I have been asked this question a couple of times before,
“What evidence can convince you that the Christian religion is false?”
My response: “That Jesus did not rose from the dead”.
A following question is: “What would you do if that were the case? Would you be an atheist?”
Response: “Not at all. You see, even if Christianity is false that doesn’t make atheism true. I would not be a Christian theist, but a theist, nonetheless. The cumulative case for the existence of a God is still compelling to me. In order to be a full-blown atheist, such case needs to be teared down as well and a powerful positive case should be presented for me to consider it. The last thing I could do as a biblical Christian might be to be a hedonist”.
— “Sounds reaso… I’m sorry, What?”
Yes, a biblically thing to do might be to be a hedonist.
The apostle Paul says it in 1 Corinthians 15:12–16, 30–32
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
30 And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31 I face death every day — yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
If the dead don’t raise from the dead, if there’s no eternal after-life, if death is the end of all things, then the pursuit of pleasure sounds enticing.
But no.
I think I would have a pause and reflect on everything.
Since I do consider that a God exists, and the existence of objective moral values and duties can be considered evidence of an Omnibenevolent God, I would refrain to do so.
I might consider Judaism, especially because of fulfilled prophesies in the Old Testament.
“And if you were convinced there’s no God at all?
If there’s no God and no immortality, I would be a nihilist (aka, a consistent atheist). Knowing that there’s in fact no meaning, value nor purpose in life most likely will sent me into a deep depression.
“Oh, so you need religion to cope with reality?”
What would I gain for holding a knowingly false belief? False hopes? Once I know theism is false too, it would be impossible to deceive myself.
I’m an accident, just like everyone is and the whole universe is.
We came from nothing, by nothing, for nothing.
That would be my concluding thoughts if Christianity and theism were false.