RE: Nature's Laws
May 15, 2015 at 2:52 pm
(This post was last modified: May 15, 2015 at 2:56 pm by Simon Moon.)
(May 15, 2015 at 2:21 pm)Freedom4me Wrote: Hello everyone! I'm a new member to AF. First, a tiny introductory note just to let you know a little about me. I was an atheist from about age 15 to 27. I came from a very strict baptist family background, and I guess you could say that I was somewhat oppressed by my strict religious upbringing. So I rebelled against my parents, my religion, and God. At the age of 27, one of my friends loaned me a book called "Evidence That Demands A Verdict" by Josh McDowell. That book changed my views completely. Since then I've seen lots of additional reasons to believe in the God of the bible.
Welcome aboard.
Not to sound insulting, but if you were convinced by Josh McDowell, you do not have the best critical thinking skills.
His books (a theist relative convinced me to read them), are loaded with fallacious arguments.
Quote:The universe is orderly and purposeful in certain ways. How could impersonal stuff like matter and energy "obey" laws of any kind? Where do the laws of nature and the laws of logic come from? If there is no god, why do so many atheists care so much about the non-existence of a supposedly fictional deity? Please don't take any offense to my words. I'm not trying to offend anyone here. I'm just asking a few questions that seem to be fair.
The laws you mention are descriptive, not prescriptive. The universe just works the way it does, we observe that behavior and use laws to describe its behavior.
The laws of nature don't come from anywhere, in the sense you are speaking of, they are attributes of our universe. It's like you are asking, "where does the ability of a cup to hold fluid come from?". It comes from the attributes of being a cup. There is no extra 'thing' that the cup needs from another source to hold fluid.
I don't care about a non-existent deity. I care how belief in that deity effects the world I live in, People's beliefs don't live in a vacuum, they have real, negative effects on the planet. Wars are started, pseudoscience is taught in schools, planes are flown into buildings, minorities are persecuted, laws are passed based on scriptural morality, genocides are perpetrated, all in the name of one god or another.
As already mentioned, your entire argument is based on the 'argument from ignorance' fallacy. In other words, just because some questions, like the origin of the universe, are not currently completely answered, does not mean your contention that a god is responsible becomes any more viable.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
