NINE CHALLENGES

1. Atheism is a lack of belief 6. The Bible is full of contradictions

2. Atheist just believe in one less god than 7. The Bible has been changed so many times, it’s
Christians impossible to know what it originally said

3. You are a Christian simply because you were 8. Religion is simply the “God of the Gaps” so
raised in a Christian culture science has eliminated the need for God

4. The Trinity and the Incarnation are logically 9. The existence of evil proves that an all-good and
incoherent all powerful God does not exist.

5. Christianity is a copy cat religion

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How can you believe the Bible

when it is full of errors?
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How can you trust a book with contradicions?

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How can you trust a book with contradicions?

“Does God’s anger burn forever or not?

… for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.“

(Jeremiah 17:4 ESV)

… He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.
(Micah 7:18 ESV)
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What Is a Contradiction?

• Variation ≠ Contradiction
• Is it a Contradiction? Are the witnesses:
1. Discussing the same person, place, or thing?
2. Discussing the same period of time?
3. Using words and phrases in the same sense? Homicide Detective
J. Warner Wallace
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Is the following statements a contradiction?

“Robert is rich. Robert is poor.”

Are the witnesses:

1. Discussing the same person, place, or thing?
2. Discussing the same period of time?
3. Using words and phrases in the same sense?
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Do the following Bible passages contradict each other?

“Does God’s anger burn forever or not?
… for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.“
(Jeremiah 17:4 ESV)

… He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.
(Micah 7:18 ESV)

Are the passages:

1. Discussing the same person, place, or thing?
2. Discussing the same period of time?
3. Using words and phrases in the same sense?
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Do the following Bible passages contradict each other?

“Does God’s anger burn forever or not?
… for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.“
(Jeremiah 17:4 ESV)

… He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.
(Micah 7:18 ESV)

Jeremiah 17:4 – Refers to those who worshipped idols

Micah 7:18 – Refers to those who worshipped God
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1 COPY

2 COPIES 2 VARIENTS

3 COPIES 3 VARIENTS

4 COPIES 4 VARIENTS

5 COPIES 5 VARIENTS
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1 COPY

2 COPIES 2 VARIENTS

3 COPIES 3 VARIENTS

4 COPIES 4 VARIENTS

5 COPIES 5 VARIENTS
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variants
400,000 in the NT

spelling
50% errors

49% inconsequential
or non-viable

1% meaningful
and viable
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Hasn’t New Testament been changed over time like the Telephone Game?
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Original
Manuscript

Copies:
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The position I argue for in [my book] “Misquoting

Jesus” does not actually stand at odds with Prof.
Metzger's position that the essential Christian
beliefs are not affected by textual variants in the
manuscript tradition of the New Testament.
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Religion Is Simply the “God of the Gaps” So

Modern Science Has Eliminated the Need for
Religion
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The existence of evil proves that an all-good

and all powerful God does not exist.
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MORAL CHALLENGE: EVIL DISPROVES GOD

What do you mean by EVIL?

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MORAL CHALLENGE: EVIL DISPROVES GOD

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MORAL CHALLENGE: EVIL DISPROVES GOD

1. Assuming EVIL exists, assumes GOOD
exists
2. Assuming GOOD exists, assumes a
MORAL LAW (a standard) by which you
can differentiate between GOOD and
EVIL
3. Assuming a MORAL LAW assumes a
MORAL LAW GIVER.
4. A MORAL LAW GIVER is who you are
trying to disprove.
5. If there's no MORAL LAW GIVER,
there is no MORAL LAW
6. If there's no MORAL LAW, there is no
GOOD
7. If there's no GOOD, there's no EVIL
8. What is your question? The question
self destructs.
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MORAL CHALLENGE: EVIL DISPROVES GOD

MORALITY and EVIL requires a objective standard

[Before I became a Christian] … My argument

against God was that the universe seemed so
cruel and unjust. But how had I gotten this idea of
just and unjust? A man does not call something
crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.

C.S. Lewis
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MORAL CHALLENGE: EVIL DISPROVES GOD

Atheists admit that MORALITY and EVIL do not exist in their worldview

The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should

expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no
good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference … DNA neither cares
nor knows. DNA just is. And we dance to its music. (Richard
Dawkins, Evolutionary Biologist and Oxford Professor)

Morality, or more strictly our belief in morality, is merely an

adaptation put in place to further our reproductive ends. … In an
important sense, ethics as we understand it is an illusion fobbed off
on us by our genes to get us to cooperate. It is without external
grounding. Ethics is produced by evolution but is not justified by it –
(Michael Ruse, professor of philosophy and zoology at Florida State
University)
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MORAL CHALLENGE: EVIL DISPROVES GOD

Assume there is no God and these are the only two people on earth

Give me your food.

Hey, you can't do

that. That's wrong!

Oh yeah? Says who?

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MORAL CHALLENGE: EVIL DISPROVES GOD

Assume there is no God and these are the only two people on earth

Give me your food.

You’re not acting in a

way that will benefit
the species!

Why should I help

the species? Who
made up that rule?
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MORAL CHALLENGE: EVIL DISPROVES GOD

How do we evaluate a good batter or good bowler?
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MORAL CHALLENGE: EVIL DISPROVES GOD

Which drawing is the better map of the United States?
How could you tell which is the better map?

MAP A MAP B
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MORAL CHALLENGE: EVIL DISPROVES GOD

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MORAL CHALLENGE: EVIL DISPROVES GOD

God created things which had free will. That means

creatures which can go wrong or right. Some people
think they can imagine a creature which was free but
had no possibility of going wrong, but I can't. If a thing
is free to be good it's also free to be bad. And free will
is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give
them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil
possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any
love or goodness or joy worth having. C.S. Lewis
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MORAL CHALLENGE: EVIL DISPROVES GOD

God’s Morally Sufficient Reason for Allowing Evil

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing

with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Rom 8:18