They often do. When we were debating atheists, the key to their argument was based on their demand for evidence. They complain that Christians do not provide a lot of evidence for their claims. Their mantra is extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence.
It is the same tired old complaint made by BG in his article called Why Should I Care What the Bible Says?. To start off his complaint he uses a ludicrous illustration that really does not apply or add support to his complaint:
Imagine if I went to an Evangelical preacher’s blog and left comments quoting text from the Harry Potter books.
Go ahead. Those quotes do not mean anything as they were taken from a known fictional book, the location is made up and never proven to have existed at any time, Harry Potter was never proven to have existed at any time and on it goes. The person doing that threat would just look foolish.
There is a difference between quoting from the Bible and from Harry Potter books. Jerusalem was known to have existed prior to Abraham’s time, it exists now, Jesus is a proven historical figure, and the bible talks about true history which can be verified through archaeology and other historical research.
Quoting the Bible is actually quoting something real and not a figment of someone’s imagination. Also, the author of the Bible does not put words in the mouths of the people quoted and recorded in its pages.
On top of all that, all the other nations mentioned in the Bible have either been located and proven to have existed or thought to have been located. We are not dealing with myth or a historical novel with the Bible. The only title or label that belongs to the Harry Potter series is myth.
Then, Harry Potter did not die for anyone or rise from the grave, his words mean nothing.
In their minds, the Bible is inspired, inerrant, and infallible, a divinely written book that is TRUTH. When atheists, agnostics, and other non-Evangelicals reject these claims due to a lack of evidence, they are accused of having hardened hearts; people who are deliberately blind to what is right in front of them
It is the inspired infallible, inerrant words of God. The atheist has not proven their claims true yet with real verifiable evidence. They demand that the Christians provide evidence for their claims yet cannot provide any for their own.
Their denial is just a personal preference not based on anything other than they do not want to accept Christ as their savior and they do not like God’s rules. We remember when Dr. Davies, a well-known minimalist was presented with real evidence for the veracity of different OT events. He just closed his eyes and kept repeating, it did not happen.
That is why many Christians do not present any evidence to the atheist. They just close their eyes, minds, and ears and say there is no evidence. Unfortunately for them, the world is full of physical evidence. They just do not want to accept it.
We decided long ago that we would turn the tables on the atheists and demand that they provide evidence for their claims. After all, they are making an extraordinary claim and they need extraordinary evidence to back up their points of view.
So far, none have. They make a lot of excuses but refuse to do what they demand of the Christian. They want to sit in the king’s seat and declare what is or isn’t evidence so they can ignore the truth. There is more than enough evidence discovered over the years to prove the Bible true.
Even Bart Ehrman accepts that there was a historical Jesus. He just rejects the divine part of the man.
While I am more than happy to discuss or debate the Bible with Evangelicals, when they start making supernatural claims, then I expect them to provide evidence and support for their claims.
Since they don’t do this for their claims, the Christian is under no obligation to present any evidence to support their beliefs. Most atheists won’t accept any evidence anyways.
Why? There’s no evidence to be had
Yes, the Christian faith is based on faith but that does not mean we will not get any physical evidence to support our beliefs. We just won’t get so much evidence that our faith will be destroyed. Faith pleases God so why would God destroy what pleases him?
We have evidence for the Hittites, lost for 1800 years and only found in the Bible during that time. We have evidence for the United Kingdom, Noah’s Flood, and many other acts that took place in the bible. We have far more evidence than atheists will admit to.
But, that does not mean we do not use faith. We still need faith. We have enough evidence to tell us that the Bible is true. Thus we know for a fact that those acts, people, and events we do not have evidence for happened exactly as the Bible said.
I don’t, and until you can provide empirical evidence for your claims, I cannot and will not believe.
He is just not looking at the evidence properly. I believe we have posted many articles on this website documenting the evidence. Our book Noah’s Flood Did Take Place documents even more evidence and there are countless other Christians who have done the same.
The evidence is there, BG and other atheists just have to look at it honestly to see it. The fact that Islam, Mormonism, and other false religions copy from the Bible is evidence that the Bible is true.
If it wasn’t, no one would copy from it and no one would listen to it just like they do not listen to Harry Potter and anyone who quotes or copies from those books. They definitely would not make parts of the Bible a part of their holy writings.
The evidence is there so ignore those demands made by atheists. The evidence supports our faith.
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