Darwinism vs Facts

I was once challenged by a self-confessed atheist Darwinist in this way:

Are you holding back then?  Do you have some ground breaking evidence that shows that evolution is false?   I'm sure the the scientific community would love to hear about it.

Here is my initial response:

Definitions:
Information: For this entry we're talking about biologically meaningful information, or semantic information or more specifically still biosemiotics. Shannon information is useful in biology as well but not at the level required for ID. That is, both descriptive info and prescriptive info.

Complexity: Here ID refers to specified complexity - and this is not an IDist invention - it was first used by Leslie Orgel. Complexity alone is insufficient. A long string of random letters for example is complex but not specified. A string of letters from a Shakespearean sonnet is both complex and specified.

And let's not forget that when talking about evolution, we are NOT talking mere of adaptation and variation within a taxonomic Family. We are referring to Darwinian Macro-evolution. Not mere micro evolution.

No one, including the most staunch young earth creationist has any problem with micro evolution. And for Darwinists reading this, no, you cannot gratuitoulsy extrapolate micro into macro. It does not work and there is absolutely no grounds for assuming it is even possible. Indeed, we have abundant evidence that says it is not possible at all. Even the late evolutionist, William Provine of Cornell University, an staunch atheist evolutionist, stated that macro is NOT an extension of micro. 

Are Atheists Rational?

 Notice that the title of this article is not “Is Atheism Rational”.  One of the things that all the new atheists claim is that they are “free thinkers”, rational, logical, science and evidenced based in having chosen atheism.  Is this true?  In fact is light years away from the truth.
Here are some facts about atheism and it’s inescapable logical implications and conclusions.
In atheism, you have no choice but to believe yourself an electrochemically animated “bag of meat” or a bag of chemicals. National Academy of Sciences, Anthony Cashmore claims that we are nothing more than a bag of chemicals.

“Materialism—the belief that nothing exists except matter, if true, means there is no place for any explanation of people and the ‘choices’ they make other than chemistry—the interactions of genes and the environment, and the random behaviour of matter.”

Cashmore thus claims that the concept of human responsibility is also invalid. According to him, the evolutionary process gave rise only to the illusion of responsibility. Indeed, he maintains,

“neither religious beliefs, nor a belief in free will, comply with the laws of the physical world.”*  –  The Lucretian swerve: The biological basis of human behavior and the criminal justice system, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(10):4499-4504, 2010;  http://www.pnas.org/content/107/10/4499.full.pdf html Antony Cashmore is Robert I. Williams Prof essor of Biology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Prof. Will. Provine  said,

“There is no way that the evolutionary process … can produce a being that is truly free to make choices.”

So is evolution compatible with free will? Nope.  So is morality compatible with no free will? Nope. Cashmore wrote,

“The reality is, not only do we have no more free will than a fly or a bacterium, in actuality we have no more free will than a bowl of sugar.”

And he says that freely, of his own volition? Apparently not. Not without glaring self-contradiction. But that’s atheism’s only possibility – as bags of chemicals or meat.   Atheism is an idea that doesn’t even matter and has never done anything good in the whole history of the world, but has caused irreperable dammage and mass death.
Now here is the fatal flaw in all this atheist nonsense. Rationality depends upon free will.  Rationality means being capable of understanding and choosing between conceptual alternatives. The No Free Will claim, if true, negates that possibility completely and finally. How can you choose what idea is correct and which is not, if you are not free to choose it? Stunningly obvious.
Atheist scientist Peter Atkins says,

“Free will is merely the ability to decide, and the ability to decide is nothing other than the organised interplay of shifts of atoms.”  – Atkins, Peter, The Creation, W.H. Freeman & Co Ltd, Oxford, 1981

I wonder if Atkins thinks that he freely choose to believe that and say that? Not according to himself. His DNA did it.
Atheist Nobel laureate Francis Crick wrote,

“The Astonishing Hypothesis is that “You,” your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. As Lewis Carroll’s Alice might have phrased: “You’re nothing but a pack of neurons.”  (p. 3) -Francis Crick (1994) The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons

The late William Provine also stated,

” Naturalistic evolution has clear consequences that Charles Darwin understood perfectly. 1) No gods worth having exist; 2) no life after death exists; 3) no ultimate foundation for ethics exists; 4) no ultimate meaning in life exists; and 5) human free will is nonexistent.”

So much for anyone being a free thinker and thinking for themselves.  Atheism’s super star TV evangelists shot that false idea to hell.  All this clearly implies that as bags of meat, no one ever really selects their beliefs, their own concepts based upon logical evaluation, critical thinking and personal choice. Under atheism, therefore, since free will is an illusion of the brain and we are nothing but sacks of meat, real rationality cannot even exist. Bags of meat cannot reason or rationally come to conclusions. Atheism means that you are nothing but a biological automaton, a robot, a computer that deludes itself into thinking itself rational and free while being nothing but a clump of conglomerated matter with integrated circuits giving the illusion of real volition.
No other conclusion is even possible, if atheism is true.

