God of the gaps?
Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2006 11:44 am
Hello all. I'm new to this board, and I have a burning question that I think you can help me with. I recently read a book, (God, Time and Stephen Hawking by David Wilkinson, anyone ever heard of it?) that disturbed me a great deal. It's written by a Christian, but Wilkinson basically makes the argument that the cosmological and teleological arguments are comitting the God of the gaps fallacy, and that we shouldn't be using them. He says that God should never be used to explain anything, because a naturalistic explanation could come along and narrow the gaps we put God in. Any comments on this? How would you respond to someone who said that God can never be used in place of a naturalistic explanation? (This book bothered me alot, and I was sort of a tangential doubter to begin with, so I would really appreciate any of your takes on this.)
Ok, when I started this I should have said that I had burning questions as opposed to question, so here's one more. I've been talking to a friend of mine lately who is an atheist, (really debating would be a better word) anyway, this is what he says:
"My philosophical objections seems to be, primarily, that the existence of God is answering a question by raising another question, which tends to lead in circles; it causes unnecessary complexity."
How should I respond to this?
Thanks for any help.
Ok, when I started this I should have said that I had burning questions as opposed to question, so here's one more. I've been talking to a friend of mine lately who is an atheist, (really debating would be a better word) anyway, this is what he says:
"My philosophical objections seems to be, primarily, that the existence of God is answering a question by raising another question, which tends to lead in circles; it causes unnecessary complexity."
How should I respond to this?
Thanks for any help.