I’ve mentioned how one of the sad things to see in response to the tragic death of Pastor Robert Guanco at the Big Church Festival and the six other injuries was the way that some took to mocking Christianity. The gist of the mockery was first that our God was proved impotent, he was unable to save some of his worshippers. The second accusation was that we should be delighted, are we not happy that this person has been able to meet their God and enter into eternal bliss with him early?
It is worth making three observations in response to this because, whether or not we like the timing and tone of these objections, they boil down to the very kind of objections generally raised by atheists against Christians.
The first observation is this, that they are being entirely consistent. Whilst people might seek to appeal for a bit of compassion and human dignity in the face of suffering and death, those appeals rely on Christian presuppositions. If you believe that someone is made in the image of God and if you believe that love, compassion and kindness are objective values then of course you will believe that moments of tragedy, especially death are not opportunities to gain the upper hand but rather moments where we should show love and concern. However, if you believe that we evolved, that matter is all there is and that emotions like kindness and compassion are nothing more than chemical processes, then you have no reason to show mercy and care at a time like this. Indeed, as has often been observed, it is specifically a Christian belief that death is an enemy, a grievous thing, that’s the cause for grief and anger. Indeed, the question is for the many people who have no religious beliefs and felt a twinge of something, affinity with fellow humans in their suffering, anger at an evil, compassion for those hurt and grieving. The question is what lies behind, what justifies and explains such a response without God?
Secondly, whilst I don’t expect atheists to be persuaded by the arguments, I think it is important before they mock for them to ensure that they have properly understood what Christians believe on the subject. It is worth recognising that this weekend’s tragic events have not caught Christians by surprise. After all, we have had to live with suffering and pain through history. Indeed, it would be rather introverted and trite for us to hold onto our faith in God through the history of tsunamis, earthquakes and other natural disasters (even whilst our attention was caught by events in Sussex, a greater tragedy affecting both Christians and non-Christians was unfolding in Nepal) a recent global pandemic or examples of human evil such as world wars, the Holocaust and current conflicts in Ukraine and Iran only to have a crisis of faith because of something affecting Christians in our country specifically.
The question is sometimes termed theodicy and it boils down to how a good God can allow suffering, either he is good and weak or he is strong and therefore not good. Space does not permit a full account of all the answers given on the subject over 2000 years or indeed everything Scripture has to say on the subject. However, the crucial point is this. We do not claim that the Christian life will be suffering free. Indeed Scripture says that those who desire to live a godly life and expect suffering. In summary, we live in a fallen world, because of sin and we are not absolved from the consequences of that. However, God uses suffering for our good. We look forward to a day to come when all will be made new and right, a day when every tear will be wiped away.
Thirdly, yes, Christians do have the great hope of eternal life with God. However, that does not make this life less meaningful. We were made to live on this earth, to enjoy it and to steward it as an act of worship, glorifying and enjoying God. Death is an interruption, it is the penalty for sin, it was not meant to be part of a perfect creation and will not be part of the perfect new creation to come. Christians therefore respond to death with grief, first in general because it reminds us that this world still lives under the consequences of sin. Secondly, we seek to enjoy and make the most of life here, we see long life as a blessing. We are not reckless with our lives because we want to make the most of every opportunity. There is a good desire to want to see your children growing up, to see them marry and have children of their own. I remember talking to my mum at my nephew’s wedding and she, recognising her own age and frailty commented that she probably would not get to see our hoped-for children marry but she was still hoping to see more grandchildren and to at least get to see them profess faith and get baptised. So there was a sense of shared sadness with her when we knew she was dying and even now regret that she did not get to meet our girls. This did not diminish the hope she had or the comfort we found in seeing her confidently ready for a better home. In the case of Pastor Guanco, he leaves behind a wife, daughter and church congregation, there is understandable pain and grief at the separation. This is true even though his friends and family can say that they mourn but not without hope.
Now, I recognise, as mentioned above that these are not knock down, defeater arguments likely to trouble the staunchest of atheists. However, I have three aims in sharing these comments. First, I hope that this will help such atheists to understand why their arguments are not the knock down defeater arguments that they might think they are. They will need to find stronger arguments to convince Christians. And yes, if they are looking to win an argument then they might want to reflect on timing and tone as well.
Secondly, I’m aware that for every ardent atheist, there will be someone with genuine questions. I hope that this article has helped you to see that Christians have thought about the very questions you have, they are not stupid questions, they are good questions and I’d encourage you to keep asking them. There are some really good resources available if you want to engage further and I personally would be happy to respond to questions via the contact form below and point you to further reading.
