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Is It Rational To Believe In God?
8 Plays13 days ago
The naturalist claims that faith in God is irrational. Is this true? Or, is it actually true that a belief in God is the only rational explanation for our very existence, and for all other truth claims?
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Answering Pilot' Podcast
00:00:14
Speaker
Dustin, how you doing today? Doing great. How are you? I'm good. I'm ready to go. Welcome to Answering Pilot.
Is It Rational to Believe in God?
00:00:21
Speaker
And today we're just asking a question, is it rational to believe in God?
00:00:27
Speaker
And of course, we as Christians think it's rational. I guess there's a lot of Christians that don't ever think, is it rational or is it irrational? But atheists certainly think that way. They they think that if you believe in God, well, that's irrational.
00:00:41
Speaker
And that's because they have a naturalistic worldview. We've talked about that. Evolution is rooted in that. And so we just thought we'd talk about that for a few more minutes today. Not evolution, but just that question. Is it rational to believe in God?
00:00:53
Speaker
I remember a number of years ago, there was an ad campaign by the, i think it was the American Humanist Association.
Ad Campaign and the Concept of Goodness
00:01:00
Speaker
okay And they were... They were putting you know billboards out and signs on buses. and Essentially, the ad campaign was ah just be good for goodness sake. so Again, they're they're atheists, yeah but they were saying it's a rational thing to be good.
00:01:19
Speaker
for no other sake than being good, or goodness sake, right? And the implication is, course, you know, in some of their other literature, but even there, the implication is, well, is it rational for ah anyone to believe in God?
Atheistic Naturalism and Knowledge
00:01:34
Speaker
And, of course,
00:01:36
Speaker
You know, that naturalistic worldview. I think you said it best the other day. They think, well, you know, we can only know what we can ah verify with our five senses.
00:01:46
Speaker
Right. What we can see, what we can touch. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, we live in this ah closed system, as it were, the the universe. Sometimes they refer to it as it the box. And so all we know is what's in the box. And so there's nothing outside of the box, they would say.
00:02:03
Speaker
No spiritual realm. We'll put it that way. But in in everything's material. They'll say that, too. And that's important, as we said last time. And and that'll be important, I think, in parts of our discussion today.
Philosophical Speculations and Christian Beliefs
00:02:15
Speaker
But just wanted to really, when you think about this ad campaign, Just Be Good, For Goodness Sake, It does raise the question that they're proposing, that they're posing, is it rational to believe in God? But I think there are two questions that go along with that. One of those questions is, can we philosophically affirm being good simply for the sake of being good? And again, I know a lot of folk, I'm using that term philosophically, lot of folk are like, well, gosh,
00:02:44
Speaker
philosophy, i think a lot of people think of philosophy, well, that's just um speculation. And really, if you're talking about human philosophy, it is speculation.
00:02:54
Speaker
I was a philosophy major in college many years ago, and I remember reading you know all
Christian Philosophy and Wisdom
00:03:01
Speaker
of them. Well, not every single one, but you know what I mean. And um I just thought at the end of the day, and I wasn't a strong Christian at that point. I i was a Christian, thought I was born again. Turns out I wasn't. That happened later.
00:03:15
Speaker
But I didn't have any theology is what I'm saying. But I just remember thinking, this is sheer human speculation. It's just a bunch of people making up stuff. And I'm trying to make up stuff on my own. You don't want be an amateur philosopher, as it were.
00:03:28
Speaker
But yeah. I think on the one hand, Christian philosophy is certainly valid. It's something that we ought to think about. and Philosophy is just a love of wisdom. That's all it means.
00:03:42
Speaker
And wisdom, what what is it? The beginning of wisdom or the fear of the Lord is the lord iss the beginning wisdom. there you go. And so... But when I say philosophically, again, even if you don't think, well, it's just speculation, you think, well, I'm not a philosopher.
00:03:57
Speaker
ah You know, some theology wouldn't be bad or some practical Christian living wouldn't be bad or whatever. But I think this is going to help because we're not going to get too deep. We're just going to talk about...
00:04:08
Speaker
biblical Christianity and logic and things like that. And I think it's going to help folk in their evangelism, ah certainly you know defending the faith if they have to. So I just think it's important to talk about, so that's why we're doing it.
Teenage Perspectives on Belief in God
00:04:21
Speaker
Sure, yeah. It was interesting. I was talking to my teenage daughter before I came over here about the topic that we were going to discuss today, and she just goes, wow, that's a loaded question. was like, well, you're right.
00:04:33
Speaker
It definitely is because... Again, it's at the core of why do we do the things we do? um Why do we want, why should we do good things? As you said, yeah doing good for goodness sake.
00:04:50
Speaker
Again, what does that what does that even mean yeah when you use a phrase like that? um Because again, what's good yeah as opposed to being bad yeah or not good? yeah you know Where's the difference there?
00:05:04
Speaker
And what, just for the sake of doing something that is good, is that is that in itself, logically, philosophically, a reason enough to do this thing or not do this thing? Yeah.
