Finding Truth: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes by Nancy Pearcey Read Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Nancy Pearcey
evidence that humans were not created by automatic physical forces but by a personal Agent.
It is ironic that people who reject Christianity—who think that without God they can finally be free—end up with philosophies that deny human freedom.
To become familiar with the practical test, we will walk through several examples. The benefit of working with examples is that you will learn to analyze the actual wording and reasoning used by secular thinkers in real-world situations. The most surprising thing we will discover is that many of them, when pressed, actually acknowledge that their worldview does not fit the facts. The examples in this chapter will help you make the case using their own words.
I, Robot—We, Machines
Do not be tempted to think that worldview questions like these are esoteric—irrelevant to ordinary people. When I was a teenager, I was already wrestling with the same questions raised by the young mother writing for CNN. After rejecting my Lutheran upbringing, I embraced physical and social determinism. I saw it as one more nail in the coffin of Christianity, for the Bible clearly teaches that humans exercise moral responsibility: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.… Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live” (Deut. 30:15, 19).
Of course, theologians debate the exact nature of human freedom. The Reformers, Luther and Calvin, emphasized that humans can do nothing to contribute to salvation. The liberating message of the gospel is that we do not have to earn or work for salvation; that both justification and sanctification are by “hearing with faith” (Gal. 3:2, 5). But the Reformers did not mean that we cannot choose whether to have ham or turkey on our sandwich for lunch. By contrast, materialism holds that humans only think they are choosing ham or turkey. In reality their behavior is driven by natural forces such as neurons firing in the brain—just like sodium reacting with chlorine.All Christians agree in rejecting this materialist conception of humans as mere robots or meat machines. 6
The Bible teaches that humans are fallen sinners, but the fall did not make us less than human. It did not make us machines.
Obviously, humans are not free to do anything we might dream up, because we are creatures and not the Creator. We are also embedded within a physical universe and a social world; we each have a personal history that affects our choices. Yet within those parameters, we have some range of genuine choice and accountability. Our actions are not simply links in a closed chain of causally connected physical events. We have the capacity to be first causes, starting a new chain of cause and effect.
It was not until I went to L’Abri, however, that I heard cogent arguments in favor of free will. The arguments centered on the universality of human experience. The testimony of all known cultures through all of recorded history is that humans do exercise moral freedom and responsibility. From time to time, quirky individuals have raised objections, but civilizations as a whole cannot survive without the conviction that people can be held responsible for their actions.
Even materialists often admit that, in practice, it is impossible for humans to live any other way. One philosopher jokes that if people deny free will, then when ordering at a restaurant they should say, “Just bring me whatever the laws of nature have determined I will get.” 7 It seems that we are forced to accept the reality of free will.Humans are so constituted that they cannot function without it. It is one of those stubborn facts that must be accounted for by any worldview. 8
These were some of the arguments I encountered while studying at L’Abri. As a result, I began to seriously consider whether my deterministic worldview might be mistaken. It began to look as though humans do have moral freedom after all. And if my worldview did not account for it, well, I
It is ironic that people who reject Christianity—who think that without God they can finally be free—end up with philosophies that deny human freedom.
To become familiar with the practical test, we will walk through several examples. The benefit of working with examples is that you will learn to analyze the actual wording and reasoning used by secular thinkers in real-world situations. The most surprising thing we will discover is that many of them, when pressed, actually acknowledge that their worldview does not fit the facts. The examples in this chapter will help you make the case using their own words.
I, Robot—We, Machines
Do not be tempted to think that worldview questions like these are esoteric—irrelevant to ordinary people. When I was a teenager, I was already wrestling with the same questions raised by the young mother writing for CNN. After rejecting my Lutheran upbringing, I embraced physical and social determinism. I saw it as one more nail in the coffin of Christianity, for the Bible clearly teaches that humans exercise moral responsibility: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.… Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live” (Deut. 30:15, 19).
Of course, theologians debate the exact nature of human freedom. The Reformers, Luther and Calvin, emphasized that humans can do nothing to contribute to salvation. The liberating message of the gospel is that we do not have to earn or work for salvation; that both justification and sanctification are by “hearing with faith” (Gal. 3:2, 5). But the Reformers did not mean that we cannot choose whether to have ham or turkey on our sandwich for lunch. By contrast, materialism holds that humans only think they are choosing ham or turkey. In reality their behavior is driven by natural forces such as neurons firing in the brain—just like sodium reacting with chlorine.All Christians agree in rejecting this materialist conception of humans as mere robots or meat machines. 6
The Bible teaches that humans are fallen sinners, but the fall did not make us less than human. It did not make us machines.
Obviously, humans are not free to do anything we might dream up, because we are creatures and not the Creator. We are also embedded within a physical universe and a social world; we each have a personal history that affects our choices. Yet within those parameters, we have some range of genuine choice and accountability. Our actions are not simply links in a closed chain of causally connected physical events. We have the capacity to be first causes, starting a new chain of cause and effect.
It was not until I went to L’Abri, however, that I heard cogent arguments in favor of free will. The arguments centered on the universality of human experience. The testimony of all known cultures through all of recorded history is that humans do exercise moral freedom and responsibility. From time to time, quirky individuals have raised objections, but civilizations as a whole cannot survive without the conviction that people can be held responsible for their actions.
Even materialists often admit that, in practice, it is impossible for humans to live any other way. One philosopher jokes that if people deny free will, then when ordering at a restaurant they should say, “Just bring me whatever the laws of nature have determined I will get.” 7 It seems that we are forced to accept the reality of free will.Humans are so constituted that they cannot function without it. It is one of those stubborn facts that must be accounted for by any worldview. 8
These were some of the arguments I encountered while studying at L’Abri. As a result, I began to seriously consider whether my deterministic worldview might be mistaken. It began to look as though humans do have moral freedom after all. And if my worldview did not account for it, well, I
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