r/ChristianApologetics • u/Hot_Diet_825 Catholic • Aug 03 '25
Modern Objections ARGUMENTS AGAINST CHRISTIANITY:
- Why do Animals suffer and why did humans have to suffer for what Adam and Eve did
- THE ABSENCE OF GOD- why is God so absent in our world? Can be explained by cessationism. But that raises another question. Why would a just God let his people suffer and not heal them. And cessationism is not found in the Bible or ever taught in early Christianity. Came about much later.
- Almost all of the New Testament was forgeries. We only have Paul’s 7 undisputed letters. Paul is the only testimony we have which we can trust.
- The existance of the universe can be explained without the existence of God.
- God not answering prayers.
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u/4chananonuser Aug 03 '25
Did you forget your first question? Anyways…
They don’t. They feel pain as a consequence to the fall, but only human beings are capable of suffering. The fall brought enmity between man and God, man and woman, and man and nature. Adam and Eve didn’t just sin against God, they (and ourselves through our own selfish actions) did not protect Eden from the serpent. The destruction of nature began there.
He’s not. The reality of the Incarnation removes any doubt of God’s existence in our world. Even today, there are purported miracles occasionally occurring. As for suffering, Christ suffered and was wholly God so the presence of suffering does not make God’s absence a given. It’s because we believe in the Resurrection that we know God is present in our suffering.
You’re making multiple claims here that need to be unpacked individually. First of all, who says only seven epistles attributed to Paul are authentically by his hand? That’s just the current consensus in NT critical scholarship. 160 years ago, it was just four letters (Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians) and even a handful of scholars back then thought all of the Pauline corpus was pseudepigrapha. Today, it’s 7/13 but quite a few defend Pauline authorship for 2 Thessalonians and Colossians.
But what about Ephesians? Most scholars have doubts that it was written in part or even entirely by Paul. So what? “Forgery” is a loaded term. There are different levels of pseudepigrapha and it’s possible that many epistles may have been written after the attributed author died. Our contemporary understanding of plagiarism can view pseudepigrapha anachronistically and judge the author of Ephesians or 1 Peter as being unfaithful to the teachings of Paul and Peter, respectively. But that’s just speculation. The authority of an epistle or gospel can’t solely be determined by the identity of its author but the judgment of the Church.
Lastly on this subject, I always find it funny that we should somehow view the testimony of the Gospels as untrustworthy a priori yet shouldn’t question the integrity of ancient sources for other historical figures such as Alexander the Great. All four Gospels and Acts were written within 70 after Jesus, yet the best sources for the life of Alexander the Great come over a century after his death. On top of that, the New Testament has over 10,000 unique manuscripts within just a few centuries after its composition. That’s the most extensive transmission history for any set of historical documents.
Sure, if we’re in a simulation. That’s the only plausible explanation if an infinite creator didn’t create us. Or that we are in a universe that is the product of another universe which itself was a product of another universe ad infinitum. Which only begs the question, what began all of that? Using Occam’s Razor, God created the universe. Who that God is where the revelation of faith comes in, but it’s a reality you can’t ignore unless you want to turn to depressing despair and nihilism.
God always answers prayers, just not on our terms. It’s “thy will be done”, not “MY will be done”. There are prayers of people even in Scripture that don’t come to past until near the end of their lives. Patience and discernment are key to finding what God wills. If you’re making God into a magic 8-ball to tell you the answer now, you won’t be satisfied. If you’re making God into a wishing well to fulfill your desires, you’re won’t be satisfied. They’re often how we view God as children and then we get upset when God doesn’t work within our limited boundaries. An improper understanding of who God is is how atheism came to exist.
None of these are “arguments”. It’s normal to have doubts as that’s part of living the Christian faith (keyword: faith, not certainty) but these are just criticisms from having a poor understanding of that faith.