Many do
not understand the concept of faith. They think that Christians are weak
intellectually, believing with insufficient evidence. Atheists often adhere to
an unproven underlying assumption, that reason is the highest way to find
truth. They have not understood that faith is actually a very positive
attribute. Jesus thanked God the Father for not just revealing His truth to the
intellectuals, but for sending His gift of faith to the humble. He said, “I
thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things
from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes” (Matt 11:25).
Bishop
Kallistos Ware, in his introduction to the book “The Art of Prayer”, talks
about three elements of man – body, soul and spirit. He goes on to say that
body, soul and spirit each have their special way of knowing: the body, through
the five senses; the soul through intellectual reasoning; the spirit can come
to a mystical perception that transcends man’s ordinary rational processes.
What is
implied in your question is as follows. Science has made very impressive
progress. Atheists often claim that faith in God is a feeble attempt to “fill
in the gaps”. In previous centuries thinkers would, for example, study the
amazing beauty and order of nature, but could not explain how such order could
have come about just by chance, so concluded there must be a creator. Belief in
God filled this “gap”. Science then progressed: for example, Charles Darwin came
up with the clever idea of “survival of the fittest”. Science had filled this
gap, so there was no longer a need to invoke the concept of a creator. Your
question implies that now that we have reached the 21st century, virtually all
the gaps have been filled by science.
Thorough
knowledge of science can lead to a different conclusion. Yes, science may have
offered a plausible explanation for some gaps, but as science has progressed it
has found other gaps. For example, modern physics has realised that it has no
explanation for the amazing “biofriendliness” of the universe. There are about
30 basic parameters (e.g., the speed of light, Planck’s constant), which if
they were a little different to their present values, would mean no life and
certainly no humans. Scientists have done calculations and realized that if the
speed of light or one of these other constants was only 1% more or less, or if
the laws of physics did not happen to be exactly what they are, then there
would be no life. The earth would not be continuously orbiting around the sun,
there would be no carbon, therefore no DNA, and thus no life.
Another
example is the so-called mind-brain debate. Even in the 21st century, no
atheist has been able to come up with a convincing explanation of what
philosophers call the “hard problem of consciousness”. We are aware that we
exist, we can feel. An atheist believes that this can be “reduced” to physical
processes occurring in our brains, that somehow out of the complex wiring of
our brains there “emerges” self-awareness. They seem to start with the
assumption that there is no God, they admit that currently we have no physical
explanation for self-awareness, but conclude that there must be some physical
explanation, that one day science and our imagination will progress and we will
explain this gap as well. We in the Church however have received from God
revelation that every human being has an immortal and eternal soul, which is
closely connected with his body. The Church has a deep knowledge of human nature
– man unites with his existence the tangible and intangible world.
Space
does not permit me to give other detailed examples. We could have also referred
to modern scholarly research on the “genre” of the Gospels: they do not have
the features of “legend” but of “eye-witness accounts”.
In
conclusion, an unbiased thinker can be convinced that it takes more faith to be
an atheist than to be a Christian. We need to be humble and strive against the
passions, we need philotimo, and to look into our faith with an open mind. We
need to strive to truly pray and live the life of the Church. St Silouan was
speaking from experience when he used to say, “It is one thing to know about
God, and another to know God”. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God” (Matt 5:8).
Source: https://www.lychnos.org/how-is-it-possible-to-believe-in-god-in-the-21st-century/
CONVERSATION