Rationality of Belief in God vs. Atheism
00:05:20
Speaker
So we're going to wrestle with that just a few minutes. So is it rational believe in God? Is it philosophically legit to just be good for goodness sake? and The third question I think we'll hit toward the end is ah why believe in God? I think that's a corollary to what we're talking about, of course. so is it rational to believe in God? And what we're going to say very emphatically is that, yes, it's rational to believe in God. Certainly it's rational to believe in God.
00:05:50
Speaker
And by that, I'm making a statement, but I'm appealing to the philosophers as well. And it's logically rational, philosophically rational, but I'm going to say it's absolutely irrational not to believe in God. Sure.
Moral Implications: Naturalism vs. Christianity
00:06:04
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. To hearken back to our previous discussion when we talked about evolution, if... In a naturalistic mindset, we are merely just organisms that evolved a little differently than other organisms, other life forms.
00:06:22
Speaker
We talked about the fact that we don't attribute morality to other species. Right. You know, the lion kills the antelope. There's nothing good or bad, morally speaking, ethically speaking, about that. Yeah. um So...
00:06:37
Speaker
In a naturalistic mindset, why then does it matter for human beings to call something good or something evil or bad or wicked?
00:06:50
Speaker
Why does that matter if we're no different yeahp than any other organism or species out there? yeah So again, as you said, that's really an irrational way to look at it to say that...
00:07:01
Speaker
It matters for human beings to do good, but if we're no different than any other organism, then why? doesn't make sense. Yes, exactly right. And that's what they would say. We we are no different. No, we think we're different. We know we're different. We're creating the image of God.
00:07:16
Speaker
But, so which means we have essential dignity and all that. But yeah, on their worldview, doesn't matter. let's Let's go back real quick. Let's just answer, sure since you brought up naturalism, let's let's just answer those four ultimate questions that we put on the the table ah in a previous episode.
Purpose and Ethics in Naturalism
00:07:34
Speaker
On an evolutionary or naturalistic worldview, where do I come from? in a naturalistic worldview, it just came from matter. Yeah. We just evolved. Yeah, that's right. Where did matter come from?
00:07:46
Speaker
Great question. but Yeah. On their worldview, they say there was nothing and then there was something. Literally, that's what they say. And which violates, what do call it? The thermo... first the Yeah, first law of thermodynamics. I had trouble saying it last time, Yeah, for some reason had trouble saying it, too. But yeah.
00:08:03
Speaker
Yeah, something that can't come from nothing. Life can't come from non-life. Order can't come from chaos. All of those things. So those are scientific laws, but they say that's how we got here. yeah Quantum fluctuation, whatever the case may be. all right.
00:08:15
Speaker
So something came from nothing. All right. And if that's the case, we're just an accident. Just happened. So then the second question, okay, well, then what is the the purpose of life?
00:08:27
Speaker
Not only where do I come from, but why am I here? So... On that naturalistic worldview, what what is the purpose of of life? There is no greater purpose. It's merely just to survive. Yeah, that's To exist. Yeah. And to survive the best you can or exist the best you can while you're here. Yeah. And then you're going to die and you're just going to return to matter. Yeah.
00:08:51
Speaker
And of course, survive the best you can and live the best you can. That'd be according to who? Me. Exactly. So now you're into relativism. Right. Evolution really does, and naturalism really does lead to relativism. Mm-hmm. And that's another discussion perhaps we should have. but So then that third question goes back to what you were literally saying earlier.
00:09:13
Speaker
Okay, well then if we're here by accident, there's no real purpose of life, just survival of the fittest, no real meaning. How do I live now that I am here? if I just want to... Let's just borrow from someone. If I just want to have my best life now, but it's on a naturalistic worldview. You know, I think we said the other day, some are going to be hedonists, some are going to be nihilists, nihilists, whatever. Depends on where you're from, how you say that word. Yeah.
00:09:38
Speaker
So, but your point earlier... was how do I live now that I am here? what what What's my morality? What's my ethic? Well, you're saying... there There is no set ethic.
00:09:50
Speaker
The best that they can come up with is the greater good, for lack of a better way to say it. And as we've talked about before, and I think we'll talk about a little bit more today, that...
00:10:02
Speaker
That is not a North Star. That's something that changes. Yeah. um Given popular opinion or whatever circumstances can change yeah what the greater good is considered to be. Yeah, yeah.
00:10:13
Speaker
Well, you've actually, and I'm, you know, just, you know how preachers are. We like points, one, two, three. And you're you're having a conversation. I'm thinking, okay, I got outline this.
00:10:24
Speaker
Yeah. But it's good. But ah yeah, the first thing you said a few minutes ago, the greater good, well,
Affirming Values Without Universal Standards
00:10:30
Speaker
what is good? Right. Yeah. And that that's the question, isn't it? If there's no absolute standard that's objective, that's true for all people in all places at all times, then who defines what good is? Who says what's good? Which again, like you said, it's it's That's what makes this so illogical of an argument. Yeah. Is that you can't talk about good without understanding that there is something that is good. Yeah. That there is some sort of standard. Yeah.
