All mankind is not descended from one human couple. If the story of Adam and Eve is fiction, then so is the universality of the Fall. If the Fall is fiction, then there is no need for atonement to be provided by Jesus Christ. If there is no need for atonement, then Jesus is out of a job and has joined the ranks of the unemployed.
A: There are several different approaches to this question that show it is not a valid objection to the existence of the Christian God. First, whether or not the biblical account of creation is accurate or Jesus is "unemployed," God could still exist and the Bible could be flawed. Second, it does not follow logically that the theory of macro or general evolution contradicts the idea of a historical Adam and Eve. Some people who believe the Bible speculate that man could have developed through primate evolution until a specific point when the first fully human pair were infused with "the image of God," including moral responsibility. Third, evolutionary science is not nearly so monolithic or universally trouble free as Zindler believes. As a matter of fact, serious non-Christian scientists have called into question not only particular details of common evolutionary theory, but have also raised serious challenges to the foundation of evolutionary theory. Fourth, that every human being commits sin (moral transgression) is self-evident and socially documented, regardless of the explanation (such as the Adam and Eve account) for that propensity to sin. Since every human being commits sin, we are in need of a remedy, which the Bible says is provided through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ on our behalf according to the scriptures - so Jesus Christ would not be "unemployed" even if the Adam and Eve account were not true. In conclusion, the Adam and Eve account is not conclusively disproved by the theory of evolution, which itself has scientific problems, and even if it were, every human being's sinfulness still needs atonement.
7. The Bible has a primitive idea of humanity and without any evidence assumes that man has an independent, immaterial soul. Because science has shown us evidence of the validity of evolution, we know the idea of some sort of immaterial soul is foolish.
A: This is a variation on question number six. This atheist argument contains two false assumptions. First, that science has proved evolution; and second, that scientific testing, designed to test physical things, can adequately disprove nonphysical things such as the soul. The atheist's unwarranted naturalistic bias makes him think his argument is valid.
8. The Bible arrogantly describes man as a special creation of God, qualitatively different from any other life form. However, modern science has proved that genetically we are 98% similar to apes - we are only separated by a 2% genetic difference.
A: The atheist who broaches this argument has made no argument at all. Percentages prove nothing. After all, we're mostly water, but Zindler would not claim we are close cousins to lettuce. When the Bible describes humans as qualitatively different from any other created thing, including other animals, it refers to man in the image of God, that is, with attributes relating to the immaterial part of his nature, not to his physical body. What distinguishes humans from animals are attributes such as personality, will, self-determination, self-cognizance, creativity, and rational discourse. None of these attributes are physical. In fact, since both humans and animals are created by the one God, it should not surprise us that both share many physical similarities. Far from disproving the Bible, such similarities can point to a common Designer.
9. Another example of the Bible's scientific foolishness is the claim made in 2 Peter 3:5 that the earth was made out of water!
A: The atheist who seeks to ridicule the Bible for its purported scientific sophistry should not by his very ridicule reveal his own biblical and literary sophistry. A careful reading of this verse and its meaning in a good commentary shows that it is not saying that the earth is composed or made out of water at all. Simon J. Kistemaker says, for example, "The land itself, then, comes forth out of the water. This interpretation relates more to origin than to substance; that is, the text explains how the earth was formed, and does not disclose the source of matter". Scientific evidence and the Bible do not disagree as to the prevalence of water and the molten state of the ancient earth.
10. Every scholar knows that the book of Daniel is a forgery, composed centuries after its purported date of the 500's B.C. It was actually a late composition, reflecting recent Jewish history as prophecy, as though it had not yet happened, when in fact it had happened. It was probably composed one or two hundred years before Christ, and it also contains numerous historical mistakes, such as (1) misnaming the last king of Judah, (2) misnaming the liberator of the Jews from Babylon and (3) misnaming the last king of Babylon.
