City Life Starter

By Blesson Selvenesan

Do you have to check out your brain to be a Christian?

I remember seeing a cartoon where people were entering a church with their brains in their hand. They are handing it for safekeeping at the entrance and entering into the church without their brains. Obviously, the cartoonist wants to portray that people of faith in Christ are acting without thinking. Is it really true?  Is faith really delusional? Is atheism the only rational option? Does the Bible really want people of faith to just believe without thinking?

Atheists have had a lot of success in pushing their narrative by hiding behind science especially in the academic institutions. They portray as if scientists are all atheists and people of faith have no standing among rational thinkers. It is interesting to me that they conveniently ignore a lot of facts. A lot of scientists in the past and in present believe in the possibility of God and many were dedicated followers. Many pioneering scientists were driven by their faith and pursued science to know the mind of the creator by investigating the creation.

It is not science versus faith, rather it is science and faith. Atheists have created a narrative whereby they pitch science against faith as saying that they are mutually exclusive and contradictory. This is simply not true, and it has more to do the worldviews than to do with science. They have argued that God is added to the equation by theists and atheism is the default option and have created a sense of false dichotomy.    

A world of false alternatives: When atheists pitch science vs. God, they are essentially creating a false universe and force one to think within the convenient paradigm defined by them. Let me illustrate. Everyone is familiar with the books and movies of Harry Potter and I hope everyone knows about the characters and plots. As we immerse ourselves into the story, we think that Harry Potter (Hero) and his people are the good guys and Voldemort and his people are the bad guys. Every kid wants to be a Harry Potter and he is celebrated as a hero. Now, both hero and the villain are in the world of witchcraft and wizardry, and whole battle happens in the dark universe. All of a sudden you notice that the whole universe is reduced to a dark world. The world of pure good is completely taken away. It is no longer good vs evil, it is between bad evil vs good evil. We are forced to identify with one or the other. We fall into the trap by siding with the good evil! The absolute good is no longer an option. This is like flipping a folded coin! Both possibilities are from the same side! Their side! The real alternative is hidden, discredited and ignored. Many atheists have successfully used a similar philosophy to corner a common man. The real possibility is God and sciences together, as there are not contradictory but they answer different questions.

God is not added to the equation: Many atheists argue that God is added to the equation to control, manipulated and exploit people. Further, they also claim that God is used as a fill-in when we don’t know. They would say everything can be explained by natural phenomena and God is not needed unless you have an ulterior motive. If scientists are to learn from nature, they need to learn from all nature. Let’s looks at all the cultures of the world since the dawn of civilization. Can we think of ONE innately atheistic society anywhere in the world at any point in recorded history? I could find none, Why? That means that Man is naturally God-conscious. All men throughout the history looked for a supernatural being outside of themselves. This would mean that atheists cannot say that God is added by believers, rather atheists are taking away something (God) that is and has been a part of any known society. Theism should, therefore, be the default option.

Good science and intellectual honesty lead to God: I believe that good science and intellectual honesty would lead one to conclude that God exists. We spend billions to build radio telescopes to receive signals from the outer space. Our hypothesis is that if we receive any logical signal or information from the outer space would mean that intelligent life exists in outer space. However, if we see our DNA, which is lined with information filled codes, atheists do not want to use the same logic. This complex DNA came by chance with time! I just think we need to be intellectually more honest go where the science leads. We have a problem on our hands when we have a theory that is not falsifiable and can fit any contradictory data.

God of the Bible is a thinking person and want everyone to come with their minds open. ‘Come let us reason together’ he says. Belief in Christ is not a blind irrational belief rather a solid and reasonable faith. Yes, some faith may be delusional, Christianity is not! Think and believe! Science is not to be seen with atheistic worldview alone. It is shameful that atheists use Science as a cover and hide behind it to advance their worldview. God created science and it is good.