{"id":272,"date":"2008-11-07T06:00:26","date_gmt":"2008-11-07T11:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/?p=272"},"modified":"2008-11-07T06:00:26","modified_gmt":"2008-11-07T11:00:26","slug":"hitchens-god-is-not-great-xxi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/hitchens-god-is-not-great-xxi\/","title":{"rendered":"Hitchens – God Is Not Great XXI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Listen to the MP3<\/a><\/h3>\n

In Christopher Hitchens\u2019 book \u201cGod Is Not Great<\/a>,\u201d after dealing with the Old and New Testaments, Hitchens, takes on the Koran, but I will leave it to Muslims to respond, and move on to chapter ten, where Hitchens deals with the dual subjects of Miracles and Hell.\u00a0 Or at least that is what the title claims, as the chapter really only deals with miracles, and even here the arguments are particularly weak, even for Hitchens.<\/p>\n

At its core, his argument seems to be that Hume, who he claims wrote \u201cthe last word on the subject\u201d (pg 141), argued that we have free will to decide if we will believe in miracles or not, at which point Hitchens calls upon \u201cthe trusty Ockham\u201d (pg 141) and his razor to decide that we should not. \u00a0Hitchens then has a very feeble, at best,\u00a0 attack on the resurrection which never really rises above attempts at ridicule, then supports this with a few examples of false miracles, primarily related to Mother Teresa.<\/p>\n

That we have the free will to decide about miracle was hardly new with Hume, nor even a fair summary of his thought. Nor did Hume write the last word on the subject, as many words have been written pointing out the problems with Hume\u2019s critique, including a few of my own.\u00a0 Still, Hitchens\u2019 arguments, weak as they are, suffer from the two main problems common to atheist\u2019s arguments in this area and these center around the nature of miracles and concept of free will.<\/p>\n

For Hitchens and other atheists, miracles are suspect because by definition natural explanations of some sort are always going to be more likely. This is bolstered by the fact that many alleged miracles have been shown to be the result of natural forces or fraud.\u00a0 Yet error and fraud exist in all areas of human experience. So that there is error and fraud in some miracles is not a reputation of all miracles, and in fact the Bible warns us to be careful about this, a warning that Christians have not always taken as seriously as they should.<\/p>\n

Miracles, at least in the Christian view, are the acts of a personal God.\u00a0 They are not forces of nature that can be measured and studied in a laboratory.\u00a0 That one person prayed and was healed does not mean that everyone who prays will be healed, even though there are some Christians who believe this.\u00a0 Such personal acts do not lend themselves to the type of evidence atheists demand, especially since the purpose of a miracle is normally not to show the existence of miracles or God.\u00a0 Of course the atheist often asks why doesn\u2019t God just perform a miracle and prove that he exists ?<\/p>\n

That bring us to free will.\u00a0 Hitchens main argument is that we have free will to choose whether or not to believe in miracles. Free will is a good way to understand this issue, and the problem with atheistic reasoning, as it ultimately argues against, not for, free will.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The issues and complexities of election aside, we do at least at some level have free will.\u00a0\u00a0 As Jesus said of Jerusalem in Matthew 23:37 \u201chow often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.\u201d \u00a0Now it is true that that God does not prove he exists in some undeniable way, and from this the atheist concludes that that he does not exist.\u00a0 I believe, however, he does not because that would conflict with our freedom to choose.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Do we, for example, have the freedom to choose whether or not we will accept gravity or if the Moon exists? Not in any meaningful sense, and if God met the atheist\u2019s demands, neither would we have any meaningful choice to believe in God.\u00a0 Rather than proof, God has given us evidence. Evidence that points to his existence, and evidence for miracles.\u00a0 As I argue in Christianity and Secularism<\/a>\u00a0 the resurrection is not only the best explanation for the events surrounding the death of Jesus Christ, it is the only explanation that explains both the empty tomb and that the disciples really believed that had seen the risen Christ, two things that even some skeptic and critics of the resurrection believe need explanations. \u00a0\u00a0Yet, while strong evidence, it is not proof.\u00a0 God has left us the freedom to ignore the evidence and to reject the resurrection despite the evidence.<\/p>\n

The atheist view does not, despite Hitchens claim, allow such freedom.\u00a0 In the atheist view,\u00a0 barring absolute proof,\u00a0 the miraculous must be rejected in favor of the natural.\u00a0 For the atheist there is no weighing of evidence pro and con, a miracle is either proved or rejected, with a standard of proof so high that if met it would eliminate any meaningful freedom to reject God.<\/p>\n

So ultimately, this is a matter of how you frame the question.\u00a0 If, as the atheists see it, this is a question of proved or rejected, then miracles, and belief in God will be rejected.\u00a0 If however this is seen as a question of evidence pro and con, then the \u00a0evidence supports the belief in miracles such as the resurrection, and the belief in God. \u00a0\u00a0God has given us the freedom to choose. What we do with that freedom is up to us.<\/p>\n

This is Elgin Hushbeck, asking you to Consider Christianity<\/a>: a Faith Based on Fact<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen to the MP3 In Christopher Hitchens\u2019 book \u201cGod Is Not Great,\u201d after dealing with the Old and New Testaments, Hitchens, takes on the Koran, but I will leave it to Muslims to respond, and move on to chapter ten, where Hitchens deals with the dual subjects of Miracles and Hell.\u00a0 Or at least that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,17,32],"tags":[270,276,532,583,650,866,939,940,1103],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atheist","category-books","category-faith","category-reviews","tag-christianity-and-secularism","tag-christopher-hitchens","tag-free-will","tag-god-is-not-great","tag-hume","tag-miracles","tag-ockham","tag-ockhams-razor","tag-resurrection"],"yoast_head":"\nHitchens - God Is Not Great XXI - 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