Following is a list of questions for atheists.  If anyone wishes to debate me, Matt Slick, about atheism and/or the validity of Christianity, then you must answer all of the following questions. Otherwise, I will not debate you.  But, answering all the questions does not commit me to a debate. If anyone writes a “refutation” of any of my articles on atheism, would you be so kind as to answer the following questions?  This is because if I respond to your attempt at refutation, I will understand what perspective you have within your atheism, so I can better respond.

Definition of God

I, Matt Slick, affirm the following definition of God.

There is only one God (Isa. 43:10; 44:6, 8; 45:5), the Christian God, who is the one and only (1 Tim. 1:17; Isa 40:18), necessary (Exo. 3:14-15), Trinitarian Being (Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14), eternally consisting (Psalm 90:2) of three simultaneous and distinct persons (Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14), the Father (Phil. 1:2), the Son (John 1:1,14; Col. 2:9), and the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4). The Trinity is spiritual in nature (John 4:24; Luke 24:39), is non-contingent (Isa. 44:24; Acts 17:25; 1 Tim. 6:16), unchanging (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 9:22), transcendent (Exo. 3:14; Isa. 44:24), and sovereign (Isaiah 46:10). He is the ultimate source (Rom. 4:17) of all truths (Psalm 31:5; Eph. 1:11), all actualities (Gen. 1:1; Isa. 44:24), and all potentialities (Luke 10:13; John 15:22). He created the universe (Gen. 1:1; Isa. 42:5). He does whatever He pleases (Psalm 115:3; Dan. 4:35) and ordains all that occurs (Eph. 1:11). He possesses infinite knowledge (1 John 3:20), wisdom (Psalm 147:5), presence (Psalm 139:7–12), and power (Genesis 18:14) that manifest out of His good and holy nature (1 Pet. 1:16). That which is good is revealed by God’s nature (Mark 10:18) which is consistent with His holiness (1 Sam. 2:2; 1 Pet. 1:16). He has revealed Himself in creation (Rom. 1:20), Scripture (Exo. 20:1–5; John 5:39), and Jesus (John 1:1,14; Heb. 1:3). There is no condition in which the Christian God might exist or could not exist (Ex. 3:14; Psalm 90:2), since that would not be the God of the Bible.

Quoting the Questions for Atheists

If you want to reproduce the questions, with answers, in this article and place them on your website, you have my permission under either of the following conditions. This is because search engines will penalize both articles in organic searches (yours and mine) if the same information occurs on both sites without the proper documentation. Here is how to avoid this problem.  If you don’t agree to either one of the following, then you do not have permission to reproduce the entire article.  You can, of course, quote segments of it with the blockquote tag.

1. Provide the HTML tag <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”> in your article’s header, or
2. Use the <blockquote>”your quote goes here”<cite> “your citation goes here”</cite><blockqutoe> tag for each question you quote.

If you answer the questions, please send them [email protected] with a statement declaring that I may or may not reproduce your answers and publish them on CARM. Thank you.

Thanks
Matt Slick

 

ATHEISM

1. How do you define your atheism?
2. Do you affirm or deny strong atheism?
   1. A strong atheist believes there is no God in existence.
3. Do you affirm or deny agnosticism regarding God’s existence?
   1. By agnosticism is meant that you do not know whether or not God/ a god exists?
4. Why do you believe your atheism is a justifiable position to hold?
5. Do you have proof of the non-existence of the Christian Trinitarian God?
6. If you have proof of the non-existence of Christian Trinitarian God, can you please explain it?
7. If it could be shown that your atheism refutes itself, would you abandon it?

MORALITY

8. Is the following statement true or false?  It is always wrong for anyone to torture babies to death merely for one’s own personal pleasure.
9. Is the preceding statement neither true nor false?
10. Do you affirm or deny that evil exists?
    1. By evil is meant the interaction between people where they murder, rape, lie, steal, etc.
11. Are morals the construction of individual decisions?
12. Are morals the construction of societal norms?
13. On what basis do you ground your morality?
    1. By “basis” is meant society, your upbringing, personal opinions, etc.
14. Do you affirm or deny that there are absolute morals?
    1. By “absolute morals” is meant moral truths that are always true, such as, “It is always wrong to murder.”
15. Do you affirm or deny that good and evil exist?
16. Do you affirm or deny that good and evil are abstractions that require personhood as their foundation?
17. Do you affirm or deny that ethical values are hierarchical?
    1. An example of hierarchical values would be the affirmation that stealing a paperclip from work is not as bad as murdering people.
18. Do you affirm or deny that there can only be one ultimate moral authority?
19. Do you affirm or deny that reducing harm is the ultimate moral authority?
20. If you deny that reducing harm is the ultimate moral authority, then what is your ultimate moral authority?
21. Do you affirm or deny that there such things as morals that all people are obligated to observe?

NATURE

22. What is your philosophical worldview?
    1. By philosophical worldview is meant are you an empiricist, a rationalist, evidentialist, etc.
23. Do you affirm or deny physicalism, the physical world and its properties is all there is?
24. Do you affirm or deny naturalism, that the physical world is all there is, and it is governed only by natural laws?

