"We demolish arguments and every pretension
that set itself up against the knowledge of
God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient
to Christ." (2Corinthians 10:5)
During the month of February 2002, the researcher
who wrote this article responding to
Sykowingnut's website personally journeyed through
the world wide web (particularly on Angelfire) to survey nearly sixty
atheists and anti-Christians websites. Sykowingnut represents the typical
website found and thus was picked to be profiled. Our purpose in this
article is to demonstrate the faults made on Sykowingnut's website.
One is greeted
with the title, "Welcome to My Little
Anti-Christianity Homepage". His purpose?
He ends his essay stating "And so that concludes my page defending
my disbelief in God." Defending his disbelief in God. Interesting.
It so happens that many atheists with amateur
websites have the same old lines in attacking
Christianity. This article seeks to inform and prayfully
perhaps, help pave the way lovingly and truthfully for someone out
there to come to know Christ. It's realized that due to the sensitive and
controversial nature of this article it can become highly offending.
The author has chosen an aggressive systematic
approach in his rebuttal to FULLY counter
Sykowingnut charges and assertion. Truth can be offending
but nothing personal is meant towards Sykowingnut. Rather it is the
author's prayer and wish that Sykowingnut would come to Jesus Christ than
be damned to the world of the abyss.
And with that we roll...
Attack, Attack, and Attack
Sykowingnut takes a three prong attack in
defending his disbelief in God:
Of course, along the way there are many other
unrelated statements attacking or belittling
Christianity too. We deal with each of the three segments
mentioned above one at a time.
Its interesting to quote Sykowingnut, "Why
do people turn to this God? Well, many turn
to Him for salvation, or they turn to Him out of fear, or they
turn to him out of desperation." (From https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/index.html.)
There is a logical fallacy
found in this statement to defend Sykowingnut's position on why he
does not believe in God. One of the first thing one learns in logic is that
EXPLAINING something is not the same thing as ARGUING about something.
To explain the believer's reason for turning to
God does not in any way, shape, or form rule
out God's non-existence! When Sykowingnut explains
why people believe the things they believe, he doesn't realize that
this a invalid argument by means of explanation slits his own throat.
It is self-refuting. He himself doesn't believe in God because of rough
times in his life, afraid God would beat him up and in act of rebellion
because he doesn't want to submit to Him at all. (see https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/ivc.html)
Yet, these very reasons why
he does not believe are the very same factors he accuses as absurd of
why Christians believe in God (his "salvation" away from God's rule in
His life, his "fear" of God being sadistic
and his "desperateness" in his rough
times...does that sound familiar?). To attempt to refute Christianity
by explaining why Christians believe is to refute Sykowingnut
himself because he too have reasons why he don't believe! Hypocricy
has no limits with Sykowingnut as anyone can see later on below.
We now go more in depth responding to other
statements made in this portion of this
"defense":
"They also tend to think
that He is self-existent, but while they accept
this, they don't accept that maybe the universe is self-
and not the creation of some God (sounds
like hypocrisy to me)."
RESPONSE: What makes it so hypocritical
to believe God is self-existence and
the universe is not? Let us say God being self-existent is labeled as
X and universal self-existent is labeled as
Y. X does not necessarily demand Y
here, and to assert that this as hypocrisy is simply foolishness.
Following this fellow's logic applied to himself we see that actually
he's the hypocrite! As follows: He thinks Jesus is a liar who fictionalized
things to people (https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/iiib.html)
yet he himself doesn't accept that
maybe he is the one who is the liar with a website full of
fictionalized lies! WHAT A HYPOCRITE!!! Back to
Outline
"It seems to me that Christians turn to
this god for salvation in hopes that they
won't go to hell. So they pray to god when they do wrong and say
'please god save me from my sin and forgive me so that I may go to heaven
and not to hell' Please. What if they do no wrong their whole life and
then kill a person and die before they can repent. Does that person go
to hell?" (FROM https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/iia.html)
RESPONSE: The question raised here proves not to be a problem at all.
If this guy knows any basic logic, he'll
know that he's committed a Straw man
logical fallacy. In a spirit of charity in case he doesn't know what that
means, the excerpt here is a misrepresentation of what Christianity really
teaches about salvation. Anyone could misrepresent an opponent's position
and knock it down like a straw man. Either that's the case or the particular
individual doesn't understand or know what is the Christian position.
If ignorance is the case, why would anyone listen to someone that
doesn't know about what he is talking about?! Biblical Christianity
believes in terms of salvation once saved always saved (see 2Corinthians
1:21-22, John 6:39-40, John 10:28-29).Back to Outline
"The bible gives quotes about how a
person is saved and why they should be
saved, but can you really trust the bible when there are so many different
versions and interpretations of it?" (
https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/iia.html)
RESPONSE: Just because there are many translations of the Bible does not
rule out the Bible in it of itself is not
trustworthy. It is invalid to logically
deduct to that position. In the same fashion, just because there
are different interpretations of scripture does not rule out the Bible
is without integrity. Rather, we test the accuracy of an interpretation
of a certain Biblical passage through the study of Scripture
following grammatical rules, syntax and CONTEXT. Back
to Outline
"Why do Christians even fear God? In the
Bible God is said to be a caring and
loving God. Do you fear someone who loves and cares for you?I don't
think so, so why than do Christians fear God?" (
https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/iib.html)
RESPONSE: Sykowingnut must be a bastard (as in without any parents).
It is not a problematic statement to
assert that one who has a relationship with
a caring and loving God can at times fear Him also. Many people have loving
and caring parents yet at times they fear their parents also when they
have done something wrong or displeased their mothers and fathers. Realization
of the consequences and nature of sin would bring a sinner to the
fear of God and perhaps repentance in Christ Jesus that result in one
being "born-again", or being
saved. (Repentance of one's sin and accepting
Christ brings salvation, cf. Acts 3:19) In addition, the fear of
God for Christians thrusts a Christian the reminder that one must come
back to Him and His grace after sinning. Does
not the owner of this anti-Christian
website not at least know of someone who at one time in their
life fear their loving parents when they have done something wrong? Back
to Outline
"Well, I have seen too many people turn
to this God out of fear of death. Fear of
death? Yes, people fear death, and to give it so meaning and
so that death ain't that bad, they turn to God so that when they die they
will hopefully go to heaven" ( https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/iib.html)
"That brings me to another point,
Christianity is such a depressing religion.
The only way a Christian can be happy is to die and go to heaven."
( https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/iib.html)
RESPONSE: There is happiness even before heaven
for a Christian. "Rejoice in the Lord
always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4) Does
Sykowingnut knows joy and happiness himself? Back to Outline
"But, many people cower on up to God and
say, 'oh God I need help, I am such a weak
person and I cannot do anything on my own. I am cowering up to
so that you may help me.'( https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/iic.html)
RESPONSE: It's interesting to note how
anti-Christians always attack believers as
weak individuals. But how strong is Sykowingnut when he has tried
to commit suicide before? (See https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/iic.html)
Using his own method to refute Christianity
in the given statement above, does that refute his own
position of anti-Christianity too? If Christianity is true we would obviously
expect God to help those who are weak since this is taught in the
Bible at places like Matthew 11:28. Rather than taking out Christianity
here with Sykowingnut's statement, he now puts himself in a tight
spot! Weakness of believers does not rule out the God of the Bible.
Rather with cases like Paul the Apostle, Johnny
Erickson Tada (a crippled who through God's
grace was able to launch a ministry to help others like her)
their very weakness fulfills the later part of a verse in 2Corinthians
12:10, "For when I am weak, then I am strong." Back
to Outline
We are now done scraping Sykowingnut's first
futile frontal attack, now we are dealing
with the second attack. The second segment treated here concerns
who Jesus was and is. It must be pointed out that IF EVER Sykowingnut
could disprove Christianity by swinging around his blade of "who
Jesus is", Sykowingnut still fall SHORT of his goal to defend atheism.
