, April 2002
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Current scientific understanding tells us that the Universe is more than 15 billion years old - and more than 15 billion light years across. That is *unimaginably* huge. To scale things down, if the distance from the earth to the sun was one inch, the most distant galaxy would still be SIX BILLION MILES away. If the Universe was 300 years old, the first humanoid appeared 25 days ago, and man landed on the moon around the same time as you started reading this post... Given these facts, it would be astounding - and unreasonable - to conclude that life could not have evolved somewhere else but Earth. (Unfortunately, given the barrier of the speed of light, it may never be possible to find or even have contact with other life. We just do not know enough to be sure). I'd like to use this sense of scale to explain why I do not believe in the veracity of the bible or the existence of "God" in the Christian sense. 1. The God Of The Jews There is evidence that polytheism was practiced amongst the Jewish people until around 600 BCE. Even so, their religion came to form the basis of Western Culture... But is that reason enough to accept it as "True"? According to the Old Testament, God selected the proto-Jews as his "chosen people". Out of a Universe 15 billion years old, an all-powerful being supposedly chose one small group of people from an estimated world population of around 5 million to favour above all others... The Old Testament tells that God smited the enemies of Israel repeatedly... But this seems to have had no impact on any people except for the Jews... No-one else acknowledged their god or accepted their religion. The Egyptians barely mentioned them. To the mighty Roman Empire, they were a provincial backwater. Now, this God and this mythology may well have made sense to the Jewish people at the time; but it makes no sense whatsoever on a cosmic scale. 2. Jesus Christ The New Testament built on the religion of the Jews; and uniquely promised everlasting life in return for two simple demands: obedience with the law (whatever that is interpreted to be); and acceptance of the character of Jesus Christ as the son of "god". Given the difficulties humans have of accepting any scale outside their own knowledge, this story might seem reasonable to some... But given the sheer size of the Universe combined with the real population of the Earth at the time of Jesus - around 150 million people - the story is nothing short of completely unbelievable. The situation might be saved, of course, if we had credible evidence of Christ's existence, or of his influence in the world since his time. 3. The New Testament The New Testament is the sole undisputed repository of information about Jesus Christ. Every other mention of him that exists outside the Bible relies on it - or believers - as a source. It is incredible to think, therefore, that the available evidence shows that the text of the New Testament evolved over time to meet the needs of the early Christian church. The Bible is, of course, a wholly remarkable work... But its wording is so vague as to defy any attempts to agree what it might mean. In the last two hundred years that we have found the largest group of Christians - the Catholic Church - accepting that it is *not* literally true; only to be replaced by another group - the Protestant Fundamentalists - insisting that it *must* be. But considering the claims of Christianity, given the sheer *size* of the Universe, it *cannot* be reasonable to accept that an all-powerful god would choose to reveal "Himself" in such an oblique and bizarre way... Or to damn the majority of mankind to "Hell" for failing to follow one set of beliefs. Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof. Nothing about Christianity is believable without faith - and faith in the face of reason at that. I don't know whether a god exists or not... But I am as certain as I could ever reasonably be that there is no "Christian God".
From an original posted on the GodAndScience Messageboard on 10 April 2002. |
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