Posted on 08/01/2006 12:42:58 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback
In the first chapter of their new book, 20 Compelling Evidences that God exists, Ken Boa and Robert Bowman write, “We don’t mean to discourage you from reading the rest of this book. But in the interest of full disclosure, we should tell you that, in a sense, there is only one good reason to believe that God exists: because it’s true.”
That statement is both profound and well expressed. Unfortunately, these days it’s not the kind of statement you can make in public without having scorn heaped upon your head. As the authors jokingly point out, the popular viewpoint regarding truth is, “Anyone who believes that he is right and others are wrong is intolerant.” Now that’s self-contradictory on its face, but it’s almost certain to be thrown at you if you assert a truth claim.
That’s why Boa and Bowman have titled their book 20 Compelling Evidences that God Exists—because they recognize that for any claim to truth to be taken seriously in today’s culture, it needs solid evidence to back it up. As the authors write, “There are many such evidences, but they all have value because they help us see that the God of the Bible is real.” In fewer than two hundred pages, they clearly and concisely examine some of today’s most pervasive worldviews and their flaws. Then they present their case for God’s existence and His revelation of Himself through Jesus Christ.
What kind of evidences are they talking about? There’s an amazing variety. They don’t state it right upfront, but they are organizing their “20 compelling evidences” in a way that takes readers through the doctrines of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration—the four basic elements of the Christian worldview that I set forth in How Now Shall We Live?
They start with evidence about the universe and the origins of life. And they talk, for example, about how finely our solar system and our planet had to be calibrated to support life. At “an extremely conservative estimate,” they say, the probability of our planet being capable of sustaining us is about one in a billion. It had to be at just the right place in the solar system, which had to be at just the right place in the galaxy. Even the expansion of the universe had to happen at just the right rate in order for all of us to be here today.
From evidence about the universe, the authors move on to evidence of humanity’s sinful nature; then evidence of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection; and finally, evidence of those who have lived and died for Christ. Examining concepts ranging from Greek philosophy to archeology to the Big Bang theory to postmodernism, the authors make a powerful case for the existence of a loving Creator.
In short, I highly recommend Boa and Bowman’s book. They provide in a very readable form an excellent apologetic resource for Christians wondering how to defend their faith in a world that’s “tolerant” of everything except Christianity.
Ken Boa is a great apologist—one of the most engaging and popular teachers in our Centurion’s training program. You can visit our website, BreakPoint.org, to find out how you can get 20 Compelling Evidences that God Exists. While you’re there, be sure to check out some of our other Christian worldview resources.
If you are implying that their is some kind of symmetry of equivalence between Christianity and Islam, consider this. The early Christian church spread throughout the Roman Empire while it was still a savagely persecuted non-violent religion. Torture and execution could not stamp it out. (Later, of course, it became an established church in many areas.) Islam was spread by the sword from the very beginning. If the Muslims are so confident that their way is the truth, why do they kill any converts in their theocratic empire, forbid proselytizing by other religions, etc.? Atheists always like to depict all religions as basically the same. They aren't.
You don't have to posit the actual existence of a supernatural being to explain that. Someone else made a similar assertion recently, and here was my response:
"[the feeling] that there is some God, is naturally inborn in all, and is fixed deep within, as it were in the very marrow. . . . From this we conclude that it is not a doctrine that must first be learned in school, but one of which each of us is master from his mother's womb and which nature itself permits no man to forget."
Ponder this classic observation:
"Primates often have trouble imagining a universe not run by an angry alpha male" -- AnonThat alone could be the "explanation" for the instinct to seek someone to obey/follow "which nature itself permits no man to forget" as you put it. It certainly fits in a great number of ways.It also explains why my dog worships me, and my cat doesn't. Creatures which have evolved a social structure revolving around an alpha-male (like dogs, as well as humans and other primates) will be "hardwired", instinctually, to expect and want a "ruler" to whom they give their allegiance and turn to for protection and permission.
