In August of last year (2014), Pastor Josh Feuerstein put up a $100,000 challenge to anyone who could prove that God doesn’t exist. Seth Andrews, host of www.thethinkingatheist.com, gave an incredible response which I didn’t see until recently. I felt it deserved a wide audience.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/r878HuZmsaM?t=5m43s]
[You can view the entire 11.7 minute video here, but I wanted to transcribe one of the best parts of it below and the video above is set to start at the same spot].
“Now Josh, you like to use the word ‘accident’ or ‘accidental’ when you’re talking about evolution — when you’re talking about the big bang and the cosmos — a hugely intellectually dishonest way of describing life and our planet and this universe, which is an amazing symphony of random, yes random, and measurable and predictable phenomenon.
And honestly, if you insist that everything exists because your God created and fine-tuned it just for us, I’ve got some questions. Ask God why the whole of legitimate evolutionary biology only sees evidence of evolution. That’s all we see. Common ancestry, with living things, both animal and plant, verifiable down to our DNA as we decode the genome. A universe measurable at about 13 and a half billion years, of a natural world governed by natural laws. Ask your intelligent designer about some questionable design decisions that have been made, like earthquakes that cause tsumanis that wipe out a quarter of a million people in a single day. Redundant DNA. A sun that gives off harmful UV radiation that gives people cancer. Vestigial organs and limbs. Explain those. Pelvises found in whales. Human embryonic tales. Useless insect wings. Deep sea fish that have eyeballs but cannot see — are completely blind. Flightless animals with wings. Wisdom teeth. The list goes on, and on, and on.
In fact, while you’re chatting it up with God, ask him why he bothered to give men, nipples. Always wondered about that one…
And the biggest question I would like you to ask God on my behalf… by the way, a God whom I consider to be the “hide and seek champion” of the universe. Why, with eternity in the balance — heaven and hell in the balance — here in the year 2014, the “information age”, why has God been so ineffective at proving himself to humanity? That right now a full two thirds of the planet worships either someone else or nobody at all. Why is the only written instruction we have the product of anonymous authors working 1400 years before the invention of the printing press? Why would an omniscient God – a God who knew everything past, present and future – continue with a plan that he foreknew would fail and result in the damnation of billions. He’s omnipotent right? He could do anything. He could have come up with a better plan.
And finally, why is God, the most powerful being in the universe, relying on a youtube pastor to set the rest of us straight? This is not an ad hominem against you. This speaks to method. It’s a legitimate question. If God really cares about me, and He can talk to me the way He talks to you, why am I stuck listening to you? Why are any of us listening to you?”
Well said Logan. I wasn’t aware of Pastor Josh Feuerstein or his ‘prove my God doesn’t exist’ challenge until now. I’m assuming he refers to the god of Christianity, and therefore he has decided that gods of all other faiths do not exist.
Has he published his proof that (for instance) Vishnu and Shiva, deities of the Hindu faith, do not exist? It seems he considers that the onus of proof is on the person who claims that a god does not exist. So he should be challenged to provide that proof for all the deities he claims do not exist. If he cannot, he must therefore accept that Vishnu and Shiva – and every other deity of every other faith that he cannot disprove – actually exist, just as he claims the Christian deity exists.
I am of course confident that he has no such proof. This reversal of the onus of proof is a deception regularly practised by religious people. And yet we never see their proof of the non-existence of rival gods.
As is often said, we are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.
Thank you for the response. Well said! It’s funny how Christians completely ignore and disregard that there are other faiths and gods that are worshiped, huh? Christianity represents about 31.5% of the world’s professed faith, so more than two-thirds of the earth’s population doesn’t even believe the Christian message. I’d rather praise Jibbers Crabst. https://lifeafter40.net//2014/12/08/matt-inman-jibbers-crabst/
WOW, I hadn’t seen that response by Seth either, Logan. Thanks for posting it here. It certainly was incredible that’s for sure!
I can’t wait until the day you current world leader says “To buy and function in the world today you will need this mark or chip on your arm” and that logo or number it uses resembles too much the mark of the beast…
(There is actually an official article about that, one of the women behind the RFID company said that they were having trouble making it because one of the number sequences they had to use is a 3 consecutive number sequence that resembles the mark of the beast too much)
You all defend something you’re not certain about and ignore so many things about this world that show you that it had to be created by something very powerful and smart..
The funny thing about it is I know all you atheists have a very empty space in your heart and mind. But the time will come.. you will learn.
Hi David,
Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment. Do you have a reference to the “official article” that you mentioned?
Can I ask, what particular denomination or faith that you most closely associate with? Given the reference to the literal interpretation of the book of Revelation from you, should I assume you are a Christian fundamentalist? (Which I was for many years).
Are you familiar with the compelling view that the early church was likely referring to Nero with their 666 (or 616) reference? The emperor Nero was quite an enemy to the early church, and his image was prominent on the coinage of the time. (Google: nero and 666)
Are you also familiar with the failed prophecy that Christ would return during the lifetime of his disciples? (“For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.“ – Matthew 16: 27, 28)
Of course, nearly 2000 years have since gone by. (Good blog post on the topic: https://blacknonbelievers.wordpress.com/jesus-failed-prophecy-about-his-return/)
Since you referred to a group of us as “all you atheists” [who have] “a very empty space in your heart and mind”, are you truly familiar with the journey that many of us have gone through? Many of us were once very sincere and devoted Christians who surrendered our hearts, minds and souls to the cause of Christ. Many of us were ardent students of scripture and theology. Such was I. I am one of many who once was a sincere follower. There are many who were former pastors and preachers, who served their communities and congregations but after a sincere search for truth, they left the faith too. Don’t be quick to lump people together.