Strobel's Eight Objections To Belief In God

Christianity is a religion followed by a huge number of people across the world, but what is it exactly? Christianity is all about cultivating and maintaining a life with God. In this paper we will be reviewing the fundamental Christian beliefs as well as exploring how an active relationship with God and His church is important to practicing Christians.

The apparent conflict between faith and reason has brought much trouble to believers and non-believers alike through the centuries. Influences like Immanuel Kant in his Critique of Pure Reason penned these words: “I have therefore found it necessary to deny knowledge in order to make room for faith” (1965, B:XXX) and Soren Kierkegaard held that the absolute limit to which our reason repeatedly is

In some ways, it is refreshing to read H.J. McCloskey's article, "On Being an Atheist". Most people assume atheists are simple nihilists who do not subscribe to any sort of convictions or beliefs. The author's text, however, refutes this conventional viewpoint by producing several reasons for embracing atheism, many of which are studied and labored counterarguments to typical claims of theists. The most important part of this essay is found in its opening paragraphs, in which the author makes a very prudent point in explaining the fact that most theists do not require elaborate proofs or empirical evidence to substantiate their beliefs in a divinity. Those who do have not completely subscribed to faith, but to testaments of man's deductive prowess, which should not be confused with faith. However, the author makes a number of points that he believes alludes to fallacies in theism that those well versed in theism can handily refute.

Throughout his book, Tillich references faith as an ultimate concern to emphasize the importance of faith in the personality of individuals. Furthermore, Tillich believes faith is a vital part of human nature and that even the rejection of faith is, in itself, an act of faith. This displays Tillich’s understanding that faith will never disappear from society because it is a piece of the puzzle in what makes up humanity (Tillich).

We are often faced with grave questions in our faith. We look left or right, turn an ear to hear what people are saying. We hear ideas like; ‘God wants you to be successful’. Or perhaps; ‘you are not your own, it is not you who lives but Christ’. We have to ask these hard questions.

Having completed the unit of philosophy of religion, you are now ready to respond to an article written by an actual atheist. This article titled “On Being an Atheist,” was written by H. J. McCloskey in 1968 for the journal Question. McCloskey is an Australian philosopher who wrote a number of atheistic works in the 1960s and 70s including the book God and Evil (Nijhoff, 1974). In this article, McCloskey is both critical of the classical arguments for God’s existence and offers the problem of evil as a reason why one should not believe in God. Please note the following parameters for this paper:

In 1968 H.J. McCloskey wrote an article for the journal Question called “On Being an Atheist.” He presents three arguments for why his belief in atheism is more comforting than theism. He regards the arguments as “proofs” and intends to prove the inadequacy of each proof. By comparing the three proofs separately and then together he is able to provide different angles which enables new thoughts. While the proofs don’t stand strong by themselves the three together persuade the argument that there is a specific Creator, or Christian God. As a Naturalist struggles without explanation McCloskey struggles to comprehend the reason so many put their faith in someone they can’t fully understand. Through evaluating each proof thoroughly McCloskey is

1- In Reasons to believe, Scott Hahn, discussed in the second part of the book, the views of the protesters and opponents of Christianity, which is in my opinion, the strongest part, because it depends on the argument and logical reasons. Also, try to persuade to make the Catholic faith in the best image.

Within this paper I will be reflecting over the first part of Theology 104. This class has addressed many topics that have given me a better understanding on Christianity, the Bible and most importantly Jesus Christ. I will be addressing two topics that I feel are very important to Christianity the first topic being the Importance of Personal Testimony and the second topic covering the Importance of Maintaining a Christian Lifestyle. Both of those topics I think help lay a foundation for an individual’s walk with Christ.

1. Is the present day Christian faith in harmony with and growing out of that continuous faith of Christians found in the New Testament? 2. Is your faith available to all individuals? 3. Is private faith based on objective faith? 4. Are the symbols of one’s faith meaningful?

In H.J. McCloskey’s article entitled “On Being an Atheist” he builds an argument against the existence of God. He wrote this article with the intentions of arguing in contradiction of two of the three theistic proofs, which are: cosmological argument, theological argument. H.J. McCloskey presents an aggregate dispute that’s pulls in the Cosmological and Theological arguments and combines them together. The cosmological case he put together is concerning the existence of God, and the theological case serves as the intellectual case. Together these arguments make a strong snowballing case. However these arguments are not the only subjects addressed in his article. McCloskey also touches on the Atheism as being comforting and the problem of evil.

This paper will discuss the role of faith for the church and the individual. The “I AM” statements of the Gospel of John speaks to the basic fundamentals of our Christian walk. The miracles of Jesus that will be covered in great detail, explain the power of Christ. I will also cover the main theme of John’s Gospel which is the belief in and the love of Christ given freely to everyone.

The author begins his personal story, some might call it testimony, with explaining the process of becoming an atheist in the first place, before rejecting it after all these years. Born as the son of a Methodist minister and preacher, Flew went to a Christian school, and was, as he calls himself, a ‘committed and conscientious, if unenthusiastic, Christian’ (p.10). He did not feel a personal connection to God and was not interested in any kind of worship.

Pope John Paul II once said, “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.” (Fallible Blogma) Based on this significant and powerful quote, one can infer that faith and reason are directly associated and related. It can also be implied that the combination of faith and reason allows one to seek information and knowledge about truth and God; based on various class discussions and past academic teachings, it is understood that both faith and reason are the instruments that diverse parties

For this paper I interviewed two people from very different backgrounds. They are also in different stages of life and both of their beliefs have been affirmed in different ways. I learned a lot about their beliefs and the different ways that faith can help you reinforced.