Letter to a Pastor

[Arellius]

A few weeks ago I visited Tampa and went to a Church my missionary friend is working for. Yes, she is a missionary, I make no exceptions between beliefs on who does or does not to get my friend. Despite the fact arguments are inevitable, she is a good friend.

Her church has a theme this month, its called ''Prove It'' and this got me excited. I was hoping for the pastor I had met to come up with some good arguments, alas. My expectations were a little too high and was severely offended when he stated; ''When you are an Atheist, you live is meaningless.''
This is a cool guy I met, of course he teaches things I don't agree with, live and let live. But on the matter of Science and Atheism ?! Wow, that was crossing the line for me.

So I wrote him a letter, I really did feel offended. Which is funny because I don't get offended that often.
The names have been changed for the privacy of the people. I just wanted to share this letter because I am quite proud of it.

Letter:

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Dear Pastor Terrance,

My name is Mark, you may remember me from a few weeks ago when I was visiting Tampa to see Naomi. We met at Crossover and had a brief interaction a couple of times.
You handed me one of your magazines and I replied; ''I'll have a gander.''

I was intrigued by this months series at Crossover, ''Prove It.'' Having visited the Crossover Church I was curious to this bold statement, of course. And couldn't wait to see the live stream, actually hoping there would be something I agree on, I opened the live-stream link with little to no expectations. When I was at Crossover the vibes were positive, the people were friendly (which church isn't openly friendly?) and received a pleasant greeting from anyone I met. Naturally, when you enter a church for the first time. However what really makes Crossover different from other Churches is the involvement with Hip Hop, [most] churches condemn it, you embrace it. That is admirable.

However, back on the ''Prove It'' subject;

I was offended, not only as an Atheist but as a human being. I boldly state that my life is not meaningless, far from it. Making a generalization is a very un-Christian thing to do I would think, and I guess it defeats the purpose of the lesson; Matthew 7:1. I could go into endless details and stories of how purposeful my life is, without a religious belief system, but just to name a few; Aristotle, Galileo, Lawrence Krauss, Michio Kaku, Bertrand Russel, Christopher Hitchens let alone Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein who's had a major contribution to mankind, which of whom you failed to mention, whom you almost must mention when you are talking about the origins of the Universe.

How meaningless were/are their lives, how meaningless were their contributions to mankind ?

During the sermon (or lecture, if you will) you stated the following;

''Most churches don't give you the tools and answers for when your faith gets questioned.''
Answers to questions does not equal evidence for the existence of God, in this case the Christian God of the Bible.

''Uncle Drew'' (there was a video showing an old man playing basketball, he was actually a young man in make up. The point was, we think of God as just and old man in the sky, and misread him, the point of the video; Things are not always as they seem.)
The series is called ''Prove It'', this video does not prove the existence of God, is just teaches; ''Things are not what they seem.'' That can also count as a leaf rattling on your window due to the heavy wind, and not God trying to get through. If he were then omnipotent, couldn't he just go through the window? Just to give an example of rationality.

''Atheists said the Universe is 13 billion years old, I don't really know. How do they even measure that ?''
No, indeed you don't know. The Universe is 13.8 billion years old. Type in the following in the Google search bar; ''How old is the universe.''
It wasn't Atheists who calculated the age of the universe. It was scientists and physicists who did. Not all are Atheist, most agnostic too, but do not hold the Christian belief.
If you want to know how they calculated it ? Then it is just a simple matter of doing some minor research instead of mis-informing a whole group of people on your personal interpretation on the science.

''If Atheism is true..?''
Atheists have stated this again and again; Atheism is not a belief system, it is the absence of belief.
What you mean to say; If the science is true ? More people than just Atheists believe in the science.

''Evolution is a theory.''
No it isn't, actually. It is a fact. How dare I make this claim ? It is a scientific fact based on tangible evidence.
The difference between the Bible and Darwin's book The Origins of Species ? Allot of people would have to take the Holy Books word for it, no tangible evidence or any kind of evidence at all. The Origin of Species has tangible evidence. Have you read the Origin of Species, have you done any research other than seen the occasional documentary on NatGeo or the Discovery Channel ?   

