August 19, 2019
Dear Eric,
You'd never believe how much time I spend these days reading the Bible and books about Biblical history. Oh, I'm still a non-believer. But I know you'd be surprised to see the enormous, leather-bound tome of a Bible laid out on my desk, standing ready for each morning's deep penetrating 4:00 AM read. The Bible surprises my daughter's friends as well when they come over to visit, as some of them follow me on social media and ask Emily "Isn't your father an atheist?" She tells me she answers them with "yes, but he wants to understand the things he does not believe are true. So, he studies the Bible." I like her answer... And that's the point I want to tell you about this morning - the bit about "the things he does not believe are true." You see, something's changed...
For most of my adult life I have not held a firm position that the ideas and stories in the Bible are not true. My position has instead been one of "I don't know." Technically, I've been what is called an agnostic-atheist, which is someone who claims neither knowledge nor belief in the existence of God. Agnostic-atheism is an easy position to defend, as saying "I don't know if God is real" doesn't require any evidence or support. But, after finishing the writing of my new book Freeway Bible Study, I now find that saying "I don't know if God is real" is no longer what I really think. I've changed my mind. I now believe that the God of the Bible is indeed NOT true and does indeed NOT exist. I've become what is termed an anti-theist.
As an anti-theist, I find myself in a position to make a positive claim that the god of the Abrahamic tradition does not - in fact - exist. This is quite a challenge for me, as I'm now saddled with the weighty burden of proof, in the same way my theist friends must demonstrate that their positive claims of God's existence are true. I too, am now running around making claims! And I have to back up my claims. So, I've put together some evidence in support of my claims.
I've prepared four lines of evidence which I will summarize below and expand upon in subsequent letters.
Evidences Against the Existence of the God of the Hebrew Bible
The lack of evidence in support of the existence of God
The problem of evil
The inefficacy of prayer
The Holey Bible
Kurt
My name is Kurt Bell.
You can learn more about The Good Life in my book Going Alone.
Be safe... But not too safe.