The other day I read the recent Newsweek piece in which Rick Warren (Purpose-Driven Life—like you didn’t know) debated the eminently rational and mind-bogglingly articulate Sam Harris (The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation). In that “debate,” I thought Mr. Harris waxed the floor with Mr. Warren. For one, nobody out-rationalizes Sam Harris. The guy has a brain the size of Europe—and all of it is connected to his mouth. He also seems entirely compassionate and utterly Pro-Human, two qualities I know I enjoy in a person. I think Sam Harris stands as pretty much the ultimate example of what a person can be and think when they insist that rational thought, above all, should be respected. And I can respect that. It’s certainly not the worst thing for a person to stake their claim on.
The capacity for rational thought being core to all humans means that sooner or later every human must decide whether or not there’s a God. Everything is either created by some sort of Divine Overseer, or the universe is the result of purely mechanistic coincidences. Those are our two choices. It’s not like there’s a third one. (Unless you count the decision not to decide whether or not there’s a God—which, to my mind, is a “choice” entirely too spineless to take seriously.)
There either is a God, or there isn’t. And everyone definitely wants to know which of the two it is. Not a one of us wants to exist in a system that’s grounded in pure unknowable mystery.
So people do what they must: They choose either God, or No God.
We Christians, of course, have chosen God. It’s what our hearts tell us is true. More: It’s what God tells us is true. To be perfectly accurate, we didn’t choose God at all. God chose us.
But we Christians have got to understand that once we decide, for whatever reason, to Vote God, we necessarily mark ourselves, in the eyes of someone who’s gone with option No God, as extraordinarily irrational. At that point we can’t help but seem to them as fundamentally (so to speak) bonkers.
Which is not to say that we cannot fully justify our faith: My first book, Penguins, Pain and the Whole Shebang, proved (if I say so myself) that the entirety of the Christian belief system is nothing if not rationally supportable. Once anyone decides there is (or must be) a God, Christianity makes as much sense as opening an umbrella in the rain. It’s actually difficult to posit a God, proceed logically from that assertion, and end up anywhere but at the Christian cross.
God became human to right us with himself. It’s … well, perfect.
But as rationally sound as the Christian theological system is, the essence of what makes Christianity real and alive is a mystical, deeply personal phenomenon that has no more to do with reason or logic than fins and gills have to do with koala bears.
Rick Warren lost his Newsweek debate with Sam Harris because Sam Harris can take rational thought and language all the way down to the base of what he believes, while Mr. Warren, struggle though he might, can only take rational thought and language down to the point at his belief where language become useless.
So Rick Warren lost his debate with Sam Harris. Big whoop. In the end, we Christians will always lose the debate with atheists. Because they’re using the language of logic. And there are no words for the essence of the Christian experience. And there never will be, thank God.
******************************************************************************************************************************
Email: johnshore@sbcglobal.net
Follow: http://twitter.com/johnshore
Befriend: http://www.facebook.com/john.shore1
Be Fan: http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Shore/89494795412?ref=s
Posted by ramdin on June 10, 2007 at 2:56 am
The final result of the debate will be forever decided when the Son of Man comes again. In the mean time, let’s not waste our time to prove the existence of God to atheists and rationalists like Sam Harris. They will never believe anyway because they have already rejected the only means of knowing Him, through faith.
Posted by Malachias Invictus on June 17, 2007 at 7:31 am
“Once anyone decides there is a God-which, since there either is or isn’t, is necessarily as rational as deciding there’s not.”
Not really. You forgot the whole part about evidence. The existence of any given thing does not default to a 50/50 chance.
Posted by johnshore on June 17, 2007 at 7:57 am
No, not of any given thing. But I would definitely argue that any given person, starting from scratch, just looking around and at himself,
is half as likely to assume there’s some kind of divine, overseeing creator at work as he is that there isn’t. The phenomenal complexity of life coupled with most people’s innate sense of the divine within them generally, for any given person, renders the reality of a God at least as likely as the world being purely the result of mechanistic coincidences. Also, consider the actual relationship between how many people DO believe in God–a God, any god–and how many don’t. A third of the people alive right now, for instance, believe in the Christian God. They can’t all be stupid.
Posted by Kitchen Cabinets Plus on September 28, 2007 at 7:31 am
Really nice site you have here. I’ve been reading for a while but this post made me want to say 2 thumbs up. Keep up the great work
Posted by John Shore on September 28, 2007 at 7:37 am
Thank you! I really appreciate it.
Posted by Ryan on December 24, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I would like to call myself a rational christian. I came to Christ from atheism through rationalism and the following of the laws of logic and thought. Christianity, as do all beliefs, requires both faith and reasoning. I would also like to add that there is a slew of reasoning christians in the relm of christian apologetics who can hold their own in the debate arena, esspecially since they represent the one and only truth. I challenge you to google “christian apologetics” and then have fun studying.
1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
Posted by John Shore on December 26, 2008 at 6:42 am
My first book, “Penguins, Pain and the Whole Shebang” is an apologetic.
Posted by Kieran on April 15, 2009 at 2:46 pm
If you’re going to decide that a god exists, because he might or might not, you might as well go the whole hog and declare the existence of leprechauns, unicorns, dragons, the Celestial Teapot, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The argument for them is just as strong, which is that there isn’t any evidence at all.
Posted by John Shore on April 15, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Wow. I’m convinced. Thanks for clearing that up.
Posted by Vanessa on April 20, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Personally I can’t see how the atheist won the debate if he is still lost in Sin. Is he brilliant? In whose eyes? I’m sure God is quite bored with his brilliance. But He is long suffering, loving and kind. If He were not where would many of us who are Christians be today? I’m ever grateful He is patient.
On the other hand, we tend to spend a lot of time trying to make God relevant to the world. But Jesus Christ being crucified on the Cross, dieing for an ungrateful human race, being raised from the dead to give us Eternal life is as relevant as God is going to make Himself.
Though highly unpopular, there is a day of reckoning coming. Jesus isn’t trying to convince anyone to be saved. He is searching out his own sheep and knows us by name. We hear His voice and come to Him. Some now, some later. But every story has a beginning, a middle and an end. Every story ends.
Years ago a pastor from Brazil visited the church I was attending. I’ll never forget theses words in his message,
“If they have no thirst leave them no water. “