A bit over two years ago I was searching around WordPress.com at random, when I came across the blog of a christian blogger who claimed to have three questions which he felt were unanswerable by any means other than his own version of “god”. While I am not going to give a link to his blog at this time, due to the desire not “feed” him with any undo hits, I will say that if you’re interested in finding his blog, there will be more than enough direct quotes from his blog to allow you to find it via Google if you are interested.

To give a bit of background on why I checked out this blog, I will point out that one of the reasons I stopped on this particular blog, is that the “questions” which he posed on this blog were essentially the same ones posed by a commenter on my post, An open question to all believers. If you’d like to check out his comments on my blog, search for posts to and from “empyrean” and then more recently posts to and from “thisword” and one new post from “empy“.

As for my reason for posting this exchange, I fear that this blogger may delete and/or either my own comments, or his comments or original post, and I’d like to save them for posterity as a prime example of intellectual dishonesty.

I will also mention ahead of time, that I called out the owner of this blog about this striking similarity between his blog, and the previous poster on my own blog, and he replied via email to this point, and I will post this email at the end of this post. (as usual, the believer, thisword / empy, will be in black, while my thoughts are in blue)

Original Post:

I have had a few email exchanges with an atheist Guru who claims to have a best seller on the subject. In my email exchanges with him, he was very generous and answered all my questions but three which I am giving for any one to answer.

I said, ”In all your mails you did not answer my three questions.” I went on to say, “I hope you will give me answers to these questions”. I did not get a reply from him as yet. Some one reading this might like to answer me. ok.

Qn1. Produce ONE person other person than you, who had an over-night transformation from drugs, sex, and gutter like you had, by trusting in self, or in some thing, or in anything other than in Jesus. (In his deconverson story he says that he had trusted in JESUS and that he was transformed over-night in his late teens from drugs and sex etc. But now he says that it was in himself that he trusted and not in Jesus. Now he says that it was the ’power of faith’ that saved him and not Jesus.)

I said, I would show him millions aroud the world who could testify that Jesus changed them over-night. I am asking for just one person who had an over-night transformation like that with out Jesus and the Bible.

Qn2. Tell me the name of SOME THING, ANY THING which does not exist other than God (as you say God does not), and yet men every where have been talking about it non-stop from time immemorial until today.

3. Show me ONE individual who produced similar results as I have produced for a whole life time, but trusting in some thing, or any thing other than the God of the Bible, especially at the construction of the building that I talked about.

I said I could show him numerous people like myself all around the world who subsisted by prayer. (See my post ‘Maruthy Omni’ to read about how I got the car which I run now. Could any one produce similar results by trusting in ‘any thing or some thing’ or trusting in self?) For my experience in constructing a concrete building in thirty days with out a human sponsor and other experiences in prayer see my blog-site [blog name/link removed] .

All of these questions require answers which would be anecdotal, not actual scientific evidence, however, if you must have answers despite the fact that those answers neither prove nor disprove anything then I guess I can it a try…

“Qn1. Produce ONE person other person than you, who had an over-night transformation from drugs, sex, and gutter like you had, by trusting in self, or in some thing, or in anything other than in Jesus.“

I personally would “fit” this description.

“Qn2. Tell me the name of SOME THING, ANY THING which does not exist other than God (as you say God does not), and yet men every where have been talking about it non-stop from time immemorial until today.”

Only one, damn I was going to mention: Vampires, gods other than the christian one (such as zeus, ra, thor, etc), physic powers, astrology, dragons, life force (known by many names, but one of the most well known would be chi), etc…

3. Show me ONE individual who produced similar results as I have produced for a whole life time, but trusting in some thing, or any thing other than the God of the Bible, especially at the construction of the building that I talked about.

Ghandi!!!

Thank you for coming in to comment. I appreciate it very much though you thought my questions do not require scientific evidence. Yes, indeed, as science can not talk about things which are not in the physical realm, we can/do not expect a scientific solution to our problem.

You answered my first question with a superb answer. Honestly I would love to hear your life experience as to how you were “redeemed” from a life of drugs and sex and from the gutter over-night. Please do post a link about your life and experience. After reading it I would reconsider my first question. Thanks indeed.

Your answer to my second question only tells me that man everywhere had a spiritual hunger. They are all talking about spirit beings/spiritual things. Man always knew within himself that some thing beyond the physical IS there. That’s it.

Your answer to my third question makes me laugh! What is the comparison between Gandi and me? Probably he would not have been an out-spoken atheist like you. That is just about the only comparision.

Did he go into a room and close the door for eight to ten hours per day sitting to pray to some god? Where did you read that? Did he cut himself off from people all around to acheive his goals by prayer and only by prayer? Tell me where I can read about it. I would be very interested to hear answers to these questions and then I will accept that one could compare me with Gandhi.ok

Do post your replies, please. Thank you.

My life story is quite boring, but I accomplished much in a relatively short time, even being an atheist.

Your answer to my second question only tells me that man everywhere had a spiritual hunger.

Vampires are more about immortality, fear of death, and sexuality than spiritualism.

Your third question was:

Show me ONE individual who produced similar results as I have produced for a whole life time, but trusting in some thing, or any thing other than the God of the Bible, especially at the construction of the building that I talked about.

Ghandi did not trust in the christian god, and yet he accomplished as much if not more than any person in recent history…
Would you argue that either Ghandi was a christian (which he OBVIOUSLY was not) or that you accomplished more than Ghandi?

If you’re going to dismiss my answer then tell me which one it is…

Your life story could never be boring if as you said you had an over-night transformation from drugs,sex and gutter. It would be very exciting if that indeed took place any life. Wouldn’t it?

Vampire stories, whether more immoral than spiritual, nevertheless they are spiritual. Are they not?

Gandhi was neither a Christian nor have I accomplished anything anywhere near Gandhi has accomplished in his life.

All that I accomplished in my whole life as a fresher in the university till I became incapable of active life was simply only through prayer. You could never say that about Gandhi’s accomplishments.

You did not tell me where you read about Gandhi isolated himself from public for prayer for more than six months to prove that God indeed answered prayers as I did for the same.

Could you be honest and say that all that Gandhi accomplished in his great life was simple, direct, tangible, undeniable answers to prayer as I claim to do in raising that 700 sft. concrete building in that remote part of the world with no human sponsor whatever and with no publicity whatever. Yet I completed the work in thirty days from the day I started with no money in hand and no other source for money than prayer.I placed a granite inscription on the building saying, “This building stands witnessing the fact that God of Elijah lives”. After all, am I not obliged to show who the donors were for that building since I did not have money on me.

Could you possibly make such a claim for Gandhi? Gandhi never made that claim for himself. How could you ever do it for him then?

Regarding Ghandi, your question did not state name somebody who prayed to a different god, your question said somebody who did much while

trusting in some thing, or any thing other than the God of the Bible.

Do you disagree that Ghandi trusted “in some thing, or any thing other than the God of the Bible”?

Or do you disagree that Ghandi did as much or more in his lifetime that you accomplished?

Vampire stories, whether more immoral than spiritual, nevertheless they are spiritual. Are they not?

Umm, no, they are not. SOME vampire stories may be spiritual, but the vampire mythology as a whole is not spiritual.

Do you admit that I answered this question or not, that’s the simple response I am looking for. If so, then stop attempting to use it as a “point” for the existence of your idea of god. If not, explain how it does not EXACTLY MATCH your criteria laid out in your question without “moving the goalpost” to keep your question open.

Your life story could never be boring if as you said you had an over-night transformation from drugs,sex and gutter. It would be very exciting if that indeed took place any life. Wouldn’t it?

My transformation was drastic, but based on deciding that it was time to change. I cut off old “friends”, got a new job, moved in with my (now) wife, and changed a lot of habits (including some that were less than legal).
The change was drastic, the story is boring. All of the good stories are from when i was still living in the old lifestyle.

Thank you for making it clear that your story is boring.

My second question was: “Did man talk about any thing else other than ’spirituality’ non-stop from time immemorial even until today?”

What is the comparison between me and Gandhi? He is someone acclaimed world over, someone who accomplished much more than many other great men. I saw his statue in British Museum.

And who am I? An unknown person, living in an unknown place prayed and accomplished the unbelievable. No sensible person would ever compare me with Gandhi.

Or are you trying to play with words? If Gandhi ever isolated himself from public to pray and acomplished his purpose, tell me about him.

Regarding the second question, ACTUALLY, your question was:

Tell me the name of SOME THING, ANY THING which does not exist other than God (as you say God does not), and yet men every where have been talking about it non-stop from time immemorial until today.

This question was about GOD, not spirituality, PLEASE do not attempt to move the goal post now that your question has been answered.

Regarding the third question, your asked:

Show me ONE individual who produced similar results as I have produced for a whole life time, but trusting in some thing, or any thing other than the God of the Bible, especially at the construction of the building that I talked about.

You want an individual person (Ghandi) who produced “similar” results (Ghandi produced MUCH in his lifetime) who trusted in some thing OTHER than the god of the bible (Ghandi was not christian or Jewish, so he OBVIOUSLY trusted in something other than “your” god).
You’re once again trying to move the goal post by switching the question to his praying, which was NEVER part of the original question.

I’m not playing with words at all, I’m trying to force you to stick to your OWN ORIGINAL QUESTION. If you’re unable or unwilling to do this, then why would you create this blog in the first place?

Why can’t you just admit it that your ACTUAL questions were answered. Why is it that you have this “need” to move the goal post just because you can’t stand the fact that somebody (specifically an atheist) was able to answer your questions?

I’m curious to see if you’ll be willing to admit that ANY of your three questions was answered EXACTLY AS YOU ASKED THEM, much less all three were answered.

You seemingly have the idea in your head that these questions are unique, or special in some way, and that “no atheist” would be capable of answering them to your satisfaction.

While I find SO humorous in the whole thing, is that somebody with essentially your EXACT SAME back story (praying, living in a 3rd world country, not telling others to pray for him, and a building of some type built in only 30 days with no money, etc) had essentially the EXACT SAME THREE questions which he asked on my own blog, as his “proof” of god, and he also refused to accept any answers as valid, until another christian who was also posting on my blog called him out on his blatant lack of intellectual honesty, at which point he abruptly left the discussion on my blog, and has yet to return.

I actually almost think that you’re the same person under a different name, or one of you “copied” the life story from the other (or you both copied form some other source) to use in an attempt at “converting” non-christians.

This idea gains even more credence based on the fact that the entire purpose of every post on this blog is to link to these first two, as if you think this is a good “tool” for you to “spread the word” in some type of attempt to convert people to your own faith.

You said, “This question was about GOD, not spirituality, PLEASE do not attempt to move the goal post now that your question has been answered”

Ultimate goal of all spirituality is god. So if man talked about it from time immemorial as you yourself accept, they were in fact talking about god of some kind. So my question remains. I did not move the goal-post.

You said,”I’m not playing with words at all, I’m trying to force you to stick to your OWN ORIGINAL QUESTION. If you’re unable or unwilling to do this, then why would you create this blog in the first place?”

My original question: “Show me ONE individual who produced similar results as I have produced for a whole life time, but trusting in some thing, or any thing other than the God of the Bible, especially at the construction of the building that I talked about”.

Buddy, I stick with my original question. If you can not understand a single sentence in English properly, why do you come in to comment here?

I said, “…AS I HAVE PRODUCED…” I clearly I told you how I produced results in my life. It was by going into a room and closing my door for eight to ten hours and praying there to the God of the Bible for more than six months. I just had an attatched bathroom which I used in between! This is how how I produced results “…ESPECIALLY AT THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE BUILDING THAT I TALKED ABOUT”.

Unless you produce another person who produced similar results by following similar methods YOU HAVED NOT ANSWERED MY QUESTION.

I HAVE NOT CHANGED MY GOAL-POST!

Then you asked me why would you create this blog in the first place.

Because I want infidels like you to know that God of the Bible is REAL and He indeed answers prayers IF any one is willing to accept HIS terms and conditions in life.

Because I want believers around the world to gird up their loins and pray as never before.

Because I want the Name of God to be glorified here on earth TO WHOM ALONE BELONGS ALL GLORY HONOR AND MIGHT.

GOD IS REAL. WHO COULD CHALLENGE?

ARE YOU SERIOUS?
READ YOUR ORIGINAL POST!

I’d like to continue this discussion, but you are being ridiculously intellectually dishonest, and it seems like it will be a waste of time to continue with you any further. However, I will give it ONE LAST TRY.

I answered ALL THREE of your questions, as they were asked.
1) Me
2) Vampires, gods other than the christian one (such as zeus, ra, thor, etc), physic powers, astrology, dragons, life force (known by many names, but one of the most well known would be chi), etc…
3) Ghandi

You have yet to acknowledge that ANY of these three qualify, even though they CLEARLY MEET the criteria laid out in your original post.

Please explain how those three answers above do not fulfill your three original questions (not your NEW INTERPRETATION OF THESE QUESTIONS).

question #1:

Produce ONE person other person than [the original person who you had the conversation with], who had an over-night transformation from drugs, sex, and gutter like you had, by trusting in self, or in some thing, or in anything other than in Jesus.

I answered you as simply as I possibly could. All you have done since is to ask for specifics of my “story” which I gave you the quick overview of. Is this in some way not “good enough” for you?

question #2:

Tell me the name of SOME THING, ANY THING which does not exist other than God (as you say God does not), and yet men every where have been talking about it non-stop from time immemorial until today.

Of the ones I mentioned in my original post, Vampires, physic powers, astrology, and dragons are NOT about “god” by any way you may want to “god” or spiritualism.

question #3:

Show me ONE individual who produced similar results as I have produced for a whole life time, but trusting in some thing, or any thing other than the God of the Bible, especially at the construction of the building that I talked about.

Your original question says nothing about prayer
But for the sake of argument, are you attempting to claim that Ghandi was not religious towards his hindu “gods”?
Or are you claiming that Ghandi did not accomplish as much in his lifetime as you accomplished?

I AM REALLY SERIOUS.
I STICK WITH MY ORIGINAL POST.

You said, “I’d like to continue this discussion, but you are being ridiculously intellectually dishonest…”

Not me. Bu you are!

Yoy said, “Please explain how those three answers above do not fulfill your three original questions (not your NEW INTERPRETATION OF THESE QUESTIONS).”

question #1:
Produce ONE person other person than [the original person who you had the conversation with], who had an over-night transformation from drugs, sex, and gutter like you had, by trusting in self, or in some thing, or in anything other than in Jesus.
I answered you as simply as I possibly could. All you have done since is to ask for specifics of my “story” which I gave you the quick overview of. Is this in some way not “good enough” for you?

My answer: If you say you had an over-night transformation from drugs and sex and gutter, you could never say in the same breath that your life is boring. But you said that your life is boring twice in this blog! Which shall I believe?

question #2:
Tell me the name of SOME THING, ANY THING which does not exist other than God (as you say God does not), and yet men every where have been talking about it non-stop from time immemorial until today.
Of the ones I mentioned in my original post, Vampires, physic powers, astrology, and dragons are NOT about “god” by any way you may want to “god” or spiritualism.

My answer: Vampires, physic powers,astrology, and dragons are all considered ‘divine’ by some one or the other.And they are worshipped in some place or other. Please pay a visit to India. i will show you temples built for Vampires, other evil spirits by the same name, temples for any thing and every thing. Even for cenema stars! My point is man from time immemorial even until today is ‘god-conscious’ and that is a proof for the existence of God TO ME.

question #3:
Show me ONE individual who produced similar results as I have produced for a whole life time, but trusting in some thing, or any thing other than the God of the Bible, especially at the construction of the building that I talked about.
Your original question says nothing about prayer
But for the sake of argument, are you attempting to claim that Ghandi was not religious towards his hindu “gods”?
Or are you claiming that Ghandi did not accomplish as much in his lifetime as you accomplished?

My answer: I wanted any one to produce another person who produced results, I said, “As I Produced” meaning the method I used, then I concluded “especially at the construction of the building that I talked about”; and in the blog I clearly gave the link about what actually happened then. If someone wanted to comment without reading it what could I do?

I say, no athiest could ever even dream of what I am talking about from my life history. It is not fantacy. It is real life story. Now as a retired man I am talking about it so that no one could ever doubt that God is ever present and active in the world tody.

Who could say that my original post said nothing about prayer? What is the point in my original post about the concrete building, if it is not answer to prayer?

You may have the gift of the gab. But you could never ever challenge my experiences in prayer. If you would stop all your silly arguments and bring yourself under the terms and conditions of the BIble, I promise that you would have greater results as my personality is no match for yours.

Question #1:
Just because in your own limited view of the world, you can not conceive of something which is drastic in it’s effect, yet boring as far a story goes, apparently in your mind means it’s not possible. It’s nice that you seem to think that the only things possible in the world are those which your limited capacity for understanding can comprehend, but in the real world where the rest of us live, there is much that happens that we know is beyond our understanding, and we accept these things as still being true.
For instance i can not comprehend the fact that W was elected not once, but TWICE, when he is obviously the worst president in American history. This does not mean it did not happen, it just means that I am not capable of understanding the mentality of the people who voted for him in 2004 when it was obvious he was totally incompetent.

Question #2
There are people who follow the “religion of jedi”, this does not mean that everybody who watches the Star Wars movies is there or a religious or spiritual experience. Just because SOME people are stupid enough to worship vampires, or dragons, or toasters, does not mean that the concept of these things are spiritual in nature.

Question #3
Your ORIGINAL QUESTION asked for somebody who accomplished as much as you without the god of the bible. You NEVER mentioned atheists, and if you meant atheist, then OBVIOUSLY no atheist would “pray” for anything, so you seem to think your NEW VERSION of this question is an impossible one to answer.
Ghandi is a PERFECT answer for your ORIGINAL QUESTION, just because you change the rules after the fact, does not mean anything.

There is obviously no intention on your part to have an intellectually honest debate. You have two preconceived notions in your head which you seemingly will not let go of.
First of all, you seem to think these question hold some relevance as to the existence, or truth of your own faith. They don’t, I could claim the flying spaghetti monster is true, and that only Pastafarians could accomplish a certain thing through the act of eating his noodley appendage. This does not mean that my claims have any weight or bearing in the reality of the world in which we live.
The second preconceived notion you have is that your question are unanswerable except through your own limited view of god. Because of this believe, you’d never be willing to accept any answer, no matter how many times somebody is willing to follow you along as you move the goal post to suit your own needs, you’ll just continue to move it further and further as they follow you each time.

Either through ignorance, self delusion, or intentional deception you are unwilling to participate in an intellectually honest debate, and I see no reason to continue wasting my time talking to a person such as yourself. You obviously have anger issues you need to resolve:

“Because I want infidels like you to know that God of the Bible is REAL and He indeed answers prayers IF any one is willing to accept HIS terms and conditions in life.
Because I want believers around the world to gird up their loins and pray as never before.
Because I want the Name of God to be glorified here on earth TO WHOM ALONE BELONGS ALL GLORY HONOR AND MIGHT.
GOD IS REAL. WHO COULD CHALLENGE?”

You should seek professional help before your violent and aggressive tendencies lead you down a path of harming yourself or others.

If you decide at some point to join the ranks of those willing to have an open and honest debate I welcome you to join the discussion at my blog:
http://potomac9499.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/an-open-question-to-all-believers/

But there are some ground rules, you’ll be expected to abide by, so please do not post unless/until you are willing to question your own preconceptions.

The following is this blogger’s email to me which for some reason he did not want to post on his own blog:

you are right. It is the same person here. I have four differnt blogs for four differet purposes. But if you had read the link I gave in your blog and in the one you came in to comment, you could have easily found me out.

I left your blog, I know rather abruptly, because I knew I could not match you for arguments. But my experiences in prayer stand unchallenged till the end of the world.

I am not talking about fantacy. I am talking about my life of faith and trust with five children in an unknown part of the world with out a human sponsor, without a bank balance, without an estate income etc. . Yet , not only that we never ever went hungry and needy, we are looked upon as people with great assets in life. All because of prayer.

Who could ever doubt that God answers prayers after closely looking at our lives? If you are serious about proving that there is no God, here is evidence which could not be easily ignored.

You blame me for using the blog for convering people to my faith. What exactly is the purpose of your blog if it is not to spread your ideas and challenge believers who are gullible?

It is rather strange that we met twice unawares. May be it is time for you to think a little differently. My life is not simply based on a philosophy; rather it is based on a life-time experience.