WAR
Of the
WORLDVIEWS
Christianity
versus
its challengers
The Challengers- Naturalism
It is widely believed
1. that the only valid knowledge is
science.
2. that science has decisively
disproved the Biblical worldview.
3. that belief in God is irrational.
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Social Consequences
God no longer belongs in modern society
Richard Dawkins The God Delusion (2006)
“(religious) faith is one of the world’s great
evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but
harder to eradicate.” (Dawkins 1996)
42% agree (2006 UK poll)
Christopher Hitchens God Is Not Great: How
Religion Poisons Everything (2007)
USA and EU ban Intelligent Design
Only purposeless evolution may
be taught in public schools.
3
The Challengers--postmodernity
No absolute truths; only human
constructions
Again,God has no place in society
Steve Bruce. God Is Dead :
Secularization in the West (2002)
4
Is God dead?
Friedrich Nietzsche(1844-1900):
"God is dead, we have killed him…
science has killed him
. . . science has killed Truth."
5
How did science ‘kill’ God?
It is alleged
● that science has
falsified Biblical miracles
● that scientific explanations
make God unnecessary
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Can science really kill God?
The Myth
factual, objective, rational science
versus
mythical, subjective, irrational religion
The Reality
hard data – what we actually see
versus
subjective theory – how we explain what
we see
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Same data but many theories
Galactic red-shifts caused by
● expanding space
● motion through space
● gravity
● decreasing speed of light
● shrinking atoms
● increasing particle mass
● tired light
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From data to theory
Carl Hempel,
philosopher of
science:
Piet Mondrian
Composition in Blue
"The transition from
data to theory
requires creative
imagination . . .
Scientific hypotheses
and theories are not
derived from
observed facts,
but are invented in
order to account for9
them."
From data to theory
Nebraska man –artistic
reconstruction (1922)
The actual data-a pig’s tooth
10
(4 views of same tooth)
Saving the theory
Any statement can be held true come what may, if we
make drastic enough adjustments elsewhere in the
system. The totality of our knowledge, from the most
casual matters of history to the profoundest laws of
atomic physics, is a man-made fabric which impinges
on experience only along the edges.
Willard Van Orman Quine
11
From theory to critique
"Scientific theories are not only
equally unprovable, and equally
improbable, but they are also
equally undisprovable."
Imre Lakatos,
philosopher of science
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Choosing theories
● Which theories should we prefer—the simplest?
● How do we know that simple theories are more likely
to be true?
● We have no certain means of separating true theories
from false ones.
● We choose theories that fit in best with our worldview-our most basic assumptions about the world.
● Only observational data can be accepted as fact.
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Worldview Questions
Who is God?
religion
What exists?
metaphysics
Why does the world exist? purpose
What is man?
anthropology
What can we know?
epistemology
What should we do?
ethics
What can we hope for?
eschatology
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Worldviews and Philosophy
The basic worldview questions are of a deeply philosophical
nature. It requires deep, concentrated thought and is hard
work. Philosophy strikes most people as boring and
useless.
16
but
Worldview Answers. . .
DO have
consequences:
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Ideals and Values
Deeply held
Deeply held
ideals can
ideals can
lead to drastic
lead to drastic
action
action
Liberty Leading
The People
Liberty Leading
EugeneThe
Delacroix
People
1830 Eugene Delacroix
1830
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Critique
One’s worldview provides a platform to critique other
worldviews, such as the shallowness of pop culture
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The Anti-thesis
The global conflict between faith and unbelief, between
Christian and non-Christian worldviews.
Science and culture are God-glorifying or God-defying.
Main issue: does the Bible reveals absolute truths?
God’s Word
“Thus says the Lord”
versus
Satan’s deception
“Did God Say?”
Genesis 3:15:“I will put enmity between your (Satan’s) seed
and her seed, he shall bruise your head, and you shall
bruise his heel”
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Science and the Anti-thesis
Tertullian (160 - 220 AD) –
What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?
Augustine (354 - 430 AD) – Human history is dominated by
a battle between the City of God and the City of Man.
