How Great the Faith it Takes to be an Atheist

Many atheists and agnostics I know make the claim that they would prefer to rely on "science" than on the blind faith it takes to be a Christian. To that, I have two responses. (1) If it took blind faith to be a Christian, I wouldn't be one. I prefer to bank on truth and proven data than believing in something with no particular reason. However, Christianity and the God of the Bible is knowable if one just takes the time to know Him and know about Him. (2) I contend that it takes greater faith to be an atheist than a Christian. Keep reading.

I just finished watching the special on the Discovery Channel about the "Lost Tomb of Jesus." In this special, they claimed to find the remains of Jesus and His family, including His wife, Mary Magdalene, and His secret son (DaVinci Code, anyone?). I watched it with my natural, skeptical eyes as opposed to the blind faith that I'm afraid too many people used concerning this special. Basically, they found a tomb with several ossuaries in it. These boxes were labelled with names and full of bones. Bada bing, bada boom, you've got the tomb of Jesus.

The evidence presented appeared to be mildly compelling at first, that is until I started using my brain. The more I thought about it, the more I realized the great amount of faith it takes to fall into this bovine excrement. Let me explain...

First, it is clear that the special was implicitly making a truth claim. So one has to believe in absolute objective truth to begin with. If one doesn't believe in truth, the argument is over, the show meant nothing because it conveyed nothing, and ones time would have been better spent gleaning "truth" from the Simpsons or Seinfeld (and probably would have enjoyed themselves more). The existence of truth in this special was a "given."

Second, it must be taken on faith that the producers, directors, documentors, archaeologists, and anyone associated with the production were in fact conveying what they thought to be true. We are just expected to take it on faith that this was filmed in Israel and not in a Hollywood studio and that the people on the screen actually believed what they said and were not trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the audience. Let me tell you, given the nature of the entity of television and the "truth" therein, this is a MAJOR leap of faith. The Discovery Channel is selling something just like every other station, don't kid yourself.

Third, it must be taken on faith that the names on the boxes matched up to the LORD and His family. In the presentation, many of the names "sounded like" names that these people could have used, or were possibly nicknames for them. This seems like a fairly weak connection to me.

Fourth, it must be taken on faith that the names on the boxes were written at the time of these people's deaths about 2000 years ago and not by some dude 500 years ago playing a great, elaborate prank on the world or by one of the archaeologists the day before they began filming.

Fifth, it must be taken on faith that the bones in the boxes actually match the names on the outside. Who's to say that when they were building the tomb, they didn't just find dead people's bones and put them in the boxes? Recorded history tells us that there were people trying to cover up the resurrection of Jesus (c.f. Matthew 28:11-15). So there is certainly a distinct possibility that the bones in the box labelled "Jesus" are not actually his bones.

And finally, the special used very little Biblical evidence. Why is this important? Because the New Testament documents are some of the most highly accredited documents according to the science of historiography. But the special was very quick to use considerably less accredited documentation. For a show that implicitly claims to be scientific, this seems a little odd to me.

Here are five major leaps of faith required to buy into what the Discovery Channel was selling. (I don't consider the existence of truth a "leap of faith," hence five.) Call yourself an atheist, an agnostic, or a skeptic, whoever you are, you've got to have some incredible faith in order to believe what "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" claimed to be true. Personally, I prefer to place my belief in more reliable sources.