Tag Archives: Resurrection

Jerry Coyne on Adam and Eve, the Metaphor

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Douglas Murray, in a February 9, 2013 Spectator article, takes the new atheists to task for their unrelenting criticism of religion. Speaking of the story of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis, Murray writes:

Schopenhauer said that truth may be like water: it needs a vessel to carry it. It is all very well to point out — as Dawkins did again the other night — that Adam did not exist. But to think that this discovery makes not just the story of Eden but the narrative of the crucifixion and resurrection meaningless is to rather startlingly miss a point. You can be in agreement with Professor Dawkins that Adam did not exist, yet know and feel that the story of Eden speaks profoundly about ourselves.

In response, scientist Jerry Coyne wrote:

This is, pardon my French, complete bullshit. If Adam and Eve did not exist, and there was no Original Sin caused by human action, and the Primal Couple was just a metaphor, it means that if Jesus really was crucified and resurrected, he died for a metaphor.

And what is that metaphor? Who knows? What, exactly, is the “truth” in the Adam-and-Eve story?  Good luck with that, for those Evangelical Christians who doubt the historicity of Adam and Eve have been arguing for years about what it might mean as a metaphor.  A fictional Primal Couple completely turns the Christian narrative on its head, for a metaphorical Adam and Eve means that humans are sinful not through their own choices and nature, but because God made them that way.  And in that case, why did Jesus have to die, for God could simply have made us good?  If Eden speaks profoundly about ourselves, then what is that profound meaning?

Well, theologians have thought of many meanings, but all of them come from secular reason rather than faith, for you can’t privilege one over the other when making up stories. (By the way, if Murray, as an avowed atheist, also thinks that Jesus wasn’t divine, crucified, and resurrected, then the entire story becomes a meaningless fairy tale, no more “profound” than the polytheistic Greek or Norse religions. Why doesn’t Murray see profundity in the stories of Zeus and Thor?)

If one wants to extract profound meaning from life without having to puzzle over fairy stories, may I suggest to Murray that one consider classical, secular philosophy? There isn’t any interpretation needed: it’s all there in black and white. I argue that if you have to construe “profound truths” from silly stories, you are doing it by imposing upon them some lesson about life that you’ve learned not from religion, but from secular reason, experience, and philosophy.

I, for one, find no credible ‘profound truth’ in a metaphorical Adam and Eve.  We’re born with some selfish tendencies? Evolution tells us that! And there’s nobody to expiate them, so the resurrection story is ludicrous.

Jerry Coyne is right. If Adam and Eve are just a metaphor then original sin, the need for redemption through the blood of Jesus, and even the resurrection of Jesus, lose any meaning.  If the first Adam is a metaphor how do we know the last Adam, Jesus is not?

Can you imagine the local Baptist preacher saying in his sermon this Sunday, Brethren, Jesus the metaphor died for us, the children of  Adam the metaphor?   Imagine trying to sell people on their need of metaphorical salvation?  Smile

Miracles

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The Christian View of miracles

Two of my friends, John Loftus at Debunking Christianity and Mike D at A-Unicornist, currently have discussions going on about miracles. Both sites have a back forth discussion going on between Christians who believe in miracles and skeptics who do not believe in miracles or, at least, do not agree with how Christians frame the miracle question.

You will have to read several posts to find the relevant discussions. Some of the discussion is pretty straight forward and some of it is philosophical arm wrestling.

As readers likely know, I am not a big fan of philosophy. Perhaps, the real issue is not such much that I am not a fan of philosophy as much as I am not a fan of endless discussions, debates, and arguments philosophy tends to perpetuate.

My view of miracles is rather straight forward.

What is a miracle? For the Christian, a miracle is an event or action that can not be explained using natural means. These unexplainable events or actions are the work of the Christian God.

My definition of a miracle is very different from the Christian.  I readily admit that there are events or actions that happen that can not be explained. All of us have had things happen in our lives that are unexplainable.  Where the Christian and I differ is to whom or to what we ascribe the miracle to.

The Christian sees God behind the miracles and I don’t. Just because there is no explanation for an event or action doesn’t mean the Christian God did it. All it means is that there is no explanation.

When Christians continue to press the claim that their God is a miracle-worker, skeptics rightly ask for proof. Where is the proof that a miracle took place and the Christian God was the agency behind the miracle?

Anecdotal stories are not proof. Personal testimonies are not proof.

At the end of the day, believing the Christian God works miracles requires faith. Christians are going to believe God did it regardless of what the evidence suggests. This will always be a problem when discussing miracles with Christians. They will ALWAYS appeal to faith. (and we should not expect them to do otherwise)

Many times, according to Christians, a miracle by God is preceded by prayer. It should be quite easy to test whether or not praying for someone causes the Christian God to work a miracle.

