This is blog post number two (here is #1) from the book Cultural Apologetics by Paul Gould. This sentence caused me to sit up and wonder:
The first step toward reenchantment is to reawaken within ourselves and others the deeper desires of the heart for truth, goodness, and beauty, which in turn will arouse the heart’s deepest desire—a desire and love for God.
I will explain why this struck me, but first I need to explain the word “reenchantment.” The first part of the book deals with the disenchantment of the modern secular world. This world, it doesn’t surprise us, is de-spiritualized. It is portrayed as merely material, and if matter is all there is, then matter is all there is. There can be no such things as transcendent concepts of, for example, truth, goodness, and beauty. In other words, those concepts don’t actually exist. In a purely material universe they can only be subjective projections of human thoughts or feelings because matter can’t be true, or good, or beautiful. It can only be matter, stuff, atoms in motion. Truth, goodness, and beauty don’t exist “out there,” objectively in nature, they exist only in our minds. There is no way to refute this simple fact if materialism is the nature of things. (more…)
I’m currently reading a book that gave me ideas for two blog posts on two successive pages, which means the author gave me some pretty amazing insights. Before I get to my thoughts . . . For those who know me they will be aware of my annoying habit of always telling them to . . . . Read More! My kids have born the brunt of that abuse most of their lives, but friends and other loved ones get it too. One reason, among many, that everyone should read more, is that human beings are made in God’s image, and as such they are revelations of his being. The thoughts of other people who grapple with reality can help us better understand the nature of things as God created them to work. There is much deep wisdom outside of the Bible that helps us better understand God’s special revelation in the Bible. I would go so far as to say that those who read and study outside of the Bible can better understand what’s in it than those who only read the Bible. So if you really want to grow more in wisdom, understanding, prudence, insight, discernment, judgment, etc. (which are all basically different facets of wisdom), you will read more (books)! What this means practically is that the puzzle pieces of life will fit a whole lot better when you make extra-biblical reading a consistent habit of your life. Enough lecturing, and now on to those thoughts. (more…)
If you’re not familiar with the name Dawkins, that would be the world’s most famous atheist, Richard Dawkins. He along with several others earlier in the century were Christened (pun intended) by the media as the New Atheists. There was nothing new about them, just stale, warmed over question-begging arguments that made their atheism seem a desperate attempt to convince themselves. I once tried to read Dawkins The God Delusion, and it was so painful to read I couldn’t make myself finish. If you want to strengthen your faith, I would suggest slogging your way through that book, but you have been warned.
So, when I saw the title of the post at Evolution News, I had to see how someone like staunch, atheist materialist Richard Dawkins could be knocked “sideways with wonder” by the cell. This is the same Dawkins, by the way, who has famously said that the universe indeed has the appearance of design, but that, in my words, it is just an illusion. It is all random, chance, and matter that explains everything, including the cell. You tell me as you watch this short video, what is a better explanation for the cell, Dawkins’ random, chance, and matter, or the Almighty Creator God of Judaism and Christianity:
Most modern histories of mankind begin with the word evolution, and with a rather wordy exposition of evolution . . . . There is something slow and soothing and gradual about the word and even about the idea. As a matter of fact, it is not, touching these primary things, a very practical word or a very profitable idea. Nobody can imagine how nothing could turn into something. Nobody can get an inch nearer to it by explaining how something could turn into something else. It is really far more logical to start by saying “In the beginning God created the heaven and earth” even if you only mean “In the beginning some unthinkable power began some unthinkable process.” For God is by it’s nature a name of mystery, and nobody ever supposed that man could imagine how a world was created any more than he could create one. But evolution really is mistaken for explanation. it has the fatal quality of leaving on many minds the impression that they do understand it and everything else; just as many of them live under a sort of illusion that they have read the Origin of Species.
If you haven’t had a chance to read my book yet, shame on you, it’s officially become an international best-seller. I recently sat down, virtually, with a new Canadian friend of mine, Ian McKerracher for a chat about the book on the Faith Beyond Belief Podcast. Although we’re on the same continent, Canada is officially international, so I am now an internationally best-selling author! Well, I am an author, internationally best-selling, not so much. If you do listen to the discussion, which was a blast, I trust it will compel you to buy a copy so you can dig into why I’m so persuasive, and why you can be too! Seriously, all hype and hyperbole aside, it is mind-blowing how God’s provision enables us to so confidently build an enduring faith in us and our children, if we have them. As I quote on the cover and in the book, C.S. Lewis tells us why Christianity helps us do that by making sense of everything:
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
We call that explanatory power, and no worldview, religion, or philosophy comes remotely close to Christianity in having such power. Praise be to God!
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