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Writer's pictureBible Brian

Honest atheists account for The Fall


No matter who you are, no matter what you believe, no matter what you vehemently oppose, basic logic tells us you must accurately represent any view you criticise. Failure to accurately represent a view you are criticising is called a straw man argument.


When it comes to Christianity, unbelievers rarely, if ever, accurately represent it. This is seen most clearly in the world of atheistic apologetics. Atheists so rarely represent Christianity fairly, they often can't even build their own straw men. But other times, they do. A quick way to refute a belief or argument is by comparing it to the observable world. If the two are incompatible, the view is refuted. Thus, atheists look to the world and ask how various forms of evil are compatible with the Christian faith?


Ultimately, this is very basic stuff. The so-called "problem" of evil has been answered so many times, it's not even a good argument anymore. Not only has it been answered many times over, the Christian faith is literally founded on the origins of good and evil. The first 8 pages of any Bible show the world God initially created, how it fell and was cursed, and even the beginnings of how it would eventually be redeemed.


So what does that tell you about atheists who ask why God made such a brutal world, in which nature itself is "red in tooth and claw"? It tells you they haven't read 8 pages. They're quick to criticise the Bible, yet slow to read it.


But it gets worse! Not only are they unwilling to learn what the Christian faith teaches before criticising it, they won't even let its teachings stand for themselves against such criticisms. In fact, I learned the very phrase "ad hoc rationalisation" from an atheist attempting to defend Evolution against Creationism. Dietary changes are not a valid response, he told me. Yet, for 3,400 years, Genesis has literally told us that God gave everything the green plants to eat. Lions didn't always eat zebra, they ate plants. There have even been examples of them doing so in our world, as well as apparently carnivorous animals being herbivorous.


Now, "ad hoc", literally, means "for this". It's a fancy way of saying "you made that up specifically to respond to my argument". Now, as old as I might feel sometimes, I promise you, I am not 3,400 years old. Neither is Evolution (unless you count the pagan versions that have existed throughout history). The Fall, an event in which the Lord cursed the entire creation as a direct result of man's sin, is a part of the Christian worldview. It has been for 3,400 years. Even longer when you consider the simple fact it's a matter of history, having been known of, and even recorded, long before the Bible was written. Thus, regardless of whether you believe it actually happened, you don't get to just dismiss it. If you want to criticise Christianity, you must take the fall into account, even if it means you don't get to pretend Christians believe the world we live in today should be a perfect utopia in which no one ever gets so much as a paper cut.


But taking The Fall into account isn't just necessary for criticising Christianity. As a historical event, The Fall actually illustrates our whole problem as a species. The reason we die, the reason we labor for survival, the reason we get diseases, the reason our animal companions are a danger to us and to each other, the reason the very planet seems intent on swallowing us whole, is because we have continued our father's tradition of rebelling against our Creator.


Now, that does not mean, as some slanderously claim, that God gets angry and sends tornadoes every time a gay couple gets "married". What it does mean is God has withdrawn His support, and we no longer live in Paradise. And blimey do we know it. Furthermore, that can be permanent. Sin brings with it the penalty of death. But God actually formed a plan of redemption before He even created the Earth in the first place. Not wanting anyone to perish, God sent His Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life as a man, and receive the full wrath of God for sin on the cross. Jesus died so that we may live. The sole condition is faith. All who confess Him as the risen Lord will be saved.

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