Thinking About Thinking and Mighty Oaks

It is popularly believed that Christians, when we go to church, hang our brains up at the door. Yet it is my experience that when I try and engage unbelievers in intelligent conversation about great issues of faith, it is so often they who shut down their thinking, who refuse to intelligently engage.

This is because they have already decided faith has nothing to offer by way of intelligent conversation. Of course, this is a poor caricature of faith as being by nature unreasonable, like superstition. You either have it, or you don’t, and who can explain it? It’s rather embarrassing, and who would admit to it?

An example I think of is that of creation. However you understand the Bible creation narrative, one thing is certain, the universe had a beginning. Science tells us that space, time, and matter came into being at the same moment. There was nothing, then there was...well, everything. That makes the universe contingent.

Think of oak trees. If you see an acorn, you would be forgiven for looking around to find the tree from which it fell. Having found the tree you would reasonably assume there must have been an acorn from which it grew. Each contingent on what went before. It’s the old chicken-and-egg conundrum.

In the same way, if space, time, and matter came into being at the same moment, it stands to reason the universe is contingent. Whatever the universe is contingent upon, cannot be confined to place, time, or physical existence. That would make whatever produced the universe part of creation, and nothing can pre-exist itself in order to create itself.

Richard Dawkins, of course, has decided that nothing can produce something, and the scientific community is busy trying to explain how that can be. What is ‘nothing?’ I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that nothing is the absence of something, just as darkness is the absence of light. In and of itself, it has no existence.

I can’t wait to see what science comes up with, but one thing is sure, Dawkins will not countenance the idea of God. His mind is closed for reasons I already explained, which seems odd for a scientist.

The Christian’s mind, of course, will go immediately to Genesis 1, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…’ and why not? My mind goes from there to the opening verses of John’s gospel:

‘In the beginning as the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him as life…’

So, we have a God who is ‘Spirit’ (John 4:24), confined neither to time, space, or physical existence. Jesus, the Word, was in the beginning with God, is God, and Jesus has life in himself, so he isn’t contingent. So, we have a being who is not contingent who created all that is contingent.

My main point here is not whether anyone accepts God and a supernatural world-view, what Newton called metaphysics. It is, rather, that we have a compelling argument for beginnings, even in light of science, and we should never be ashamed of that. Certainly, I am more confident about my faith in God than I would ever be in the idea that nothing is something that can produce everything.

Mormon Christians? Whats in a Name?

The Mormon Church, disturbed by the continuing identifying of polygamus sects in the news with the name Mormon, recently issued a press statement aimed at "clarifying" issues. It is interesting to note that if you substitute the name "Christian" where they use the name "Mormon" it makes a very good argument for us against the claims of the Mormon Church. The full press release is reproduced below in italics with each paragraph rewritten in ordinary text to present it from a Christian perspective. SALT LAKE CITY 10 July 2008 On 26 June, Newsroom published a package of information featuring profiles of ordinary Latter-day Saints in Texas. With no other intention but to define themselves, these members provided a tangible depiction of what their faith is all about. They serve as the best distinction between the lifestyles and values of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a Texas-based polygamous group that has recently attracted media attent...

The Mormon God’s Dysfunctional Family

You know those moments when you look at something you’ve looked at a thousand times before and suddenly see something new? I was looking at a blog I found via the Google Blog Alerts service and it told the familiar story of the Mormon “ Plan of Salvation”; you can read it here. There really was nothing surprising until I started thinking about what people might think if a family they knew conducted themselves the way the Mormon “family of God” do in this story. People from abusive backgrounds have problems enough with the idea of God as a Father but this story would put anyone off the idea forever! As I recount this story think about what the typical dad would do as his kids are growing up and compare it with this “exalted man.” According to Mormonism “ God created our spirits” and we lived with him in a pre-mortal existence (Mormons say “pre-existence” but it is not possible to pre-exist, i.e. to exist before you exist. The noun “existence” has to be have the prefix “pre” othe...

Is atheism an intolerant belief?

The Big Questions , Sunday 2 August 2009, third question. A growing number of Britons say they are certain there is no God - but how do they know? Professor John Adams of the North Yorkshire Humanist Association begins by asking theists what evidence they have for their beliefs. Paul Woolley of Theos continues by pointing out Richard Dawkins description of faith as a 'virus', and the appalling track record of atheism in the 20th Century, as spearheaded by Pol Pot and Stalin. Chloe Clifford-Frith of the Humanist and Secular Students Society contends that Stalin did not do the things he did because he was an atheist, but because he was evil. Paul Woolley rejoins that atheists are trying to have it both ways when they claim that religion is the cause of evil, but refuse to acknowledge the ideological impetus of atheism when it comes to many evil acts. Mao and Stalin both replaced God with the State - a 'religious' manoeuvre. Rev Alistair Rycroft of St Michael Le Belfrey Ch...

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