to all my atheist siblings, Is The Scientific World indeed turning to God?read all before answering.?

Question

The Scientific World is turning to God.
“As people have certainly been influenced by me, I want to try and correct the enormous damage I may have done.” (Anthony Flew)
The newspapers these days are echoing with these regret-filled words by Antony Flew, in his time a well-known atheist philosopher. The 81-year-old British professor of philosophy Flew chose to become an atheist at the age of 15, and first made a name for himself in the academic field with a paper published in 1950. In the 54 years that followed, he defended atheism as a teacher at the universities of Oxford, Aberdeen, Keele and Reading, at many American and Canadian universities he visited, in debates, books, lecture halls and articles. In recent days, however, Flew has announced that he has abandoned this error and accepts that the universe was created.
The decisive factor in this radical change of view is the clear and definitive evidence revealed by science on the subject of creation. Flew realized, in the face of the information-based complexity of life, that the true origin of life is intelligent design and that the atheism he had espoused for 66 years was a discredited philosophy.
Flew announced the scientific reasons underlying this change in belief in these terms:
“Biologists’ investigation of DNA has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce [life], that intelligence must have been involved.”[1]
“It has become inordinately difficult even to begin to think about constructing a naturalistic theory of the evolution of that first reproducing organism.”[2]
“I have been persuaded that it is simply out of the question that the first living matter evolved out of dead matter and then developed into an extraordinarily complicated creature.”[3]
The DNA research which Flew cites as a fundamental reason for his change of opinion has indeed revealed striking facts about creation. The helix shape of the DNA molecule, its possession of the genetic code, the nucleotide strings that refute blind chance, the storage of encyclopedic quantities of information and many other striking findings have revealed that the structure and functions of this molecule were arranged for life with a special design. Comments by scientists concerned with DNA research bear witness to this fact.
Francis Crick, for instance, one of the scientists who revealed the helix shape of DNA admitted in the face of the findings regarding DNA that the origin of life indicated a miracle:
An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going.[4]
Based on his calculations, Led Adleman of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles has stated that one gram of DNA can store as much information as a trillion compact discs.[5] Gene Myers, a scientist employed on the Human Genome Project, has said the following in the face of the miraculous arrangements he witnessed:
“What really astounds me is the architecture of life… The system is extremely complex. It’s like it was designed… There’s a huge intelligence there.”[6]
The most striking fact about DNA is that the existence of the coded genetic information can definitely not be explained in terms of matter and energy or natural laws. Dr. Werner Gitt, a professor at the German Federal Institute of Physics and Technology, has said this on the subject:
A code system is always the result of a mental process… It should be emphasized that matter as such is unable to generate any code. All experiences indicate that a thinking being voluntarily exercising his own free will, cognition, and creativity, is required… There is no known natural law through which matter can give rise to information, neither is any physical process or material phenomenon known that can do this.[7]
Creationist scientists and philosophers played a major role in Flew’s acceptance of intelligent design, backed up by all these findings. In recent times Flew participated in debates with scientists and philosophers who were proponents of creation, and exchanged ideas with them. The final turning point in that process was a discussion organized by the Institute for Metascientific Research in Texas in May, 2003. Professor Flew participated in the discussion together with the author, Roy Abraham Varghese, a physicist, and the molecular biologist, Gerald Schroeder. Flew was impressed by the weight of the scientific evidence in favor of creation and by the convincing nature of his opponents’ arguments and abandoned atheism as an idea in the period following that discussion. In a letter he wrote for the August-September, 2003, edition of the British magazine Philosophy Now, he recommended Schroeder’s book “The Hidden Face of God: Science Reveals the Ultimate Truth” and Varghese’s book “The Wonderful World.”[8] During an interview with the professor of philosophy and theology Gary R. Habermas, who also played a major role in his change of mind,[9] and also on the video “Has Science Discovered God?” he openly stated that he believed in intelligent design.
The “Intelligence Pervading the Universe” and the Collapse of Atheism
In the face of all the scientific developments outlined above, the acceptance of intelligent design by Anthony Flew, famous for defending atheism for many years, reflects a final scene in the process of collapse which atheism is being subjected to Modern science has revealed the existence of an “intelligence pervading the universe,” thus leaving atheism out of the equation.
In his book “The Hidden Face of God,” Gerald Schroeder, one of the creationist scientists who influenced Flew, writes:
A single consciousness, a universal wisdom, pervades the universe. The discoveries of science, those that search the quantum nature of subatomic matter, have moved us to the brink of a startling realization: all existence is the expression of this wisdom. In the laboratories we experience it as information that first physically articulated as energy and then condensed into the form of matter. Every particle, every being, from atom to human, appears to represent a level of information, of wisdom.[10]
Scientific research into both the functioning of the cell and the subatomic particles of matter has revealed this fact in an indisputable manner: Life and the universe were brought into being from nothing by the will of an entity possessed of a superior mind and wisdom. There is no doubt that the possessor of that knowledge and mind that designed the universe at all levels is Almighty God. God reveals these truths in many verses of the Quran.



