Oh, the horror!

Lee Randolph over at DC put all of his eggs in a post trying to scare Christians out of observing Easter. When I pointed out that his post was mainly polemic and bullying, he countered by asking me to tell him where I think he is wrong. Here it goes.

Lee never makes a sustained argument in this post. It sounds like a 10 point atheist sermon. I don't even think pointing out the problems with some of his arguments is worth the time, since all of the choir is going to say "good post, those Christians are brainwashed." How can I argue with that, since I'm brainwashed?

But the deeper issue is that it seems that Lee can't conceive that someone could look at the same facts and come to different conclusions. I know all about propitiation and atonement, but I don't think it is bloodthirsty or savage. I see in it (gasp) love and redemption. I see a hope of a new life, beyond all of the junk we create for ourselves.

But just to get to specifics, here's a tasty treat: The authors of the Gospels cannot be identified, therefore neither can their credentials or if they were in a position to know. Therefore the information is of low quality.

Notice how Lee wipes away 200 years of biblical criticism with one argument. This is his haymaker, that we don't have the signatures of the authors to verify. I might as well never read an AP article until I find out who submitted it and where they are from and what their biases are and whether they are delusional and whether they have any hidden ideological motivations.

But if atheists wanted to get together this Sunday, Lee would make a good fire and brimstone preacher.