Dismantling the claim that "God is a crutch for the weak-minded"

"God is a crutch for the weak-minded"

Atheists have used this lethal assertion in order to explain why a majority of humans on the earth believe in some sort of God/gods. The logic is that since, according to atheists, God is imaginary, there has to be a reason why so many people seem to have (what they call) a blind faith. 

They insist that the concept of God is no more than an invisible friend that we have made up to save ourselves from the meaninglessness of life. I see numerous issues with this fallacious reasoning and will attempt to expose them in this article.


1. This argument is a logical fallacy within itself

This argument commits the logical fallacy known as an Ad Hominem. The fallacy of "Ad Hominem" means "against the man" or "against the person" and is made when a claim or argument is rejected on the basis of some irrelevant fact about the person presenting the claim or argument. Typically, this involves two steps. First, an attack is made against the character, circumstances, motives, or actions of the person making the claim. Second, this attack is taken to be evidence against the claim or argument that the person is making.

The reason why an Ad Hominem (of any kind) is a logical fallacy is because the character, circumstances, motives, or actions of a person have no bearing on the truth or falsity of the claim being made (or the quality of the argument being made).

Relating this to the assertion that "God is a crutch for the weak-minded": The motives behind why people may believe in a God/gods has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not the God/gods actually exist. For someone to assume they are justified in asserting "therefore, God does not exist" to the end clause of this claim, would be to commit the fallacy of Ad Hominem. This fact alone is sufficient to absolutely dismantle the inept reasoning made by anyone who feels justified in such a claim.


2. Jesus isn't my crutch, He is my entire hospital

What does it mean to be a true Christian? How does one get to the point, even more important, what causes one to fall to their knees and profess Christ as Lord and Savior? This process can be summed up in one word: repent. Repentance is the process of changing one's mind and coming to the realization that we are in need of a Savior! We all need saving so much so, that apart from this Savior, there is no hope. We need saving from our mistakes and sins, our physical pains and illnesses, our fears, our regrets, our hopelessness and despair, our selfishness, this messed up and twisted world, our lack of fulfillment and insecurities, ourselves, the emtipness of life, we even need saving from such asinine comments as "God is a crutch". I have come to the realization that relying on Christ isn't like leaning on a crutch, it's more like picking up the phone, calling 911, and getting yourself to the ER, because you are otherwise going to die. I submit that people who belief in the Christian God (due to the convincing evidence) are not weak-minded people walking around with a crutch. But instead, redeemed people (who were once completely dead) who have been made new by the blood of Christ. I find it ironic that the atheist might call me weak-minded. The irony lies in the fact that, as a Christian, I have come to the conclusion that this is very much true; that is what relying on Christ means. It means accepting your own helplessness. It means accepting that you're a sinner and that you need help. And getting the much-needed surgery that you need, by humbling yourself and coming to Christ on your knees.


3. You just want God to exist so you convince yourself He does

Atheist Professor/Philosophper Thomas Nagel at New York University admitted the following:
"I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn't just that I don't believe in God and naturally hope that there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that."
It seems to me that the sword cuts both ways on this issue. For as one atheist may inquire that the only reason believers actually believe is because they have a supposed wish-fulfillment as their motivation for such a belief. Thus they disregard reality and the inability for one to verify such a belief. It may very well be that the sole reason people believe in God is because they are without the ability to cope with the truth of his nonexistence. But it may very well be the other way around! It could be that the non-believing skeptic does not believe in God because he cannot bear the idea of His actual existence. Perhaps, their persistent denials of God's existence is just the outworkings of wish-fulfillment thinking. Perhaps, they do not want to face the Truth that there is a real Holy God and a real judgement and a real eternal Hell. After all, turning from our sins is not an attractive lifestyle (at first). Subsequently, they refuse to turn from their sin, and instead, deny its' existence. And in God's Word we see the reality that people naturally do everything in their power to surpess the truth about God:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools. (Romans 1:18-22)


4. The Bible writes of man's rejection of God and His Lordship over His creation

The claim that God is a crutch and an illusion is most definitely a serious claim. With New Atheism growing in much of the US (especially in Academia) this assertion is growing louder and louder as the decades pass. Atheism is taught in much of the secular universities and so our students are being indoctrinated by the teachers whom were indoctrinated with this philosophical presupposition to materialism (and so the cycle continues). But nonetheless, what does the Bible have to say about this subject? I find it absolutely priceless that even while the voices of secularists scream with fury at the delusions of the Almighty. The Bible actually predicts the rebellion and lack of belief that is to come! And so the Bible screams with a force that is just as loud as those coming from the supposed freethinkers of our day. As if people turning away from the faith is evidence against God? It actually turns out to be evidence for God, because this very fact is prophesied in God's Word!

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
(2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV)

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
(1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV)

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
(Romans 1:21-25 ESV)


5. I believe that there is sufficient evidence to provide us with a reasonable faith that God exists, and has made Himself known to us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

1. The Cosmological Argument
2. Argument from Contingency
3. Kalam Cosmological Argument
4. Axiological (Moral argument)
5. Teleological Argument
6. Archaeological Evidence
7. Prophetic Evidence
8. And lastly, the lack of evidence for atheism is evidence for God.

Thus, I believe that the claim that "God is a crutch for the weak-minded" is without foundation and is nothing more than a baseless assertion. In contrast, I believe there is actual reasons to believe in God, His revelation to us through Christ, as well as the reliability of the Bible.