To "disprove" Jesus does not prove Atheism at all! But to be
polite, we will not ignore Sykowingnut's second
segment but give it a response also.
RESPONSE: Sykowingnut is in a fence situation
because he wouldn't even be able to
"fence" correctly in his polemics against Jesus. That Jesus
claims to be the Savior or the Christ can be verified
outside of the Bible. A Jewish
Historian name Josephus stated in the Antiquities at 18:3,
"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wiseman, if it be lawful to call
him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats...HE WAS THE
CHRIST...he appeared to them alive again the third
day, as the divine prophets had foretold
these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning
him." (Bold statement in quote is the author's emphasis) Back
to Outline
"In the NT [New
Testament - Ed.], all the exploits of Jesus are
mentioned. Everything from walking on water,
to miraculous healing, to feeding hundreds on fish and bread.
But still, where is the proof to these claims?" (
https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/iiia.html)
"...it is human nature to glorify and
exalt our heroes. So how do we know that this
ain't what Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and the rest of the
disciples did?"( https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/iiia.html)
RESPONSE: While it is human nature to glorify and
exalt one's hero, it must also be pointed out
that human nature does not lead one to make exaggerated
lies about how great Jesus is when people with power and contrary
views wants to harm you very much greatly (flogging, stoning to death,
etc) for making such claims as Jesus rising from the dead. If anything,
if Jesus outrageous claims were not true, human nature would dictate
that one would lower Jesus claims and say he was just a good man instead
of Lord and Savior, etc. Contrary to human nature however, the early
Christians who followed Jesus while He was alive on earth BOLDLY declare
despite the overwhelming opposition and no cardinal advantages for
any of the apostles that Jesus who they have witnessed and live with for
three years, did rise from the grave and is the LORD and SAVIOR!!! Back
to Outline
"Here is a situation for you, let's just
say I am Paul. Okay? Now I love Jesus, and I
want to spread his word all across the land. Do I tell people
that he was just a really good teacher, or do I sensationalize and say
Jesus was the son-of-God, and support his claim with lies and exaggerations?
I do the latter because people will more believe a big lie than
a little lie"( https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/iiia.html)
RESPONSE: While this statement reveals
Sykowingnut's damaged morality, Sykowingnut baggage
of issues is in no way logically relevant to his defense
of unbelief other than the fact that it demonstrates the irrational
motive of why he won't believe. It is something Sykowingnut would
face God with when Judgment comes around and the writer here can only
tell Sykowingnut that if he does not repent of his sin and come to Christ,
he will burn under the glorious fury of God's wrathful justice.
In addition, three other things can be pointed
out concerning Sykowingnut's statement
here.
First off, Sykowingnut describes a possible
event to discredit Christianity but he does not prove that the event
he described was something that DID take place!
Secondly, in an earlier
rebuttal a passage was quoted from the secular Jewish historian Josepheus
who lived during the contemporary time period when the truth concerning
Jesus could be verified. In this quote the Jewish historian Josepheus
mentioned Jesus making "surprising feats". The naive thought that
Sykowingnut would know more than Josepheus two thousand years later and
far from the facts is absurd and totally unfounded. This displays Sykowingnut's
attitude as one who has made up his mind even before the evidence
and goes upstream contrary to the facts. Such ignorance is damned.
Thirdly, Jesus miracles proclaimed by the apostles were not lies made
up by His disciples. These men were martyred for what they clearly known
was either truth or fiction concerning Jesus miracles and resurrection.
