Friday, June 18, 2010

Have I embraced atheism again?


In an email exchange with my elder brother (my only sibling), he asked me if I had embraced atheism again.  And it all had to do with a question I asked him in an earlier email: "What is your basis for taking the 66 books of the Bible to be the Word of God?"

He did not answer my question and when I asked him a second time, he shot that question at me.  Have I again embraced atheism?  The question is really peculiar in that it treats atheism as if it were a religion.  You can't embrace atheism any more than you can embrace afairyism (the absence of a belief in fairies) or aleprechaunism (the lack of belief in leprechauns).  We are all afairyists, aleprechaunists and aSantaClausists but it would sound weird if someone talks of embracing afairyism or aSantaClausism.

My question remains unanswered: "What is your basis for taking the 66 books of the Bible to be the Word of God?"  Perhaps my brother knew I was well-versed in the canon of Scriptures and the history of the canon and he knew better than to give me grossly incorrect answers a la Josh McDowell which a child of ten can easily debunk.

This is a question most believers would rather leave unanswered.  It's really a can of worms waiting to be opened.

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