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The Comfort challenge

Monday, March 10th, 2008

From Barefoot Bum via The Friendly Atheist, Ray Comfort has issued a challenge:

As briefly as you can, give me your best reasons why you think that God doesn’t exist, or why the Bible isn’t His Word. How about your toughest question…

I’ll keep mine short and sweet as well.

I spent my childhood listening to the Magic Telephone and wondering why it was that I didn’t hear anything. As I grew up, I slowly realized that it was because there’s no one on the other end. The book that says that there is was written by humans, and no evidence exists to prove otherwise. Therefore, I am an atheist.

As for my toughest question, not that Ray Comfort will ever visit here, but I do get the odd theist from time to time…

Since your god is omniscient, meaning he knows everything that will ever happen ahead of time, why did he choose to create humans the way they are, knowing he would be displeased with us? The Bible says that he “saw that it was good”, but clearly it was not. And don’t try to tell me about Satan — if he’s omniscient, it means he knew that was going to happen too. What is wrong with your deity that he seems to have a need to punish us for his mistakes?

(Note for the brain-dead: I am referring to god in the only sense that he exists: as a character in your fictional holy book.)