Thread by @analyticascent, 1. Ten years ago, I would've called myself a "somewhat militant Dawkins-style [...]

1. Ten years ago, I would& #39;ve called myself a "somewhat militant Dawkins-style atheist"

Today, I think I would call myself a "Born-again agnostic Christian"

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤔" title="Thinking face" aria-label="Emoji: Thinking face">

For those of you at home for Easter (Matthew 28:6), here& #39;s a brief story of how that change of heart happened.

THREAD https://twitter.com/quotetoponder/status/1249132004450410497">https://twitter.com/quotetopo...

https://twitter.com/quotetoponder/status/1249132004450410497

2. I& #39;m going to omit a *lot* of personal details here.

But long story short, I started to learn over time that some of my biggest objections to religion as a whole (and Christianity in particular) weren& #39;t anywhere near as airtight as I thought.

Some examples...

3. "Who created God?"

You can take literally anything we already know exists, and continue to ask questions about it& #39;s origin until you reach an unanswered question.

The fact that infinite regressions can be made by asking where something came from doesn& #39;t negate it& #39;s existence

4. Now that alone doesn& #39;t "prove" anything one way or another, it& #39;s simply an illustration that no belief system or lack thereof will have an answer for everything.

But that *by itself* doesn& #39;t make them less true.

Another objection I used to think held water was this:

5. "What happens to people that never hear about God?"

I doubt most Sunday school lessons even come close to answering this, but it turns out there is indeed an answer:

https://www.str.org/w/god-s-judgment-is-according-to-the-light-available

Christianity">https://www.str.org/w/god-s-j... doesn& #39;t depend on believing certain people are doomed to "hell".

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤔" title="Thinking face" aria-label="Emoji: Thinking face">

6. Then there& #39;s questions of how we know what the original copies of Bible texts actually say.

I used to think this wasn& #39;t possible, because like any unoriginal atheist at the time I had read a Bart Ehrman book and decided that issue was settled.

Turns out I was wrong.

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤨" title="Face with raised eyebrow" aria-label="Emoji: Face with raised eyebrow">

7. What Bart Ehrman got wrong was insisting that countless "variations" in Biblical manuscripts literally refer to differences in meaning.

This isn& #39;t the case at all:

https://bible.org/article/gospel-according-bart

Most">https://bible.org/article/g... of those "variations" are trivial things like spelling differences for instance.

8. If you& #39;re into long video playlists that tackle this subject in detail, this may be one of the best on YouTube, if not THE best of it& #39;s kind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rml5Cif01g4&list=PL1mr9ZTZb3TW70EEo4e2onJ4lq1QYSzrY">https://www.youtube.com/watch...

8. The question of "other books" that were excluded from the Bible as we know it today was also an objection I used to have.

https://www.josh.org/lost-gospels-dont-belong-bible/

https://www.josh.org/lost-gosp... href="

But">https://www.youtube.com/watch... that turns out to be less compelling of an objection than I thought...

9. What about Biblical contradictions?

I still think they exist, but most of the examples people give don& #39;t really qualify as such:

http://www.philvaz.com/apologetics/bible.htm

Once">https://www.philvaz.com/apologeti... again, the theme remains the same. I thought certain objections were compelling, but I can no longer endorse them.

10. What about pre-Christ mythologies that Christianity was supposedly "copied" from?

I used to think those were real knock-down arguments against Christianity because of clips like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3OhQSLMj4Q

Saw">https://www.youtube.com/watch... things like that in 2008, but didn& #39;t know how wrong they were

11. Turns out, the whole idea that Christianity was "copied" from prior religions doesn& #39;t really hold water.

This may be one of the most comprehensive rebuttals of that idea:

http://www.biblicalcatholic.com/apologetics/JesusEvidenceCrucifiedSaviors.htm

Along">https://www.biblicalcatholic.com/apologeti... with this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FR08QtvapM&list=PL1mr9ZTZb3TVOYpPpjYhTUHXycJrY6P2I">https://www.youtube.com/watch...

12. What about the resurrection itself?

I& #39;m not 100% sure on *why* that whole process was necessary theologically-speaking, but a somewhat reasonable historical case can be made that it really did happen:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130129011906/http://sententias.org:80/2012/04/07/historicity-of-the-resurrection/

That">https://web.archive.org/web/20130... blog post basically changed my life.

Outlining the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth

Historicity of the Resurrection and Jesus[1] 1. The Five Facts Jesus’ Death by Crucifixion Disciples’ Beliefs that Jesus Appeared Conversion of the Church Persecutor Paul Conversion of Skeptic Jame...

https://web.archive.org/web/20130129011906/http://sententias.org:80/2012/04/07/historicity-of-the-resurrection/

13. There& #39;s so much more I could add to this thread, but for now I think this is enough to give people the basic idea.

I& #39;m an "Agnostic Christian" because I don& #39;t know what I& #39;m 100% certain about right now.

But I know I can& #39;t use the word "Atheist" to describe myself anymore

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😐" title="Neutral face" aria-label="Emoji: Neutral face">

Latest Threads Unrolled: