Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Why does disbelief fit so well?

I think my root objection to Christian belief is that the premise “Christian beliefs are false” fits scarily well with reality, which my intuition says wouldn’t be the case if Christian beliefs were indeed true. By “Christian beliefs”, I mean the core supernatural claims of Christianity, namely that the three members of the Trinity exist, comprise “God”, and the Bible is their word. If these beliefs were false, there’d be several conditions that would have to be true. I will list some of them.

If Christian beliefs were false, these conditions would have to be true:
  • Christians would have to believe in a god who is invisible, inaudible, and untouchable.
  • Prayer would have to be statistically ineffective at treating disease, especially compared to medicine.
  • Modern prophecy would have to be statistically no more accurate than normal prediction.
  • Christians would have to be no safer from harm than others.
  • No Christian could be able to demonstrate a miracle to a panel of scientists.
  • The Christian “word of God” would have to have been written by humans, and contain normal human characteristics.
  • The Christian “word of God” would have to not demonstrate any higher understanding of how the physical world works, beyond the primitive understanding of it’s ancient human authors.
  • Christian belief would have to spread solely by human teaching, rather than be learnable directly from Jesus/God or nature. “Unreached” societies would have to not discover Jesus on their own.
  • There'd have to be no outsider witness accounts of the grandiose miracles depicted in the Bible, such as the Feeding of the Five Thousand.
  • Jesus would have to have lived a normal human lifespan on Earth.
  • Jesus would have to have visited only a relatively small geographical area.
  • The resurrection story would have to include an excuse as to why the resurrected Jesus isn’t available for viewing, such as “he flew away”.
  • Jesus would have to have not returned, and we would have to be able to reconfirm that every day.
Again, if Christian beliefs were false, the preceding list of conditions would all have to be true. And as luck would have it, they all are true! Am I to believe this is purely coincidence, or buy into a fanciful theological explanation for each one? No, false belief accounts for the list too easily.

On a secondary level, if Christian beliefs were false, there are many conditions I would expect to be true. I consider them secondary because they wouldn't necessarily have to be true, but are intuitive expectations if Christian beliefs were indeed false.

If Christian beliefs were false, I'd expect these conditions to be likely true:
  • I’d expect Christianity would emphasize qualities like “faith” and “belief” as highly virtuous.
  • I’d expect Christian belief to include reasons why God doesn’t interact with us in clear/consistent/verifiable ways.
  • I’d expect there to be a widespread problem of Christians having trouble establishing a “closeness with God.”
  • I’d expect there to be a widespread problem of Christians having trouble understanding “what God wants to say to them” and “what God wants them to do.” 
  • I’d expect there to be a widespread problem of Christians experiencing periodic doubt.
  • I’d expect the study of geology to offer little/no support for the story of Noah’s global flood.
  • I’d expect the study of geology/cosmology to offer little/no support for the Genesis creation account.
  • I’d expect Christianity to be splintered over what God is saying/wanting today, how to interpret/understand what God supposedly said in the Bible, and theology in general.
  • I’d expect Christian belief to have evolved the idea that any promises made to us in the Bible are guaranteed after we die, not necessarily in this life.
  • I’d expect that Christians would not stand out as morally superior than the rest of mankind.
  • I’d expect the most common reason for rejecting Christian belief to be intellectual rejection of the truthfulness of Christian belief, not some preference for bad behavior or a wish to oppose the forces of good.
Again, all these are intuitive, expected conditions on the premise that Christian belief is false. And indeed, every condition on the preceding list is true. The expected outcomes of false belief are fulfilled for Christianity.

