Evolutionary Biology and Atheism
I am currently reading Darwin's Black Box by biochemist and evolutionist Michael J. Behe. As an evolutionist, he talks about the biochemical challenges that Darwinian evolution presents to the question of origins -- how it doesn't allow for the irreducible complexity that we observe in biology. Therefore, I found it interesting that I stumbled upon this quote today: an evolutionist's view on what evolutionary biology tells us about our world...
“Let me summarize my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear — and these are basically Darwin’s views. There are no gods, no purposes, and no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end of me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning in life, and no free will for humans, either. “
~ Evolutionist William Provine of Cornell University, in a debate with Phillip E. Johnson
Have you noticed that most atheists use these same arguments? "There is no god, no purposes, and no goal-directed forces of any kind" (except chance and natural selection, which are, in fact, very random making them less plausible as a catalyst). "There is no life after death"; when we die, we go into the ground and that's it. "No ultimate foundation for ethics," which is why morality is subjective and abortions and euthanasia are legal. "No meaning in life," because we are all just ancestors of monkeys, we don't believe in a God who could give us meaning, and we have no idea how we got here and why we are here. "No free will," because free will is the ability to choose something; but how can one choose if there are no standards of right and wrong? Everything is permissible in that view.
The Bible makes it perfectly clear that there is a Creator God who loved us enough to create us in His own image, giving us value. He loved us so much that He not only gave His only Son to die on our place for the sins that we committed, but He has also prepared a place in Heaven for us and desires us to be there with Him when we die. He wrote the 10 commandments -- and the Bible as a whole -- to be our manual, not so that we would be restricted, but so that we could see how sinful we are measured up to His standards (which are always objective) and how desperate we are for a Savior; and like any good relationship, He wants us to know what He expects of us and what we can expect from Him. He also gave us free will; He is not a dictator who imposes his will on us -- we choose for ourselves.
Maybe now, you can see why I often say that evolution leads to atheism; it's a logical conclusion from it. If one believes that he came from nothing, by nothing, for nothing, then he most likely will not believe that there is a God, a Designer who created even the most (seemingly) simple of molecular structures.
~ Evolutionist William Provine of Cornell University, in a debate with Phillip E. Johnson
Have you noticed that most atheists use these same arguments? "There is no god, no purposes, and no goal-directed forces of any kind" (except chance and natural selection, which are, in fact, very random making them less plausible as a catalyst). "There is no life after death"; when we die, we go into the ground and that's it. "No ultimate foundation for ethics," which is why morality is subjective and abortions and euthanasia are legal. "No meaning in life," because we are all just ancestors of monkeys, we don't believe in a God who could give us meaning, and we have no idea how we got here and why we are here. "No free will," because free will is the ability to choose something; but how can one choose if there are no standards of right and wrong? Everything is permissible in that view.
The Bible makes it perfectly clear that there is a Creator God who loved us enough to create us in His own image, giving us value. He loved us so much that He not only gave His only Son to die on our place for the sins that we committed, but He has also prepared a place in Heaven for us and desires us to be there with Him when we die. He wrote the 10 commandments -- and the Bible as a whole -- to be our manual, not so that we would be restricted, but so that we could see how sinful we are measured up to His standards (which are always objective) and how desperate we are for a Savior; and like any good relationship, He wants us to know what He expects of us and what we can expect from Him. He also gave us free will; He is not a dictator who imposes his will on us -- we choose for ourselves.
Maybe now, you can see why I often say that evolution leads to atheism; it's a logical conclusion from it. If one believes that he came from nothing, by nothing, for nothing, then he most likely will not believe that there is a God, a Designer who created even the most (seemingly) simple of molecular structures.
I am far from the up and up on atheist's claims regarding evolution. What scientific evidence do they say that they have? Is there any at all?
ReplyDeleteOf course I know that God exists but am wondering what in the world some people think and pretend that they have as evidence that God doesn't exist and that we were sprung from some explosion?
Rena,
ReplyDeleteMost of the atheistic appeals to science are actually appeals to evolution; most atheists see them as one and the same. But when one takes time to examine both sides, it's easy to see that, while tiny amounts of actual science may be found if one wades through evolution, for the most part, none of it stands to scrutiny.
I have read many good books on the subject of evolution and it's fairly easy to see that atheism is many times a consequence of believing evolution (and I'm not referring to those who believe in old-earth creationism or theistic evolution, both of which mix some evolution into their interpretation of the days of creation though they believe that God was the ultimate cause of it all).
So, in a nutshell, the "scientific evidence" that atheists say they have is evolution... they say, "Science says this," and "Science says that," but they really mean evolution.
But to be fair, let me address this question: Is there any real science for atheists? I think so. There are many atheists from various scientific fields. But it's a matter of how they interpret the data that they study. Many choose to see it as "we got here by a gigantic explosion called the Big Bang" or "we all are descendants of a cell that formed in prebiotic soup" -- in an effort to explain away God -- but there are also some who recognize that the data doesn't add up and that what we do see is evidence for Creation instead. One of the more dramatic examples is Richard Dickerson, a devout evolutionist, who answers the question you posed quite nicely here (by "science" in the second sentence he means "evolution"):
“Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door. The eminent Kant scholar Lewis Beck used to say that anyone who could believe in God could believe in anything. To appeal to an omnipotent deity is to allow that at any moment the regularities of nature may be ruptured, that miracles may happen.” ~ Richard Dickerson
Sadly, many atheists just parrot what they read on the Internet, which has been proven false years ago, never bothering to check their sources. So, to them, there is "scientific evidence" such as Darwin's Finches (which prove variations within kinds, rather than natural selection), Monkeys-to-man (which many scientists on both sides agree is a crock with most of the supposed missing-links being made up from a few sparce bones), the fossil record (which should be found in layers from simple to complex, but instead, everything is mixed together indicating a world-wide Flood).
Also, I would like to add that most arguments put forth by atheists to "prove" the non-existence of God are not even arguments at all but rather misunderstandings of the Bible or other facts. If you are interested, I can point you to several books that you may find useful.
Hope this helps.
God bless,
Christiana
Ok I didn't know that most atheists use evolution as their reason for not believing in God. I thought that they were mostly using the big bang theory. Or is the big bang theory the evolutionist's starting point, then they say from the supposed creatures made from the big bang that humans were evolved from that?
ReplyDeleteIts good to see that you really know your stuff and that you take a knowledgeable stand for Apologetics. That is definitely your spiritual gift!!!
Ok I just wrote a reply and now its gone!!!
ReplyDeleteArghhhhhh!!!
To sum it up, thanks for the information. Apologetics is definitely one of your spiritual gifts!
Yes please list some books, I love to read and hopefully they
are available at the local libraries or can get them used
on Amazon etc.
God bless!