SCIENCE

25. Do you affirm or deny that the scientific method basically consists of observation, hypothesis, experimentation to validate or invalidate the hypothesis, adjustment of hypothesis, adjustment of experimentation, theory?
26. If you deny the previous question, can you please define the scientific method?
27. Do you affirm or deny that science is the best way to obtain knowledge about the physical world?
28. Do you affirm or deny that science is the best way to obtain knowledge about love, mercy, kindness, etc.
29. Must God be provable using the scientific method?
30. Do you affirm or deny that science can falsify God’s existence?
31. Do you affirm or deny that God is a possible explanation of phenomena?
32. If you deny that God is a possible explanation of phenomena, on what basis do you deny Him?

LOGIC

33. Do you affirm or deny that the Laws of Logic are the basis of rational thought?
    1. By laws of logic are meant the classical laws such as the Law of Identity, the Law of Non-contradiction, the Law of excluded Middle, the Law of Proper Inference, etc.
34. Do you affirm or deny that the Laws of Logic are abstractions?
35. Do you affirm or deny that the Laws of Logic are properties of the physical universe?
36. Do you affirm or deny that the Laws of Logic are descriptions of physical phenomena?
37. Do you affirm or deny that the Laws of Logic are inventions of people?
38. Do you affirm or deny that the Laws of Logic were discovered?
39. Do you affirm or deny that “Every philosophy must use its own standards in proving its conclusion; otherwise, it is simply inconsistent.”¹John Frame, Apologetics: A Justification of Christian Belief, p. 11

HUMANITY

40. Do you affirm or deny that the human mind is a product of the physical brain?
41. Do you affirm or deny that upon physical death, a person ceases to exist?
42. Do you affirm or deny that human free will exists?
43. Do you affirm or deny that all human choices are determined by physical necessity?
44. If you affirm human free will, please define it.
45. Do you affirm or deny that the human person (society as a whole) is the standard of truth, rationality, and morality?

EVOLUTION

46. Do you affirm or deny that life began solely because of the natural processes of the physical realm?
47. Do you affirm or deny that the present state of physical human existence is due to evolution?

CHRISTIANITY

48. What is your reason for rejecting Christianity?
49. If you were at one time a believer in the Christian God, what caused you to deny his existence?
50. Do you believe the world would be better off without Christianity?
51. Is the behavior of the God of the Old Testament morally wrong?
52. What would be sufficient evidence for you to believe in God’s existence?
53. Regarding possible debates with Matt Slick.  Do you acknowledge that you have read the following definition of the Christian God, which Matt Slick affirms?
    1. There is only one God, the Christian God, who is the one and only, necessary, Trinitarian Being, eternally consisting of three simultaneous and distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is spiritual in nature, is non-contingent, unchanging, transcendent, and sovereign. The Trinitarian God is the ultimate source of all truths, all actualities, and all potentialities. He created the universe. He does whatever He pleases and ordains all that occurs. He possesses infinite knowledge, wisdom, presence, and power that manifest out of His good and holy nature. That which is good is revealed by God’s nature which is consistent with His holiness. He has revealed Himself in creation, Scripture, and Jesus. There is no condition in which the Christian God might exist or could not exist since that would not be the God of the Bible.
54. Regarding possible debates with Matt Slick.  Do you acknowledge that you have read the following statement, “Whatever positive quality God possesses, it is automatically a negation of the contrary”?
55. Regarding the immediately previous about the positive quality of God, do you affirm or deny the truth of the statement?
56. Can you disprove the Christian God’s existence?
57. If you can disprove the Christian God’s existence, can you provide that proof here and now?
58. Is reason sufficient to examine the truth claims of Christianity?
59. By “ultimate authority” is meant the thing of which no great thing exists (being ultimate) and from which you provide the pre-conditions for truth. If reason sufficient to examine the truth claims of Christianity, then is reason your ultimate authority?

PHILOSOPHY

60. Do you affirm or deny the existence of abstract objects?
61. Do you affirm that all effects are due to prior effects?
62. Do you affirm that all effects are ultimately due to a single prior cause?
63. What is your ultimate source of all things?
    1. By “ultimate source,” is meant the thing that began all other things.
64. What is truth?
65. Do you affirm or deny that there are absolute truths?
66. Do you affirm or deny the following?  “Knowledge is justified true belief (sometimes called tripartite analysis, or JTB), which suggests that there are three criteria which must be met in every case of knowledge and that every time these three criteria are met, one has a genuine case of knowledge.”²https://www.mytutor.co.uk/answers/27168/A-Level/Philosophy/What-is-the-tripartite-analysis-of-knowledge-Is-it-succesful/
67. Do you have an ultimate authority of truth?
    1. By “ultimate authority” is meant the thing of which no great thing exists (being ultimate) and from which you provide the pre-conditions for truth.
    2. By “pre-conditions for truth” is meant that thing or things that must exist for truth to exist.