Doubts that I'm having trouble with...
Posted: Tue May 11, 2010 6:02 pm
Hello fellow apologists,
I"m currently in the process of having some extremely bad doubts and I may need your help in several areas. Many of these things I've had issues with in the past and some other doubts have been brought on by recent findings and newsworthy headlines. I'm scared of the possibility that atheism and naturalism are gaining grown in the debate and I'm afraid that they either already have or are in the process of having a death grip on Christian theism. I'm frightened by the idea that when and if their case fully gets laid out, it will be extremely difficult to refute their position and defend ours. These areas of doubt that I'm having involve the origin of the universe, life being common in the universe, macro evolution (especially ape to human evolution), Christian hypocrisy, the resurrection of Christ, and eschatology or end times.
First, with the origin of the universe, I'm somewhat sketchy on the details but as far as I know the top naturalistic models for the origin of the universe are the multiverse, quantum mechanics and or quantum particles starting the big bang, dark energy or dark matter starting the big bang, or some other undiscovered naturalistic explanation to take the place of God. Now from what I have studied thus far, many of these theories have little to no evidence or at least that's what I read from Christian apologists. But in addition, from what I've also read, atheist Quintin Smith on the web site Closer to the truth, tries to argue that the Big Bang theory of the universe points away from God rather than to God. I don't know if he is on to anything or not, but I've heard that after seeing this piece, many Christians start doubting, I personally don't want to see it so I can try to keep my doubts from getting out of control.
Now the second area of doubt, the naturalistic idea that life is common in the universe, from what I understand many astronomers and scientists are working extremely hard and have been for the past few years to demonstrate that life is common and I've heard rumors or hints that they are making progress in doing so. Also, if this is proven, Christian theism can survive but it will have to be greatly modified to fit with the evidence.
The next area of doubt is macro evolution (especially in the area of ape to man evolution) it seems lately with the data we have on transitional forms (full skeletons even) along with human and chimp DNA comparisons (data tends to vary in the area), and the recent discovery of Neanderthal and human interbreeding I'm scared that the only area that Christians will later be able to hold and be intellectually credible will be theistic evolution. Because the great reliability of carbon dating has disproved young earth creationism, and this mounting evidence for darwinian evolution may disprove Hugh Ross's old earth creation model (as well as do damage to Intelligent Design models as well). This area specifically bothers and worries me because if I was a atheist I would study ancient Hebrew and try my best to pin down the young earth model as the best and correct interpretation of the book of Genesis. If that's somehow proven to be successful it will have horrible implications for our worldview.
Another major issue that causes me doubts is Christian hypocrisy, not specifically in the sense that it happens or even happens quite a lot, but the fact that it is so common and so out of control, a atheist could easily turn it into a argument against the existence of the Christian God or the God of the Bible. Here is how one such argument would work, Christians and the Bible appears to say that true believers become changed when they accept Christ and thus they sin less and it is obvious by the 'fruit' they produce, that's premises one, premise two, we don't see that change in any or at the very least the vast majority of people who claim to be Christians, so therefore, the Christian God may not be real or at the very least there are some big issues that need to be addressed. These big issues may stem from the fact that there are extremely few true Christians, but to me it would beg the question, how does one truly become a Christian in the first place if there are indeed so few true Christians, and when I say few,I mean only a few hundred living right now. That's how I would present a argument from hypocrisy if I were an atheist. Either way, this area causes me to doubt at times.
Now onto the resurrection of Christ, what causes the most doubt for me in this area is the argument from skeptics that say it was a thing that started from rumors and here say which the apostles believed. Not to mention, after many years, legends also developed i.e. experiences with the risen Christ that were eventually added to the Bible. That idea along with there being possibly many people mockingly going around dressed up as Christ or who looked similar to Christ claiming to be the risen Christ. That idea also troubles me. Not to mention the idea that skeptics like to point out that there was a lot of political and social turmoil going on and you had many uneducated and emotional people during that time period also worries me. But I am hopeful that you all can help me with these concerns.
