By the Numbers

Monday, November 4, 2013

Ten Reasons Some Persons Deny the Biblical God

                                Ten Reasons Some Persons Deny the Biblical God
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#Reasons  #Answers 
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Could persons giving these reasons be assuming things that aren't true, are foolish, or not clearly thought out? And why is it the Bible's God seems most objectionable rather than some other ideas about God? Let's try to be as honest, objective, open minded and fair about this as we would want someone to be with us. Maybe there's something we overlooked or never thought about. It's possible anybody can make an honest mistake--even me.
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I can't believe in a God I can't detect with my five senses. What kind of evidence do you require to believe in God? Must God be a giant man who appears to you in the sky? Must he be handsome, smell good, and be soft spoken? Or do you expect to discover God under a microscope, through a telescope, or by an experiment? Are you demanding God make himself known to you on your terms? Don't we all believe in many unknown or unheard of things that others told us about? The biblical God Christians believe in upholds the universe and is a Spirit everywhere. But He's God, not us! So we must come to Him on his terms.  He has made us in His image for loving trusting relationship. Jeremiah 29:11, 13 defines the way to that relationship: "I know the thoughts I think toward you says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. . . . You will seek Me and find Me when you search for me with all your heart."  
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If God in some way indwells Christians why are they such hypocrites? This question involves issues far more complex than persons generally realize. Just because someone goes to church, reads a Bible, or holds a church office doesn't always mean he or she trusts in the Savior. I know of two pastors who preached the gospel, but trusted Christ sometime later. Christians have their struggles with the world, flesh, and devil like everyone else, maybe more so. New Christians don't know, believe, or act as well as mature Christians. Persons from dysfunctional families may have more problems to overcome after conversion.  Also, persons can have good habits and morals but not be a Christian. Besides there are varying degree of commitment just as in all religions. Victory in Jesus comes when we set our minds continually on positive things of God, not negative things of the world (Colossians 3:1-2; Plilippians. 3:18-21).
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So we can make faulty judgments. Jesus warned of persons who said they did incredibly good works but he didn't know him (Matt. 7:21-23). Persons too can charge Christians of being hypocrites to try to relieve their own guilt feelings and hypocrisy. In truth, apart from the Christian God there is no absolute standard of judgment. Non Christians have to borrow from biblical Christian ethics to say an act is really wrong. Without God--the personal ethical God of the Bible who holds us accountable--anything is permitted. Moral standards require a personal Moral Lawgiver and Jesus is the proof He exists in His claims to be God together with His miracles and fulfilled prophecies.
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Very learned professors and persons I respect say there's no such God. Intelligent learned persons with advanced degrees from prestigious universities can each claim the evidence proves exactly opposite conclusions. We have our biases, special interests, and may not want to know the truth regardless of the evidence. Persons of Jesus' day saw his miracles, heard his claims to be  God, even saw Lazarus who Jesus raised from the dead, and then plotted to have Jesus crucified. Secular historians admit many of the events in Jesus' life, but these really make no sense unless He also performed the miracles said of Him.
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The "New Atheists" make misleading claims and arguments saying God is not good and the Bible is a dangerous book. Check out these books. Is God Just a Human Invention, by Sean McDowell and Jonathan Morrow. Why People Don't Believe, by Paul Chamberlain. When God Goes To Starbucks, by Paul Copan.  See my article: Is Any  Religion Objectively True & Humanly Ennobling?
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God let the loved one I desperately needed die. Death is a certain reality we all must face and it can occur unexpected and at any time. We are all subject to accidents, diseases, and abuses that are very painful. In a sinful fallen world it's unavoidable. When God gives us the dignity of free will, it's subject to abuse, and often beyond our defense and control. The best thing we can do is trust the Lord, do good for others, and tell them of the Savior and Shepherd of our souls who will never leave us. One day we will have our just reward. In Christ's resurrection alone there is assurance of life beyond the grave and seeing our loved ones who are in Christ. 
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I pray fervently but don't see where God answers my prayers. There are conditions that must be met before God can answer our prayers. If we have sin in our life the Lord will not hear us. If we say give me this and give me that, then God I'll believe in You and serve You. That's not acknowledging Him as Lord. God knows if He gave us what we asked, that we would have no further use for Him or even say thank you. True prayer seeks the Lord's will above our own. God may answer our prayer with a yes, no, or later. We must trust in His infinite knowledge, wisdom, power, goodness and love. Memorize Psalm 37:4-5 and repeat it daily and frequently. "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."  
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I can't believe in a book full of contradictions can be true or right about God. Well, I can't believe some of the ridiculous things critics call contradictions. It's in part because persons today ignorant of the Bible can be told the Bible says things or means things it doesn't. Bible believers in past days would think modern claims and rantings strange. Where did Cain get a wife when Adam and Eve had only two sons and Cain killed Abel? Genesis 5:4 says Adam had sons and daughters, but wouldn't common sense tell us it had to be that way at the start. Let me recommend a good book that answers supposed contradictions: When Critics Ask, by Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe.  See my articles: Bible Errors or Critic's Errors? Doubts Can Have Good Honest Answers # 1, 2.
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I don't know much about the Bible, but I see no reasons to believe in its God. Christians in fields of science and philosophy give good reasons to believe in God, but it's the critics that get big press attention. Besides myself, there are a multitude of Christian apologists on the Internet giving good reasons for their faith. Indeed, one must have a godlike knowledge even to deny God. Atheists and critics honestly examining the biblical facts have felt compelled to become Christians. We can reject God for emotional  and social reasons. The Bible's God has a claim on our lives that other so-called gods do not. Remember, it's only the great I Am who gives us our breath and will judge us. 

