Evolution, Darwin, and Morality – Is there such a thing?

Here is a very illuminating post from Evolution News on the the implications of a Darwinian Morality and Sexual Ethic…or probably more accurately, the total lack thereof…

“Assurances that we have nothing to fear from Darwinism are a familiar species of evolutionary apologetics. We’re told that Darwinian thinking doesn’t threaten morality, religion, or belief in life’s having an ultimate meaning. On the contrary, it enhances all things good and fair. Karl Giberson’s recent column in the Huffington Post, “How Darwin Sustains My Baptist Search for Truth,” deserves to be pinned under glass and put up on a wall as a near-perfect specimen of the genre.

Anyone who’s honest with himself knows this is all propaganda and wishful thinking, but it refreshes us nevertheless to hear Darwinists themselves confess — even trumpet — the truth.

Darwinian scholars and journalists have been writing with what must seem, to their brethren, an alarming frankness. One occasion for the flurry of articles is the recent sensational book Sex at Dawn by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha, who present the picture of our evolutionary human ancestors as enjoying polyamory as their standard reproductive practice. Group sex was the rule for them, so there’s no reason to expect marital fidelity from us, their heirs.

On the Scientific American website, psychologist Jesse Bering throws out the whole structure of sexual right and wrong with one blog post:

There are of course many important caveats, but the basic logic is that, because human beings are not naturally monogamous but rather have been explicitly designed by natural selection to seek out “extra-pair copulatory partners” — having sex with someone other than your partner or spouse for the replicating sake of one’s mindless genes — then suppressing these deep mammalian instincts is futile and, worse, is an inevitable death knell for an otherwise honest and healthy relationship.

Dr. Bering concedes with some feeling that in evolutionary psychological terms, empathy for the jilted sexual partner also plays a role. But in general:

Right is irrelevant. There is only what works and what doesn’t work, within context, in biologically adaptive terms….” (More)

Our New Article on the New Atheists in Charisma Magazine is Now Available Online

Here is our new article giving an overview of the New Atheists and how Christians should respond:

“Atheism is on the move. At least that’s what Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and other so-called “New Atheists” are fighting for. While atheists have always been around, the pop-cultural influence of atheism has traditionally been rather minimal. Not anymore.

In the past few years there has been a resurgence of interest in the case against God. From books to bus campaigns, the question of God’s existence is back in the forefront of public dialogue. And the New Atheists….” Check it out (on page 34)

Interview with Christian Philosopher J.P. Moreland

One of the main reasons I am doing what I am doing today is Dr. J.P. Moreland. He is a top notch thinker and a passionate follower of Jesus Christ. It was my privilege to study under him and get to know him; he is the real deal.

Apologetics 315 has a great interview with J.P. here
Check out Moreland’s new website, here

God did not create the universe, says Hawking…..gravity did?

hmmm….

Hawking: “Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist,”….”It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.” (more from this article)

Theist: But where did the “all-powerful” law of gravity come from if space, time, matter, and energy all came into existence at the time of the big bang?

(hypothetical) Hawking: it just did…

Theist: correct me if I am wrong, but nothing means nothing right? including the laws of gravity? (they would be a “something”)

(hypothetical) Hawking: It’s complicated…

Theist: Indeed! 🙂

A better, more reasonable way of thinking about the origin of the universe is the Kalam Cosmological Argument:

1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause. (far more reasonable than things popping into existence out of nothing uncaused…if universes can…why not random boulders, buffalos, and boomerangs?)
2.The universe began to exist. (well established by science and philosophy)
3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.

The kalam helps narrow the range of possible causes to a being that is nonphysical, spaceless, timeless, changeless, and powerful:

– If matter began to exist at the moment of creation, then the matter’s cause must be nonphysical, or spiritual.
– Since space itself came into existence at the big bang, space’s cause must be spaceless.
– Since time began at the moment of the big bang, time’s cause must be timeless.
– Since change is a product of time, time’s cause must also be changeless.
– Given the immensity of energy and matter that comprises the universe, energy and matter’s cause must be unimaginably powerful.

The best explanation for the origin of the universe is that it was brought into existence through the free will of a personal Creator. Since the universe is the result of a creative act, it is best explained as the result of a mind. Thus, mind is the cause of matter, not the other way around.

Fore more on this and other arguments for God (and arguments against atheism), see our new book, is God Just a Human Invention?

Do All Roads Lead to God?

Here is an excellent video by Christian philosopher William Lane Craig:

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12 (1 Tim. 2:3-5; John 14:6)