Atheists on the Divinity of Jesus

I never thought I'd be grateful for the viewpoint of an atheist, but surprisingly I am. One particular atheist pointed out the stupidity of those believing in the divinity of Christ. Specifically, he claimed that if Jesus was/is actually God, then no real sacrifice was made. Although the atheist's concept of the word "sacrifice" was lacking in understanding, he did indeed have a valid point.

Although this article was addressing another challenge made against the Bible, the third and fourth paragraphs in the answer are applicable here. In those paragraphs, the respondent (wrongly) claimed that since Jesus was God, this wasn’t human sacrifice. So the evidence of the claim that some do believe Jesus was/is God is provided there. But I wanted to consider some of the supposed proofs that were given.

"One human life couldn’t possibly cover the sins of the multitudes who ever existed…. One finite human life [could not] atone for sin against an infinite God." Really? Then how is that one finite life (Adam’s) could wholesale all mankind into sin and death in the first place? The claimant is very wrong in this matter. In fact, even the apostle Paul would argue with him:

Romans 5:12 "That is why, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because they had all sinned.”

Romans 5:15 "But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by one man’s trespass many died, how much more did the undeserved kindness of God and his free gift by the undeserved kindness of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to many!”

The fact is, it is not the quantity that matters, it is what God deems is necessary. The principle that comes into play here is the “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” (like for like) compensation rule. What was lost was one perfect human life that affected all mankind thereafter. What was needed was one perfect human life that maintained his loyalty (unlike Adam) thus meeting the requirement set out by God. (“For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one person many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:19. See also 1Tim.2:5,6) There is/was however, two differences between Jesus as a man and the rest of humanity. First, he was perfect in every way. Second, his role and life was also prophesied in scripture.

Next up…

“God didn’t sacrifice Jesus. Rather, Jesus, as God incarnate, sacrificed Himself.... God the Son sacrificed Himself to God the Father.” This is so far from what the Bible teaches that it made me laugh. There is nothing from scripture in the above claims. First, Jesus is not “God incarnate” nor is that phrase nor concept nor even the phrase “God the Son” found anywhere in scripture. Truly, just as the apostle John concluded and surmised the purpose of his “gospel” account, “These have been written down so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and because of believing, you may have life by means of his name.” (John 20:31). The only thing that comes remotely close to having an inkling of truth is the use of John 10:18. Yes, it is true that no one forced Jesus to do what he did, that doesn’t make him God. I also noticed that the respondent conveniently dropped the end of the scripture (which would have debunked his premise) that states: “This commandment I received from my Father.” It is beyond absurd to think that God would have to command himself to do anything.

In case any atheist is reading this blog, know that there are a group of Christians that do not believe Jesus was in any way, shape, or form part of a triune godhead. Those people are Jehovah’s Witnesses.

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Vehement Hatred is Usually Narrow Minded

Have you ever noticed that in order to truly hate someone, you must convince yourself that they have absolutely no redeeming value at all? There have been people, even in recent history, that are so debased, so wicked, so evil, that it takes no effort to hate that person. I won’t single out any one person here; that is not my intent. However, people of that caliber are (thankfully) rare. For the greater majority of us, we make friends and (sadly at times, due to being imperfect humans) enemies in our life. Our enemies are those that refuse to see any good in us even when others do.

One person that absolutely doesn’t deserve to be hated is God. Yet, some atheists do. (Other atheists have no feelings good or bad about the subject of God.) In order to form this hatred, they look for scripture passages that would put God in a bad light. So they find scriptures about God destroying bad people; they find passages where God allowed slavery; and make other citations that seem to give credibility to their hatred of God. In order to justify this hatred, these atheists flatly refuse to view things in context or look at nearby passages that give intent, showing that God is not the heinous person they paint him to be. But then, again, that is exactly how hatred works – in order to fester a hatred, you have to convince yourself that the object of your hatred is evil through and through, no matter how unreasonable such a conviction is.

I’ve learned that some who react to God so vehemently, refuse to change. I wish they would change, but again, free will allows for this. What bothers more, though, is that they influence others who have little knowledge of scripture and convince them, infect them, with the same dark hatred. Then without any true or deep understanding of the issue, those latter ones become spiritually famished -- without real cause.

Recently I read an article, and once again I decided not to link to it because of its one-sided, God-hating bias. In it the author felt that knowing about slavery in the Bible would make even god-loving Christians, god-haters. Apparently, this man assumes that most people really do not read their Bible. (Actually, there may be more truth in that than many are willing to admit.) However, I have read the Bible – every word, from cover to cover, multiple times. I have read several different Bible translations and versions. From my personal search, I can guarantee you that such god-hating viewpoints are not honest, not complete. God is not the cruel person that some atheists make him out to be. As for the issues of God’s judgments against wicked individuals or his allowance of slavery in the time of Israel as a nation reported on in the Hebrew/Aramaic (“Old Testament”) scriptures, there are reasonable answers to those issues.

