Atheist Apologetics

OK, so I was toddling around teh intartubes again, annoying people, and I start to notice that a lot of the atheist hecklers are still using some of the same old arguments. And there's one that they seriously need to back away from. "Why are you still eating shellfish, dude? Isn't that an abomination?"

Well, you know, it's in there, but the Christians can ignore it. The kosher dietary laws have been canned (so to speak).

There's a couple of reasons for this. Leviticus 11, where they list the clean and unclean food, begins “Tell the Israelites” – not “tell the people.” Admittedly, this one’s always seemed like picking nits to me, but the Israelites are His chosen people – not that it’s done them much good over the centuries, but still...

Apparently, God decided that His Chosen Folks had more rules to follow than everybody else. I guess it's tough being the son of Abraham or something.

But that brings us to Matthew 15:11, where Jesus came out and said it.

What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.

Which is actually kind of cool, if you think about it. So they ran with it. But let's dig a little deeper.

Now, add to that Acts 10:9-22, where apparently Peter got hungry and started hallucinating. It includes the line “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

Traditionally, this has been taken to mean that if you say “grace,” your food just became kosher (or whatever the Jesus-equivalent would be). They have to look at it that way, because otherwise, it raises the question "why didn't God just make them pure in the first place?"

But the answer to that is "Because then a big chunk of Leviticus is a lie, and people might call the rest of it into question." Simple.

But that also brings us to Romans 14:14, which is where it gets a little interesting. (Or, at least, I think it's interesting. But then, I'm a big ol' geek.)

I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.

See, your average fundie doesn’t like to bring this quote up, because, because they like to say that atheists have "situational ethics" or no basis for their morality. But apparently, if you don't believe it's a sin, then... Ta - DAAAA!!! It isn't a sin!

Hey, Paul said so. Don't argue with me - take it up with him.