Is Christianity a Myth?
Psalm 14:1, "The fool says in his heart, there is no God."
According to Bill Maher's response on the Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert on November 17th 2015, Bill acknowledges that there are some things in the universe he does not understand, but he also says this: "but my response to that is that I don't make up silly stories, or believe intellectually embarrassing myths from the Bronze Age."
So, is Bill Maher correct in his statement? Were the stories in the Bible really just made up "silly stories?" Can the Judeo-Christian faith no longer be reliable because it dates back over two thousand years? Or, is Bill Maher subjectively speaking on matters he just does not know?
Bill Maher's statement regarding Christianity's "intellectual embarrassing myths" is a rather general blanket criticism. There are no specifics in his presupposition as to which stories are made up and it's difficult to know what stories Bill had in his mind when he made this statement. However, one thing is for certain, he couldn't be referring to the whole story of Christianity as being made up, especially when considering all the available evidence that confirms the historicity of the Christian faith. No credible scholar would agree that Christianity is just some made up story, and with that being said, Bill has to be referring to certain accounts in the bible such as Noah and the Ark, the Virgin Birth, and, or the Resurrection. These are generally some of the accounts mentioned in the Bible that many people like Bill struggle with to believe.
Unfortunately, the challenge for some who struggle with the existence of God comes from their pure rejection of God himself; which means that if someone starts with the premise that God does not exist, then nothing about God is believable, not even the "silly stories" in the Bible. So, no matter the available evidence, question marks and criticisms will always dominate the minds of the unbeliever. The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 2:11, "God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness."
On the other hand, if one keeps their mind "open" (key word open) to the existence of God and allow the evidence to lead them to the truth, one will be quite surprised how far from the truth Bill Maher's remarks are. For example: Did you know that Christianity has more evidence preserved in museums around the world than any other religion? Did you know that the Bible has over two thousand fulfilled prophecies, more than any other book combined in the world? Did you know that the historicity of the Bible has been validated by the scientific discipline of archaeology over and over again? Historical events such as the global flood, Egyptian slavery, Jericho's Wall, Babylon, King Cyrus prophesized by Isaiah two hundred years prior, the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, the life, death, and the empty tomb of Jesus, Pontius Pilate, Paul of Tarsus, etc., are all mentioned in the Bible and are all historically validated. The Bible says in Luke 19:40 that even if the disciples were to keep quiet about Jesus, the stones would cry out, and that's exactly what's happening in the 21st century; the stones are crying out to the people of God that GOD DOES EXIST and that the "silly stories" in the Bible are TRUE!
Furthermore, the Bible mentions an abundance of other facts way before science could even confirm them such as the universe expanding, the springs of the deep, and the earth being round just to name a few. Just recently scientists were able to prove that the human brain recognizes the reality of God, something the Bible revealed a long time ago (Thank you science for finally confirming this harsh reality). The Bible says in Genesis 1:26 that God made man in his image and after his likeness, so it's no wonder why the human brain can recognize the reality of the person who created the brain. It's really not that complicated! However, people like Bill Maher suppress the truth of this reality by constantly rejecting the existence of God. The only question that remains to be answered is: will Bill Maher believe that this new evidence of science proving God's reality to be a "made-up silly story" too???
Either way, whoever finds themselves reading this post, remember that the argument presented by Bill Maher that Christianity is a myth contains NO such corroboration. Christianity is as real as it gets! Why? Because Jesus historically fulfilled all the messianic prophesies written about him in the Old Testament to the very detail with his life, death, and resurrection. The whole Christian faith is reliant on the historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14 that if Christ was not raised, then our whole faith is in vain. Therefore, always remember that when it comes to the evidence, Christianity has more of it than any other religion in the world.
#GodisReal #JesusisReal #TheBibleisReal #Time4Truth
Want more information on the evidence for archaeology or on the study regarding the reality of God in the human brain, please click on the links below:
https://answersingenesis.org/archaeology/does-archaeology-support-the-bible/
http://www.breakingchristiannews.com/articles/display_art.html?ID=17607