The Best Argument Against Christianity?

The argument I outline in this video is a powerful reason to reject Christianity

1. Peter Enns (2014), The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable To Read It, Harper One, p. 58 (Kindle). Enns writes: “Biblical Archaeologists are about as certain as you can be…that the conquest of Canaan as the Bible describes it did not happen.” See also Book of Exodus, Session 5: The Crossing of the Sea Exodus 14–15, Yale University, p. 8. From the session: “Very little can be said about the exodus as history”, and the story is “full of legendary details and lacks supporting evidence from archaeology or from nonbiblical sources”

2. Luke Timothy Johnson (2010), The New Testament: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, p. 8 (Kindle). Johnson writes: “The four gospels are notoriously difficult to use as sources for reconstructing the historical Jesus. Their faith perspective, their literary interdependence, and the major and minor disagreements among them make a satisfying account of the events of Jesus’ life impossible…the Gospels are severely limited as historical sources”
Ibid, p. 63. Johnson also writes: “Paul is, remarkably, both the earliest self-designated Pharisee and the only first-hand witness to Jesus’ resurrection (1 Cor 9:1).”

3. See "Jesus Loves Canaanites" by Randal Rauser, and "Did The Old Testament Endorse Slavery" by Joshua Bowen

4. See Dr. Josh Bowen’s video "Tired of Hearing About Tyre: The Failed Prophecy of Ezekiel 26".

5. Peter Enns (2015), Inspiration And Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament (2nd Ed), Baker Academic, p. 103-156 (Kindle). Enns summarizes: “The New Testament authors were not engaging the Old Testament in an effort to remain consistent with the original context and intention of the Old Testament author.”.

6. Michael D. Coogan (2008), The Old Testament: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Location 1800 (Kindle). Because of this diversity, Coogan writes: “…any argument based solely on what the Bible says as though it speaks with only one voice, is fundamentally flawed.” See also: Bart Ehrman (2014), How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee, Harper One, p. 271. Speaking of one example of the diversity in the New Testament, Ehrman writes: “…one of the most striking features of John’s Gospel is its elevated claims about Jesus”

[shuai]

I like to add, “why would inspired text be so reliant on uninspired texts such as 1 Enoch“?

It seems more likely that the author was not inspired if he was reliance on a text that has been deemed to be unequivocally uninspired.

[MrWishihadagibson]

The most significant contradiction in the Bible is the character of God.

[drawnmyattention]

Bible scholar Robert M. Price tells the hilarious story of the Appalachian snake handlers who learned that handling snakes and drinking poison comes from the longer, tacked-on ending of Mark. After putting their heads together, they responded, "Well, the writer of the long ending must have been inspired by the Holy Spirit, too."

[SteveJones]

Obviously free will is not intended by god because he imposes threats to control.

[Rolando_Cueva]

Well the disciples believed that Jesus resurrected. How do you explain that, mass psychosis?

And then there's Paul who was persecuting Christians, saw Jesus in a vision, and did a complete 180.

[Polarbeardueck]

This is definitely one of the better arguments against Christianity. I am a Christian and have thought a lot about these issues, I appreciate your knowledge of the variety of different approaches to scripture. Though there is much in scripture that can cause someone to be skeptical of inspiration, would you concede that the contents in scripture can sometimes seem to suggest inspiration?

[SteveJones]

Obviously free will is not intended by god ecause he imposes threats to control.

[simplicityinthecomplexity]

At 1:32 you state "a morally perfect being", so could you clarify what you mean by "morally"?, and 'perfect' because this word can have a different meaning attributed to it based on the sentence it is used in. An example is this from the preamble of The Constitution "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, ". So, I would define this term "perfect" in reference to the documents that were used before the Constitution was written.
At 3:27 you state "when people try to decipher unclear communication", which translation are you referring to with this claim because I have read several of the different translations and have had no problem understanding the writings? Are you referring to the Greek manuscripts, or the Hebrew manuscripts, or something else?
At 4:21 you state "moral atrocities" this claim is solely dependent on your definition of "moral' as the questions in this text asks. So, if you could please give a clear definition of what you mean by the term 'morally', 'perfect', and finally what do you mean by 'being' as in a human body or something else?

[chriswest]

The new testament is testament to its falsivilty. It was only written and cobbled together after the failure of prophacey. The failure of all failures. Jesus second coming is now 2000 yrs late. And you know what happens to false prophets? Death by stoning. Lets just hope he's not in hell. Lets not resort to his level.

[EatMyKos]

Have you considered steel-manning every possible position in favour of Christianity? I know that's hard to do - we all have confirmation bias after all!

[dod-do-or-dont]

Holly text changes, additions, manipulations and myths from the ass 😅

[SeekingVirtueA]

Sorry for a lot of the… interesting comments Non-Alchemist, but really liked your video! Good summary of a number of issues that need to be wrestled with by Christians.

[atheistcomments]

Anything in the past doesn't provide support for Yahweh existing in the present.
I could say Yahweh died yesterday and no one could prove me wrong without demonstrating his existence in reality in real-time as the sentient being he is claimed to be.

[atheistforfun]

Best argument against Christianity? Darth Dawkins

[nietzsche]

Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.

I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, and the one great instinct of revenge, for which no means are venomous enough, or secret, subterranean and small enough - I call it the one immortal blemish on the human race.

[EatHoneyBeeHappy]

You could make up your own version of Christianity and still call it divinely inspired. Christians do this all the time.

[aikan]

"Best argument" proceeds to use several easily defeatable arguments.

[Justas]

Lots of speculations against the Bible. No facts have disproven it.

[wanderersrefuge]

The first sentence is already untrue. There were thousands of Christians before one book was ever added to the Bible.
Trying to win a moral argument with God is nonsensical lol

[deeds]

"Former Christian (Calvanist)".. makes sense