The premise that Christian beliefs are true leaves the theologian stretching and inventing to explain why all the preceding conditions are true. On the other hand, the premise that Christian belief is false essentially guarantees that the preceding conditions would be true. I will be painfully thorough here:
  • Christians believe in a god who is invisible, inaudible, and untouchable, because God doesn't really exist
  • Prayer is statistically ineffective at treating disease because God doesn't really exist
  • Modern prophecy is statistically no more accurate than normal prediction because God doesn't really exist.
  • Christians are no safer from harm than others because God doesn't really exist.
  • No Christian can demonstrate a miracle to a panel of scientists because God doesn't really exist.
  • The Christian “word of God” was written by humans, and contains normal human characteristics because God doesn't really exist and therefore doesn't write books.
  • The Christian “word of God” does not demonstrate any higher understanding of how the physical world works, beyond the primitive understanding of it’s ancient human authors, because God doesn't really exist.
  • Christian belief spreads solely by human teaching, and “Unreached” societies do not discover Jesus on their own because God doesn't really exist.
  • There are no outsider witness accounts of the grandiose miracles depicted in the Bible, such as the Feeding of the Five Thousand, because God doesn't really exist and therefore does not perform miracles.
  • Jesus lived a normal human lifespan on Earth, because God doesn't really exist and therefore Jesus was not God.
  • Jesus visited only a relatively small geographical area, because God doesn't really exist and therefore Jesus was not God.
  • The resurrection story includes an excuse as to why the resurrected Jesus isn’t available for viewing, because Jesus was not really resurrected.
  • Jesus has not returned, because Jesus is dead and is not going to return.
  • Christianity emphasizes qualities like “faith” and “belief” as highly virtuous because God doesn't really exist.
  • Christian beliefs include reasons why God doesn’t interact with us in clear/consistent/verifiable ways, because God doesn't really exist.
  • There is a widespread problem of Christians having trouble establishing a “closeness with God" because God doesn't really exist.
  • There is a widespread problem of Christians having trouble understanding “what God wants to say to them” and “what God wants them to do" because God doesn't really exist. 
  • There is a widespread problem of Christians experiencing periodic doubt, because the truth is knocking at their door.
  • The study of geology offers little/no support for the story of Noah’s global flood, because that story is fictitious.
  • The study of geology/cosmology offers little/no support for the Genesis creation account, because that account is fictitious. 
  • Christianity is splintered over what God is saying/wanting today, how to interpret/understand what God supposedly said in the Bible, and theology in general, because God doesn't really exist.
  • Christian belief has evolved the idea that any promises made to us in the Bible are guaranteed after we die, not necessarily in this life, because God doesn't really exist and therefore cannot make or fulfill promises.
  • Christians do not stand out as morally superior than the rest of mankind, because God doesn't really exist and therefore does not assist with morality.
  • The most common reason for rejecting Christian belief is intellectual rejection of the truthfulness of Christian belief, because God's non-existence ensures that belief will be intellectually problematic for those who aren't prone to accepting false religious beliefs.
The list makes perfect sense now that we've explained each item with "because God doesn't really exist" (and the likes).

Another way of looking at the first two lists: If Christianity were true, alternative conditions would be much more intuitive/predictable. For example:
  • “Unreached” societies might discover Jesus on their own. After all, God supposedly wants everyone to know Jesus.
  • Jesus might have hung around for a few hundred/thousand years after his resurrection instead of flying off into the sky before too many people saw him. After all, Jesus is supposedly immortal and wants a relationship with everyone.
  • The “word of God” might contain knowledge beyond the primitive human knowledge of the day, such as how to make penicillin. After all, God is supposedly omniscient and cares about us.
I could similarly go through each item, but enough thoroughness.

In conclusion, this is where I see the large gap in rationality between the believer and non-believer; the non-believer’s worldview perfectly predicts/explains so many conditions surrounding Christian beliefs, and with such a simple statement as "God doesn't really exist." Meanwhile, the believer's worldview stretches to explain each condition, writing countless books addressing each one, yielding an ever-increasing sea of theological literature, the whole of which is internally volatile and covers all spectrums of bizarre. I've swam through that sea long enough to know that I am intellectually drawn much stronger to "God doesn't really exist." Disbelief is considerably more rational to me, and thoroughly resonates within me as a vital step toward truth.