Skeptoid

Killing Faith: Deconstructionist Christians

Skeptoid #12
December 07, 2006
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Today we're going to take a leap of faith into a soft cushion, to see what happens when proven knowledge makes faith irrelevant.

There is a profound contradiction rising in the world of religion. Proponents of various religious dogma such as Creationism, Noah's Flood, and Revelations have taken a disturbing turn. They are crippling their own religion by attempting to do scientific research in an effort to prove their religious claims, thus directly attacking their religion's central pillar: faith.

Abraham is regarded as the father of faith among most of the world's people, including Muslims, Christians, and Jews. He earned this title through demonstrating the mightiest act of all: being willing to sacrifice his own son Isaac, indeed with the dagger poised above his head ready to fall. Isaac was saved when God sent an angel at the last second to put a stop to it, who told Abraham that he'd proven his faith. It was an act that very few among us could have duplicated; I certainly wouldn't have done it. For this reason, Abraham is rightly exalted. It was truly an act of heroic faith.

Consider this question: If Abraham had known that God would intervene at the last second to spare Isaac, would his act have been as heroic?

Theological tradition tells us no, it would not have. The reason the Abraham story is important is that it's the supreme demonstration of faith. Abraham raised his dagger fully intending to kill his beloved Isaac, all for his faith in God. He felt every ounce of the unimaginable anguish. Could you have brought the dagger down and plunged it into your own child? Achieving this level of faith is the essential goal of all Christians, and for that matter, it is for Muslims and Jews as well. Faith is the absolute pillar of religion.

Now let's turn the clock forward a few thousand years and see where the faithful are today. Surprisingly, I see a lot of them doing the equivalent of asking questions before raising the dagger. Questions like "Can you please prove to me that the angel's going to intervene?" Can you show me the scientific evidence that proves Intelligent Design? Can you please prove to me that Moses parted the Red Sea?

The Associates for Biblical Research (abr.christiananswers.net) publishes a quarterly PDF document called "Bible & Spade". It's all about archaeological projects throughout the middle east that they say supports the Biblical record. The current issue offers evidence from Egypt on the location of the Exodus crossing of the Red Sea. They have an exhaustive mission statement page, in which they state and restate their belief that the Bible is absolutely and literally a correct and true historical document. It is "infallible, inerrant and authoritative". Their purpose also includes "Edifying the Christian Church by encouraging a deeper knowledge of, greater appreciation for, and stronger faith in the Bible through knowledge and correct interpretation of the findings from archaeology and science." In short, they are all about proving the Bible is true through archaeology. They call this "encouraging stronger faith in the Bible". Encouraging faith through proof. They want to force us to believe it.

Maybe my dictionary is out of date, but faith and proof are oil and water. Faith needs no proof, and in the presence of proof, faith becomes irrelevant. Faith means to believe without proof; indeed, it means to believe in spite of evidence to the contrary. Where is the heroic faith in believing in something that's proven right before your eyes? That's hardly a demonstration worthy of Abraham. To seek to marginalize the element of faith by showing supporting evidence, is to seek to undermine the whole basis of the religion.

We see the same thing happening in any of the numerous groups seeking to find Noah's Ark on Mt. Ararat in Turkey. On some of their web sites you'll find tremendous amounts of information about how a wooden ark could have survived 6000 odd years, how it could get so high on the mountain when there's not enough water on the planet to do it, exactly where it's located in the satellite photographs, exactly how two of every animal could fit on one ark, what its dimensions are and where and how it was built, and so forth. But nowhere did I find an explanation of why it's important that it be found. To my way of thinking, even if you're of the mindset that Noah's flood was simply a literal account of an incident and not a meaningful allegory, then allowing it to be found, thus proving the story, would be more likely to be on Satan's agenda than on God's. Why would God want to marginalize faith? I can think of every reason why Satan would want to do this, but not God.

Is proving the Bible really doing the work of God?

