Is There A God?

The Philosophy Club at Ashland University is starting up an annual debate. They kick off their yearly scrum with a debate on whether or not God exists (Friday March 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the Student Center Auditorium).

It used to be that Theology was considered the Queen of the Sciences. But in today's society, theology is considered more of a joker. Instead of being the height of intellectual inquiry, it is relegated to the basement or outhouse (this is true even among many evangelicals!). Therefore man's belief in the existence of God has descended too.

I have mixed feelings about the choice of topic for the first debate. On the one hand I commend them them for starting with the question of ultimate starting points. Is God foundational to all we do or not? Moreover, engaging today's society means that one must be able to zero in on the reality of theism and the demand of God on people's lives.

On the other hand, it rubs me the wrong way, for it is skepticism at its best.

Defending the faith is vital to one's life as a christian. The work of apologetics (just a fancy word for "defending the faith") is of the utmost importance and has proven vital throughout history. Christianity would have died out quickly if it could not have given an answer for the hope within them to the pagans all around them.

Yet Christians understand that everyone already knows that God exists. It is only due to man's utter depravity that they suppress that truth and live otherwise (Romans 1).

As well, God is not one who, as CS Lewis used to say, should "be put in the dock." (In England, when a case is being tried, the one on trial is put in a certain designated area called "the dock"). In other words, man is not to sit in judgement of God, God is the one who sits in judgment of man.

The evening looks to be an intriguing one. If anything it will most likely reveal something about the state of Christianity on the campus. I simply hope that the students defending the Christian theistic position take the right approach.

When engaging in such an affair one does not "prove" God's existence by mere proofs. Fallen man will not accept those assertions, otherwise he would have believed long ago.

Defending Christianity is a lot like a game I used to play when I was a child. When it would snow and the trucks had plowed it all up into a large mound at the corner of the parking lot, we would play "King of the Mountain." Everyone would try scramble to the top and then you would try to push everyone else down. The one who stays on top was the king.

Christianity defends itself like that, by going on the offensive. Christianity remains atop because it is true. No one can topple it because it is the only consistent and coherent philosophy of life. Being that it is God, you wouldn't expect anything else now, would you?

All other religions and philosophies are based on lies. Because they are born out of false claims, they will collapse if pressed. This is an old debate tactic called reductio ad absurdom found in Proverbs 24, "Rebuke a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes." What you do is take your opponent's thesis to its extreme in order to show how it contradicts itself and is completely absurd to all reason.

For instance, the scientific atheist would say life is based on the scientific method. If you can't see, taste, touch & feel it, then it doesn't exist. Their argument would go like this: You can't examine God in this way, so he must not exist. But the Christian responds, "Can you see, taste touch feel the scientific method?" Of course not. It is a self refuting argument. Your opponent has been cast down.

Christian theism remains atop of the mountain because it cannot be defeated. I just hope the students are good debaters and take this tactic. Otherwise we could end up looking silly.

Yet, knowing that I have made such blunders and more, I'm glad that God's existence does not depend on my feeble debate skills.

Since my wife and child will be out of town that weekend, I'll be heading up. If anyone wants to tag along with me, let me know.