A lot of unbelievers have made the argument that people of faith have blind faith, that they believe without evidence. But does the unbeliever have evidence first and then believe? In this article we will go over this topic.
“People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.”
― Blaise Pascal, De l'art de persuader
Children Have no beliefs
The quote by Pascal could not be more true. Despite the unbelievers claims they arrived at their beliefs by pure reason and scientific inquiry, the reality is far from that. As children we come into the world as empty vessels and have to be taught . At this point we are just taking in whatever our parents are giving us, but at certain point we start to establish our own belief system.
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6
Rise of belief
At a certain point in life a child start to form his own belief system. An example of this is that a parent can teach their kids all the right things, not to harm others, steal etc.. and then the children start doing the opposite of what their parents teach them. The reason that happen is because the child has rejected their parents reasoning or evidence for these things and have come up with his own belief system.
Evidence
According to www.dictionary.com ,Evidence is that which tends to prove or disprove something; ground for belief; proof.
www.wikepedia.org Evidence, broadly construed, is anything presented in support of an assertion. This support may be strong or weak. The strongest type of evidence is that which provides direct proof of the truth of an assertion. At the other extreme is evidence that is merely consistent with an assertion but does not rule out other, contradictory assertions, as in circumstantial evidence.
So as we see in the definition in itself is just there. The question is how do we know what the evidence mean?
"The rich man replied, 'No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.'Luke 16:30
Belief interpret evidence
The key thing is belief is the lens thru which we interpret the evidence that has been shown. Just like in a court of law both the prosecutor and the defendant's lawyer may see the same evidence and yet comes to different conclusions based on their belief of what happen . It is the same with ever human idea. When someone say the Bible is not the Word of God, it is not that they have evidence to back up what they are saying ,but their prior belief that I don't believe it to be true lead them to interpret or seek interpretation that will reinforce their choice. When a person believe something , they will interpret all evidences according to that belief.
"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"Luke 16:31
Changing Beliefs
If what the unbelievers are saying were true that they are unbelievers because the evidence lead them to be so , then there would be no such thing as a former atheist/agnostic etc...
But we do know there are plenty of those folks who abandoned their former belief when they look at the same evidence but choose to believe a different interpretation. Just like when someone who use to believe the Bible goes to the universities which are atheistic centers may be lead to dismiss the Bible. It is not because true objective evidence have been presented to them, but they choose to believe that the different argument that is presented is more appealing than their former interpretation .The fact of the matter is people change belief systems all the time.
they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13and said, "You are to say, 'His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.'Matthew 28:13
All are believers
The fact of the matter is we all are believers , we all have faith . Whatever our inclinations, it is a belief. Do not listen to atheists/agnostics claiming that their are unbelievers. For we are all unbelievers and believers , we believe in certain things and disbelieve others. The atheist and other like minded are unbelievers concerning the Bible but are believers in the teachings of university professors scientists, guys like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and others. Life is like a market place or a buffet, we all have the same pot(same evidence, creation) ,but choose the beliefs (food) that makes sense to us and cook it.
Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.John 10:25
Faith
In the end we all have faith. None of us were there when the world was created and so anything that we believe concerning its origin is only an expression of faith. Christian do not fall for the atheist argument that evidence convince them to disregard the Bible. It is not true, the atheist look at the world and says that there is no God, the Christian look at the same world and see its beauty , its order and conclude that there is a God. The agnostic is basically an atheist that is afraid of stating what he truly believe because he knows he may not be able to defend his argument, so we won't even focus on his claim that he is being humble and claim he doesn't know but yet will say the Bible cannot be from God.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.Hebrews 11:1
Conclusion
We will all be proven right or wrong when we die; for if Christians are right we will face the judgment after death ,but if those that are "unbelievers " are right there's nothing to lose. It is a gamble, but it is a gamble that favors the Christian. So to my atheists and agnostic friends do not fall for the lie that you have evidence for your way of life and the Christian doesn't , for we all have faith in what we believe to be true; my prayer for you today is that you reexamine the evidences without preconceive bias and put your faith in the Truth.
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.....Romans 1:20,21
http://biblehub.com/john/10-25.htm
http://www.ranker.com/list/former-atheists-and-agnostics/famous-atheists
https://jamesbishopblog.wordpress.com/2015/07/06/former-atheists-speak-44-quotes/
“People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.”