00:11:00
Speaker
Out there that exists that determines that this is good and this is evil. Mm-hmm. Which is, and I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but which is one reason why it's completely rational to believe in God. Because you can't have anything good or evil unless there's ah an objective standard. So anyway, last last ultimate question and give give us the answer on the naturalistic worldview. What happens when when we die?
00:11:24
Speaker
um Well, I kind of already said it, but we just die. We decompose. Yeah, that's it. That's it. There's nothing there's nothing eternal about there's no such thing as the soul yeah or anything like that. We just return to the organic matter from which we came. Yeah. And that's it. That's it.
00:11:40
Speaker
So when the when the atheist says, be good for goodness sake, you got all those questions that we've put on the table and all those answers you've given. It's like, yeah, we're here by accident.
00:11:51
Speaker
No real purpose in life. Morality, ethics don't matter. It's just, what's my cup of tea? When we die, that's it. So good for goodness sake. ah Okay, well, that might be your cup of tea, you know, but it might not be someone else's cup of tea. It's such a cough out statement.
00:12:08
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, because basically they're not dealing with those ultimate questions. Yep. They're just saying, well, just be good because it's good. yeah And yeah so, yeah, it's it's it's a cop-out question. It's refusing to deal with those ultimate questions. Yeah.
00:12:29
Speaker
No, that's right. That's right. Okay. i' ah I'm going to shift gears a little bit. Sure. okay? Yeah. All right. No, I'm not shifting gears. I'm just, yeah, I'm kind of shifting gears. Let me put it this way.
00:12:41
Speaker
So you've got this naturalistic worldview and you've said, and and you're right, of course, that on their worldview, and that's what we're talking
Challenging Atheist Certainty
00:12:51
Speaker
about. We're we're talking at a worldview level to go back to our previous episode, whatever it was, but we're talking at a worldview level and that's how you want to dialogue. If you get into this kind of dialogue,
00:13:02
Speaker
So nothing exists except what we can determine with our senses. And so even though the scientific method is rooted in a biblical worldview, atheists are willing to borrow it because you can't make sense of our world without it. That's the whole point. You can't make sense of anything without the biblical worldview. We can just close up and go home now. I mean, that's that's the statement. But anyway, we're going to flesh that out.
00:13:23
Speaker
But the atheist says this. He says, um there is no God. And he he makes that statement with absolute certainty. There is no God. And we're irrational. All right, so now we're just carrying the the conversation and the argument a little bit further.
00:13:42
Speaker
Okay, well, on your worldview, Mr. Atheist, which is based on... What we can observe with our senses, how do you know there is no God? Yeah, if I'm making a definitive statement, I have to have proof yeah for that definitive statement. So what proof of the negative does he have that there is no existence of God? Yeah.
00:14:02
Speaker
I mean, he doesn't know whether there is a God or whether there isn't. Because, number one, he hasn't investigated the entire universe. I mean, there's this big universe out there. Right. We're having a hard time getting back to the moon. Oh, my goodness. I think there's a moon launch 2027. Oh, is there? Like, they're supposed to land on the moon. Oh, okay. Yeah. I don't know. I think so. We just flew past it, right?
00:14:24
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, recently. Yeah. What's that called? Artemis? Artemis. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we'll see what happens. But anyway, um it'll be interesting. But um I'm just saying there's a big universe out there. Right. So they haven't studied every square inch of the universe, as someone once said. We haven't explored every square inch of the Earth. Well, that's right.
00:14:43
Speaker
There's depths of the ocean that we can't get to right now. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I was just thinking about that the other day because my kids used to be on the swim team and I'm still involved in different ways. But we used to say, you know, three quarters of the earth's surface is covered with water. That's why we swim. There's still plenty of land we haven't explored. Yeah. Yeah. But like you said, think about the ocean and then really out in the ocean, the depths of the ocean. You know, we go out and even even on a boat or a ship, you're in the you're still fairly close to shore. i mean, it's not like you can see it necessarily, but you're in these, what, shipping lanes and things like that. You're not like way out in the middle of the ocean. Right. have no idea what's out there. Yeah, i was we were at the beach recently with our family, and um i was I was out in the water you know about waist deep with one of my daughters, and we were just playing around and and talking about different things. And I actually, it just kind of hit me. out I looked at her, and I was like, so as far out as I can see, you know the end of the horizon that my eyesight can see, I don't know how far out that is, but I wonder how deep the ocean is as far as I can see. Yeah.
00:15:59
Speaker
But knowing that that's just my human eyes being able to see. Yeah. If I pulled up a telescope or something else and was able to look even further out and be even deeper. Yeah.
00:16:09
Speaker
I'm looking out at the very edge of the Atlantic Ocean. If you were to pull up a map and and show how far I was looking, you probably wouldn't even be able to see the line segment. Oh, yeah. the distance I'm looking at. Yeah. But the depth of that ocean would still be deeper than I could humanly go.
00:16:25
Speaker
Probably even with... the right equipment and technology. Yeah, yeah. That's probably true. I don't know how far the horizon is. I've been told it's like 30 miles. That's how far we can, you know, obviously you can't see specific things, but anyway, who knows? We should look that up. But no, you're right. Which 30 miles, that's, if we traveled that distance in our car, we'd still be in the same county.
