God of the gaps? Or something more? | John Lennox at UW Madison
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- John Lennox (Oxford Emeritus) explores how Newton and Hawking viewed God. | University of Wisconsin-Madison, 10/9/2017| View full forum at • Is There Truth Beyond ... | Explore more at www.veritas.org.
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To God be the glory
The thing that people don't often consider is WHY it is called "GOD" of the gaps. Notice it isnt Banana of the gaps or Spaghetti of the gaps, or Orangutan of the gaps. It is because the explanatory power of the classical theistic definition of God (not Zeus not Horus) but God as a timeless, spaceless, immaterial being, fills the gap(s) better than anything else. The argument should fall to whether or not such a being exists. If he does, then he fills every gap, even the ones we explain with science, because the scientific realm itself is explained best by the existence of such a being. I am not suggesting we abandon science, on the contrary, because we see that the design is so amazing, it should encourage us to explore the "gaps" further to see the way that the engineer designed it. God is not a gap filler for that which we scientifically fail to understand, God is the engineer of science itself. And since you cannot scientifically show that science exists without circular reasoning, he remains as the best explanation.
While some people do solely associate it with the Biblical God, the term 'god of the gaps' can and does refer to any creator deity. Put simply, 'god of the gaps' is a go to statement using a creator deity to explain something that we do not yet understand. So far everything that has a natural explanation today was at one point in history explained by "[insert deity name] did it". Natural disasters were once thought to be of divine origin. We know now what causes them and where they are most likely to occur. Seizures were once assumed to be demonic possession because back then, people didn't have an understanding of neurology. As a result they always resorted to calling an exorcist. If the victim survived, it was considered God helping them. If the victim died, the supposed "demon" was considered too powerful. Even without that exorcist being there, the surviving victim would have survived anyway because it was not possession, but a neurological problem caused by either a nasty illness or possibly a genetic inheritance.
It is easy, and even expected, that people will invent answers for things they do not know
Only Jesus can make all our differences common, He is God of the gaps.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great explanation. But they'll always be be hard line atheists who will always try and explain it differently.
Logic and reason leads to truth
@@markvincent9757 Science always shows a creator. Always.
Another interpretation among many looking for what is in front.
And a terrible one at that.
Atheists choose to believe that “nothing” exploded and this amazing complex fine tuned cosmos appeared. They also believe that DNA, infinitely more complex than any man made database known to mankind, happened when a lightning bolt struck a primordial slime rock. And they think their science god is supreme. Too funny. Maranatha.
To quote Luke Skywalker: "Amazing. *Everything* you just said is wrong"
Why not make it easier on yourself and straw-men "atheists" ?
Nothing about the universe is "fine tuned." When a star goes supernova, it emits an enormous amount of radiation at extremely high temperatures. If our star went supernova right now, Earth would be fried only a few weeks later. I doubt even extremophiles would survive that. It would become a lifeless rock with no atmosphere.
When you look at life at the atomic level, you will see that we (all life forms) are made of natural chemical compositions. Chemicals are made of molecules. Molecules are made of atoms. Atoms are made of subatomic particles; protons, neutrons, and electrons. Subatomic particles are likely made of the theoretical quarks.
Just because we don't understand something does not mean that a creator deity did it. Most phenomena that have natural explanations now were historically explained by supernatural means. Natural disasters were once thought to be of divine origin because they were not understood by the people of those times. Seizures were thought to be demonic possessions because people didn't have an understanding of neurology. That's what "God of the gaps" is. It is a way to insert a creator deity as an inevitably temporary answer for things we can not yet explain. However once it is explained, the creator concept is removed from the equation.
It's still nothing more than using an invented magic wizard to fill in gaps in actual knowledge. I have no doubt that he'd have argued that the complexity and diversity of life was definite evidence for god...before Darwin disposed of that creationist favourite. How did Stpehen Hawking view god? As non-existant.
If you were educated you would understand science Always shows a creator.
@@jimdandy9118 Does it? How?
@@richardgregory3684 You probably aren’t educated but I’ll give you a simple example. All life has DNA, proteins and ribosomes. None of the three occur in nature outside of a living cell and none can be made without the other two.. DNA is required to code for proteins, proteins are first required to make the DNA and ribosomes are required to make the proteins with ribosomes containing about 60 different proteins to be functional. All three are required to make each other, none do anything without the other two. Understand? The only way all three appear in a living cell is through creation since none can be made outside of a living cell.
The simplest living cell capable of cell division to begin evolution requires 473 genes, hundreds of proteins, a functional cell membrane and a form of metabolism. All of this complexity is required before a cell can divide and begin evolution. All of that complexity in the same place at the same time is creation. You’re welcome for the education
If God _was_ real, we sure wouldn't need John Lennox to explain it to us. Think.
Lennox is Yoda.
It is all about terminology and the meanings we assign to words. If we say 'God' created the universe we are conflating the meaning of the words 'God' and 'Nature'. Somehow the concept of 'God' became the term used to identify that unknown quantity which creates and sustains the universe. The God of Israel is different and in my view plays no particular part in creation. We end up with a Triune God which covers all the bases, although the person of Christ within that framework is difficult to rationalise.
While John's answers for boiling water are both technically correct, the water is inevitably boiling because of physics. However water does not always need a high temperature to boil. If you fill a vacuum chamber with room temperature water and turn it on, the water will begin to boil due to the decreased atmospheric pressure inside the chamber. You can put your entire hand in that water after fifteen minutes of nonstop boiling and not get burned. It inevitably comes down to physics. Deities have been used as explanations for thousands of years. With each passing decade, our understanding of reality does cause a decrease in using God, Allah, or any other deity as an explanation. Earthquakes for example would have been thought to be of divine anger because the people of those times didn't understand what it was or why it happened. Today we understand not only what an earthquake is, but we can also determine the exact cause of it and even provide warnings of approximately where, when, and how big they will be.
It is astounding that he, as a scientist, a mathematician, doesn't realise the problem in debating the DEFINITION of "god".
Yes, of course, neither Newton nor Einstein nor Hawkins can explain gravity. He can. The clarity of his words and depth of his logic defy gravity. It's either god of the gaps or gift of the gab which is all that is needed. As Alexander Pope put it: Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night, Then God said let the professor be, And everything was light!
The triune God _isn't_ the God of the Bible
That's John's God.