Skeptic Challenges Archives

February 9, 2024February 5, 2024

Going to Church as a Depressing Burden

I recently received a comment from a woman saying, “I don’t need another burden in my life, and going to church is just another depressing burden.” How sad it is that Christians sometimes view going to church as a depressing burden. It should be a blessing.

Part of this problem may be that many preachers burden their listeners with guilt and unfulfilled expectations. Gathering with fellow believers should give us support and encouragement. A church service should, first of all, be a time of praising God and expressing gratitude for what He has done for us as individuals and as a group. It should then be a time to share what God has done in our lives and to encourage one another.

One of the most essential parts of “going to Church” is to experience love. Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “Now I am giving you a new commandment that you are to love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples by your love for one another.” Having kind words to say to each other, asking questions, expressing concerns when there is a crisis in someone’s life, and giving a hug are all part of loving one another.

Isn’t it interesting that the difference between the English words “live” and “love” is the single letter “I.” The more we take “I” out of the way, the more we can give and experience love. The Greek word translated as “love” here is “agape,” indicating caring about the worth of every person. There is joy in doing what God calls us to do, but obsessing about “I” and losing love can make us think of going to church as a depressing burden.

If you don’t understand this, I suggest you look more carefully at why you “go to church” or what you are missing if you don’t go. If your religious experience is reading an essay or watching a service on TV, you are missing the essential personal contact. If you think of going to church as a depressing burden, there is something wrong.

An atheist whose life is guided by “survival of the fittest” cannot comprehend the kind of love that Jesus taught. By my count, Jesus used the word “agapao” 108 times in the gospels. The next most common word He used for “love” was “phileo,” meaning “friendship,” which He used 18 times. Church involvement gives us a chance to consider the worth of all humans, eliminating racism, sexism, envy, jealousy, and all phobias that afflict humans.

Going to church should be a blessing. If the Church is functioning as God intended, we will leave every visit to our local congregation encouraged, uplifted, and ready to face the world and spread God’s love.

February 2, 2024January 30, 2024

Why Do People Choose Atheism?

For the past few days, we have looked at facts about atheists compiled by the Pew Research Center. We saw that people who identify as atheists in the United States are primarily male and younger than the general population. We also saw that they scored higher than the general population in a religious knowledge survey that included Christianity-related questions. We also pointed out that they often grew up in a church but left their faith in college. Why do people choose atheism over faith in God?

I think it is safe to say that some choose atheism because they don’t want to follow the moral standards of Christianity. By rejecting God, they can reject His moral standards without pangs of conscience. Living immorally becomes easier when we can pretend that there is no higher authority who sets standards of moral conduct. According to Pew Research, less than half (42%) of Americans believe that it is necessary to believe in God to have good moral values. But that is much higher than in France, where only 15% think that belief in God is essential for good morals. Interestingly, in some Muslim-dominated countries such as Pakistan and Indonesia, 98% to 99% say that a person must believe in God to be moral.

Atheists not only refuse to believe in God, but they also think that faith is a negative factor in society. In the U.S., 71% of atheists say that the decline in religious influence in public life is a good thing. About the same amount (70%) say that churches and other religious institutions do more harm than good. They overlook how many hospitals, orphanages, and charitable organizations have been founded and are supported by Christians. Many Western European countries, such as Belgium, France, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands, have high rates of atheism (14-16%). That contrasts with the percentage of atheists in many Eastern European countries, including Romania, Ukraine, Bosnia, Poland, and Lithuania (1-2%). Even in Russia, only 4% of the population claims atheism. Could that be because the people of those countries lived for years under atheism, and they understand its consequences?

Reading the atheism data on the Pew Research Center website brings many questions to my mind. Why do people choose atheism over faith in God? The answer is as complex and diverse as human beings. At Does God Exist? our mission is to share evidence for God’s existence, the truth of the Bible, and Jesus Christ as the one who can restore us to a relationship with our Creator.

Reference: Pew Research Center

February 1, 2024January 30, 2024

What Makes an Atheist?

Yesterday, we pondered statistics about atheism from the Pew Research Center. We considered what an atheist is. We saw that atheists are more highly educated, with 43% having college degrees compared to 27% of the American general public. They also are politically more affiliated with the Democrat party and lean more toward political liberalism. They do have spiritual thoughts and find meaning in family. However, atheists also find much more meaning in money, hobbies, and travel than do Christians or the general population. What makes an atheist? Why do people turn to atheism?

