This is my brief response to an Internet video that asks Christians to apply critical thinking to their faith in God. Here are my answers to two of the ten questions.
There is a video at the "God is Imaginary" website that provides 10 questions for thinking Christians to answer. If you haven't seen the video, click here.
Here are my answers to 2 of the 10 questions. More will follow.
1. Why Won't God Heal Amputees?
The video makes the assumption that God "provides no miracles" and does not answer the prayers of amputees. This is based on the premise that "amputated legs do not regenerate as a result of prayer." If we accept the video's framing of the question and argument as presented, this is indeed an interesting and seriously troubling question.
The video of course sets out to immediately undermine ANY explanation as a creative "rationalization." Thus, any answer I provide here will be chalked up to such a rationalization and likely dismissed. If you're the type to do that (to dismiss any answer to this question as a rationalization), then nothing I say will change your mind.
For the rest of you....here are my answers to this question:
First, God's refusal to heal an amputee does not speak to God's reality or existence. You cannot immediately jump from the premise that God heals some (a faith-based assumption) and not others (in this case, amputees) and therefore God doesn't exist. This is faulty reasoning, and anyone with any appreciation of "critical thinking" should see this.
Second, the question presumes EITHER to know WHY God heals some and not others (amputees in this case) OR that God's rationale is irrelevant. Here's a possibility...What if God only chooses to work miracles that COULD be chalked up to coincidence (however unlikely such coincidences are) and does NOT choose to perform miracles that would leave absolutely NO doubt as to His existence? Why would God do this? To call us to faith. The book of Hebrews makes clear that "without faith, it is impossible to please [God]." If God started regenerating limbs on amputees, it's clear that our conception and understanding of "faith" would be significantly altered.
2. Why are there so many starving people in the world?
The video introduces this question with the premise that we can (and should) assume that God cares about us and answers our prayers. This is a faulty premise, because the Bible - read in its full context - makes clear that God does NOT always grant our requests.
The video then slides into a sub-question (under this one) that proffers the idea that God cares about your raise but doesn't about the little children starving in a faraway place. This is a loaded question that's full of huge assumptions and presuppositions.
For one thing, it's not a valid conclusion necessarily that when a person prays for a raise and they get it that God is the one responsible for it. Perhaps it was merely the byproduct of the natural law of "sowing and reaping." These natural laws mean that God needn't personally intervene to direct every situation. As is possibly the case with your next raise.
The video also assumes that because suffering exists, God doesn't care. This is once more a faulty assumption. Speaking as a Christian familiar with the Bible, God doesn't promise to wipe away all tears and end all suffering in this life. If you're going to indict God, at least do so on His terms and according to what He said - not based on your personal conception of who YOU think God should be and what YOU think God should do.
Finally, the Bible enjoins God's followers (particularly in Psalms, Proverbs, and the New Testament) to feed the hungry, give shelter to the homeless, encourage and help those in need, etc. God calls us to do His work of love and compassion in this world - a world which, according to the Apostle Paul, "groans" in anguish.
Even if you find these answers inadequate (and I'm sure my atheist/agnostic friends will), the questions above STILL don't disprove the existence of God. You may not like and appreciate the God of the Bible, but this says NOTHING about whether or not God is real.
That's all I have time for today. More later.
