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One of the ongoing themes of Issues in Perspective is coming to terms with Postmodernism. My goal is to keep you informed and help you to deepen your understanding of the times in which we live. As we understand the times, we can more effectively represent the Lord Jesus to this culture. Postmodernism embraces personal autonomy and relativism in the extreme. In fact, the core value of the Postmodern world is personal autonomy! However, in many ways this claim is a myth. The Postmodern person is not autonomous and does not embrace relativism when it comes to science, or technology or medicine. Further, spiritual things are important in the Postmodern world; it is just that spirituality is what works for me as an autonomous person. William Craig has written: “. . . tailoring our gospel to a postmodern culture is self-defeating. By laying aside our best apologetic weapons of logic and evidence, we ensure modernism’s triumph over us. If the church adopts this course of action, the consequences in the next generation will be catastrophic. Christianity will be reduced to but another voice in a cacophony of competing voices, each sharing its own narrative and none commending itself as the objective truth about reality. Meanwhile, scientific naturalism will continue to shape our culture’s view of how the world really is.” It is instructive therefore that several major best sellers have been recently published that defend atheism. The works of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens immediately come to mind. But this “new atheism” lacks intellectual muscle. Each of these works merely rehashes old arguments and dresses them up for the 21st century. Thankfully, as William Craig reports in a recent issue of Christianity Today, there is a resurgence of Christian philosophy that focuses on arguments dealing with natural theology.
For this reason, Craig believes that today a robust natural theology is necessary for the church. It is relevant and compelling to counter the growing shallowness and superficiality of the 21st century church. Following Craig, allow me to summarize the five major arguments of natural theology:
- The cosmological argument.
- Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence, either in the necessity of its own nature or in an external cause.
- If the universe has an explanation of its existence, that explanation is God.
- The universe exists.
- Therefore, the explanation of the universe’s existence is God.
- The kalam cosmological argument.
- Everything that begins to exist has a cause.
- The universe began to exist.
- Therefore, the universe has a cause.
- The teleological argument.
- The fine-tuning of the universe is due either to physical necessity, chance, or design.
- It is not due to physical necessity or chance.
- Therefore, it is due to design.
- If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist.
- Objective moral values and duties do exist.
- Therefore, God exists.
- The ontological argument.
- It is possible that a maximally great being (God) exists.
- If it is possible that a maximally great being exists, then a maximally great being exists in some possible world.
- If a maximally great being exists in some possible world, then it exists in every possible world.
- If a maximally great being exists in every possible world, then it exists in the actual world.
- Therefore, a maximally great being exists in the actual world.
- Therefore, a maximally great being exists.
- Therefore, God exists.
This has no doubt been a difficult Perspective for many, because it encapsulates in summary fashion some most sophisticated arguments. However, to discuss God is not easy and to make a case for natural theology is not easy. But Jesus states that we are to love the Lord our God with our heart, soul, mind and strength. We do not place our minds on the shelf in our faith. Our minds are central to our faith. Making a reasonable case for God’s existence is part of that stewardship. However, it is imperative to also remember that the case for theism (that there is a God) is only the first step. Next, is the case that Jesus Christ is the Godman, who is the world’s Savior. Postmodernism as a worldview is a dismal failure. People simply cannot live with its implications. Naturalism is not an acceptable worldview either. We do not live in a mechanistic, materialistic universe. There is a God and He has revealed Himself—both in His creation and in His Word. We had better do our homework and be ready to present this case before this intellectually bankrupt world in which we live (see 1 Peter 3:15).
See William Lane Craig’s most helpful article in Christianity Today (July 2008), pp. 22-27. |