C.S. Lewis (1898 - 1963) –
“There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square
inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan”
Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920)
Principles of Sacred Theology:
“Not faith and science, but two scientific systems…
Two scientific elaborations, are opposed to each other,
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each having its own faith.”
Science – operation and historical
Operation science – Common ground?
● Basic science – laboratory, repeatable events, laws,
applications
● Most of science – physics, chemistry, biology
● All the science needed for technology
● Justified under the cultural mandate of Gen.1:28
Historical Science – Highly Worldview Dependent
● Speculative extrapolation into distant past
● Geology, astronomy, paleontology (prehistoric life)
archaeology
● Data collection versus interpretation
● Worldview plays a large role in interpretation
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Science and origins
● All observations are made at the present time,
so any conclusions about origins must rely on theory.
● No scientists were present at the beginning,
so only God knows what really happened.
● The origins debate is not about facts, but their proper
interpretation.
● NOT science versus Christianity but
naturalistic explanations versus Christian explanations
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Worldviews
A worldview consists of
● presuppositions
● a story – a framework
A worldview serves as
● spectacles
● a map
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Assessing Worldviews
Consistency
Experience
Livability
Common sense and
science
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Naturalism
William Provine, historian of science
"Evolutionary biology tells us there are no purposeful
principles in nature, no gods and no designing
forces that are rationally detectable. . .
Second, there are no inherent moral or ethical laws. . .
Third, human beings are marvelously complex machines.
Fourth, when we die, we die and that is the end of us, no
hope of everlasting life.
Free will simply does not exist, evolution can’t produce a
being that is truly free to make choices
The universe cares nothing for us . . .
There is no ultimate meaning for humans.“
26
Naturalism versus Christ
The Two Crowns
Frank Dicksee 1900
A pagan king
parades past Christ
27
Naturalist presuppositions
Story:
full evolution
Metaphysics:
only natural causes
purposeless materialism
empiricism
no divine revelation
Knowledge:
Anthropology:
man is an accident
no soul, no hope after death
Ethics:
no universal norms
no mathematical entities
God is irrelevant
Religion:
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Three worlds—three mysteries
Roger Penrose,
“Shadows of the
Mind”
29
The physical world is mathematical
General relativity
Mechanics
Maxwell’s equations
Electricity
Magnetism
Schrödinger equation
Chemistry
.
If science is true, so is mathematics
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Naturalist problems
Math to matter
Matter to mind
Mind to math
Self-refutation
Monument to the
Third International
Vladimir Tatlin 1919
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Math to matter problems
Why does the universe
exist?
Why does it have order &
uniformity?
Why is it mathematically
intelligible?
Why does it have a
particular mathematical
form?
How are mathematical forms
actualized?
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Matter to mind problems
How can purposeless matter give
rise to purposeful life?
How can chance give rise to
complexity?
How did information arise?
How can matter become
conscious?
The unity of the self
How do non-physical factors
influence the mind?
What transforms mental choice to
physical action?
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Mind to math problems
Why should we trust our
minds?
How can non-physical
absolutes exist?
How can “is” give rise to
“ought”?
How do we access norms?
Why is math applicable?
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Self-refuting beliefs
Sir Francis Crick, Nobel prize biologist:
"The Astonishing Hypothesis is that "You", your joys
and your sorrows, your memories and your
ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free
will, are in fact no more than the behaviour of a vast
assembly of nerve cells...“
If all your beliefs are illusions caused by brain
neurons, as Crick believes, where does that leave
Crick’s belief that all beliefs are illusions??
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Why should we punish crime?
Given our best scientific theories, factors beyond
our control ultimately produce all our actions
….we are therefore not morally responsible for
them.
Philosopher Derk Pereboom (Living
Without Freewill)
36
Self-refutation
Arguing that
naturalism
Is true presumes:
reliable minds
objective truth
purposeful
selfs
rational norms
mental
causation
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Why are we here?