Now finally onto eschatology or end times. In many ways, it can be argued that many current events directly line up with many of the events described for the end times in Revelation. I personally also see some similarities but in other things that I'm not seeing it and it worries me. Like for instance, like the earthquakes, the increase in knowledge, the globalization of everything, wars and rumors of wars, the famine, and where more people are turning away from God, those things are obvious to everyone. These things to me do indeed line up with the Bible and are happening right now before our eyes. But, one of the things that I'm not seeing right now that worry me is that there are no signs of the world wanting to unite under one world ruler. Also another thing that worries me is the direction of what current and future events are likely to do (and the worry is the fact that it does NOT line up well with the Bible) That being (and I hope I"m wrong about this) is that the world will run out of oil (and the alternative fuels hoping to replace fossil fuels all currently appear to have fatal problems) or it will be drastically limited, overpriced, or taken advantage of by greedy companies like they are now, business will fail, the whole world economy will collapse and people will be forced to farm they way they did before the industrial revolution. And since most people are too lazy,selfish, evil, and complacent they will end up either starving to death, committing suicide or killing other people for food, oil, water, and shelter. And not to mention, with the climate doing strange stuff and nations wanting to use their nuclear weapons against one another, around the time you see people starving, you will also see nations bombing each other just for spite if anything, but I assume it will be for other reasons as well such as political gain and so forth. Then eventually all of these problems will bring about the gradual but eventual end of the human race on earth. But anyway, if this is what plays out this does not line up well with the Bible and may call into being the credibility of Christian theism.
But anyway if indeed the case against God trumps the case for God, this will of course mean that there is no afterlife, no purpose for this life, and no objective morality. So in conclusion, if there are no good responses to these areas of doubt that I just listed, to me it will be very difficult for me or anyone else who reads about current events or who is intellectually involved in religion, philosophy, and science and remain a Christian theist. The only way they can (and this is with no good responses to atheist arguments) is to divorce themselves of what their minds tell them and just go with their heart or emotions. For me that is very difficult to do, to quote Christian apologist Greg Koukl "it's very difficult for the heart to eventually go along with what the mind rejects". I hope and pray we as apologists can find a way out of this and get our program better than what it is, but if not should we just let it die? Or if anything just go to following our emotions. But anyway, I thank you all for your time and thank you all greatly for your help, if God is there may He bless you all, we need it desperately.
I"m currently in the process of having some extremely bad doubts and I may need your help in several areas. Many of these things I've had issues with in the past and some other doubts have been brought on by recent findings and newsworthy headlines. I'm scared of the possibility that atheism and naturalism are gaining grown in the debate and I'm afraid that they either already have or are in the process of having a death grip on Christian theism. I'm frightened by the idea that when and if their case fully gets laid out, it will be extremely difficult to refute their position and defend ours. These areas of doubt that I'm having involve the origin of the universe, life being common in the universe, macro evolution (especially ape to human evolution), Christian hypocrisy, the resurrection of Christ, and eschatology or end times.
First, with the origin of the universe, I'm somewhat sketchy on the details but as far as I know the top naturalistic models for the origin of the universe are the multiverse, quantum mechanics and or quantum particles starting the big bang, dark energy or dark matter starting the big bang, or some other undiscovered naturalistic explanation to take the place of God. Now from what I have studied thus far, many of these theories have little to no evidence or at least that's what I read from Christian apologists. But in addition, from what I've also read, atheist Quintin Smith on the web site Closer to the truth, tries to argue that the Big Bang theory of the universe points away from God rather than to God. I don't know if he is on to anything or not, but I've heard that after seeing this piece, many Christians start doubting, I personally don't want to see it so I can try to keep my doubts from getting out of control.
Now the second area of doubt, the naturalistic idea that life is common in the universe, from what I understand many astronomers and scientists are working extremely hard and have been for the past few years to demonstrate that life is common and I've heard rumors or hints that they are making progress in doing so. Also, if this is proven, Christian theism can survive but it will have to be greatly modified to fit with the evidence.
The next area of doubt is macro evolution (especially in the area of ape to man evolution) it seems lately with the data we have on transitional forms (full skeletons even) along with human and chimp DNA comparisons (data tends to vary in the area), and the recent discovery of Neanderthal and human interbreeding I'm scared that the only area that Christians will later be able to hold and be intellectually credible will be theistic evolution. Because the great reliability of carbon dating has disproved young earth creationism, and this mounting evidence for darwinian evolution may disprove Hugh Ross's old earth creation model (as well as do damage to Intelligent Design models as well). This area specifically bothers and worries me because if I was a atheist I would study ancient Hebrew and try my best to pin down the young earth model as the best and correct interpretation of the book of Genesis. If that's somehow proven to be successful it will have horrible implications for our worldview.
