Former Atheist Explains How Rationality, Not Emotion, Encourages Religious Belief

“Today’s atheists insist that religion and Christianity are necessary because they provide the emotional crutch for difficult times. But Lewis’ journey provides a different picture. Who do you think is right?” - Intellectual Takeout

Discussion

Francis Schaeffer discussed this problem at some length in The God Who Is There. Arguing that western culture had lost any rational definition of truth (Schaeffer’s “antithesis”… the idea that any true assertion falsifies its opposite) with the result that in philosophy, the arts, and eventually theology, thought leaders widely embraced “connotation words” — words that evoke the right sort of feelings but aren’t intended to communicate the realities they used to be used to communicate (Schaeffer uses the term “space-time reality” to emphasize the distinction between real meaning vs. metaphors and mood words).

So many of the modern atheists are now saying religion is untrue but useful. Thinkers have been saying this for quite a while now, but it does seem to be gaining popularity. (Shaeffer uses the word “despair” a lot in reference to idea that mankind can only cope by embracing lies. Our suicide rate is not coincidental in my opinion.)

The Bible insists that what we are called to believe really happened in real places at real points in history … and that faith has real consequences as it relates us properly to the God who is real — “The God Who Is There.”

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.