Herein we continue, from the previous segments, considering objections raised by an Atheist from “The Skeptic Arena” who goes by the pseudonym “Neo” with regards to my repository website TrueFreethinker’s “About” page during a June 28, 2014 AD podast. In that which follows, you will find the contents of my About page in italics, his comments underlined and my replies in regular font.
“Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge” (1st Corinthians 14:29).
Ken, I like this one better – “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” Matthew 7:1
So Ken, should we believe your verse written by Paul? Or my verse … written by the Son of God?
I do not know if Neo reads the Bible or does searches for verses he thinks will cause me trouble. But what I do know is that it is time for another Bible study. The question “should we believe your verse written by Paul? Or my verse … written by the Son of God?” is an example of a classic logical fallacy known as a false dichotomy; a presumed and forced choice between only two faulty options. It would be faulty to think that we can only choose one or the other. Rather, Neo quoted a fragment of a complete thought and so took a text out of context to make a pretext for a prooftext. Jesus never said, “Judge not, that ye be not judged”; look it up for yourself, He never said that. That is a fragment of a complete thought and statement that Jesus made which we will quote from Matthew 7:1-5,
“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?
You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
Thus, Jesus did not say “Judge not, that ye be not judged” as in simply “do not judge” but rather, gave instructions about not judging in an unrighteous manner so that you will not be judged by your very own standards. This is why Jesus followed up with “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24).
One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is “discerning of spirits” (1st Corinthians 12:10).
Ken, I think he meant to write “distilling of spirits.”
“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1st John 4:1).
Ken, each and every one of you Ghost Worshipers is a false prophet. There isn’t one speck of evidence anywhere on the planet to prove that your delusions exist anywhere outside your heads.
There is just as much evidence for your tooth fairy or teeth mice.
But Ken, between those two ghosts, you should have stuck with the nice one that gives money to little kids, rather than the nasty one who brags about all the people He’s murdered and the billions He plans to torture.
Neo’s appears to be a fear based Atheism; if he can make you afraid of God then maybe, just maybe, you will become an Atheist. Note that he references evidence but does not justify his demand for evidence, does not elucidate what evidence for a supernatural being would look like, claims that there is no such evidence “anywhere on the planet” as if he has explored the planet seeking it out, presumes that such evidence would be upon the planet and, as per part 1 again, offers no reasons why we should even bother seeking to ascertain empirical truth in an Atheist universe.
Moreover, what if God only exists inside theist’s heads? This denoted a classic example of a logical fallacy known as the genetic fallacy aka the ad hominem. This means that he is attacking the source of an argument whilst leaving the argument unscathed.
Lastly, note that Atheists will complain that God does nothing about evil and then, when they find out what He will ultimately do, they complain about that as well.
In the next segment, we will consider claims of failed Bible prophecy.