The 'best' arguments for atheism and Christianity

[tabibito]

Why thank you good sir.

In that sense all that is novel about the OP argument is that I thought for 5 minutes about what ways in which a person could reasonably expect a world with a deity to look different to a world without one, and obviously for any criteria I could think of, our world matches better to a world without a deity. Or to put it another way, atheism seems to explain the observed facts, while religious claims both themselves lack evidence and also make general predictions that run counter to the observed facts.

...
So I guess the OP argument is somewhere on the continuum between an entirely original composition of my own, and "the exact same arguments I see from your usual run of the mill internet atheist"...

While the content was perhaps not entirely original, it addressed the OP question properly. As a subjective response to a question that asked for a subjective response, it works admirably. And though I look at matters from the believer's perspective, there are times that I can sympathise.

[Sparko]

Perhaps he was leaving it to the palaeontologists. He certainly didn't inform the authors of the Genesis Creation narratives about the dinosaurs or the five great extinctions that preceded Adam and Eve. There's nary a reference to them.

It doesn't mention kangaroos, sharks or hippopotamuses either.

[rogue06]

It doesn't mention kangaroos, sharks or hippopotamuses either.

North and South America, Australia or Antarctica as well.

[JonathanL]

North and South America, Australia or Antarctica as well.

I'll just cross these off the list of "Continents whose Existence I Believe in" then.

[Sparko]

North and South America, Australia or Antarctica as well.

What? That's it. I am now an atheist. Thanks Star.

Christians are teh dumb!! The bible says stoopid stuff and they believe it!! It doesn't even mention South America!! How can the Aztecs be saved if the bible doesn't even mention them? Were there Kangaroos on teh Ark? They weren't mentioned!

[rogue06]

What? That's it. I am now an atheist. Thanks Star.

Christians are teh dumb!! The bible says stoopid stuff and they believe it!! It doesn't even mention South America!! How can the Aztecs Incas be saved if the bible doesn't even mention them? Were there Kangaroos on teh Ark? They weren't mentioned!

FIFY n/c

[Sparko]

FIFY n/c

Obviously you Christians are way too literal-minded. If the Bible doesn't mention South America it also doesn't mention Central America. Duh! Go back and pray about it luzer. And thanks for bringing up the Incas who are also going to hell because the bible didn't care enough to mention them!

[rogue06]

Obviously you Christians are way too literal-minded. If the Bible doesn't mention South America it also doesn't mention Central America. Duh! Go back and pray about it luzer. And thanks for bringing up the Incas who are also going to hell because the bible didn't care enough to mention them!

The Aztecs were in North America. It was the Mayans who were in both North and Central America and the Incas who were in South America.

[Sparko]

The Aztecs were in North America. It was the Mayans who were in both North and Central America and the Incas who were in South America.

Thanks you dumb Christian, now you have supplied me with even more people that the bible sent to hell! The Mayans! Ha! and don't forget the Olmecs! and the American Indians! and the Eskimos! And the Atlanteans! God sunk their whole continent before they could be saved! what kind of evil God would do that? Unless he turned them into merpeople. That would be cool.

[Starlight]

North and South America, Australia or Antarctica as well.

St Augustine of Hippo's (4th-5th century AD) logical arguments as to why there are no humans living in such places are amusing to read. Among other arguments, he believed it got hotter and hotter as you went south towards the equator and eventually got so hot that no human could go further south. In his view there was nothing but ocean on the southern half of the planet.

How can the Aztecs be saved if the bible doesn't even mention them?

IIRC one of the arguments Augustine actually makes as to why groups like the Aztecs don't exist is that God wouldn't have put peoples out of reach of the gospel and wouldn't have created people who would live and die without hearing the gospel and thus go to hell.

[Tassman]

It doesn't mention kangaroos, sharks or hippopotamuses either.

Of course not. The authors of the Creation narratives were people of their Age, they could only write about what they knew (or thought they knew). It's not as though the bible was inspired by an omniscient deity or anything.

[One Bad Pig]

St Augustine of Hippo's (4th-5th century AD) logical arguments as to why there are no humans living in such places are amusing to read. Among other arguments, he believed it got hotter and hotter as you went south towards the equator and eventually got so hot that no human could go further south. In his view there was nothing but ocean on the southern half of the planet.

Given the then known world, it was a logical assumption.

[Sparko]

Of course not. The authors of the Creation narratives were people of their Age, they could only write about what they knew (or thought they knew). It's not as though the bible was inspired by an omniscient deity or anything.

They didn't know about Hippopotamuses? The Egyptians knew about them. And sharks? surely they knew about sharks. how about cactuses? they lived in a desert, surely they knew about them?

[Sparko]

St Augustine of Hippo's (4th-5th century AD) logical arguments as to why there are no humans living in such places are amusing to read. Among other arguments, he believed it got hotter and hotter as you went south towards the equator and eventually got so hot that no human could go further south. In his view there was nothing but ocean on the southern half of the planet.

IIRC one of the arguments Augustine actually makes as to why groups like the Aztecs don't exist is that God wouldn't have put peoples out of reach of the gospel and wouldn't have created people who would live and die without hearing the gospel and thus go to hell.

Well that cinches it! The Americas don't exist! I knew it. And you are living in hell since you are south of the equator. That is why you are trying to argue against the bible!

SATAN!!!!

[Jedidiah]

I do not believe there can be any scientific evidence that pertains to the truth of Gods existence. The God of the Bible, at least, is not a part of the creation so can not be tested scientifically. This means that other evidence is the only sort that can be used. This eliminates all supposed arguments that point to the lack of such evidence as a reason to disbelieve. All such arguments are irrational. For me this comes down to which is more in line with what I can test: The universe (that is all that is) is a creation of a power beyond itself, or the universe simply is self existent.