Christian,
Debating, by definition, is the act of arguing for a truth claim. You believe this way, I believe another, and we engage in a war for the truth.
But how do we decide the winner?
The winner is decided by the one who declares God’s truth, plainly stated, cover to cover, throughout the 66 books of the canon. Pretty simple.
“Okay, but how does that look in real time,” asks one?
The one who is arguing for the God of creation, has won the debate by default.
It may not appear that way, but in arguing for truth vs fairy tale, the truth wins. The atheistic worldview is total absurdity on every front. Your task is to expose that absurdity and let them have no right to any truth claim.
Why? Because random chance and chaos cannot produce order. Every kid has taken a bunch of firecrackers and set his kid sister’s dolly on them and blown it up. There’s your Big Bang theory. The dolly is in chaos, not order. No matter how many times you do this, it will never produce a better dolly, rather, it will only cause disintegration.
Before any debate takes place, terms need to be defined, and parameters need to be set. Establish the topic, and stick to it.
Worldviews are clashing in a debate, facts, no matter how clearly proven, will not make the other person say, “you’re right, I’m wrong, I’m going to follow Christ.” The heart must be changed. You’re not there to just win the debate, that’s easy, Let God be true and every man a liar, but rather, you are there to present God’s truth.
“You don’t defend a lion, just let him loose, he’ll take care of himself.” [Martin Luther]
Isaiah 46:9-11 KJV
[9] Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, [10] Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: [11] Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. …
Let God be true, and every man a liar.
Any “truth claim” that the athiest gives, that is actually truth, is stolen from the Christian worldview. Do not let them claim any absolutes; their worldview does not allow for any.
In a worldview where morality and justice are governed by the whimsical emotions of man and society, rather than the solid word of the living God, nothing is absolute and cannot be taken as serious.
An athiest declaring something to be absolute is as stupid as trying to nail cottage cheese to the wall. It’s nonsensical.
[What This Looks Like In Real Time]
Ask the athiest, if murder is wrong in his worldview.
After a lot of word salad, he will say, “yes, I believe murder is wrong.”
Why is murder wrong in your worldview?
“Because it brings harm to another person,” he’ll say.
Why is it wrong to bring harm to another person? What standard are you using to declare that to be wrong?
His reply will be something like, “It is wrong to inflict harm on others because we are a society, and inside that society, it is for the better good to have peace among one another. People should be free to live with the comfort that murder is not acceptable in society. The standard I’m using is the standard that every people group collectively accept, it just stands to reason, that murder is wrong.”
But what if your neighbor thinks it’s ok to murder? What in your worldview says that he’s wrong?
“Well, the law will let him know he’s wrong,” he’ll say.
So, the law of the land is your standard? Do laws ever flip? Less than one generation ago, the law of our land stated marriage was between one man and one woman, now two men or two women can marry and it is recognized by the state. Did wrong become right by a vote? What if tomorrow, there is a vote that murder is acceptable, does it magically become acceptable by vote?
Man is whimsical and his morals are guided by personal wants.
Truth is discovered, not invented.
Truth is existential, not an internal mechanism.
Why would murder be considered wrong by an athiest if all we are is “matter in motion?”
Didn’t Darwin say, “Survival of the fittest?” It stands to reason, that if this worldview is worked out to the fullest, the murder victim wasn’t “the fittest,” and so it goes.
The only thing the unregenerate can do is rot and stink, there is no goodness in them, only death. God, by His grace and mercy, saves man from this wretched state, to those that believe on His Son for salvation. The moral good they do does not come from their worldview, but is stolen from God.
[44] But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully ai use you, and persecute you; [45] That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. [46] For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans ak the same? …Matthew 5:44-46
”for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Romans 14:23
Romans 1:22 KJV
[22] “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” Romans 1:22
[31] Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, ag unmerciful: [32] Who knowing the judgment ah of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. …Romans 1:31-32
Soli Deo Gloria
