Evolution Archives - Pilgrim's Rock

The Human Limitations of Unreasonable Atheism (Part 18): “Doctrinal Disproofs” (Part B)

The second of the “doctrinal disproofs” presented in The Impossibility of God claims that the God of the Bible does not exist because His actions in the Old Testament, as well as His ultimate judgment on sinners in hell, are grossly immoral. ^[1] According to the author, Satan is merely guilty of a few misdemeanors, has violated none of the moral principles the author proposes to judge God, and is a “paragon of virtue” compared to God. ^[2]

The Argument
Presenting what he sees as points of agreement with theists, the author affirms the existence of objective moral principles and rejects the idea that truth is relative or that the truth of “moral judgments” is determined by individuals or by “counting heads” (i.e., popular vote). He then presents what he believes to be five moral principles on which atheists and theists can agree, claiming that the God of the Bible has violated them all.

“Objective Morality”
Before we examine God’s alleged immorality, we need to question the source of author’s moral principles by which he makes his case. Presumably, his atheism includes the belief that the universe and everything in it are the product of time and chance, and that life and our current ability to discuss such things evolved from a single cell in a pond and somehow progressed by “natural selection” to where we are today. And though atheists dislike “survival of the fittest” to describe the process, given its obvious implications for morality and worldview, “natural selection” is exactly that.

Where, then, did the author’s “objective moral principles” come from? It would appear that this presumed accident of time and chance (the author) derives right and wrong from his own opinion or the opinions of other accidents of time and chance. Either way, he is guilty of the relativism he claims to reject. Without God as the source of objective morality, nothing remains but his view and the views of others, with none more qualified than another to determine which is true. Thus, the cultural relativism that permeates atheistic thinking equally applies to individual morality. Lacking an ultimate authority, no absolute standard exists to judge the morality of individuals or cultures.

And evolution provides no right or wrong. How does an alleged process built on the destruction of the weak by the strong become the morality of the strong protecting the weak, and that to the detriment and violation of the means by which life and the gene pool evolves? “Moral” lions and tigers starve to death.

Anything Goes
In the first sentence of his introduction, the author quotes a character in Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, “If there is no God, all things are permitted.” With no apparent justification, however, he merely dismisses this as myth. All agree that people make laws and punish those who break them. But time and chance produce no moral absolutes or ultimate accountability. And what evolutionist can tell headhunters and cannibals they are morally wrong if they have survived at the expense of their weaker neighbors? Is it any wonder that eugenics, the cleansing of the gene pool to advance the human race, immediately preceded the Holocaust? Had Germany won WWII and (by their account) defeated the weak, to what absolute moral principle could evolutionists appeal to rebuke the perpetrators of its atrocities? When God is dethroned as the ultimate moral authority, all that remains is personal preference and the tyranny of those with the most power to inflict their desires on everyone else. Dostoyevsky was correct.

And while the author claims to reject a relativistic basis of morality, that of personal preference or head counting, he cannot avoid it. Evidence peppers his article, such as “on my view,” “as almost everyone would agree,” “as I see it,” “I want to say,” “I take to be objectively true,” “I want to say,” “I would like to think,” “If I am right,” to cite a few examples. Rejecting God, he can only appeal to his own opinion or the opinion of others, the very relativism he claims to reject.

Borrowed Morality
Of course, atheists have well-defined morals, especially when they have been raised with remnants of a Christian worldview permeating their laws, culture, and parents. All people have standards of right and wrong because God created us in His image and has written His law on every heart (Rom. 2:14-15). Time, chance, and survival of the fittest do not produce “thou shalt not kill” (Ex. 20:13, Dt. 5:17), “love thy neighbor as thyself” (Lev. 19:18, Matt. 19:19), and “inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matt. 25:40). Atheists presume God’s existence and moral standards to criticize and explain Him away. But whether God is guilty of violating the moral principles He has given to us, as claimed by the author, will be examined in the next article.

^[1] Raymond D. Bradley, “A Moral Argument for Atheism” in The Impossibility of God, Michael Martin and Ricki Monnier, eds. (Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2003), 129-146.

^[2] Ibid., 141-2.

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The Human Limitations of Unreasonable Atheism (Part 7): Creation

The previous article highlighted the myth of “science and reason versus faith” and the irony that atheists call people from trust in God to trust in the atheist’s opinion. They say, in effect, “have faith in me.” But like the rest of us, they are finite and fallible. And apart from God’s revelation, no atheist can know what they assert about God and ultimate realities. One such claim denies that God created the heavens and the earth from nothing. To this we again pose the question: how do atheists know what they claim to know? Or, to the present purpose, how can the atheist know that God did not speak the heavens and earth into existence?

No Neutrality
To begin, no one views the universe with neutral objectivity. Everyone interprets the world according to assumptions (presuppositions) about the nature of God, reality, mankind, knowledge, truth, authority, and ethics. These assumptions form a person’s worldview, the lens through which they see and interpret all things. Those who assume the existence of the God of Scripture see His fingerprints everywhere as the design, order, and beauty of life and the universe reflect His power and genius. Atheists view the same design, order, and beauty as an accident of time and chance. Believers consider all things as impossible without God, while atheists see them as possible without God.

Ultimate Authority and Object of Faith
Whose assumptions (presuppositions), then, are reasonable, justifiable, and consistent with the design, order, and beauty of life and the universe? And in what authority or object of faith does one trust to form these assumptions? The believer trusts God and Scripture, while the unbeliever trusts his or her own perspective and opinion. Science, per se, does not speak with authority, scientists do. Finite and fallible, scientists interpret things according to their worldview. Thus, appeals to science as an authority are actually appeals to scientists that agree with a particular view. No scientist, however, can speak with authority concerning transcendent realities beyond the reach of the scientific method. And no one, scientist or otherwise, views the world with neutral objectivity when it points to God and our debt to love and obey Him.

Limits
As we have seen, to know that God does not exist requires knowledge of everything in the universe and beyond. And, if one cannot know that the biblical God of infinite power does not exist, one cannot possibly know that He did not speak the universe into existence. A person of five senses, limited intellect, and the constraints of three or four dimensions cannot possibly know what a Spirit of infinite power can or cannot do. Apart from God’s revelation, we can only guess. But guesswork is not science.

Blind faith accepts the notion that a big explosion and chance created the design and order of the universe, including the complexity of life and the necessary systems to support it. The scientific method, however, cannot demonstrate it. On the contrary, it remains intuitively obvious that design requires a designer while chaos produces nothing but chaos. And no scientific discovery points to a world older than the Scriptural account of approximately six thousand years unless viewed in a manner consistent with evolutionary principles that require millions and billions of years. And if atheists cannot know that the infinite God of the universe does not exist, they cannot know that He did not create the universe in six days, with light from distant stars already visible, etc., etc. God is not constrained by that which He created and sustains.

Ludicrous
All things reflect the biblical account when viewed according to the obvious existence of the infinite God of Scripture. And no scientific evidence nullifies the biblical account apart from unbiblical assumptions that neither the scientific method nor the nature of reality can support. One might claim, according to evolutionary assumptions, that an exquisite painting came from an explosion in a paint factory, but never has this happened and the nature of reality cannot support such a hypothesis. Even the most zealous atheist would view such an explanation as ludicrous.

How, then, can finite and fallible people know that God did not create everything from nothing in six days? They can’t. We do well to remember God’s rebuke of Job:

Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me! Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements, since you know? Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:2-7 NAS).

Conclusion
Reams of excellent scholarship concerning the age of the earth can be studied to great benefit. But fundamental to this and any related discussion remains the question: how do atheists know what they claim to know? And are the assumptions behind their interpretations of scientific discoveries (such as chance and the evolutionary process), justified, reasonable, and consistent with the nature of reality, or demonstrable by the scientific method? The limited perspective and understanding of atheists cannot justify their claims.

