god Archives

Book Review: Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris

July 1, 2018October 5, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

Atheists are often represented by those of us who are famous for their unbelief, namely Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett. When atheists began to speak up against religion and this was classified and demonized as “new atheism”, these four men emerged at the forefront of the movement. For years now, it has been common for atheists to be generalized as belonging to the same ilk as these four men. As someone young in her atheistic studies, I’ve looked up to them for being so steadfast in their unbelief, so sure, and so well-versed. At this point, though, I’ve read books by three of the four of them, and I don’t know that they’re all they’ve been built up to be.

Reading My Professor’s Apologetics Book: Part 2

June 24, 2018October 5, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

This week I was able to spend some time reading apologetics book E-mails to a Young Seeker by a former professor of mine, David S. Hogsette. I made it through to the fifth “email exchange” between Hogsette (or as he tirelessly refers to himself, Prof Dave) and his fictional “seeker” college student. Read more →

30 Best God is Not Great Quotes

May 13, 2018October 5, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

The day has finally arrived! My time at my Christian college is finally coming to a close. I’ve finished my tests and papers, and in a week, I’ll be graduating. To take a break from writing, this week I am sharing with you my favorite quotes from Hitchens’ God is Not Great. Enjoy!

Book Review: God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens

May 6, 2018October 13, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

I’d read three books prior to this one. The first said, “God exists.” The second said, “God does not exist.” The third said “God exists.” And the fourth said, “god is not great.”

Upon beginning this book, I had just barely made it out of Lee Strobel’s The Case for a Creator with my sanity. Strobel’s entire book was a biased scam of fallacy after fallacy in an insultingly illogical argument for intelligent design. I began God is Not Great ready to be refreshed hearing something from my own side of the argument, but what I found within its pages was even better. Read more →

The Argument from Objective Morality

March 25, 2018March 3, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

I once wrote an essay on why a naturalistic worldview does not invariably lead to nihilism. In this essay, I argued that morality is objective with or without a god. I tried (so hard) to use this to make the case that there is a definite law of right and wrong (yes, I used C.S. Lewis’ reasoning to make this point) within the human race, because I believed that without it, nihilism would ensue. I had been told once that anyone who is honest with herself and is a true nihilist would not be able to find any meaning in life or reason to live. It’s understandable that given this factor, I saw the link between naturalism and nihilism to be a deadly one, so I tried my very best to argue for atheistic objective morality.

Book Review: The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel

February 25, 2018October 5, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

The book starts off with Lee Strobel promising the reader that he will be as skeptical and unbiased as humanly possible. He tries to warm us up so that we will believe that he’s playing the part of the skeptic for us and so that we accept every conclusion that he and his friends reach.

Why I Have No Morals

November 19, 2017October 5, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

If I’m being honest, there are times when I see my Christian friends striving to be pure and not do things they find sinful like having sex or drinking or swearing, or even skipping church, and I feel almost as if I played some kind of cheat card that allows me to be free from following the rules. Then I remind myself that these rules make no sense and are completely made up, and breaking them actually causes no harm as long as you’re responsible. So while it may be true that atheists have fewer rules to follow, it’s also the logical and realistic position.

Reversing Pascal’s Wager

November 5, 2017October 13, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

Pascal’s Wager is an extremely popular topic among atheists and theists alike. On the off chance that you haven’t heard of it, Pascal’s Wager is a bargain of the existence of heaven and hell vs whether or not you ought to believe in God.

The old “wager” by Blaise Pascal can be summed up by this table: Read more →

Undercover Atheist Takes Christian College Apologetics Class: Lesson 3

October 29, 2017October 5, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

Hello and welcome to this week’s installment of The World’s Worst and Most Useless Class! If you’ve been following along in my Apologetics 101 series (here and here), then you’ll know that I signed up for this class to learn a thing or two about Christian apologetics and arguments for God that I could expect a Christian to use against me. You’ll also know that I’ve learned neither of these things. Actually, I’ve learned nothing. Read more →

A Look at Luther’s Small Catechism

October 22, 2017October 8, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

Luther’s Small Catechism is a required reading for the confirmation class that every Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod teen needs to take (against their will) in order to be a confirmed adult member of the LCMS church (which I am, unfortunately). It’s included in the Book of Concord, which is a complete collection of the confessions of the Lutheran Church; everything in the Small Catechism is to be taken as true (or at least the student should say they believe it) in order to be confirmed. So let’s take a look at what my entire family and I (and my fiancé) agreed to when we became members of the LCMS! (I just picked out the worst bits and pieces to actually discuss, but feel free to read the whole thing here.)