In this talk at Harvard University, Ravi Zacharias digs into the philosophy of atheism and addresses the question, "Is atheism dead, is God alive?" This four part series on MP3s is from Ravi's Just Thinking Podcast. Find a lengthier talk here at Veritas, as well as an audio Q&A here. This has also been added to the Ultimate Apologetics MP3 Audio Page. For more on atheism from Ravi, check out his book The Real Face of Atheism
.Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Enjoy.
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3 comments :
Ravi is truly an amazing guy. He makes you think..of course that's only if you want to think right? ;)
He, along with John MacArthur are the ones that made everything make sense to me putting more of a reasonable perspective on God.
Thanks for posting this!
Ravi states that one's belief system (including beliefs about God) comes about in one of three possible ways, or “levels” - the theoretical, the artistic, and the prescriptivist. I would like to ask him, "What really is the difference between the last two?" To my mind, they appear, as he describes them, to be similar.
The theoretical approach involves the philosophical argumentation that has been going on for thousands of years about the big questions, including God's existence. The artistic approach consists in how these questions are addressed in literature, song, movies, etc. The prescriptive approach is illustrated by those who say they believe what they do because the Bible says so.
Now, Ravi contends that the first two approaches are the only valid ones that can be used with unbelievers. The third is not useful, since it is purely subjective. What I wonder is how is the second not subjective? If someone comes to believe what they do about the ultimate questions because “Kurt Cobain's lyrics ring SO true,” is that not subjective? Is such a person not effectively appealing to the artist as the authority for his or her belief?
I would contend that the difference is that the Bible, as the word of God, has objective authority. And it has God's pledge that the proclamation of its truths will accomplish His purposes. It will not return to Him void. No such claim can be made for either the theoretical or artistic approaches.
I do appreciate Ravi Zacharias' ministry. He has stimulated my thinking about important issues, but his approach here has some problems.
BTW, I was referring to the presentation at Veritas.
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