Does Atheism Have a Future?

From Bart Ehrman's blog (2013) we read this ...

 

I apparently threw a few people for a loop yesterday when I referred to myself as an atheist. ... When I became an agnostic - 17 or 18 years ago? ... I thought that “agnosticism” and “atheism” were two *degrees* of basically the same thing. ...  According to this idea, an agnostic is someone who says that s/he does not *know* whether God exists, and an atheist is someone who makes a definitive statement that God does *not* exist.  Agnostics don’t know and atheists are sure.

 

This video responding to Ehrman's views is excellent.  I have replied to Ehrman's work here and here.  Some atheists go with the tag "brights," but what does the Real Creator and Author of Truth say?  "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding.  To him belongs eternal praise." (Ps. 111:10).  Does atheism have a future?  I think not:

 

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

    and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:9-11)

 

I have a few questions for my atheist friends:

 

• Why do we yearn for Utopia?
• If life is hopeless, is suicide an option?
• Did I create History?
• Am I the Author of the Universe?
• Have you read the Bible?
• What if you're wrong?

 

What does the non-Theist have to say?  Here are the chapters from the book Atheist Universe by David Mills:

This book has an endorsement from Richard Dawkins and a foreword from Dorion Sagan.  Should we follow our emotions blindly?  Isaac Asimov said, “Emotionally I am an atheist.  I don’t have the evidence to prove that God doesn’t exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn’t that I don’t want to waste my time.”  But what about the Big Bang?  Sir Hermann Bondi (d. 2005), mathematician and astronomer, said, “… theories of the origin of the Universe have been disproved by present day empirical evidence as have various theories of the origin of the Solar System.”  One specific problem for the Big Bang is known as the "horizon problem" - the universe is not old enough for the heat to be so evenly distributed in the cosmos based on their assumptions. 

 

Check out our take on Hell here.  Eric Metaxas has written a profound book on miracles.  Metaxas hosts Socrates in the City where Malcolm Gladwell, Dick Cavett, N.T.  Wright and Peter Hitchens have been guests.  Concerning the Fundamentals of the Faith, see here.  To keep up with Intelligent Design, be sure to follow EvolutionNews.org and enjoy the info.  As for America's Christian Heritage, I would point to this book by Gary DeMar.  Also, the work of Wallbuilders is helpful.  I have visited the church that President Washington was a part of.  Consider the truth, turn from atheism and go to Jesus.  Here's a summary of the Good News (Gospel).  Check out this helpful apologetic for Jesus, God and the Bible.

 

The law from your mouth is more precious to me

than thousands of pieces of silver and gold. (Ps. 119:72)

 

#MichaelShermer #MalcolmGladwell #DickCavett #NTWright #PeterHitchens #Atheism #God #BigBang #Agnostic #Asimov #Jesus #Gospel #BartEhrman #Apologetics

God's Sovereignty Implies Young Earth Science (YES)

Does the Bible speak to the age-of-the-earth issue?  YES!  "Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure’ "(Is. 46:10).  "Mortals have a limited life span. You’ve already decided how long we’ll live - you set the boundary and no one can cross it" (Job 14:5, Msg).

God’s sovereignty implies YES.  The King of the Cosmos has a plan and things happen for a purpose at a certain time!  Methuselah lived 969 years – when he died the Flood came.  Abraham predicted that the bondage of the Jews would last 400 years and must wait for the “iniquity of the Amorites [to be] complete” (Ge 15:13-16). Daniel foretold the exact time of Messiah’s coming (Dan. 9:25).  Jesus warned of the time of the Temple’s destruction (Mk 13:1-4, 30).

In his scifi Foundation series, Isaac Asimov introduces the idea of psychohistory – the future can actually be predicted far in advance based on average human tendencies.  Empires rise and they fall with interludes of low civilization, but these events happen at a certain time and for a reason.  That’s fiction, but the FACT is that given God’s original plan, it would take about four thousand years for the Savior to arrive (Gal. 4:4).

This is what the Lord says - Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty:

I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.  Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come - yes, let them foretell what will come (Is. 44:6,7).

Jesus clearly taught that our planet is not billions of years old (Mk. 10:6, Mk. 13:19, Lk. 11:50,51).   Peter echoed that sentiment (Acts 3:20,21). 

You'll be amazed at the fascinating facts from history, geology and biology that point to a youthful planet in the blockbusting work YES - Young Earth Science.

Your feedback is welcome:

ned_oa_1657@yahoo.com

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Rodney King is famous for asking “Can we all get along?” during the 1992 LA riots in response to the acquittal of his attackers. Dissension on the days of Genesis One and the age of the Earth has a long history, but an easy solution. YES WE CAN get along! YES = Young Earth Science.

Theologian Herman Bavinck (d. 1921) opposed Darwinism, but was very confused when he contrasted his views with Orthodox Protestants who take Genesis as Historical Narrative (OPGHN, “opgane”).  Writing in 1909 in Our Reasonable Faith, Bavinck said:

Scripture speaks very definitely of days [of Creation Week] which are reckoned by the measurement of night and morning and which lie at the basis of the distribution of the days of the week in Israel and its festive calendar. Nevertheless Scripture itself contains data which oblige us to think of these days of Genesis as different from our ordinary units as determined by the revolutions of the earth [emphasis added].

