Six Questions Atheists Can’t Answer: Part 2

In the past several decades, a new and arrogant form of Atheism has raised its head. As we discussed in the first installment of this two part series, many prominent non-believers are aggressively seeking to proselytize people (especially the young) to reject God and Christianity. (See part one here: http://www.marketfaith.org/2016/01/six-questions-atheists-cant-answer-part-1). We mentioned several popular books that are designed specifically to convince readers that God (by any definition) does not exist.

However, in this series we are examining six basic philosophical questions for which Atheism has no rational answer. In part one, we analyzed these three issues to which Atheists are helpless to respond: (1) Why does anything exist?; (2) How did the universe begin?; and (3) Why can the physical world be explained by the laws of nature? In this installment we will consider three more questions for which Atheism supplies no answer.

Question 4 – Why does intelligent life exist on earth?
I recently watched a documentary on television about astronomy. The narrators emphasized the fact that the universe consists of billions of island universes called galaxies, each consisting of billions of stars, many of which have planets orbiting them like the one’s circling our sun. That is a fairly well established fact. However, the narrator and some of the astronomers who were interviewed leaped far beyond established science by saying something like this, “With all those stars and planets out there, it is impossible not to assume that other intelligent life must exist in many places.”

Now, I don’t know whether or not life is present in some form on other worlds, but the assumption that it is common, and that intelligent beings are numerous, is unwarranted. It ignores the complexity of variable factors, both in the macro and in the micro universe, for life to function even in its most simple forms. For higher life forms to survive requires multiple physical factors all in perfect alignment and balance. This complexity is known as fine-tuning. As Canadian astronomer Hugh Ross says, “With considerable security, therefore, we can draw the conclusion that even with a hundred billion trillion stars in the observable universe, the probability of finding, without divine intervention, a single planet capable of supporting physical life is much less than one in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion.” (http://www.reasons.org/blogs/take-two/what-are-the-odds)

Any statistician would agree that those odds are virtually impossible. The Atheist’s view that it just happened by pure chance is untenable. The only explanation for life, just as the only explanation for anything at all, is that there is a transcendent, personal, omnipotent, infinite, and eternal God who designed it. Not a single shred of evidence has ever been found to suggest life exists anywhere but on earth. But if life does exist on other planets, then God put it there. In any case, given the enormity of the universe, if other life is out there, we will probably never know this side of eternity.

Question 5 – Why do we have consciousness of who we are?
One of my favorite movies of all time was Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 classic, 2001 A Space Odyssey (co-written by atheist Sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke). If you have seen the film, you may recall that the first twenty minutes is set, not in the future, but millions of years in the past. That segment of the film is sub-titled “The Dawn of Man.” It portrays an ape-like sub-human creature who, after encountering an extraterrestrial artifact (a big monolith), suddenly realizes that he can use a bone as a weapon against his enemies. This was Kubrick’s and Clarke’s vision of how man evolved his ability to reason and have self-consciousness.

Atheists argue that humanity evolved over millions of years from one single-celled organism until, at some point, the higher ape-like creatures who were our ancestors became self-aware and developed intelligent higher brain processes. The human brain is regarded by many scientists as the most complex mechanism (organic or otherwise) known to exist. But as much as they know about brain physiology, scientists still cannot explain how human consciousness works. Even many Atheists cannot accept the idea that it evolved entirely by chance. For instance, even in 2001 A Space Odyssey, it required some kind of external alien intervention.

The point is, biologists simply do not know where consciousness comes from (some do not even believe there such a thing, but that consciousness and free will are just illusions). The Bible, of course, answers the question: God made us “IN HIS IMAGE” (Gen. 1:26, 27; 9:6). The image of God means that we have self-awareness, the ability to think objectively, the ability to contemplate the divine, and the ability to make moral decisions. That naturally leads us to the last question.

Question 6 – What is the basis for objective moral values?
Some modern Atheists make the claim that, in many ways, they are more moral and ethical than Theists (especially Christians and Muslims). They contend that they do not need a god to make them or help them to do good. It may be true that many non-believers do live relatively good lives and contribute positively to society. However, even a superficial look at recent history shows that Atheism’s record is not good.

Just look at all the 20th Century government regimes that were controlled by ideological Atheists. Those regimes included the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Nazi Germany, East Germany (and other east European countries prior to about 1990), Maoist Red China, North Korea, Cuba, Cambodia (under Pol Pot), and North Viet Nam. They all undoubtedly were (and some still are) the worst human rights violators in the history of mankind. Not only that, together they were responsible for more than 150 million deaths in the 20th Century from starvation, ethnic and racial genocide, religious persecution, slave labor, and war. That is a terrible testimony for any worldview.

The point is, Atheism, in whatever form, cannot even provide an objective definition or basis for moral and ethical standards. At best, they can only live by a totally utilitarian ethic. That is, whatever works best for the most people is the norm. At worst, as seen in the above examples, the ethical basis will be the sheer power of whoever controls the state apparatus. In every case there is no absolute right and wrong, and the standards are always in flux according to cultural vicissitudes or changes in state policy. Atheism simply can not supply a unwavering moral compass. It cannot even define what is right or wrong. Those terms are without any real meaning, though they must pretend they do to live practically in the real world.

Christians assert that the only way authentic objective moral and ethical standards can be established is if the Infinite and Eternal God determines them. All other bases are, at best, tenuous and changing. What is good now will be regarded as bad later. What is bad now will be good later. However, God’s absolutes, as revealed in the Bible, are not subject to change or emendation. Sad to say, even in America the biblical foundations are being abandoned by an increasingly (and, in many cases, ignorant) secular culture.

Conclusion
Many modern Atheists arrogantly think they can live in the world without God and, indeed, want to convince others to do the same. Nonetheless, they are reluctant to admit the obvious limitations of their philosophy. There are metaphysical problems for which they have no solutions. In this two-part article we have looked at six such questions and shown why the only reasonable answer for each of them is that the omnipotent, infinite, and eternal God truly exists. Let’s review them.

(1) Why does anything exist?
Atheist Answer: Don’t know – it just is.
Christian Answer: The omnipotent God created it from nothing.

(2) How did the universe begin?
Atheist Answer: Don’t know – it just did.
Christian Answer: God brought it into existence.

(3) Why can the physical world be explained by the laws of nature?
Atheist Answer: Don’t know – they just are.
Christian Answer: God designed and established them.

(4) Why does intelligent life exist on earth?
Atheist Answer: Don’t know – it just evolved by chance against impossible odds.
Christian Answer: God made us, the earth, and the universe so perfectly fine-tuned that we can survive.

(5) Why do we have consciousness of who we are?
Atheist Answer: Don’t know – it somehow just evolved to that point.
Christian Answer: We are made in God’s image.

(6) What is the basis for objective moral values?
Atheist Answer: No objective morals really exist. Just pretend they do.
Christian Answer: God established them and revealed them to us in His Word.

© 2016 Tal Davis