Evidence for Belief
I recently posted on Joshua Claybourn's site on the subject of faith and doubt, posting some reflections on a recent sermon delivered in my church.
That sermon was based on Thomas and his initial unbelief in Jesus' resurrection. I'm currently reading a book called The Case for a Creator, by Lee Strobel. Lee Strobel, a former atheist, interviews several people who are knowledgable in both science and theology, and discovers that the evidence for a creator is actually pretty strong. He shows that it actually takes a lot of faith, in fact more faith, to believe that the existence of the universe was a random event.
So far, my favorite chapter is his interview with William Lane Craig, where Dr. Craig presents the kalam argument:
- What begins to exist must have a cause,
- The universe began to exist,
- Therefore, the universe had a cause
Up until this century, many scientists believed in a steady-state universe, or that it always existed. With the formulation of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, and confirmation of key parts of it, namely an expanding universe, it has been shown that the universe must have had a starting point and therefore a cause (though theories of multiple beginnings or oscillating universes are now in vogue). Dr. Craig argues very convincingly that whatever caused the Big Bang to occur would not have been accidental, but rather an intentional act. Two arguments: One is that whenever the conditions necessary for an event to occur are satisfied, the event will happen. The other is more complicated: whenever I describe a physical event, I can describe it two ways, a personal way and a materialistic way. If you hear a teapot whistling and ask me why the water is boiling, I can say either a)I'm making some tea or b)the electric current through the stove element causes heat, which raises the water temperature..... But when discussing the big bang, there is simply no way to discuss the beginning in a materialistic way - their was no material there! So the only way left to describe it is by admitting a personal explanation: a creator made it happen for some intentional reason.
I'm really enjoying reading this book. I'm going to discuss more of it as I go through it.
In the meantime, here are two columns from Boundless magazine: William Lane Craig, on the importance of intellectual development for Christians, and J.P. Moreland, on how the human mind could not have been a product of natural selection.
Posted by Joel Fuhrmann at May 6, 2004 10:07 PM