Can You Defend the Christian Worldview? Part 2

I apologize that it has taken me several weeks to finish this series, but with my surgery and speaking schedule I just wasn’t able to find the time. As you may remember, in mid-March I attended Debate Summit 2010 at Grace Community Church in Washington Court House, Ohio (see my previous blog). I would like to comment further on the debate between Dr. Ed Buckner and Pastor Jay Lucas on the issue of morality and its foundations.

One of my favorite examples or scenarios that Jay used to show the problems with the atheist worldview and morality was that of robbing and killing Ed. (Of course, this is a hypothetical example—Jay doesn’t want to actually rob or kill Ed!) Jay said that from an atheist worldview he could defend robbing and killing Ed. Jay said that he felt it wasn’t fair that Ed had more money than he did, so he could justify robbing him and that he could justify killing Ed on the belief that his freedom was more important than Ed’s life.

I think these types of examples are so important in making the outcomes of one’s thinking more personal. When the situation applies directly to us, we are more apt to think carefully about our ideas and their consequences. Following this example, Ed still believed it was wrong to rob and kill, but he could not provide a basis as to why it was wrong to rob and kill (from an atheistic worldview). As a Christian starting with God’s Word, we have a basis for why it is wrong to rob and kill (Exodus 20:13, 15).

I also had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Andy McIntosh (professor, Leeds University–UK) and Dr. William Provine (professor, Cornell University) debate flight in bats and birds, and whether it is best explained by evolution or creation. Dr. McIntosh overwhelmed us (in a good way) with many of the complexities of flight and the impossibility of flight evolution. Dr. Provine on the other hand provided very little evidence for how flight could have evolved, but seemed passionate in his belief that it did. I find this very common in the evolutionary community—promoting vague generalities of how one thing evolved into another without looking at the details necessary to make that change possible.

Copies of the debates on CD or DVD are available through the Debate Summit website. I would strongly encourage you to get a copy and learn more how to defend your faith.