Those of you who have taken the time to talk with atheists and skeptics about the historicity of Christianity have probably engaged someone who has made the claim that Jesus of Nazareth never existed. Generally, when this claim is made we Christians fall all over ourselves attempting to provide evidence to the contrary. We do all the heavy lifting, fruitlessly providing evidence to the contrary. I have to admit that I have done exactly this on more than occasion.
I have recently been reminded of a better option. Do nothing. Don’t engage in the debate on the terms of the one making the ridiculous claim. One of the most important tactics to remember when debating with anyone, no matter what the topic, is, “The one making the claim bears the burden of proof.” When the atheist makes the claim that Jesus never existed, in total contradiction to all the available evidence and virtually the entire community of ancient historians, it’s up to them to support their claim, not for us to refute it.
Instead of immediately jumping into the debate with research and evidence, just sit back and ask, “What’s your proof?” There is none. This is just a claim that atheists make without any support at all, generally because it gets Christians riled up and distracted doing all kinds of leg work to refute the claim. Chances are, you won’t make any headway trying to convince an atheist that their claim is bad by providing evidence, but you might actually get him to back away from such a claim by forcing him support it himself.
2 comments:
On the contrary, let's have Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, et al, prove that they exist. When I'd get into futile discussions on this question on internet discussion boards, I'd simply say, "Well, whose to say we're not all figments of God's imagination, and none of us really exist at all." I'd usually get a response like, "Huh?" and that would be the end of the discussion.
Love it. That's a great demonstration of how simple and effective the argument is.
Most atheists and skeptics haven't given any real thought to this particular claim, they just use it because it drives the Christians crazy. They throw the bomb and then they can sit back and watch the fireworks. When they receive a thoughtful and rational response asking them to support their claim, they are totally flummoxed.
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