While other followers far from the time of Jesus could be martyred
and not demonstrate logically that Jesus is who He is, the case with
the apostles is different since they have been physically with Jesus during
His earthly ministry and resurrection. Back to Outline
RESPONSE: It is amazing how Sykowingnut
seems to demand evidence from Christians but
provides no evidence himself for anything he says. Jesus claim
to Son of God was defended with miracles (see our response earlier in
Segment Two, Statement Two) and ultimately His resurrection. How
bad of an infedel propagandist could Sykowingnut be? Back
to Outline
"Look at Hitler or
Mussulini. They both
convinced thousands of people to follow and
believe them. So who is to say that Jesus didn't do the same
thing."( https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/iiib.html)
RESPONSE: And who says Jesus did the same thing
as Hitler? Hitler was bound on being
sensational to get people to follow him along with Mussulini
whereas Jesus, since He was into saving people(Cf. John 3:17) was
into changing hearts and even confronting sinners. Whereas Hitler and
Mussulini was popular to the mass, Jesus was not. And ultimately this
where the seperation of the Hitler type difer from Jesus: Whereas Hitler
lost followings dramatically with his death, the dramatical growth of
the followers of Jesus immediatley after His death with the claim that He
is risen can only suggest one thing indeed: JESUS IS DIFFERENT IN THAT HE
HAS RISEN! Back to Outline
RESPONSE: The picture
Sykowingnut tries to paint here isn't even appealing when one realizes
that this is an example of Sykowingnut's logical fallacy of circular
reasoning. In trying to argue the point that Jesus is a liar, he
defends his conclusion by stating again that Jesus is a liar.
Sykowingnut paints a picture that just can not be believed. Back
to Outline
"They wrote down nice
little stories that told of the great things that Jesus had done, but they
really never happened. So where is my proof in this? Well, I think someone
outside of the early church would have wrote down something about these miracles."
(https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/iiib.html)
RESPONSE: Definitely an argument
from silence, but one that is answered! Sykowingnut's statement here is
based upon ignorance, as one can see in our earlier response in Segment
two, statement two. Sykowingnut "thinks" someone outside
the early church should have wrote something about these miracles but he
does not realized that someone DID. Back
to Outline
"Well, I think someone outside of the
early church would have wrote down something
about these miracles. Perhaps a Greek? But no one did until
almost 40 years after Jesus got what he deserved."
RESPONSE: Even more powerful of an evidence
than a Greek writer, if Jesus own enemies who
put him to death (the Jewish Rabbis and teachers) were
to mention Jesus as practicing some form of supernatural performance (whether
it is negatively called "magic" or positively called
"miracles") this would devastate
Sykowingnut's position. In Sanhedrin43a of the Jewish
Talmud (commentaries by Jewish religious leaders) we find this statement:
"On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days
before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, 'He is
going forth to be stoned because he has practiced SORCERY..."(word
in bold by this writer). How about it, the very people bent on destroying
Christianity confirms facts about Christianity! Back
to Outline
Concerning what the apostles wrote,
"so
what proof is there that these are accurate
representations of the true story? We have none, so either they
are fact or they are fiction. "( https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/index.html)
RESPONSE: Two points in responding to this
statement. First off, the apostles were
Jesus' early disciples and KNEW about facts concerning Jesus death
and resurrection (simply put, they would know whether Jesus did or did
not resurrected). IF Jesus did not raise from the dead then the disciples
would be knowingly lying about it but this does not seem to be the
case as they died for this "lie". One does not knowingly die for
a lie with no benefits for lying. It
can also be documented from Jewish religious
sources that one of the Gospel writer in the Bible, Matthew, was
martyred for his faith: "Yeshu had five disciples, Matthai, Nakai, Nezer,
Buni and Todah. When Matthai was brought before the court he said to
them the judges, Shall Matthai be executed? Is it not written, Matthai
when shall I come and appear before God? Thereupon they retorted:
Yes, Matthai shall be executed, since it is written, When Matthai
shall die and his name perish." (From Sanhedrin43a) Again, one does
not die knowingly for a fabricated and benefit less lie. Second point,
the quotations we have given throughout this segment from sources outside
the Bible is in harmony with the Bible. It confirms Jesus death on
the eve of passover, his miracles and nothing less than a resurrection on
the third day when Jesus was raised to life and appeared to His disciples.
