As the final principles of "loose consensus" presented by Mr. Kurtz (reason, science and education) are those which i've commented at length in recent posts, i'm going to address one final point and then a brief summary of this reading in secular humanism.
Mr. Kurtz states in a section entitled "Religious Skepticism" that "We have found no convincing evidence taht there is a seperable 'soul' or that it exists before birth or survives death." This statement is intriguing to me coming from the secular humanist camp because it so blatantly and opening argues in a circle. Mr. Kurtz has gone to great lengths to describe how the secular humanist feels that everything is knowable by human intellect and reason. Tell me, can the soul of man ever be detected by human intellect or reason? The answer of course is no. The humanist has here begun by assuming nothing supernatural exists and everything that can be known is discovered through the cognative abilities and physical investigations of man. So, in essence he says that only measureable things exist, we cannot measure the soul, and therefore the soul doesn't exist.
This is quite telling, because I believe this is the point with the vociferous atheist and secular humanist, namely that in the realm of the religious there is no amount of evidence that would be accepted. As a believer in Jesus and one who is comitted to the Biblical-Christian worldview, I cannot prove that God exists. I can provide evidence (Cosmological argument, Teleological argument, Existence of Morals, Ontological argument and arguments from specified complexity and irreducible complexity) that when gathered together to answer in a cogent and comprehensive manner the most important questions in life, namely origin, meaning, morality and destiny, end up being the most compelling and lucid. I also can bring the real and personal experience of the change in my life that has come from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ in a daily walk.
It is important to remember that every worldview must answer those most important questions in life. If someone were to ask: Where did I come from? Why am I here? How should I behave and interact with others while i'm here? What will happen to me when I die? The secular humanist would have to respond, in simple form: You originated from a random collocation of atoms, a happy accident, a pure product of time and random chance. Based on the answer to question number one, there is no good reason why you are here as opposed to not being at all. You can do whatever you like as long as you don't hurt anyone, to the best of your definition of hurt. Nothing happens when you die, we have asked dead people what happens and they didn't say anything.
These are not trite, false or overexaggerated answers. If pressed on these points the secular humanist would have to answer this way or betray the worldview he/she espouses. What is lost therefore is meaning, hope, love, justice, freedom and gratitude; a high price to pay to satisfy the desire to reason among themselves to cast off all restraint and do what seems right in their own eyes.
In contrast, when asked the same set of questions, the Biblical-Christian turns to the Word of God (for perspective in this life) and answers as follows: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in this body, this will mean fruitful labor for me." "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind...Love your neighbor as yourself." "After that, we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words." If we submit ourselves to Jesus we are offered love, joy, peace, contentment, hope, justice, freedom and meaningful and consistent answers to the most important questions in life.
Ultimately it comes down to a simple choice: we tell God "Thy will be done", or we tell ourselves "My will be done."
Jeremy,
ReplyDeleteRegarding your discussion within the third paragraph of this post, where you are discussing the potentially problematic (with respect to an ongoing witnessing opportunity with a proclaimed atheist) issue of trying to "prove" God's existence, I would like to submit to you a powerful argument for the FACT that some TRUTHS are UNPROVABLE.
One of the best examples of this in a secular setting that doesn't allow the discussion to be sidetracked by "religious" views can be found in the movie "Contact".
Two of the main characters, one a believer and one not, are having a conversation regarding God’s existence.
Ellie (the non-believer) states that she only believes in things that she can prove. Palmer (the believer) then asks her if she loved her father. (Her father died when she was a teenager and that sting has been with her all her life). Ellie is taken off guard.
“What?”, she asks.
“Your dad, Ellie…..did you love him?”
A bit confused as to where this is heading, Ellie answers, “Of course”.
……”Prove it”.
The point of the dialog in this case is that some things are simply unprovable to us with our limitations of perception and mental capacity. Sometimes we simply know things are true. Period.
We trust in what we believe in.