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DO WE HAVE ENOUGH DEFINING TERMS “(The term) seems (perhaps independently) to have been introduced by T. H. Huxley at a party in London to found the Metaphysical Society, which flourished for over a decade and to which belonged notable thinkers and leaders of opinion. Huxley thought that as many of these people liked to describe themselves as adherents of various ‘isms’ he would invent one for himself. He took it from a description in Acts 17:23 of an altar inscribed ‘to an unknown God’. Huxley thought that we would never be able to know about the ultimate origin and causes of the universe.” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/#3) REASONS FOR DISBELIEF THE INCONSISTENCY OF RELIGIOUS PEOPLE THE ABSENCE OF EVIDENCE REASONS FOR DISBELIEF There is not a person in the world that behaves as badly as praying mantises. But wait, you say, there is no right or wrong in nature; right and wrong is a human concept! Precisely! We are moral creatures in an amoral world.... (Anne Dillard) REASONS FOR DISBELIEF In the absence of God....each...ethical and legal system...will be differentiated by the answer it chooses to give to one key question: who among us ought to be able to declare “law” that ought to be obeyed?...Either God exist or He does not, but if He does not, nothing and no one else can take His place (Arthur Leff, Unspeakable Ethics, Unnatural Law) REASONS FOR DISBELIEF As things are now, everything is up for grabs. Nevertheless: napalming babies is bad. Starving the poor is wicked. Buying and selling each other is depraved...There is such a thing as evil. Al together now: Sez Who? God help us. (Arthur Leff, Unspeakable Ethics, Unnatural Law) REASONS FOR DISBELIEF THE INCONSISTENCY OF RELIGIOUS PEOPLE THE ABSENCE OF EVIDENCE LACK OF REVELATION REASONS FOR DISBELIEF ‘I have been reading poems, romances, vision literature, legends, and myths all my life. I know what they are like. I know none of them are like this. Of this (gospel) text there are only two possible views. Either this is reportage...or else, some unknown writer...without known predecessors or successors, suddenly anticipated the whole technique of modern novelistic, realistic narrative…” (C.S. LewisChristian Reflections, p.155) THE GOSPEL IS PROPOSITIONAL THE BIBLE IS NOT WRITTEN IN A MANNER THAT ENCOURAGES INDECISIVENESS THESE THINGS ARE EITHER TRUE OF FALSE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THEM DRIVES US TO MAKE A DECISION WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THE GOSPEL WILL YOU SNEER? WILL YOU HEAR AGAIN CONCERNING THIS? WILL YOU BELIEVE?