river4 wrote: ↑December 23rd, 2019, 2:58 am
Hello, many festivities this winter. I remember when my dad convinced me that agnosticism was about the only sound position on religion, that we don't really have evidence either way about the existence or non-existence of god(s). For the theists in the room, is there any particular reason for belief in your religion or god(s)? Was this some sort of evidence that convinced you? Are there any counterexamples to that reasoning?
As a former Christian, now Atheist, I have wrestled with the issue of whether there is sufficient evidence to justify faith in Christianity. Personally, many of the standard or generic arguments for God do not convince me (eg. the argument from morality, the nothing-from-something argument), but I do want to offer two arguments specifically for Christianity that I feel not many people are aware of. This could help reignite this thread. The two arguments for Christianity are both prophecies found in the Bible.
1) The Mark of the Beast Prophecy (Revelation 13:16-17). This prophecy asserts that sometime in the future, no one will be able to buy or sell without a mark in their right hand or forehead. It asserts that this mark will be forced on people everywhere in the future. I find this prophecy compelling, despite being an atheist, because this scenario playing out in reality is easily conceivable in this day and age because of advancements in technology, science and the world becoming a global, interconnected society. However, there have been other, more metaphorical interpretations of this text, including the view that it is only referring to giving allegiance to a future, evil world power, in which the forehead symbolises people willingly giving allegiance, while the hand symbolises people doing it through their actions, despite their feelings towards the world power.
2) The 70 Weeks Prophecy of Daniel (Daniel 9:24-27). This prophecy has a lot to it (unlike the former), so I will only refer to the first kind of "part" to it, at least for this post. Part of this prophecy predicted the year when the Messiah will die, using a system of weeks to symbolise 7 years (a day for a year principle in bible prophecy, equating to 7 years for each week). It asserts that after the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem unto the Messiah's death would be 69 weeks (483 years). Well, apparently Jesus' death occurred on the right year or very close to the right year (we have to take into account the difficulty in discerning ancient dates, different calendar systems, etc.).
You can easily find more information about these two prophecies online. I do wonder, however, whether these two prophecies are enough evidence for Christianity, especially in light of the arguments against theism and Christianity. Thoughts?