Challenge away.
Bear in mind that this argument is only a starting point. I don’t expect someone to become a christian because of this argument, It is a way to open the door by uprooting deep seated assumptions that categorically rule out the supernatural.
On a side note, Buddhism is interesting because it seeks to eliminate suffering by an arguably effective but joyless route. There is nothing to be gained from dismissing Buddhism, when there is clearly a great amount of human wisdom to be found in it. Without Christ, Buddhism is probably the best you can do.
Absolutely all suffering can be understood as the difference between desire and reality. Suffering is not equal to pain, because while pain can cause suffering, it does not necessarily do so. Someone who willingly endures pain because of the promise of the great reward (such as an athlete) does not suffer from their pain. Buddhism proposes to eliminate suffering by eliminating desire. But Christianity proposes the opposite, the elimination suffering by redeeming and fulfilling desire. Buddhists teach the lack of desire, while Christ teaches that our ultimate desires can be satisfied only through a relationship with a perfect God. These are the kinds of things that may lead us to judge the relative merits of Christianity and and Buddhism, but if someone is a materialist, there’s no way to even get to the point of having such a conversation.
As for the what the Bible may imply, at some point we have to stop and think about what creation ex Nilo entails. There is nothing except God. The universe is not an insulated bubble with God on the outside, it is stained by God from within. The Idea that the universe was physical always implied that it is something that can stand on its own. Ideas like deism come from this. But here we see that God is actively sustaining the universe. Such a view is very compatible with the bible. Far more compatible than the deistic view that is implied by the existence of the physical world that is self-sufficient.
@Larry_Bunce rather than asking me whether it might be too much to deny the physical reality, I ask you what you feel you would be giving up.