00:16:50
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah, it's not that far. Yeah. We could get to the end of, we couldn't even get to the the end of our undisclosed, ah the location, of the county that we're on end of the back cave. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So anyway, so as as someone once said, a God could be hiding behind Jupiter. We just don't know.
00:17:09
Speaker
So you can't make these definitive statements. So again, And I know we repeat ourselves, but maybe some folk who are listening to us haven't really thought along these
Rational Belief in God and Worldview Consistency
00:17:21
Speaker
lines before. Maybe they have, but it's it's good for me to repeat.
00:17:25
Speaker
So on that naturalistic worldview, on his worldview, he cannot make the statement with certainty that there is no God. He doesn't really know there is a God or there isn't.
00:17:38
Speaker
And so his rejection of the possibility of God, that that's philosophically irrational on his worldview. That's the the first point we want to make or a point where we're going to make at this at this juncture.
00:17:53
Speaker
ah He's completely uncertain about that. So now, on a quarter on a Christian worldview, because we've said, We believe there's a God, and it's completely rational to believe that, philosophically speaking. And that's what we're talking about when we when we talk about rationality.
00:18:10
Speaker
By the way, someone might say, well... The way that I, I don't want i don't want to get too far field, but I'm just going to plant a tiny seed. Can I do that? Sure. The way that I know that I'm here right now, I'm sitting in this room, this this massive, you know, warehouse we found in the woods.
00:18:29
Speaker
I'm sitting here right now. because i'm feeling this chair i'm seeing the you know the surroundings got the big metal door wherever that goes to behind us you're here we're talking right there's a light in my eye the truth is i don't really In one sense, if all I'm relying on is my senses, I don't know that I'm here right now. I could be in a coma. I could be having a hallucination. Could be plugged into the matrix simulation. That could be it.
00:18:59
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting to contemplate, isn't it? But... um When do I get my ability to neo-kick and stuff like that? I know Kung Fu. Yeah.
00:19:12
Speaker
So obviously I think I'm here and and we can actually make an argument that we can know that we're here, which that's a separate issue for a separate time. But there there are people who literally, unfortunately, they're not in their right minds sometimes. And and and maybe they're they just got a bad, bad flu and you can be hallucinating you and you swear it's real.
00:19:35
Speaker
So there are all kinds of things that that that that can deceive us. Sure. So we'll say that. So what I'm saying is the reason I went down that road, let me back up the bus just a little bit.
00:19:52
Speaker
When we say that believing in God is completely rational, in fact, it's irrational not to believe in God, number one, it's irrational because that naturalistic worldview has no explanatory power with reference to those ultimate questions. We talked about that.
00:20:10
Speaker
But now on our worldview, because that's what we're talking about, because again, when you do philosophy, I mean, I assume most people understand this, but maybe not, because most people are are operating on a naturalistic worldview without necessarily... Maybe they they prove things by their senses, but they believe in God. And that's kind of how we live. There's nothing wrong with that to a certain degree.
00:20:33
Speaker
But philosophically, the question is, is my worldview consistent? Does it make sense and for for me to believe what I believe based on my worldview? ah On a biblical worldview...
00:20:46
Speaker
you know, we would say, well, yes, we certainly acquire knowledge through our senses, through investigation, through so the scientific
Christianity's Contribution to Science and Truth
00:20:56
Speaker
method. yeah We're the ones that invented it because we believe God has revealed himself in creation and we want to investigate that creation. The heavens declare the glory of God and we want to know how things work. And we got that dominion mandate and all these things that we've talked about. We're going to cultivate the earth and make things better.
00:21:14
Speaker
So that's all rooted in acquiring knowledge through investigation. And so while um yeah you know we were having a little bit of fun a minute ago about the the trip to the moon, I think it's a good thing to really go to the moon. Let's do that. And one day, if the Lord tarries, then maybe we'll be able to send somebody to Jupiter. Who knows?
00:21:35
Speaker
It's a long way off. It's something to contemplate. But anyway, i tend to just beat the dead horse. I tend to repeat, but I don't want to do that. But um where i was and sometimes it's because i'm I'm really wanting to say something. Sometimes because i figure forget where I'm going, which is right now. kind of forget where I'm going. but So we believe in investigation, but we also believe in another source of knowledge, right which is revelation. Yeah, that's what I was going to say is revelation.
00:22:03
Speaker
We believe that the five senses, yes, they're good tools, and we can use them as tools to learn about our world, and God's given that to us. We believe that.
00:22:15
Speaker
But we also don't believe that that is the only source for knowing truth. It's just our five senses. Yeah. um Because for one reason, as you just said earlier, there are times when our five senses can deceive us. Yeah.
00:22:29
Speaker
there's then There's numerous ways that that can happen. All five of your senses can be deceived in different ways. um Oh, yeah. And even if it is something as simple as as being a sick, having a high fever, or we know that there's plenty of drugs out there that can alter your perception of what's going on and and all kinds of things.
