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Reasons for Belief John Oakes Harvard University 10/16/09. You are Invited!. 2010 International Christian Evidence Conference Concordia University Irvine, CA Evolution: Four Views. Can Science and belief in God coexist?. The Language of God. Reasons Collins believes in God.
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Reasons for Belief John Oakes Harvard University 10/16/09
You are Invited! 2010 International Christian Evidence Conference Concordia University Irvine, CA Evolution: Four Views
Can Science and belief in God coexist? • The Language of God
Reasons Collins believes in God 1. There is something instead of nothing. 2. The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics. 3. The Big Bang. 4. Nature does not solve the problem of why. 5. The existence of time. 6. Fine tuning of the universe. The “Goldilocks Paradox.” 7. Ockham’s Razor. 8. The existence of moral law. I would add… Because the Bible is inspired
Accident or Design? The Anthropic Principle William Paley
The Teleological Argument Evidence for Design in Nature The Anthropic Principle Boeing 747 Design or Accident?
Physics: The Finely Tuned Universe
Fine Tuning of the Gravitational Constant .00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
Fred Hoyle on Fine-Tuning “… a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology.”
Antony Flew Considers God • Flew is increasingly persuaded that some sort of Deity brought about this universe. He says he has in mind something like the God of Aristotle, a distant, impersonal "prime mover." It might not even be conscious, but a mere force. In formal terms, he regards the existence of this minimal God as a hypothesis that, at present, is perhaps the best explanation for why a universe exists that can produce complex life
Delos B. McKown: “Christianity is scientifically unsupported and probably insupportable, philosophically suspect at best and disreputable at worst, and historically fraudulent.”
Proposition #1 • The Bible is scientifically unsupported and probably insupportible
The Ebers Papyrus: “To prevent hair from turning gray, anoint it with the blood of a calf which has been boiled in oil or with the fat of a rattlesnake.” “A mixture of six fats, namely those of the horse, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, the cat, the snake and the ibex.... to prevent hair loss.”
Drugs of Choice included: • Lizards blood • Swine’s teeth • Putrid meat • Moisture from Pigs’ ears • Excreta from animals including human beings, donkeys, antelope, dogs, cats and flies
“I will not bring on you any of these diseases...” Exodus 15:26 “The pig... is unclean for you...those that walk on their paws...the weasel, the rat...are unclean for you.” Leviticus 11
“The sting of a hornet is healed by the house-fly, crushed and applied to the wound.” “The gnat, feeble creature, taking in food but never secreting it is a specific against the poison of the viper.” An ancient Hebrew medical manuscript.
“Whoever touches the dead body of anyone will be unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the water on the third and seventh day...take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and furnishings and the people who were there.” Numbers 19
Vienna, 1847 • In maternity wards one out of every six women dies. • Obstetricians ascribe deaths to constipation, fear and poisonous air.
“For the generations to come, every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised...” Genesis 17:12 Vitamin K Prothrombrin: a clotting protein.
Clotting Protein Peaks on Day Eight Available Prothrombin
Proposition #1 • The Bible is scientifically unsupported and probably insupportible • Genesis 1, Hebrews 11:3 • Response: Oh really…
Proposition #2 • “Christianity is philosophically suspect at best” Delos McKown Socrates
Christian Philosophy/Theology • Christian Philosophy (theology) gives a more realistic description of things as they are than materialism or postmodernism. • Materialism denies the existence of truth, morality and value. • Postmodernism says that all truth is relative. No particular world view is preferred.
Naturalism/Scientism/Materialism • The belief that the only reliable or valid instrument to deciding the truth or even the value of any proposition is the scientific method. • No ethics, no morality, no supernatural, no God, no truth (except that found by science), no consciousness, no “I.” Justice is a figment of our imagination.
Richard Dawkins • In the universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt and other people are going to get lucky: and you won’t find any rhyme or reason to it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at the bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good. Nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is, and we dance to its music.
Questions Science Can Answer • When? • What? • Where? • How many? • By what means?
Questions Science Cannot Answer:(That the Bible Does Answer) • Why am I here? • Is that the right thing to do? • How valuable am I? • Does God exist? Does God act (theism)? • Will that God respond if I pray? • Do supernatural events (miracles) happen?
If the Materialist is right, then… • Religious thought is absolute nonsense. Prayer is chemical moving around in your brain. • Art, Literature, Music have no intrinsic value. • Justice is a meaningless word. • Human rights have no basis. • Etc….
Naturalism is a Dangerous (Evil?) Philosophy If the naturalist is right then: • Good and evil are meaningless ideas. • Stealing is not necessarily wrong. • Any kind of sexual behavior is as right as any other. • There is nothing inherently evil about genocide. • Racism is acceptable.
Postmodernism: Cultural Relativism • Reality is a social construction. • Truth: It is true for you, but it is not true for me. • All beliefs are theory-laden (Thomas Kuhn) • Meaning, if it exists, lies in a community of believers. • Self is a construction of our society. • No rational way to discover which is the best world view.
Challenge to a Postmodernist: • How do you know the postmodern view is the correct one? • If your culture does not believe in gravity try throwing yourself off of a high building
The Impact of Christian Thinking on the World • Women’s rights • Human rights • Abolition of Slavery • Science was created due to the Christian view of the world
Predictions Based on Christian Theology: • The universe will follow a single, unchanging set of laws. • The universe will be understandable to human beings. • The universe will be describable by mathematics. • The universe will be designed so that we can observe it • - (“The Priveleged Planet” Gonzalez and Richards)
Christian Philosophy/The Christian World View • Realism but not naturalism • Genesis 1:31 The world/creation is good (vs Pythagoreanism, Platonism, neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, etc.) • Genesis 1:1 Defeats pantheism, atheism, dualism, materialism/scientism, humanism, animism, all in one verse. (Hebrews 11:3)
Christian Philosophy (cont.) • Biblical theology solves the dual problems of suffering and evil. • Evil the result of people with free will rebelling against God. • Suffering is not evil. It is from God, but it should be dealt with by compassion. • Nearly all compassionate works in the world are done by Bible believers.
Proposition #3 • Christianity is historically fraudulent
The Tel Dan Inscription 820 BC 2 Kings 8:28-29 I Hazael killed Joram, son of Omri and I defeated Ahaziah of the House of David
Proposition #4 • The Bible is full of myths. • This charge is true! The Bible contains true myths.
Myths Common to Nearly All Cultures • Creation myths • Gilgamesh (Akkadian/Sumerian) • Popol Vuh (Mayan) • Sutras (Hindu) etc. • vs. Genesis 1-3 • God/man myths • Isis and Osiris • Mithra • Krishna • Eleusian Rites, etc. • vs. Jesus
