God Exists Because He is Not Alive

Thursday, 07 July 2011

First, grades for the summer semester were posted today. On my final project, the professor gave me a perfect score and wrote:

“James, Wow–this is a very strong, theoretically-sophisticated and well-developed analysis. While a couple of points could be reinforced and a couple of transitions could be further strengthened, this is, overall, very impressive work.

I received an A in the Women and Literature class, scoring 99 out of the 100 points available (I got *only* 4.5 out of 5 points on the first two assignments).

Second, I made a few new quizzes over at Sporcle. So go there and play them. And, if you are a registered user there, be sure to rate my quizzes. And if you’re not a registered user there, what’s your problem?

First quiz: Who’s had a #1 song? Part 1

Second quiz: Who’s had a #1 song? Part 2

Third quiz: Who was President longer?

Third, I get plenty of comments on my YouTube videos, especially the ones that concern the Watchtower Society. Many of them are complimentary, or they offer some sort of criticism. Of course, some of them are Witnesses railing against me – some just call me names or accuse me of being wicked, others say that I made a poor argument in one area or another. All in all, those comments are very predictable.

But two weeks ago, I received what might be the most bizarre argument put forth by any Witness apologist on any of my videos – he (or she – I can’t tell with a user name like “pussylumpessru”) claimed that my video Using Our Power of Reason uses faulty logic because (are you ready for this?) God is not alive.

Here’s his first comment:

“where did God come from?”

-God isn’t life, therefore he does not need to have prexisting life to exist. he GIVES life, life is something that requires cells, and can die. God cannot die because he is not alive, because he is not made of cells.

-Think of numbers, how they never end or start, the same thing with the existence of God. It had to beginning.

So then I replied:

“God isn’t life”

…I agree!

So then pussylumpessru said:

go away.

Ahh, such a typical Witness response; they make their argument and then, if I respond in a way that is anything other than, “Oh my, you are sooo right, I guess I’ll start going back to the meetings tomorrow,” then they just run away, possibly leaving a stupid quip like “go away” in their wake.

Fortunately, I’ve learned how to rope them back in to further discussion. The trick is to simply point out that I know they are scared to talk to me because they’ve been instructed not too. So here’ s what I said to pussylumpessru:

I know how you feel. When I was a Witness, it disturbed me greatly that there were people who held contrary beliefs. I too wished they would just “go away.” The WT Society does a great job of demonizing those people and convincing their members to cut off any contact with them. It’s sad, but when a belief structure is held up so tenuously, they must shun all dissenting opinions or risk losing members. I hope you have the courage to leave one day.

In another typical Witness maneuver, pussylumpessru dodges the topic at hand and moves on to a different topic. In this case, the one that he/she first aired. He/she responded thusly:

but i took away half the meaning of your video. I don’t understand why you still behave as if you’re right..

This was somewhat baffling to me, so I said:

I’m not sure where you “took away half the meaning” of the video, nor where I am behaving as if I’m right. My argument is that God is more complicated than a cell, and your tired apologetics don’t disprove that. Besides, the video was intended to show many of the errors in the brochure – so even if I am wrong in my assumption that the JWs believe their god to be more complicated than a cell, the other arguments still stand.

pussylumpessru did write back, but he/she sent me a private message (likely due to feeling guilty for talking with an ex-Witness so extensively). It read:

you stated in video “Where did God come from? If the society claims life can come from preexisting life, surely somebody created God.” Life is something that can reproduce, grow, and adapt to the environment. The most simple form of life is a cell. God does not grow, can’t reproduce because he does not have sperm cells, adapt to the environment, he does not have a digestive system, a liver, or bones. By definition, God is NOT life. So- going back to the “preexisting life has to come from other life” can’t apply to God because he is not life to begin with. He is not made of cells.