00:22:50
Speaker
I've even heard, again, this is a rabbit trail, but I've even heard of, you can just did you know you can deceive your tongue? Deceive your sense of taste. Really? I did not know that. Yeah, there's there's these... It's a type of plant, I believe it is, that you can eat, and it will make, I think, sour things taste sweet or bitter things taste sweet or something like that. Wow.
00:23:12
Speaker
I'm just thinking this off the cuff, so I don't remember the exact... But people would have like these parties, and they'll eat this plant, okay and then they'll eat all these things that normally... would be really bitter or really, you know, you wouldn't enjoy it, yeah but it tastes like candy um because it's there's a chemical reaction that's deceiving okay your your taste buds um and it's sending a different signal to your brain than it normally would. yeah So anyway, that's just an example of the fact that any of our five senses are not infallible yeah to be able to discover truth.
00:23:44
Speaker
And so we can we can learn things, we can learn truth yeah through what we can observe physically yeah But we do believe that there is another way, as you said, revelation, which is coming from an outside source yes you know that's not us, right that can reveal truth to it Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And so think about the physical universe that we're in.
00:24:09
Speaker
And going back to one of the original question, well, how did we get here? Again, that naturalistic worldview can't explain it. They don't know. And on their worldview, they're irrational. But we we believe...
00:24:23
Speaker
that God exists outside of the universe. right He exists outside of time and space. He is eternal. And he's the one that created the universe and he's the one who told us so. Now, I can't prove that God exists, but my worldview is not irrational. My worldview, i have my worldview your worldview, our workt worldview has explanatory power.
00:24:48
Speaker
Because we know for a fact that something can come from nothing, and life can't come from non-life, and order can't come from chaos. And yet we've got life, and we've got order, and we've got something, and we know that the universe had a beginning. Well, you you can't explain it on a naturalistic worldview, right but you can explain it on a biblical worldview. Yeah, the...
00:25:11
Speaker
The naturalistic worldview is a closed system in that everything within that system has to operate by the rules of nature of the physical world. That's right. But we believe that there's a God who exists outside of the physical limitations of the natural world. And so...
00:25:29
Speaker
We believe that he created this world, which also means that we believe that he created the rules yeah for this world. sure And when we're not just talking about moral rules and laws. We're talking about the way that the world operates, the way that it works, was created by something, someone who exists outside of
Humanism and Ethical Responsibility
00:25:49
Speaker
those rules. yeah And so We believe that he is that cause, yeah and therefore he is revealing himself to us through what he's made, yeah but also through his word that we have yeah about himself and about how this world works and and all of these things. That's right.
00:26:07
Speaker
And, um yeah, you said it. So let me move little on just a little bit further then. All right. So the second question we want to touch on then, and you alluded to this in the intro, but I'll put it this way. Can we philosophically affirm being good simply for the sake of being good?
00:26:26
Speaker
Now, I do want to read something from the American Humanist Association. They define humanism this way. It is a progressive philosophy of life that without theism—in other words, you reject God—so progressive philosophy of life that without theism affirms our responsibility— That's pretty big. Everybody.
00:26:46
Speaker
that That's like, okay, anyway. All means all. yeah Yeah. We talk about that, It's an inside joke, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it affirms our responsibility to lead ethical lives of value to self and humanity.
00:27:03
Speaker
On what basis can one affirm responsibility to lead ethical lives of value to self and humanity apart from God? I mean, we would say you can't. Yeah. For one thing, what's what's a good ethic versus a bad ethic? Yeah. So if we're going to lead ethical lives, how do we know which ethics are good, which ethics are bad? Yeah. What defines that? Yeah.
00:27:27
Speaker
And what what defines value? You said lives of value to self and humanity. What defines value? what's what is What is valuable in a naturalistic mindset?
00:27:41
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Who defines it? This is why I think most people they who aren't Christians, they kind of devolve into a relativistic worldview, and they begin to say things, and we're going to have to deal with this some point, but they begin to say things that are totally contradictory. Just one quick example, you're talking relativism. Someone says, e makes sort of well, what's true for me?
00:28:06
Speaker
May or may not be true for you. Mm-hmm. right, let's say someone says, well, I i believe there's an afterlife. And the the other person says, I do not believe there's an afterlife. right And they say, well, that's true for you. And there the other's true for me.
00:28:19
Speaker
Not really. those Those two things are mutually exclusive. yeah There either is or there isn't an afterlife. One plus one can equal two and three. Right, right. We should do another episode on the laws of logic. And men Lord willing, we will.
00:28:34
Speaker
But um the relativist, yeah you know, and the naturalist, they both have the same problems. They can't account for any kind of, they can't account for something without an objective standard. They can't account for goodness, for example, or ethics or morality apart from an objective
Critique of Moral Relativism and Ultimate Truth
00:28:55
Speaker
standard. And you said it a moment ago that our culture is constantly changing on on what we believe is right and what we believe is wrong. Yeah.