― Blaise Pascal, De l'art de persuader
Children Have no beliefs
The quote by Pascal could not be more true. Despite the unbelievers claims they arrived at their beliefs by pure reason and scientific inquiry, the reality is far from that. As children we come into the world as empty vessels and have to be taught . At this point we are just taking in whatever our parents are giving us, but at certain point we start to establish our own belief system.
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6
Rise of belief
At a certain point in life a child start to form his own belief system. An example of this is that a parent can teach their kids all the right things, not to harm others, steal etc.. and then the children start doing the opposite of what their parents teach them. The reason that happen is because the child has rejected their parents reasoning or evidence for these things and have come up with his own belief system.
Evidence
According to www.dictionary.com ,Evidence is that which tends to prove or disprove something; ground for belief; proof.
www.wikepedia.org Evidence, broadly construed, is anything presented in support of an assertion. This support may be strong or weak. The strongest type of evidence is that which provides direct proof of the truth of an assertion. At the other extreme is evidence that is merely consistent with an assertion but does not rule out other, contradictory assertions, as in circumstantial evidence.
So as we see in the definition in itself is just there. The question is how do we know what the evidence mean?
"The rich man replied, 'No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.'Luke 16:30
Belief interpret evidence
The key thing is belief is the lens thru which we interpret the evidence that has been shown. Just like in a court of law both the prosecutor and the defendant's lawyer may see the same evidence and yet comes to different conclusions based on their belief of what happen . It is the same with ever human idea. When someone say the Bible is not the Word of God, it is not that they have evidence to back up what they are saying ,but their prior belief that I don't believe it to be true lead them to interpret or seek interpretation that will reinforce their choice. When a person believe something , they will interpret all evidences according to that belief.
"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"Luke 16:31
Changing Beliefs
If what the unbelievers are saying were true that they are unbelievers because the evidence lead them to be so , then there would be no such thing as a former atheist/agnostic etc...
But we do know there are plenty of those folks who abandoned their former belief when they look at the same evidence but choose to believe a different interpretation. Just like when someone who use to believe the Bible goes to the universities which are atheistic centers may be lead to dismiss the Bible. It is not because true objective evidence have been presented to them, but they choose to believe that the different argument that is presented is more appealing than their former interpretation .The fact of the matter is people change belief systems all the time.
they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13and said, "You are to say, 'His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.'Matthew 28:13
All are believersThe fact of the matter is we all are believers , we all have faith . Whatever our inclinations, it is a belief. Do not listen to atheists/agnostics claiming that their are unbelievers. For we are all unbelievers and believers , we believe in certain things and disbelieve others. The atheist and other like minded are unbelievers concerning the Bible but are believers in the teachings of university professors scientists, guys like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and others. Life is like a market place or a buffet, we all have the same pot(same evidence, creation) ,but choose the beliefs (food) that makes sense to us and cook it.
Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.John 10:25
Faith
In the end we all have faith. None of us were there when the world was created and so anything that we believe concerning its origin is only an expression of faith. Christian do not fall for the atheist argument that evidence convince them to disregard the Bible. It is not true, the atheist look at the world and says that there is no God, the Christian look at the same world and see its beauty , its order and conclude that there is a God. The agnostic is basically an atheist that is afraid of stating what he truly believe because he knows he may not be able to defend his argument, so we won't even focus on his claim that he is being humble and claim he doesn't know but yet will say the Bible cannot be from God.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.Hebrews 11:1
Conclusion
We will all be proven right or wrong when we die; for if Christians are right we will face the judgment after death ,but if those that are "unbelievers " are right there's nothing to lose. It is a gamble, but it is a gamble that favors the Christian. So to my atheists and agnostic friends do not fall for the lie that you have evidence for your way of life and the Christian doesn't , for we all have faith in what we believe to be true; my prayer for you today is that you reexamine the evidences without preconceive bias and put your faith in the Truth.For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.....Romans 1:20,21
http://biblehub.com/john/10-25.htm
http://www.ranker.com/list/former-atheists-and-agnostics/famous-atheists
https://jamesbishopblog.wordpress.com/2015/07/06/former-atheists-speak-44-quotes/
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