Atheists sometimes counter this by claiming that we have tested our brains and proved that our faculties of reason are in correspondence with reality. This too is a gross error and lack of intellectual depth. You cannot test your brain using your brain. Nor can you test all brains using brains. There is simply no way to really know that what the human mind is doing is truly related to reality.  We fall into The Matrix scenario. How do we know that we’re not all bags of flesh hooked up to machines with our brains being pumped full of illusions of a reality? We don’t. Not under atheism.
Moreover, only in deism or theism can we assume that the mind is rational, based upon it’s being made by a super intellect, as Sir Fred Hoyle called it.

Again, we are left with a serious vital choice to make. God or stupidity.

Atheism is a debilitating religious position with no foundations in logic or rational thinking – rationality cannot even exist in atheism. Another thing atheists fail to see. Meat can never be rational. Rationality itself is metaphysical, not physical.  Atoms moving in any form cannot be rational. Sad really. Just freaking sad.
The great theist philosopher – and ex-atheist – C.S. Lewis wrote,

“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it? A man feels wet when he falls into water, because man is not a water animal: a fish would not feel wet. Of course, I could have given up my idea of justice by saying that it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too -for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my private fancies. Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist -another words, that the whole of reality was senseless -I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality–namely my idea of justice–was full of sense. Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.”

“The theory that thought is merely a movement in the brain is, in my opinion, nonsense; for if so, that theory itself would be merely a movement, an event among atoms, which may have speed and direction but of which it would be meaningless to use the words ‘true’ or ‘false'”.

“If he is honest, the materialist will have to admit that his own ideas are merely the “epiphenomenon which accompanies chemical or electrical events in a cortex which is itself the by-product of a blind evolutionary process.” If all thoughts are merely the products of non-rational causes, this includes the materialist’s own thoughts. In other words, there is no reason according to materialism for materialism itself to be regarded as true.”
-C.S. Lewis

Simple and absolutely logical. And with that, there goes the ballgame for atheists. If they remain atheists, they cannot remain logically consistent with themselves if they claim they are free thinkers or free anything else, nor truly rational beings. They are obliged to consider themselves bio-automatons with no more self-determination than a hamburger.

God and Politics?

Every time there are elections we see a lot of talk on the Internet and between people on things like who should one vote for, which political party is the best, which candidate has the best competence, and among religious folks, how the believer ought to view polictics in general, is God interested in politics, can use the scriptures to better decide which party to vote for?  etc ..
These discussions and debates are often very passionate on all sides. There are many people who say that we should not mix religion and politics including God and politics. It’s an age old adage.  So we hear a lot about the issue of mixing religion and politics. We hear about it a lot in the United States regarding their Constitution and the famous Establishment Clause, “Congress shall make no law Respecting an establishment of religion “with” … or Prohibiting the free exercise thereof ” Because of these perpetual quarrels and abuses of these terms and ideas on the issues, we hear that the church should not “interfere” in the state.

To clarify the issue I must say at the outset that there is a difference between “God and State” and “Religion and State”. Religion is the human expression of beliefs in God or not, metaphysical beliefs. The government must therefore not impose a specific religion on the nation since the people must have the right to choose freely. It is at this level that the words of Christ, “My kingdom is not of this world.” applies .

However, we must not make the mistake of saying, based on this saying, that Christ is not interested in human governments. On the contrary, the Old Testament very clearly declares his interest in the way that nations act. He is called King of the Nations. Even in the Apocalypse of John, the book of Revelation, we see the role of nations in the new earth ruled by Christ and his servants.

Assuming that those who read this article understand the subject fairly well, I will try to clarify some important points.

The Bible is the compass of the world, and not only the Christian. It is the revelation of God to humanity, not just Jews and Christians, to show us the way to God and the way of righteousness, justice and mercy in life. So it’s back to the Scriptures to find the correct views.  What does the Bible say about the subject? Does the Bible speak of it?  We do not want only human, subjective opinions versus another opinion, but we want to see if the word of God is clear on the subject.
I will start with a quote from a highly relevant key text for all that concerns God and human governments.

