Tomorrow we’re meeting with our soon-to-be-former pastor to explain why we’re leaving the church. In anticipation, I’ve been attempting to clarify in my mind why I no longer believe in god. At best, my belief was tenuous even while going to church. But as I started to pay more attention to the words of the verses, and the hymns  and the sermons, the words had less and less meaning for me. I couldn’t even fake out belief by asserting that it was all a metaphor, with wonderful life lessons to be learned. So, what are the various arguments for belief in god? I went looking, despite my wife’s humorous “why not?”

I recently finished Irreligion, and decided to do some searching on the opposite side. If I ask, what do the religious say about believing? So, I asked the seemingly omniscient Google, why believe in god? The first result was less than inspiring. It has six reasons:

1. The complexity of our planet and universe prove God exists. Sorry. Just because I was once dealt a perfect “lay down loaner” in euchre doesn’t mean that god gave me that hand. Our planet is special and unique, and the universe is amazing, but that doesn’t mean there’s a god.
2. The complexity of the human brain proves God exists. Sorry, there are perfectly natural processes that have lead to the human brain. No need for god.
3.  Random chance can’t explain it all, so God must exist.”… life cannot arise from non-life. Where did human, animal, plant life come from?” Certainly believing in god will prevent you from taking a job as a scientist, looking at a very interesting question. Claiming “God did it” is to ignore the possibility that there ARE natural causes.
4. Lots and lots of other people believe in God, so God must exist because they can’t all be wrong. Yes. They. Can. I’m sorry, but I’m simply not impressed by the “everyone else believes it” argument. We human beings have been known to be wrong on very large scales.
5. “We know God exists because he pursues us.” I’ve got to admit, this is the first I’ve heard this argument.  “I have come to find out that God wants to be known. He created us with the intention that we would know him. He has surrounded us with evidence of himself and he keeps the question of his existence squarely before us.” If he wants to be known, why doesn’t he make it more obvious so that he could rest a bit and not pursue us? How do you know that God wants to be known?
6. Jesus said he was divine, so therefore he is. I’m not making this up. I’m amazed.

Look throughout the major world religions and you’ll find that Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius and Moses all identified themselves as teachers or prophets. None of them ever claimed to be equal to God. Surprisingly, Jesus did. That is what sets Jesus apart from all the others. He said God exists and you’re looking at him.

Well that settles it. I’m God. Therefore Jesus is no longer anything special. Two people have claimed to be God. Therefore god doesn’t exist.

One final quote from the page: “God does not force us to believe in him, though he could. Instead, he has provided sufficient proof of his existence for us to willingly respond to him.” Then why didn’t god influence Google to give me more convincing arguments? If god is pursuing me, why aren’t the answers a bit more clear?

Maybe I’ll find something more convincing on another page. Maybe not. I once read someone’s logic for disbelief this way:

If there is a God, he made me with an analytical mind. For me to not use that mind would be a sin against God. Therefore it is a sin for me to believe in God.

Today, I don’t believe. If there is a god pursuing me, your evidence will have to be more compelling. But after you’re done convincing me you exist, it will be much tougher to convince me to worship you.

We went with Scott and Carina, and a huge group of friends, to the Whetstone Park fireworks last night. We showed up late because of our own party, but it was just in time to start the 1.5 mile walk to the park.

Along the way, we passed by the Calvary Bible Church. Members of the church (I assume) were handing out bottles of water for the small price of accepting their pamphlet.

I glanced at the pamphlet momentarily as I accepted what I would later call my
“Jesus Water”.

At this point, my beliefs are somewhere between agnosticism and weak atheism, and I’ve been somewhat critical of religion in general recently. But I hate to argue against “strawmen” or examples that I make up in my head only to be easily beaten down. There are plenty of examples of idiots on the Internet, but that doesn’t necessarily represent official church doctrine. Here I have an “official” church outreach document which they are clearly hoping will a) increase their membership, and b) will save souls.

What if there really is a creator-god?

That would be absolutely fascinating. If I had an opportunity to meet this being, I’d be really curious as to how it came about all sorts of decisions: why are there vast reaches of total emptiness? have you tried this whole creation thing before? what have you been up to since you created this universe? are there other creations like this one? do you know what created you?

What implications does this have for me, His creation?

Um, why is the creator gender specific? Anyway, I’m not sure there are any implications. Just because the creator created me (and billions of other people, and planets and suns, and moons, and rocks, and viruses, and Hitler, and Polpot), I’m not sure what the implications are.

What if that creator will hold man, his creation, accountable in a day of judgment?

What if it won’t? What if the creator doesn’t really care? And accountable for what? What if we are accountable to hold all squirrels sacred, providing them shelter, food, and loving care? Crap. I see one in my back yard right now. I better go help him out.

