18 Objections to Christianity
I recently documented some of the objections I had to Christianity growing up. While these are hardly unique, I did generate these in my own mind without any outside sources. If a 10-year-old can poke holes in the Christian religion, then how well does it actually hold up?
- Faith: The definition of faith is believing without evidence, or in the presence of counter evidence. I always thought this was suspect. You could justify believing literally anything using faith, even things that aren’t true. Not only that, but every religion requires faith of its members, and every religion can't be right. Therefore, faith simply is not a reliable path to truth.
- Because the Bible tells me so: Why should I trust the Bible over any other religious text? Has it been demonstrated to be trustworthy? "Because the Bible tells me so" is not a good reason.
Circular reasoning - Human reason: I remember my dad constantly warning me against using my human reason, and the Bible does say that human reason cannot comprehend God. Yet, at the same time, the Bible warns against false Gods. Thomas was chastised for needing a bit of proof that Jesus was resurrected, but I always thought he was the smart one. With so many religions in the world, shouldn’t we be using our brains to determine which ones (if not all) are false? If we don’t use our human reason, we leave ourselves open to deception. Don’t be gullible!
- Prayer: I always felt the efficacy of prayer was dubious. If “God’s will be done”, what use is there in asking him for anything? And do you really think God cares about finding your car keys when there are children literally dying of starvation, trapped in the sex trade, and being abused by priests and others in authority? I would hope that God would do something about those horrible evils without being asked; and if he isn’t (and he obviously isn’t since those things happen all the time), I don’t hold out much hope that God cares about first world problems. Besides-- if you find your car keys, you praise God. If you don’t find your car keys, it’s either your fault for not being faithful enough or it wasn’t God’s will. No matter the outcome, God’s existence in your life is affirmed. Is that really logical?
- Birth Location and Religion: I was Christian because my parents were, and they are Christian because their parents were...you get it. We are whatever religion is dominant in whatever country or locale in which we are born. How lucky are we that we happened to be born into the ONE TRUE religion! This is a common objection that leads a lot of people to deconstruct their faith.
- Creation vs Evolution: Evolution is a fact (I could make many posts just on this topic). If there was no evolution, then what about dinosaurs (no they didn’t exist at the same time as humans, Ken Ham), and fossils that show that 95% of the species that ever existed are extinct? How to explain the existence of Neanderthal fossils? If the creation story didn’t happen, then can we believe anything in the Bible? You could say the same thing about the Noah flood story, which also definitely didn't happen (see Epic of Gilgamesh).
God's cruel joke - Women's inequality in the Bible: Women are treated like dirt in the Bible. They are sold as sex slaves, they don’t get a choice in who they marry or who they have sex with. They aren’t permitted to speak in church or have authority over a man. As a very independent and headstrong woman, I didn’t take kindly to any of this. I refuse to accept that a loving God who made me also requires me to “submit to my husband”.
- Old Testament Laws: There are many OT laws that seem ridiculous. I understand that some of these rules had a purpose back then. But these are laws that humans invented, not a supremely-intelligent God who created the entire universe. Some Christians say that Jesus freed us from these laws, but that is beside the point. God supposedly mandated these laws. If he changed his mind, then he isn’t non-changing as stated in Malachi 3:6. It is more likely that civilization was changing as it developed scripture.
- Atrocities committed by God: These are all condoned or performed by God in the OT: Slavery, rape, genocide, death penalty for small crimes. The holy spirit even kills for small crimes in the NT too (Acts 5:1-10). These aspects of God’s character are usually left out of Sunday School, but they are an important part of who the Yahweh character is. Does this sound like an omnibenevolent god who created the entire universe?
- But where did God come from: Some argue that matter can’t come from nothing. God must have started it all (even if he did it via the Big Bang). My question is, where did God come from? If he wasn't created, then he was always there. If God can exist forever, then so can the universe. (Though either option is mind-blowing).
- The universe was not created for us: The Earth is far from a planet created with humans in mind. With natural disasters, human predators, uninhabitable zones with sub-zero temperatures, and a fragile ecosystem, nothing seems designed with us in mind. Especially when you consider the vastness of the universe: there are 200 billion trillion suns, each with orbiting planets of their own. Is it really that miraculous that we are one planet out of 200 billion trillion solar systems that can support life (that we know of)?
- God created us to be imperfect: According to the mythology, God made Adam and Eve and placed them in a garden of paradise. He had a perfect plan! Except for that one tree that had the potential to ruin everything (you know, the one God made and put there). And then there was that crafty snake that God also made and put there. So, humans fell at the very first temptation (which was placed there by God). It would be like if I made a sofa that appeared perfect, but inside it had no frame; and the first time someone sat on it, the sofa broke. Would it make sense for me to yell and scream at the sofa and condemn it to fiery eternal damnation--simply for being the way I made it? Poor sofa never stood a chance.
The sofa is a trap (like original sin) - The evidence for God is very bad: If God/Jesus loves us, and our eternal salvations depend on us genuinely believing that God/Jesus are real, then why did he leave us such bad evidence? What God supposedly left us is an ancient text that has been translated, copied thousands of times, added onto at certain points, revised, edited, and contains contradictions at every turn. Humans decided which books went into the Bible and which were excluded (like the Book of Enoch). Not only that, but he relies on humans to do his dirty work in spreading the word. If the Bible is divinely inspired, wouldn’t it make more sense for him to inscribe his perfect message himself, on some tablet somewhere, and be more involved in our lives, so that the least of us can believe? (I reject that God is purposely mysterious so we aren’t “forced” to choose him. We can still reject God even if we know he’s real. That’s what Satan did, and he was an angel! Besides, I know Donald Trump is real, and I definitely reject him.)
- Incredulous by birth: This one haunted me as a kid. I was very aware that my love of science, facts, logic, and data analysis were getting in the way of me believing like a little child. I’m just not very credulous or gullible. But God made me that way. So he made me in such a way that I would have less chance of salvation. Does that sound right?
- Biological disorders that have an impact on Biblical morality: There are biological, structural, and chemical explanations for many behaviors such as aggression and predisposition to violence. These behaviors can be explained by science, but they make a person more likely to “sin” in the eyes of God. Not only that, but many studies have shown that homosexuality also has biological causes. And what about hermaphrodites? What would the Israelites have thought of them?
- Belief by free will: This is another objection I have to the assertion that God wants us to believe in him by our own free will and not force us to. Imagine that someone is holding you at gunpoint and saying “Love me or I’m pulling the trigger!” Of course you will insist that you love that person! But is it actually love? Are you loving that person out of your free will, or out of fear of death? This is what God does to us when he threatens us with eternal damnation in hell if we don’t believe in him. Is it true belief, or belief out of fear? Can God not tell the difference?
- True belief is nearly impossible to achieve without delusion:
- Belief is involuntary; it is a gut reaction based on the reality that we see around us
- There is no actual evidence to support the Bible, therefore believing based on evidence is impossible
- Belief must be then based on faith
- Involuntary belief is impossible; forced/deluded belief on faith IS possible.
- If God exists, why is he so hidden? The problem of Divine Hiddenness is a big one. I think the fact that the existence of the Christian God is indistinguishable from the non-existence of a god speaks volumes.
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