It's sadly common to find Christians misrepresenting - and sometimes even lying - about a variety of things in their effort to promote or defend their religion. There are a lot of topics that we can see deception in, but I think that one of the most common may be the concept of "faith."
What atheist hasn't encountered a Christian trying to argue that atheism, science, or something else is "faith" or "based on faith" just like Christianity? This is obviously a fallacy of equivocation, but it's also dishonest because such Christians definitely know that they are using "faith" in more than one way.
Bobby Warren: So, it appears you have faith, too, that natural is really supernatural. It's a start.
Bobby Warren: In the end, nothing to hang hat on, except "... but I think X because Y said/wrote ..." unless you've done original research
Bobby Warren: Consequently, you are accepting something on faith
There's nothing here even remotely close to how Paul defines "faith" in the New Testament. Bobby Warren certainly knows this, so he certainly knows that even if it's correct to use "faith" in the above, it's not correct to present it as anything remotely like his faith.
The misrepresentations go deeper than that, though, because Warren also misrepresents science. People who know something about science don't merely hang their hat on "I think X because Y wrote." Science doesn't work that way -- religion often does, but not science. Perhaps that's part of his problem -- assuming that everything works like his religion?
Bobby Warren: Here's the deal, scientists like Richard Dawkins say no one knows for sure how life began. So...
Bobby Warren: we can assert all day long God created the universe or it happened by accident, but neither of us is 100 sure. So,...
Bobby Warren: we both hold to positions not fully backed by science. Metaphysical musings by scientists are not science. So,...
Bobby Warren: I have my faith and you have yours, but only one of us is being truthful about what is known about creation.
And the misrepresentations of science just keep on coming...
Bobby Warren's argument appears to be that if you aren't 100% sure and not 100% backed by science, then it's just metaphysical musings. What's more, everything you're not 100% sure about is equivalent in terms of how reliable it is, making it all equally "faith," no better than any other "faith." I'm not sure that words would be sufficient to express just how absurd and even dumb that is.
Not being 100% sure about something doesn't mean you're relying entirely on faith. Not being 100% backed by science doesn't mean you're relying entirely on faith. Not being 100% sure about something doesn't mean that you're in exactly the same position as everyone else who is less than 100% sure about something.
Anyone who understands how science works will understand this. But you have to be honest about what science is and what faith is.
Sadly, not all Christians are.
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