"you are atheist towards Santa Claus, Zeus, Posidon etc...I just go one God futher"

I hear this line repeated all the time.  Is almost like a mantra for some atheists.  Hearing it many times does not make it a logical arguement.  Also this statement doesnt address the real issue at all. Atheists will say that that we stop believing in these Gods and characters like Santa and the Easter bunny because of lack of evidence.  So why not go one God further?

The reason we do not belive in Santa is not because of lack of evidence, but because there good evidence that no such person exists!  There is no one who has a toy shop at the north pole and flying around on a sleigh on christmas eve.  The same goes for the easter bunny, Zeus etc.  There is good evidence that these Gods and characters do not exist.

In contrast to the Christian God, not only is there good evidence that God exists, but atheists cannot produce good evident that God does not exist.  Im sure you will hear "you cannot prove a universal negative", or "you cannot prove the non existence of a thing"

You can prove the non existence of a thing such as Santa, the tea pot orbiting the earth, the flying spagetti moster and Zeus.

So when it comes to the claim "God does not exist" this holds a burden of proof that no atheist can bear.  They should make more humble claims like that they are not convinced by the evidence or that they dont know if God exists.

"Can we be good without God?" "I dont need the Bible to tell me whats moral or not"

I think this is one area of arguement that anyone can have an opinion on.  I hear it a lot recently.  Christians will bring up the idea that morals are grounded in the nature of God and that He has written them on our hearts. Atheists often confuse this arguement with that they cannot be moral people.  In fact as Christians we believe you dont need the bible to know whats moral but that God himself has written the moral code on all of humankind's hearts.

The arguemnet lies in what is the basis for morals and do absolute morals exists?

I was recently in a conversation with friends, where they were talking about the horrors commited in the name of God and religion.  The crusades, religious intollerance etc.  I think that most people will affirm that absolute morals do indeed exist.  While I was in school we were always taught that "everything is relative" but I rarely see that being believed and put into peoples lives.  As my friends and I were discussing this topic, we did agree on the idea that somethings are really right, and somethings really wrong. 

As they said that God does not exists because of all the evil that religion causes, I said that it is true that a lot of evil is done in the name of religion, but in the case of Christianity it is the people acting outside of the Christian worldview who are commiting these evil acts.  Jesus never acted in these ways or condones this behavior.  Also this behavior is actually anti biblical.  It goes against what the Bible teaches.  Remember how when they came to arrest Jesus, and Peter pulled his sword and cut off the guards ear.  Jesus told Peter to put his sword away and healed the guards ear. 

Next I asked why they believed theseacts to be evil.  I then heard arguements such as "its wrong to hurt others, its wrong to take away someones freedom, its wrong to kill, its wrog to torture, its wrong to take away peoples possesions" etc etc.

I asked where these absolute moral standards came from.  If we are products of naturalism, where in naturalism can morals come from?  When a lion kills another animal, its kills it...it doesnt murder it.  Or when a pack of hyeanas take a fresh kill away from a leopard, they take it they dont steal it.  Because animals are not moral creatures.

If our origins are only naturalistic how could we have come up with this morality.  Philosopher Michael Ruse says “morality is a biological adaptation no less than our hands or feet or teeth.  Considered as a rationally justifiable set of claims about an objective something, ethics is illusory.  I appreciate when someone says love thy neighbor as thyself they think they are referring above and beyond themselves never the less such reference is truly without foundation. Morality is just an aid to survival and reproduction and any deeper meaning is issusory”

 But if you do observe abolute morals, that some things are truly right and some things truly wrong, then you must agree that God exists.  Because without God as the source of the moral code, who can say what is right or wrong.  Who can say that behaviors we observe in the animal kindom are truly wrong only when they happen to us humans?  Without God as the objective standard for the moral code then we are just floating around in relativism and we have no right to say what is right or wrong, good or evil.

But we do observe moral absolutes, to not would make life unlivable.  Therefore God exists. 

"There are no writings from eyewitnesses of Jesus in the bible"

As I was riding the skytrain today I overheard people behind me laughing at christians and discussing how silly the bible is especially since there are no writings in the Bible by eyewitnesses of Jesus.  I instantly remembered watching Bill Maher's "Religulous" movie.  Where he says more than once that the writers of the New Testament were not eyewitnesses.  He actually says "gospel writers never met Jesus"  "No one who wrote about Jesus ever met him"  I was amazed that this statement actually made it into the movie.  He could have gone to any Bible college, or seminary or contacted any biblical scholar and asked this question, but he didnt.  He went to a truck stop chapel.  Im pretty sure if I was making some kind of documentary against science and went to a grade 8 classroom or interviewed first year biology students, everyone would say that I was choosing the path of least resistence.  I will review religulous some other time, but for now I would say all Christians should watch this movie, so you can learn what the objections to Christianity are.  Then learn the answers to the objections.

So there I am on the skytrain, and I had limited time to talk.  After joining in on the conversation I asked how they came to understand that there were no eyewitnesses to Jesus among the biblical writers.  One guy said "well everyone knows that"

Among the eyewitness to Jesus in the Bible are Matthew, John, Peter, James, Paul. Mark the gospel writer was a close companion of Peter and Luke was examining the evidence, and interviewed eyewitnesses.  Luke is considered to be a reliable historian.

Accoring to Sir William Ramsay who is one of the greatest archaeologists ever said that "Luke is a historian of the first rank ... this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians"

In 2 Peter 1:16 peter says: "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty."

So I shared what I could in the short time, and they said they would look into it further so I suggested a couple sources.

This issue opens up into a larger one such as were the witnesses credible, and are the documents in the New Testament reliable.  I will blog about those another day.  But for now, the answer to the objection is yes there are writings from eyewitnesses of Jesus in the bible.

"You are only a Christian because you were raised in a christian country"

I got this last week as I was in a coffee shop,I am surprised to hear this objection here as we live in one of the most multicultural cities in the world.  I dont believe anyone would call Vancouver a "christian city" but we do definitely benefit from christian influence.  Things such as "moral standard" and recognizing the intrinsic value of human beings.  But I would not say that people are influenced to become christian based on the culture.


First I would say that the truth of an idea has nothing to do with where it came from.  Democracy is still a great idea and holds truth even though I was raised in a democratic culture.


Second I would point to the countries in which Christianity is exploding.  It is not in the "christian cultures" like the united states but countries like China.  Ive read that there is approximatly 100 million christians in China now, this can not be because it was a christian culture.  In fact christians have been pursecuted in China heavily yet continues to grow rapidly.  The same is true for Christians in countries such as the Phillipines, North Korea, and Islamic countries.  Also christianity was born out of persecution and hardship, yet people held tight to the truth of Christianity even to their deaths.


As much as Christian influence from friends and family and culture does add to the decision making process, the finaly decision is one based on truth not culture.

First blog ever!

Well I thought it was time to give blogging a shot, so Im blogging about my experiences in talking about God's existence in Vancouver which I recently found out is known worldwide as a very atheistic city.  I usually get into a couple conversations/debates a week so I will be talking about them here.  One thing to keep in mind is
1Peter 3:15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect

The gentleness and respect part isvery important.  We should never fight or quarrel on this topic.  As long as we approach God's existence with gentleness and respect we can always foster an open and honest enviornment in which we can exchange ideas.

So cheers to a fun time blogging woooooooooooooooooooooooooo