Now nothing gets a True the mystical teachings of jesus more annoyed; gets their knickers in a knot; gets them hot under the collar than having a Non-Believer question their logic, rational and overall I.Q. Assuming they don’t lash out in anger (not a given – after all no one likes their philosophical / theological worldview questioned), they will just retort with what degree their logic, rational and I.Q. allow for.
PART ONE
Atheists usually start the ball off rolling with their justification for their lack of belief that God (or for that matter any god(s) or deity / deities) actually exists by asking the True Christian Believer (i.e. – the theist) for their evidence to the contrary, often saying that that which is asserted (by theists) without evidence (like God) can easily be equally be rejected (by atheists) without evidence*.
Atheists note that the burden of proof involving any positive claim – a claim that something IS so – is on the person making such a claim. So it is entirely legitimate for an atheist to ask a True Christian Believer, what is your proof, or at least your evidence, that your Christian God actually exists?
Standard Christian Reply Number One: Faith is the be-all-and-end-all! It is NOT a matter of proof or of evidence; it is a matter of pure faith that there is a Christian God in actual existence.
Standard Atheist Reply One: Why would you (i.e. – True Christian Believer) have faith in a concept for which there is no actual evidence? Faith is NOT a reliable pathway to absolute truth. You don’t have faith in the existence of anything else (i.e. – like Santa Claus or fairies at the bottom of your garden) when whatever that something else is, is totally lacking in having any solid evidence for that anything else’s actual existence; existence that is based in a really real reality. Belief in a something without evidence that that something actually exists makes no logical sense.
Standard Christian Reply Number Two: The Bible is a historically true and accurate account of the existence of God and his ‘son’ Jesus.
Standard Atheist Reply Two: The Bible is just a book. By Christian logic therefore, James Bond, Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes all exist too and for that matter so does Plato’s Atlantis. Anyone can write a book and write down what they want to (including pure fiction and quasi-historical fiction) and the Bible, like any other book, was written by humans (living at a certain time and place in history) for humans (also living at that certain time and place in history). Authors today I’m sure aren’t writing their novels with a view that people 2000 – 3000 years from now will consider their literary efforts still worthy of their rapt attention. In any event, the Biblical (tall) tales were written by (lots of) human authors – in fact oft plagiarised from other works of literature that were around at the time – all having nothing to do with any actual input from any actual deity. In fact the Bible lacks any historically independent or archaeological evidence to back up the claim that God (and Jesus) actually existed, in the exact same way that “Gone with the Wind” provides no historical / archaeological evidence that Rhett Butler and Scarlet O’Hara ever actually existed, or that “Ben Hur” existed.
Further, the Bible contains so many contradictions, inconsistencies and plain downright absurdities that it makes the exploits of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny (or if you rather James Bond, Hercules, Harry Potter, Batman & Sherlock Holmes) pale in comparison.
Standard Christian Reply Number Three: I have personally experienced the spiritual presence of God (and/or Jesus). Therefore, God (and/or Jesus) must exist. I know God exists because I feel His presence right here in my heart.