Rewind: The Conflict Over Creation

Topic Notes

THIS SHOW FIRST AIRED ON Mar 4, 2018

Is the Design Argument a poor argument?

Teleological Argument:

1. All designs imply a designer
2. There is great design in the Universe
3. Therefore, there must be a great Designer of the Universe

What is a Sound Argument? What is a Valid Argument?

Romans 1:20 God’s existence is obvious when looking at nature.

Sound design includes complexity AND specificity.

According to Reasons to Believe, there are over 400 things needed for complex life on Earth. That’s complex AND specific!

Looking at the article “Problems with Design Arguments” by Luke Muehlhauser at CommonSenseAtheism.com

He says:
The Design Argument is probably the most popular argument for the existence of God. Even a nonreligious person may look at the world, so complex and beautiful, and decide it must have been created by somebody very smart and powerful. Voltaire and Thomas Jefferson thought religions were absurd, but even they thought there must have been some kind of Creator.

This thought goes all the way back to Plato.

He continues:
First, Christians do not argue for God in general, but for a specific god: Yahweh. They’re really saying, “The world is complex, so Yahweh must have created it.” But we might as well say, “The world is complex, so Mbombo must have created it.”

The Teleological Argument doesn’t prove the Christian God exists, but we DON’T claim that.

what are Emergent Systems?

But Emergent Systems are simply complex. What about specificity?

Weather supplies many examples of Emergent Systems.

Tornadoes don’t directly point us to God.

We’ve replaced supernatural explanations with natural explanations.

God of the Gaps vs Naturalism of the Gaps. Neither is good.

The complexity of God implies that God must have been designed?? Not true.

Everything that has been designed has a beginning. But God never had a beginning. He is eternal and uncreated.

Bible Contradiction

via 1001biblecontradictions.com
Bear one another’s’ burdens / Bear your own burdens
Galatians 6:2 vs Galalatians 6:5

Resources

Problems with Design Arguments by Luke Muehlhauser at CommonSenseAtheism.com

 

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