Religious Implications of Atheism
Шрифт:
I pray the reader of Religious Implications of Atheism: Atheism, Islam, and Christianity in the Language of Metaphysics, particularly the atheist, honestly consider the power of the original sin in all of us, and its clear, rational remedy—the grace of God, ready to be found if we only grope for it (cf. Acts 17:27).
Ronald W. Kirk
Student of God’s Ways
Сhief editor of Nordskog Publishing
(мanuscript review and theology)
[Ronald Kirk has walked with Christ for over forty-seven years. He devoted himself to the lifelong endeavor of bridging the proverbial gap between theology and practice in every area of life. God honored this conviction with a thoroughly Biblical philosophy, method, and content for education proved over twenty-five years of practical development, including highly successful classroom application kindergarten through high school and beyond—regardless of native ability or previous educational experience. A Providential view of history allows making the best use of the lessons of history, from the consequence of choices—godly or humanistic, with their good or evil results]
Acknowledgments
First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who, in one way or another, by deed, word, thought, contributed to the publication of this book. I would especially like to thank Ronald W. Kirk who kindly agreed to write the Foreword. It is perfectly natural to give thanks for the good, and similar acknowledgments occur in many books.
However, one of the paradoxical features of Christianity is the commandment to love enemies. Christians pray, among other things, for those who hate and offend them. This book examines aspects of atheism, which, not only in words, but sometimes in deeds, is at war with the religious worldview. Therefore, often atheism does not cause positive emotions in religious people, just as it does not cause positive emotions, for example, fly larvaes.
Nevertheless, I would like to draw attention to the fact that even completely unsightly fly larvae can be of great benefit. They can clear trophic ulcers, wounds and bedsores from infection several times faster than traditional therapy. In some cases, using fly larvae to fight infection is much safer, more effective and cheaper than antibacterial drugs. Fly larvae eat only dead tissue, without touching healthy ones. Thus, they cleanse the wound and promote its healing much better than antibiotics.
Likewise, atheists can expose and criticize only dead and sick areas of religions. The healthy part of religions is too tough for atheists. If a human had a personal metaphysical experience of “touching other worlds,” then he will never forgott this experience, and atheists will never be able to convince him. In addition, atheists will never say that the biblical commandments are bad and must be fought against. On the contrary, the moral code of the builder of communism was copied from the biblical commandments, since atheists could not think of anything better.
Of course, delusions and superstitions within religion have always been criticized by religious people, trying to separate the human from the divine. However, their voice was often too weak to reverse negative tendencies. Atheists approached religions with a heavy hammer of criticism, and began to test the strength of all religious foundations. In many things, the atheists were deluded themselves, and their blows did not reach the target. On the other hand, the problems that atheists rightly pointed out were already criticized by religious people long before the atheists. The atheists just once again drew attention to them and contributed to their wide discussion.
Thus, it is worth to thank the atheists for their unsightly “fly larvae work”. It is worth thanking them here and now, and not only thanking them, but also pitying them, because they do not understand what they are deprived of (Ps. 39:4).
Introduction
“We want to know in order to live. And to live means, on the other hand, to live not in blindness and darkness, but in the light of knowledge . . . And in the last depth of our being, we feel that the light of knowledge and the highest good of life we are looking for are two sides of the same principle.”
– S. L. Frank [2]
From time immemorial, people have argued about the criteria of truth, about the meaning of human life and about the nature of things. Usually this was expressed in religious disputes. About two hundred years ago, atheism arose in Christian Europe, and began to take part in these disputes. Many books have been written on these topics. Nevertheless, a book is a monologue of one author. A more complete picture is obtained when different colors and contrast are present in it. Therefore, it is advisable to conduct dialogues, trialogues, disputes, in which representatives of different points of view argue. For two hundred years, there have already been thousands of disputes on the topic “Religion and Atheism”, in which, as a rule, representatives of Christianity or Islam speak about religion. The titles of these disputes can vary widely. For example, there might be a title “Religion and Science”, “Religion and Evolution”, “I don’t believe!” etc. However, the essence is the same everywhere and the arguments for each side are approximately the same. It is like a children’s carousel where you can change animal figures. You can exchange horses for donkeys, camels, giraffes, etc., but the rotation mechanism and trajectory will be the same. Therefore, the disputes of the twenty-first century, in fact, differ little from the disputes of the nineteenth century. For two centuries, almost nothing has changed. Perhaps, it is impossible to reach a consensus between religions and atheism through disputes, controversies, and discussions.
2
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Therefore, we will try to consider the discussed problems alone, in creative silence, that is, we will present our views in the genre of Plato’s Dialogues. However, it would not be correct to analyze the dispute between atheists and believers in a completely abstract way, without reference to specific individuals. It is not very nice to argue with fictitious opponents and refute the arguments of marginal anonymous (as atheists often do). Therefore, we will comment on one specific dispute here, by the example of which we will try to reveal the essence of all similar disputes. This is a debate between a prominent representative of Atheism and a well-known representative of Islam. In addition, we will comment on their polemic from the point of view of Christianity. Thus, three points of view will be presented here, and the problems discussed will be shown as if in “three-dimensional”.
Debate video source:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=uSwJuOPG4FI
Title:
The Big Debates: Islam or Atheism—Which Makes More Sense?
London, March 9, 2013
Participants:
Professor Lawrence Maxwell Krauss is a renowned cosmologist and popularizer of science, founder of the Faculty of Earth and Space Studies and honorary director of the “Origins” project at the University of Arizona (USA), author of about three hundred scientific publications and nine books, including international bestsellers “The Physics of Star Trek” and “A Universe from Nothing: why there is something rather than nothing”.
Hamza Andreas Tzortzis is a student of the organization “Islamic Thought”, author, lecturer, employee of the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA).
00:00:24: Introduction – Timothy Yusuf Chambers (Moderator)
00:06:30: Opening Remarks – Hamza Tzortzis
00:32:02: Opening Remarks – Lawrence Krauss
00:59:33: Rebuttal – Hamza Tzortzis
01:14:28: Rebuttal – Lawrence Krauss
01:22:43: Summary Discussion
01:42:07: Question & Answer Session