Actually, the work week is compared to Creation Week (Ex. 20:11, Ex. 31:15-17).  A seven day week is dominant among all cultures, not just the Jews.  A number of scholars have held to Creation In Six Days (CISD) [1]:

Old Earth Fallacies (OEF) deny a true exegesis of Genesis per James Barr (d. 2006), Hebrew Professor at the University of Oxford:  “… the writer(s) of Gen. 1-11 intended to convey to their readers the idea that creation took place in a series of six days which were the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience.” Bavinck continues:

… the first three days (Gen. 1:3-13) must have been very unlike ours. For our twenty-four hour days are effected by the revolutions of the earth on its axis, and by the correspondingly different relationship to the sun which accompanies the revolutions. But those first three days could not have been constituted in that way. It is true that the distinction between them was marked by the appearance and disappearance of light. But the Book of Genesis itself tells us that sun and moon and stars were not formed until the fourth day [emphasis added].

Bavinck seems to forget that in the future the sun will no longer be needed (Rev. 21:23, 22:5) – this is not a problem for CISD.  The Lord could easily have created the photons going in the proper direction before Sol was created on Day Four. Bavinck has issues with the sixth day:

… everything which according to Genesis 1 and 2 took place on the sixth day can hardly be crowded into the pale of such a day as we now know the length of days to be. For on that day according to Scripture there occurred the creation of the animals (Gen. 1:24-25), the creation of Adam (Gen. 1:26 and 2:7), the planting of the garden (Gen. 2:8-14), the giving of the probationary command (Gen. 2:16-17), the leading of the animals to Adam and his naming them (Gen. 2:18-20), and the sleep of Adam and the creation of Eve (Gen. 2:21-23).

Not so - creation of the animals may have happened at once.  Adam may have been made in minutes.  Adam named the “cattle, birds of the air, and every beast of the field” (Ge 2:20), not ALL the animals.  In 1995, Sean Shannon of Canada recited Hamlet's soliloquy `To be or not to be' at a speed of 655 words per minute.  Adam would have had no difficulty naming the animals of Eden.  William Twisse, prime leader of the Westminster Assembly, said Adam completed this task before noon. [2]

The Sumerian King List has an explanation that fits with YES. Geologist Davis Young, who once held to an non-effective global flood, is a perfect example of the slippery slope syndrome regarding Genesis. Drop Genesis and you may eventually deny Adam and Eve's historical existence.

A number of creation presenters are very popular on the web, but an initial study might start with the following:
icr
CRS
AiG

Joel Kontinen, MA in Translation Studies and a BA in Bible and Theology, also provides great evidence supporting YES.  Some give this challenge, “If you can prove Young Earth Science (YES), Organics-to-Opera evolution is vanquished.” YES We Can!

That is, Adam became the father of Seth when Adam was 130 years old (Ge 5:3). Enoch was the seventh from Adam, so there are NO GAPS (Jude 14).  Methuselah may mean “When he is dead, it shall be sent” => Methuselah died in the year the Flood began.  So we just sum the years to get the time from Creation (since Adam was created on Day Six) to the Global Flood:

Thus, from Creation to Noah’s Catastrophe was 1656 years. Both Genesis and Josephus agree that Abraham was born 290 years after the Flood. [3] Abraham could have compared his genealogy with Shem, who was still alive in his time. Abraham is generally considered to be living around 2000 BC.  So our favorite planet has been here around six millennia (Y6K).

Does the Bible speak to the age-of-the-earth issue?  YES! "Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure’ "(Is. 46:10). "Mortals have a limited life span. You’ve already decided how long we’ll live - you set the boundary and no one can cross it" (Job 14:5, Msg).

God’s sovereignty implies YES.  The King of the Cosmos has a plan and things happen for a purpose at a certain time! Methuselah lived 969 years – when he died the Flood came.  Abraham predicted that the bondage of the Jews would last 400 years and must wait for the “iniquity of the Amorites [to be] complete” (Ge 15:13-16). Daniel foretold the exact time of Messiah’s coming (Dan. 9:25).  Jesus warned of the time of the Temple’s destruction (Mk 13:1-4, 30). 

In his scifi Foundation series, Isaac Asimov introduces the idea of psychohistory – the future can actually be predicted far in advance based on average human tendencies.  Empires rise and they fall with interludes of low civilization, but these events happen at a certain time and for a reason.  That’s fiction, but the FACT is that given God’s original plan, it would take about four thousand years for the Savior to arrive (Gal. 4:4).

Notes:

1) “The 24-Hour View” by Ligon Duncan & David Hall in The Genesis Debate ed. by David Hagopian (Crux Press, Mission Viejo, CA, 2001), pp. 47-52.
2) Ibid., p. 53.
3) Refuting Compromise by Jonathan Sarfati (Master Books, 2004), p. 291.

#TrueTruth #Worldview #Bavinck #Schaeffer #CreationWeek #GEN1to11