Hello brothers and sisters in Christ. I hope you all are having a wonderful day.
A long time ago, I dedicated my life to philosophy. I want to be a philosopher and that hadn't changed. It's still my pursuit in life, and I'm still actively and rigorously studying about relevant things in the world. Of course, God and religion will be a part of my studies. However, before I am a Christian, I am first a philosopher. And although I don't identify with Pyrrho the Skeptic, I share his meticulous attitude of rigorously examining the facts that are given to us. I conclude that Jesus definitely rose from the dead. In fact, I do believe that the Bible is archaeologically sound, that what it says is historical and is evidence-based.
What I am struggling with, however, is when the debate goes outside of Christ's resurrection (which itself is undisputed.).
Lately, as I keep digging on philosophy, everything is starting to seem like God either does not exist or that He is not what we think He is. There's a lot to be said about it.
I ask you, dear friends, to tackle this issue of mine intellectually. No empty positivity, please. What I need right now are arguments that can combat my slowly-turning-into-atheist brain. I'll be as brief as I can. The following are some issues I'm struggling with...
Firstly, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around God being an "Omni-God". There's a lot of problems with it, but the one I will point out is this: Our petitionary prayers are meant to urge God into intervening things in our lives in a way that is favorable to each of us. But if petitionary prayers are to work, we really do have to assume that God is not Omnipresent and, like us, have no knowledge of the future. If you look at the Bible, you will see that God is an active participant in history. It's almost as if He's one of us. The conception of God's Omni-Godness came not from the Bible, but from the thinking of the medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas. And if something is not supported by the Bible, why believe it? What reason do we have to believe that God is truly an Omni-God?
Secondly, the theory of evolution. It's hard to dispute it. Include the Big Bang theory in it and Creationism becomes very very shaky.
Thirdly, a look at how the greatest men in history became godlike and how they dealt with their public image. Let's, for example, look at Napoleon. Like any "good" politician, he did his best to make himself impeccably amazing in his autobiographies. How do we know that God's greatness in the Bible is not just an advanced alien's attempt to make himself look good? Because if you want your subjects to worship you, you better be an impeccable person, free from earthly imperfections.
Fourthly, the "non"-divinity of the Holy Bible. The Qu'ran is to Islam as Christ is to Christianity. Basically, the Qu'ran is revered in Islam as Jesus Christ is revered in Christianity. If that really is the case, we must trivialize the Bible. If Christianity is truly a relationship with God and His Son Jesus, then that must how our spirituality should look like. And if that is the case, why is the Bible even a good source of wisdom if we can pray our way through life through a relationship with God? I know I mentioned that I believe the Bible is archaeologically sound, but what if we are wrong about that?
Fifthly, where is Noah's Ark?
Sixthly, the terrible history of the Catholic Church. I'm a protestant at heart and there's a reason for that.
And lastly, I want everyone to see things in a political perspective. If Christ restored our intimacy with God by dying for our sins, why didn't God establish a home-base on earth where we can literally talk to Him in a non-telepathic way? Adam and Eve used to be able to see God as a human walking in the Garden of Eden. What they lost, we regained through Christ. So why is God not taking on a temporal fleshy form in which He could rule over us all in a manner where it would be hard to doubt if He exists? Isn't it a given that we should just believe in Him by default? If that's so, why are we having to prove to Him our faith by believing in the unseen?
Thank you, my friends. Please pray for me. More importantly, give me some answers to these.
