Even though we’ve all been told to never argue politics or religion, we all do. Especially at family gatherings during at least two official public holidays that invoke the Almighty (Christmas and Thanksgiving).
With that said, I’m of the opinion that the only thing worse than an arrogant Christian is an arrogant atheist, and that’s so close, it’s almost a toss-up.
But back to the topic at hand… I’ve noticed that the really hard-core atheists really do enjoy a good game of Gotchya.
Case in point: They’ll point to the Bible passage noting that if any given dude acts upon a homosexual urge, that same dude is supposed to be put to death (Lev. 20:13).
If the militant atheist takes a pass on the homosexual argument, he just might go to the passage that condemns to the death those engaged in adultery (Deut. 22:22).
Of course, the Christian on the defensive will be asked questions along the lines of, “Your religion states they should be put to death?! You don’t really believe any of that… do you?”
The counter to that is pretty simple – point out to them that those particular passages are always out of the Old Testament.
Point out to the militant atheist that even though the house we live in (Christianity) is built on the theological foundation of Judaism, it’s in the New Testament that Christ laser-focused what in the Old Testament is actually binding for Christians (such as Christan males don’t have to be circumcised, no requirement for Christians to stay kosher, etc.)
Besides the Gospels directly quoting Christ, we also have letters and epistles that we consider the Inspired Word of God. Any given teaching that Christ and His Apostles didn’t cite from the Old Testament simply don’t apply to Christians.
A quicker way to put it; just because it applies to the Old Testament Jews, doesn’t always mean it automatically applies to New Testament Christians.
Another Gotchya the militant atheists like to throw around is the Creation narrative from Genesis. Without fail, they’ll belittle the literal narrative.
In spite of Genesis stating that God created everything in six days, just ask the militant atheist, “What is ‘a day’ in the Mind of God?”
One example I like to use, “Imagine if a bird’s father just brushed the peak of Mt. Everest, moving no more than a few grains of dirt. That bird feather brushing a few grains only happens once every 100 years. How long would it take to level Mt. Everest? Now multiply that by one hundred, by a thousand, by a million.”
Now you have a clue what ‘a day’ is in the Mind of God.
There’s also a pretty good chance that the Big Bang Theory will be forced into the conversation. Enlighten them that the dude who first theorized the Big Bang was an astro-physicist Georges Lemaître of nearly 100 years ago (1927 to be exact).
As it turns out, Lemaître was actually a theoretical physicist, a mathematician, an astronomer, as well as a professor of physics.
Oh, he was also a Catholic priest. Most secular academic sources somehow seem to leave that little fact out of his description. Shocking, I know.
Other than both matriculating and eventually teaching at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, Fr. Lemaître also studied at Britain’s Cambridge University, Harvard College Observatory, America’s MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and the Major Seminary of Mechelen (Brussels, Belgium).
Other than his professorship at Louvain, he was also a professor at Washington, DC’s Catholic University of America.
Interesting side-note, when young man (17-years-old) Georges Lemaître was studying civil engineering at Louvain, he put his academic career off to the side to fight the invading Germans during the First World War. He was made an artillery officer and served in combat during the entirety of the war.
By the time of the Germany government signing the peace Armistice, young Georges was decorated twice by the Belgian government with the Croix de Guerre with bronze palm (Cross of War, palm denoting second award) for personal bravery in combat. No soy-boy here.
But back to the topic at hand. It was the good Father who hypothesized of “The Primeval Atom” (sometimes would refer to the same as “The Cosmic Egg”). That is, something even smaller than atoms.
Within the Primeval Atom was all the matter, heat, and energy of the entire Universe. Scientists present day have since hypothesized that the Primeval Atom is what they call “subatomic particles” (or sometimes called “fundamental particles”) consisting of “quarks, leptons, and photons”.
Here’s the real kicker for your debate with our hypothetical militant atheist; Fr. Lemaître considered the Primeval Atom is proof of the existence of God.
After all, it’s simply impossible for matter to create itself out of nothingness. Who created the Primeval Atom?
Here’s another point to ponder; who exactly gave those quarks, leptons, and photons a little nudge