Similarly, Arthur C. Clarke has suggested that man looks for a god because of the instincts which help us survive as a species having a long childhood. To keep kids from wandering off on their own too soon and getting eaten by the tigers beyond the safety of the tribe (and so on), humans, primates, and other animals with a long nurturing time have instincts which instill in the young feelings involving turning to your parents for protection and sustenance, looking up to them for guidance on how to live, fear of straying too far from them and being alone, respect for their position of power over you, etc. etc. etc. After growing up and/or leaving home, however, these instincts leave a yearning to continue to look up to some more powerful, protective nurturer/rule-giver. And a belief in a watching-over-me deity would fulfill this need for some people. Is it mere coincidence that so many gods are described in terms which are variations of "heavenly father", "our father who art in heaven", "god the father", etc.?
Further support for this potential explanation is seen in the results of studies such as: Vitz, P.C. (1999), "Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism". Vitz found that atheists tend more often than theists to have grown up with absent fathers (through death, divorce, etc.) or poor relationships with their fathers. If theism is an outgrowth of the childhood desire to have a parent to look up to and feel protected/guided by, then Vitz's findings make sense.
So Plantinga's simplistic argument -- which boils down to, "if we have a yearning for something greater than ourselves, then something greater than ourselves must necessarily exist", really doesn't hold water. There are many reasons why humans would have such a yearning entirely apart from Platinga's one possible explanation. His (and your) "that *must* be it!" mindset is not just simplistic, it's logically incorrect.
I give up. How many? And what's your point?
Oops, sorry, my previous post was accidentally posted in reply to AmericaUnited's reply (post#8) to brooklyn dave, making it appear that the quoted text was AU's writing. It wasn't, it was BD's, since I was trying to reply to his post #5.
Your postings as a proud atheist are similar to those of other atheists: airily superior, condescending toward people of faith (Christians are nothing but ignorant superstitious peasants) and gimme gimme gimme in your demands for unimpeachable proof of G-d's existence.
Oh BTW, I'm just a small town Deep Southerner. But every small town in the South has its local oddball, its homegrown village atheist. Our own is precious; he rants against the ringing of Sunday churchbells as intruding on his personal space, wants churchground property taxed at the commercial rate, and wants In God We Trust removed from the currency. Just me, me, me. His letters to the editor are as much fun as his shouted replies to those who dare to disagree.
Anyway, let's hear more skepticism about `deities'. Flame away, ol' Robert P. Ingersoll.
"Gee, how nice to know you have all the answers"
I'm always struck by how atheists "have all the answers." E.g. religion is "just superstition," "just psychology," etc. Something not tangible to an individual atheist's material senses doesn't count, even if that "something" moves millions of other people to live a certain way and do things which are not necessarily in their self-interest. "Just mass hysteria," I guess.
By the ordinary criteria of historic and paleographic evidence, the Gospels look ... more and more interesting.
There is no proof that G-d exists. If there were, faith would have no value
I'm for that!
It might be possible to use guesses about the enormous numbers of planets to infer that some others are suitable for life. However, you still have to ensure that favorable conditions persist long enough for intelligent life, life capable of religious feelings to appear. On earth that took billions of years, roughly 1/3-1/4 of the estimated life of the universe. Planets like earth are made of recycled heavy elements from a previous generation of exploded stars. Many stars in the universe are not old enough to have gone through all this evolution.
Besides, the fundamental problem, which can't be dodged by any statistics regarding planetary numbers, is that the physical constants have to be just right, or else the universe (and there is only one that we know of) might have been nothing but energy. In effect, the universe was rigged from the beginning to make intelligent life possible somewhere.
http://www.greatcom.org/resources/skeptics_who_demanded_a_verdict/chap02/default.htm
http://www.greatcom.org/resources/skeptics_who_demanded_a_verdict/chap02/default.htm
God gave man free will. You make your choices and you earn the consequences. Romans 1:21-23
Gods and religion are man-made. An afterlife, whether rewarded or damned, is attractive to mortals, but evidence is lacking. Every tradition makes the same claim--"ours is the way". Jews, Catholics, Hindus, Suunis, Shi'as, Protestants, Pagans, Faith-healers, Spiritualists,....and there is no reliable evidence for any of them.
2000 year old texts are a poor guide to much of anything.
Third base?
Is avoiding hell not in one's self-interest?
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