What if the creator-god really loves man, his creation?

Love is an action. Dead-beat dads may claim they love their children, but it is the actions that speak louder than words. The claim that this creator loves us is like saying I love squirrels. If I don’t demonstrate that love, and there is no evidence of that love, then I have not loved that squirrel. Time for me to go make a squirrel chapel.

What if the creator-god has a son named Jesus?

I dunno. Father-son duos aren’t always the best thing. Sometimes the nut does fall far from the tree. Maybe Jesus is a little pissed–his dad gets to create entire universes, and he just gets to visit one itty-bitty planet for 30ish years. What if Jesus had a son, the creator’s grandson? Wow, procreation really works.

What if Jesus is who the bible claims he is? Eternal God, Virgin-born, Sinless, Savior, Resurrected lord.

So, let me get this straight. What if the creator has a son, who is the creator, who killed himself so that he could be brought back to life? If Jesus was born to a virgin, then his mother must not be human, because humans procreate through sexual intercourse. That’s how the creator created us, right? So the creator sets up all these rules for how things are done, but when he wants a son, he can’t just “poof” him into existence, he has to “poof” his sperm into some poor woman in order to create the boy? I’m afraid the sinless and savior pieces don’t really mean much to me…

What if he really is the only way to god, as he claimed to be?

Wait, Jesus is god and the only way to god? I don’t understand. Is he the finger pointing at the moon, or is he the moon? Perhaps this is some sort of cruel treasure hunt: follow the map to the treasure only to find another map, which leads to another map.

What if I arrive at heaven’s door with misplaced hope of entering in?

What if there is no heaven? Indeed, what if you were supposed to have been building squirrel chapels all along? What evidence of heaven do we have? What do the doors look like? Is it really someplace we want to be?

What if I haven’t met god’s requirement for entering in (to heaven)?

From the pamphlet, the requirement is “He that hath the son hath life; and he that hath not the son of god hath not life.” Um, could you make that requirement a bit clearer, please? Even translated to modern English, I still don’t get it “He that has the son has life.” How would I have the son? Like a cupie doll? Like an action figure? Oh! I’ve seen those in toy/novelty stores. I get it now. I must have a Jesus action figure. Maybe the squirrels would like it in their chapel!

So, I’m completely tired of this, and don’t feel like answering any more of these questions. What they gave me is essentially a pamphlet of Pascals Wager: believe because the risk of non-belief is too great. The pamphlet moves from deism in the first question (where we simply postulate that something might have created the universe) to a judgmental, demanding, multiple personality being. And the only source of information to support their presumed answers to the “What if” questions are a bunch of ancient stories.

I don’t think its likely, but it just might be possible that the universe was created by some being. However, it is a HUGE step to suggest that we should worship that being.

OK, for real now, people are praying for lower gas prices.

“Lord, come down in a mighty way and strengthen us so that we can bring down these high gas prices,” Twyman said to a chorus of “amens”.

“Prayer is the answer to every problem in life… We call on God to intervene in the lives of the selfish, greedy people who are keeping these prices high,” Twyman said on the gas station forecourt in a neighborhood of Washington that, like many of its residents, has seen better days.

If “prayer is the answer to every problem in life”, then why is the answer to every prayer to restore a severed limb always, ALWAYS, NO?

Its unfortunate that people still believe in the god of the gaps. They don’t understand the complex economics that goes into controlling gas prices, so they pray to god (of the gaps) to fill in the details for them. Pathetic. They would have spent their time better if they’d checked out a basic economics book at the library. They might have learned that high gas prices are caused by high (relative) demand (Good Morning China!) and low (relative) supply (can you say “oil cartel”?) Do they want god to reduce demand, or increase supply? Maybe god could send another natural disaster to some miscreant country, reducing demand, so these residents could spend less on gas and more on chili cheese Fritos.

While we were in the hospital visiting with family, and Anne’s grandfather, a commercial for a religious/inspirational music CD came on the TV. The CD, I Can Only Imagine: Ultimate Power Anthems of the Christian Faith, has, what seems to me, an incredibly ironic name. If god is really so incredible, so amazing, so wonderful, why must one “only imagine”? It seems to me that if god were so great, there would be no need to imagine.

I understand that the album is titled after a song (which I’ve chosen not to listen to). I’ve read the lyrics, and it’s about death, and how the singer will react when he/she finally comes face to face with Jesus in heaven.

Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine

I guess the most charitable I can be about it is: you can only imagine because you don’t know anything about what happens after death. No one does. None of the promises in the bible mean a thing because we have no reliable evidence that anything happens after death. Therefore, we are left to imagine. That, to me, is not a song of inspiring faith–its a song of despair.