[lit-ideas] Re: Lit-Ideas Conversiions
- From: Andy Amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 09:56:46 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
The mighty Professor Flew has spoken. There is a God. What a relief that's
settled.
Andy
-----Original Message-----
From: Eternitytime1@xxxxxxx
Sent: Dec 13, 2004 11:10 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Lit-Ideas Conversiions
Hi,
I have not yet looked at the *other* versions of this situation, but please
note that it IS making the rounds of those deep in the Christian fold...(see
the _http://www.christianheadlines.com_ (http://www.christianheadlines.com)
for more info on what is the breaking news in that realm...)
Not to mention that if you speak Korean, there is a wonderful class you can
take in Dallas these days--in Korean--about the history of the Korean Baptist
Church. Sounds like fun, right? Truly, though--the Korean Baptists are
very very large in Kansas and Missouri...
But, this is the article in the Baptist Press News dealing with our latest
"CS Lewis" type of person...(that comparison will surely be coming...I'd be
using it already if I were still in that world...<wry look> Dang, but I was
good!)
anyway...funny how things like belief systems matter.
I was asked by the CEO of a company (on the trip to Canada we met some
interesting people) of a website or book of my concept of a "Belief of the
Month
Club". I need to get busy, I think!! <g> Might not be as lucrative as the
internet role playing games (I was pulled into one of them by my son and one
of his friends over the weekend--we discussed how at LEAST 20,000 people were
paying $12.95 a month to play this game (and it is far far more than that!)
and so made the boys do the math as to how much per month was being made--and
that does NOT count the 'extras' that are possible to be made...(my son's
friend has a dad who also plays the game and who buys the
additions--incredible--) Even at a minimum, $240,000 a month...I really need
to take a break from
my library world and play with this concept. I read fantasy and also myths
and legends--I could develop something as intricate as what is out there...and
someone else could play with the graphics. I am in SUCH the wrong
profession. <sigh> And not near as fun of one, either...
Ah, well.
I could, though, easily do the Belief of the Month Club. If a perfect
stranger wanted to know more...well. There we go.
I digress...
Marlena in Missouri
http://ww_w.bpnews.net/printerfriendly.asp?ID=19712_
(http://www.bpnews.net/printerfriendly.asp?ID=19712)
_http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=19712_
(http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=19712)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Antony Flew, a legendary British philosopher and
atheist, has changed his mind about the existence of God in light of recent
scientific evidence.
Flew -- a prolific author who has argued against the existence of God and
the claims of Christianity for more than 50 years -- first revealed his change
of mind in a video of a discussion with several others at New York University
organized by the Institute for Metascientific Research. The video, released
in December, is titled, "Has Science Discovered God?"
Flew said he is now best described as a deist -- a person who believes God
created the universe but is not actively involved in people's lives today.
"I don't believe in the God of any revelatory system, although I am open to
that," Flew said in an interview for the winter 2005 edition of Philosophia
Christi, the journal of the Evangelical Philosophical Society. "But it seems
to me that the case for ... [a] God who has the characteristics of power and
also intelligence is now much stronger than it ever was before."
Flew, 81, regularly attended the Socratic Club, a weekly religious forum led
by famed Christian apologist C.S. Lewis while he attended college at Oxford.
Flew proclaimed the lack of evidence for God while teaching at Oxford,
Aberdeen, Keele and Reading universities in Britain. He also published
numerous
books and articles denouncing belief in God.
Flew credits his newfound belief in God to arguments from design such as
those espoused by the "intelligent design" (ID) movement. ID argues that the
universe operates in such a way that it points to the existence of an
intelligent creator.
"I think that the most impressive arguments for God's existence are those
that are supported by recent scientific discoveries," Flew said. "... I think
the argument to Intelligent Design is enormously stronger than it was when I
first met it."
Although many atheists appeal to naturalistic evolution as a method by which
the world could have come into existence apart from God, Charles Darwin
himself acknowledged that the process of evolution requires a creator to start
the process, Flew said.
"Darwin himself, in the fourteenth chapter of The Origin of Species, pointed
out that his whole argument began with a being which already possessed
reproductive powers," Flew said. "This is the creature the evolution of which
a
truly comprehensive theory of evolution must give some account. Darwin himself
was well aware that he had not produced such an account."
While Flew said he does not believe in a God who is active in the lives of
humans, he is "open to" the possibility of divine revelation. He also believes
that Christians are intellectually justified in holding to their religion
and that the resurrection of Jesus has more evidential support than any other
reported miracle in history.
"The evidence for the resurrection is better than for claimed miracles in
any other religion," Flew said. "It's outstandingly different in quality and
quantity, I think, from the evidence offered for the occurrence of most other
supposedly miraculous events."
Gary Habermas, chairman of the department of philosophy and theology at
Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., told Baptist Press that Flew's decision
to
believe in God points to the strength of theistic arguments.
"His conversion is a testimony to the many, especially scientific figures,
who are coming by way of intelligent design," said Habermas, who conducted the
interview with Flew in Philosophia Christi. "... The fact that he has become
a theist is a testimony to the type of evidence we have for God's existence
today."
Flew's status as a world-famous atheist makes his conversion to belief in
God particularly significant, Habermas said in an interview with Baptist Press.
"His conversion to theism is very valuable because of his stature," Habermas
said. "The reason this story is going around the world is that he, not just
anybody, but he, has converted to theism. I think that's very significant."
Despite his belief in the existence of God, Flew said it is unlikely that he
will ever become a Christian. The major evidence against the God of
Christianity is the problem of evil, Flew said.
The problem of evil refers to the apparent tension between the existence of
a good God and the presence of evil in the world.
"The problem of evil is a problem ... for Christians," Flew said. "The
thesis that the universe was created and is sustained by a Being of infinite
power
and goodness is flatly incompatible with the occurrence of massive
undeniable and undenied evils in that universe."
Flew also argues that God does not have "any preferences ... about or any
intentions concerning human behavior or about the eternal destinies of human
beings."
Although he does not accept Christianity, Flew emphatically denies the
possibility that he would ever become a follower of Islam, citing Islam's
commitment to conquer all of its opponents.
"I would never regard Islam with anything but horror and fear because it is
fundamentally committed to conquering the world for Islam," Flew said.
Flew will present a more fully developed explanation of his conversion to
belief in God in a forthcoming edition of his book, "God & Philosophy."
Earlier works by Flew include "Atheistic Humanism," "Darwinian Evolution,"
"A Dictionary of Philosophy," "Introduction to Western Philosophy" and "How to
Think Straight: An Introduction to Critical Reasoning."
--30--
(http://www.christianheadlines.com/)
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