Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Knowledge and the Atheist
Atheism is supposed to be the philosophy of evidence, which
seeks explanations and understanding of the world we live in, instead of just
resorting to “magic” to explain things.
A few of the things that the atheist must account for in his thinking:
Why anything exists?
Why it exists in an orderly fashion?
Why it exists in a form that is able to support human life?
Why it exists in a form that is understandable?
Why we exist in a form that is capable of understanding it?
Why we exist in a form that is capable of making value
judgments about how things ought to be?
Why such value judgments are possible and valid in the first
place?
Why knowing truth about the universe is important or
valuable, let alone possible?
Why billions of people claim to have experienced the answer
to these questions, having had a personal encounter with the divine? Why they are all lying or ignorant, while the
atheist is right?
So we have lots of questions which the atheist can only
answer, “It just is.” Christianity on the
other hand has an answer to the question which holds together logically and is
backed by evidence that is appropriate to the question being proved.
Atheism often accuse Christians of a “God of the gaps”, or just invoking God whenever we can’t explain something. But the atheist invokes the cosmos, whenever he can’t explain something. He says, "it just is." The Christian, when faced with something he doesn't understand about the cosmos, can say that we know God made it that way and we don’t understand it, yet we have confidence that we will understand it one day since God intentionally created the cosmos to be understood by us. The atheist, when faced with something he doesn't understand about the cosmos, must simply say that it is the way it is for no apparent reason, and he has no reason at all to believe that he ever will understand it. The atheist cannot confidently say that he understands anything at all now. He has no reason to even believe that his mind and senses are giving him accurate information about the world.
Atheism often accuse Christians of a “God of the gaps”, or just invoking God whenever we can’t explain something. But the atheist invokes the cosmos, whenever he can’t explain something. He says, "it just is." The Christian, when faced with something he doesn't understand about the cosmos, can say that we know God made it that way and we don’t understand it, yet we have confidence that we will understand it one day since God intentionally created the cosmos to be understood by us. The atheist, when faced with something he doesn't understand about the cosmos, must simply say that it is the way it is for no apparent reason, and he has no reason at all to believe that he ever will understand it. The atheist cannot confidently say that he understands anything at all now. He has no reason to even believe that his mind and senses are giving him accurate information about the world.
Christianity made the scientific revolution possible. Atheism leads logically to nihilism and the
denial of all truth.
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