A: Careful historical, geographical, lexical (word usage), and etymological (origin of words) study points to the composition of Daniel in its final form during the beginning of the Persian reign over Babylon (during the sixth century B.C.). Gleason Archer, for instance, in A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (Chicago: Moody Press, 1974) shows how the literary, linguistic, and grammatical evidence of the text points to an early date for the book of Daniel. He says, "The most likely date for the final edition of the book, therefore, would be about 530 B.C." (379). Archaeology has amply demonstrated the historicity of the Babylonian captivity of Judah. Daniel does not say that Jehoiakim was the last king of Judah. Jehoiakim's son was not permitted to remain on the throne (a fulfillment of Jeremiah 36:30's prophecy). Instead, the son's uncle, Zedekiah, was made a vassal king under Babylon. Regarding the Jews' liberation from Babylon, it is important to note that while Cyrus allowed them to return and begin building the second temple, the work was suspended until the second year of Darius the Great, about 520 or 519 B.C. Darius ordered the temple to be completed and it was finished in 516 B.C., the sixth year of his reign. Concerning the issue of the last king of Babylon, several points of reconciliation prevent this from becoming a problem that stands against the trustworthiness of Daniel. Belshazzar was named co-regent by his natural father, Nabonidus, who lived in retirement in North Arabia. Also, on the night of the fatal feast (Daniel 5), Nabonidus had been in the hands of the Medo-Persians for four months; therefore, Belshazzar was the last king in actual fact. Problems such as this are discussed not only in Archer's Old Testament book, but also in his Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (Chicago: Moody Press, 1982).
11. The book of Acts is filled with historical errors. For example, Acts quotes Gamaliel referring to two false messiahs, Theudas and Judas the Galilean. The quote mistakenly dates Theudas before Judas, who is linked to the "time of the census" (around A.D. 7). The Jewish historian Josephus correctly dates Theudus to an uprising against the Romans in A.D. 44. Obviously, Acts is a late composition of the Church purporting to be an "eyewitness" account.
A: The atheist has made the mistake of assuming that there could only have been one rebel messiah named Theudas. However, there was also a Theudas who revolted in A.D. 6, the year Herod Archelaus was deposed from the throne. In this case, the revolt of Judas against the legate of Syria, P. Sulpicius Quirinius, would have occurred one year later. Two books which address this problem are Gleason Archer's Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties and Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe's When Critics Ask (Wheaton, IL: SP Publications, 1992).
12. The Old Testament conquest stories regarding the Jews' various conquests in Palestine have been disproved by current archeological investigation.
A: This bold statement makes two mistakes about archeology. First, it assumes that archeological evidence is not open to interpretation or bias. Second, it assumes that the evidence is overwhelming against the Old Testament record. Neither assumption is true. In fact, while we have a wealth of archeological evidence, we have unearthed only a small fraction of the remains that exist in the Middle East, and what we have unearthed is open to interpretation not only about the identity of the sites, but also about the significance of the remains. For example, the noted archeologist Kathleen Kenyon's work at Jericho is frequently cited against the historicity of the Old Testament's account of the Jews' conquest of Jericho. However, more recent independent examination of Kenyon's evidence has turned up discrepancies in some of her opinions and instead affirms the reliability of the biblical account. Archaeologist Bryant Wood concludes, "When the final Bronze Age city at Jericho is properly dated, it is seen that there is a remarkable correlation between the biblical narrative and archaeological findings" ["Uncovering the Truth at Jericho" by Bryant Wood in Archaeology and Biblical Research (Autumn 1987), 16]. See also Edwin Yamauchi's The Stones and the Scriptures (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1972), and Kenneth Kitchen's Ancient Orient and the Old Testament (Chicago: InterVarsity Press, 1966).
13. Many of the blatant historical errors of the New Testament are evidence that the New Testament books were composed long after the supposed events they record by a Church that invented its own mythology. For example, Bethany, Bethphage, Nazareth, and Capernaum, all towns that were listed in the gospels as important towns in Jesus' life and ministry, did not even exist at the time of Christ.
A: Historical and archeological investigation has disproved skeptics' suppositions and affirmed the historical reliability of the New Testament. The particular examples of Bethany, Bethphage, Capernaum, and Nazareth illustrate the problems atheists invent regarding New Testament accuracy.
