Really, there are very few systems of thought out there... but lots of variations on them. And it seems we cannot move past the question of origin in forming the basis of how we look at life. The prevailing intellectual thought in our day is that there is no God and that our origin is a chance happening - we might call this naturalism. It involves explanations like evolution to explain our origin but the basic premise is that all can be explained by science or empirical evidence.
So what happens if we leave God out of the equation? What happens to our view of human life...to our view of ourselves?
One of Alvin Plantinga's first arguments is this: "if naturalism were true, there would be no such thing as proper function, and therefore also no such thing as malfunction or dysfunction." (pg.1)
I can look around this office and see many things that have a proper function - telephone, computer, my guitar, coffee mug, pens. And there is something common to all of these things...they were designed for a purpose. And inherent in that is the possiblity that they could break, or become unusable for the purpose they were intended for. But if my pen were not designed as a tool to write, who is to say that when it runs out of ink, that it is malfunctioning.
That is the start of our discussion...if we were not designed by God...the alternative is that we were not designed at all and with that goes any expectation of what we could be or what we ought to be, etc. If I take this a step further, than anyone who says there is no God, really should not be talking about disasters, sickness or any other kind of 'malfunction' or 'dysfunction' in our natural world.
That's a very interesting thought because some of those most vocal about things like "global warming", "social injustice", and "world poverty" are those who also do not believe in God. What is it then that gives them the idea that things should be (or even could be) any different?!!
No comments:
Post a Comment