00:29:04
Speaker
100%. Yeah, and a lot of it is consensus-driven. lot of it is media-driven. lot of it is sort
00:29:13
Speaker
I mean, I could use the term brainwashing, I could use the term mind control, but you know it's it's there there are there are ways, if you're an authority and you propagate the same message over and over and over again, that it's going to spread until it becomes the majority view. And so that's what I mean by mind control. It's not like somebody looking at me in weird eyes and- Watch the watch. Yeah. yeah and again i but i think that's um that's the same thing they they they what's the word they manufacture public opinion or manipulate public opinion yeah that's probably the better word and so but there's no there's no explain there's no metaphysical capital there anyway all right unless you want to say something else about that
00:30:02
Speaker
We can't, and you touched on it already, we can't really affirm being good simply for the sake of being good. So i want to get to that third question. Is that okay? Sure. ah Why believe in God?
00:30:14
Speaker
Now, a sense in which you've already answered it, right? But again, I like to repeat, but but maybe we'll say something new as well. and In fact, I think we can make several statements. But one of the statements that we can make, and I jotted this down,
00:30:28
Speaker
A belief in God provides the only rational basis. And I use that word rational. So a belief in God provides the only rational basis for goodness, morality, ethics, things like the rule of law. I mean, you can expand that. And the reason that a belief in God provides the only rational basis for any of those things is because, as you've said repeatedly and I've echoed, you...
00:30:55
Speaker
These things, morality and ethics or the rule of law, they make no sense apart from a universal standard. Who says murder is wrong if there's no universal standard? And like we said in a previous episode, lot of people don't think murder is wrong. They're being more consistent with their worldview. Yeah. What do you define as murder? Yeah. um Again, it's it's a relativistic thing that can that can continually change. And again, like I said with the be good for goodness sake statement that we're talking about, um, this whole episode, that's,
00:31:36
Speaker
it's Again, it's that it's that it's really the cop-out. The naturalistic worldview is a cop-out. yeah Because you have to definitively say that there is no God in order to not have to deal with the existence of God. yeah And so that's where a moral relativism comes in. Yes. Because...
00:31:57
Speaker
how do I deal with the fact that you and I disagree about something? Well, let's just not deal with it. Let's just say that's your truth and this is my truth and we don't have to deal with it. yeah And so really...
00:32:09
Speaker
This whole mindset is a way to not deal with the ultimate questions of life, like we said, and not just those, where did I come from, but just at at any time, anytime something is difficult to deal with or answer, if we just throw some relativism at it, yeah yeah yeah yeah then we can just sweep it under the rug, as it were, and not deal with it. yeah But instead, we believe that there is a a one true and living God who is himself rational, who yes is himself a a good standard of good and versus evil, and that...
00:32:48
Speaker
When we come up against difficult to answer questions, the answer is going to be found in learning more about him and about his character yeah and who he is versus just saying, that's just your truth versus my truth. Yeah.
00:33:04
Speaker
yeah It's interesting you put it that way, and I appreciate that because the atheists are the ones that are accusing us of not dealing with certain things.
Liberty, Justice, and Belief in God
00:33:12
Speaker
And um maybe some Christians don't, but we're consistent. We're we're trying to deal with it.
00:33:17
Speaker
Yeah. and Some atheists, too, will say that that we invent God. Yeah. as a way to deal with it and so again it's just that because i have to deny that god exists because i don't want to deal with the repercussions of his existence but again even if you want to say that i've invented a god to deal with it, you haven't come up with anything that deals with it. And so whether you want to disagree with the God I believe in, that's and that's a different question. yeah But to just say that God can't exist...
00:33:54
Speaker
And because I can't remember, it was it's one of the famous atheists that that um said that you know Christians invented God. Now I can't remember the phrase that he used, but i canally basically as like a It's not a pacifier, but those that that type of yeah yeah thought for dealing with the difficult things in life. yeah But without God, there is nothing that deals with the difficult things in life. No, no. ah We're just, you know, it's that tooth and claw, you know, dog eat dog, tough break, man. you know You're just waiting for the next random thing.
00:34:33
Speaker
chance at thing to happen. Hope it's good. You know, and then that's where, you know, good luck. That's where it comes from. I'll say that because we know what it means. We yeah we kind of water it down. Hey, hope you have a good day.
00:34:46
Speaker
ah usually say that or something. or And if I say good providence, you know, people think I'm weird, but anyway. And I have no problem letting people know I'm a Christian, but I'm just saying. But good luck. Yeah. that What is luck? That's how people kind of view life. A lot of people, we're just, hope I'm hope i'm lucky. That's it. And then what is luck? Well, that's just random chance, right? Roll of the dice. Literally. Yeah. of course, the Bible says that you can roll the dice, but the Lord's the one who directs the the way it turns up. I'm Talk about forget exactly how it's worded, but literally and it was in Proverbs, I think. Anyway, it's every something is of the Lord. Something.
00:35:25
Speaker
Anyway, all right. So, you said something also that was really good. Let's see. Something about two doesn't equal three or something like that. Oh, one one plus one can equal two and three. Okay.
00:35:38
Speaker
All right. Now what you're doing there, of course, is math, but it's also a law of logic. And so again, we're not here to talk about laws of logic, but just briefly, i want to explain it just a little bit.
