Day 24 – the atheist’s 3rd rebuttal: a disordered universe
Not many years ago, when I was an atheist, if anyone had asked me, “Why do you not believe in God?” my reply would run something like this: “Look at the universe we live in… If you ask me to believe that this is the work of a benevolent and omnipotent spirit, I reply that all the evidence points in the opposite direction.” –C. S. LEWIS
The universe, in addition to its intricate design, also bears the marks of disorder and disarray. This is the most common counterargument used by the atheist against the Argument from Design. Almost as an immediate reflex, he or she will point toward the same heavens we used earlier to prove the universe's design and remind us that from these same skies come tornadoes, hurricanes, and other natural calamities that turn its design into chaos. When we point to the intricate human machine, he or she will take us to the oncology unit of the hospital and show us human machines gone awry. When we say that the presence of design in the universe demands the presence of God, he or she will reply that the presence of such chaos in the universe declares just as much that He is not present.
Each of us easily recognizes that this is a formidable objection to the Argument from Design. As a resident of Alabama, I vividly recall a day several years ago when—on a Palm Sunday morning in a rural Methodist church in the small town of Piedmont—a tornado destroyed the building and took the lives of several little children, all sitting in the front pews awaiting their turn to participate in the service. One of the deceased was the daughter of the minister there. If there is a God who is an Intelligent Designer, how could this ever happen? Doesn’t this kind of tragedy deny His existence? As an emergency physician, I have treated several individuals injured by another tornado and have witnessed death at its hands. I have also seen the ravages of diseases which appear to inflict men, women, and children indiscriminately, and I can understand why anyone at their bedsides would wonder if God is there. We cannot ignore such events and their theological implications. We must meet them head-on. If not, we appear to have lost considerable ground on our journey.
Daily Quotation
C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: Macmillan, 1962), 13-15.
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