I had decided to pick up Dawkins' The God Delusion from the public library to find out what was the big fuss that surrounded this book that spun the various "copycats" by Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and many others to jump on the atheist bandwagon.
After one-third way into the book and reading quotes upon quotes and examples upon examples of "incompetent" Christian writers, I decided to flip to the index section and it was obvious that Dawkins had cherry-picked those that would explain his world view. There were no quotations or examples from competent Christian apologists like Josh Mcdowell, Norman Geisler, Criag Blomberg, or Peter Kreeft to just name a few. The single mention of Billy Graham was about his alma mater. When you decided to load the dice at the beginning to pick the wrong examples, you will inadvertently end up able to justify and "prove" anything and in this case, Dawkins "succeeded" in showing up the "inadequacy" of Christianity. But is that the case?
Dawkins mentioned a few "favourite" examples of bible detractors, namely the "misquotation" of virgin birth by Isaiah and the conflicting geneologies of the Gospel according to Matthew and Luke. These examples of inaccuracies were competently answered by Christian apologists whom Dawkins chose not to quote from. Take the example of the Hebrew word "almah", translated into Greek by the New Testament as "parthenos". Dawkins, like many others, made a meal about how Christians have mischievously translated this word from its original meaning of young maiden to virgin to fit their theology. However, we don't have to be a Hebrew or Greek expert to understand that context of Isaiah's prophesy demands that we make this inference.
Then the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, "Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.". But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!" Then he said, "Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.". (Isaiah 7:10-14)
The context here is God giving Ahaz a SIGN. It is baffling to see how a young maiden being with a child and bearing a son be a SIGN from God unless it is something supernatural, in this case the young maiden being a virgin. The passage speaks volumes for itself.
Throughout the book, Dawkins threw cheap shots regarding how the God Hypothesis is beyond proof by mentioning in the same vein the plausibility of Bertrand Russell's celestial teapot and Dawkins' very own Flying Spaghetti Monster. It is interesting that Dawkins failed to mention that while no recorded account of people who suffered and lost their life for believing in the teapot and monster, many have laid down their lives for their belief in the Almighty God of the Judeo-Christian faith.
Dawkins also pointed out logically that if there was really a God, He could have settled this discussion once and for all and put all the atheists in their place by appearing to the world as we know today. This is a seductive argument but flawed nonetheless. If Dawkins had taken the trouble to read the Scriptures (which he had decided not to because reputed biblical scholars that he consults do not in general regard the New or Old Testaments as a reliable record of what had actually happened in history), he would have discovered that God had actually manifested on earth exactly to do just that twice in human history. Once to the people of Israel during the time of Moses and once to the nation of Israel with the birth of Jesus. Both times, God demonstrated His glory and power and implored the people to draw near to Him. On both occasions, He was sorely let down.
Almost immediately after the Israelites were miraculously and spectacularly delivered from the Egyptians, they grumbled that God should have left them in Egypt rather than let them die of thirst and hunger in the wilderness. Even after Jesus demonstrated His God-given credentials to be the Messiah and offered the Kingdom to the Israelites of His time, the Israelites meekly deferred to their Pharisaic leadership and rejected Jesus' offer by demanding Jesus be crucified for blasphemy and would preferred to have a criminal accused of treason pardoned rather than Jesus. If God was to appear to us today, I suspect that our reactions will not be much better and certainly after a generation or two, we would have raised up new Dawkins and Hitchens to clamour for God to show Himself AGAIN.
God has revealed His Son Jesus to us in this last days. It is true that many people have exploited and misused Christianity for their own political and selfish agenda. It is something that we are ashamed of. This cannot detract us from the saving grace that God has offered to us through Jesus death on the cross and His resurrection. Throughout history, God has been shown to be patient and long-suffering, not wishing anyone of us will perish (see my other post). Let us give ourselves this one opportunity to be open to the message that He has preserved for us in the Bible. Study and explore, and make the decision for yourself.
