This questions is phrased with a very telling, tacit admission. “You can believe in your god. I can believe in a flying spaghetti monster. What’s the difference?” First of all, by the way the question is phrased, if I were a betting man, I’d be willing to wager two things:
1. The Flying Spaghetti Monster is not your God.
2. You don’t really believe the Flying Spaghetti Monster exists.
While I’m at it, let me make a third observation:
3. The followers of the cult of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) think it cute to call themselves “pastafarians”[1]. They don’t treat the cult as a serious religion, nor do they take the FSM as a real anything except a real tool of satire and mocking, which is what this farcical, nonexistent monstrosity was created to be. Supposed adherents and followers feign belief and pretend both it and their make believe religion are real, but, as you can see, their very language gives them away. So let’s take these observations one by one to demonstrate that this questioner is just play-acting at believing in the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
1. The Flying Spaghetti Monster is not your god.
Though I doubt it, it could be possible there are a few low wattage people among those who call themselves pastafarians (a word play on Rastafarian) who actually believe in an FSM, but it appears quite obvious that this particular questioner is not among them. That is clear in how the question is phrased. In opposition to “you can believe in your god” he does not say “I can believe in my god, the FSM”. He appears careful to not claim the FSM as his deity. In fact, from the way he references the Flying Spaghetti Monster, it appears that he is merely aware of what some have called the FSM. He is aware that feigned belief in the FSM is used as a tool of satire, which in this case reduces to mocking. Thus the FSM is an idol used by idolaters to do what idolaters create idols for: to replace the living God and, in this case, make sport of belief in the true God. Given that he’s using the FSM for the purpose it was created for—satire and mocking —he does not appear to believe such an entity as the FSM actually exists. He is simply using it as fodder for his argument.
In contrast, if I were to make a similar statement, I might say something like:
“You can believe in your god, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and I’ll believe in my God, the true and only God, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Do you see the difference there? When I speak of my God, I state that he is my God and make sure there are no questions that I am confident that, not only does he exist, but that he is the true God and any other claimants to being a deity are false. I’ve packed that into my statement because I believe all those things are true about my God, whom I named. This is not the case for the person touting the FSM. Thus, in his statement, he makes clear that he doesn’t really believe in the FSM and is using the fallacy of a false equivalence in a weak attempt to make his point.
2. You don’t really believe the Flying Spaghetti Monster exists.
Again, if I were a betting man, I’d bet that not only is the FSM not the questioner’s god but also the referenced belief in the existence of an FSM is a feigned belief. It is used only as a way to highlight the real point that you don’t believe in any deities, real or imagined. How do I know this? Answer the following truthfully and your belief—or lack thereof—will be exposed. So, answer if you dare, concerning the Flying Spaghetti Monster:
a) Quick, without looking this up (or making it up), what is the name of your god? You can’t say “Flying Spaghetti Monster”, because that’s a description, not a name. So what is his name? Surely he has one so his followers can call upon him. My God has many names. Even false gods have names. What is the name of your god? If your god has no name, it is further evidence it is just a figment of imagination of the person who created it (!)[2] who didn’t bother to name it. If it has a name, but you don’t know it, then you’re not much of a believer, are you? (See my first point.)
b) What do you do to honor your god? (Assuming you claim him as your god.) Do you attend services? Does it have a place of worship? Do you know the requirements of your god? Does your god have requirements of you? If the answer to any of these questions is no, (or the actual answer is no, though you refuse to admit it) can you really say he’s your god? (Or a god if he has no requirements? In passing, this applies also to people who are Christians in name only.)
c) My God has a challenge for your god:
22 “Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come, 23 tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.
24 But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; he who chooses you is detestable.
Isaiah 41.22-24
In case you need clarification, my God is challenging the Flying Spaghetti Monster to tell us the following:
i. Things that have happened in the past. The Bible is full of history that archaeologists have verified time after time. Let me give you an example. The Messiah is called the son of David. That would be King David of Israel, appointed by God and anointed by the prophet Samuel to be king of Israel (1 Sam 16.12-13), from whose line the Messiah came. (Matt 1.1-6) For many years scholars denied that such a person “David” and his descendants existed until they found the Tel Dan Stele, which names the house of David.
Once again, as in so many times before, the Bible was shown to be accurate. Name something of significance in the past, undiscovered but known and done by the FSM and announced by the FSM that archaeologists have dug up or is out there waiting to be dug up.
ii. Declare things that will happen. The Bible is full of predictions—both fulfilled and yet to occur. A well-known fulfilled one is the prediction of the coming of the Messiah (Mic 5.2) which was fulfilled with the coming of Jesus of Nazareth. Another fulfilled prophecy was the reconstitution of the state of Israel with her people returning to her. (Isaiah 11:11-12; Jeremiah 30.3) This was fulfilled on May 14, 1948. Of course, there are many prophecies yet to be fulfilled. A prominent prophecy is the return of Jesus in glory. (Mark 14.62).
Tell us what the FSM foretold that has happened or which prophesies were made that have yet to be fulfilled. If there are none, that should tell you all you need to know about whether the FSM is a deity or an idol.