Footnotes:
[1] Richard N. Ostling, “Lifelong atheist changes mind about divine creator,” The Washington Times 10 December 2004; (http://washingtontimes.com/national/20041209-113212-2782r.htm.)
[2] Antony Flew, “Letter from Antony Flew on Darwinism and Theology,” Philosophy Now; (http://www.philosophynow.org/issue47/47flew.htm.)
[3] Stuart Wavell and Will Iredale, “Sorry, says atheist-in-chief, I do believe in God after all,” The Sunday Times, 12 December 2004; (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1400368,00.html)
[4] Francis Crick, Life Itself: Its Origin and Nature, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1981, p. 88
[5] John Whitfield, “Physicists plunder life’s tool chest”, 24 April 2003; (http://www.nature.com/nsu/030421/030421-6.html)
[6] San Francisco Chronicle, 19 February, 2001
[7] Werner Gitt, In the Beginning Was Information, CLV, Bielenfeld, Germany, pp. 64-7, 79
[8] Antony Flew, “Letter from Antony Flew on Darwinism and Theology,” Philosophy Now; (http://www.philosophynow.org/issue47/47flew.htm.)
[9] “Atheist Becomes Theist: Exclusive Interview with Former Atheist Antony Flew;” (http://www.biola.edu/antonyflew/index.cfm.)
[10] Gerald Schroeder, The Hidden Face of God, Touchston

Answer 1

Sorry, the term "Creationist scientist" has as much credibility to me as "atheist theologian" would have to you.

An example of poor scientific statement in your article: "There is no known natural law through which matter can give rise to information . . ." Since clearly there indeed appears to be (because it has happened), a true scientist making that statement would explain his basis for this statement. It's like someone telling you that water can't freeze, but ignoring all the ice in the world.

By the way, how much of your money does "creationist scientists" make from books that tell you what you want to hear?

Answer 2

God exist, it is just to what degree of existence that seems to be in dispute. What I mean by god exist is that as idea it exist no matter what, now as explanation this is where the dispute begins. If you are fairly knowledgeable in science then you began to realize that if left to chance the odds are stacked humans to have ever come to exist the more we learn the more we find how greatly those odds are so it seems quite natural that someone would say OK maybe there is something else going on, like we were meant to exist. Science and religion are really to tools that seek to do the same thing, find answers, that they would overlap at some point seems inevitable. As for me I hope there is a pervading order to the universe because that would mean we could hope to someday understand it, but of course that will always beg the question from Where does the order arise.
God is a really good answer to that question for the reasons you pointed out in the above.
That being the case it would not be unreasonable to continue on under that assumption, however the god as defined by the above is not the classic sense of the word at all, but rather it is just like saying there is a reason that humans can make sense of and gain knowledge about the universe.
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to tooka you are just attacking the classical christian god, and that is not very productive as it has already been shown to be an in accurate discription.
I should remind you that atheism requires faith and asserts a universal truth and in my opinion is just as much a religion as is christianity, perhaps some should consider this when they accuse religion of one evil or another.
So far as science is concerened the number of universe that can exist without humans is far greater then the number that can suport humans if you don't think that is interesting then tell me what is.
trina when you say life has been created do you mean that humans have made life to arrise from matter that was not living prior to human interfence i.e. humans recreated life at a basic level or do you simply mean that we can use biological material to create new life. If we formed life without any biological aid in a lab somewhere this is news to me and if anyone can tell me where to read up on this I would be greatful.

