Answers to Atheists • Philosophical

IS NATURALISM RECONCILABLE WITH THEISM?

Can Theism and Naturalism be mutually exclusive? While such distinctions are commonly considered completely unrelated, such convictions are ultimately based on a faulty understanding of the positions.

The practice of naturalistic processes within scientific experiments is both logical and correct. Using predictable natural laws, we should expect natural effects from natural causes in the present– but this does not deal with how we got here. Philosophical Naturalism deals with origins. Therefore, Naturalism and Theism, as related to origins, are definitionally and logically irreconcilable.

Naturalism is defined as “the philosophical belief that everything arises from natural properties and causes, and supernatural or spiritual explanations are excluded…”-1

Theism is defined as “belief in the existence of a god or gods, especially belief in one god as creator of the universe…-1

https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/ Bold is mine.
Use of the term Naturalism over time.

Naturalism:  No God with an ultimate reality of materialism; All that exists is physical; no supernatural: the only source of knowledge is obtained by the scientific method; Human Beings are the result of the random process of evolution; Ethics have no objective moral values.  

Theism:  God exists and is distinct from His creation; a real physical universe exists that was created by God; Biblical knowledge, as well as reason and science, apply; Human Beings were created in God’s image, as were all life forms; We are both spiritual and physical beings; Ethics provide an objective moral value as revealed by God in The Bible.

Unfortunately, even millions who profess to be Christians deny many of the claims of the Bible as allegory, poetry, or even mere fictional storytelling. These individuals, even entire denominations of faith, proclaim faith in God while simultaneously doubting much of the Biblical text. Effectively disregarding many accounts in The Bible, such as the Creation of The Universe by God (origin), a literal Adam & Eve (origin), the global wide flood judgment (historical), and many others. A prophecy in The Second Book of Peter claims that God’s special creation and The Global Flood will be long forgotten (disregarded- even scoffed at) in the last days. It turns out to be true even with Christians.

“(Know) this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts…For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water (Gods creation of the earth and the universe), by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. (Global Flood). ”

1- 2 Peter 3: 1-6 NKJV (parenthesis, italics, and bold are mine)
Where do you stand on these? Do you believe in Gods Creation of the universe and life by kinds? How about The Global Flood?

Creationism is defined as “the belief that the universe and living organisms orginated from specific acts of divine creation, as in the biblical account, rather than by natural processes such as evolution.”-1

Atheism is defined as “disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.”-1

Atheism (disbelief in God) → Naturalism (trust in natural laws, exclusion of God or the supernatural). LOGICAL.

Theism (belief in God) → Creationism (trust in Scriptures). LOGICAL.

Naturalism (again: trust in natural laws, exclusion of God or the supernatural) → Theism (belief in God). ILLOGICAL. IRRECONCILABLE.

Naturalism and Theism are opposite terms. Naturalism & Atheism, like Theism & Creationism, are definitionally and philosophically conjoined twins. These pairs are like two infants sharing the same heart. Neither can thrive or survive without the other. Naturalism reinforces Atheism just as a belief in God reinforces Creationism. A Naturalist-Christian is a contradiction in terms; it is oxymoronic.

This is a major cause for the spread of unbelievers and atheism today. It is the false philosophical conclusion of Naturalism.

The foundation of this ministry is set on revealing the vast weaknesses and often irrationality of the claims of Naturalism regarding specifically origins and life. The hope is to open up cracks in the vast fault lines of Naturalism so one might catch a glimpse of the possibility of God. These pursuits are just the proverbial planting and spreading of seeds tossed by the handful. What soil the seeds fall into, we cannot know. Some are hard as concrete. However, the soil (heart) is between that individual and God.

https://www.barna.com/research/changing-state-of-the-church/

From the website Evolution is True it wraps up my thesis perfectly: “A new American values survey by The Pew Research Center gives some good news about faith: it’s weakening in America’s youth (indoctrination of Naturalism!) …All of us who dislike religion and love evolution should be happy about this trend…For acceptance of evolution will follow unbelief as the night follows day.”
 

https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2012/06/14/signs-that-religion-is-waning-among-americas-youth/

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