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Mandating What's Counter-Intuitive
Dear Friend of Creation Moments,
“Here we are,” he said. “Read this page. This is the ‘Pascal Memorial.’”
‘The Year of Grace 1654
Monday, November 23
From about half past ten in the evening
Till about half past midnight
FIRE…’
17th Century scientist Blaise Pascal wrote these halting notes to himself during an emotional experience in the midst of prayer and confession.
‘Certitude Certitude Feeling joy peace
God of Jesus Christ
Forgetfulness of the world and of all save God
He is only to be found through the gospel
Greatness of the human soul
Joy Joy Joy Tears of Joy…’
Pascal was one of the many great scientists who believed in the God of the Bible. He wrote a classic defense of the Christian faith, called the Pensees in which, among other things, he explored the logical argument of design in creation.
Design is the clear intuitive inference all around us in nature. Design in creation points to God. So clear the Bible says, is the evidence for God Almighty from “the things that are made,” that we “are without excuse” to acknowledge Him.
The study of nature should indeed be allowed to point to God. All six volumes of our “Creation Moments” series are examples of this correct design inference.
Yet the design inference is being censored and outlawed in our land, even when it is separated from a biblical framework. This censorship of truth is the critical battle before us.
Requiring What is Counter-Intuitive
On Dec. 20, 2005, Judge John E. Jones III outlawed the teaching of Intelligent Design in the Dover, Pennsylvania school district. Let me ask a question. Should a judge really be the final arbiter of truth in science, or of truth in any other area of life?
No. Science changes, law changes, minds change, but one thing never changes: Truth. Though suppressed and ignored, truth will continue unchanged by this ruling or the next, this theory or that, or this person’s opinion or that one’s.
That is why we at Creation Moments must diligently and effectively promote our mission: “Proclaiming evidence for truth.”
What the twisted ruling of the Pennsylvania judge does is further establish a state-sponsored ideology that is fundamental to non-theistic religions. Contrary to the First Amendment of the Constitution, the ruling has reinforced the establishment of a religious view of non-theism (atheism).
The First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof.” That should mean that humanism, agnosticism, and other non-theistic religions should not be given preference over theistic religion. Yet with the outlawing of Creation Science in the science classroom in 1987, and now the outlawing of Intelligent Design in 2005, the state has officially established non-theism over theism.
The good news lurking behind all this bad legal news of the last 20 years is that the decisions are becoming more and more absurdly defiant of the Constitution. And the absurdity of the over-commitment to evolution will bring more people to the truth. Never was it the intent of the Founding Fathers that God should be removed from the public square. Indeed, the Founders acknowledged Him as a given fact of existence!
Evolution—and the naturalism/materialism that effectively shields it from scientific criticism—is key to all the major non-theistic religions and belief systems. And by dictating that evolution must be above critique or above comparison with alternative models for origins, the state is establishing the counter-intuitive inference of atheism. Design, and its implication of God, is an intuitive inference, while no-design is a counter-intuitive inference.
Decreeing that a counter-intuitive approach to origins should be the only approach allowed is illogical and irrational, as well as unconstitutional. How did we come to such a state of affairs? Call it the depravity of man. Mankind clings to his corrupt nature, even when it becomes irrational and illogical.
The Bible warns us that human nature is not innocent nor pure, but fundamentally corrupted and in rebellion to God’s authority. “The heart is deceitful above all else and desperately wicked.” We live in a world under the curse of death, decay, and futility because of sin. Every parent sees their little newborn babe begin life innocently enough—simply sleeping, eating and crying. As they grow, however, babies don’t need to be taught how to to grab things from playmates or throw temper tantrums. Sin comes naturally. Character must be taught.
As theologians put it, “We’re not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners”—from our cellular beginnings. The original sin of the first person, Adam, resulted in something similar to a genetic mutation of the reproductive DNA (call it a “sin mutation,” if you will) so that the damage passes on to the offspring.
Secularists are opposed to the whole idea of original sin and claim instead some type of original purity in nature. How could a brand-new helpless baby, they say, totally unexposed to a dysfunctional civilization, come into the world a sinner?
In fact, the whole foundation of many pagan worldviews is the premise that our human nature is fundamentally good. If we could just get back to a pure and pristine nature, and unload the inhibitions, obsessions, hangups, and narrowness that we learn from civilization and “religion,” we could solve the world’s problems. Just get in sync with the natural cycles, feel the earth’s vibrations, appease the spirits of the rocks and trees, harmonize with the cosmos and live by the creed of tolerance!
Men without Chests
C.S. Lewis wrote over fifty years ago about “men without chests.” In one of his essays on education, “The Abolition of Man,” Lewis used this term to describe educators who believe they stretch students’ critical thinking capabilities by challenging and debunking traditional ideas and traditional values.
In the essay, Lewis cleverly illustrated that such educators are not actually teaching students to think, but simply teaching them to throw away fundamental truths. Such educators are offering a type of shallow intellectualism that produces people who have missed the heart and soul of life, becoming a new generation of “men without chests.” Lewis’ point was that you cannot debunk “first principles.” You have to accept first principles and start your thinking from there.
Men without chests may have knowledge, but they lack wisdom. Sadly, such men are the product of most law schools today; they are the ones who become our nation’s judges.
If you took geometry in high school, you may remember being given certain geometrical conditions and then being asked to prove another geometrical condition. Given this, prove that. Well, first-principles are the “givens” of life. First-principles are the true starting assumptions for all intelligent conversation about life. There is a Creator. There is a transcendent code of ethics for all mankind (embodied in the Ten Commandments). Sadly, these ideas are routinely debunked in university settings by academics schooled in naturalism.
This kind of debunking of first principles of truth and moral law leads to Lewis’s “men without chests”; men whose chests are shrunken, making their heads “appear” large, because they have no passion to stand on principles that are beyond their own minds.
Those who scoff at and mock God, though they may act civil, have a large vocabulary, have multiple advanced degrees, and purport to be wise—even sitting on a judicial bench dressed in a black robe—are ultimately fools. They miss the key to life. And for all the sophisticated thinking they may apply, their conclusions end in foolishness because they base that thinking on incorrect starting assumptions. As Romans 1:22 puts it, “Professing to be wise they became fools,…”.
True wisdom does not begin in the head. It begins in the heart. It begins with commitment to a principle. The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Understanding that God our Creator is to be deeply revered, being totally holy and just, and that we are dependent on His mercy, is the key to wisdom. The whole record and dispensation of God’s Law teaches us this.
The fear of the Lord is also a key to our understanding the wonderful plan of salvation: accepting Jesus Christ as our personal savior and Lord. The splendid and perfect resolution of God’s divine justice and divine love for mankind is through Jesus Christ. And as Blaise Pascal noted in the record of his religious experience with the Lord, it leaves us with joy unspeakable.
Joy is indeed a fruit of coming to the truth. “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full.”
Creation Moments is committed to proclaiming the first principle of Creation. In a creation-denying world, creation truth boldly points to the good news of Jesus Christ, the savior of all.
Won’t you please help us win souls to Him by giving generously? It is the best investment that money can buy—an investment for eternity in a world bent on denying the truth.
God bless you!
Yours in Christ,
Mark Cadwallader, Board Chairman
References
E. Myers, They Shall Not Be Ashamed. Tate Publishing, Mustang, OK, 2005, pg 51
Romans 1:20
Jeremiah 17:9
C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man
Proverbs 9:10
John 15:11
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