Some atheists attempt at refuting
Christianity but only end up revealing
they don't understand Christianity. Hi,
I'm Tim Barnett, and today we're applying
some Red Pen Logic to a tweet from
Atheist Republic. Class is in session.
Atheist Republic offers three
propositions to try to show there's a
contradiction in the theistic worldview.
First, everything has a creator. Second,
God is that creator. And third, God does
not have a creator. And then they pull
out the red pen—I wonder where they got
that idea—and they write, "Your solution
fails when it violates its own premise,"
and they draw an arrow. Let's pull out
our red pen, and break this down. Atheist
Republic gets off to a really really bad
start. The first premise is false. Game
over.
This concludes our time together. Just
kidding. You see, no Christian apologist
makes that first claim. We don't believe
that everything has a creator. We believe
that everything that begins to exist has
a cause. That's a fundamental distinction
because if God did not begin to exist,
then He doesn't need a cause or creator.
Notice Atheist Republic's faulty
argument is based on a complete
misunderstanding of what Christians
actually believe. The second premise is
true with an important qualification. God
is the creator of everything that begins
to exist. The third premise is also true.
We believe that God does not have a
creator. Atheist Republic says that the
solution fails when it violates its own
premise, but that's not our premise. It's
theirs. We don't believe the first
premise. Therefore, the solution does not
violate what we actually believe. This is
a textbook example of a straw man
fallacy. When you defeat a defenseless
imitation
of an argument, the scarecrow, instead of
the real thing.
In other words, it's easier to knock over
a straw man than a real man. I find it
really hard to believe that Atheist
Republic did not know that we believe
everything that begins to exist has a
cause. It's literally the most popular
argument that Christians use. Now, let's
summarize what we've learned. Christians
do not believe that everything has a
creator. If we did, God would also need a
creator. We believe that everything that
begins to exist—human beings, the
universe, cool mugs—has a cause. So if God
did not begin to exist, then He does not
need a cause or creator. Atheist Republic
is promulgating a straw man. Not cool,
Atheist Republic, not cool. The red pen is
not a toy.
Think critically before you take the cap
off. Class dismissed.
