Does God Exist? ABC Debate

Last night ABC Nightline featured a face-off with Kirk Cameron from the 80's sit-com "Growing Pains" and his preacher, Roy Comfort of the "Way of the Master" congregation on one side and two atheists who called themselves the Rational Responders Squad (Brian Sapient and a woman who refused to give her last name but called Kelly) on the other.

Cameron and Comfort presented as evidence for God the design of the universe, moral conscience, and God's revelation as three evidences for God. They certainly came at it from the point of view of Truth with a capital T. Their claim that God is 100% scientifically provable, however, overplays their hand. While the evidence from design suggests that either within or outside the universe intelligence is at work, it is still a huge jump from a Creator or Designer to the personal God of the Bible. Moral conscience provides support for moral accountability of a higher power, and when these two things are set along side the witness of Holy Scripture, then it becomes reasonable to assume that the Creator of the universe is addressing us. What it does not do is prove God’s existence beyond dispute. I agree with Kirk and Roy that believing in God is not a blind leap. On the other hand, it is not a slam-dunk. People will find God only when they want to enough to search for Him with all their heart.

The arguments presented by both sides were not new. The Christian argument from design (the clockmaker) goes back to an eighteenth century cleric, William Paley. The atheists' arguments are no different than they were back in the 1790's. The atheists claim the Bible is full of errors and consists of mythology; further, they say it is indecent, bloody, and vile. No thoughtful person could ever be drawn by it. Christ never really existed, or if he did, he was merely a rabble rouser that made so much noise they turned him into a God (Voltaire). The virgin birth, they opine, is a blasphemous obscenity. The cross is absurd, because the suffering of one person could never in any way help another. And no loving God would make it so. Neither would a loving God allow suffering in the world. Science has long since established that miracles don't happen, and dead people don't get up. Case closed.

Half the audience was Christian, the other half were atheists. Perhaps the most shocking part of the program was the open contempt for Kirk and Roy shown by the two atheists and some in the crowd. Kelly (the woman in the partnership) made the point that even if there were a God, she would rather go to hell than have to go to heaven and be in the presence of that megalomaniac. In one instance, the atheists engaged in name-calling of the Christian team. Their contempt was evident asd they invited those watching to join them in blaspheming the Holy Spirit (understood as the unforgivable sin of the Bible).

Timothy Dwight, President of Yale in 1799, and grandson of Jonathan Edwards, was facing similar contempt over 200 years ago. His response is appropriate for today:

"Contempt is the spirit and ridicule is the weapon that opposes Christianity. Yet clearly the cause which needs these weapons cannot be just; the doctrine which cannot be supported without them must be false."

Dwight goes on to say that arguments using contempt resort to a kind of blackmail. They say to their hearers, "If you agree with the Christians, you will become objects of scorn and be wounded by the shafts of derision. Aren't you afraid to declare yourself friends to a cause which has been the standing jest of so many men of wit? When one of our youth watched it on TV, their response was -- "Well, there's no question which one of these teams I'd want to be on. And it isn't the one that is full of hate."

On Nightline's web site, we see that some people actually tried to push Cameron and Comfort around. Cameron concluded that since the evidence for God is strong, people disbelieved not because of honest doubt but because the notion of a Sovereign God interferes with the way the want to run their own lives. Hmmmm. Let’s be grateful to God for this actor and preacher who are willing to endure some opposition and persecution to stand up for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This Article was published on 06/15/2007 and filed in