An Open Deist Challenge to Christians

This page is intended to reach sincere Christians with the realization that Christianity and the Bible promote falsehoods. Sincere Christians genuinely want to know God better. They have been lied into believing that the Bible is the word of God and that by reading it and believing in it, they are bringing themselves closer to God. This Deist Challenge to Christians should free, or at least help to free, these sincere Christians and allow them to realize that they have been duped into believing that Christianity and the Bible are the way to God.

OK, as a Bible-Believing Christian, I'll accept the challenge. I don't believe the Bible promotes "falsehoods."

I believe Christianity and the Bible are the way to God. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” We know He said this because of the testimony of eyewitnesses in the Bible. Christ gave us the Bible so we could know Him.

• Mark 16 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• The Ending of Mark (Mark 16:9-20)

Let's go ahead and assume that this text actually belongs in the canon of Scripture. Let's assume the verse is true. Notice the logical argument made by the deists and revealed by the word "then." Is it really logically necessary that if the original disciples of Christ in the 1st century could heal the sick, then all other Christians in all other ages could do the same? By what logic, by what valid system of Biblical interpretation does this conclusion follow?
 

Ephesians 4:11-12 says

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

Romans 12:4-8 says

For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

1 Corinthians 12:27-31 says

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.

The implied answer is no. Not every Christian in the first century was a worker of miracles.

While all Christians are to be equipped for the work of ministry, these passages repudiate the idea that all are apostles, all are evangelists, etc. The idea that all Christians would speak in tongues, and all Christians would be healers, doesn't follow logically from anything the deists have offered, and is just not at all what the Bible teaches.
 

Further, even if every single Christian alive in the first century had the gift of healing, it does not logically or Biblically follow that every believer in every subsequent age would have this gift. See "Propositions on Pentecostalism" in The Sociology of the Church by James B. Jordan, p. 169ff. Jordan persuasively argues that what was happening during "the last days" of the Old Covenant was epochal.

• It marked the end of the "monopoly" Israel had on God's grace.
• It marked the Gospel being extended to every nation.
• It marked apostate (Christ-denying) Israel being destroyed by the Roman Empire.

This period of time was as unique as it was significant. Wholly unprecedented. Filled with "signs and wonders" which accompanied the historic events that were taking place in the last days of the Old Covenant and the opening days of the New Covenant. Our assumption should be that miraculous signs, which were directed either toward Israel (e.g., tongues) or toward the Gentiles as they were being admitted into the household of faith, would cease as soon as Israel had been destroyed or the Gospel preached to all nations.

Further, even the apostles themselves were not always able to heal any sick person they wanted.

The Apostle Paul said, "I left Trophimus sick at Miletus" (2 Timothy 4:20) even though he might have wished that Trophimus accompany him on his journey.

Paul's assistant Timothy suffered from "frequent infirmities," but Paul counseled him, "You ought to drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach because you are sick so often" (1 Timothy 5:23, NLT). He didn't just heal Timothy. Timothy didn't heal himself. Other believers didn't heal Timothy. The Bible simply doesn't teach that every believer would heal every sick person every time in every age.

During Paul's first trip through Galatia, he had to stop and spend time there because of physical infirmities. Feeling too sick to press on due to a problem with his eyes, Paul stayed over in Galatia, taking advantage of the opportunity to preach to them, even though he easily could have been embarrassed by his appearance (Galatians 4:13-15).

For Paul, blessing often came out of sickness. True, blessings come out of healings, but healing is never said to be the exclusive channel of blessing. Repeatedly, Paul says maturity -- becoming more like Christ Himself -- comes through suffering, not healing exclusively (Romans 8:17-18,28; 1 Corinthians 12:26; Philippians 1:29; 3:8,10; 4:11-13; Colossians 1:24; 1 Thessalonians 2:2; 3:4; 1 Timothy 4:10; 2 Timothy 1:8; 2:9; 3:12). Paul's entire ministry was characterized by God as one of suffering (Acts 9:16; 2 Corinthians 1:8-10; 6:4-5; 11:23-30; Galatians 5:11; 2 Tim 1:12).

Paul's ailment was physical, as he said, it "was in my flesh." Perhaps an infection caused conjunctivitis, irritating Paul terribly. However, this persistent physical infirmity brought about two blessings: one, his unplanned stay in Galatia; and two, an opportunity for the believers there to minister to him.

