Saturday 12 March 2011

Atheism of the gaps

Christians are often told that they believe in a God of the gaps, meaning that we only use God as an explanation of what we don't know, and as knowledge increases the gaps get smaller and soon there will be no room for God.  It's not true, in fact the opposite is the case, and the atheist finds himself hoist with his own petard...

Consider scientific facts.  It's not the case that Christians point to what we don't know as evidence of God's existence, but rather Christians point to what we do know!  The more science discovers, the more the evidence of God's existence emerges.  The origin of the universe, its amazingly fine tuned constants, the origin of life, the information in the DNA, etc. all point to the Creator, not away from Him.

Now what are the atheistic explanations for these scientific facts?  There be none!  The cry is, "We are working on it!  We will find out!  In the meantime, we will maintain our faith in atheism!"  Christians aren't saying, "We're stuck here, let's say God did it."  Christians are saying "This is exactly what we would expect given the existence of God."  The atheists are the ones who are stuck, and they are clinging to their atheism anyway.  They just don't want to go where the evidence is pointing them.  Sometimes atheists say, "Science will give the answer!"  But Christians aren't standing in the way of science, they are letting science give the answers and then saying, "What best accounts for the answers science gives?"

Consider the historical evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The facts of the burial of Christ, the discovery of His empty tomb by His women followers, the disciples believing they had seen Him, and the rise of Christianity are not matters of serious scholarly debate.  They are accepted across the board as historical facts.  But what naturalistic explanation do non-Christian historians give?  The answer?  None!  All the naturalistic hypotheses have floundered on the rocks of evidence and common sense - none of them have survived.  Non-Christians just have to hope that some explanation will come around - it is an atheism of the gaps - when you don't know the answer just say "God didn't do it!"

We have briefly looked at two areas of major scholarship - science and history - and the facts show that God is real and Christ is risen.  So why do more scientists and historians not become Christians?  The same reason most people don't become Christians - they don't want to.  The barrier is not the mind but the will.  The truths of God's existence and Christ's resurrection have huge ramifications for us all.  Don't cling to your blind faith, open your eyes, humble your heart, stop running from God.  If you turn to His Son in repentance you will receive forgiveness and enter into new, real, eternal life.