“Is God Dead?” “Is God Dead?” April 8, 1966. 2References Patrick Glynn, “God, The Evidence”, (1997) Gerald L Schroeder, “The Science of God” (1997) Newsweek.

““Is God Dead?”Is God Dead?”

April 8, 1966

2

ReferencesReferences

• Patrick Glynn, “God, The Evidence”, (1997)

• Gerald L Schroeder, “The Science of God” (1997)

• Newsweek magazine, July 27, 1998, “Science finds God”

• Time magazine, December 4, 1995, “Evolution’s Big Bang”

• Various articles from the Internet and CD-ROM encyclopaedias

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TopicsTopics

• The Arguments for God

• Modern Science

• The Anthropic Principle

• Darwinism

• Medical Science

• Human Wisdom

• Conclusion

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Tell-tale SignsTell-tale Signs

“The heavens declare the glory of

God; And the firmament shows

His handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1)

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Tell-tale SignsTell-tale Signs

• “ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,” (Romans 1:20)

• “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” (Hebrews 11:3)

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Yet…Yet…

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.”

Friedrich Nietzsche, “The Gay Science”, 1882

…killed by rationalism and science

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God cannot be “proved”God cannot be “proved”

Atheist Paradigm Theist Paradigm

You make your choice of your paradigm BY FAITH.

Facts & Observations

E = mc 2

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A Diversity of ParadigmsA Diversity of Paradigms

Creationists

TheisticEvolutionistsTheists Atheists

Day-Age

Gap Theory

Darwinists

“the world through wisdom did not know God” (1 Corinthians 1:21)

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Faith is requiredFaith is required

• “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

• “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

A proven “God” no longer requires faith to be present.

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Faith with reasonFaith with reason

• Not a blind faith

“always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (2 Peter 3:15)

• “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”” (Psalm 14:1)

– So strong are the evidences that it is considered foolish to deny them.

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ObjectiveObjective

Not to “prove” the existence of God, but

to REASON to FAITH in the existence of God

Look at some recent developments in science on the question of God

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Philosophical Arguments for Philosophical Arguments for

the Existence of Godthe Existence of God

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Philosophical ArgumentsPhilosophical Arguments

• Arguments were developed long ago before the advent of “scientific” reasoning

• Based more on the thought process, appealing to human logical reasoning

– Especially the ontological argument

– Even the argument that design requires Designer

• Arguments lack “scientific” method and basis - hence, rejected by modern science

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Philosophical ArgumentsPhilosophical Arguments

• The Ontological Argument

• The Intuitive Argument

– The Moral Law

– The Spiritual Man

• The Cosmological Argument - argument from “first cause”

• The Teleological Argument - argument from “final cause”

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The Ontological ArgumentThe Ontological Argument

• Think of as perfect an entity as you can possibly conceive

– in attributes, intelligence, values, power, etc

That entity is “God”.

• Does “it” exist? If not, it is not perfect enough. Concept of perfection must also necessarily include its existence!

Hence, “God” exists.

“that than which nothing greater can be conceived” (Anselm)

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The Intuitive ArgumentsThe Intuitive Arguments

• Man’s intelligence exceeds by far the next most intelligent species. Why? Because God made man in His image.

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The Intelligence GapThe Intelligence Gap

Then God said, “Let Us make man in

Our image, according to Our likeness;

let them have dominion over the fish

of the sea, over the birds of the air,

and over the cattle, over all the earth

and over every creeping thing that

creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26)

“I think, therefore I am.”(Descartes)

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The Intuitive ArgumentsThe Intuitive Arguments

• Man is a morally conscious being. Why? Because God put a sense of right and wrong into man.

• Man is a spiritually conscious being. Why? Because God made him that way.

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The Moral BeingThe Moral Being

“Gentiles… by nature do the things in the

law, these…are a law to themselves, who

show the work of the law written in their

hearts, their conscience also bearing witness,

and between themselves

their thoughts

accusing or else

excusing them” (Romans 2:14-15)

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The Spiritual DimensionThe Spiritual Dimension

“And He has made from one blood

every nation of men to dwell on all

the face of the earth, … so that they

should seek the Lord, in the hope that

they might grope for Him and find Him,

though He is not far from each one of

us;” (Acts 17:26-27)

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The Cosmological ArgumentThe Cosmological Argument

• Advanced by Thomas Aquinas

• Cosmology concerned with “first cause”, i.e. origins

• Reasoning through causal argument (cause-effect relationship) to arrive at first cause.

• There cannot be an infinite regression of cause-effect.

Hence, there is a “first cause”, i.e. a cause which itself is not caused by anything else.

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The Cosmological ArgumentThe Cosmological Argument

• “First cause” is God, the Originator of all things

“Who created God?”

Nothing - because we cannot have infinite regression.

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The Cosmological ArgumentThe Cosmological Argument

• This cosmos is an illusion It is as real as it can be!

• This cosmos has always existed This contradicts the second law of

thermodynamics (entropy)!

• This cosmos came out from nothing Nothing ever comes from nothing!

• This cosmos was created by a Creator The only plausible alternative!

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The Teleological ArgumentThe Teleological Argument

• Advanced by philosophers such as Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas

• Teleology looks at the “final cause”, i.e. the end-product. Examples:

– If a flower is end product, it is the final cause of the process of growth from seed to seedling into a plant that blossoms

– If man is the end product, he is the final cause of the process of conception, gestation in the womb, and birth

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The Teleological ArgumentThe Teleological Argument

• Teleology - the doctrine that states that every design requires the existence of a designer.

• There is design, law, order and structure in the natural order of things.

– A design cannot just materialise - much less beauty in nature without a Designer.

– Laws cannot arise from chaos.

– Order cannot arise from disorder through random processes.

Hence, there must be a Designer - God! E = mc2

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Which First Cause?Which First Cause?Possibilities

Final Cause – Law, Order, Structure, Beauty, Design

E = mc2

This world is very real!

Plainly illogical

Why should it happen?

Big Bang

Entropy

So much Design cannot result from mechanistic chance.

The one and only logical option

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Paley’s WatchmakerPaley’s Watchmaker

William Paley, 1743-1805

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The Advance & RetreatThe Advance & Retreat

of Naturalismof Naturalism

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The March of NaturalismThe March of Naturalism

• Advance started in the Renaissance

• In tune with the rise of Modern Science

• Tremendous boost in the Age of Enlightenment (19th century)

• “Advances” in multiple disciplines cast grave questions about God

• Each “advance” reinforced those made in other areas, thus strengthening the case against theism

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Modern ScienceModern Science

• Strictly in accordance to mechanistic principle - no purposive principles in nature, no gods, no design

• No inherent moral or ethical laws - no absolute guiding principles; Man becomes ethical through heredity and the environment

• Death is the end

Dr William Provine, historian of science, Cornell University, “Evolution and the Foundation of Ethics”, 1988

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Scientific RationalityScientific Rationality

• “The way science arrives at its beliefs is quite different from that of medieval theology . . . . Science starts, not from large assumptions, but from particular facts discovered by observation and experiment.” (Bertrand Russell, 1935)

• Hence, rejection of all that is not testable

• But does science answer everything and leave no room for faith?

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An All-Front AssaultAn All-Front Assault

Physical SciencesPhysical Sciences

BiologyBiology

PhilosophyPhilosophy

5th Column5th Column

PsychologyPsychology

Frontal Assault

Rear Assault

Flank Assault

Flank Assault

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The 5th ColumnThe 5th Column

The wolves in the midst of sheep (Acts 20:29-30)

Modern religionists who deny:

• The Deity of Christ

• The Inspiration of the Bible

• Miracles of the Bible

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BesiegedBesieged

• Abandonment of theism in face of fierce offensive by modernists

• Exclusion of Creation from school curriculum

• A world growing more atheistic

• Christianity besieged

In 1966, Time asked “Is God Dead?”

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Theism’s Counter-OffensiveTheism’s Counter-Offensive

• After 4 centuries of being beleaguered, theism gaining acceptance again

• Growing wealth of scientific data pointing to divine agency

• Growing support from believing scientists

• Modernists increasingly put on defensive footing

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Modernism in RetreatModernism in Retreat

Contributing Factors

• The Decline of Naturalism

• The Anthropic Principle

• The Death of Darwinism

• Intelligent Design

• Lessons from Medical Science

• Failure of Human Wisdom