Valley Forge

 

I can´t let this go, LOL. Matt Powell is a Christian activist on YouTube who has achieved a certain amount of Herostratic fame. The video linked above is *extremely* bad, and it´s difficult to be charitable here. 

At one point, Powell says that the Big Bang can´t be true since you can´t convert dust to water?! What on earth does that statement even *mean*? All matter is made up of the same elementary particles. In principle, any form of matter can be transformed into any other form of matter. Oh, and what about matter being transformed into energy? 

As for water, I did some checking (OK, so it was Wikipedia, hit me!) Hydrogen was formed during the Big Bang, oxygen is formed inside stars. Together, they form water. No dust needed. However, recent research suggests that water *can* be formed "from dust": the solar wind interacts with minerals in space rocks (many of which are very tiny) to form water. But sure, these are all hypotheses (I don´t believe in the Big Bang myself) and could possibly be wrong...but then, a strictly literalist interpretation of the Bible is hardly the alternative, being proven wrong long ago (yeah, by those pesky German historians of religion). 

After this, comes the argument "atheism is based in mysticism" since atheists believe something can come from nothing. But so do Christians. Creation ex nihilo, remember? It´s still magic even if you postulate the existence of a magician! So you can´t solve the conundrum by saying "God did it". Powell also says "atheists believe that the world created itself". No, they don´t. This is a weird Christian way of describing the atheist position, complete with implied consciousness and conscious willing.  

Next up is the truly remarkable claim that "many historians will admit that Jesus rose from the dead". Names, please! I suppose this *could* be a reference to Josephus (that´s exactly one ancient historian) who is mentioned later in the same section, but his testimonium is almost universally regarded as a later interpolation by critical modern historians. Tacitus, Suetonius or Pliny either don´t mention Jesus or simply report *beliefs* about Jesus. But nobody (I think) denies that Christianity is based on the *belief* that Jesus rose from the dead. Unsurprisingly, the content-creator has a completely uncritical approach to the Bible, claims that the Gospels are reliable eye witness accounts, and so on. Powell tries to paint the resurrection of Jesus as a world-shattering event, but if so, we should expect *much* more in non-Christian sources!

Next up: "If somebody could die and come back from the dead, shouldn´t we consider what he has to say". On this point, at least, Powell is right. There is just one catch: with very few exceptions (say Paul) "we" can´t speak directly to the person who actually came back from the dead. All we have is scriptures and traditions. In other words: the same kind of problematic sources we have for every other putative religious founder. So even if the *claim* of resurrection had been unique, the sources making that claim aren´t really better than average. In a sense, they are worse: the Mormons have signed testimonies from 11 people (who provably existed) swearing that Joseph Smith was telling the truth... 

Powell also says that all the "false Messiahs" (the founders and/or savior-figures of other religions) are still dead. Actually, the mahasiddhas of Tibetan Buddhism supposedly rise from their death-beds in a "rainbow body" and are hence still alive. The Dalai Lama´s sect of Tibetan Buddhism believes that the boddhisattva Avalokiteshvara is reincarnated in each Dalai Lama. Taoism believes in the Eight Immortals, and so on. Fun fact: Islam believes that Jesus never died on the cross, but was taken body and soul to heaven by the four archangels.

Then comes the most remarkable statement in the entire video: "We have more evidence for Jesus than for Washington, Lincoln or Adams". WTF???? Do I even have to respond to this?! I was actually wondering some time ago whether really extreme Christian apologists would dare to crack this argument and it seems that the answer is...yes. 

But since you insist...

According to All-Knowing Wikipedia, George Washington´s diaries alone cover six volumes. A total of 63 volumes of documents related to Washington have been published by the Washington Project. They seem to cover all aspects of Washington´s life, including his involvement in plans to drain the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia. We also have 900 books *about* George Washington, spanning four centuries. *We even have access to Washington´s correspondence with Masonic lodges.* And, of course, portraits painted during his lifetime. Oh, and we know where he is buried. And since he was, you know, POTUS, I shall assume that he is mentioned in foreign documents from the time. British and French ones, for starters. 

How on earth is this *less* evidence than for Jesus???

Powell next states: "Every other religion says that we have to hope and pray to make it, only Christianity makes you *know* that you can make it". What does this even mean, seriously? It´s true that certain Protestants claim that you can have absolute certainty of your salvation, but this kind of conviction must obviously exist among some people in other religious traditions, too. Otherwise, no Catholic martyrs, Muslim jihadis, and so on. Besides, hoping and praying does sound very Christian somehow, while other religions emphasize rituals, meditation techniques or following the Law. But even here, there might be exceptions, such as Japanese Amidism. 

Then, Powell says: "The Roman Empire reset the calendar because of Jesus" Eh, you are kidding, right?! Judging by context, he does mean the *pagan* Roman Empire, which of course did no such thing. When the Empire became Christian, it did indeed "reset the calendar", but I assume Powell is an evangelical and hence doesn´t like Constantine the Great?

Finally, our wayward brother says that humans are mindless robots if evolution is true. In reality, he believes, humans are designed with a purpose. This is a peculiar reversal of the term "robot", which of course refers to an intelligently designed machine with a pre-programmed purpose. At least if you´re a Calvinist, humans would be robots in this sense (but I don´t know if Matt Powell is a Calvinist).

OK, I promise not to do this anymore.