For the believer, infinitely more obvious than the brilliance behind a beautiful painting stands the genius behind all things. God’s power and infinite excellence are so “clearly seen” and “understood” by His works that all people “know” Him and are “without excuse” (Rom. 1:18ff.). Indeed, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands” (Ps. 19:1 NAS). Behind every unbiblical explanation of our origins lies a dislike of the truth that God created and owns everything, apart from whom we have nothing; that His authority is ultimate, that life and every good gift comes from Him, and that we owe Him all love, honor, and gratitude, forever. Here we find the reason people believe unscientific and impossible explanations of the origin of life and the universe—they dislike the obvious alternative.

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Presuppositions of Faith (2 of 6): The Sweeping Claims of the Atheist

At first glance, the atheist’s claim that “God does not exist” appears to be little more than a simple statement about the reality of God. But, it is much more. To deny God’s existence makes significant claims about every aspect of reality.

Concerning God, Man, and Everything in the Universe
First, to say God does not exist implies many things about the nature of people and everything else in the universe, as well as God. For instance, it says that everything is uncreated and responsible for its own beginning, order, and ongoing existence. To say that God does not exist says the laws of physics and biology are not created, ordered, and sustained by God, but operate with precise order and set patterns by themselves. To say that God does not exist says that all the love, thought, and physical attributes of people exist by themselves, apart from God’s wisdom and power. To say that God does not exist says that anything and everything has a beginning, existence, and purpose apart from God.

However the atheist attempts to explain the source, order, and magnificence of the universe—evolution or otherwise—it has nothing to do with “God.” In an ultimate sense, everything came from nothing. Thus, to say that “God does not exist” claims far more than it appears to at first sight because it concerns the nature of everything that exists, has existed, or will ever exist. To say that God does not exist says what can and cannot be true of the ultimate origin, purpose, and meaning of everything. And while the atheist may humbly admit ignorance of many things, this he knows for certain: The universe and everything in it is not created, ordered, and sustained by God, for God does not exist.

Concerning Knowledge, Truth, and Ultimate Authority
Second, similar sweeping claims are implied concerning the nature of knowledge, truth, and ultimate authority. As atheists claim to exist independently of God, so they believe they can observe, interpret, and make true statements about the nature of the universe apart from God. In other words, true knowledge, absolute truth, and ultimate authority to know and speak truth exist without God. God’s explanation of the source and nature of reality is unnecessary because everything can be observed and interpreted from the limited perspective of people. And while the atheist may admit the possibility of holding false opinions, in denying God’s existence he declares his own opinion or interpretation of reality as true and authoritative. In other words, to assert that all life exists without God creating and sustaining it presume one’s own ability to accurately and authoritatively explain life’s origin, purpose, and meaning.

Of course, few would dare call themselves the ultimate authority and determiner of truth, and their own interpretation of reality as absolute truth. Yet, atheists do exactly that. When they deny God’s existence and explanation of the universe, they presume their own limited perspective to be the ultimate place of authority. And again, while atheists properly admit their ignorance about many things, they remain certain that their limited vantage point is sufficient to make such authoritative statements of “truth.” Thus, the wide scope of the atheist’s claims concerning God, man, and everything in the universe also applies to the nature of knowledge, truth, and ultimate authority. To assert one’s own personal explanation of the source and ultimate nature of reality as true makes oneself the ultimate authority and determiner of truth, assuming the place of the God they deny.

Concerning Morality
Third, it naturally follows that the ultimate judge of the nature of God, mankind, reality, knowledge, truth, and ultimate authority will be the ultimate judge of right and wrong. To assume no accountability to God assumes human opinion to be the highest moral authority, and the human will as free to do as it pleases (subject to man-made constraints). When people assume that God does not exist, they claim the right to make their own rules. This does not say that all atheists live immoral lives relative to monotheists or that they do not have their own reasons for living a “moral” life. It does say, however, that a denial of God’s existence claims independence from God’s law and justice. “No God” infers no ultimate standard of right and wrong, no ultimate accountability, and no ultimate judgment. Thus, the claims of the atheist are comprehensive in their ethics, extending to the moral government of the universe, the ultimate destination of people after death, and whether or not people will be held accountable in the hereafter for bad behavior here and now. To say that God does not exist says a great deal.

In Part Three we’ll answer the question: Is the claim that God does not exist reasonable?

Unless noted otherwise, Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1988, 1995. Used by permission.

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The Box: Answering the Faith of Unbelief by Dr. Craig Biehl - blog post excerpts

Craig Biehl is also the author of God the Reason, The Box, The Infinite Merit of Christ, and Reading Religious Affections

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Corrie ten Boom Meets Lieutenant Rahms

Shortly after her arrest and imprisonment for protecting Jews from the Nazi reign of terror, Corrie ten Boom met with Lieutenant Rahms, her pensive and troubled interrogator. He showed Corrie unusual kindness in his initial visits, though Corrie rightly suspected he was manipulating her to gain information about others involved in harboring Jews. Corrie spoke to the lieutenant about her ministry of preaching to the “feeble-minded” in what she called her “church for mentally retarded people” to which Lieutenant Rahms responded in typical Nazi fashion, “If you want converts, surely one normal person is worth all the half-wits in the world!” Nervous and contrite, Corrie ventured a reply, “The truth, Sir…is that God’s viewpoint is sometimes different from ours—so different that we could not even guess at it unless He had given us a Book which tells us such things.” Corrie “knew it was madness to talk this way to a Nazi officer,” but she continued. “In the Bible I learn that God values us not for our strength or our brains but simply because He has made us. Who knows, in His eyes a half-wit may be worth more than a watchmaker. Or—a lieutenant.”[1]

In a later encounter, Corrie spoke to the lieutenant about the message of God’s Book. “It says…that a Light has come into this world, so that we need no longer walk in the dark. Is there darkness in your life, Lieutenant?” After a long silence, and in a surprising moment of candor, the officer admitted, “There is great darkness….I cannot bear the work I do here.”[2]

I do not know the fate of Lieutenant Rahms. We can hope that his earthly darkness drove him to flee from eternal darkness and embrace the Light of the World. Maybe we will see him in heaven. Or, sadly, like Pontius Pilate, maybe he traded justice and reverence for God for his short-term power and livelihood and became an eternal tragedy.

Many participants in the Nazi reign of terror likely struggled with the evils with which Lieutenant Rahms struggled. Many made eye contact with the precious people who were dehumanized as apes by a worldview that saw Aryans as the apex of evolutionary progress. Most could not distinguish Jewish children from their own. Many saw the disproportionate accomplishments of Jews in society, contrary to the assertions of the propagandists. Yet they participated in the murder.

What lives might have been spared the terror of the racist Aryanism if people were rightly treated as endowed with dignity, as created in the image of God. What concentration camps would never have been built and what trains would never have carried their priceless cargo if people acknowledged dependence on God for purpose, meaning, and a moral compass. What horrors might have been prevented if Nietzsche had bowed the knee to the “God of the weak” and had never penned his deadly philosophy. The Nazi god, the Aryan pinnacle of human evolution, was no god, with no ultimate standard of right and wrong, no ultimate accountability, and no ultimate consequences for evil behavior. As William Penn once said, “If we are not governed by God, then we will be ruled by tyrants.”[3]

Many were partners in the evils of the Holocaust, so beware—if you reject and ignore God’s moral compass, someone else will provide one for you…. And the prevailing winds will drive us where we never dreamed we would go.

[1] Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place (Chosen Books, 1971; Bantam Books, 1974), 160.

[2] Ibid., 161.

[3] Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto, rev. ed. (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1982), 34.

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God the Reason: How Infinite Excellence Gives Unbreakable Faith by Dr. Craig Biehl

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