We often blame the fact that young people turn to atheism in college on the influence of American higher education. Educational institutions have become more liberal and atheistic, but perhaps the churches are partially to blame. We learn about God from two sources. In addition to the Bible, the world around us is filled with the life and wonder of God’s creation. “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature. So, they have no excuse for not knowing God. (Romans 1:20 NLT).

Many young people who grow up in the church are taught Bible stories along with a distorted scientific perspective of creation. When they get to college, they face new freedoms and challenges to the scientific “facts” they learned in church. The earth and sky seem to be showing something that can’t fit into the human-made interpretations of Bible chronology they have learned. They face a conflict that they must resolve. Too often, they resolve it by throwing out the truth of the Bible along with the scientific errors that have been falsely attached to it.

The bottom line is that the Bible does not tell us the age of the universe or planet Earth. Everything the Bible does tell us agrees with scientific facts. As we have said many times before, science and faith are friends. If there are apparent conflicts, it is because we have bad science or bad theology. The fact that there has been too much of both often turns our college students into atheists.

One more fact from the Pew Research Center is that in a religious knowledge survey, atheists ranked ahead of U.S. adults overall in answering fact-based questions about religion. That indicates that what makes an atheist involves more than a lack of religious knowledge. We will continue with that thought tomorrow.

Reference: Pew Research Center

January 31, 2024April 12, 2024

What Is an Atheist?

What is an atheist? We may think we know what an atheist is, but do we? According to Merriam-Webster, an atheist is “a person who does not believe in the existence of a god or any gods.” Historically, Christians were called “atheists” for believing in only one God instead of the pantheon of pagan gods. Today, data from the Pew Research Center (which we talked about yesterday) indicates that it is not easy to define what an atheist is.

Reading through the Pew Research Center report, I found some interesting facts. In 2009, 2% of Americans described themselves as atheists. In 2018 and 2019, that increased to 4%. However, 18% of those who self-described as atheists said that they “believe in some kind of higher power.” Even more surprising is that 54% of atheists say they “often feel a sense of wonder about the universe.” Apparently, even atheists have an innate spiritual sense. Could that be because humans are created in God’s image? When we ask, “What is an atheist?” perhaps we also should ask what keeps them from believing. Could it sometimes be the actions of believers?

Surprisingly, about a third of American atheists say they think about meaning and purpose in life at least once a week, and they “often feel a deep sense of spiritual peace and well-being.” Two-thirds (63%) listed family as a source of meaning. That compares to 73% of Christians finding meaning in the family. However, Atheists placed much greater meaning on money, hobbies, and travel than did Christians or Americans in general. Is that an attempt to fill the empty spiritual void?

When we ask, “What is an atheist?” we should keep in mind that most U.S. atheists are men (68%). They are also relatively young, with a median age of 34, compared to 46 for the general public. Of the American general public, only 27% have a college degree. Among those who identify as atheists, 43% have graduated from college. Can we blame the high percentage of college-educated atheists on atheistic professors in American higher education? Maybe some blame lies in the many churches that teach anti-scientific doctrines, which college students quickly learn cannot be accurate. Hold that thought until we continue this discussion tomorrow.

Reference: Pew Research Center

January 30, 2024January 29, 2024

American Religious Beliefs in 2023

On January 24, 2024, the Pew Research Center released 2023 data on American religious beliefs. It suggests that the rise of religious “nones” may be slowing. The “nones” are people who claim no religious affiliation, and they have been the fastest-growing religious belief group in America. In the past 50 years, “nones” went from less than 5% to 30% of all Americans. However, this latest report put the “nones” at 28%. Some of the other numbers reported are:

Nones are 17% atheist, 20% agnostic, and 63% nothing in particular.
Thirty years ago, 90% of Americans were “Christian,” and now that number is 60%.
69% of nones are younger than 50.
97% of nones attend religious services a few times a year or not at all.
56% say they believe in “some higher power” aside from the God of the Bible.

The Pew Research Center has a good reputation for gathering data, but still, there is no such thing as an infallible academic survey. Sampling is complex and affected by many variables, but Pew Research has worked hard to avoid pitfalls as much as possible.

The “Does God Exist Ministry” began in 1968 when we were concerned about American religious beliefs. We saw massive ignorance about the evidence for the existence of God, the validity of Jesus Christ as God’s Son, and the inspiration of the Bible. There is a tendency for churches to pretend that everyone believes in God. Believers have suggested that teaching about the evidence for believing in God, Jesus, and the Bible is a waste of time. There have even been attempts by religionists to shut down this ministry, and the refusal to look at science-based evidence has grown.

