Argument: There is an objective way of determining which document is the written revelation of god. Counter-argument: There is no such objective way of determining whether the Bible, the Koran, the Bhagavadgita, the Book of Mormon, the Edda, or Homer are true divine revelations. It is often possible to prove that a certain document is not a true revelation of a certain god (which is what this essay is doing with reference to the Bible and the Christian god), but to prove that a document is truly divine in an objective manner, one would need some type of additional revelation from god, which in itself must be unambiguous. However, if this god can provide such an unambiguous revelation, the question is why he did not produce such absolute clarity in the first place. Without such self-contained evidence, one could never be certain that a document is truly divine. (As an aside, necessary but certainly not sufficient conditions for true divine inspiration are complete logical consistency and inerrancy with regard to all facts external to the document itself.) And since such evidence is not in existence, the Christian god cannot possibly exist.
Any one of these points is, in itself, sufficient for us to understand that the Christian god cannot exist. Taken together, they constitute overwhelming evidence to this effect.
4. Conclusion
We began this essay by generously granting the Christian the assumption that the Christian god does, indeed, exist. We then used logic to derive what the characteristics of this god’s revelation would be like, and found that (i) the original text must be inerrant; (ii) all later manuscripts and translations must be inerrant; (iii) this revelation must be unambiguously clear in every respect; and (iv) there must be some objective way for humans to know that this document is “the real thing.” These four demands follow directly from the characteristics of the Christian god, most notably those of perfection, omnipotence, and omniscience: this god not only must want his only written revelation to be inerrant in all dimensions, he is also capable of seeing to its being produced in such a way.
We then proceeded by scrutinising how the Bible does on these four points. The result was overwhelmingly clear: the Bible is not inerrant in its original text, to the best of human knowledge; it is not inerrant in all its later manuscripts and translations; it is not unambiguously clear; and there is no way to determine objectively if it, rather than, say, the Koran, is divine.
The only possible conclusion from this is that the Christian god – i.e., the god of the Bible – cannot possibly exist. If one assumes that he does, as we did, and looks at the implications of this assumption, one finds that the implications are such as to violate what we detect in the real world.
Now it does not take much knowledge of psychology to understand that the argument of this essay is very disturbing to a Christian. He may bend over backways to try to rescue his specific version of theism, but he must, if he is to retain intellectual credibility, explicitly point out how a perfect and omnipotent god can provide a revelation which violates his very nature. Or he may resort to the classical way out: misology, i.e., to claim that his god is a mystery which cannot be understood. One wonders why one should believe in something which cannot be understood when it is possible to opt for the alternative: to believe only in things which are understandable.
So where does this leave one? Clearly, with some useful knowledge, viz., that Christianity is false. It is then advisable for one to proceed by analysing the larger issue, if theism is true or false. Reading Smith (1979) is one way of doing this, and that leaves one an atheist – and a basis for dealing with life as it is.
Footnotes
1.For a similar statement, see Baptist pastor Jerry Falwell (1987, p. 150). 2.It should be noted at the outset that “the Christian god” is equivalent to the deity presented in the Bible; and this is the only god being discussed in this essay. This implies that it is not possible to say that the Christian god exists without any relationship to the Bible. This approach is shared by (Fundamentalist) Christians, who refer to the Bible to get information about what and who their god is. 3.The term “omnipotent” and the terms “almighty” and “all-powerful” are used interchangeably. It is, following standard Christian thinking, defined as being able to do anything which is logically possible. There are definite problems with “omnipotence” in its relationship to logic, as discussed by philosopher Michael Martin in a debate with theologian John Frame at http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/michael_martin/ , but we disregard that objection for the sake of argument. 4.This description of the Christian god is in line with that of Robertson (1987, pp. 45-46). 5.On the concepts of free will and original sin, see philosopher Ayn Rand (1961, p. 168 ff.). 6.That is, failing to prove not-X does not necessarily imply X. 7.It should be noted that one translation, the Septuagint, puts the number 440 instead of 480 in 1 Kings 6:1, but that need not concern us here, for the following reason. If all other translations are correct, then the discrepancy of at least 54 years holds. If the Septuagint is correct, then this discrepancy does not vanish, but it is made greater (in fact, at least 94 years).
Literary References
1.Falwell, J. (1987). Strength for the Journey. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. 2.Martin, M. (1990). Atheism: A Philosophical Justification. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. 3.Martin, M. (1991). The Case Against Christianity. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. 4.Rand, A. (1961). For the New Intellectual. New York, NY: Random House. 5.Robertson, P. (1987). Answers to 200 of Life’s Most Probing Questions. New York, NY: Bantam Books. 6.Smith, G. H. (1979). Atheism: The Case Against God. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books. 7.Swaggart, J. (1987). Straight Answers to Tough Questions. Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt.