Our Most Fundamental Choice - by Ryan

Here’s another post!

It’s been awhile since I contributed to Kevin’s blog but here’s another semi-intellectual, partially-educated post.

Well it’s fairly simple. Logically, only two circumstances can exist and only one side can be right. There’s either Theism or Atheism (non-Theism if you prefer). It’s the most fundamental of arguments and it’s intriguing because it MUST be one or the other.

Noting this, we’ll put a few different things aside. Atheism is pretty cut and dry. If there is no god, there is no god. Theism is a bit different though. If you argue for Theism you’re also challenged with defending a particular form of Theism (Various Religions). However, for this let’s just discuss plain and simple, is there or isn’t there a god? (probably, not certainly)

Often, this argument revolves around how the earth came to be. It’s a Creation v. Evolution showdown every time anyone gets into this. The problem with this is that it revolves too much around the details. Mainstream Christianity tends to hold to the idea that the earth is roughly 6000 years old and the earth was created in 7, 24 hour days (however you punctuate 7 and 24 there). Even within Christianity there are quarrels about this theory and alternate theories about the earth being created over a long period of time. Evolution then counters that in many different ways that are too familiar and not worth listing. In my opinion, people get too lost in trying to defend the details before defending the fundamental ideas behind their argument such as, can the universe even exist? I, personally, don’t hold to a particular view when it comes to Creation but I do believe the earth and the universe ULTIMATELY had to be created by a creator.

There’s a bit of an issue when it comes to the universe. If one is to assert that there is no infinite creator than they must assert that something else is infinite. It goes to back ancient philosophy where the best explanation for the universe is an infinite regress back in time. We can’t have nothing and then have something. Plus, it’s difficult to fathom the idea of there being nothing. If I try to imagine nothing then all I see is black but even that black backdrop I see in my mind wouldn’t exist. Out of this idea many come to the conclusion that the universe is infinite. First, how would we have gotten to this point if we had to travel an infinite amount of time to get here? Second, the other explanation for the universe is the idea of the Big Bang. This doesn’t necessarily serve the non-theists needs however, because it contradicts the idea that the universe is infinite which is arguably very necessary to the non-theist’s idea. The Big Bang now begins to serve the theist a bit more. This is because, most importantly, the theory of the Big Bang shows that the universe had a beginning. If the universe, in fact, had a beginning, then it wouldn’t be logically impossible for there to be a separate, infinite creator that gives motion to the universe. Here’s an analogy, and though analogies aren’t perfect, we’re ultimately presented with our most fundamental choice. Does adding an infinite number of train cars to a track give a train motion or does the locomotive give motion to the finite number of train cars?

-Ryan

Introduction to Ryan

Kevin has been trying to get me to write on this blog for a while so here I am Kevin you can stop whining.

So here’s an introduction to me and the type of stuff I’ll write on. I’m in my first year at Liberty and I’m studying Philosophy, as the side bar says. Being in my first year, I’m not the brightest cookie in the tool shed and whatever I talk about will not be so advanced into the arguments for the existence or non-existence of God but I hope to provoke thought.

I think and reflect on a lot of different things. It’s been a pattern of mine for a very long time and out of that has grown a passion for validating Christianity through intellect. Intellect alone can’t save anyone of course, but I find it increasingly more important to have an intellectual understanding about what one believes. I think that all people ought to involve systematic skepticism into their beliefs, especially Christians. I mean that we should reflect on what we consider to be truths of Christianity and consider their truth against reality. This doesn’t mean that we should be trying to disprove ourselves, but rather we should really consider why we believe what we believe. If people are to be won over we must not assert what we believe to be truth so harshly without reflecting on what it is that we believe first. If we believe someone who claimed to be God was in fact God and did in fact raise from the dead, we better be able to defend that adequately because that is quite a hefty claim to make. If we grant to others that we don’t have all the answers, then more people would likely be won over. We may not be able to answer every question but we ought to have a logically rational basis for believing something and I believe this basis exists.

Also, it is important to note that God cannot be proven with absolute certainty in a philosophical sense. For example, I was on Facebook and saw that someone on my news feed became a fan of atheism. I clicked on it to see what was said on the wall of this group. The most recent post began with, “I am an atheist because of deductive problems with God.” Well of course he has deductive problems with God! If something is deduced, it essentially means that it is absolutely certain, assuming that is both valid and sound. We can’t deduce that God exists anymore than we can deduce that God doesn’t exist or even the other person in the room with us exists. The best we have on any of these is induction. With induction we can only argue for what is probably true, not absolutely certain. However, induction is still a powerful tool and that is where I begin…

-Ryan Jones