Are The Laws Of Physics The New Idolatry? - By Michael J. S. Austin, Ph.D.
The world's leading thinkers didn't get where they are without hard work. Many have an overwhelming passion to persuade you to follow their thinking. Let's face it; we are all, including us lesser thinkers, trying to help people through our thoughts! Down the centuries one sharp collision that is very conspicuous up to the present is between naturalistic philosophy and supernatural Christianity. Today, in my view the big choice is between belief in the universe being a massive, meaningless fluke and the final revealed nature of biblical Christianity.
- POPULAR SCIENCE
Both Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins and many other popular science authors who share their particular view of cosmic origins have a strong desire to communicate the vision they have seen. And so they delight in the child-like sense of wonder evoked by the grandeur and awesome depths of majesty and complexity in the universe. Both on an intellectual and emotional level they are overwhelmed and fascinated by the sheer beauty, drama and power of what they have seen. Then, having become captivated, they delight in nothing more than to share their discoveries with enthusiastic readers and viewers.
On the naturalistic view of science, we are offered an interpretation of physical reality. Don't forget we are all interpreters of what we see, as our cognitive faculties project meanings on to whatever holds our interest. Thus the cosmos is seen as a vast expanding space-time continuum - of stars and galaxies so vast and innumerable, we are stunned by our littleness as light, heat and matter swirl, expand, explode and reform on a vast astrophysical scale. And when we hear about vast black holes, matter and anti-matter we are dwarfed by the scale and speed at which particles accelerate and collide. The sheer combination of order and control, shape and continuity as well as the apparent disorder, randomness and chaos given by such immense forces call for understanding.
- INTERPRETATIONS RELY ON ASSUMPTIONS
This is where we are offered the interpretation that attributes everything to a non-rational, unforeseen, accident; an event that has no ultimate purpose or meaning. However this sort of thinking is challenging and many prefer to read reality as if profound, coded information was written into its essence.
And so, we are told with panache that this majestic, swirling, dancing glory was sparked by the anthropic principle of fine-tuned physical constants to give a self-generating, self-sustaining and virtually self-propagating cosmos that has even produced intelligent life, and how this marvel ought to elicit the utmost admiration. At some point in this dazzling scene, we face the implicit atheism of what is presented as 'science', and how there is a direct effort to deflect people's minds away from the thought of a personal Creator providing a basis for rational thought.
- FOUNDATION FOR EVERYTHING
For only with the presupposition of the all-wise living God revealed in the Christian Scriptures, do we have a foundation for the meaning of everything, an explanation for why the world is spoiled and flawed that fits reality, and one wonderful remedy, through the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's agent in creation and in redemption. Ultimately, only biblical Christianity is intellectually credible and internally consistent, offering a unified field of knowledge.
In the light of a revealed diagnosis of our human condition, we are able to see the atheist's goal to glorify the material creation exposed for what it really is - idolatry. An act of deliberate defiance against the living God, who 'has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world' (Hebrews 1:2). Mankind in defiance and spiritual darkness has for millennia 'exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator' (Romans 1:25). Idolatry is attributing to created objects, including the cosmos and all its starry wonder, a wisdom, power and supreme value that stir awe and devotion - in a word, 'worship'; a worship that is due to God alone. This is why we ought rather to exclaim 'Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created' (Revelation 4:11).
- ATHEISM USES AN IDEOLOGICAL LENS
When the physicist as atheist relies on his or her mental molecular chemistry to build models of reality and interpret the universe using their ideological lens they have no warrant to cross the boundary out of science and deny the existence of the Personal Creator God of Genesis. The natural mind, alienated from living contact with God, suppresses knowledge of God but still uses God-given reason to argue beyond what his technical presuppositions allow. The result is always confused futility. But he still borrows the theistic capital of a comprehensible universe and rational, significant minds able to relate with some measure of final objectivity to what is there, but without acknowledging the source - the wisdom and power of our infinite Creator.
- TRUE WORSHIP
Yes, it's fine to marvel at the wonders of creation, and admire the elegance of the so-called laws of physics that point to the infinite glory, wisdom and power of God. But that should then lead us to come in humble repentance and faith in Christ, who died the sinner's death, and marvel at his immeasurable love and grace, and offer true worship before his reconciling, redeeming glory, exclaiming 'my Lord and my God!'
Michael J. S. Austin, Ph.D. Hello, my big goal is to show that biblical Christianity appeals to careful thinking, and is powerfully relevant today. So, I aim to share the good news of Christ crucified, risen and ascended - a Saviour who is worthy of your full confidence. And I write to help you find faith or to strengthen your faith, so that you may be SURE. I share Evangelical and Reformed convictions and have a Ph.D. from Reformation International Theological Seminary for work on the validity of reason. Use this link to my very latest Amazon Kindle e-book: 'FOR SURE! - Assurance and Evangelicalism' http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AG0WK84 Or look at this challenging title, 'Dawkins' Dilemmas' - a serious exposure of atheism Use this link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dawkins-Dilemmas-Deluded-question-ebook/dp/B007RFLYI8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336243482&sr=1-1 Read and enjoy, and please recommend to others - Thank you! Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_J._S._Austin,_Ph.D. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7499772