Faith Based: Are Atheists and Christians so Different After All?

Here is my quandary: Where did "energy" come from?

It seems there are four possible answers:

1) Energy does not exist
2) Energy is eternal = no beginning and no end
3) Energy appeared spontaneously from nothing
4) Energy was created by intelligence (God is a possibility here)

For the sake of making the argument soundly we must define FAITH!

Faith is the evidence of things not seen or the evidence of things not KNOWN or SEEN.

None of the previous points, or any combination of thereof, can be proven by facts, logic, reason, or scientific inquiry or reproduction. Therefore all four points or any combination of them are purely philosophic. So yes, all four points or any combination thereof are based upon faith.

Knowing this it seems apparent that none of these points or any combination of them should be taught in a science class. Instead, these points should be taught in a philosophy class as "faith-based" concepts.

PROBLEM: Science tells us that energy cannot be created or destroyed. So what then is the "Origin of Energy" or the "Singularity" or the "Big Bang" that science so readily presents as fact? The same question could be asked about other scientific notions which are likewise assumed by science such as time, space, and motion.

While I applaud the faith of my atheist, humanist, naturalist and Darwinian friends, I still marvel at their utter inability to understand their own faith-based system of thought. OK...so maybe they don't get it because they believe that one day science will prove all their basic assumptions to be true...yet that again falls clearly within the realm of faith.

More honesty is needed in the dialogue about origins, so here is my honest approach to the subject:

Any of the four points above, and possibly an infinite number of points after that can explain the existence of energy and matter in the universe. I must concede here that I stand firmly on the notion that everything must come from something. That something, in my worldview is GOD.

Consider the following. Which of the following statements explains the origin of God?

1) God has always existed
2) God was created from another being
3) God was created from the consciousness of man (not a joke; this is a popular view)
4) God was created from nothingness

What do you think the answer is???

Possibly the best answer is, "I don't know what, when, where, or how the origin of energy occurred." The same answer could be given in reference to God.

Anyone who is truly intellectually honest must agree that the origin of energy ideas presented by science must fall within the realm of theory and thus are no different than faith-based ideas found within philosophical arguments. That is why I argue that much of science belongs in the philosophy classroom...not the science classroom. If they were honest, most naturalists would have to admit that they "HOPE" or "BELIEVE" that Quantum Physics or Quantum Mechanics will someday have the answer for them. Interestingly, Creationists have hope and faith that someday GOD will reveal the answers to everyone to see once and for all.

Here is a little more perspective for our Western mindsets to consider:

Some people really do not believe the physical world exists. Others, like the Hindus, believe that everything is eternal--no beginning and no end. Still others believe everything came from nothing, spontaneously without the help of an intelligent power. This last concept seems the most insane to me (though not believing in the physical universe seems pretty crazy too...just saying). It seems to me that sane thinkers allow their minds to conform to reality, whereas insane thinkers allow reality to conform to their minds. Ahhhhh...and there lies the rub.

If we are being truly honest...the modern Darwinian naturalist must see the Christian as insane and the modern Christian must do likewise. So, in reality someone in the equation may truly be crazy...LOL.

In the end...I applaud your faith...no matter what side of the argument you find yourself standing with...and that is the point of this little mental blogging exercise...to show how everyone--even those who demand that they are not--are persons of faith. Of what faith are you??? Peace today!

Is Christianity Failing in America?

On a casual evening eating out in 2000, my wife and I ran into a former student. The chance encounter occurred at a restaurant where she was working to support herself through college. She sat down, clearly stressed and upset, and explained that she was experiencing difficulty in her life and needed advice. She reported that she was pregnant out-of-wedlock and that the father wanted nothing to do with the child or her. Then she explained that she was leaning toward aborting the child due to the pressure from her family and her current life situation.

Here is a young lady who attended church regularly, whose Christian parents brought her to church, and who was active in a youth ministry program throughout her high school years. How could this happen? According to researchers, 70 to 88 percent of Christian teens are leaving the church by their second year in college.[1] These findings correlate with the experiences of the young lady in the story above. In fact, since graduation she had invested a year of her life in a sexual relationship with a non-Christian, abandoned the church, and demonstrated a worldview that was anything but biblical.[2]

Unfortunately, her story is not an isolated incident. The syncretism displayed by her abandonment of the biblical principle of the sanctity of human life is pervasive in modern Christianity. This blending of the biblical worldview with the secular worldview has reached epidemic proportions. Every year in America, 4.5 million other teenagers turn twenty years of age, just like this young lady.[3] Will their biblical worldview hold up under the pressure of a culture gone secular? Disappointingly, research says no.[4]

In their upbringing, most Christian students today face similar challenges. Modern Christian parents rear their children in homes where their faith is compartmentalized and relegated primarily to the church setting. In other words, the advancement of their faith is not central in the home where it should belong. Nothing less than a revival of home-based biblical worldview training is necessary to counter this overwhelming epidemic. My hope for the next generation of Christian youth is that a generation of Christian parents will realize their God-given responsibility to “bring [their children] up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Eph 6:4b).