• “There is no ultimate meaning for humans.“
William Provine
• "We are machines built by DNA whose purpose is to
make more copies of the same DNA…That is exactly
what we are for…It is every living object's sole reason
for living". Dawkins 1994:58
• "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him
forever." Westminster Shorter Catechism
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Basics of the Christian worldview
Story:
Creation, Fall, redemption
Metaphysics: God is the ultimate reality: all-powerful,
all-knowing. He sets physical laws and
performs miracles
Knowledge: God reveals truth to us through the
Bible
Anthropology:We are created in God’s image to serve
Him. Body & soul.
Absolutes:
God sets all norms
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A Christian view of knowledge
God
Physical world
Bible
Math
Scientific theories are fallible human inventions that
should agree with observation, logic and Bible.
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Christianity Enabled Science
“The God said, “let us make man in our image…”
And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the
earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over
every living thing that moves on the earth.”
(Gen.1:26-28)
● The cultural mandate provided motivation to study
God’s creation.
● Belief in a rational God, Whom man imaged, made
science feasible
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Christianity enabled science
The Reformation stressed
everyday life and the importance
of all occupations
Hunters in the Snow
Pieter Bruegel 1565
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Founders of Science Praise the Creator
“For as all works do shew forth the power
and skill of the workman…so it is of the
works of God, which do shew forth the
omnipotency and wisdom of the maker…”
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
“I give thanks to Thee, O Lord Creator, Who
hast delighted me with Thy makings and in the
works of Thy hands have I exalted.”
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
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Founders of Science Praise the Creator
“The laws of nature give clear
testimony of a lawgiver…
Nature is written in the
language of mathematics”
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
“This most beautiful
Astronomer by Candlelight
Gerrit Dou 1665
system of sun, planets,
and comets could only
proceed from the
counsel and dominion
of an intelligent and
powerful Being.”
Isaac Newton 44
(1642-1727)
Science needs God
Physicist Paul Davies:
For 300 years, science has based itself on
materialism, leading inevitably to atheism and
the meaninglessness of physical existence.
Even the most atheistic scientist accepts as an
act of faith that the universe is not absurd, that
there is a rational basis to physical existence.
So science can proceed only if the scientist
adopts an essentially theological worldview.
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Materialism is a belief
Richard Lewontin, biologist:
We take the side of materialism - in spite of the
patent absurdity of some of its constructs, because
we have a prior commitment to materialism...
We are forced by our a priori adherence to material
causes to create a set of concepts that produce
material explanations, no matter how counterintuitive,
Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we
cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door...
To appeal to an omnipotent deity is to allow that at
any moment the regularities of nature may be
ruptured, that miracles may happen.
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Why believe in materialism?
John Searle, philosopher:
How can so many philosophers and
scientists say so many things that seem
obviously false?
Acceptance of the current views is
motivated not so much by an independent
conviction of their truth as by a terror of
what are apparently the only alternatives.
The choice we are tacitly left with is between a
"scientific" approach-- Materialism–
and an "antiscientific" approach--some traditional
religious conception of the mind.
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The fear of God
Thomas Nagel, philosopher:
I am talking about the fear of religion
itself. I speak from experience, being
strongly subject to this fear myself: I
want atheism to be true and am made
uneasy by the fact that some of the
most intelligent and well-informed
people I know are religious believers.
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The fear of God
The Last
Judgment
Michelangelo
Thomas Nagel, philosopher:
It isn't just that I don't believe in
God. It's that I hope there is no
God! I don't want there to be a
God; I don't want the universe to
be like that. . .
My guess is that this cosmic
authority problem is responsible
for much of the scientism of our
time…
it supports the ludicrous overuse
of evolutionary biology to explain
everything about life, including
everything about the human
mind.”
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The tower of modernity
consumerism
economics
technology
science
human autonomy
Tower of Babel
Pieter Bruegel
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1563
Rationality is Not the Issue
Richard Rorty, postmodern
philosopher:
I do not think that Christian
theism is irrational.
I entirely agree that it is no more
irrational than atheism.
Irrationality is not the question,
but rather, desirability.
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Post-modern Blues
Atheistic existentialism…states that if God does not
exist then man is only what he makes of himself.
Jean-Paul Sartre
It is very distressing that God
does not exist, because all
possibility of finding values
disappears along with Him.
Hence, man is forlorn,
because neither within him
nor without does he find
anything to cling to.
