"Boga Nyet!" "No God!"]: Soviet-era propaganda poster of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, supposedly telling the world that he saw no evidence of God in space.
Roughly 40% of Jews world-wide are agnostic or atheist, and this is especially true among Russian emigres. Here in Philadelphia, with a Russian-speaking population of about 90,000, at least 60% of Russian speakers are Jews. The Soviet internal passports of the past, designated Jews as either ethnically Jewish or religiously Jewish. In other words, the Soviet state made a distinction between agnostics/atheists who came from Jewish backgrounds, and those who practiced the faith of Judaism. Most of them were (and are) the former.
Years ago, Communist Russia taught something called "Scientific Atheism". It was based on the presumption that atheism was the foundation for empirical science and that religious faith was simply a superstition. If you wanted to get anywhere in Russian Academia or be "upwardly mobile" in the Party or the Institute or the factories, you kept your religion to yourself, (or didn't have one to begin with). Many of these US emigres are still atheist/agnostic because they've never had a dialog with a Christian who knew what he/she was talking about.
There are MANY fine books written on how to share your faith with "A&A" people. But in case you don't have time for a book, here are some basic rebuttals condensed into a few talking points.
FIRST ... read this helpful, handy-dandy link! https://chaim.org/atheism
NEXT ... review these talking points:
1) Reasoning with Agnostics: If they object to taking a blind "leap of faith" (as they think you've done!), then tell them they've already taken that leap by concluding that no conclusion can be reached about God. The point you should make with them? Their view itself already is a religious faith commitment.
2) They assume agnosticism is open minded. Challenge that assumption on your understanding of Romans 1:18-23. In other words, ask them: "Wouldn't you be more inclined to be biased against faith in an all-powerful Judge of deeds and thoughts who brings mankind to a Day of Judgment? Ask: "How can you be sure that you wouldn't be prejudiced (and not open-minded) against such a conclusion, and therefore avoid it for closed-minded personal reasons?"
3) Show them John 3:19 and following verses. Even if they discount your use of the Bible, certain verses contain "cut-to-the-heart" timeless truths that even the unchurched can see. For example: "Light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
4) Ask them if they are open-minded or narrow-minded. (No one likes to think of himself as "closed-minded"!) Agnostics/atheists believe they've arrived at their views because they're open-minded. They aren't, but what you're doing here is getting a commitment from them to keep an open mind. Ask: "Are you willing to change your mind if I could show you that belief in the biblical God is not only possible logically, but is in fact essential for a civilized society? (In other words, "Are you willing to change your mind if it can be shown that atheism/agnosticism doesn't make logical sense?)
To counter "Scientific Atheism", here's a short list of the founders of various fields of physical science. What these all have in common is a shared faith in the existence of the biblical God, and NOT in an agnostic/atheistic universe of random-chance. And their discoveries were based on that biblical view:
. antiseptic surgery: Joseph Lister
. bacteriology: Louis Pasteur
. calculus: Isaac Newton
. celestial mechanics: Johannes Kepler
. chemistry: Robert Boyle
. comparative anatomy: Georges Culver
. computer science: Charles Babbage
. dimensional analysis: Lord Rayleigh
. dynamics: Isaac Newton
. electronics: John Ambrose Fleming
. electrodynamics: James Clerk Maxwell
. electromagnetics: Michael Faraday
. energetics: Lord Kelvin
. entomology of living insects: Henri Fabre
. field theory: Michael Faraday
. galactic astronomy: Sir William Herschel
. gas dynamics: Robert Boyle
. genetics: Gregor Mendel
. gynecology: Louis Agassiz
. hydrography: James Simpson
. hydrostatics: Blaise Pascal
. ichthyology: Louis Agassiz
. isotopic chemistry: William Ramsey
. model analysis: Lord Rayleigh
. natural history: John Ray
. non-Euclidean geometry: Bernard Riemann
. oceanography: Matthew Maury
. optical mineralogy: David Brewster *
[ The Biblical Basis For Modern Science by Henry Morris, p. 463-465, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 1984 as quoted in Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus: Vol. 2, by Michael L. Brown, p. 243, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 2000.]