Our concern about American religious beliefs is why we offer free correspondence courses and a variety of video lessons on our website doesgodexist.tv. We want anyone with an open mind to see evidence from science and to share that with others. We encourage everyone to know why they believe what they believe. Understand that science is simply knowledge, and it strongly supports faith. If someone thinks there is a conflict between science and faith, they either have bad science, bad theology, or both.

Reference: “Has the rise of religious ‘nones’ come to an end in the U.S.?” Pew Research Center, January 24, 2024.

January 11, 2024January 9, 2024

Aliens Visiting Planet Earth

The media has been full of claims that the government is hiding evidence from the general public about aliens visiting planet Earth. In this day of lying politicians and scams and fakes, it is essential to not buy into any claims too quickly.

The claims that were leaked out to the general public include the following:

1) A group of U.S. airmen found a downed alien spacecraft in Rendelsham Forest, England.

2) Sixty-two children in Zimbabwe witnessed a flying saucer near their playground.

3) A UFO knocked ICBMs offline in Montana.

(4) Various videos from the US Navy show aircraft maneuvering beyond what any earthly craft can do.

All of these and others are included in a film titled The UFO Movie They Don’t Want You to See, produced by Brian Dunning. (It is available for viewing on YouTube at the link below.) The reason we are interested in this film is that there have been those who claimed that aliens are responsible for the Bible, that Jesus Christ was an extra-terrestrial, and that the biblical narrative was given by aliens to guide gullible people into believing in God instead of knowing their true origin. This film exploring evidence about aliens visiting planet Earth has no religious interest and, in fact, is promoted by skeptic organizations.

It is important to understand that it is not our intent to say there is no life in outer space. With the massive number of galaxies, stars, and planets, other life forms may exist. God may have chosen other methods to conduct the war between good and evil. The problem is that the nearest star to our solar system is 4.3 light years away, and the closest galaxy to our Milky Way Galaxy is 750,000 light years away. Those distances are too great to allow any civilization to have an interest in us. Science fiction about aliens visiting planet Earth would have us believe that time and space can be controlled by aliens with intelligence far beyond our own. Some people choose to believe that even though it requires much more faith than to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

The UFO Movie They Don’t Want You to See, produced by Brian Dunning

January 8, 2024January 7, 2024

Accomplishments of Older People

I debated with an atheist on a radio program on the topic of evidence for the existence of God. The radio host mentioned that I was retired from public school teaching after 41 years in the classroom. The atheist began a lecture about how people invent a god when they get old because they want to have someplace to go that allows their existence to continue. My atheist friend said, “It’s only old people who are about to die who believe in God because they can’t make any real contribution to humanity, and life is hard when you get close to death.” I countered with some accomplishments of older people.

For example, poet Maya Angelou received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at age 82. Julia Child wrote a cookbook at 87, and Frank Loyd Wright designed several of his best houses at 91. Astronaut John Glenn was a medical guinea pig going back into space at age 77 to allow doctors to study the effects of space on an older person.

After I had given several illustrations of the accomplishments of older people, my atheist friend said, “But you are obviously old, and that is why you invented God to deal with your impending death.” I responded by pointing out that our ministry has been showing evidence for the existence of God since 1968, so our work did not start in my old age.

It is true that sometimes people don’t stay up to date with new data and techniques as they get older. That is why we subscribe to nearly 100 periodicals, including atheist publications, so we can “be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). The debate over whether the qualifications of a politician or teacher can be diminished because of age depends on the individual. We may not know the answer to every question people may ask, but neither does anyone else.

As for the accomplishments of older people, age and experience frequently offer a better answer than modern philosophy. Let us deal with the evidence for the existence of God and not rely on human theories and youthful atheist philosophies.

Reference: The Mayo Clinic Health Letter for December 2023

December 22, 2023December 19, 2023

Misconceptions About Christmas

Skeptics and atheists frequently attack Christianity by saying that much of what people celebrate at Christmas is either impossible or inaccurate. God coming to Earth would seem impossible if you don’t believe in God or miracles. However, much of the weakness of the skeptic’s arguments is that they attack misconceptions about Christmas.

For example, they criticize the “star of Bethlehem” as impossible. That “star” cannot be a celestial object since the closest star to Earth is Alpha Centauri A, which is 4.3 light years away. Like all celestial stars, it is too far away to stand over a Bethlehem stable. Herod didn’t see the star, and Luke 2:8-15 tells us that angels visited the shepherds but doesn’t mention the star. It had to be an extraordinary miracle of God.