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If Life Purposeless Why Argue Point?

Evolutionists and atheists--we who believe in a higher power hear you "loud and clear." You believe that we are self-deceived and uneducated, otherwise we would be like you.

So what are we to conclude?--That all the love & hate you can express in a lifetime; all the lifetimes of everyone living and those now dead; all the passion, learning and conviction you express about evolution really doesn't amount to even a grain of sand because evolution & our existence was all mere chance, has no deeper meaning and is therefore pointless? We merely came to be and will cease to exist all without there having been any value. If that is how pointless life is to you?

If so, why even bother to argue the point of a meaningless existence? If believers are self-deceived, and you are so intellectually convinced their beliefs will amount to nothing, then why not just leave them alone? After all, in the end you will have done nothing but waste your breath. Don't you have more important things to do than argue with ignoramuses? Oh wait, that's right, you don't have ANYTHING more important because its all meaningless. (I think if i believed as you do, I would seriously consider suicide seeing as once I came to realize how meaningless life is, I would not find any reason to continue mine.) Oh, and please don't preach to me that the reason for arguing is that religion is the main cause for hatred among mankind and that ridding the earth of religion would be a good thing. While it is true that religious fanatics exist, so do godless fanatics, or what do you suppose atheistic states such as Russia and others are all about? Their atrocities against humanity are likewise well documented.

Consider: Would a world comprised of nothing but atheists bring peace & kindness to all humankind or would it be a world filled with anarchy, selfishness and fear? Since no one would be a recognized authority regarding morals, who would dictate what is right and wrong?

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Human Consciousness - What Is It?

Reading a medical dictionary’s definition of human consciousness, I had to ask myself with each bullet item what it was about that definition that was different from what animals have. In some cases I was forced to concede that animals have, to some degree or another, the characteristics cited in the definition. After contemplating the definitions, I tried to find something that really demonstrated that human consciousness was unique amongst life on earth.

First (not necessarily foremost), human consciousness is the unique ability to anticipate events and consequences and to plan our lives. The phrase "subjective awareness" (as used in the dictionary definition cited above) perhaps best defines the separation between humans and other life forms on earth. We have the ability to decide what is important and discard the less important whereas, in general, animals tend to react to any stimuli regardless of its importance. We understand and can differentiate between perceived, real, and non- threat. (There is no single authoritative definition of "subjective awareness." One college article said it is "what a person chooses to believe." If true, this also demonstrates the separation between human and beast. Animals do not "choose [what] to believe," rather they react to sensory inputs.)

Human consciousness is also what defines our ability to reason, hypothesize, imagine potential and create. Whether that creation be furniture or art, it is something that doesn't exist naturally. Some may argue that such is not creation, however I am not using the term in the same sense that the Bible speaks of God's creating things. However, it was by our use of cognitive reasoning, ability to see potential, and then to use skills through both individual and collective experience that gives us the ability to both "create" and expand on that for improvements.

Finally, for those who believe in God, human consciousness is the ability to grasp the unseen -- namely that intelligence superior to ours is what made us. Granted, atheists and agnostics are humans the same as believers are humans and their rejection of a creator does not lessen their humanity. However, with animals the concept of superiority stops with the visible. They have no consciousness of a God, gods, or whatever. They do not worship, they do not try to contemplate and understand the cosmos, nor even their own existence. However, mankind, even some atheists, have never stopped looking for a reason and understanding of why we are here.

In short then, human ability to anticipate, to plan (individually and collectively), to imagine; to improve our lot; and to worship are all unique features of human consciousness.

But now comes the big question -- where did this awareness, this cognition come from? The answer to that is not something atheists can adequately answer with any degree of satisfaction. To brush it off as a quirk of evolution demonstrates an air of arrogance like a professor that really doesn’t know the answer so he makes something up and then emphatically claim that his position is correct because of his education. However, those believing in God, especially those accepting the Bible, readily appreciate the value of knowing that humans were made in God’s image. Part of that “image” is the cognitive powers that no other creation (except angels) is mentioned as having (nor has any other earthly creature demonstrated). (Obviously the word “image” here cannot mean the compositional characteristics. God is a spirit being. Today, with our knowledge of science, we might more readily describe him as an intelligent energy life-force of some sort. Man, on the other hand is physical. So we must look to other characteristics, such as those already mentioned, in order to make sense of what the Bible is teaching.)

(The Bible teaches that God’s four main attributes are love, justice, wisdom and power. These also are demonstrated by mankind. While animals may to some degree demonstrate power it is not only power as in strength that the Bible is speaking of. Also, animals do care for their young and herd, however, the love humans express is usually considered a higher degree of cognition.)

It is my personal feelings that the very reason science cannot agree on how to correctly and accurately define consciousness is that it rejects the very foundation that we are made in God’s image. Without that ground-floor belief, nothing else makes sense. There really is no reason, evolutionary or otherwise, for man to have this ability apart from it being an endowment by a loving creator.