Paul did not hide, but openly shared, his physical difficulties not only with the Galatians, but also with the Corinthian church. For as he wrote to them:

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me... Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 2 Corinthians 12:7-8

Though the specific ailment remains unknown, Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was an "infirmity" (2 Corinthians 12:10 ) as he called it. That thorn helped protect Paul so that his supernatural experiences would not produce arrogance. Trials help to insulate men from the negative side effects of success. So, while Paul prayed for healing three times, the Lord refused to grant the request.

The power that most glorifies God is not His ability to cause natural phenomena like earthquakes. For God is not in the earthquake, hurricane or fire, but in the still small voice (1 Kings 19:11 -12). The Psalms honor God briefly for his power over nature but at great length for His holiness and ability to change men's hearts. Thus God's power shines brightest not in healing but in sickness. For the capacity to heal manifests power over the body, whereas the ability to satisfy a man in the midst of suffering is a manifestation of power over the soul. For the soul is of far greater consequence than the body (Mat. 10:28).

When God declined to answer Paul's plea for healing, what did He say to His apostle? Paul quotes God's words of refusal and then demonstrates his deep understanding of God's ways:

"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Paul, as a model of the successful Christian (1 Corinthians 4:16 ; 11:1; Phil. 3:17 ; 2 Thes. 3:9; 2 Tim. 3:10 ) actually took pleasure in sickness, for as he wrote:

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities... in needs... For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10

Paul apparently had a second eye problem. When warped, the eye's lens projects the light that enters through the pupil as an unfocused image upon the retina. One type of warp blurs images from objects far away, causing nearsightedness. Another warp distorts images from objects at close range, causing what Paul seems to have suffered from, farsightedness. For when Paul wrote his letter to Galatia with his "own hand" he wrote with extremely large letters (Gal. 6:11). The reason Paul often mentioned that he was writing with his own hand (1 Corinthians 16:21; Colossians 4:18; 2 Thes. 3:17; Phile. 1:19) might have been to explain the large handwriting that resulted from his hyperopic vision. Such farsightedness is a physical ailment that should be healable if miraculous healing were instantly available "on demand." However, Paul apparently suffered from that affliction.

The observation established here is that God did not heal every sick person, whether a true worshipper or not, and the Bible does not hesitate to mention sick believers whom God did not heal. Rather, Paul would brag of his physical weakness and sicknesses. For he was not embarrassed, unlike so many today, to admit illness. For because of their theology, many today would be uncomfortable saying that which Paul boldly proclaims:

If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity (2 Corinthians 11:30).

Miracles are acts of grace done by God at His pleasure, not "on demand."

There are many unsophisticated or faithless people who want the Bible to say that all people can heal all sickness all of the time in every age. This is a rather juvenile misreading of the Bible. Such unscholarly interpretation of the Bible does not characterize the mainstream of Christian scholarship over the centuries. We hope such interpreters will grow up and mature, and most do. When this ignorant and woodenly literal method persists, it may be the result of unbelief, or organic limitations of intelligence. It characterizes the densest and most uneducated fundamentalists, snake handlers, holy rollers, charlatans, bozos, con artists, and, apparently, the authors of this deist "challenge."

That's because the evidence for the proposition that the Bible is the Word of God is so overwhelming, that God's gift of reason itself must be squelched in order to avoid believing it, and to avoid feeling guilt for rejecting its message.

The co-founder of the Harvard Law School said that if the laws of evidence were applied to the Gospel accounts of Christ's resurrection, that event could be proven in any court of law.

... Any court of law, that is, that hasn't rejected reason and the principles of western civilization, as seen in the Anglo-American laws of evidence, and the thinking of Harvard University, whose twin mottos were “For the Glory of Christ” and “For Christ and the Church.” The 1636 rules of Harvard declared:

Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life ( John 17.3) and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom, let every one seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of Him (Prov. 2, 3). Every one shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day that he shall be ready to give such an account of his proficiency therein.
Benjamin Pierce, A History of Harvard University (Cambridge, MA: Brown, Shattuck, and Company, 1833), Appendix, p. 5.

When Christianity is stripped from our public institutions, then reason and the laws of evidence no longer apply. Jesus did not rise from the dead, and O.J. Simpson did not kill his wife. The authors of the "deist challenge" who ignore the rules of reason and legal history and claim that Jesus was not executed and resurrected from the dead, put themselves in the same class as the South Central L.A. fundamentalists who slept through the O.J. Simpson trial.

Western Civilization is Christian Civilization.

The Bible is the Word of God.

Providence, not Deism