Simon East (Student HBC060094)

TH-302 Apologetics (Sept 2010 CD Mode)

Blog Post
Word Limit: 200
Actual Words: 207

ORIGINAL COMMENT
By Madeleine Reeves who commented on the article
‘Eustace Clarence Scrubb, Reductionism, and Redemption’ by Bill Muehlenberg.
Available at http://goo.gl/JfF0c

Comment snippet:

I don’t really understand how you can say that a non-believer sees a reduced version
of reality. We see what is there and nothing more (and what I see is awesome and
wonderful!). I don’t need the supernatural for the universe to be special and
mysterious. With God, I just feel you are adding something superfluous to an already
“full” reality. Something that you can’t prove. I can only speak for myself, but I don’t
refuse to admit it anything. This is all I see, and I think it’s unfair that you should say
people refuse to admit things, when you don’t even know them and can’t know their
thoughts.

Sceptics, materialists and rationalists are not “narrow-minded”, they just believe in
what can be empirically proven. I think that’s just simply logical and responsible. We
don’t think we have all the answers, either. Dawkins has spoken about how he
doesn’t have authority to speak on matters pertaining to the other sciences
(chemistry and physics) where he doesn’t have the expertise, and that he is only an
atheist in the same way he doesn’t believe in faries, because there’s no evidence. He
knows that the existence of gods or fairies cannot be disproven. Give empirical,
verifiable evidence for God, and the sceptic will believe.

1
MY REPLY
Madeleine, I appreciated your post because I think you’re correct – atheists, humanists and
Darwinists can still marvel and the intricacy and beauty of our world. Perhaps Bill was a
little too sweeping with his statements. But I’m intrigued by another thing you said:

“[Sceptics] just believe in what can be empirically proven. Dawkins...is only an atheist
in the same way he doesn’t believe in fairies, because there’s no evidence... Give
empirical, verifiable evidence for God, and the sceptic will believe.”

In contrast to fairies, there is actually a large body of evidence for the existence of God. I
suspect a large portion of atheists simply don’t want him to be true – perhaps they fear
losing a form of independence or a certain lifestyle. While God seems to elude being 100%
provable (would we have freedom to choose if it were so?), when one honestly examines
the evidence – the supernatural properties of the bible (accurate prophetic predictions,
consistent message from forty authors over thousands of years), the life and legacy of Jesus,
the signature of design upon creation, the potential for conversion to produce life-change,
modern day miracles, and the millions of personal testimonies – I believe there is enough
evidence to convince any impartial jury ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.