00:35:52
Speaker
and Without law, and by law, like there's economic law, right? Or, you know, the law of gravity. we We're not talking about like a don't break the speed limit. But yeah, that's legislation. I guess it's a law. Don't murder. That would be a moral law.
00:36:06
Speaker
So laws of logic versus laws of economics or something like that. um So i don' I'm not going to go down the whole list, but, you know, one law of logic would be A cannot be non-A at the same time and in the same way. Okay.
00:36:23
Speaker
And um just like I said, it wouldn't be logical. And I think this is why you said what you said. It wouldn't be logical to say, well, there is an afterlife. But there's not an afterlife. Well, that's a contradiction that violates the laws of logic. It's one or the other. That's not a gray area. That's an either and.
00:36:40
Speaker
An either or, not an either and. See, don't even talk right. Either or. Okay. My logic isn't working. So now the other thing i want to say about laws of logic. They are immaterial. They're not material. yeah You don't discover them through our senses, but without laws of logic, we couldn't communicate. We we couldn't do science. We couldn't build buildings. We couldn't do anything without laws of logic. Okay.
00:37:05
Speaker
If you're talking to somebody at a worldview level and and they have a naturalistic worldview, they cannot account for laws of logic on their worldview because they're immaterial. Now, here's the question or the the point I want to make, because I said,
00:37:19
Speaker
A belief in God provides the only rational basis for goodness, morality, ethics, the rule of law, etc. Got to have a universal standard because those things don't make sense without it. But a belief in God also provides the only rational explanation for metaphysical dynamics. And and metaphysics has to do with being, but it can also refer to things beyond the material world.
00:37:41
Speaker
Okay, so a belief in God provides the only rational explanation for metaphysical dynamics like laws of logic. Or how about the mind? The mind is not just your brain. Those are two different things. Right, yeah. right Our thoughts are not just electrical impulses going back and forth between synapses. Right.
00:38:01
Speaker
And we talked the other day about language. you Like I said, we can't even have a conversation. So where do these things come from on an actualistic worldview? No explanation. Right. All right. Third, I'm moving quickly. Is that okay? Yeah.
00:38:14
Speaker
right. So a belief in God provides, these just things we've jotted down here. A belief in God provides the only rational basis for the scientific method. Well, we've already said that in conversation. now I am repeating myself.
00:38:25
Speaker
Yeah, because it presupposes the universe of design. You said that. God's a God of order. You said that earlier. It's not just here by random chance. One of my favorite subjects is liberty and justice, and always put it on liberty and justice for all.
00:38:40
Speaker
um we That's one of our cardinal things here in America, right, supposedly. So I'm going to say, though, that a belief in God provides the only rational basis for liberty and justice for all. I mean, we've said over and over for years and years it comes from the Bible, but at the same time,
00:38:58
Speaker
There is no such thing as liberty and justice for all apart from a universal standard. So obviously, so these things, they're rooted in the the justice of God, for example.
00:39:10
Speaker
it Which again, the the framers of our Constitution recognize that. Yeah. Our founders recognized that. They they said, first of all, that the that human rights, that the basic rights, life, liberty, for pursuit of happiness, that those are God-given.
00:39:25
Speaker
Yep. Endowed by our creator. Yep. They put that into the language. That's right. And then this phrase, liberty and justice for all, you know, this that says this from our um our pledge of allegiance. yeah says it Yeah. And it says one nation yeah under God. Yeah. With liberty and justice for all. So again,
00:39:44
Speaker
And I know a lot of people have tried to take those two words out of that pledge. Sure. Again, for a reason that they don't want to have to deal with it. Yeah. But the fact that when it was originally written, it was written with that understanding. Yeah. That liberty and justice for all comes from being under God. Yep.
00:40:02
Speaker
That's right. You don't have it apart from God. Yeah. Okay. Let's see. you And I think you said this the other day, but on that naturalistic worldview, I think you said it today too.
00:40:15
Speaker
ah It's about survival. Survival of the fittest. So might makes right. So if there is no God, that's where we are. There's no liberty and justice. People can, maybe the the sheep wants liberty from that wolf. Well, too bad. He's stronger. Yeah. And he's hungry. Yeah.
00:40:34
Speaker
Hungry like the wolf. he sure and I'm sorry. So, and then i think we mentioned this, and again, we're just recapitulating. Those rites you mentioned a moment ago, they're rooted, they're from, they come from God, but they're they're rooted in in our being created in
The Gospel's Central Truth and Hope
00:40:52
Speaker
the image of God. Like say, there's no real moral implication if the lion eats the gazelle, but you know if I want to kill somebody, there's a moral implication to that.
00:41:01
Speaker
So we have essential dignity. We have these rights, as you said. Yeah, and just as a side view, and you can see this in our nation right now, when that Christian worldview is eroded, then liberty is eroded. Exactly. And genuine justice is eroded, and we've got a fake justice. Mm-hmm.
00:41:19
Speaker
Yeah, the more that we shift from biblical values, biblical worldview, ah to a more naturalistic, moral, relativistic worldview, that's when we start see, as we've already mentioned, where the general consensus of something being good or evil begins to change. yeah And we've talked about this again.
