Is God Dead

Is God Dead?

Why God Won’t Go Away
Last week, we began to look at the research findings of two neuro-physicians who
conducted extensive research studying the relationship between human consciousness and “the
persistent, particularly human longing to connect with something larger than ourselves.”

Darwinians have long argued that religion is simply a human invention that evolved to serve as a
coping mechanism in a cruel world. Nietzsche even went so far as to claim that God “needs
himself and makes himself necessary. He is a type of circulus vitiosus deus” (God is a vicious
circle). Likewise, since religion is a mythical creation of the evolving human mind, there are
striking similarities between all religions throughout history. Or so it would seem.

Drs. Newburg and D’Aquili eventually reached a point in their research where science
could take them no further saying, “We were left with two mutually exclusive possibilities: either
spiritual experience is nothing more than a neurological construct created by and contained
within the brain, or the state of absolute union that the mystics describe does in fact exist and the
mind has developed the capacity to perceive it.” But how, exactly, does the mind “develop” its
own capacity to perceive it? Darwin can only say—evolution—of course. But there are some real
problems when we think about the “evolution of the mind.” According to Darwin, evolution
proceeds from simple to complex, step-by-step, selecting only those traits that provide an
immediate survival advantage to the species. A few weeks ago, we used the example of a bicycle
evolving into a motorcycle to show the impossibility of such a progression. In the same way, it is
hard to imagine what type of advantage a species has by possessing only a partially functional
capacity of neurological transcendence. Newburg rightly notes, “Evolution, after all, doesn’t plan
ahead.” Like the bicycle, it does not tolerate the extra deadweight of a motorcycle engine block
because it knows that someday it will be a shiny motorcycle; no, evolution is blind. The
advantage to the species must be immediate. It is “hard to find a reason,” says Newburg, “why
natural selection would tolerate these natural developments, which would not be operational for
millions of years.” In fact, the same holds for many Darwinian “adaptations.” If we think about
Michael Behe’s Irreducible Complexity—the idea that there are complex biological systems that
are only functional as a complete unit—we quickly see that no bird can fly without a fully
developed wing. But the evolution of the bird wing, it is suggested, took countless generations to
develop fully and functionally. Therein lies the problem; half a bird’s wing is not much of an
advantage to the bird. Biologist Steven Jay Gould once asked, “What good is half a jaw or half a
wing?” Evolution does not tolerate partially completed projects for thousands—millions of years
with an eye toward a brilliant final plan.

Even so, the good doctors conclude with this assessment: “Our understanding of the brain
and the way it judges for us what is real argues compellingly that the existence of an absolute
higher reality or power is at least as rationally possible as is the existence of a purely material
world.” Okay, there is a 50-50 chance, they say, that a God exists that humans can commune
with. Just looking at the brain’s capacity for neurological transcendence alone, we can say it is
just as likely that the idea of God is just a mind game as it is likely that a supernatural Creator
truly exists.

Newburg and D’Aquili set out in their research and subsequent book, Why God Won’t Go
Away, to answer precisely that question: Why have human beings always grasped for a
transcendental supreme Being? What is it about the mind of man in which the thought of God
never goes away? Perhaps there is a third possibility. Maybe it is that the human mind’s capacity
to perceive the Divine may be by design so that mankind might glimpse the ultimate reality of a
genuinely divine Creator and Designer. For Christians, this is the natural outworking of man
having been created in the imago Dei (image of God; Gen 1:27). It is a deep-seated longing that
resides in all of mankind who yearn to commune with the Creator in whose “image and likeness”
they were created. It is what that portion of the mind was created, fully formed and highly
functional, for. And THAT is Why God Won’t Go Away. He is as much a part of the human
mind’s self as what makes you smile or makes you sad. It seems enormously unlikely that
experiencing God through the neurology of transcendence “evolved” from common, think-less
atoms.
Even still, Friedrich Nietzsche’s Madman screams from the town square: “God is Dead!”
But what exactly did Nietzsche’s Parable of a Madman say, and why does it even matter? Join
me again next week as we take a deeper look at the world of a Madman to help us possibly
answer the question: Is God Dead?

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics and relief
preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife, Vicki, are members of the Waurika
church of Christ and live in Ardmore, OK. You can contact him at dr.kerley@isGoddead.com.