The “wise men” described in Matthew 2:1-2 were “magi from the east,” not kings, and the Bible doesn’t say how many. When they arrived, the Christ child was not in a stable but in a “house” (Matthew 2:11). Atheists and skeptics often challenge misconceptions about Christmas that they see on greeting cards and pictures of the Christmas season rather than what the Bible actually says.

Skeptics also criticize the idea that shepherds were in the fields in late December. The Bible does not record the date of Jesus’ birth, and December is not the time shepherds would have been there. Christmas cards often depict angels with wings and golden harps, but neither of those references is biblical. Christmas songs may also create misconceptions about Christmas. There is no “little drummer boy” in the Bible. While we can enjoy the beauty of Christmas songs, go to the Bible for the facts of Christ’s birth.

December 25 is a great day to enjoy family and declare a rest at the end of the year. However, celebrating Christmas on that day is a human tradition, not a commandment of God. We should honor the incarnation of Christ every day as we look forward to His return.

November 15, 2023November 14, 2023

Tragedies Do Not Disprove God

On Saturday, November 11, U. S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe had a career-ending injury. Only six minutes into the National Women’s Soccer League Championship, Rapinoe tore her Achilles tendon, putting her out of the game. She used the occasion to express her lack of belief in God. The truth is that tragedies do not disprove God.

In the post-match press conference, Rapinoe said, “I’m not a religious person or anything, and if there was a god, like, this is proof that there isn’t.” She then went on to express her feelings in profanity. Rapinoe admitted that she was not a believer before the accident. But I would ask, what does this accident have to do with God’s existence? Tragedies do not disprove God.

When we read the book of Job, we see the tendency of people to think that when something terrible happens, it means that person has done something bad and God is punishing them. The opposite of that is believing that if something good happens to us, we must have done something good to deserve it. Both concepts are false, contrary to Biblical teaching, and illogical.

Jesus clearly said that His followers would suffer for doing good. Paul suffered for presenting the gospel message of love and hope to a world that needed to hear it. James said, “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4).

When things go wrong, people often blame God. Some turn away from God, and others turn to God. Turning away from God is turning away from hope. Seeking God in times of trouble brings hope and, as James tells us, develops patience. Tragedies do not disprove God. They have nothing to do with God’s existence, and rejecting God because of disasters provides no hope. Placing our faith in God in difficult times gives us a source of hope and comfort.

Rapinoe expressed her confused perspective when she went on to say, “Thank God I have a (expletive deleted) deep well of a sense of humor.” I believe it takes more than a sense of humor to survive the trials of life. It also takes hope. “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2).”

Reference: Fox News

November 13, 2023November 12, 2023

Answering Today’s Challenges

The Church struggles to stay informed and relevant on the issues and answering today’s challenges. In October 2023, the Survey Center on American Life and the Associated Press/NORC released new data revealing the attitudes and beliefs of our friends and neighbors. If the Church is going to lead people to faith in God, we need to know what they believe. Jesus knew the teachings of Judaism and the beliefs of the Romans, and we must follow His example.

Here are some results of the recent surveys:

1) 44% of Americans have “hardly any confidence” in organized religion.

2) 29% of Americans believe evolution is the best explanation for the origin of life on Earth.

3) 38% believe humans and other living things have evolved over time due to processes guided by God or a higher power.

4) 31% believe humans and other living things have evolved over time, and God or a higher power had no role in this process.

5) 12% believe humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.

6) 49% believe scientists generally believe the universe was created in a single, violent event, often called the “Big Bang.”

The problem with surveys is that words like “evolution” are not defined. If “Naturalism” were used instead of “evolution,” the numbers would be different. Confusing “evolution” and “creation” is another source of problems with surveys. Evolution deals with the changes in things already created. It does not attempt to explain the creation of space, time, matter/energy, or anything spiritual.

It is interesting to see surveys like these and compare them to similar ones from past years. You don’t wear a hockey uniform to play baseball, and you can’t reach people today based on what people believed in the 20th century. God’s Word does not change and is a rock-solid guide for life, but young people today are radically different from last century. Answering today’s challenges requires meeting people where they are and not depending on methods that worked in the past.

References: The American Perspectives Survey was conducted between May 16 and 24, 2023. The AP/NORC data was in The Week for October 20, 2023, on page 17.