Feedback archive → Feedback 2015
Answering agnostic arguments
Occasionally, people who are new to our site will write in with arguments against creation. K.S.’s first email made him sound like a questioning agnostic, but a second message received soon afterwards showed that his disbelief in Christianity was much more strident, but also based upon misunderstandings about Christianity.
K.S., India, wrote:
I’m an agnostic. I neither believe nor disbelieve in god as there is very little to go upon.
Your logic is great and this supreme creator logic indeed fits the bill on how universe was created. However, you are failing to see one point.
You say that because evolutionists cannot give a proper theory on how universe was created, it means that god created universe (which is indeed possible). However, the extent to which evolutionists can speculate about the creation of universe is limited by our intelligence as a race. Just like a Neanderthal could only imagine (if he could) more sophisticated beings to be more formidable hunters and better tool maker, while being unable to conceive arts, diplomacy, metaphysics, etc, the way we see them. My point is-the concept of creation of universe could be something that is way beyond our level. So it doesn’t mean that god created the universe because that’s the only explanation we have currently.
Lita Sanders answers:
As an agnostic, you’re admitting you don’t know the answers to some very important questions. But Christians claim to know about God, creation, and what happens after death because God has revealed it to us in Scripture.
You also seem to admit evolutionists are currently failing to explain the origin of the universe and human beings. But it isn’t a matter of not being advanced enough to understand the true naturalistic origin of the universe as you propose (by the way, Neanderthals are fully human—everyone with non-African ancestry has a little of their DNA! And they had some impressive skills; you can search creation.com for lots of articles detailing them). Rather, the more scientifically advanced we become, the more problems we discover with evolution.
Also, there are really only two options for explaining the universe: either it is eternal (which doesn’t work due to the Second Law of Thermodynamics), or it had a beginning. And if it had a beginning, either it made itself (which is self-contradictory), or it was created by some eternal, non-material, very powerful entity outside the universe, which is of course consistent with biblical creation. This is a logical argument and it is unlikely to change with more knowledge.
Biblical creation has the advantage of being an actual explanation for the complexity we see in the universe. That is, we have much positive evidence that confirms the biblical account, so we are not making our case merely on the bankruptcy of evolution. But saying that we aren’t advanced enough to understand the explanation isn’t really an explanation at all. It is a blind-faith-based position built entirely on speculation.
I would invite you to read creation.com more and explore what we have to say on the topic.
K.S., India,
I find it highly amusing that people still believe in worshipping as it is futile and is nothing more than an ancient primitive custom practiced by weak minded and superstitious people. It has no place in the 21st century. Do you all really think that we should spend our entire lives studying an old book, looking up to the sky and worshipping an invisible ruler in another realm ? People believe this ‘original sin’ story which is designed to impose a large amount of guilt onto the whole of humanity. The believers are then so grateful that they have been saved by the son of God nearly 2000 years before they were born that they abandon all reason, logic to obey and worship this god . Anyone who believes this story is indeed lost because to believe that a god would send his only son to help us, only to see his son get tortured and murdered, and then instead of unleashing all his wrath, simply absolve us from all crimes past and present, is pure madness to say the least.
Lita Sanders replies:
It is interesting that in your last message, you sounded like a more open-minded agnostic, but in this one you sound like you’ve made up your mind that Christianity is false. Were ancient people ‘weak-minded and superstitious’? Well, not any more than people today are (horoscopes are proof of that!), and studies have shown that people who think of themselves as ‘spiritual but not religious’ are more likely than Christians to be superstitious.
Christianity in particular makes very rational claims (whether or not you believe them to be true): God created the world as a perfect place, and mankind rebelled against Him, causing death and suffering. Mankind’s rebellion against God demands punishment—which means that all of us deserve punishment (and because we will continue rebelling against Him forever without His intervention, that punishment must be similarly eternal). But God loves mankind, so He sent His Son to be our substitute. Because Jesus was perfectly righteous, He had no sin of His own to pay for, so He could pay for ours. Because He is God, He could pay for the sins of the whole world. And because He was God and sinless, He rose from the dead.
As a Christian (moreover, one who has dedicated my life to studying the ‘old book’ whose merits you question), I don’t consider myself a superstitious person. Also, the Ph.D. scientists who work for CMI, and the many other creation scientists who have careers doing real science, demand scientific explanations for things that should have scientific explanations. But they realize that when we start asking historical questions about things that happened in the past, we have to look to history for an answer. And the Bible gives us that history.
The Bible gives a framework for understanding the world unlike any other book. It explains why the universe seems so intentionally designed and beautiful in some ways, but full of suffering and death at the same time. It helps us understand why we hate death so much (if we evolved and death is natural or even good, why should we hate it and see it as unnatural?), and gives us hope that one day there will be no more death. It helps us understand why we have an inbuilt conscience that condemns our sin (Christianity doesn’t create guilt, it explains our guilt and gives us a way to be free from it), and points us to the Saviour, Jesus Christ.
K., I’ve spent more time on your emails than I am able to for most people who write in, because I think it is so important for Christians to explain our faith. I hope that you come to believe in the Lord Jesus, because only He can give you hope in this world and the next. Please read our Good News article to learn more.
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