Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Creationism indicates a weak and even fragile religious belief

Creationists are basically looking for “proof” of God’s existence. They insist, for example, that God must be the source of the order in the universe in order to convince them that they have found “proof” of God’s existence. Without actual “proof” they would lose their belief that God exists. John 20:29 is relevant here: “Jesus said to him, ‘Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.’”

I have devised my own parable to reinforce this argument:

The Parable of the Two Husbands

There were two husbands. Both believed that their wives loved them and were faithful to them.One husband (Husband #1) said that he believed that his wife was faithful to him because of how much he loved her (and she him) and how well he communicated with his wife. Because of that he didn't need any "proof" of his wife's fidelity.

The other husband needed "proof" in order to justify his faith in his wife. So he hired a private detective to follow his wife around. The detective completed the investigation and wrote up his findings in a report.

Husband #2 treasured that report. Though he sometimes worried about the inerrancy of what was written in the report, he read it constantly.

He read it so much, that one day the wife of Husband #2 found out about the report and filed for divorce the next day.

Questions:Who actually had more faith in his wife?

The husband who based his faith on love and the ability to communicate?

Or the husband who required "proof"?

Was the reaction of Husband #2's wife reasonable? Did she have a right to be disappointed that her husband needed "proof" before believing in her faithfulness?

The similarities between this parable and the beliefs of creationists are too obvious to require elaboration. In fact requiring "proof" for faith is really a sign of a weak faith. The more that you look for proof justifying a faith, the weaker that faith is. People who demand that the laws of the universe are proof of God's existence, and that they can't believe in God without such proof, have a much weaker faith than those who make no such demands.

Moreover I have found that people, who make such demands, are incapable of understanding how others can believe without such proof. That's why they often contend that people who do not accept an inerrant Bible (i.e. an inerrant report) are atheists.

Most importantly, observe the reaction of the wife. Why would anyone expect God's reaction to be any different than that of the wife? God's reaction to people demanding "proof" before they can believe in Him is bound to be very negative.

An important point of emphasis for this subject is that religious and other personal beliefs are different from scientific beliefs.

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