Is God a Delusion? [Part 3]
April 03, 2008
Let's continue looking at more evidence for the existence of God ...
3. Morality and Ethics.
Another argument for the existence of God comes from the observation that in human nature world-wide, there exists a kind of moral code stamped on the hearts of human beings that provides an inner sense of ‘right and wrong’, as well as a sense of responsibility to adhere to the right and avoid the wrong.
Where does this come from?
Reasonable people would say that this indicates the existence of a lawgiver and judge who built into mankind this sense of responsibility for doing what’s right.
If we simply evolved from chemical gases, grown up germs or recent improvements of the apes, how do we account that in almost every culture in the world there a preference for love over hate, truthfulness over lying, kindness over violence, and justice over injustice.
What accounts for this? Are gases, germs or genes capable of creating a moral code of values in people worldwide, one that is remarkably consistent even though billions of people have existed on different continents?
C.S. Lewis talks about this “moral argument” in his book Mere Christianity. It is estimated that over 10,000 people have come to faith through this little book.
Do morality and ethics have a Darwinian explanation (altruistic genes selected through the process of evolution giving people natural empathy) or are they evidence for God?
4. Human Experience.
Hundreds of millions of intelligent people all over the world from all walks of life claim that they have experienced the love or forgiveness of God, the peace of God, or the comfort of God. Many could testify about the nearness of God. This cannot or should not be taken lightly.
People from all walks of life have also claimed to have personally experienced something of the supernatural. So what are we supposed to do with these accounts of divine healing, prophetic revelation, answered prayer, and other miraculous phenomena?
In addition, every human being seems to have a God-shaped hole inside of them that causes them to search for God. It’s a search for meaning, for transcendence, for eternity, and even immortality (see Ecc.3:11). Is this just ‘wish projection’, as Dawkins would have us believe, a projection of human longings? Is God is an invention dreamt up by human beings? Human thirst points to the existence of water that will satisfy that desire.
Maybe atheism is wish fulfillment too. People want to be free to do their own thing.
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