Thirdly, as Christians we can be tempted to run away from such questions. Yet Scripture itself shows us that we can wrestle with them and how to wrestle with them. Again, I’d be happy to point you towards further reading that I’ve found helpful on the subject.
Faithroots 
Atheists have good reason to question the claims of Christians. That this god repeatedly promises to defend its chosen from ever enemy shows how the bible fails in its promises. Christians don’t live any better lives than anyone else despite the bible claiming it will provide everything for life, and any prayer will be answered. Christians claim to hate this world and want to get to heaven as soon as possible. So why is it wrong to point that out when one of them dies? Of course, Christians are as afraid of death as anyone and want to live as long as possible. They aren’t what they claim to be, ever-so sure hat a perfect afterlife awaits them. It’s this hypocrisy we are pointing out. That Christians also make ridiculous claims that it was only Christianity that invented love, compassion and kindness, also goes to show that hypocrisy is rampant in Christianity. Happily, those emotions and actions were around long before the Christian religion started; they aren’t Christian presuppositions, despite the claims of Christians. The argument from morality for their god fails since they can’t agree on what morals their god even wants. What we see consistently from Christians is that they are sure that their god is looking after them and they turn a blind eye towards those who aren’t saved by their god. They evidently don’t believe that the family down the road was made in god’s image since they are sure that their god saved them because of how wonderful they are. They have no idea of mercy or care as long as they got theirs. Many atheists, including myself, know exactly what Christians believe on the subject of their god supposedly helping them. They must claim it does and must make excuses when it fails. With the death and injury of Christians, we know that prayer fails miserably, despite the promises in the bible. Christians, like any fraud, must invent reasons why the claims they make don’t stand up to reality. Their god supposed cursed humans to suffer but with believe in jesus, that suffering is supposedly over. And when that doesn’t work the suffering has to be claimed as a feature rather than a bug, and the no suffering has to be kicked into the afterlife. Of course, that’s convenient since no one comes back from that to report on what heaven and hell actually are. Theodicy is an excuse nothing more. It is a house of cards that fails as soon as this god doesn’t intervene in human events like Christians claim it has done in the past. This god’s supposed acts have gone from stopping the sun to appearing on toast just as methods of questioning have increased. And the excuses for this god increase all through the New Testament since this jesus never returned when it promised. If god uses harm to cause good, it is no better than any human. That it evidently has no choice means it is not allpowerful or all knowing. Chrisians do hope for eternal life, but as noted above, they can’t agree on what it even is. They can’t agree if we were made to live on earth, nor can they explain why their god has allowed its supposed great enemy to exist at all. If death is a penalty for sin, then why does it still happen if one accepts jesus? This shows that the claim of redemption is just another con game. There is no reason for them to claim to enjoy this life. The bible repeatedly warns against this: “15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; 16 for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world.” We have this Jesus saying give up everything, including family, for him. So much for claims of enjoyment. “6 ‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” And curious how these christians claim that they should enjoy watching children grow up when they make excuses on why it is okay for this god to murder them if it feels like it. As is typical their feelings change when it is them and they offer no empathy to others.These arguments are most certainly not “knockdown defeater arguments”. They expose what Christianity is, a cult invented by humans who need to control others by offering what doesn’t exist. It’s a potent intoxicant to those who accept it. I have accepted it and then realized it was a poison and discarded it. For all the whining of “timing and tone” it’s notable how Christians will claim how their god helped them but they ignore how it fails millions of others. That is the core of selfishness and arrogance Christianity has.
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sorry about that wall of text. I dont’ know why it did that.
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Damn, Club, you went all in on this response. As with every single one of your other blasts, the believers never seem to come up with anything to counter anything you point out.
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hi “Club” good to hear from you. I’m not going to go into a detailed point by point response as my aim isn’t to debate here and also I think your arguments have already been pre answered in the article. I guess the crucial point for you is that in the specific example, atheists went into news sites specifically to mock and joke about someone being killed in tragic circumstances, a man with a wife and young child. That’s quite different to “questioning the beliefs of Christians” as a generalized point. So, do you think that such mockery of the grieving is wrong? I presume you do? The question then is on what basis. If we say “compassion” then we are either describing something with a moral value – where does that come from? – or simply chemical processes. If the latter then we have no reason to say that those processes are the right responses, presumably we have evolved to have those feelings but they may be necessary to the immediate tribe to hold it together but not to the wider species
Hope you are well
kind regards
Dave
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