''God makes sense, so it all has to make sense.''
Not a single word on science you spoke about is in the Bible, you will find rape, murder and slavery sooner than you will find any science in the Bible.
It comes down to the Who created the creator argument, for which there is also no answer. I'd refer Bertrand Russel’s argument on the flying teapot.

''People saw Jesus after his death, of course you would want to go and tell people.''
Is the word-of-mouth argument really a valid argument for the existence of God ? It is based on faith, and the evidence based on faith is weak. If we believed everything by word of mouth the world would be in tyranny and science would not have brought us this far; referring to the phone in your pocket or the computer on which you are reading this email from. Is it a Mac? Is your phone an Apple? Steve Jobs, it is said, was a Buddhist. Are you going to throw away your phone? Or accept that Steve Jobs' life was not meaningless, since Buddhism is a) More of a philosophy rather than a religion, and b) If it is defined as a religion, it is a non-theistic belief. Buddha was not God or a God, but a man.

''Prove to me I am hungry.''
This is probably the most irrational argument. Do we have to believe in hunger for it to be there ? If you don't eat you will get hungry whether you like it or not. That is realistic.
You don't have to believe in gravity, you can dismiss the idea that there is such a thing. You can't see it, we don't know what it's made of yet (what particles and so on) but if you fall down, you will feel that it is there, the fall can be explained by physics, without the notion of God.

Reading passages from the Bible does not prove the existence of God. A fact is first a hypothesis, compiled into theories until proven a fact. The resurrection of Jesus is not a fact, merely a hypothesis, from a book, written 300 years after his death. No way to prove it a fact, which I thought I was going to see or hear in the lecture. I was looking forward to a good argument since you are spoken so highly of, alas. 

Conclusion;

Not only am I defending my views, but like it says in the title I am offended, mainly by two things:

1. Once again my life is not meaningless, what authority do you have do state such a claim ? Please don't rebuttal by stating ''Authority from God'' because it plays no role in my life. And does not make your statement valid. Its not only offensive to me but to allot of other people, with great purpose.

2. The mis-informed audience, they are going home thinking about all the ideas and statements which will confuse them so much. You could state with certainty tales and passages from the Bible however when it came to science or the origins of the Universe you knew very little, and couldn't state a single fact or statement with certainty.

I don't doubt that you are aware of debaters, philosophers and scientists such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Lawrence Krauss and Michael Shermer, just to name a few. Would this lecture really make a strong case in a debate against any of them. I think not. Let alone Christopher Hitchens.
On the matter of science I dare say you are very much mis-informed and I feel sorry for the people in the audience.

Do not take this the wrong way, this is merely a challenge and a letter of criticism. I had to defend my right for believing what I believe and for what I stand for; freedom of thought and a joyous and purposeful life without a deity, or any religion for that matter. If anyone were to ask ''what kind of a person Pastor Tommy is?'' I would say a kind hard working man, as far as I could tell when meeting you, in person. I did not get the feeling you were a fundamentalist, you are not the absurd preaching-about-armageddon type believer nor are you a everything-is-from-the-devil type believer, I did not feel a bad vibe when meeting you. I am just severely disappointed and offended by the first lecture on the series of ''Prove It.''

Sincerely,
Mark Arellius 

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Forum Readers
If I have got anything wrong, please feel free to correct me ! :)

[Solitary]

Every living things purpose in life is to grow, survive, and perpetuate its species. How does religion give one a purpose by believing in a God that has to be placated or you go to a hell He sends you to if you don't? Is that what our purpose is, to placate God or go to hell? I think not. Solitary

[AllPurposeAtheist]

You could have written a readers digest version.. The title: This is Terrance's god. Send a blank page..

[Nam]

Can anyone give me the Cliffnotes on that?

-Nam