Answer 3

I agree with rhsaunde, Houston, we have a probl, Ultraviolet Oasis, Trina and Nick l .


First thing i should say science is completely different from spirituality, they are against each other.

It just shows their lack of information! Although where are the Atheists ideas? You are just discussing it in one side...

Anyway can they answer these questions too:

Even if there is a God why does he need us to pray him?

If God is all-powerful, why did he take 6 days to create the universe, resting on the 7th? Why didn't he just snap his proverbial fingers and create everything all at once, and not need rest afterwards? Doesn't sound so all-powerful to me.


If God knows the future, why does he make mistakes? He should have known he would regret the flood, and that Sodom and Gomora would be full of sinners, etc.


Why does God need to be "served", and why can't we do it from heaven?


Yes, we have free will, but God already knows who will sin, who will accept Him, etc, for all eternity (since he has perfect knowledge of the future). Why then, are we here? Why not just send our souls to Heaven or Hell, depending on what he knows we'll do?


Why does God care if he is praised? He is this all-knowing, super being, why does he care if we mere humans give him credit for creating the universe?


How can you justify the fact that this merciful, loving god is sending all non-Christians to Hell, no matter how good they are? Even those from before Christ was born went to hell. However, terrible people, including Hitler and Jeffrey Dahmer, could go to Heaven if they repented before death.


Why does this wonderful, forgiving God hold Adam's sin over all our heads? Why must we all pay for this by being permanent sinners? If God was so pissed, why didn't he just kill Adam and Eve and start over? Again, this is God's choice, so they're going to have to explain why God CHOOSES to hold this incredible grudge.


Where did God come from? How did he get created? Why is it a valid argument to say that He "always existed", but an invalid argument to say the same thing about matter and energy?

Answer 4

No! the scientific world is not jumping the fence. This is simply an old bird getting shaky as his mortality nears. It is a very common occurrence in the medical field. Reading through some of your paragraphs indicates that some of the quoted do not understand, fully, the definition, or concept, of evolution. Might I suggest, "The Selfish Gene," by R. Dawkins to be read and understood by those you quote. Additionally, humans find it very hard to believe so much complexity could have come from proteins and/or genes. The genes or proteins aren't 'intelligent' enough to have method or order. The are fooled by the fact of what can happen over hundreds of millions of years by CHANCE!!!! alone.

Answer 5

Humans are very good at making mistakes. They also get a bee in their bonnet. They can also just be silly.

For someone to return to theism after a lifetime of an atheistic inclination is unusual but I seriously doubt that science will ever be overturned by the "theory" of intelligent design. I myself am very much aware of the complexity involved in the process of evolution from the very beginning of the universe to the formation of primeval hydrogen and so on onto today. I see no need whatsoever for a designer.

If the designer is there and he is responsible for the design of my life, I would sincerely love to kick him in the posterior region for a few million eons. Who would design such a crapfest as my life is?

Answer 6

Antony Flew's conclusion in later life was based on an ancient philosophical insight that the contingency of the world presupposes a reality that is not contingent. He did not give assent to a personal God or to a particular revelation. He did not experience something akin to a religious conversion, he simply changed his mind in regards to the ideas that the universe is simply in itself self-explanatory and that a materialist philosophy can account for the mystery of the intelligibility of existence.

Answer 7

Make a decision not to turn into one of those party people who drink all the time and get intimate with guys. Make a decision to be a positive and sweet individual. Be safe...Love you sis. <3

Answer 8

I agree entirely with the first responder. Firstly, there is simply no evidence of any sort which suggests the existence of any sort of god, and there is a considerable amount which indicates there is no such thing [ref. 1]. Secondly, religion requires the belief in supernatural phenomena, while science explicitly disallows such; no person can simultaneously be both religious and a true scientist. But the principal difficulty with the god notion is that it is provably useless: you cannot use any theory of god to predict the outcome of any earthly activity. Which makes it totally pointless.

Answer 9

God is the why, science is the how.

People can believe fully in God and still want to how the universe works.

Science and God are not mutually exclusive. If God hadn't wanted us to question and analyze our world, why did he make us curious?

Answer 10

theres' no way i';m reading all that. Suffice it to say that Mr. Flew is now understanding that he was a dupe. Fundies manipulated the poor old man and they wrote the book and basically put his name on it