Tough Questions for Christians March 21 Devotional
by David Joynt on March 21, 2023
Stress Test Devotional April 27
April 27, 2024
Romans 1:20 | 20 Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been seen and understood through the things God has made. So they are without excuse.
Great scientists are not always great philosophers. My old tutor, Alistair McGrath, in the Dawkins Delusion, points out a fundamental mistake made by many atheist critics who think science requires “naturalism,” or the belief that everything in the world can be explained by natural causes without a supernatural element. Dawkins fails to distinguish philosophical and religious assertions from the methodological procedures of science. Science deliberately excludes supernatural explanations in order to study and understand natural ones. But this exclusion doesn’t mean supernatural causes are incompatible with natural ones or that the worldview that insists there are no supernatural causes or agents is correct. Personal and scientific explanations can overlap. When I make a cup of tea, it can be described and explained in terms of the chemistry of the diffusion and the physics of the water boiling. But it can also be explained by my desire for a “cuppa.” The existence of self-sustaining physical process that follow natural laws does not answer the question of whether those laws and processes had a designer or creator. Interestingly, the father of genetics, Gregor Mendel, who discovered the way natural mutations lead to variation and evolutionary advances in plants, was a Roman Catholic friar. Francis Collins, the great researcher of the human genome, started as an atheist and became a Christian. Darwin moved from deism to agnosticism, but his greatest collaborator and advocate, Harvard professor, Asa Gray, was a staunch believer.
Do you understand McGrath’s criticism of Dawkins?
Gracious God,
Thank You for leaving room for both faith and doubt and for the gift of human freedom. Thank You for not overwhelming us with irresistible proofs of Your existence that forced our allegiance. Thank You for Your patient love that invites and woos us.
Amen.
