Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

I saw this documentary a month or so ago and just wanted to recommend it to everyone. Here are some insights of mine on it:

I may be mistaken, but I believe that the basis of the movie "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" is that the scientific community is not as objective as it should be on hot button issues. The Theory of Evolution is used as an example of how science has been transformed into a battlefield for a war between theists and atheists. Pride, politics, preconceptions, and political correctness have all turned the scientific community into a "hostile and subjective" environment for theories that go against mainstream thinking.

Even though this may be true to a certain extent, I believe that those that view science as attacking religion and vice versa are missing the larger point, "Truth goes beyond established facts." All our scientific knowledge is only a small piece of the complete "truth" of the universe, despite the fact that many scientists and atheists consider the scientific method the end all of epistemological methods. There are many other places where knowledge and truth can be found, such as in philosophy or the arts, and do I dare say it, the one true religion.

Finally, as far as ID goes, it fails as a scientific theory largely because people view it as another attempt by creationists to teach religion in our schools (as implied in the movie). It also fails as a scientific theory because it is not falsifiable, another curiosity of science that limits its ability to think outside the box and constrains it to truth in "observable reality" (which is only as good as the instruments we use). If it cannot be observed then it does not exist according to science and that is why science will never discover all truth.

Empirical evidence of God

There is no evidence that God exists, period. Now, some say that creation itself is irrefutable evidence that God exists, but this does not satisfy science or atheists. They claim that it is just an illusion, that seeing design in the universe is a falsehood, just a pattern recognition function of the human brain.

Personally, I couldn’t disagree more and see this argument as a futile attempt to deny the possibility of God’s existence. However, the fact remains, there is no empirical evidence that God exists.

What about the testimony of 95% of the world you say? Well, that’s just a classic example of argumentum ad populum (If many believe so, it is so). Like saying the earth is flat because everybody believes it to be.

Again, I think it’s a mistake to immediately discredit the testimony of so many especially when there is no evidence to the contrary. I believe that people may have their own personal revelation that God exists, but God is not going to give them empirical evidence to scientifically prove his existence to the world. That is not how the plan of salvation works. It's all about faith and acting on that faith, if it weren’t so, then the whole point of mortality vanishes. The meaning of life is destroyed and you are left with the hope of an atheist that science or technology will save us. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy doesn’t it?

Again, there is no empirical evidence that God exists. This holds true if you only believe in the Bible, or if you believe in both the bible and Book of Mormon. God has not revealed empirical evidence of the Exodus, or Mount Sinai, the Flood, the Garden of Eden, King David, Kind Solomon, and many other parts of the Bible. There isn't any evidence even that Jesus Christ really existed other than a short reference from Josephus. The same thing is true of the Book of Mormon, no Zarahemla, no swords in America, etc.

Now, there may be scattered pieces of evidence found through archaeology, but one cannot connect the many dots objectively to prove God’s existence or the absolute veracity of the Bible and the Book of Mormon. It is just too easy to interpret the evidence differently. This may change in the future as the Millennium approaches, but who knows.

Bottom-line, as with all things spiritual, it is all about faith. Even if you have had a fantastic personal revelation or vision, you will not be able to convince anybody else demanding proof. Only through faith can one come to know the truth byway of the Holy Ghost.

Atheism vs Christianity

Recently, I have been active in discussions on the web concerning Atheism vs Christianity. I've argued with many atheists over the existence of God and these discussions always end with, "Show me proof that God exists."

It's amazing how atheists love to jump behind the scientific method as the only acceptable epistemological method of learning truths. They jump into this "box" largely to protect their beliefs from attacks from "other" sources of truth such as feelings, philosophy, the arts, and revelation. To them, the scientific method is the "end all" of ways to discover truth. In my opinion, that's awfully convenient for their belief system and horribly restrictive to just observed reality. The scientific method is only as good as our instruments, thus, there remains many unseen truths yet to be discovered, some of which can be discovered through other methods and subjects as aforementioned.

One of the greatest pitfalls for atheists when dealing with Christianity, is that traditional Christianity is fantastically confusing and irrational. Below is an excerpt from an atheist regarding how unreasonable Christianity sounds to him:

"Please explain a three-in-one creator deity that created humans from mudpies and ribcages, then a talking snake in a magic garden told them not to eat an apple but they did eat an apple so that's why there are natural disasters and cancer and childhood deaths and rape and murder, and then the three-in-one deity sent a third of himself down to earth to impregnate a woman with another third of himself, then that third of himself sacrificed himself to another third of himself to spare us all from the wrath of the collective whole. Until you do, I do not have to consider your stance to be rational."

Now, the above statement would be difficult for the average Christian to explain in a rational way, in fact, impossible. The above demonstrates exactly how perverted the original Christian teachings of Jesus Christ have become. The bible has many missing pieces from lost books and letters to translation errors to intentionally removed pieces. If this were not the case, there would not be this confusion concerning Christianity, the biblical accounts would make perfect sense, instead they lead to this confusion which really is impossible to explain in a rational and logical way without divine intervention and interpretation.