Frank simply found this request impossible and I advised to use critical thinking in an attempt to answer this question. The following is his attempt to do so and as a Christian myself who absolutely cannot comprehend Atheism, I would say he did a great job....
As a 58 yr old Christian male, growing up in the faith, I can say with all honesty, I never really doubted God's existence. I may have flirted with the notion in my early teens, but I have had clear and definitive moments in my life where I sought (truth without faith).If I were to apply quote unquote, "critical thinking", I would likely find a hybrid between Christianity and infidel-ism, something along the line of Karma and Nirvana, or the idea that man being somehow a product of his conception. Most likely I would trend towards Intelligent Design, even if God did not exist, I just can't wrap my mind around "nothing created everything", so I will present some of the debates I have had in my own mind. I would try to rely on science, math, physics and biology, as much as it would try explaining my circumstances, but since the world would revolve around me, life would be all about pursuit of me. I readily admit, faith asks a lot, Santa Claus would be about as believable as God. I have said it this way, imagine a prearranged marriage; it was done before your birth and everyone tells you what a great gal your promised to. But you have never met her, felt her, tasted her, touched her or heard her voice, she has never contacted you, even by phone, you have never slept with or had sex with her, but everyone keeps telling you just wait, she is a great woman. So I remain pure for her, day after day I wait as I am asked to do, but I am aging the whole time, my testosterone levels have came and went, its seems by the time we meet, I doubt I can gain an erection to consummate our marriage, it just seems hard to wait any longer...
...so then I up and die, what's up with that, what good did my faith in marriage get me? I am dead and never lived one day in an embrace of my beloved bride. While I haven't doubted God, I have doubted his care for me, and some of the things written about or ascribed to him, I just can't help but to believe that there is more to life than this. If there isn’t, it’s a very cruel joke as there is so much evil, that somehow or way must be dealt with. Karma as they say is a bitch. This philosophy would appeal to me, that “what goes around comes around". I might more lean towards living multiple lives until a person "gets it right", but philosophy is much like a-holes, everyone has one, so if there is no ultimate truth, I really think I would likely live only for myself. I really can't feel anyone else's pain or pleasure but my own, so truth would be exclusive to my reason and understanding, and nothing like a drug or alcohol would be out of my reach in pursuit of knowledge, whatever would place me in a higher plain of understanding. There have been moments in my life where I felt my own intellect sufficient for the journey to truth but, as the lyric in the Don Henley song “The Heart of the Matter” goes, while I know many more facts and have much greater knowledge than I did decades ago, "the more I know, the less I understand". I would have to see it, hear it, smell it, taste it, or touch it to prove it truth cause unless my senses could comprehend it, it must not exist.
I remember one time on Thanksgiving at my dad’s mother’s house, my parents were playing a game of checkers and my dad was losing, so he knocked over the checker board and of course said “oh excuse me, how clumsy of me”, and then laughed like a fool. Well we all knew the purpose was not to get beat by my mom, but I have often thought of this incident and related it to God and Satan. Yes, I am told that God is stronger and in charge but, Satan is winning the battles, maybe till God knocks over the checkerboard, but somehow that doesn’t seem like a win. When scripture points out “broad is the path to destruction and narrow the path to life”, seems as if Satan is taking out more than God is rescuing, so whatever one’s view of things, it requires some amount of “faith” to trust anything, including your own name, how would I even have known it except my mom saying it over and over? We all rely heavily on other’s hand-me down accumulated knowledge, so what’s to be trusted and what’s to be excluded...is the ongoing debate and battle...
Clearly the problem with faith is it is intangible that by its nature, cannot be proven by human sciences, whether anatomy, chemistry, medicine, biology, physics, math, psychology, psychopathology, astronomy, physiology, psychiatry, philosophy, arts, literature...so, whatever one concludes really comes back to circular reasoning, and whatever archeology can unearth to validate or invalidate mans faith, or reinforce theory and speculation. Prime example, the matter of Clinton, Lewinsky, and a blue dress. DNA science can only determine a sample to be Bill's or not, so what if the dress was washed or destroyed? Then we are left with faith in Bill's story or Monica's word, provided there is no witness to the event but, if the blue dress didn't exist, did the private event not happen, so even science cannot prove everything? Then what, back to faith, or theory and speculation? Science demands proof and absolutes, but morals demand absolutes also, so until archaeology digs up indisputable evidence, man escapes the bounds of this solar system or God comes...
No one I guess has any better idea than the other but; I have hope, another intangible that can't be proven, miracles can't be proven. Here is a story, many a folk root for the Cubs. In sports you have many unproven intangibles. Let's say a team on paper is clearly a superior team, well science should say, that team should always win but, many factors can come into play. Maybe a player’s family member has died, a team can rally around that event, to play over their normal capability, but can that be proven, or even measured? Momentum, home field, injury, a bad call, weather...many factors can catapult an inferior team to victory, but again, can those be proven or measured? I've heard science say that a curve ball is physically impossible, that your eyes are deceived, so is perception reality. Everything we know is really an exercise in faith, it takes faith to believe in God, and it takes faith to not believe in God, so what's the common denominator here mathematicians? You’re right...GOD !!
Then there is the matter of truth. Can truth be truth if it’s not absolute? We enter the realm of relative or subjective truth, is a truth here a truth somewhere else? There are absolute truths to physical law…you jump you fall. But if a Christian says "you sin, you die", they are immediately accused of placing value judgments. See, mans nature is to really do as he pleases, and moral law gives restraint to that, physical law restrains him also, but he will concede that for self-preservation, so even indulging in things of pleasure too much, can come at a heavy cost, to health or life? The Christian is merely asserting not to perish in an un-forgiven state and risk losing salvation. Then that will be met by, “how can salvation be proven”? Back to faith. Some will say it’s all a big bang, you live once and there is nothing past the grave. Well, again we are back to faith, and neither can prove to the other, that their truth isn't theory...
I have my own theory as to atheism that I've been working on for a few months now. Hopefully God will say it's just about complete soon :) As always, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions....
well written frank. makes me go Hmmmm?
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