Antony Flew, the leading academic atheist for fifty years (deceased 2003), came to believe in God the Creator. The big bang convinced him a beginning universe was the effect of  an eternal Beginner or God. Flew, didn't become a Christian, but honestly and openly admitted that the facts pointed to theism. No one has shown the resurrection, the ultimate evidence of Christian faith and hope to be a lie, though many have tried. Also, see my articles: The Alternative If There's No God.  Christian Love or Atheist Power. Is Atheism Best For Us?
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Natures laws prevent any God acting in our world. The "New Atheists" in their best selling books are completely closed minded sighting David Hume's arguments there can be no miracle working God. If Hume's objections were true, it seems impossible we could have gone to the moon. Christian theologians have shown Hume's arguments invalid. See my articles:  Has God Made Himself Known to Us? Faith, Reason, & Revelation. Did Jesus Really Perform Miracles? Darwin's Missing Links, or Jesus' Miracles? 
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How can we believe in God when so many different things are claimed about him? Many conflicting views logically mean that all can't be right. There can't be many gods, just two gods, one God, no god, or the universe be god. If any one is correct, logically it cancels out all the others. Good faith is based upon logic and fact. Just what some esteemed persons say is not evidence. Anybody can claim God or his angel talked to me and I wrote down his words in a holy book. But mere claims don't prove anything.
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Unlike other religions which claim and speculate about a god off somewhere, or that might could explain things, the Bible records historical eyewitness evidences of God acting in our world supernaturally. Persons centuries later, who add to or contradict Bible teachings, are clearly false teachers. The Bible records a multitude of God's actions in the world and in human lives. Though still imperfect, Christian believers changed from destructive evil lives to loving service of God. They built hospitals, schools, rescue missions, retirement homes, helped in disaster relief, and in countless other ways persons today seem to ignore.
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I have rights which means I can make my own decisions without anyone, even God telling me what to do. I'm afraid this is the underlining basis for rejection of God. All our claimed objections are really a product of looking for excuses to reject God's will on our lives. Anyone really wanting answers to difficult questions can find them in books and in my articles. Respectfully and biblically, if we're not transformed by the Lord Jesus who gives us rights and our every breath, we're in slavery to sin, Satan, and the world's system of evil.
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As a Christian I have had many serious questions but always found answers in diligent honest search. My friend, what about you? Won't you say, Lord Jesus I trust You who gave Your life that I might have abundant life with You. I pray you will find sin's forgiveness, love, peace and joy in Christ others have found and share that good news with friends.
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See note below.

1 comment:

  1. Doubts can be rational requiring evidence, or personal due to painful life experiences, or social fearing rejection from others who believe differently. Some persons as Richard Dawkins & Thomas Nagel admit they don't want there to be a personal ethical God.

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