In order for that hope to become reality, parents need to inform themselves of the dangers and equip themselves to fulfill their responsibilities to their children. After becoming engaged with the issues, and convinced of the urgency of the fight, Christian parents will begin anew to take on the mantle of the responsibility for the spiritual training of their children. Resources are needed and are currently being created by myself and many others to equip parents for such an effort.

More to come on this subject soon!
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[1] Pinkney, in his Report to the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, reported that 70 percent of teenagers involved in church youth groups stop attending church within two years of their high school graduation. Additionally, see the 2002 Report of the Southern Baptist Council on Family Life, which reported that 88 percent of the children in evangelical homes leave church at the age of eighteen. T. C. Pinkney, Report to the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee (Nashville: Southern Baptist Convention), September 18, 2001.

[2] Imagine a chart of circles within circles. The innermost circle is a person's worldview (beliefs). Next is their values or practices, next is their morality and behavior and the outermost circle represents culture or society. A visual such as this is helpful to demonstrate how one's worldview can effect culture as well as being helpful to demonstrate how good parenting can positively effect the life of a child through the teaching of right beliefs (Truth).

[3] Ron Luce, Battle Cry for a Generation: The Fight to Save America’s Youth (Colorado Springs: Cook Communications Ministries, 2005), 33.

[4] Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 36; and Douglas L. Flor and Nancy Flanagan Knapp, “Transmission and Transaction: Predicting Adolescents’ Internalization of Parental Religious Values,” Journal of Family Psychology 15, no. 4 (2001): 628.

An Atheist's Perspective on Evangelical Christians

I was impressed with an article I read this morning. The title is, "As an Atheist I Truly Believe Africa Needs God."

Follow the link here to read it for yourself: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece

The author is Matthew Parris and he deserves some kuddos for his honesty and willingness to publish news without personal bias...this is hard to do regardless of which side of the fence you dwell on. Please take the time to read the article. I hope you find it as insightful and helpful as I did.

The Curse Motif

Who Created American Morality?

As Christians should be and must be active in the public square, they also must be aware of the intense opposition they will face because of the different moralities in the two domains on the earth, the heavenly domain and the worldly one. The popular assumption in the public arena today is that God is not relevant there anymore.

The new perception of the irrelevance of God in the public arena is a disastrous plot against Christianity. Christians need continuous reminders of American history as one key to pushing against this false assumption. In the 1830s, the French historian Alexis de Tocqueveille traveled to America to study life in this new and exciting nation. Upon his arrival, he wrote about his discoveries in a book entitled, Democracy in America. Written from an outsider’s perspective and just fifty years from the writing of the American Constitution, Tocqueveille wrote,

I do not know whether all the Americans have a sincere faith in their religion; for who can search the human heart? But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or to a party, but it belongs to the whole nation, and to every rank of society.[1]

What amazing observations from a historian’s and a journalist’s 1830’s perspective. To consider how quickly society dismisses such a powerful testimony today as irrelevant or old news is shameful.

George Washington, the first president of these United States, said in his farewell address to the nation that the base of political prosperity was upon the two indispensible supports of religion and morality. He is quoted as saying that any person who sought to subvert either of these two supports could not claim to be a patriot.[2] John Adams, the second American president, declared that the founding fathers wrote the constitution and founded the nation itself upon the presupposition that the nation was devoted fully to religion and morality. President Adams is quoted as saying, “we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."[3]

Consider a more recent president’s opinion of the place of religion and morality in the public arena. Woodrow Wilson, a twentieth-century president wrote the following words.

"We know that there is a standard set for us in the heavens, a standard revealed to us in this book [the Bible] which is the fixed and eternal standard by which we judge ourselves. . . . We do not judge progress by material standards. America is not ahead of other nations of the world because she is rich. Nothing makes America great except her thoughts, except her ideals, except her acceptance of those standards of judgment which are written large upon these pages of revelation. . . . Let no man suppose that progress can be divorced from religion, or that there is any other platform for the ministers of reform than the platform written in the utterances of our Lord and Savior. America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture."[4]

Why do presidents not say things like this anymore? Some do, just not often in public. Seemingly political correctness is winning the day, causing well-meaning Christian leaders only to speak softly about their beliefs and values. We should not allow the churches, the schools, the government buildings, the marketplace, or anywhere to be quarantined as places where the Christian voice should or should not be heard. Every Christian has a part to play. As a family and as an individual, consider what that might mean for you today. What part does each Christian play in standing up for God, for Christian morality, for truth in American society today?
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(1) Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (New York: George Dearborn & Co, 1838), 286-87.

(2)The quotation in its full context is, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars.” James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789-1897 (Published by the authority of Congress, 1854), 220.

(3)John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, ed. Charles Frances Adams (Boston: Little Brown, 1854), 229.

(4)Woodrow Wilson used these words in a speech, given to a crowd of approximately twelve thousand people on May 7, 1911. Woodrow Wilson, The Papers of Woodrow Wilson (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977), 18, 20.