Another major issue that causes me doubts is Christian hypocrisy, not specifically in the sense that it happens or even happens quite a lot, but the fact that it is so common and so out of control, a atheist could easily turn it into a argument against the existence of the Christian God or the God of the Bible. Here is how one such argument would work, Christians and the Bible appears to say that true believers become changed when they accept Christ and thus they sin less and it is obvious by the 'fruit' they produce, that's premises one, premise two, we don't see that change in any or at the very least the vast majority of people who claim to be Christians, so therefore, the Christian God may not be real or at the very least there are some big issues that need to be addressed. These big issues may stem from the fact that there are extremely few true Christians, but to me it would beg the question, how does one truly become a Christian in the first place if there are indeed so few true Christians, and when I say few,I mean only a few hundred living right now. That's how I would present a argument from hypocrisy if I were an atheist. Either way, this area causes me to doubt at times.
Now onto the resurrection of Christ, what causes the most doubt for me in this area is the argument from skeptics that say it was a thing that started from rumors and here say which the apostles believed. Not to mention, after many years, legends also developed i.e. experiences with the risen Christ that were eventually added to the Bible. That idea along with there being possibly many people mockingly going around dressed up as Christ or who looked similar to Christ claiming to be the risen Christ. That idea also troubles me. Not to mention the idea that skeptics like to point out that there was a lot of political and social turmoil going on and you had many uneducated and emotional people during that time period also worries me. But I am hopeful that you all can help me with these concerns.
Now finally onto eschatology or end times. In many ways, it can be argued that many current events directly line up with many of the events described for the end times in Revelation. I personally also see some similarities but in other things that I'm not seeing it and it worries me. Like for instance, like the earthquakes, the increase in knowledge, the globalization of everything, wars and rumors of wars, the famine, and where more people are turning away from God, those things are obvious to everyone. These things to me do indeed line up with the Bible and are happening right now before our eyes. But, one of the things that I'm not seeing right now that worry me is that there are no signs of the world wanting to unite under one world ruler. Also another thing that worries me is the direction of what current and future events are likely to do (and the worry is the fact that it does NOT line up well with the Bible) That being (and I hope I"m wrong about this) is that the world will run out of oil (and the alternative fuels hoping to replace fossil fuels all currently appear to have fatal problems) or it will be drastically limited, overpriced, or taken advantage of by greedy companies like they are now, business will fail, the whole world economy will collapse and people will be forced to farm they way they did before the industrial revolution. And since most people are too lazy,selfish, evil, and complacent they will end up either starving to death, committing suicide or killing other people for food, oil, water, and shelter. And not to mention, with the climate doing strange stuff and nations wanting to use their nuclear weapons against one another, around the time you see people starving, you will also see nations bombing each other just for spite if anything, but I assume it will be for other reasons as well such as political gain and so forth. Then eventually all of these problems will bring about the gradual but eventual end of the human race on earth. But anyway, if this is what plays out this does not line up well with the Bible and may call into being the credibility of Christian theism.
But anyway if indeed the case against God trumps the case for God, this will of course mean that there is no afterlife, no purpose for this life, and no objective morality. So in conclusion, if there are no good responses to these areas of doubt that I just listed, to me it will be very difficult for me or anyone else who reads about current events or who is intellectually involved in religion, philosophy, and science and remain a Christian theist. The only way they can (and this is with no good responses to atheist arguments) is to divorce themselves of what their minds tell them and just go with their heart or emotions. For me that is very difficult to do, to quote Christian apologist Greg Koukl "it's very difficult for the heart to eventually go along with what the mind rejects". I hope and pray we as apologists can find a way out of this and get our program better than what it is, but if not should we just let it die? Or if anything just go to following our emotions. But anyway, I thank you all for your time and thank you all greatly for your help, if God is there may He bless you all, we need it desperately.
