There is much irony concerning the way many humanists try to justify their faith in humanism. They point out specific observations about the world and claim these as evidence against the Bible. However, it turns out that the opposite is true. As Christians, we can respond to humanist claims by asking key questions, similar to the method that Jesus used when refuting the claims of the Pharisees. I got to do this recently on the Facebook page of the American Humanist Association (AHA). The AHA posted a video of Neil deGrasse Tyson where he belittles the concept of faith in God. As expected, many humanists left supportive comments on the AHA’s video post. One humanist, DA, posted a comment where he listed several things that “vindicated” his atheism. His comment received numerous Facebook “likes.” I suspect the comment was very popular because of the political focus. I decided to respond to DA's comment, but I kept the focus on worldviews, not politics.
Two other humanists briefly joined the discussion, and they both have the same initials, so I will label them as “JJ1” and “JJ2.” In addition, it appears that a Christian briefly joined: JB. I enjoyed seeing his helpful comment. See below for Part 1 of the Vindication Debate.
DA:
Along with the natural disasters and history of injustice that led me to decide how I would no longer compromise my intellect for comfort, nothing has vindicated my atheism more than a Trump presidency.
Me:
DA, how do you define “injustice” or justice in an atheistic, evolutionary worldview where a person is just a clump of material, and the universe is an “accident”? Also, how can you have any “intellect” if your brain is the byproduct of random, chemical processes (in other words, how can you trust your own conclusions to be accurate)?
JB:
you forgot something: the Bible ALSO states God did not make a world all messed up. God made a perfect world. Genesis chapter 3 explains that MAN MESSED THIS WORLD, NOT GOD. neil tyson conveniently ignores what he does not like.
JJ1:
Kevin Hadsall, maybe you can also enlighten us as to the origin of God!
Me:
JJ1, in your atheistic, evolutionary worldview, how can I possibly “enlighten” you if our conversation right now is just a reaction of chemicals in our brains (like watching baking soda react with vinegar), supposedly brought about by random processes?
JJ2:
Kevin Hadsall, How is it possible for us humanists to get a clue as to the origin of god if not enlightened by the willfully ignorant, delusional, faith driven believers who cannot and have never provided one iota of empirical evidence? Science teaches that if you don't know the answer, keep working on it. Religion teaches that if you don't know the answer, god did it, so don't question it. 🙂
Now, get ready for an interesting twist. After meticulously drafting a lengthy response to JJ2’s comment and preparing to post it, I could no longer find the thread…it ceased to exist. Someone must have deleted it! Either the AHA deleted the thread, or DA deleted it, because they are the only two entities with the authority to delete it. The AHA can delete anything on their Facebook page, and it was DA's original comment that started the thread, and all of the other comments were sub-comments underneath his comment. Therefore, if DA deleted his comment, then all of the sub-comments get deleted as well. My guess is that DA deleted his comment, and consequently, the entire thread. Notice that DA never commented in response to my challenge…other humanists replied instead. Did DA delete the thread because he did not like how the debate was going? Or, did DA delete the thread because the Holy Spirit was/is using this discussion to stir his heart and mind, and therefore, he is starting to seek the Truth? I have no idea, but I hope and pray that it is for the latter reason.
Either way, someone deleted the thread, and I was unable to publicly post my response. I still didn’t want to leave JJ2’s comment unanswered. Since I was copying and pasting the conversation in a Word document, not only was I still able to preserve this conversation and share it with you, the reader, I also preserved hyperlinks to the Facebook pages of the individuals. Therefore, I was able to find JJ2’s Facebook and send him a personal message in response to his comment. I will share that in my next blog post.
[Update (27 Jan 18): it's possible that DA personally "blocked" me so that I could no longer read or respond to the thread...similar to what happened toward the end of the Blame and Praise Debate. If so, then that would be a very sad, deceptive, and cowardly act.]