"You're Just Depressed"

Last week, I wrote about how my wife finally came to learn that I was no longer a believer in God, but I didn't go into too much detail about what happened immediately after that. I love her, but her immediate conclusion was, "you're  probably just depressed."

I tried to persuade her that this wasn't the case, but she scheduled me an appointment to see a doctor anyway.

Now, let me remind you that I moved my family clear across the country to the heart of the Bible Belt. Because of this, the majority of doctors here are Christians. The majority of everyone here are Christians.

So, I went to see this doctor and explained everything to him. Of course, he opened up to me about his faith, but in the end, he agreed that I didn't seem depressed, just going through something that may be considered depressing. However, to appease my wife, he offered me a list of counselors he recommended in the area, so I could get a counselor's opinion, too.

Again, let me remind you that this is the Bible Belt.

So, I went to see a counselor and explained everything to him as well. He also opened up to me about his faith, but after a couple of visits he also came to the same conclusion that I wasn't really depressed. However, before we parted ways, he did recommend that I watch the movie The Case for Christ.

The way he described it to me, it sounded almost like a documentary about a journalist who found a ton of evidence for Christianity. That concept got me excited a little. There was some real evidence for Christianity after all? I had to see this! I rented it as soon as it became available at a nearby Red Box, which did take a little while—it must be quite a popular movie down here. Have I mentioned that this is the Bible Belt?

Now, one suggestion for all my christian readers, if you have an atheist friend, or one who has deconverted, absolutely do not recommend this film to them. It is not convincing in the slightest, and could actually be considered insulting. I went into the movie expecting evidence, but what I got instead was two hours of emotionally-charged confirmation bias about a rage-blinded journalist who set out on the impossible task to falsify an unfalsifiable story by interviewing people who gave one-sided religious twists on what theists would consider evidence. Oh, and a not-so-subtle sub-plot about how one can easily discredit atheism because it is merely a by-product of daddy-issues.

As someone who was raised by his father, all I have to say is, no. No, Lee Strobel. Just no. You may not have had a good reason to disbelieve, but that doesn't discredit every other atheist that does. And there are many, many more who disbelieve for real reasons.

We don't all just have daddy-issues.

Though the evidence provided in the movie may have been enough to seem convincing to someone who already believes in God, for an outsider, it is laughable at best.

If you don't already have good reason to believe the Bible, then the fact that it states there were 500 people who saw Jesus isn't evidence. It is just a book that states 500 people saw Jesus. Maybe if we could find written testimony from each of these people, it might amount to something, but as is, it is just another ridiculous claim, of which the Bible already contains many.

And then they try to prove the Bible's accuracy by pointing out that it has over 5,000 early manuscripts to prove it hasn't been altered much over the years. Though this is partially true, most of the early manuscripts are just fragments. The earliest near-complete manuscripts don't show up until around 350A.D., and even these are missing entire sections.

My personal favorite is the book of Mark—debatably the oldest gospel—but also the shortest gospel, which means much of the meat that fills up the other gospels may have been invented later on. It is also accepted that the ending to Mark that is currently in your Bible today was added way after the fact. Even my apologetics study Bible takes note of this fact. The original texts are missing anything beyond Mark 16:8. It had originally ended with the ladies fleeing the tomb in fear—what a wonderful note to end a story on! This book shouldn't even count as evidence for the resurrection.

But even if you could count all the other manuscript fragments that we have for all the other books as evidence that the New Testament hasn't changed much, that doesn't necessarily make the Bible true. It doesn't mean it was originally written about real events. It could have just been like a best-selling pop-fiction, like any of Homer's stories. Just because we have early copies, doesn't make it true.

It would be helpful if we at least had some physical evidence to examine alongside of the gospels, which we could use to back up the claims they make, but in a strange bit of oversight by God, Jesus supposedly took his body—and therefore all the evidence of his existence—with him when he ascended.

The rest of the "evidence" presented in this movie just implodes after this. If you aren't convinced of the resurrection being an actual event by now, then it doesn't matter what a doctor thinks about whether or not the crucifixion was survivable. It may simply have not happened altogether.

In the end, I learned two things. That I wasn't depressed—at least not at first—and just how disappointingly few reasons people have to believe in the religion I had placed my faith in for the previous 27 years. Oh, and Lee Strobel had daddy-issues. I learned that, too.

And without further ado, I'll conclude this story on the following note:

"They went out and ran from the tomb, because trembling and astonishment overwhelmed them. And they said nothing to anyone, since they were afraid."

Mark 16:8

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