Let’s find a Christian with medically verifiable  pancreatic cancer. Let’s invite pastors to pray for the person. Let’s invite any and all Christians to pray for them. Let’s do this for a week, a month, or even a year. And then let’s take a look at the Christian’s cancer. Surely, with all this praying the cancer should be gone.

This exercise can be expanded to included thousands of people with medically verifiable  pancreatic cancer and thousands of pastors and every-day praying Christians.

What are the odds that any of the people with cancer will be cured?

Zero.

They will ultimately die because that is what happens with people who have the kind of cancer they have.

Christians will claim a miracle happened if the person lived longer than expected, had less pain than expected, etc. Of course none of these things are verifiable. We will just have to take their word for it. (or not)

If all else fails, Christians will trot out the worn-out line that states, God always answers prayer:

  • Sometimes he says yes
  • Sometimes he says no
  • Sometimes he says not now

I readily admit that unexplainable things happen. However, I simply can not see the connection between the unexplainable and the Christian God.

The gospels are filled with miracles.  The miracle of miracles? Jesus being resurrected from the dead.

As a skeptic and an atheist, I do not think Jesus or anyone else resurrected from the dead. When people die they stay that way. (and yes I am aware of near-death experiences. Such things can now be explained neurologically)

I have conducted a fair number of funerals over the years and have attended even more. Not one person has ever had a Jesus or Lazarus resurrection from the dead. Every person is exactly where we left them, in the ground or scattered across the ground.

Again, any claim that people who were dead and came back to life requires faith, a faith I do not have.

Preachers and The Lies They Tell About Heaven

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I wrote a previous post titled Hell Does Not Exist that deals with the fact that most preachers ( and churches) really do not believe in hell.

In this post I want to talk about heaven.

Recently, here in Ohio, 3 young boys fell through the ice on the Sandusky River and drowned. What a terrible, terrible tragedy. Two of the boys were brothers.

This past Sunday a funeral was held for the boys.

The pastor of the Church said the following:

A minister has told mourners that three Ohio boys who fell through ice and died together in a river are now playing together in heaven.

This statement is restated many different ways in countless Christian funerals.

  • Granny is running around heaven right now with no pain!
  • Gramps is in heaven now and doesn’t need a wheelchair to get around any more.
  • ________is in heaven and there is no more pain, sickness, disease, suffering, etc, etc

Here’s the problem…

Statements like these are not true.

Historic, orthodox Christian doctrine teaches that when a person dies they go to the grave. They are DEAD. The body remains in the grave until the resurrection. At the resurrection those who have died will receive a new body. (1 Cor 15)

So why is it that preacher’s lie? Why did I lie?

Sentimentality.

Families are grieving. They have lost a loved one. They want to believe there is a divine purpose, and they want to believe that life continues after the grave.

So preachers concoct grand stories about heaven and the immediate transport of the dead from earth to heaven.

Belief in the afterlife requires faith. No one has ever come back from the dead to tell us the what lies beyond the grave. (if anything) Anyone who says they have is a liar.

Even Jesus himself didn’t talk about the afterlife after his resurrection from the dead. His disciples did, the apostles did, but not Jesus. He told his disciples that wherever he was they too would be some day. He never mentioned one time any of the things commonly heard in Christian funeral sermons.

Even the whole notion of spending eternity in heaven is not taught in the Bible. Search all you might, it is not there.

What IS taught in the Bible is that followers of Jesus Christ will live forever in God’s eternal kingdom. (on a new earth) On this point the Jehovah Witnesses are probably closer in belief to what the Bible teaches than many Evangelical Christians.

The same could be said about hell. Those who are not followers of Jesus will NOT spend eternity in hell. The Bible doesn’t teach that. The Bible DOES teach that unbelievers will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. (Revelation 20:14)

Sentimentality allows preachers, who are supposed to be guardians of Christian doctrine, to ignore what the Bible teaches in favor of telling stories to comfort grieving family.

I understand WHY they do it but let me be clear here…

Preacher, if you can’t tell the truth when it really matters the most, how can you expect people to believe anything you say? If sentimentality allows you to ignore what the Bible teaches about heaven (and hell) how do we know that you are telling the truth any other time?  Not telling the truth in hard circumstances results in a loss of credibility.

As an agnostic I have serious reservations about the whole notion of an afterlife. At this point and time in life I lack the requisite faith necessary to believe. I am of the opinion that each of us best be getting to living life because it is the only one we have. That said, if you are a Christian you are bound by what the Bible teaches. As a preacher you are obligated to tell the truth. In fact you owe it to your congregants to tell them the truth, even when it is unpopular.