How many Christians do you know couldn't defend their faith against the errors in this video? Go ahead and watch it, then read on. The video can also be found here.
The rational argument the speaker presents is pretty solid, but his premise is wrong. In truth, all these could also be explained by a God who is absent from our world, but that leads to my point; he builds his arguments on a flawed view of God. I'd imagine from what I see that the guy has had some interaction with Christianity. He's heard that God is love, but he hasn't seen the side of God that we need to fear. Christians have communicated poorly to this man. He doesn't understand the God who reveals himself in scripture. He doesn't understand the problem of sin. Consequently, we have created an opponent, hostile to a God he doesn't really know. How sad this is. I post this as a challenge to consider how those around you view Christianity. Rachel and I have had a number of interactions lately that have highlighted to me that many in the US simply don't know who Jesus is. Their idea of our Christ has been skewed by all sorts of angles, to the point where some have become hostile to the idea of Jesus Christ. We need to be prepared to answer the misunderstandings.
If you are looking for a resource to share, Answers in Genesis does a great job addressing much of this in their Death and Suffering Questions and Answers.
My response would be the same if this movie author had been a proponent of Christianity rather than a critic. Whether one argues from a pro or a con position the method of presentation must follow certain guidelines in order to be declared a product of critical thinking, This author's appeals to critical thinking are ironic in that he makes many basic logical flaws within his presentation. He reveals bias through hyperbole and over-generalizations. He turns to monovariant analysis in his final answer to why Christianity is false. The secret of rational discourse and critical thinking is a fair representation of all sides of an argument. There are many better rational arguments against Christianity than the ones this author chose. Although the opening statements of this movie were an appeal to critical thinking they thereafter abandoned the basic rules of critical analysis. Opinion pieces which too readily reveal a personal vendetta/bias are often ignored by audiences. Therein few may profit from a movie like this which prevents an effective discussion of some troubling questions that Chrisitians should be able to debate effectively.
Excellent analysis, AJ. I definitely see what you mean by revealing bias. That fell away pretty quickly. So how would you respond to this guy? Simply tell him he's biased and come back when he can present an argument that isn't?
I think the problem lies with an anti-intellectual culture in the modern church. When Darwin challenged Genesis the church failed to respond. Consequently, many in our post-modern (post-christian) culture have this idea, that we need and should remain in "child-like" faith in our understanding of Christianity.
When I'm told that MS Windows is a quality operating system, I easily respond with confidence and rational objections. This is because I have been trained in and have experienced with Windows as well as other OS's. However, in the modern church, where are we taught to think rationally? Where are the philosophical, epistemological, metaphysical lessons? We know that the Apostle Paul was a student of philosophy. So were Aquinas and Augustine. Why aren't we?
In previous generations most in our culture respected the Bible as an authoritative source. This is no longer true. As evidenced in this video, saying something is true because the Bible says so is equal to telling me something is true because it is in the Washington Post. Rather, in my opinion, we must first show, and believe, that what the Bible says is rational before we can argue its truth.
In either R.C. Sproul's book "Defending Your Faith" or J. P. Morland's "Love God With All Your Mind" (I forget which) the author states that he told his son to leave Christianity if he ever found it to be unreasonable and irrational. I wonder if I can ever be so bold.
Brian, I think you're right. By not stepping up to the plate to answer these faulty foundational thoughts, we communicate that we can't address them and then eventually people believe that we can't. This means we'll hold blindly to non-sense, just because. It isn't just because, we have good reason!