Mind of a Christian

In God's Defense I - Human Fear Did Not Invent God

A Wattpad user, both in the comments of Mind of a Christian and his own writing, expressed that religion has no use for human life because it was made out of fear. If humans created religion, then they can cope and be comforted when looking at natural phenomena or when explaining death and existence beyond death. Now that we have made leaps and bounds in science, a lot of natural phenomena are explainable, making religion, obsolete and idiotic.

Based on what I've read from him, I will assume that he is implying the Christian religion when arguing against its usefulness for humanity. In that sense, I will narrow my argument in defense of the Christian faith. I think that this is a safe assumption, given the circumstances.

I am here to argue the following:

Human fear did not invent the God of the Bible.

If we were talking about Greek (and Roman) polytheism, then I would agree with the Wattpad user. Greco-Roman polytheism was formed on the basis of explaining away different natural phenomena. One example would be the story of Demeter, Persephone, and Hades, which explains how seasons change and why the Mediterranean people could not have good farming weather all year round. There is a god assigned to thunder, and another one to the sea, and another one to the sun, each with personalities more or less in line with how those aspects of nature behave.

But this is where he gets it wrong.

Christianity did not come from Greek polytheism, nor was it founded on the same premise as Greek polytheism. The God of Israel and the Bible are centered on Israel, not Greece, not Italy. As a religion, Christianity is independent from Greek polytheism.

The Bible is not intended to be a textbook to explain phenomena.

Now, the Bible does provide explanations of natural phenomena and history. It does have an origin story in Genesis and historical accounts of events. However, the Bible isn't a cosmological history textbook. It isn't a static equilibrium textbook, nor an electricity and magnetism textbook. There are books of poetry in the Bible (Song of Songs). There are books of prophecy (pick one), and laws (Leviticus and the rest of the Torah), and life advice (Proverbs). There are books of song and praises (Psalms), eye witness accounts (The Gospels and Acts), and letters to different churches (pick one from the New Testament).

Of course Christianity was not primarily founded on explaining natural phenomena. Of course the Bible was not primarily written to explain natural phenomena. The Bible was never meant to.

The Bible is an outline of God's will. It explains the story of our current standing as humans with God. It shows how God is trying to bring us to a closer relationship with Him. It shows how time and time again, He is always faithful in seeking us and loving us, despite our constant rebellion against Him. It shows how He as the Messiah was ready to be the sacrifice for all the world's sin, past, present, and future.

God is not a product of human fear. God is not a product of anything, since that would imply that He has a creator prior to Him.

Christianity is not a product of human fear. The Christian belief is having faith that God will save you from the consequence of your sins.

The Bible is not a product of human fear. It was written to convey God's will and intention for us.

Because Christianity is not a product of human fear, you cannot make the argument that it is idiotic to"fear the imaginary beings to do the right thing". There's no force of coercion for me to be afraid of. You cannot make the argument that the Christian religion is idiotic and obsolete, because its intention does not make it obsolete with time.

To the Wattpad user and everyone else reading this, share your thoughts on this down in the comments. I am eager to hear of your counterarguments and opinions.