BETHANY: This suburb of Jerusalem (less than two miles away on the southeast slopes of the Mt. of Olives) is not mentioned in the Old Testament, except possibly with a variation on its name in Nehemiah 11:32. In addition, its precise location and extent has not been pinpointed since it has grown and shrunk over the centuries. However, archeological work provides us with lamps, vessels, and coinage from the first century, and continuous occupancy of the area from about the sixth century B.C. to the fourteenth century A.D., certainly covering the time period of Jesus. Today Bethany is called el-'Azariyeh, a corrupted form of "Lazarus," because it was here that Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead (John 11). Definitive excavations have not been done because many significant historical buildings, including churches and memorials to the raising of Lazarus, occupy the area and cannot be destroyed to discover the ruins beneath them.
BETHPHAGE: Bethphage is between Bethany and Jerusalem on the southeast slopes of the Mt. of Olives. Archeological evidence from this settlement includes caves, coins, cisterns, pools, and tombs ranging from the second century B.C. to about the eighth century A.D., again covering Jesus' time. Bethphage is also not mentioned in the Old Testament, but this argument from silence ignores the archeological evidence.
CAPERNAUM: For many years historians and archaeologists argued about the precise location of Capernaum, but the area of Tell Hum is now widely and certainly accepted. The name of Capernaum was confirmed in an Aramaic inscription found in an ancient synagogue ruin. Capernaum is not mentioned in the Old Testament, but is mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus and is in the Jewish Talmud, and was evidently settled and grew after the Jewish return from captivity (after the Old Testament was completed). The area of the ancient town itself, on the northwest shore of Galilee, has not been excavated to any great extent for its first century ruins since those lie below still-standing structures from succeeding centuries, including an important fourth century A.D. synagogue. The remains of a first century house, which has been identified as Peter's, as well as the ruins of a first century synagogue, have been uncovered.
NAZARETH: Nazareth today, with its traditional churches, shrines, and memorials is not on the same exact site as Nazareth in Jesus' day. However, both towns were anchored by the same well, the only one in the area, today called "Mary's Well." During Jesus' day it was a small village of about 400, four miles from the prospering Roman city of Sepphoris. Archeological evidence shows it was inhabited continually from a thousand years before and during the Roman period, including the time of Christ. Artifacts found in area tombs date from the first to the fourth centuries A.D. Contrary to Mr. Zindler, Nazareth was not merely a necropolis; the pottery remains give evidence of the small vase-making industry located there, which produced vessels widely used for agricultural purposes. Moreover, beneath the convent of the Dames de Nazareth the remains of a first century house have been discovered. First century A.D. Nazareth is identified in an inscription in Hebrew found in Caesarea. The "Nazareth Decree" is a response from the Emperor Claudius, probably composed between A.D. 44 and 50, commanding that no one disturb a grave or tomb, violate its seals, or remove its body, under penalty of death. Nazareth is not mentioned in the Old Testament or by the Jewish historian Josephus, no doubt due to its insignificance.
Mr. Zindler's dismissal of these towns' historicity is based on a faulty understanding of archeology and history which is so faulty as to border on wilful ignorance. It ignores the long gap between the completion of the Old Testament and the birth of Christ, when many towns were newly settled. Its arguments from the silence of the Old Testament, the Talmud, and/or Josephus are inconclusive. Its ignorance of archeology is inexcusable. The archeological evidence we have is, as scholar Edwin Yamauchi says, "but a fraction of a fraction of the possible evidence" The Stones and the Scriptures, 146. Only a fraction of what was built or written has survived, only a fraction of what survived has been surveyed, only a fraction of what has been surveyed has been excavated, only a fraction of what has been excavated has been examined, and only a fraction of what has been examined has been published (Yamauchi, 146-160). To dismiss the historicity of scripture based on absence of data is academically irresponsible and has been overturned time after time by new discoveries. Yamauchi notes, for example, Homer constantly refers to the bronze greaves and cors-lets (breastplates) of his heroes. H. L. Lorimer in 1950 wished to delete the lines that mentioned bronze corslets as late interpolations, because no known corslets of an early date had been dis-covered. In 1960 at Dendra in Greece the first known metal corslet of the Bronze Age was discovered. Then three years later a second bronze corslet was found .