Answering Two Objections To My Book

In a rambling review of my new book, How to Defend the Christian Faith: Advice from an Atheist,titled, "Who's brain should I trust?", two objections were leveled at it. The first objects to statements about free will, where I wrote, "Science is also teaching us that sin and the need for salvation are quite likely based on the illusion of free will...In fact, neuroscience is destroying the notions of free will..." "At the very least neuroscience is making it extremely difficult for believers to still claim that we freely choose to sin, that we can freely choose to be saved, and that there is a wrathful God who will judge us on the last day."

Objection: "What a very confusing statement for someone to make who, I assume, chose to write a book trying to convince Christian apologists to change their minds."

My "biggest blunder" he said, is my advice not to trust your brains. "Your brain does not work well at getting to the truth." "The nearer and dearer to your heart then the less you can trust your brain without the hard evidence."

Objection: "I notice that he trusts his brain, which is why he wrote the book...and yet he somehow thinks he has gotten to the truth. How do I determine what the hard evidence is without using my brain which I cannot trust?"

Below are my answers. Can you do better?

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You can know your brain is lying to you when you're not open-minded to the results of science. I presented the science showing our brains deceive us. I presented the science showing that, at a minimum, we don't have much free will if we have any at all.

Full stop. That's the evidence. It is solid and unassailable.

These are two problems we must all deal with no matter what. But those of us who accept this science are better able to know the truth than closed-minded people who don't.

For...

We won't claim more than the evidence shows.

We will be less likely to trust an ancient superstitious book for the truth, since it was written by ancient superstitious pre-scientific people who didn't have many of the tools we do for doubting claims of miracles.

We will know where to find the truth, from the results of science.

You might ask if we don't have free will how can we trust our brains? All I say is try to honestly deny the evidence. If it takes dishonesty to deny the evidence then you know your brain is lying to you. So, you either accept the evidence and become an open-minded person who trusts science rather than an ancient pre-scientific superstitious book, or your very own dishonesty will become consciously revealed if you refuse, which, when recognized for what it is, should also point you in the direction of the truth and the means to find more truth.