A common objection of atheists to the existence of God is that anything that man is not certain of the theist attributes to God. The most popular example given, which has nothing to do with the assertion, is: "before everybody thought the world was flat but then we discovered it was round."Isn't it at least as foolish to assert that there is no God because we understand how a limited number of processes in the world function without the seeming intervention of God? It's as if we live in a car engine and we say, "well I can see and know how a piston works because of the explosion caused by the sparkplug and gasoline but can't see any driver or designer therefore there is no driver or designer. Anyone who claims that there is a driver and designer is a fool and is using that to explain things that we haven't discovered yet because we don't completely understand the engine. When we understand more about the engine it will confirm that there is no driver or designer and that everything can be explained by reasons that exclude a designer and driver. Don't you remember when we discovered how the piston worked?"
"The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. (Psalm 14:1)
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6 comments:
We don't live in a car engine, but if we did, I doubt we'd just take the reasoning of "because of the explosion caused by the sparkplug and gasoline but can't see any driver or designer therefore there is no driver or designer." We'd want to know why, and so we'd explore, discover, and find out the facts. Or at least I would. Tolerance, dude. Tolerance.
I totally agree with you that we would want to explore, discover, and find out facts. In my illustration there is never any reason not to explore or find out more; in fact, it will confirm the reality of a designer. What the car engine illustration points out is the foolishness of limiting our understanding of natural processes to explanations that do not include a anything above nature. If I said in lie, lunacy, or ignorance, "the world is flat" would you tolerate it?
I want to thank you for leaving a comment and encourage you to continue because this challenges us all to look at our statements and beliefs from other points of view. One more thing on the tolerance issue. If you were referring to the bible verse that I quoted I want to highlight the fact that it says "there is no one who does good." I include myself in this group of no one. It is God who does not tolerate and my rebellion and foolishness is also not tolerated by God.
One problem that the atheist have is that they can't really explain where the concept of tolerance comes from. If there is no God, why would tolerance be important?
why does tolerance have to be related to god? i'm an atheist, but i believe that tolerance is one of the keys to a progressive and loving society. if we can't tolerate and even accept people's differences, how can we ever move forward? i believe that tolerance comes from our hearts, from our inner being, and from one's utmost desire to be inclusive of others. it's similar to morality. i believe in being as good to other people as possible, but this doesn't mean i do it because some higher power wants or encourages me to. i do it because it's how i'd want other people to treat me and the world around me. it's my choice not to lie, cheat, steal, murder, or hurt anyone (at least not intentionally), and i do it because it's how i would hope others would live as well.
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