Delusion

Altered image of God from Michelangelo’s “Creation of the Sun and Moon” for use by Template:User atheist2, Presumed Author CenozoicEra~commonswiki (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported)

DEFINITION

Delusion – a persistent strong belief in the face of solid evidence to the contrary.

Christians are often accused of being under a delusion.  God, we are told by Sigmund Freud and other atheists, is merely the imaginary product of our wishful thinking.  We cannot cope with reality.  We long for comfort and protection against harm, so create a fantasy figure.  We devise a pie-in-the-sky life after death to offset current inequities.

Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth.  But the accusation is worth examining, since it reveals a great deal about our accusers.

The One True God v. Pagan Gods

Atheists (some scientists among them) often conflate the Judeo-Christian God with pagan gods like Apollo and Zeus.  This is an attempt to diminish God in importance.

While it is true that Apollo and Zeus have long since been shown powerless and relegated to the shelf, the triune God does not fall into the same category.  God is not simply the label we apply to phenomena we cannot explain.  Unlike pagan gods, He had no beginning and will have no end.

Science v. Religion

“Religion is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”

–Stephen Hawking, physicist, cosmologist, and professed atheist, when interviewed by “The Guardian”

“Atheism is a fairy story for people afraid of the light.”

–Dr. John Lennox, mathematician, philosopher of science, and Christian apologist, when interviewed by Grand Canyon University News Bureau

There is a widespread belief that one must choose between science and God.  This reveals two things:  a vast ignorance about the history of science, and the many Christian scientists who advanced it because of their belief in God; and a limited worldview grounded in materialism.

“Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe – a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble.”

–Albert Einstein, physicist who developed the Theory of Relativity, in “The World as I See It”

Modern science was an outgrowth of the Christian view that God is a rational deity who made the world comprehensible.  Isaac Newton, not a traditional Christian, was inspired by the fact we can understand natural laws; Albert Einstein, a deist though not a Christian, was astonished by that fact.

CS Lewis put it this way:

“Men became scientific because they expected Law in Nature, and they expected Law in Nature because they believed in a Legislator.”

–CS Lewis in “Miracles”

There is no “scientific” reason the world should be comprehensible.   That it is points us toward God, and is likely one of the reasons He made it so.

Hubris

There is a danger of hubris in science.  But such pride is misplaced.

That we can describe natural phenomena in scientific or mathematical terms does not mean we fully understand them. 

Many scientists have studied gravity.   Newton described it as a universal force which attracts every particle of matter in the universe to every other particle.  Einstein described it as the warping or curving of space and time. 

Newton’s equations enabled us to calculate the necessary trajectory to land on the moon.  But we still do not know precisely what gravity is.

We may mistake scientific discoveries for exclusive explanations for the phenomena in the physical world.   However, there can be multiple legitimate explanations for the same reality. 

That heat can make the water in a kettle boil, does not exclude the explanation that someone wanted tea and put the kettle on.  The first explanation addresses the question “How?”.  The second addresses the question “Why?”.

Delusion

There is a truth accessible beyond reason.  This is not to say that Christians should doubt their senses. 

“Faith indeed tells what the senses do not tell, but not the contrary of what they see.  It is above them and not contrary to them.”

–Blaise Pascal, physicist, mathematician, philosopher, and theologian, in “Pensees”

That suggests it is atheists who are under a delusion.  There is an ulterior motive for belittling faith, and exalting reason alone.  To reject God is to avoid responsibility for the shambles human beings have made of their lives and of their world.

Delusions can be maintained for a lifetime.  But they do not alter reality.  And the willful blindness of atheism has eternal consequences.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1: 18-20).

This post was derived from the lecture “Do Science and God Mix?” by Dr. John Lennox. 

See, https://youtu.be/iBS7OWJFqq4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rta_RzfR5kA.

READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com