Jean-Paul Sartre
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The Demise of Reason
Critical human
reason, once
uncorked, is an
insatiable acid that
dissolves all
absolutes, eventually
eroding its own
foundation.
The Dream of Reason
Produces Monsters
Francesco Goya 1799
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Is Truth Dead?
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900):
"God is dead, we have killed him…
science has killed him
. . . science has killed Truth."
Where is the debater of the age?
Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of the world?
1 Cor.1:20
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The Futility of Atheism
The centre of me is always and
eternally a terrible pain--a curious wild
pain--a searching for something
beyond what the world contains,
something transfigured and infinite
Bertrand Russell
The soul finds no rest until it finds its
rest in God Augustine
Man has a God-shaped void that only
God can fill Blaise Pascal
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A long war against God
Rebellion in paradise
“You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your
eyes shall be opened, and you will be like God, knowing
good and evil”. (Gen.3: 4-5)
Consequences
Since they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and
worshipped and served the creature rather than the
Creator…God gave them up to a debased mind and
improper conduct…Claiming to be wise, they became fools...
(Romans 1)
God shall send them a strong delusion, that they should
believe a lie; that all might be damned who believed not the
truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thess. 562:11)
Christian warfare
1.Be prepared
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand
against the schemes of the devil…the belt of truth, breastplate of
righteousness, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword
of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6
2. Be thoughtful
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have
divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and
every lofty opinion raised against the opinion of God, and take
every thought captive to obey Christ. II Corinthians 10: 4-5
3. Be discerning
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the
will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans12:2
The Need for Consistency
● Worldviews come as package deals, as all-encompassing
systems
● You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind,
soul and strength (Mark 12:30)
● No one can serve two masters (Matt.6:24)
● Compromising Christianity with naturalism introduces an
inconsistency that will eventually undermine our
commitment to God
● We destroy arguments raised against the knowledge of
God and take every thought captive to Christ (2 Cor.10:4)
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Apologetics – Defending the Faith
Two aspects
1. Defense – clarifying the Biblical worldview
”Be ready always to give an answer to every man that
asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with
meekness and fear" (I Pet.3:15).
Positively - proclaiming the gospel, clear up
misunderstandings, respond to objections.
Outline how the biblical worldview offers a cohesive and
comprehensive explanation of reality, particularly
concerning man, with all his problems.
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Apologetics – Defending the Faith
2. Offense – Show deficiencies in other worldviews
Unmask the foolishness of unbelief.
"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness...I will destroy the wisdom of the wise"
(I Cor.1:18 -19).
Hence we must be busy with, "Casting down
imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor.10:5).
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Presuppositional Apologetics
Transcendental Argument for Christianity
Cornelius van Til The Defense of the Faith (1967).
1. Stress worldview presuppositions.
2. Show that the Christian worldview gives a coherent
explanation of man and his experiences.
3. Show that the unbeliever's worldview makes nonsense
out of history, science and even reasoning itself.
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Presuppositional Apologetics
● The transcendental argument is primarily a reductio ad
absurdum of the unbeliever's worldview.
● Only the truth of Christianity can rescue meaningful
logic, science, and morality
● Only Christianity provides the philosophical basis
necessary for man's reasoning and knowledge in any field
whatever.
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Conclusions
● Science is worldview-driven
● Worldviews are based on presuppositions
● Naturalism & Post-modernity are ultimately self-refuting
● Christianity gives coherence, meaning, purpose & hope
● A heart choice – obey or rebel?
For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone who is proud
and lofty…and the haughtiness of man shall be made low: and the Lord
alone shall be exalted in that day. (Isaiah 2:12, 17)
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The Challenge
● To articulate your worldview
What are your most basic beliefs,
presuppositions, and priorities?
● To work it out consistently
Worldviews come as package deals,
as all-encompassing systems.
Compromising Christianity with
naturalism introduces an inconsistency
that will eventually undermine your
commitment to God.
You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, mind, soul and strength
Mark 12:30
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God’s Covenant Faithfulness
Rainbow over Niagara Falls
Steve Jones,Ontario
We know that in everything God works for good with those who love
Him, who are called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
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