Why literalist fundamentalist Christians are blind to reason

This post is to help my fellow atheist and agnostic friends who have never been literalist fundamentalist Christians like myself comprehend why the use of reason in arguments about faith are futile. Let me start by saying that when I was a Christian I took the Bible at its word, I was one of those who proclaimed with great pride: " God said it, I believe it, and that settles it!" It is because of this mentality that a theist can circumnavigate any argument you can think of.

When I was a believer the Bible was literally inspired by God, written by men under his inspiration, and literal in every way possible. I believed in the story of creation as it is narrated in Genesis and quite frankly I never once thought to question the discrepancies in the narrative. You see, my mind did not work that way. I lived and breathed Christianity entirely on faith and to question what I believed to be God's word would be in my mind to question God himself! A big no no in the Christian community. Faith is not just about believing that God exist, but also trusting in him to keep his word and his promises.

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:6

When I was a believer God's word (the Bible) was my guide to living. I dove into my beliefs head first and when asked about them or questioned on them I did not allow myself to get sucked into arguments to the contrary. What did I do when I was confronted with biblical contradictions or errors of known facts and common knowledge? I did what the Bible told me to do:

"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ." Colossians 2:8

15Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 16Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. 2 Timothy 2:15-16

As you can see I avoided any argument about the existence of God or the lack of logic and reason behind my faith. I would tell people what the Bible says and if you accepted it fine and if you didn't I would either ask to pray with the person or if they refused pray for them during my own private prayer sessions. 

It amazes me today how many Christians get caught up in arguments against their faith. The Bible clearly teaches them to avoid such arguments yet they never seem to listen. The fact that apologetics exist as well as so called Creationism or even its latest addition of Intelligent Design aka ID is telling. A true literalist does not feel the need to defend his beliefs since as the Bible states they are entirely based on faith.

When I was a believer faith was my blind fold to reason. In my mind the way I saw it there were things that we just didn't understand. There were so many "spiritual" truths in God's word that were so profound that in my corrupted and sinful nature I could never hope to comprehend so I did not bother trying to know those things at the time. Although I did not know about confirmation bias I was seriously deluded by what I accepted by faith to the the ultimate and universal truth. I literally had a biblical answer for everything a non-believer could throw at me!

22Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. 1 Corinthians 1:22-25

In those days I believed that there was no way a mere mortal such as myself could ever know the mysteries of God completely while I inhabited this mortal flesh. Christians don't operate in the realms of reason and logic as we do. That is why when I first saw a Christian book in a book store written by William Lane Craig entitled 'Reasonable Faith' I began to laugh hysterically. There just simply is no such thing as reasonable faith. In fact, Dr. Craig makes this quite clear in the book itself when he says: Should a conflict arise between the witness of the Holy Spirit to the fundamental truth of the Christian faith and beliefs based on argument and evidence, then it is the former which must take precedence over the latter, not vice versa. [William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics, (Revised edition, Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1994), p. 36.]

Even while the more advanced believers like William Lane Craig claim to use logic and reason in their arguments in defense of their faith anyone who reads some of their work would see that most of their arguments are actually filled with all sorts of logical fallacies. Theists who engage in apologetics twists the principles of logic and reason to defend the veracity of what they have already convinced themselves to be the truth. Literalist fundamentalist believers don't bother with philosophical arguments about faith. 

Fundamentalists view any arguments against their faith as nothing more than Satanic ruses to confuse the faithful. They also view those purporting the arguments as emissaries of Satan and these types of believers are literally living in a demon haunted world. Reason and faith are two blatant and contradictory terms that should never be used together or even considered possible. The two words constitute an oxymoron which in no way can be reconciled with one another, just as science and religion can never find common ground because of their methodologies of obtaining knowledge.

It is not even a Christians job to convince you of the truth of their beliefs. They are to serve as heralds proclaiming the gospels and nothing more. It is the job according to the Bible of  the Holy Spirit to move the listeners to conversion.  

44“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. John 6:44

65He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.” John 6:65

Even when shown how impossible some of the claims of the Bible are such as the Noah's ark narrative for example, a literalist remains unfazed by your arguments. It's not because they are stupid or lack understanding. It's because they are deeply indoctrinated to accept the Bible as literal fact. Their god is the god of the impossible for them he is the creator of all things great and small. He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent. What is impossible for man is nothing to God who can make all impossibilities possible because of who he is. 

 Note: All biblical citations are taken from the New International Version of the scriptures.

Should a conflict arise between the witness of the Holy Spirit to the fundamental truth of the Christian faith and beliefs based on argument and evidence, then it is the former which must take precedence over the latter. - See more at: http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=2931#sthash.1knyKtHn.dpuf

Should a conflict arise between the witness of the Holy Spirit to the fundamental truth of the Christian faith and beliefs based on argument and evidence, then it is the former which must take precedence over the latter. - See more at: http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=2931#sthash.1knyKtHn.dpuf

Should a conflict arise between the witness of the Holy Spirit to the fundamental truth of the Christian faith and beliefs based on argument and evidence, then it is the former which must take precedence over the latter. - See more at: http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=2931#sthash.1knyKtHn.dpu