Billy Graham: Science and God

DEAR REV. GRAHAM: As far as I'm concerned, religion is based on superstition and myth. I think people dreamed up the idea of "God" just to help them deal with their fears. Now that we have science, we don't need God. Why should we keep believing in something that doesn't exist?
-- R.H.

The answer is really very simple. We shouldn't believe in things that don't exist. Yet for a myriad or reasons, many people do.

DEAR R.H.: Let me ask you a question: If we no longer need God because of science, then why do so many scientists and other intellectuals still believe in Him? Some don't, of course, but over the years I've been privileged to meet many who do -- and who not only believe in God but are also committed Christians.

Yes, plenty of scientists are believers. But a 2009 study found that while 83% of the general public believe in God, only 33% of scientists do. So that right there tells you that scientific knowledge can and does erode the need for belief. But why is the number 33% and not 0%? Well that is due to a few reasons. Many still believe due to emotional reasons. But the most important factor is compartmentalization. Religious scientists tend to not subject their religious beliefs to the same rigorous scrutiny that they apply to their scientific work.

In fact, many of these men and women have told me their scientific investigations actually had led them to faith.

Billy must not talk to very many scientists...

As they studied the world around them, they realized it was far more logical to believe in an all-wise Creator than to believe everything happened by chance.

Or apparently any good ones either. The conclusion that 'magic' is a more logical conclusion than the scientific one that is rooted in evidence is not logical, and is not good science in the slightest.

They also began examining the life of Jesus Christ and weighing carefully His claim to be God in human flesh, sent from heaven to save us and change us. As they did, they came to realize He was not a myth, but that in Him alone "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3).

So they studied all the evidence for Jesus' existence (that is none by the way) and concluded that a magical man that left no evidence of his existence wasn't a myth? Right... Sorry, but this is either a case of scientists that were believers first compartmentalizing, if he's actually talking about actual scientists at all.

I suspect your real problem is that you want to run your own life, without God to interfere with whatever you might want to do.

I love how Billy loves to throw this gem around. "You just want to run your own life." His reasoning presupposes that we do believe in God but are acting in defiance. But here's the thing, if we did believe, we would know he is all-powerful and that the price is steep. We would know that if God (being all-powerful) wanted us to do X, Y or Z, there's nothing we could do about it anyway. We would also believe that we are going to Hell because of our actions. So who would believe in God yet consciously choose to pointlessly try to defy this all-powerful being, and choose the outcome of eternal torment?

The real answer is really much simpler. We actually don't believe in God, and it's usually because there is no good reason to believe in a God that is not evidenced in the least.

-Brain Hulk

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