Turning the table around now, could Skyowingnut actually give any
evidences besides arguing from silence for his assertion? Back
to Outline
RESPONSE: Certainly, we see Skyowingnut
admitting the irrationality of nonbelievers
of his caliber! Truth is truth, whether he bends his knee to it
or not would determine his future for suppressing the truth. Back
to Outline
Having nailed Sykowingnut's section on Jesus
Christ, let us press forward "now on to
how God has failed humankind."
( https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/index.html)
It can be seen here that Sykowingnut
has a defect in his thinking in assuming that God owes him
something. In reality God does not have to answer any one of our sinner's
cardinal request. It's only by a merciful grace that He does answer
prayers. Unlike an old bubblegum mark, we shall finish scraping Sykowingnut's
website off for good.
"Now on to how God has failed humankind.
You are wondering by now how in the world
could I support such a claim as to how God has failed. Well it
is easy, and I know I'm going to receive some hate mail for this, but I
am going to prove God has failed by disproving He has done anything for humankind."(
https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/index.html)
RESPONSE: Here he is going to prove God failing
mankind by God failing mankind. Just another
logical fallacy of circular reasoning. Back
to Outline
AND "Now,
I know you are saying, hey, that person just didn't pray hard enough
or they didn't really believe that God was there, etc. But hey, from
personal experience, I know that God was never there for me when I was
suicidal."( https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/IVA.html)
RESPONSE: Notice that Sykowingnut need to use
personal and subjective testimony in order to
make this claim. Since his aim is to "prove God has failed
by disproving He hasn't done anything for humankind"(
https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/index.html),
if it be shown that God did just one thing
for man, then this would be enough to refute
Sykowingnut's position. If Sykowingnut's method of demonstrating that
God has not done anything for man is personal and subjective testimony,
then using his very methodology, he is refuted when one read testimonies
on the TEAM website of how God is working within believers lives.
Of course, if Sykowingnut objects to personal and subjective testimonies,
then he too must object to his own personal crutch of atheism.
Back to Outline
"What, you ask, do I mean by God not being
there? What I mean is this, sometimes a
person goes through such a rough time in their life that they need
some outside support. So they turn to their God and pray to Him that he
might take away their pain and burdens, and that He may help them get through
their rough time. Well, sometimes, no help comes and the pain never
goes away."( https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/IVA.html)
RESPONSE: It is important that you turn to the
true GOD and not a false god. Notice how he
mentions of how one in pain turn to "their" God, but not
necessarily the true God. Sykowingnut self-invented god from his own bosom
is just that: a god that takes away all pains in this life time and runs
on the mercy of the emotions of whiny babies like Sykowingnut. All pain
WOULD some day go away, that is, if you are believer of the God of the
Bible. The Biblical God is a mighty God who at times allow certain hardship
to strengthen you and forge you but the pain would end for His followers
when the Day of the Lord arrives. "He will wipe every tear from their
eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,"
surely the Bible says, when "the old order of
things has passed away." (Revelation
21:4) Back to Outline
"I prayed and prayed for God's great glory
to shine down upon me and that He may take
away the pain. But after a week of praying, I realized that
no help from this great God was coming to me."( https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/IVA.html)
RESPONSE: Sykowingnut
has proven the Bible when
God didn't answer this blasphemous
non-believer's prayer! "If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law,
even his prayers are detestable." (Proverbs 28:9) Back
to Outline
"Okay you are saying, well God just never
gives up on people, but you know what,
sometimes good people pray to Him and it seems He just ain't listening."(
https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/IVA.html)
RESPONSE: Sykowingnut says it himself: "it
seems". It seems to Sykowingut. "GODISNOWHERE"
might seem like "God is no where" but it really
is, "God is now here!!!!" Back
to Outline
RESPONSE: God is never obliged to answer our
prayers, especially when we are sinning
against Him. "If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers
are detestable." (Proverbs 28:9) We must know His will also. "For
this reason, since the day we heard about you, we
have not stopped praying for you and asking
God to fill you with the knowledge of HIS WILL through all spiritual wisdom and
understanding." (Colossians 1:9; emphasis by
the author's; see also 1John 5:14) Back to Outline
"Which either means, God doesn't listen to
you pray and thereby failing to be the great
God you pray to, or there is no God to pray to." (
https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/IVA.html)
RESPONSE: Sykowingnut's concept of God is
actually not so great as he thinks it is: If
God is so great, could He answer no and not be enslaved to
a petty finite master like Sykowingnut's whining? Sykowingnut be warned:
sometimes God is go great that He doesn't answer foolish prayer requests
too for the person's sake (if a girl prays to be a guy that happens
to be abusive, God might not answer the prayer for her benefit). Back
to Outline
"We all suffer, but if there is some great
loving god, why would he let us suffer? Does
he instead hate us and likes to watch us squirm and writhe
in pain? Possibly, but still he is suppose to be a loving god."( https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/ivb.html)
"Now I have been told before that
suffering comes from Satan. But hold on for
one minute, god is the "creator". So he created disease and sickness.