By the way, verse 24 above (Is 41.24) gives God’s assessment of the Flying Spaghetti Monster: “less than nothing.” Worse than this is that all who follow or claim this idol are worthless (Jer 2.5) and “detestable.” These are not my words, these are the words of the true and living God, the Holy One of Israel. But then you, the questioner, don’t really follow the FSM, do you? For you the FSM is just an argument to use against believers in the true God, isn’t it? If that is the case shouldn’t you be concerned with the wrath that claiming to follow this idol will bring upon you from the true God? All those who are “detestable”—including idolaters—wind up in the lake of fire. (Rev 21.8) So, be warned, all those who pretend to be followers and feign belief, as well as those who use the FSM as merely an intellectual exercise against religion in general and Christianity in particular. Regardless of your reason for rejecting the true God, the same destiny of condemnation awaits you.
3. The followers of the cult of the Flying Spaghetti Monster don’t take this cult as a true religion, do they?
Nor do you accept it as true religion, do you? How do I know this? What is the point of religion? Let me tell you the point of Christianity. The point of Christianity is to have an eternal relationship with the God of the universe. But God lives in a high and holy place (Is 57.15) where there is no sin. This requires your sin be forgiven before you can have a relationship with God and this sin must be removed before you can enter his kingdom and spend eternity with God. Yet God made it possible for you by sending Jesus to pay for your sins with his own death. Does your religion have a point besides play-acting and feigned belief?
Someone will point out to me that many claim to be real followers of the FSM and members of the FSM “church.” What does this church do but steal concepts from Christianity and pervert them? I ask such play actors the same thing that Peter the apostle asked the deceived soul Elymas, the sorcerer. “Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?” (Acts 13.10) For what is the point of your FSM “religion” other than to mock and corrupt Christianity and to have fun while doing it? Do you really want a relationship with what is supposed to be noodles and meatballs? My God gives eternal life and forgives sin. What does your god do except attempt to make a mockery of the true God and make false promises it cannot keep? If there is an entity behind the FSM, it is a demon (1 Tim 4.1) that hates God, wants you in hell, and can do nothing to keep false promises. And you, with your thin veneer of feigned intellectual respectability, are playing right into the demon’s hands. My God took on human flesh and died so you could live. What has your god done for you?
Consider the chronology of events on earth. The units of time are measured from a point in time defined by my God: before he came and after he came. We’re now in 2025 AD. AD is the Latin for Anno Domini, “in the year of our Lord”, meaning after the point in time when Jesus came. Even those who believe they can avoid that truth by using CE for the “Common Era” must acknowledge the “common era” they’re referring to is the era after the coming of Jesus in the incarnation. So, all of time—however long you think that is—BC (Before Christ) and AD is measured in relationship to my God.
But, with respect to time, the FSM didn’t even exist until a physics student who objected to the teaching of Intelligent Design in schools made him up in 2005 to make a satirical point. Thus the FSM is a rather impermanent, short-lived god who exists only as a figment of imagination at best and a demonic entity leading you to hell at worst. That is a rather weak and pathetic God as easily demonstrated by the Ontological argument for the existence of God, where, right off the bat, the FSM fails as God due to being non-eternal, because it is the recent (2005) creation of Bobby Henderson. [3] In passing, demons, being created beings, are also non-eternal, so they likewise fail.
What’s the Difference?
To answer the question, obviously there’s really no comparison between the make-believe Flying Spaghetti Monster and the true and living God. As I mentioned above, any attempt to compare them will result in a false comparison and a false equivalence. Such a comparison is for the intellectually lazy—those who don’t want to exert the effort to either actually examine history prior to the 21st century for any evidence of an FSM or experience Christianity to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Ps 34.8). Instead those appealing to the FSM are lazily pointing to this ridiculous argument that is foolish and inane on its face. You may think it clever, but anyone who is not a “pastafarian” is either smirking at your foolishness or outright laughing at you, either behind your back or to your face or, like this article, pointing out the foolishness and calling you to repent.
Those who consider themselves pastafarians may have fun play-acting as pirates and may be having fun at believing their destiny is a heaven with a beer volcano and stripper factory, but God says to such that, like all others who deny him, (and there are many), they are on the broad road to destruction (Matt 7.13), the aforementioned lake of fire. My advice is to stop the pretense and playing-acting, acknowledge the farce that the FSM is, and accept the true God and his son Jesus, the Messiah.
Duane Caldwell | August 2, 2025 | Printer Friendly Version
Follow @rational_faith_
Notes
1. Britannica (only encyclopedia) “Flying Spaghetti Monster” accessed 7/30/2025
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Flying-Spaghetti-Monster
Back
2 The true God is self existent, uncreated and eternal – meaning he never begins to exist, he always exists. The true creator cannot be created by his creations. Only a false god is created by created beings and thus begin to exist at a point in time.
Back
3. Britannica
Back
Image
Fotolia Image used by permission
Composite © 2025 Duane Caldwell
