You Believe What?

There was a debate between social critic Dennis Prager and Oxford professor Jonathan Glover. In that debate Prager asked the following penetrating question to Glover, and the answer he gave was quite revealing. It exposed the great flaw in Glover’s thinking that left everyone in the audience shaking their heads in unbelief.

Prager said, “If you, Professor Glover, were stranded at midnight in a desolate downtown LA street, and  if as you stepped out of your car with fear and trembling, you heard the weight of pounding footsteps behind you, and you saw ten burly men who had just stepped out of a building coming toward you, would it or would it not make a difference if you knew these men had just come from a Bible study?”

Professor Glover, who is an avowed atheist, pondered the question. Then after some personal reflection he hesitatingly had to admit that indeed it would make a big difference to him if these men had just come from a Bible study rather than a bar room. It’s ironic that he would actually admit such a thing. If God does not exist, and the truths found in the Bible are not real, where these men came from should not make any difference at all.

However, since God is real, and His influence upon the hearts of men is real also, then it is something that needs to be embraced. How sad it is when those like Glover, have to admit that belief in God is a major factor in changing the lives of others, yet they do not want that same change for themselves. The real question that begs to be asked is, why? Anyone with a mind that can reason, or has gotten even a basic education, can look at the actual statistics and come up with only one logical conclusion. God must exist.

Every scientist on the planet knows the truth. It is statistically impossible for all this to have just happened by chance. Even the simplest laws of physics completely defy the reality that would have to be present for all of creation to just randomly happen. Evolution, for all its hype and endless adjustments, is nothing more than an extended version of “spontaneous generation”. That is, the belief that living things can actually spring up from non-living things. My tenth grade biology students understood this to be a false belief of years gone by, from the very first day in my classroom. Yet, so many of our best educated minds can’t see this for what it really is. Simple atheism veiled behind the “somehow” scenario of Science.

Next time you read a text book, or watch a show about how we got here, be sure to note the liberal use of one magical all sufficient word; “Somehow!” Somehow the right chemicals came together, but we have no scientific facts to back it up. Somehow lightning struck and made the first pre-life protein chains, but we have no evidence of that either. Somehow creatures and systems became more complex against all the laws of physics and nature. Somehow both males and females arose at the same time and perfectly fit together to repeoduce offspring for every species on the planet. Somehow bone, muscle, gills, lungs, hair, scales, fins, feet, eyes, nerve tissue, blood and brains all developed independently but magical, magical they all worked AND diversified on land and in the water and in the air.  Really?????

Somehow… somehow….somehow….. on and on it goes. Add in a few fanciful mutations that have no scientific backing to support any positive change when they occur, and “POOF!!” We have evolutionary lift off! Stir all this together for a few hundred million  or a few billion years, and what do we have? It’s nothing more than an advanced version of “spontaneous generation” all over again. How could anyone doubt or even question such profound wisdom? Well, the alternative is to believe in God, and that He loves us, and that He is the mastermind behind it all, and that someday we are all going to stand before Him.

So, either the world created itself against all the laws of physics, math, chemistry and biology, or there is God. And, the perfect symmetry, balance and harmony in all we see is the clear evidence of His design. The big question we all have to ponder is, “What do I believe?” Keep in mind that your answer determines your future, both in this world and in the next. My hope is that your conclusion is correct, and your future is a good one. I know mine will be!  Now, take some time to ponder this while you enjoy His creation…. and have a great day!