This time, the writer of GodisImaginary.com wants us to look at other gods in history. He starts with the Egyptian gods. While pyramids were built for them, today we know they did not exist. We no longer build pyramids. We no longer mummify leaders. While those last two statements are true and do show a connection to the lack of belief in Egyptian gods, this in no way shows that the Egyptian gods do not exist. What argument has been given?
What about the Roman gods? No one worships Zeus anymore, so we know that those are imaginary. (Although I question that no one worships Zeus.) The same applies to the Aztec gods. We know that the gods the Aztecs worshipped were imaginary.
The question with all of this is, “How is this known”? Has the writer demonstrated that these gods do not exist? Not at all. Now a reader might be saying, “Well Nick. You don’t think they exist, do you?” Certainly not! However, my reasons for thinking they don’t exist are different from those of the writer. He says they don’t exist because there are no gods. I say they don’t exist because there is only one true God. Of course, I am open to these gods “existing” in the form of demons, but those would be finite beings and not God.
Next, the writer gives us the pagan copycat theory. To begin with, I highly recommend my ministry partner, J.P. Holding’s, look at each of these that can be found here: http://www.tektonics.org/copycathub.html. The writer, in this case, is relying on outdated scholarship made popular by the internet, where one does not have to have any knowledge to flaunt his opinions and be treated as an authority.
Note that in his claims of other gods being born on December 25th, he never once gives a source. He speaks of the death and resurrection of Mithras, which is interesting since I don’t know of any account of the death of Mithras. These claims would be good to respond to if only we had sources. I refer the readers to the link above.
Finally, in answering an objection, the writer makes a simple mistake saying that people used to believe the earth was flat and that this was widespread. No evidence is given, and in fact, the evidence is contrary. The institutes of learning said it was a sphere. Quotations from the church fathers speak of the earth being a sphere. Aristotle said it was a sphere in De Caelo. Aquinas said it was a sphere in the first question of the Summa Theologica.
But then again, lack of hard research has never stood in the way of atheistic argumentation.
