Atheist accepts the existence of God…
Famous British philosopher and atheist Antony Flew, 81, is now an ex-atheist. Despite years of debating Christians and writing books touting atheism, Flew recently stated, and is writing about, his new conclusion that scientific evidence is strong for the design of the universe by a super-intelligent being. He cites the complexity of DNA as an example of such evidence, saying “intelligence must have been involved” in its origin. Flew insists he is not espousing Christianity but believes in something more along the lines of “deism” - the notion of a detached deity, though he conceded,
“It could be a person in the sense of a being that has intelligence and purpose, I suppose.”
- (Source: Associated Press, 12/9/04) courtesy of the Christian Research Institute.
Tags: News and Media, Theology
April 6th, 2005 at 4:26 pm
I had friends at Biola that got all excited about this - as if Flew were one step closer to faith. But its difficult for me to understand what all of the flap is about. I know atheists who are much more Christian than alot of Christians and I know some Christians who live as if they’re atheists (and in fairness, I also know very faithful Christians). What a person’s philosophical views about metaphysics or an abstract deity don’t seem to matter one way or the other (unless you’re sitting in a philosophy seminar). What seems to matter is how a person’s life is conforming to the life of Jesus (forgiving enemies, caring for widows & orphans, et al).
April 7th, 2005 at 10:09 pm
This article says he’s more of a deist, than Christian
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=315976
and this suggests he didn’t really change his view at all:
http://www.rationalistinternational.net/archive/en/rationalist_2004/138.html
Here’s my guess as to what’s going on: philosophers spend their time making very careful nuances, and it takes a lifetime to appreciate some of these nuances. When the media get a hold of some nuanced statement, they throw out something that only vaguely resembles the person’s statement. My guess is that if Flew is doing interviews saying he didn’t change his mind, he probably didn’t. But when he says things one way, people misinterpret his statement to be one of atheism, and when he says them another way, people misinterpret him to be a theist, or a deist.
I would agree with Vaughn Thompson’s comment above in one respect: Christianity is not a system of statements to affirm. It is a new life given by God through His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. And yes, Jesus seems to emphasize quite a lot about good deeds over having the doctrine all squared away, though He didn’t avoid doctrinal issues either. And theologically, I would say that as Christians, it is the new life we have in Christ that transforms us toward the ideal of Christ’s good deeds. We don’t need to understand that. But we do need to let God do that in our lives.
Anyway, it sounds like I’m writing a tract, so I’ll stop.
Kevin
April 8th, 2005 at 8:34 am
I agree that he’s not saying he’s a believer in Jesus Christ, just acknowledging a Creator, whereas he must have not believed in one before.
I posted this article because I thought it was important for 2 reasons:
1) It is encouraging to see folks moving in this direction (hopefully toward a relationship with Christ), for you can’t believe that Jesus is who He said He is if you don’t first believe there’s a God.
2) No matter how atheists deny the existence of God, intellectual honesty draws them back to the truth.
April 9th, 2005 at 2:29 pm
I just heard about this book from a co-worker. I just bought his first book “The Case for Christ”. I’ve only started reading it, but it’s amazing to me that this guy went out to prove that Christ doesn’t exist and HE was the one who was changed because Christ proved to him that HE DOES exist! Most people of this nature are stronger in their walk of faith than those of us who have been raised in it. I think its awesome to see God change lives as he has in Lee Strobal.
May 23rd, 2005 at 11:20 pm
An intelligent designer does not imply “god”. It could be aliens who travelled from one solar system to the next. This sort of talk was popular in the 70’s, have you never heard of Erik Von Daniken? Einstein was against the idea of a personal god, but I bet he’d be open to intelligent beings that helped shape the universe..
August 6th, 2005 at 4:18 am
When someome asks me if I believe in God, I answer with another question. Do you believe God is a mystery? If their answer is no, then I respond by saying I don’t believe in God. If they answer yes then I tell them I do believe in God. If a person tells me they don’t believe in God I wonder how they can be so sure. None of us know how the universe came into existance. Obviously there is a force at work and I suppose God is a label we could use to describe that force. But as far as intelligent design goes, it seems to me that concept is a projection of our own very limited intelligence. Whatever is at the heart of creation goes way beyond intelligence and we are not equiped to understand it. We probably never will be. Simple observation tells me that God is impartial. We are not the center of attention and this should not be something to fear. Fear, coupled with our human ego and imagination leads us to formulate a God of our own creation.