At one time I may threaten to tear up, break down, and destroy a nation or a kingdom.  But suppose the nation that I threatened turns away from doing wrong. Then I will change my plans about the disaster I planned to do to it.
At another time I may promise to build and plant a nation or a kingdom.  But suppose that nation does what I consider evil and doesn’t obey me. Then I will change my plans about the good that I promised to do to it.
  – Jer 18: 7-10

In it God reveals very briefly the principle by which he governs the nations on earth. The whole principle is closely related to their obedience or disobedience to the moral law. The very fact that God intervenes in the affairs of men already gives us an important clue to the question of God and the State. God is not absent from the state, he is not indifferent to the state and considers the human affairs constantly.
So right there we may not pretend that God and state should be kept separate, as if one had nothing to do with the other. The reality is that it is actually impossible to separate them completely!  Indeed, although we could believe that government should not establish a single religion as the religion of the state, imposed on all, one can not say that a government can be separated from God and views of religion either.
In the Old Testament, for example, God arranged to place a person of his choice as the head of a Nation and over and over again.  For example, Joseph was chosen by God to come to rule Egypt.  We see the many judges he raised up and established.  We see the he choose Saul to be the first king of Israel, followed by David etc. In the story of Esther we find God very involved in the fate of the Jews in a pagan nation. We see how God used Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem through the governor. God is seen to interfer in the Gentile (non Jewish) nations also.  For example with Cyrus that he predetermined many years before his birth, to become the king of Persia (Iran). We also see Daniel and his position of influence and governance in Babylon.
The list is long. One can even say with certainty that the Old Testament is the history of moral and political relations between God and nations, especially Israel but many others also. We read in Deut. 32: 7.8

Remember the days of old, consider the years of generation to generation: ask thy father, and he will declare to you, your elders, and they will tell thee.   When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the son of Adam, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the son of Israel.

We see throughout the Bible that God wants to be respected and served by nations and their leaders. In Psalm 2 we read,

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, and for thy possession the ends of the earth;
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; like a potter’s vessel thou shalt parts.
And now, O kings, be wise; you rulers of the earth, receive instruction:
Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling; …

In Psalm 9 we read,

Psa 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, all the nations that forget God;

King David recognized God’s authority when he said, “you have made me head of the nations;” God is interested, not only in politics. but who will be leader of a nation. And is it any wonder? Seeing that God’s purposes on earth for the well being of humanity are always at stake in politics?
Even stronger language is used by Isaiah when he said, concerning the Messiah (Christ), “and the government shall be upon his shoulder;”
In short, to say that we must respect separation of state and religion and especially with God is simply a very wrong idea! We cannot separate the them.  It is in fact impossible,  because God intervenes in the affairs of men and more than anything else in politics!
Psa 10:28 says,

“For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and he dominates among the nations.”

The nations belong to him. He is not an idle, uninterested bystander.  A normal family man is interested in and has daily involvement with his family and it is his duty. It is also so with God, indeed it is the duty of God to govern nations.
The prophet Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar

“This order is fixed by the watchers, and the decision is by the word of the holy ones: so that the living may be certain that the Most High is ruler over the kingdom of men, and gives it to any man at his pleasure, lifting up over it the lowest of men.
… your kingdom will be safe for you after it is clear to you that the heavens are ruling.
For this cause, O King, let my suggestion be pleasing to you, and let your sins be covered by righteousness and your evil-doing by mercy to the poor, so that the time of your well-being may be longer.” – Dan 4:17…

The interpretation Daniel gave Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was fulfilled and when the time of prophecy was completed seen said,

“… At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him who lives forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation; and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth;” – Dan 4:35

King David said,

“The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: He who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God is like the morning light when the sun shines And a morning without clouds; Shining after rain out of the earth the green. “- 2 Samuel 23

God cares passionately about human affairs and therefore to claim that we should not mix politics and religion, or more specifically God and politics, is a major mistake. It is therefore important that people probe their conscience and the scriptures and biblical principles in any decision dealing with politics, political parties and their leaders. We can not pretend that the politics is religiously neutral.  It most definitely is NOT!  Politics determines the governance of a nation and must necessarily touch its morality, its behavior and thus its fate.  It is therefore important that the people get informed as much as possible on the ideology of a political party, ideology of its leaders and their goals in government.

This means that the people must try to choose as leaders, chiefs and the party with the objectives, principles and moral ideology close as possible to those things in the Bible. The religious person, most precisely the Jew and the Christian, has a moral obligation to get informed, to follow biblical principles and not party loyalty or political leanings and not to just vote as usual or act with irresponsible complacency towards political choices and involvement.
It is therefore very ignorant of scripture and just plain foolish to talk of elections, politics and government without God and religion.

Now, does that mean we can take politics into the church to make sermons? I do not think so. Not to discuss who should vote or to present the parties and candidates involved. No more than a few words on the nature of the thing and the Christian duty to carefully examine the morals, goals etc. each party to make an informed choice by the Bible and by his conscience before God.