Wow. How insane is that? Essentially, he/she is arguing that we can have confidence God exists because He isn’t alive. Man, I didn’t even know where to begin with this one. I have never, ever heard this rationale espoused by any Witness or in any Watchtower publication ever. Here’s my response:

This seems funny to me, in that you are arguing that my video holds little merit since god “isn’t life.” In my decades as a Jehovah’s Witness, I never once heard any of my fellow believers make this claim. In fact, it’s hard for me to see how any sincere theist would ever make this claim unless they were trying to win an argument using linguistic backflips.
Your definition of life is an odd one. For one thing, I don’t think the ability to ejaculate sperm cells should count as a defining aspect of life. Many organisms reproduce without ever manufacturing a single sperm (my wife, for example). Binary fission, budding, spore formation, and parthenogenesis also come to mind. Additionally, I know of several people who are unable to reproduce who would be quite hurt to learn they do not fit your definition of life. The bible claims God has the ability to create life, and surely this — especially angelic beings — one of whom he calls his first-born son — counts as a form of reproduction. And while the Witnesses god may not have a digestive system, liver, or bones (I’m not sure how you know this), neither does most life on our planet, either.
Here’s another definition of life, found in my Webster’s Dictionary: ” 1) the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body; 2) a principle or force that is considered to underlie the distinctive quality of animate beings.” …So is the god of the bible alive, or is he dead? Is he animate, or inanimate?
If theists (and Witnesses in particular) now hold to the idea that god is not life, then my assertion still holds. Since the Watchtower Society claims that life can only come from pre-existing life, then god (who, according to you, is “NOT life”) could not have created life, because then life would have come from NOT life, and this violates the Watchtower’s teaching.
Of course, you are free to hold to whatever definition of life you prefer and if you feel that excludes deities, then that’s just fine. As I implied in my first paragraph, however, my video still makes a valid point in that my main argument is that Witnesses believe god is more complicated than a cell. Whether or not god has sperm or bones or even cells is beside the point. I think nearly all Witnesses — present company excepted, of course — would agree with this assertion. Additionally, they would also firmly assert that their god is alive, a belief they would no doubt back up by referencing their favorite book…
-“As Jehovah lives, if you had preserved them alive, I would not have to kill you.” (Judges 8:19)
-“For as Jehovah, who is the Deliverer of Israel, is alive, even if it is in Jonathan my son, yet he will positively die.” (1 Samuel 14: 39)
-“As Jehovah is alive, not as much as a single hair of his head will fall to the earth.” (1 Samuel 14:45)
-“Immediately Saul swore to her by Jehovah, saying: ‘As Jehovah is alive, guilt for error will not befall you in this matter!'” (1 Samuel 28:10)
-“‘Therefore, as I am alive,'” is the utterance of Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, ‘Mo´ab herself will become just like Sod´om,'” (Zephaniah 2:9)
-“As Jehovah is alive in truth, in justice and in righteousness!’ then in him the nations will actually bless themselves” (Jeremiah 4:2)
-“‘As Jehovah is alive!’ just as they taught my people to swear by Ba´al,” (Jeremiah 12:16)
-“‘Therefore as I am alive,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah” (Ezekiel 5:11)
-“‘as I am alive,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah” (Ezekiel 14:18)
-“‘as I am alive,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah” (Ezekiel 14:20)
-“‘As I am alive,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah” (Ezekiel 16:48)
-“‘As I am alive,” is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah,” (Ezekiel 17:16)
-“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: ‘As I am alive, surely my oath that he has despised'” (Ezekiel 17:19)
-“‘As I am alive,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah” (Ezekiel 18:3)
-“‘Therefore, as I am alive,’ is the utterance of Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel,” (Zephaniah 2:9)
…I could go on but, being as these are bible quotes, I’m already bored.
The bottom line is, if you think god is not alive, then the two of us can agree on that point. I’ll leave the video up online here for the benefit of the other 6 million Witnesses who do think their god is alive.

I haven’t heard back from pussylumpessru, but it’s only been a few hours. I’ll keep you posted.