An Argument for Design
Gord Sellar of eclexys and I have just exchanged books in a trade. He's a Canadian freethinker blogger in Korea. A while back, he wrote an scathing review* of Peter Kreeft's Between Heaven and Hell. In the comments, one of us suggested that we make a swap for Bertrand Russell's The Conquest of Happiness, which was sitting on my shelf. I offered to throw in a couple of short Marxist books I had, and he has sent me a science fiction novel entitled Calculating God, by Robert J. Sawyer.
It has been æons since I've last read any science fiction, so I opened up to a random page to see what type of writing I was in for. This is what I providentially found on page 60-1:
*I've begun reading the book and have already found its weaknesses. It is an imaginary conversation between C.S. Lewis, John F. Kennedy, and Aldous Huxley, all of whom died within a few hours of each other. These three figures represent the Theist, Humanist, and Pantheist positions. I'm on page 41, and so far Lewis has been tearing Kennedy to shreds, which probably would have happened in real life, or afterlife. Still, it seems that Prof. Kreeft could have put better arguments in his Humanist's mouth. He comes off like a straw man.
Gord Sellar of eclexys and I have just exchanged books in a trade. He's a Canadian freethinker blogger in Korea. A while back, he wrote an scathing review* of Peter Kreeft's Between Heaven and Hell. In the comments, one of us suggested that we make a swap for Bertrand Russell's The Conquest of Happiness, which was sitting on my shelf. I offered to throw in a couple of short Marxist books I had, and he has sent me a science fiction novel entitled Calculating God, by Robert J. Sawyer.
It has been æons since I've last read any science fiction, so I opened up to a random page to see what type of writing I was in for. This is what I providentially found on page 60-1:
- But this strange expanding-before-freezing is hardly the only remarkable thermal property water has. In fact, it has seven different thermal parameters, all of which are unique or nearly so in the chemical world, and all of which independently are necessary for the existence of life. The chances of any of them having the aberrant value it does must be multiplied by the chances of the other six liekewise being aberrant. The likelihood of water having these unique thermal properties by chance is almost nil."
*I've begun reading the book and have already found its weaknesses. It is an imaginary conversation between C.S. Lewis, John F. Kennedy, and Aldous Huxley, all of whom died within a few hours of each other. These three figures represent the Theist, Humanist, and Pantheist positions. I'm on page 41, and so far Lewis has been tearing Kennedy to shreds, which probably would have happened in real life, or afterlife. Still, it seems that Prof. Kreeft could have put better arguments in his Humanist's mouth. He comes off like a straw man.
Redeemed by Our Savior, I work out my salvation with fear and trembling in Pohang, South Korea, where I live with my wife, daughter, and son and teach English at a science and technology university. Baptized a Methodist and raised a Missouri Synod Lutheran in Buffalo, NY, I spent six years as a guest of the Anglican Communion before being received by the Grace of God into the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church on the Feast of Saint Andrew, my patron, anno domini 2002.
<< Home