Herein we conclude considering the UK’s Church And State’s 6 Things Religion Can’t Explain by Dean Van Drasek, February 5, 2015 AD—see the whole series here.
6. Why allow ignorance of yourself?
Church And State’s Dean Van Drasek does a great job in beginning this section with a point I already made in this series which is that his main point is that according to his subjective and unstated presuppositions: God should X and since God does not X then God is not (with X being whatever strikes Darsek’s fancy at any given time de jour). Thus, he begins with “If you were god…” and put you in the driver’s seat from there.
Well, “If you were god, and you wanted to test people to see if they lived according to your rules, wouldn’t it make sense to be sure that they knew what those rules were?” yes but he goes on “If you’re going to play a game, it only works if both sides know the rules and what conditions constitute a victory or a failure. Now some religions don’t think this way” in fact, I would imagine that none of them think it a game.
He neglects to note that beyond specific written instructions, God has put His ethical code within our hearts (see Jeremiah 31:33 and Romans 2:15).
He then merely asserts that “Many tribal religions only considered their beliefs to apply to themselves…Today, Judaism…fall[s] into this category. God is not really a universal god, as he/she/they are primarily concerned with just one tribe or group of people. So, the rules apply to them and not necessarily to others. These religions don’t tend to proselytize.”
He does not bother defining “Judaism” so that leaves us to deal with two concepts for the sake of clarity: 1) biblical Judaism and 2) the late comer and manmade “Rabbinic Judaism.” Neither 1) nor 2) would claim that “God is not really a universal god.” Darsek seems to think this because it may appear so on the surface. The issue is that both 1) and 2) both only “consider their beliefs” regarding certain thing such a dietary kosher laws, “to apply to themselves” and God as being “primarily concerned with just one tribe or group of people” as His main vehicle to reach the world in one way or another—for details on this issue, see Richard Dawkins : Planting God More Firmly on His Throne, part 3 of 10
Darsek also notes that other non-tribal gods “are more interested in the outward signs of devotion or sacrifice than with reading the minds of humans (traditional Judaism is very much in this primitive vein as well, just look at the pages of descriptions on how to make sacrifices, how to dress, what to eat, when to work, etc.).” It is so sad that some could lack knowledge of the Bible’s concepts, contents and contexts to the point that they do not even realize that they are saying even whilst thinking that they do. In short, the Jews were built up as a people groups from the ground up. They were institutionalized due to generations of slavery in Egypt and so, upon their liberty, had to be directed, as to how to make sacrifices, how to dress, what to eat, when to work, etc.
Darsek again plays the if you were God card, “But if you were god, wouldn’t you want everyone to know? Why hide yourself for most of human history and then only make yourself known one time in one place to one group or people or even just one individual?” He merely presupposes that God only made himself known “one time in one place to one group or people or even just one individual” when, in fact we are dealing with “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1-2).
Darsek then notes that “Judaism used to ascribe its Torah to be the writings of one man, Moses (who, at least based on his depiction in the Torah, is clearly fictional).” Judaism still ascribes the Torah as in the first five books and not the entire Old Testament to Moses who was inspired. That “based on his depiction in the Torah” Moses “is clearly fictional” is to claim nothing at all since it is a mere assertion without evidence, quotes, citations, etc.
He ends this section as he has ended others: with a stream of consciousness Dear diary style emotive rant: “What is the reason for the modesty? Especially when people’s wellbeing and perhaps even eternal life is at risk, why not get the word out? Why condemn billions of people to endless torment simply because they never heard of you? What is the logic in this?”
No one has “never heard of” God since, for example, “that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:19-21) and also God “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us” (Acts 17:26-27).
But Darsek is not done with his subjective rant, “Maybe there are some people you just don’t like? Is god a racist? Did he forget to tell everyone else because he didn’t like them? Because they weren’t worthy enough? Or was it just too far to go to Australia?” this is merely childish and, as we just saw from Acts, unfounded and answered two millennia ago.
He actually ends with “There are more than 6, I know. What ones have you used that have been effective with believers?” Well, I am unsure how any of the six could possibly have “been effective” on anyone who has the slightest idea of the Bible’s concepts, contents and contexts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Due to robo-spaming, I had to close the comment sections. However, you can comment on my Facebook page.
I have to pay for server usage and have made all content on this website free and always will. I support my family on one income and do research, writing, videos, etc. as a hobby. If you can even spare $1.00 as a donation, please do so: it may not seem like much but if each person reading this would do so, even every now and then, it would add up and really, really help out. Here is my donate/paypal page.
Twitter: #atheism, #religion, #bible
Facebook: #atheism, #religion, #bible