1 Jan. 2015
Some memes are quite ironic. This one claims that Christianity as a system religion is baseless. The creator of the meme espouses a view from the start that Christianity is baseless. In reality though, to experienced debaters, the meme appears to assume from the get-go what it is trying to prove. And that, sir, is a baseless fallacy.
But how does it assume what it is trying to prove? The statement “no matter what you think, the story of Adam and Eve is false” is a clue. That is the assumption of the person who created the meme, and it ends up in the conclusion.
So what’s the problem here? The creator of the meme has not presented all of the options even though he or she has implied to have done so.
On so many occasions, I have heard or read from the religious establishment and elsewhere that no human could possibly know or understand “X,” and that thus, “X” is false or will always remain a mystery.
In some cases, that conclusion is flatly baseless. It is actually presumptuous, as the proponent claims that other people will lack knowledge and understanding simply because the proponent and those who the proponent has learned from lack such knowledge or understanding.
Phrases such as “no matter what you think” also come across just as presumptuous concerning the knowledge and understanding of others. It also draws out questions about the other assumptions that the meme proponent has made.
What about the first option presented? Apparently, to the proponent, “if you think the story of Adam and Eve is true,” then you must believe that God created the Earth “6,000 to 10,000 years ago” (i.e., between 4,000 and 8,000 B.C.E.). But is this really correct? The proponent seems to ignore the whole Gap Theory ruin-reconstruction debate. If one holds to a form of Ruin-reconstruction (particularly a linguistic form), then the Bible makes no claim concerning the age of the Earth. The same can be the case if one holds to a version of Framework Theory, or even to a blend of Framework Theory and Gap Theory.
Once more, the proponent’s notion that “humans evolved over a period of two billion years” arrives at our table without evidence, as the meme proponent has provided none. So it takes the form of an appeal to authority, whether it is of the meme proponent himself or of some scientist. This is rather ironic, since skeptics usually loathe occasions when theists make appeals to authority.
Moreover, the claim that “modern humans descended from a group of at least ten thousand primates” also lacks concrete evidence. Where are the physical remains of these “at least ten thousand primates”? Should we ever even expect to be able to find them? Are we supposed to take their real existence by faith? Why should we take that by faith and not take the Scriptures by faith? If the answer is “genetics says so,” this is also just another appeal to authority of geneticist scientists who in turn have presumed to know what genetic conditions were like many thousands if not millions or billions of years ago, even though genetics as a science is still (as of 2015) in its infancy.
Now, I feel compelled to mention that I also have a problem with the other “problem” sections presented in the meme. Why would it really be “unlikely” that a knowledgeable God would communicate in figurative language or poetry? Does God need to cater to our stupidity? What if God is trying to get us to think “outside of the box” in order to better comprehend history as well as Himself?
Indeed, in Scripture, prophetic passages such as those of the Book of Isaiah, lamentations such as those of the Book of Lamentations, and polemical psalms all use figurative wording and poetic structuring.
Such structuring cuts across several genres and actually reflects the notion that God is a God of order. Such figurative wording reflects the notion that God is a God of variety. This combination of two features––the preference for order and variety––is exactly what we see in God’s creation of the natural world.
From bacteria to bees to bunnies to butterflies to bears, the biological world teems with variety; and yet the ecosystem has a food chain order, as well as a rather standard structure shape for genetic code (i.e., the double helix). In the astrophysical and meteorological realm, everything from asteroids to auroras enter our notice; yet, the fundamental forces of electromagnetism, strong nuclear force, and gravitation all remain active. Variety in order, and order in variety.
As to the problem presented in the third section of the meme, the claim that a blend of literal and figurative expression would be confusing really is not convincing as an argument against Christianity. Why?
First, a mixture of literal and figurative expression is typical of human conversational language and essays. You need to look no further than this “attack of the memes” blog post.
I have used the figurative idiom “outside of the box” earlier in this post. Just as well, my statement “And that, sir, is a baseless fallacy,” is actually another figurative expression of apostrophe in that I am writing to an audience that either cannot respond or is not expected to be available to respond at this time. Yet in the very same blog, I use entirely literal statements, including the very first statement that mentioned that some memes are ironic.
In truth, like the quality of ambivalence in the characterization of story protagonists, the quality of variety in literal and figurative language actually suggests professional or sophisticated quality writing. After all, the mixture of figurative and literal can help ensure that the active reader continues to pay attention to the Text. If the Text were exclusively literal, the Text would be less memorable.
Second, the point of the meme proponent appears to be a complaint. One’s own lack of ability to comprehend ancient figurative expression is not a valid reason to dismiss the source of the figurative expression. The complaint of such a lack of understanding can even arise from laziness. (Did the proponent actually endeavor to do a thorough investigation of ancient figurative language?)
By contrast, according to 2nd Timothy 2:15, the Christian is to study to show that he or she is approved. To put the icing on the cake, I should also mention that many scholars have already done investigation into ancient figurative language as well as genre. Feel free to examine the reasoning and evidence that those scholars suggest. For two of these scholars, see the references at the bottom of this blog post.
So, in conclusion, Christians have no need to enter the trap of the problem sections that the meme proponent proposes. The meme is ironically rather baseless, though it claims that the Christian position is baseless. For those who espouse Gap Theory or Framework Theory concerning the Book of Genesis, the meme is a strawman fallacy that does not attack their position at all.
Am I in denial? Was the meme proponent overlooking scholarship? What do you think?
Recommended References:
Figurative language discussion:
Bullinger, E. W. Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, Explained and Illustrated.
Genre discussion:
Osborne, Grant. The Hermeneutical Spiral: A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, revised edition. InterVarsity Press.
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