Continue reading other blogs? Click http://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs
Roughly 40% of Jews world-wide are agnostic or atheist, and this is especially true among Russian emigres. Here in Philadelphia, with a Russian-speaking population of about 90,000, at least 60% of Russian speakers are Jews. The Soviet internal passports of the past, designated Jews as either ethnically Jewish or religiously Jewish. In other words, the Soviet state made a distinction between agnostics/atheists who came from Jewish backgrounds, and those who practiced the faith of Judaism. Most of them were (and are) the former.
Years ago, Communist Russia taught something called "Scientific Atheism". It was based on the presumption that atheism was the foundation for empirical science and that religious faith was simply a superstition. If you wanted to get anywhere in Russian Academia or be "upwardly mobile" in the Party or the Institute or the factories, you kept your religion to yourself, (or didn't have one to begin with). Many of these US emigres are still atheist/agnostic because they've never had a dialog with a Christian who knew what he/she was talking about.
There are MANY fine books written on how to share your faith with "A&A" people. But in case you don't have time for a book, here are some basic rebuttals condensed into a few talking points.
FIRST ... read this helpful, handy-dandy link! https://chaim.org/atheism
NEXT ... review these talking points:
1) Reasoning with Agnostics: If they object to taking a blind "leap of faith" (as they think you've done!), then tell them they've already taken that leap by concluding that no conclusion can be reached about God. The point you should make with them? Their view itself already is a religious faith commitment.
2) They assume agnosticism is open minded. Challenge that assumption on your understanding of Romans 1:18-23. In other words, ask them: "Wouldn't you be more inclined to be biased against faith in an all-powerful Judge of deeds and thoughts who brings mankind to a Day of Judgment? Ask: "How can you be sure that you wouldn't be prejudiced (and not open-minded) against such a conclusion, and therefore avoid it for closed-minded personal reasons?"
3) Show them John 3:19 and following verses. Even if they discount your use of the Bible, certain verses contain "cut-to-the-heart" timeless truths that even the unchurched can see. For example: "Light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
4) Ask them if they are open-minded or narrow-minded. (No one likes to think of himself as "closed-minded"!) Agnostics/atheists believe they've arrived at their views because they're open-minded. They aren't, but what you're doing here is getting a commitment from them to keep an open mind. Ask: "Are you willing to change your mind if I could show you that belief in the biblical God is not only possible logically, but is in fact essential for a civilized society? (In other words, "Are you willing to change your mind if it can be shown that atheism/agnosticism doesn't make logical sense?)
To counter "Scientific Atheism", here's a short list of the founders of various fields of physical science. What these all have in common is a shared faith in the existence of the biblical God, and NOT in an agnostic/atheistic universe of random-chance. And their discoveries were based on that biblical view:
. antiseptic surgery: Joseph Lister
. bacteriology: Louis Pasteur
. calculus: Isaac Newton
. celestial mechanics: Johannes Kepler
. chemistry: Robert Boyle
. comparative anatomy: Georges Culver
. computer science: Charles Babbage
. dimensional analysis: Lord Rayleigh
. dynamics: Isaac Newton
. electronics: John Ambrose Fleming
. electrodynamics: James Clerk Maxwell
. electromagnetics: Michael Faraday
. energetics: Lord Kelvin
. entomology of living insects: Henri Fabre
. field theory: Michael Faraday
. galactic astronomy: Sir William Herschel
. gas dynamics: Robert Boyle
. genetics: Gregor Mendel
. gynecology: Louis Agassiz
. hydrography: James Simpson
. hydrostatics: Blaise Pascal
. ichthyology: Louis Agassiz
. isotopic chemistry: William Ramsey
. model analysis: Lord Rayleigh
. natural history: John Ray
. non-Euclidean geometry: Bernard Riemann
. oceanography: Matthew Maury
. optical mineralogy: David Brewster *
[ The Biblical Basis For Modern Science by Henry Morris, p. 463-465, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 1984 as quoted in Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus: Vol. 2, by Michael L. Brown, p. 243, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 2000.]
Continue reading other blogs? Click http://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs
