Atheists’ Myths: Part 3
Richard Deem
For the time will come when men will not
put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to
suit their own desires, they will gather
around them a great number of teachers
to say what their itching ears want to
hear. They will turn their ears away from
the truth and turn aside to myths. (2
Timothy 4:3-4)
Atheist Myth #3:
Christianity Was
Invented by Paul, Not
Founded by Jesus of
Nazareth
Paul Invented Christianity?
Atheists claim that Paul invented the
majority of Christian doctrines
 Jesus did not teach the majority of
doctrines taught by Paul
 Paul did not know anything about the
Jesus of the gospels, but just knew the
“Cosmic Christ”

Paul Meets Jesus
"But it happened that as I was on my
way, approaching Damascus about
noontime, a very bright light suddenly
flashed from heaven all around me, and I
fell to the ground and heard a voice
saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting Me?' And I answered, 'Who
are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am
Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are
persecuting.' "(Acts 22:6-8)
Did Paul Invent the
Christian Doctrines?
Basic Doctrines Taught
Throughout the Bible
Doctrine
First
Taught
Taught by
Jesus
Paul
Others
Atonement Isaiah 53:5by death on 12,
a cross
Zechariah
12:10,
Psalm
22:16
Matthew 10:38,
16:24, 26:28,
Mark 8:34,
14:24, Luke
9:23, 14:27,
22:20, John
12:32-33
1 Corinthians
1:18, 11:25,
Ephesians 2:8,
16, Colossians
1:20, 2:14
John 1:29, 36,
Acts 8:32, 1
Peter 1:18-19,
2:24, Revelation
5:12-14, 7:14
Believe in
Jesus for
eternal life
Matthew 19:29, Romans 5:21,
Acts 11:17-18, 1
Mark 10:29-30, 6:23, 1 Timothy John 5:11
Luke 9:24, John 1:16, Jude 1:21
3:16
Job 19:2526
Basic Doctrines Taught
Throughout the Bible
Doctrine
First
Taught
Jesus
Taught by
Paul
Righteousness Genesis
comes by faith 15:6,
Habakkuk
2:4
Mark 11:22,
Luke 7:50
Justification by
faith
Luke 7:50, 8:12 Romans 3:28,
Mark 16:16,
30, 5:1, 18,
John 3:18, 5:24 Galatians 2:16,
3:8, 24
Isaiah
53:11
Others
Romans 1:17,
Hebrews 11:4,
3:22, 3:25-26,
7, 2 Peter 1:1
4:3, 9, 11, 13,
5:17, 9:30, 10:4,
10, Galatians
3:6, 11,
Philippians 3:9
James 2:23
Basic Doctrines Taught
Throughout the Bible
Doctrine
First
Taught
Jesus
Taught by
Paul
Others
Forgiveness of
sin through
faith
2 Chronicles
7:14, Psalm
86:5,
Jeremiah
31:33-34
Matthew 9:2,
6, 26:27-28,
Mark 2:5, 1011, Luke
5:20, 24, Acts
26:18
Ephesians
1:7, 4:32,
Colossians
1:13-14, 2:13,
3:13
Luke 1:76-77,
Acts 2:38, 5:31,
10:43, 13:38,
Hebrews 10:1820, James 5:15,
1 John 1:7-9,
2:12
Repentance
Isaiah 1:27,
30:15,
Ezekiel
18:32
Matthew
4:17, Mark
1:15, Luke
5:32, 13:3,
24:46-47
Romans 2:4, 2 Matthew 3:2,
Corinthians
Mark 1:4, Luke
7:9-10
3:3, Acts 2:38,
17:30, 20:21, 2
Peter 3:9
Paul Knew Jesus’ Teachings
Teaching
Parable of sower
Stumbling stone
Ruling against divorce
Support for apostles
Institution of Lord's supper
Command concerning prophets
Lord's return
Blessing of the persecuted
Don't repay evil with evil
Pay taxes to authorities
No stumbling block
Nothing is unclean
Thief in the night
Peace among yourselves
Peace with everyone
Do not judge
Paul
1 Corinthians 3:6-10
Romans 9:33
1 Corinthians 7:10
1 Corinthians 9:14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
1 Corinthians 14:37
1 Thessalonians 4:15
Romans 12:14
Romans 12:17 and 1
Thessalonians 5:15
Romans 13:7
Romans 14:13
Romans 14:14
1 Thessalonians 5:2
1 Thessalonians 5:13
Romans 12:18
Romans 13:10
Jesus
Matthew 13:1-23
Matthew 18:7
Mark 10:11
Luke 10:7
Matthew 26:26-28
Matthew 23:34
Matthew 24:1-51
Luke 6:27
Mark 12:12-17
Mark 9:42
Mark 9:42
Mark 7:15
Luke 12:39
Mark 9:50
Mark 9:50
Luke 6:37
Did Paul Know the
Real Jesus?
Paul: The Man Jesus
Physical Attribute
Jesus came into the world
Jesus was seen by Paul
Jesus was a man
Verses
1 Timothy 1:15, Philippians 2:5-8
1 Corinthians 9:1
Romans 5:15, 1 Timothy 2:5, Philippians 2:5-8
Jesus was flesh
Romans 1:3, 8:3, 9:5, 2 Corinthians 5:16, Ephesians 2:1415, 1 Timothy 3:16
1 Corinthians 11:23-25
Romans 3:24-25, 5:9, 1 Corinthians 10:16, 11:25, 27
Ephesians 1:7, 2:13, Colossians 1:20
Jesus ate and drank
Jesus bled
Jesus was crucified
1 Corinthians 1:13, 23, 2:2, 8, 2 Corinthians 13:4, Galatians
3:1, Philippians 2:8
Jesus died
Romans 5:6, 8, 10 6:3, 5, 9-10, 8:34, 14:9, 15, 1 Corinthians
8:11, 11:26 15:3, 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, Galatians 2:21,
Philippians 2:8, 3:10, Colossians 1:22, 1 Thessalonians
4:14, 5:10
Jesus was raised from the Romans 1:4, 4:24-25, 6:4-5 9, 7:4, 8:11, 34, 9:17, 10:9, 1
dead
Corinthians 6:14, 15:4, 12-17, 20, 2 Corinthians 4:14, 5:15
Galatians 1:1, Ephesians 1:20, Colossians 2:12, 1
Thessalonians 1:10, 4:14
Conclusion
The core doctrines of Christianity are
taught not only by Paul, but also by
Jesus, the apostles, and Old Testament
saints.
 The atheist claim that Paul invented
Christianity is a myth