Satan is not the creator, and can only destroy. So that means all
diseases are sent by god."( https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/ivb.html)
"The only way to leave a marriage
according to the Bible is if one person is
unfaithful. So if what if a man beats his wife, she according to
the Bible cannot get a divorce because her husband is still faithful to her." (
https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/ivb.html)
RESPONSE: This statement here is so absurd,
it's
comical. How "faithful" is a
husband who abuses and beats up his wife? If Sykowingnut thinks one can beat
up his own wife and still call himself "faithful", then we could
understand how God can be so great and just as to
not answer Sykowingnut's prayer to be with a
beautiful girl! Back to Outline
"But why would god allow this? I have a
friend who is a Christian, and all of her
boyfriends have all physically abused her. Yet she prays to god
to help her break the cycle and for god to help her find someone who will
not abuse her, but no help comes. Why would a loving and caring god allow
one of his followers to be abused?" ( https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/ivb.html)
RESPONSE: How could God be blame for her own
stupidity? Christians are suppose to have
godly mates yet with this girl she disobeyed God's command.
If she followed God's command, she would not have any ungodly boyfriends
thus eliminating the problem of abusive guys in the first place.
How true can the Bible speaks to us even for today: "As a dog returns
to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly." (Proverbs 26:11) Back
to Outline
"Why would a loving and caring god allow
one of his followers to be abused? Simple,
god is not so loving and caring after all."
RESPONSE: This is a logical fallacy of hasty
inductive generalization. This is "when
a person generalize from a single anecdote...to support his conclusion."
(From "A Practical Study of Argument", fifth edition, pages 442)
Back to Outline
"Why would god test his followers?
Because god is petty and cruel and likes to
mistreat those who follow him? My cat loves me, but I don't test her
love by mistreating her."( https://www.angelfire.com/tn/sikosyko/ivc.html)
RESPONSE: Trial comes not for God's sake so that
He would know whether one's faith is strong
or not, but for the tested person to be developed TO
BE STRONG.Back to Outline
Closing Remarks
We have finished responding to the website of
Sykowingnut in it's entirety. We have
contacted Sykowingnut about this article via email. As one
more point against his view concerning God not answering him in relations
to God existence we used his own twisted methodology to show Sykowingnut's
"non-existence", thus shattering his own position internally
into oblivion!
RESPONSE: Having emailed Sykowingnut twice
without any response from Sykowingnut and
using Sykowingnut's own twisted logic, Sykowingnut does not
exist since he did not answer! The Website can now be safely ignored for
good since all "his" alleged arguments are accidental chance gibberish
in the e-world.
Would you really believe that Sykowingnut does
not exist and that his website was nothing
more than an impersonal, accidental, "freak of nature"
chance event? If you have a hard time swallowing this as fact because
his website has too much design and coherent information, how much
harder must it be to be an atheist when Sykowingnut exists. After all,
DNA is much more complicated than html.
The only reason why Sykowingnut remains an
atheist is not because of sound reason but a
personal subjective issue that goes contrary to the facts
as he himself admits:
