Day 8 – the starting point: five basic facts
I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God. –ABRAHAM LINCOLN
1. Humans have always tended to perceive order and design in
2. Humans have always tended to behave as if some things are
right/wrong and fair/unfair. Atheists may claim that no such
designation exists, but they—like all humans—tend to act as if
it does.
3. Humans have always tended to believe in the existence of
the supernatural. Atheists, of course, do not believe in the
supernatural, but they must agree that a vast majority
throughout history has believed.
4. Humans have always tended to possess characteristics
considered to be positive. While tending to focus on our
negative traits, atheists must also admit that we possess
others—rationality, morality, purpose, love, etc.—considered
good.
5. Humans have always existed who will gladly give testimony
to the reality of God in their lives. Admittedly, this testimony
is subjective—a point atheists are quick to make—but even
they cannot deny that such experiential testimony is
widespread.
When we ascended the slope of God’s existence, we chose as our platform the universe we all inhabit. We did so because it was one on which everyone—theists, agnostics, and atheists—could stand as one and from which a discussion of God’s existence could be launched not doomed to inevitable failure. From this parcel of common ground, we listed some facts we all could embrace and tried to determine if each was best explained by the reality of God or by the myth of God. The conclusion we reached was the same for all five: God’s existence is the best explanation for what we know to be true about our universe.
Now that we have begun to ascend the slope of God’s character, we will use these same facts as the foundation of our discussion. In review, these five irrefutable facts are as follows:
1. Humans have always tended to perceive order and design in
the universe. Although theists are quick to remind us of the
universe’s disorder and disarray, they must admit that order
and design are present as well.
2. Humans have always tended to behave as if some things are
right/wrong and fair/unfair. Atheists may claim that no such
designation exists, but they—like all humans—tend to act as if
it does.
3. Humans have always tended to believe in the existence of
the supernatural. Atheists, of course, do not believe in the
supernatural, but they must agree that a vast majority
throughout history has believed.
4. Humans have always tended to possess characteristics
considered to be positive. While tending to focus on our
negative traits, atheists must also admit that we possess
others—rationality, morality, purpose, love, etc.—considered
good.
5. Humans have always existed who will gladly give testimony
to the reality of God in their lives. Admittedly, this testimony
is subjective—a point atheists are quick to make—but even
they cannot deny that such experiential testimony is
widespread.
In the pages to follow, we will use these five facts to reveal to us God’s nature. By looking at the world around us, we will discover several characteristics of the God responsible for it. As before, our arguments will be rational, but they will also be peppered with subjective and mystical qualities inherent to religion as a whole. All in all, I predict that this blend of reason and mystery will be persuasive enough to bolster the faith of believers and muffle the rhetoric of skeptics.
Tomorrow, we will see what the universe’s design says about God.
Daily Quotation
Quoted in Mark Water, The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000), 88.
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