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Atheists will never understand Christianity.
Among the many “get out of jail cards” Christians’ use in debates with atheists is the one where they say that atheists will never understand Christianity.
They derive this from the teachings of the Apostle Paul the originator of Christianity who pre-empted being stumped at some stage or another and had this to say:
“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
..not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong..(1 Cor 18-28)
And this; “..Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.” (Rom 1:21-22)
The circular reasoning is almost comical. The Christian message and the Bible are true, that’s why the Bible says philosophy contrary to the Bible is foolish, thus all philosophical objections to the Christian message and the Bible are foolish, therefore, the Christian message and the Bible are true.
These passages show that Christians worship a God who chooses the foolish things just to shame the wise. He did not choose the foolish things because they are good; he chose them because they are not good, and he did this to nullify things that are good, just so he could be number one, top dog, the angry snarling Alpha male, leader of the pack, with all grovelling at his feet.
At least we know that God did not say these things as he is man-made and these texts are a perfect example of the kind of deceit and manipulation the Bible authors used in order to convince naive people that their message is true. They are simply anticipating their ideas being refuted by intelligent people and are setting up roadblocks, most probably because Paul got a hammering in Greece where they called him a babbler.
Look at this verse "he has chosen the foolish things to shame the wise." Does this say that God created smart people knowing that they wouldn’t be able to accept the "foolishness of the gospel?" Rather, it is telling that only gullible, desperate people are going to accept it, and the writers anticipated this. Not many mighty are called but only the lowly and humble of heart.
Many scenarios in the Bible are deliberately staged in order to pre-empt any possible disagreement one might have with the message. The funny thing is, Christians consider this stuff to be offensive to those who “hate god”, but in reality, they are indicative of a mean spirit that permeates Christianity.
God is the cosmic wife beater who "loves his bride" but must discipline (beat) her in order to help her submit. According to the Bible you are either:
A) Hard hearted, blind and foolish and reject God, or
B) A lover of truth, faithful and holy.
As if life could possibly be this simple. Col 2:8 here Paul pontificates’ “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
Paul is asserting any philosophy that contradicts with the Christian faith is "hollow and deceptive," because it "depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ"
It is pretty much explicit. Anything that is not compatible with the Bible can be said as based "on human tradition and the basic principles of this world" - be it science, or philosophy or anything contrary to Christ.
Well Christians have a major problem as what they believe cannot be reconciled with modern sensibilities. This is no longer the 1st Century but the 21st Century. The Christian faith deserves to be questioned. In Paul’s day, you were a fool if you did; today you are a fool if you don’t.
Read that part of the verse again that goes: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Now think about what kind of God this portrays. Why would any loving God destroy wisdom? Why would any caring God frustrate intelligence? Obviously the only wisdom and intelligence valued amongst Christians is that which has been filtered through the teachings and indoctrination of Christ. Christians are right and everyone else is wrong.
This is why Christians are so smug, confident and certain. They possess all truth. Only they are wise and everyone else especially atheists are foolish. When an atheist asks a Christian to support their claims with evidence and logical arguments (i.e. that the scriptures they purport to be authoritative have some concrete external support) they ought to have answers providing that evidence.
If they are not able to give logical reasons for believing in their hole-y book then they must believe without knowing why they believe. Everyone who expects to provide the Bible as proof of their dogma must know why it is an authority. If they don't, they should keep their mouths shut outside Sunday school and Church (dopamine fix) time.
However in some sense Paul’s argument is accurate where he says that only the weak will turn to Christ and not the mighty. Christianity has always appealed and still does; to the desperate, needy and poor members of society. The smart are few and far between and find it difficult to swallow the claims of Christianity but the foolish are many and are all over and find it easy.
It takes blind faith to believe in God. It takes blind faith to believe in the Bible. Pity that blind faith is no longer a virtue in today’s world. The fool believes when there is lack of evidence. The wise seeks evidence before he believes.
Is there not something wrong with any belief system that needs to disparage reason? Let’s face it the Bronze-age trinity God of the Bible is a nasty character and fortunately he does not exist.
That’s just plain common sense after all its disgusting and foolish to imagine an all-powerful being torturing people forever or having to kill his Son to forgive our sins, that we inherited from Adam and Eve who never existed in the first place.
