Tuesday, August 27, 2024

The argument

 The argument is regarding evidence for design. Christianity is built on the idea that there is clear proof for the reality of God and that this evidence is available to all and is inescapably convincing. Christianity is built on the idea that the design argument is solid. As we examine the universe around us we are aware that we did not make it and we did not make ourselves. Either it happened or God did it. It is my contention that the nature of our thinking necessitates theism. There is an orderliness to the universe, to life and to our own inescapable way of thinking that requires that it be built on an eternally personal foundation. This is the great choice at the bottom of all our seeing and thinking. It is either a basically personal universe or a basically impersonal universe. Theism says that the universe is built personally and is the stage for a display of the glory of its creator. The stage proclaims his glory and the play of history will also proclaim his glory. 

If you choose the impersonal view of reality then you have no basis for your own personal reality. 

The impersonal view provides no proper explanation for the origin of life or consciousness or language. The theistic view is that these are all eternal realities.

The material view of a person is totally unsatisfactory it provides no basis for the imperative to truth and goodness. It ends up in denial of what is impossible to deny if you wish to deny anything. It ends up with the dissolution of the entirety of the reality of the personal on which all that we value most rests. No one can be a consistent materialist. No one can be a consistent atheist.

Trust requires a truly personal object. This is entirely different from a material mechanism. You cannot resolve what we all mean by a person into the material and impersonal. All our language and thought is built on assumptions about the personal that are incompatible with materialism and atheism.

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