More In-Depth Research Papers
Paul Invented Christianity? Is the
Founder of the Christian Religion Paul
of Tarsus or Jesus of Nazareth?
 History of the Bible: How The Bible
Came To Us
 The Bible Has Been Changed Over the
Centuries From the Original?

More Atheist Myths
GodAndScience.org
Creation Update:
“Evolution” of Fairness and
Punishment
Did Cooperation Evolve?



Evolutionary psychology claims that human
interaction is largely a function of the genes
and that it evolved along with our physical
characteristics to make us what we are
Accordingly, humans possess an innate
social psychology evolved for cooperation
within our small-scale Paleolithic societies
With the emergence of agriculture these
behaviors were mistakenly extended to nonkin individuals, as societies expanded
Did Cooperation Evolve?

Determinism claims that humans lack
free will, but react to stimuli in a
predictable, programmed way
Study Design
Money-swapping games were played
by 2,148 people from 15 small societies
around the world
 The amount of money used was the
equivalent of one day’s wage
 Market Integration was measured by
the percentage of calories that that
were purchased

Dictator Game
Two anonymous players are allotted a
sum of money (the stake) in a one-shot
interaction
 Player 1 must decide how to divide this
sum between himself and Player 2
 Player 2 receives the allocation (offer),
and the game ends
 Player 1’s offer to Player 2 provides a
measure of Player 1’s behavioral fairness

Ultimatum Game









Two anonymous players are again allotted a sum in a one-shot
interaction
Player 1 can offer a portion of this to Player 2
Player 2, before hearing the actual offer from Player 1, must decide
whether to accept or reject each of the possible offers
If Player 2 specified that he or she would accept the amount of the
actual offer, then Player 2 receives the offered amount and Player 1
gets the remainder.
If Player 2 specified that he would reject the offered amount, then
both players receive zero
If people are motivated purely by money maximization, Player 2 will
always accept any positive offer
Realizing this, Player 1 should offer the smallest nonzero amount
Because this is a one-shot anonymous interaction, Player 2’s
willingness to reject provides a measure of punishment
Player 1’s offer measures a combination of social motivations and
an assessment of the likelihood of rejection, providing a second
behavioral measure of fairness.
Ultimatum Game Example


$100 stake
Player 1 offers $20 to Player 2
Player 2
Acceptance
Player 1
Player 2
$20
$80
$20
$30
$0
$0
Third-Party Punishment Game




Two players are allotted a stake and a third
player also receives the equivalent of one-half of
the stake
Player 1 must decide how much to allocate to
Player 2, who has no choices
Player 3, before hearing the actual amount that
Player 1 allocated to Player 2, has to decide
whether to pay 20% or more of his allocation to
punish Player 1 for each of the possible offers
If punished, Player 1 loses triple the amount paid
by Player 3
Third-Party Punishment Example


$100 stake
Player 1 offers $10 to Player 2 (keeping $90)
Punishment Player 1 Player 2 Player 3
No
$90
$10
$50
Yes
$60
$10
$40
Mean Dictator Game Offers for Each
Population vs. Market Integration
J. Henrich et al. 2010. Science 327: 1480-1484.
Creation Update:
Should Extremely Small
Probabilities be Considered
Scientifically Possible?
Background
Many atheists claim that if something is
possible, it should be considered as
having a basis in scientific reality
 Mere possibility is not an adequate basis
for asserting scientific plausibility
 This paper presents a method of
objectively measuring the plausibility of
any chance hypothesis (The Universal
Plausibility Metric – UPM)

Calculating the UPM





4.4 × 1017 seconds since the Big Bang
Plank time (minimum time interval) is 10-43
seconds
Number of possible quantum transitions
since the Big Bang would be 1043 × 1017 =
1060
number of protons, neutrons and electrons is
1080
Universal probability bound is:
1043 × 1017 × 1080 = 10140
Calculating the UPM
qΩu = Universe = 1043 trans/sec × 1017
secs × 1080 particles = 10140
 qΩg = Galaxy = 1043 trans/sec × 1017
secs × 1067 particles = 10127
 qΩs = Solar System = 1043 trans/sec ×
1017 secs × 1057 particles = 10117
 qΩu = Earth = 1043 trans/sec × 1017 secs
× 1042 particles = 10102

Origin of Life
Origin of life theories are dependent
upon the maximum chemical reaction
rate
 Shortest transition time is 10-15 sec
 Complete chemical reactions require
10-12 sec
 Biochemical reactions require 10-9 - 10-6
sec
 Exceedingly generous time of 10-13 sec

Origin of Life
qΩu = Universe = 1013 reactions/sec ×
1017 secs × 1078 atoms = 10108
 qΩg = Galaxy = 1043 trans/sec × 1017
secs × 1066 atoms = 1096
 qΩs = Solar System = 1043 trans/sec ×
1017 secs × 1055 atoms = 1085
 qΩu = Earth = 1043 trans/sec × 1017 secs
× 1040 atoms = 1070

Conclusions
Any scientific claim that produces
probabilities less than the UPM are
implausible and must be rejected on a
scientific basis
 Atheism is irrational
