The Anti-Gospel of Jesus Christ

by Miko Bartek

faith: a belief held without evidence or proof

assumption: something accepted as true without evidence or proof

Faith and assumptions are quite similar. They have nearly the same meaning. Often, they play the same role in our thinking. Assumptions are necessary in the absence of knowledge. The same can be said of faith. Faith is necessitated by ignorance. When we do not have answers to life’s questions, what should we believe? Something is often better than nothing.

However, there is an important difference between faith and assumptions. Assumptions play an important role in logical reasoning and argumentation. Faith has no such role, unless by faith you actually mean assumptions.

In the context of logical reasoning, assumptions are necessary. Because we cannot know everything, or because it would be too time-consuming to show everything, we have to make some assumptions. These are things that are accepted as true within the context of the argument or the reasoning.

Assumptions should be stated up front. They also should be true. And they should be used as sparingly as possible. This is because assumptions can be wrong. Wrong assumptions lead to wrong conclusions. If your thinking is based on false assumptions, then it carries no weight.

In the previous post, I presented an argument that Jesus did not die for our sins. That argument is based on two assumptions.

The first assumption is that God exists. This assumption is logically necessary because the existence of God is an open question. I cannot claim that God exists with no evidence, but I can assume that God exists for the sake of the argument.

The second assumption is that God is moral. This too is an open question, even if the existence of God is given. I needed to state this up front because my argument hinges on this assumption.

Only two assumptions were needed to get my argument going. That is why there is no third assumption. Never assume anything more than is necessary. Never assume too much. The more that you assume, the greater the chance that you will introduce falsehoods into your thinking. It undermines the credibility of what you have to say.

Now consider faith in light of what I shared about assumptions. To summarize, assumptions should be true. And they should be used as little as possible.

Compare that with the assumptions of the Christian faith. For instance, Christians wrongly assume that the Bible is the Word of God. (I will disprove this notion in a separate post.) They do not merely assume that God exists. They also assume that God is moral. But they do not stop there. Because they also assume that their god is the God. They assume that God is named Jesus, as well as the Father and the Spirit. Each name refers to a distinct personality that is assumed to exist. But they assume that all three are one and the same god, which makes no sense. The assumptions of faith are broad, sweeping, deep, and contradictory. Christianity does not assume as little as possible. Christianity assume everything, including God’s supposed thoughts. This guarantees that Christian beliefs are wrong, from a logical point of view.

Logical assumptions are not arguments. They are the starting points for reasoning. A good argument starts with good assumptions, but that is not enough. A logical argument also depends on reasoning and evidence. Without that, truth cannot be established.

Christian faith begins with false and unnecessary assumptions. Faith does not present any arguments based on evidence. Therefore, articles of faith cannot be credibly claimed to be true.