00:41:42
Speaker
when you When you get things like critical theory or wokeism, that... That is a result of shifting away from a standard to whatever the ones who are in power say is right or wrong yeah right now. Yeah. And that can change depending on who comes to power. Yeah.
00:42:00
Speaker
Yeah. That's why i say, and you say, we say, it's it's not really about diversity, equity, and inclusion. it It's just the ones that feel they don't have power or they're using...
00:42:11
Speaker
the the propaganda at this point, but what they they want power. That's what it is. That's the problem. All right, quick. And we don't have to elaborate on this, but just to put it in a different way, a belief in God provides the only rational ah answers to ultimate questions.
00:42:29
Speaker
Where we come from? God created us. Why are we here? Glorify God. How do we live now that we are here? We do what God says. What happens when we die? Judgment. Okay. Hopefully we'll be with the Lord. Those of us, actually those who believe in the Lord Jesus, trust in him, will be.
00:42:45
Speaker
And then lastly, that brings me to, and again, because we always want to talk about the gospel. All of this flows from the gospel, ah not only the philosophical dynamics, but even the political angle that we mentioned there briefly.
00:42:59
Speaker
There's yet another reason, even if you're not into philosophy, it's another reason. You've got to understand worldview because it there's no neutrality. There's no neutral ground between unbelievers and believers. e You're coming from a worldview, no matter what you say or what you propose. So,
00:43:17
Speaker
Anyway, back to my statement about the gospel. A belief in God provides the only rational basis to seek salvation for the soul. Because when you completely understand that you can't understand anything apart from God, that nothing makes sense apart from God, just, I mean, traffic lights,
00:43:39
Speaker
So people won't run into one another because it's a bad thing for people to run into one another. And there are some people who don't feel that's a bad thing, but most of us do. And it's not consensus.
00:43:51
Speaker
It just is a bad thing because God says it's a bad thing. Right. But I'm just saying the way our society functions or. We have to get back to philosophical grounds. How do I make sense out of my experience apart from God, just the concept of beauty and the concept of you know wanting to make the world better? And why do I like flowers or you know why do we all like nature? Animals, I don't think animals around looking at nature like human beings do. They're just there.
00:44:24
Speaker
The dog, your pet, he doesn't care if you live in a mansion at the country club versus you know a smaller home out in the middle of nowhere. he He doesn't care.
00:44:35
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. But we care. Yeah. A dog would ah just as readily splash around in a mud puddle as he would in in the crystal clear Caribbean, yeah for example. Yeah. He's not enjoying the beauty of what he sees around him. That's right. He's just acting on animal impulse. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
00:44:55
Speaker
So I think we can just wrap it just by saying it's not the Christian who needs a dose of critical thinking. i mean, we all want to think critically, critique, but we're we're trying to do that. It's the humanist that needs a dose of critical thinking. there Like you said, they're just, how did you put it at at the outset of the show? I don't know, but just, yeah, let's just be good for goodness sake.
00:45:19
Speaker
But, well, why? what Where are you coming? Yeah. What does that mean? It's good. Yeah. And who's this? And why do I care? Anyway. Well, yeah. Ultimately, the reason for rejecting God is that you don't want to deal with the answer to these ultimate questions, but especially since we're talking about, since we we're kind of closing on this, the desire for salvation of souls, ultimately you don't want to deal with that last ultimate question because how did I get here?
00:45:57
Speaker
Why am I here? What's my purpose? they don't really want to deal with the biblical answers, with the true yeah answers to those questions because they all lead to that fourth question.
00:46:10
Speaker
If I reject that God exists, then I don't have to deal with the fact that I am going to face judgment from a being who's greater than me, yeah who is the standard of good. And what we're saying is whether I want to deal with that or not,
00:46:32
Speaker
doesn't make it not true. right It is true, it is a fact. And so we understand and recognize that we all did come from God the Creator. We were put here for a purpose.
00:46:45
Speaker
We have been told how to live, and when we die we will face a judgment for that. And because of that, we want others to understand that and why that matters because their souls hang in the balance. Yeah. um We do believe that there is something beyond the physical, that there is an eternal soul in every man and that we don't want, we don't want to see those suffer judgment and suffer the punishment of judgment. We don't want that for ourselves, obviously. Right. And
00:47:23
Speaker
In a mindset that believes that that we've been created by a God who is good and who wants to do good things, we don't want to see others have that punishment either. And so that's what motivates us is is understanding his existence. That's what motivates us.
00:47:40
Speaker
to tell others about him and want to see them come to know him and love him and serve him and worship him. Because then when you face the judgment, you have hope and you have life yeah and not eternal punishment.
00:47:54
Speaker
That's it. Which is the gospel. Which is the gospel. Well, I think that's a good note to end on. So man see you next time. On Answering Pilot. Amen.
Podcast Wrap-up and Contact Information
00:48:05
Speaker
The Answering Pilot podcast is a ministry of Randall House Church in Greer, South Carolina.
00:48:10
Speaker
You can learn more at www.randallhousegreer.com slash church. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at at Randall House Church. Don't forget to like and subscribe, and we'll see you next time.