Unknown Soldier
Well-known member
Some members here have been questioning my recent conversion to Christianity from atheism, and since I realize that my answer to that question is based in apologetics, I think it is appropriate that I conjoin the two matters.
I've been watching Christian apologists debate atheists on YouTube for years, and generally I have concluded that those debates are either draws or the atheist(s) have won them. I've also read books written by apologists and books written by atheists, and I have almost always agreed with the atheists' conclusions and have disagreed with the apologists' conclusions. It appeared to me at least that Christian truth claims are very questionable, and the truth claims of atheists are at least unrefuted, so the logical thing to do was to remain an atheist.
That situation changed about a year ago when I decided to debate some atheists playing "God's advocate." I hoped that doing so would help me to overcome my bias, and did it ever! I discovered that if I make a good-faith effort to defend Christianity against the criticisms of atheists using sound reasoning, then the fallacies and/or factual errors in many of the popular arguments against Christianity are exposed. For example, one atheist said he doubted the truth of Christianity because there are other religions in the world. I easily refuted that argument by pointing out that different competing religions can easily result from some people getting their theology wrong!
Now, refuting objections to Christianity does not really establish its truth, and I realized that I needed at least one good reason to conclude the truth of Christianity or its utility. The Christian God can act as a basis for why anything exists and as a "template" of the good people we should be. I realized those reasons were good enough for me, and here I am on "the other side."
Questions and comments are welcome.
I've been watching Christian apologists debate atheists on YouTube for years, and generally I have concluded that those debates are either draws or the atheist(s) have won them. I've also read books written by apologists and books written by atheists, and I have almost always agreed with the atheists' conclusions and have disagreed with the apologists' conclusions. It appeared to me at least that Christian truth claims are very questionable, and the truth claims of atheists are at least unrefuted, so the logical thing to do was to remain an atheist.
That situation changed about a year ago when I decided to debate some atheists playing "God's advocate." I hoped that doing so would help me to overcome my bias, and did it ever! I discovered that if I make a good-faith effort to defend Christianity against the criticisms of atheists using sound reasoning, then the fallacies and/or factual errors in many of the popular arguments against Christianity are exposed. For example, one atheist said he doubted the truth of Christianity because there are other religions in the world. I easily refuted that argument by pointing out that different competing religions can easily result from some people getting their theology wrong!
Now, refuting objections to Christianity does not really establish its truth, and I realized that I needed at least one good reason to conclude the truth of Christianity or its utility. The Christian God can act as a basis for why anything exists and as a "template" of the good people we should be. I realized those reasons were good enough for me, and here I am on "the other side."
Questions and comments are welcome.