Abraham's faith did not need the crutch of supporting scientific evidence that God is real, nor would he have made much of an impression upon God if he'd had such. I challenge Christians who are true believers to stick with their faith, and to hold their faith to be (if I may borrow the terms) "infallible, inerrant, and authoritative". Or, if you want to use what science tells us instead, then admit that you're no longer keeping your faith in the infallibity of the Bible. You cannot do both. A true Christian must question their fellow believers who attempt to erode faith through the application of science to scripture. If faith is not enough to support religion on its own, then faith has already been killed.

Brian Dunning

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Discuss!

5 most recent comments | Show all 146 comments

Remember, you should always read with skepticism the comments of anyone too lame to put their real name & city.

You just have to read the whole story. It is clear when you are reading a story, which parts are actual statments, and which parts are just metaphors for an example or point that he's trying to make. There obviously is no heading, just by reading the bible, and knowing the background of the verses and chapters, its easy to figure out. Especially when you go to church, and do things to help deepen your knowledge of the bible.

Stephanie, Kansas
May 09, 2008 8:14am

I went to church almost every Sunday for about 20 years. My eventual conclusion was that the majority of the Bible was allegorical. For example:

Many people take the story of the fishes and loaves to be a miracle, I see it more as a parable. I don't think that only a few fishes and loaves were present that day and they split before peoples eyes into thousands. I believe that many people there had brought food, but were afraid to share it with others because they might not get enough. Then, after seeing the incredible generosity of one boy, everyone was inspired to share what they had with others. A lesson about giving and setting a good example others can follow.

I never wanted to get you two to denounce god or drop your religion. I just wanted get you to think about things critically. It seems like Mike is beginning to do just that. If your decision is to embrace your faith, I am happy for you and hope it brings you a life of happiness. I just also hope you will never forget to think about everything before you decide to believe it. Faith can be a very powerful thing. Blind faith, on the other hand, can be very dangerous.

Steve Loeffelholz, Iowa City, IA
May 09, 2008 10:18am

Blind faith? All faith is blind. The definintion of faith is believing in something you can't see.
You (Steve) are "text proofing" the bible, by taking one or two sentences without reading it's entire context, and using those words way too litterally. Like if the bible said, "Give your heart and soul to God", you would probably argue, "Now God wants us to kill ourselves by taking our hearts out of our bodies?"

Mike also kind of did this when he was trying to prove you wrong. But I get what both of you are saying...

Steph, Kansas
May 09, 2008 10:27am

Sorry, I was unclear of what I meant by blind faith. I meant believing in something completely without ever taking the time to think about it. Just because someone says something, regardless of their authority, doesn't mean it is true. In my opinion, it is much different to believe in god because someone told you he exists, verses believing in god because someone told you he exists, you then thought about it, it felt right to you, and then you believe as well.

It is true that the very definition of faith is believing in something without solid proof (if any proof at all). That doesn't mean you can't think through the things you have faith in. If you accept things that you are told or taught without thinking about them, it can lead to some pretty bad outcomes. What if the same person who told you there is a god, also told you all Muslims are evil people. Not critically thinking about the things you believe is what I meant by "blind faith" in my last post. I still don't have a better word for it.

Sorry for not explaining better.

Steve Loeffelholz, Iowa City, IA
May 09, 2008 1:15pm

Well what about this; from genesis:-

1 First God made heaven & earth 2 The earth was without form and void, [[[and darkness was upon the face of the deep;]]] and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4[[[ And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.]]] 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.

The 2 parts I have high-lighted concern statements (by god) that "darkness was upon the earth" and "the light is good" and "the light is separated from the darkness"...

If, as you claim, the story of gen. is literal truth then these 3 statements are to be taken literally.

How can light be "good". It is the findings of science that light (a narrow band of the EM spectrum is far from "good". That would simply depend on the circumstance.

But the main issue is with the literal splitting of "light, from the darkness".

Any sensible person who sits for a moment and thinks can rationalise that there is no such thing as "darkness".

You can fill a room with light at the flick of a switch, but you cannot fill a room with darkness, just as you cannot fill a cup with emptiness!

The word of god then is, quite literally, wrong!

And what starts off bad just goes from bad to worse!

neil griffiths, Cardiff uk
May 13, 2008 2:50am

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